Book 2 - Warriors: The Servant's Promise

Chapter Two

"Stormpaw, I told you before, stop rushing it," said Snakestar, his poison green eyes narrowed onto the brown and white apprentice who'd just finished an advanced move. The sleek golden tom was Stormpaw's mentor, and a bad one at that.

Stormpaw turned to face the ShadowClan leader, his sides heaving with his heavy breathing after the advanced move he'd just narrowly pulled off. The tom had his emerald green eyes narrowed onto his so called mentor, and his tail was twitching irritably. This was usual for Stormpaw, seeing as he was almost never happy. No one blamed him though, because he'd been through so much.

"Rushing the move is the only way I can do it!" Stormpaw shot back at the leader, hearing a few whispers in return. Ignoring this, he continued. "I was taught that in order to be smooth you must be quick, and if you're smooth, you'll pull it off. I just did everything exactly how it was supposed to be done, so why criticize it?" The ShadowClan leader growled lowly as his apprentice finished, obviously very, very angry that someone had talked back to him.

"Stormpaw, what you were taught no longer stands by my rules," said Snakestar sternly, his voice edged with anger though his sort of composed posture was authoritative and prideful. "Your past mentor is gone, so stop acting as if you must use his rules." There were a few gasps at this sentence, and Stormpaw growled lowly. How dare he mention Rainfur?

My mentor's gone, eh? Stormpaw thought to himself, his eyes locked onto Snakestar. Yeah, right. He's out there somewhere, and one day, I'm going to find him, and I don't care what anyone says. He's my brother, my only mentor, and he's alive. I know it. These thoughts were in his head every day, making him bitter. He didn't care, though, simply because he knew that no one else would understand.

Snakestar sighed as he noticed Stormpaw's stubborn look, which made the brown and white apprentice a little happier. Annoying his 'mentor' was the best, because it went to show how much the ShadowClan leader didn't know about him. Plus it was a wonderful break from the usual emotionless look on the golden tom's face which was just boring.

"Stormpaw, you are a born fighter, which is why you were chosen to train as a fighter, not hunter, guard, or mentor." Snakestar told him, which was something he knew already. "You must learn the moves correctly in order to achieve your warrior name and your ability to move to ThunderClan. And because of this, I think it's time for you to learn the move with someone actually trying to knock you off your paws." Stormpaw's ears instantly went forward as his expression grew alert. Usually it was just attacking mid-air for him. This was going to be interesting.

There was a confused murmur and a few whispers as well from the crowd beside Snakestar. Willowshade, the deputy, had her fur bristling, obviously unsure of the idea. The reason sparring wasn't encouraged was because that was for the older apprentices only. However, Snakestar seemed bored, which made Stormpaw even more eager.

"He isn't old enough," Willowshade pointed out, her light blue eyes narrowed with an uncertain look residing within them. "And he wasn't trained by us, nor his mentor. His strength comes from him, and with that power you shouldn't risk it." Stormpaw's green eyes narrowed onto the ShadowClan deputy. So what he got his power from another half of justice? He wanted to fight!

"I know, Willowshade, but Stormpaw obviously won't learn otherwise," Snakestar told her, still staying annoyingly composed. His poison green eyes continued to dig deep into the deputy's skin, making Stormpaw's irritation grow. A leader who has the nerve to scare his own deputy? What had these clans come to! "Besides, I will be the one to train with him, so it shouldn't be too long." Stormpaw growled lowly again, because he hated being underestimated.

"You wanna bet?" Stormpaw challenged, getting into a fighting position as he prepared to fight the strong leader. A stir in his head, made his grin wider, because he knew what it meant. Matar, master of Justice and the only connection to Rainfur, finally joined in with the training.