The Tainted And The Cleansed

Chapter Two

The sun had started to set and the sky began to darken, Copperkit's fur began to bristle, her anxiety was clawing at her mind. She flicked her tail restlessly, and dug her claws in and out of the dirt floor. She knew that Palekit would do well wherever she was placed. Maybe Yellowkit could be a good fighter, she always good at play fighting. But what about her, she wasn't good at hunting, or fighting and she was too quiet to be a leader. And definitely not a medicine cat, she wasn't patient enough for that, plus they had two medicine cat trainees already. The words of the testers rung in her head, " You'll have your role by dusk." What if she wasn't good enough? What if she got cast out of the clan?

Specklesong leapt on the large rock, followed by the other leaders, the second leaders taking a seat on the pebbles just beneath it. Mothclaw charged to her kits licking their fur flat and trying to make Yellowkit's fluffy,messy fur lie flat.

"Today three trainees are being made into proud members of our clan, Dawnpaw,Rosepaw and Icepaw, please step forward. Dawnpaw do you promise to uphold the law of the Tainted? Do you , Foxsplash, believe your trainee is ready to uphold our law and to defend it with his life?"

Both cats nodded, Dawnpaw's tail lashing with excitement.

"Then by the powers of the sky above us ,I grant you ,your full name, Dawnfire because of your fiery determination to learn and hunt." Dawnfire licked his mentor's ear, smiling at the ginger she cat. She flicked him with his tail lightly and entwined them sitting down to watch the rest of full member ceremony.

"Rosepaw do you promise to uphold the law of the Tainted? Do you, Tigerfang, believe that your Trainee can take on these responsibilities?" Specklesong called.

This time Rosepaw nodded slowly, clearly afraid of what was to come. Tigerfang walked up behind her bumping her with his flank nodding vigorously.

"Then by the powers of the sky above, I grant you, your full name, Rosefrost because of your cool and collected manner." Rosefrost turned to Tigerfang licking his shoulder fur before sitting down, with Tigerfang's chin resting on her head.

Finally Icepaw's turn came, the grey and white she cat visibly shaking with excitement, her mentor Froststorm watching with proud eyes.

"Icepaw, do you promise to uphold the law of the Tainted? Do you , Froststorm, feel that your apprentice has grown enough to take on these responsibilities like a full member of the clan?"

Froststorm meowed her response loudly watching as Icepaw nodded so much she though her head might fall off.

"Then by the powers of the sky above, I grant you, your full name, Icechaser, because of your never ending energy." Please welcome the new full members of the clan" she meowed as yowls of approval rippled through the crowd of cats.

The names of the new warriors were chanted into the darkening sky. Copperkit was calling loudly, as Icechaser used to visit the den when she was young she kit.

Eaglecry now stood as Specklesong sat down. "We have another pressing matter, to address." He yowled "We have three young testees, who are ready to become trainees. Yellowkit,Palekit and Copperkit please step forward." This was Copperkit's moment she was ready. She turned to stare at her sisters, Yellowkit's tail was twitching impatiently and Palekit was staring straight ahead, calmly.

"Yellowkit, are you prepared to become a trainee even at the cost of your life?" Yellowkit's was nodding quickly and her tail lashed on the floor brushing leaves behind her.
" Yellowkit, today you join the trainees of the den of fighters. You will now be known Smokepaw and your mentor will be  Hollyfeather." He turned to Hollyfeather
" You were mentored well and I expect you to pass these skills to Smokepaw." She nodded.

Smokepaw jumped up bounding over to Hollyfeather, ready to touch noses with her but in her excitement she bumped her face against Hollyfeather's snout.

Eaglecry stepped back allowing Specklesong to step forward, "Palekit, are you prepared to be a trainee even at the cost of your life?" Palekit nodded only her eyes showing excitement. "Palekit, today you join the trainees of the leaders. You will now be known as Brindlepaw, I will be you mentor." Specklesong leapt down from the boulder lightly touching her namesake nose against Brindlepaw's who calmly smiled at her new mentor. Copperkit almost fell over, an trainee to be mentored by one of the higher leaders, that was unheard of. She was sure it wasn't in the warriors code, and if it was let alone aloud. She smiled  perhaps she could get over her bout of jealousy.

Specklesong leapt back onto the rock, smiling at her clanmates. Eaglecry resumed the ceremony after the shock of Brindlepaw's mentor.

"Copperkit, are you prepared to be a trainee, even at the cost of your life?" She nodded slowly her twitching of her ears and lashing tail showing how nervous she was. "Copperkit, today you join the trainees of the den of hunters. You will now be called Leopardpaw, your mentor will be Lionfur." Leopardpaw felt her heart leapt in her chest , she wasn't cast out of the clan. "Lionfur, you are a brave and loyal hunter, I hope that you pass down these qualities to Leopardpaw. " Lionfur nodded bending his great head down to Leopardpaw's level, she touched his nose lightly with hers.

The clan began chanting their names into the sky the darkness wrapping round them like a cloud. Finally Leopardpaw stood up to be barrelled into by both of her sisters and her mother. Mothclaw telling the three of them that she was so proud. Smokepaw was ranting again telling Leopardpaw that they could go hunting together, Leopardpaw congratulated  Brindlepaw on her leadership. Escaping the grasp of her mother she ran to Icechaser, jumping on the new warrior in her excitement. She was so proud of her sisters and Icechaser

Lionfur came up to her, smiling, he flicked her with his tail " I know you're excited to be a trainee but you need to collect moss for your nest." She nodded and quietly they left out of the thorn barrier. Lionfur leading her to best spot for moss while she looked round in a daze. He dragged his claws through the moss in a scraping  motion and placed the ball of moss in the front of her. She copied him and tried to pick up all of her moss which she had pushed into a ball. Lionfur picked half of the moss and began leading her back to camp.

When they arrived she was met by Burrpaw who led her to her spot in the den. She spread her moss into the basic shape of a nest and lazily flopped into it. To be shoved out of moments later by a grumpy looking Blazepaw. His ice blue eyes glaring at her until scraped up her moss and moved it. Burrpaw moved her nest a little closer to Leopardpaw's
"Don't worry, he's not always like that. He's just annoyed because he wants to be a true hunter soon." She whispered

Gently she flicked Blazepaw with her tail,
"Sorry, I didn't realise that was your spot." He looked up , his hard glare softening a little bit as he took in what she just said. Smiling she gave him a quick lick on the ear, feeling her own warming at doing so. Burrpaw pushed her nest right next to Leopardpaw's, who flopped into bed for the second truly ready to sleep, the heat had left her ears now. She glanced at Blazepaw, who's blue eyes were watching her in the darkness, she felt her ears go warm again. She felt her face soften and she tucked herself into a a tight ball, flicking her tail over her nose. Finally sleep took her and she was ready to wake up and begin all of her training as soon as the sun light flickered through the branches over head

Woooh, finally I updated again and it was a big chapter too. It's my first chapter with over 1000 words in it.

Comments are not always welcome but always appreciated
Please vote and share if you enjoyed!

Favourite Medicine cat?
Cinderpelt/Yellowfang/Goosefeather/ Spottedleaf(I had a soft spot for her in the first book)/ Jayfeather

*Throws grumpy Jayfeathers at people who are having a bad day, hoping he can make the problem go away*