Rosethorn's Destiny

1

"Rosepaw! Icepaw! Rosepaw! Icepaw!" As the clan called their names, Rosepaw's eyes were filled with joy. She could see Icepaw, her silver-furred brother, fondly gazing at his mentor, Smokecloud, the RiverClan medicine cat. She felt a tail on her back and turned to see that it was Mistsplash, her new mentor. "Ready to tour the territory?" Rosepaw nodded vigorously, practically bouncing on her toes. "Well, let me go ask your father one thing." Rosepaw and Icepaw's father - Timberfang - Was the clan deputy. While Mistsplash was gone, Rosepaw quickly groomed her sleek reddish-brown and black mottled fur. She jumped as Littleshine, her mother, said, "I am very proud of you Rosepaw, and I hope you know that." Rosepaw licked her mother's ear and said, "Of course I know that!" Just as she finished speaking, Mistsplash returned, dipped her head politely to Littleshine, and lead Rosepaw out of the camp. They met the hunting patrol, laden with prey, and shared a few words. Rosepaw was ignoring them, she was watching a blackbird hopping through the bushes. She crouched, remembering the crouch from when she was a kit, and slowly creeped up, her paws silent on the grass. She bunched her muscles and leapt, feeling the bird become limp. "Rosepaw! What are you-" As she turned around, the warm body of the blackbird hanging in her jaws, Mistsplash stopped speaking, her eyes wide with astonishment. "She caught her first bird!" That was Deerstep, one of the members of the hunting patrol. Rosepaw beamed with pride. "I didn't even teach you how to do that! How did you learn that?" Mistsplash asked. "I was watching Redfur teaching Otterpaw when I was a kit." On their way back to camp, Rosepaw held her head high, the blackbird clenched tight in her jaws. She had held it the rest of the journey, and Rosepaw never dropped it, even with the bird almost half her size. "Can I take this to Smokecloud and Icepaw?" She mumbled to her mentor. Mistsplash nodded, heading toward the stream for a drink, adding, "Then get yourself something from the fresh-kill pile!" Rosepaw dashed off, almost tripping over the blackbird's body. "Smokecloud! Icepaw!" She called through the feathers. "I brought you prey!" She pushed into the medicine cat clearing, finding Icepaw bustling around with herbs in his jaws. He set them down and called for Smokecloud. "Wow! A bird, and it's huge! Who caught it?" She answered her brother's curiousness by answering proudly, "I did, frog-brain!" "Wow, was it hard?" Rosepaw shook her head, "Not really." Just then the sleek black form of Smokecloud appeared out of a mossy overhang of rock that smelled like herbs. "I need to go," Rosepaw said, laying down the bird. "So you tell everything to Smokecloud." Nodding politely to the older black she-cat, she backed out of the den. 'Wow!' She thought, 'Moons have passed and I am almost a warrior!' She headed toward the fresh-kill pile, choosing a small trout, leaving the best prey for elders, kits and queens. 'I am already turning out to be a great RiverClan warrior, and there isn't much time until I become one!' Rosepaw thought proudly as she finished eating. Just then, she heard the words that would change her life. "ThunderClan, Attack!"