Warriors #1: Kittypet Clanborn

Chapter 3

Brambleclaw, Squirrelflight and I spent quite a while looking through ThunderClan territory. Wow, ThunderClan territory is huge! I thought to myself as we explored. I never could have imagined I'd live with so much space!

So far, I had seen the stream that separates ThunderClan and WindClan at their border, the lake, of course, and the ancient oak. They even took me to the abandoned Twoleg nest on their territory. It was practically surrounded by lots of strange-smelling leaves and plants. Squirrelflight had told me that I could grab some to bring to the ThunderClan medicine cat.

Wait... what in the world is a medicine cat? I had wondered to myself. "What is a medicine cat, exactly?" I asked Squirrelflight out loud.

Squirrelflight purred with laughter and then answered, "The medicine cat is the healer of the Clan, and each Clan around this lake has at least one." Squirrelflight lifted up her head proudly as she then meowed, "My sister, Leafpool, is the medicine cat here, and my son, Jaypaw is her apprentice. Their job is to take care of any cats in our Clan that are sick or injured."

I nodded in understanding. That seems sort of like the vet, I realized. I shuddered with fear at that thought. I hated the vet, and I couldn't help but feel an indescribable amount og happiness at the thought of never having to go there again. I would go at least once or twice a year, and they'd always stick a lot of pointy things in my back. No matter how much I hated it, I always had to go back.

As I shook the horrid thoughts of the vet away, Squirrelflight continued, "Medicine cat even shares dreams with StarClan, our warrior ancestors."

I nodded again, understanding Squirrelflight's clear explanations. Although I could tell that we were going to be great friends and equals, and that we were almost the same age, she also seemed to be such a wonderful mentor and teacher.

After I had taken some herbs, I heard Brambleclaw speak from behind me. "Are you ready to go back to camp?"

"Sure!" I said, hopping up in excitement. I couldn't wait to see what the rest of today would bring, especially now that I was in a Clan. I was looking forward to going back to camp also so that I could meet the rest of the Clan cats. The only cats that I had met thus far were Squirrelflight, Brambleclaw, Firestar, Sandstorm, Graystripe and... well, Spiderleg.

My mind spiraling with excitement, I squeezed my way through the gorse tunnel just behind Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight to see many cats gathered together eating. 

My mouth dropped at the sight. Where do they get all of that prey? I wondered. Is it true that cats hunt for themselves? That was what my fellow house cats back at home had told me.

Brambleclaw almost seemed to hear my thoughts. "We hunt to get food," he explained to me. "Anyone who catches prey puts it in the fresh-kill pile, which is where we pick up our food to eat it!" He flicked his tail to a big pile of small dead animals.

I licked my lips. Wow, that all looks good! I thought. I wanted to sink my claws into the ground and wrinkle my nose just thinking about the slop I had to eat back at the Twoleg nest. That was all that filled my stomach at the moment.

I followed behind as Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight padded towards the fresh-kill pile. I watched as Squirrelflight picked out what looked like a small rabbit. "Want to share?" She asked me through a full mouth.

"Sure!" I answered excitedly. I practically was bouncing up and down as we walked to an empty space in the camp to eat. We settled down in a small clearing. As Squirrelflight set the rabbit down in between us, I did nothing but stare at it. Anything would be better than the junk I had eaten every day for my whole life, but I had never tried a dead animal before, and I didn't think I ever would.