Stormcloud's Ambition

Stormcloud's Ambition Part 8

"Get up." A sharp voice broke through Stormpaw's dreams. He snapped awake, yawning. When he saw Bigclaw, his mind went blank for half a second. But then memories of his punishment flooded back into his mind like an overflowing river. He drowned in it.

"Go into that forest and hunt five birds. You have until the warriors wake up." Bigclaw hissed. Stormpaw dragged himself out of camp, stretched and then yawned when his mean mentor was out of sight. Stormpaw started to pad out of the camp and into the forest. He was in a decent mood.

At least I am now an apprentice.

Ever since he got caught sneaking out of the camp as a kit, Stormpaw wasn't allowed to set a foot outside of camp. But to him, being an apprentice was a free pass.

He even enjoyed the sunshine and fresh air so much, he forgot all about hunting the birds. He rolled around in the leaves, and bathed himself in sunlight. Stormpaw was mostly interested in the river that separated WindClan from RiverClan- known as the Singing River.

Stormpaw saw fish dancing happily in the smooth current. Stormpaw wanted to be a fish himself.

"STORMPAW!" A huge yowl rang in his ears.

Stormpaw's heart skipped a beat. Oh no! I forgot!

"Did you catch anything? Anything at all?!" Bigclaw ran to him and saw his empty paws.

Stormpaw thought that his mentor will take it easy on him, but a huge paw knocked him over. "You're a fool!" Bigclaw growled. "You have failed your punishment test. Because I am such a great mentor, I have thought up another punishment in case you fail this one. You will be removing ticks from the elders for the next two moons!"

Stormpaw wanted to slap the smirk off of Bigclaw's face. But before he did, a black cat with white spots appeared. He looked very similar to Bigclaw. Then, Stormpaw recognized him- the Clan deputy, Sharptail!

Stormpaw breathed a sigh of relief. Sharptail helped Fallowpelt ever since Cloudpelt died. So he was basically a father to him.

"Brother," Bigclaw snarled, "What are you doing here? Can't you see that I am busy handling this twerp?"

"Stormpaw is not a twerp," Sharptail meowed. "I know he is a smart cat. You just didn't give him a chance to learn about the nature's personality. Starting with... how to hunt."

"Quailfur taught me how to obey before she taught me how to hunt," Bigclaw protested in an immature, whiny voice. "So leave me alone!"

Sharptail held his temper. "Quailfur was wrong. A true, honorable mentor is someone that shows its apprentice the territory first!"

Bigclaw didn't reply. In fact, he was too angry to reply. He only unsheathed his claws and raked the dirt with them in fury.