Chapter 7
Instead of taking Whitepaw to the clearing where they trained, Thornwhisker led him through the forest until they reached another clearing near a river. In the center of the clearing was a large rock which a gray-and-white tom stood on top of. “Who is that?” the medicine cat apprentice whispered.
“A friend of mine I want to introduce you to,” the brown tom replied. “I’ve told him how good you are during training and how eager you are to learn.”
“Splashheart!” Thornwhisker called, and the tom turned around.
Whitepaw gasped with shock. “Splashheart?” he stammered nervously. “Aren’t-aren’t you…”
“Evil?” the gray-and-white tom purred. “No, but I assume that’s the way Crazystar and the elders would put it.”
“But you killed Cloudstar,” Whitepaw countered.
Splashheart sighed. “Perhaps I was wrong there,” he meowed. “But I was angry. The part of the story they never tell is that Cloudstar’s father killed my mate, Pebblefoot. Once I was leader I would’ve improved the Clans. The elders? They don’t do anything! They waste valuable time that apprentices could use for training instead and they take our fresh-kill. And all they do is lie around in their den and tell dumb stories to kits!”
True enough. I hate changing the elders bedding and removing their ticks! “And when we do stuff for them, they just complain,” Whitepaw added.
Splashheart nodded. “We are going to unite the Clans,” he continued. “Thornwhisker and the rest of my allies will get each Clan from its leader…”
“Won’t that mean killing cats?” Whitepaw asked.
“Hopefully not,” Splashheart responded. “We will try to get them to surrender peacefully. And if not, we will be forced to take over by force for the good of the Clans. They cannot beat us, and we’ll face less opposition than you think. Some cats listen to reason. Then we’ll erase the boundaries and change the rules of the warrior code. We’ll all be one Clan, so there will be no more problems with half-Clan kits. There will be no need to visit the Moonpool for prophecies if we’re not all fighting each other all of the time, so the medicine cats can focus on healing cats. Erasing the boundaries and rewriting the code. Does that sound evil?”
The apprentice shook his head. “No,” he replied. “Life would be better that way actually.”
The gray-and-white tom looked back towards Whitepaw’s Dark Forest mentor. “Thornwhisker, I can train Whitepaw for today,” Splashheart meowed.
***
A half-moon had passed since Whitepaw had first met Splashheart. Some nights he trained with the gray-and-white tom and the rest of the time, he was with Thornwhisker.
He’d caught glimpses of some familiar cats from around the lake. There was Rainpool and Ashstorm, two brothers who belonged to WindClan. There was a red-furred she-cat named Salmonstorm, who belonged to RiverClan. He saw Hawkwhisker attempting a complicated battle move with a dark gray tom, and Oakstream was training ferociously with a white-furred tom who seemed to fit the elders description of the former ThunderClan leader named Cloudstar.
The only thing he disliked about his nighttime training was that they fought with claws unsheathed. Thornwhisker insisted though that pain was what made the mind think and strategize. And they never hurt him badly. Only small wounds that barely even stung!
One night, when Splashheart was training him, Whitepaw meowed, “I’m thinking of resigning as a medicine cat and becoming a warrior. I mean, being a medicine cat is pointless!”
Splashheart stopped training. “I agree that medicine cat duties are pointless, but I think it is good that you’re a medicine cat. They would never suspect that you of all cats chose the right side,” the gray-and-white tom told him.
“Fine,” Whitepaw growled. “I hate being a medicine cat, but I’ll do it for you. When are we going to attack?”
Splashheart seemed amused. “You’re quite different these days. I remember when you didn’t want to…” he began.
“Yes,” the medicine cat interrupted. “I’m more eager to improve the Clans and change the code. If I have to fight to do that, then I will.”
“I like your attitude. We lost the previous time, so we’re just trying to plan and strategize the whole thing better,” Splashheart explained. “As soon as there is no chance that the Clans will win, we will take over and unite them all under the name of SplashClan. Us true warriors will rule the forest! But, a little extra training for you apprentices never does hurt.”
“I still don’t want to harm my Clanmates, but I believe in uniting the Clans. I will fight for the Dark Forest,” Whitepaw meowed. “And I have an idea. Every cat should hunt for themselves. No more fresh-kill pile. The queens can have their mates hunt for them, and that way every cat would earn their fresh-kill and poor hunters would be encouraged to try harder.”
Splashheart nodded. “Yes, we can have that also,” he meowed. “The Clans will be so much better after this and I just wish more cats could see it like you do. Now it’s dawn, I guess you should return back to your nest. We’ll train more tomorrow night though, try to stay home from the Gathering if you can!”
“Of course!” Whitepaw shouted. “The Gathering is boring anyways, the leaders just talk about dumb stuff. Training here is much more interesting.”
The apprentice closed his eyes and found himself back in the boring medicine cat den with Honeywhisker still asleep beside him. Great...another day of sorting herbs, collecting herbs, and changing the useless elders bedding.
A/N: What do think will happen to Whitepaw? Do you think he actually will side with Splashheart and the Dark Forest? :) Hope you enjoyed, sorry for not updating yesterday and thanks again for being awesome fans and reading this book!
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