Warrior Cats: In the Shadows

Chapter 10

   Shadepaw's fur was weighing him down, making it difficult to bring one paw in front of the other without gulping down water. The water surrounded him, waves crashing his head over and over again. His muzzle held awkwardly above the water.

   He couldn't do this, what was he thinking?! Was Branch a fool after all? No that couldn't be, he's so wise, this training must be for a good purpose.

   The thoughts of making Branch proud kept Shadepaw going. The first island in front of him was only about 2 miles away.. 2 Miles?? That's too long! I don't know how Branch expects this out of me,  Shadepaw thought.

   His paws weary now, and about a mile left, Shadepaw slowed. It became incredibly hard to bear the weight of his own fur, the frigid water seemed to be freezing his bones, stiffening his movements. Shadepaw was about to give up until his paws felt ground.

   The apprentice looked down to find that his paws stood on pebbles, he looked forward and saw the first island! Proud of himself, Shadepaw eased himself onto the soft grass of the island. He flopped down, welcoming the warmth and comfort it brought him.

   A hiss forced him up on his paws. A black tom stood before him, his ribs were showing that he clearly hasn't had much food. But his gaze held deadly.

   "What do you think you're doing here?" A low growl rumbled in the tom's throat.

   Shadepaw stumbled,"I mean no harm, sir, I am only doing my training."

   A gleam showed in the tom's eye as he settled down,"Oh yes, I see a lot of you. Branch forces me to give you every piece of prey I find to you, so that you won't be hungry for your 4 mile trip."

   Shadepaw was inattentive to the tom, but had heard what he said. He was more interested in the gleam that had shown in his eye, there was more to this tom that he wasn't letting on.

   The apprentice shook his head,"Just get me a well-fed piece of prey, and I'll be on my way."

   The tom dipped his head, "Very well then." He got up and slithered down a hole.

   Shadepaw gaped, how could he fit? Well, part of it was because he was scrawny, but he'd never seen a cat go down holes.

   The tom came up with a good-sized fish, smelt fresh. Must've been caught recently.

   The tom muttered something under his breath, Shadepaw could only make out the words "mousebrained" and "evil". Assuming it wasn't directed at him, the apprentice sat patiently.

   The fish was dropped at his paws, and the tom turned over his shoulder, "I'd be careful if I were you," then he went back down the hole.

   Something about the tom intrigued him, as if the tom was hiding something. In which he probably was. The black cat was keeping secrets, but if he keeps them, they are probably of no importance to Shadepaw.

   Shadepaw ate the fish, and gave thanks to StarClan for it's life, then he dipped back into the water, shivering at the cold.

   "Wait!" A voice behind him made him stop.

   Shadepaw turned around to see the tom coming back, his paws trotting across the grass, his mouth carried leaves.

   "Take these, I don't know what they're called, but they help with travel hunger," the tom set them down, and rested his tail on Shadepaw's shoulder as the apprentice bent to eat them.

   Shadepaw watched as the tom once more trudged back into his hole.

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   Shadepaw's belly was at his fullest when he reached the second island. It seemed to be empty, no sign of prey or cat anywhere.

   Remembering the last island, he trotted around the island looking for a hole, and sure enough he found one. It was deep and narrow, the dirt walls seemed to be brushed over in water.

   Shadepaw wondered if it was worth it to go down the hole when a voice answered his question for him,"Come on down, traveler."

   The sweet, soft voice drew him down, no thoughts of how he was fitting through. His eyes were intent on finding the cat that spoke. Eventually his paws met a harder surface, looked like stone.

   After sitting with his tail contently wrapped in front of his paws, he looked up to see a beautiful silver tabby she-cat. Her eyes were a striking sky blue, and one of her ears were nicked. The she-cat's pelt was well groomed, every strand of fur was in place. 

   Somehow taking his eyes off of her, he looked around the small place. It was neat and organized, a grass nest lay off to the side, and a crevice in the side held a bunch of herbs. He flinched as he saw the fresh-kill pile was only two pieces of scrawny and meek prey.

   "I know it's a shame isn't it?" The she-cat mewed.

   Shadepaw looked at her and said nothing, he didn't want to hurt her feelings on how he agreed.

   "Is Shadepaw the name?" 

   Stunned on how she knew he merely nodded.

   "Oh, you must've been sent here for your dreadful training," She sighed, her eyes full of regret.

   Shadepaw looked at her, "Why is the training so bad? Sure.. 12 moons is a long while, but this way we can be strong."

   She only looked away, "But you don't know our stories."

   The apprentice was confused, "Can you tell me yours?"

   "I never have with any cat. But something tells me, that you deserve to know. And I guess I should tell you my name first?"

   Shadepaw tried hard to not blush,"I guess so."

   "I'm Echodusk," She dipped her head in greeting.

   The name was beautiful and matching to the she-cat. Shadepaw nodded back, "Nice to meet you."

   "My story starts when I was an apprentice, like you, being normal in a Clan. Specifically RainClan, as you might recall them being your neighbor. I loved water, but one day as I was casually swimming.. The river flooded over my head, I didn't know what happened after that. Until I had opened my eyes to see an old brown tom peering over me.

   "He recalled himself as Branch, or Ol' Branch. He said he could make me happy here, until I was able to return home. Quarter-moons passed by as I established life in the meadow. I was able to experience the new-coming of Raven. He was crazy, but the day after, I never saw him. I asked Branch about it, and he said he sent Raven to go 'make himself a better cat'.

   "I was confused, but let it go," Echodusk sighed.

   "Then, one stormy afternoon, Branch took me for a 'walk', he took me to the same place he took you, and he said to live on the second island, and never come back. Then he ran away, I was stunned for what else could I do? So I swam here... and I never returned. Only scrawny mice and some fish fill my belly these days." She looked down.

   "Why would Branch do such a thing? He's so nice! Maybe he just wants you to toughen up," Shadepaw looked at her.

   "For 30 moons!?" She snapped at him.

   The attitude took him by surprise, but Shadepaw knew she wasn't trying to be mean, and he narrowed his eyes.

   "30 moons?" Shadepaw asked.

   "I learned life the hard way, I lost my family, my home, and now my self-esteem. I'm not going to let you lose it too. Have these Traveling Herbs, I'll have some myself, they're the last of my supply, but I'll never be returning, so who cares?" She lifted a smile.

   Restored by her happiness, Shadepaw eagerly ate the herbs and crawled out the hole, and sat on the island, waiting for her. The sky was a dark blue, sprinkled with stars. He looked around for Silverpelt, but he saw no sign of it...

What was that supposed to mean?