Amberfang's Destiny

Chapter 8

"Ready to go?"CreamHeart asked as the cats in the clearing began to move away.

 SpeckledHeart was talking to my brother and was looking out into the forest. 

StormGaze was padding over to them with Tigerpaw close behind him. 

I looked at CreamHeart. "Go where?"I asked, confused. I had never seen what apprentices did with their mentors after Apprentice Ceremonies. StarNose had always pushed me back into the nursery as the cats began to chant the names of the new apprentices.

 "The Forest, it's time for you to see our territory."CreamHeart responded, padding away from the LifeRock and up to SpeckledHeart and the others. I dashed after her and skidded to a halt beside her. 

"You two going to show them the forest?"She asked the toms. They nodded.

 "Would you like to come?"StormGaze asked. Creamheart shook her head. 

"I'll take her around the territory and then head back so she can settle into the apprentice den."Creamheart told them before leading me to the entrance. 

CreamHeart disappeared into the dense leaf entrance of the camp. I gazed at the entrance. 

'Why am I so scared?'I thought, shaking my head. 'There's nothing to be scared of.'I pushed my way through the entrance and the entrance of camp opened up into a small ravine. A few rocks were piled up at the right side and created a path of rocks up towards the forest. 

"Come along Amberpaw, we're gonna have a long day."CreamHeart said, beckoning me over. I scurried over to her and tried to climb up the rock path. Tiny rocks got stuck between my paws and my pads hurt from walking on them. When I reached the top, I shook my paws and the rock came out but, my paws were scratched and sore. "Don't worry about the rocks. Your paws will get better at keeping the rocks out and your pads will get tougher. When we get back to camp I'll ask BubbleEyes for some dock to rub on your pads."CreamHeart said, pulling herself up onto the ledge of the ravine. She padded along a trail and pretty soon, I smelled strong LifeClan scent and an odd scent as well. "This is the border. The other scent is CaveClan. We only share a border with CaveClan and CrowClan. DawnClan lives on the other side of FourTrees."CreamHeart explained. "The current leader of CaveClan is CaveStar and his deputy is FireLeaf. OnyxClaw is the Medicine Cat. We rarely go into to battle with them so there's nothing to worry about. If you find OnyxClaw on the border or in the forest, ask him what he's doing across the border and take him to camp."CreamHeart said, walking along the scent line. Across the border, leaves rustled and a red tom appeared with a skinny grey apprentice at his side. "I didn't expect to see you out here CreamHeart."The red tom said. "I see you've got an Apprentice." CreamHeart flicked her ear in slight annoyance. I had a feeling she didn't like this tom very much. "Morning FireLeaf. This is Amberpaw. I'm just showing her the territory. I see you have an apprentice as well."She said respectfully. I dipped my head and tried to be as respectful as possible to the other clan's deputy. "Hello."I said in my quiet voice. StarNose had always said that I was shy around new cats and I think she's right. "This is Peachpaw, it's her second day outside camp."FireLeaf said. Peachpaw seemed really nervous. "We have to your the rest of the territory so we can get back to camp on time. May StarClan light your path."CreamHeart said, resting her tail on my shoulders and leading me away from the rival cats. FireLeaf and Peachpaw turned away from the border and headed back into the bushes. We walked along the soft grass until it turned to sand underneath my paws. It was warm and soft beneath my paws and it was nice on my sore paws. A smooth rock lay in the sunshine. A small river was about 3 mouse-lengths away from the rock. "This is SunRock. CrowClan constantly try to take the rock from us. It's normal for us to battle them."CreamHeart said, glaring across the calm river. "It's not a great place to hunt but, we need every piece of prey we can get our paws on and that means we need SunRock."CreamHeart said padding away into the trees. I bolted after her and got a little tangled in brambles. It took some time (and help from CreamHeart) to get me untangled. "Be careful of the brambles."CreamHeart told me before continuing down the thin,sandy trail. Another strong scent came to my nose as the trees began to thin out. I smelled the usual LifeClan scent but something strange. "What's that smell?"I asked CreamHeart. Her nose wrinkled in disgust as they approached a large,wooden wall. "This is a fence. That large den is a twoleg den. They are two-legged,furless creatures with only fur on the top of their heads. They don't understand our speech and neither do we understand theirs. They keep cats in their dens and we call those cats, Kittypets. They are fat and lazy and they really cause no trouble. They only cross the borders but, it dosen't take long for us to chase them back over the border."CreamHeart explained, walking away from the fence in disgust.

'Who would live with such creatures?'I thought before turning around and following my mentor. She lead me along trails and areas around the camp. When the sun began to set, she lead me back to camp and down the rocky trail into the ravine. She told me that I could go to the apprentice den and rest. I walked into the den and was met by Bluepaw and Flamepaw. Flamepaw was asleep while Bluepaw was grooming her fur and she looked up at me when I came in. "You can sleep in the nest beside Flamepaw's."She told me before grooming her tail. I nodded and went outside to the Fresh-Kill pile. I chose a sparrow and settled down to eat. I ate the sparrow in quick bites before going to the medicine den for dock leaves to sooth the pain in my pads. Hollypaw was sorting through leaves when I padded into the medicine clearing. "What can I do for you."She asked me, looking up from the leaves she was sorting. "Can I have some dock leaves?"I asked her. She padded into the rock where the herbs were kept and came out with a few leaves. "Rub you pads on them and then throw them out."She told me. I thanked her and did as she told me. After my pads were taken care of, I padded back to the apprentice den and curled up in my nest. I fell asleep after a few heartbeats and I never thought that life would be so simple. Though my life was about to change and be the opposite of simple.