Fang

Chapter 3

Fang sat behind the nursery where cats make their dirt. He always loved going there for some reason as a kit, and it was pretty much the only calm and quiet place he could find, and be left alone.

He still was angry that his mentor was half blind. It's like he has some big weakness that he doesn't even know about! At that moment, Gingerpaw came there, and asked him a question. "Brightpelt just had her kits! Do you want to come see them? There's three of them!"

Fang slowly looked up at her, and shook his head. He felt he didn't have the words to speak right then because he was still very upset. "Okay! Maybe later then." And with that, Gingerpaw scampered away, and into the nursery.

He had just realized, he never even thought about Brightpelt having kits, because he was so excited and distracted about his apprentice ceremony. Fang just sighed, and eventually went over to the apprentice den.

He found an empty nest at the back of the den, and curled up in it. Once he got settled down, Cindertail came inside the apprentices den. He lifted his head, glared at her for disturbing him, and lay his head back down.

Instead of leaving the den like any other cat, Cindertail lay down in the nest beside Fang. Fang turned the other way and closed his eyes. Cindertail sighed and asked Fang, "Ever since your apprentice ceremony, you've been really grumpy. Why?"

"Why do you care?" Fang snapped back. Cindertail snarled at him, and got up from the nest she lay in, and headed for the entrance. "Because I am your mother." Then she disappeared out of the den.

Fang felt guilt creep up into his fur. He loved his mother very much, but didn't feel like talking to anyone. With a pang of sadness, he realized that the other night was his last night with his mother. He couldn't help but shiver at the thought of the den being full of other sleeping apprentices, with his mother no where in sight.

When dawn came the next morning, Fang let out a big yawn to show his teeth, and when he stretched, his muscles rippled under his fur like a river gushing by. He finally decided to go out into the camp again, and get his training over with.

He slowly padded out of the den, not wanting to wake any other apprentices. When he got out of the apprentice den, he looked around to see Silverheart laying in the morning sun with another warrior, Birchtail.

Fang padded up to them, only a tiny bit excited to start his apprentice training. Silverheart blinked her good eye open, and gave him a warm smile. "Hello, Fang! Are you ready to start training yet?"

Fang all of a sudden felt the guilty feeling of it creeping up his fur. He now felt bad about his earlier thoughts of his kind mentor. "I-I guess so..." Silverheart slowly got up and gave him another big smile. "Alright! Why don't I show you around the hunting grounds and borders?"

Fang nodded his head in agreement, and followed Silverheart out of the quiet camp. When they reached the outside, tall trees loomed over them, and soft moss covered the delicate ground.

They turned towards one side of the camp wall, and slowly made their way down it until Silverheart made an abrupt stop. "See here, Fang," She began the tour. "Down here is way deeper into the forest, and does not belong to any of the clans. No one goes that way." Fang thoughtfully looked at it as they turned the other way.

"And on this side, if you go deeper down with the camp, there are rivers and streams. And now let's go on the first hunting path." As they steadily padded to the hunting path, Fang thought about how she wasn't as bad as he thought, and he had misunderstood her just because of how her face was.

As they travelled down it, Fang could hear many squeaks and quivering bushes. Once they had gone through the path, they came to a miniature field. Silverheart strolled around it, and then faced him.

"Now this my friend, is the first out of two training hollows. We'll go there through the second hunting path, and then exit it all back to the camp and I can show you the clan borders." Fang nodded his head.

They did just that, and he learned a couple of battle skills, and made it back to camp before the night fell. Once they got back, Fang quietly thanked his mentor, and spent his second night in the apprentice den.