Warriors: Blazing Fires

Chp. 7

Chp. 7

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"Thornpaw, Nightpaw, Blossompaw!" the clan chanted. Bursting with pride, Thornpaw could hardly sit still. He was an apprentice at last, with the best warrior for his mentor; Brambleheart. He couldn't wait to start training!

His thoughts were interrupted by a deep voice. "How about I go show you the territory?" Thornpaw turned around to see his mentor padding up to him.

He gave a little bounce of excitement. "When can we go?"

"Right now," Brambleheart meowed, then turned and pelted out of camp. Surprised, Thornpaw ran after him, trying to keep up with his shorter legs.

Almost instantly, Brambleheart had disappeared into the undergrowth. Thornpaw frowned and decided to run straight forward. But without luck, he soon stopped.

Calm down, he ordered himself. Then, he headed back the way he came, trying to see if he could pick up his mentor's scent. But he soon lost it and his own, tumbling almost blindly through the undergrowth. He soon stopped and looked around, suddenly realizing how dangerous everything seemed to be. The trees cast thick shadows all around and the thorns dragged at his pelt as he forced himself to move on.

Heart thudding loudly, he was almost sure that every animal in the forest could hear him. Soon, he stopped moving, afraid that he would become even more lost. It was still light out, but it was also his first time out of camp, making everything seem off and the trees cast long shadows over the earth.

How could he just leave me? What did I do wrong? Thornpaw thought in frustration. Refusing to panic, he started to wash himself, when he suddenly heard a loud crackling sound. Looking up, he saw a dark figure perched in the branch above him. Sighing in relief, he called out, "Brambleheart! Why'd you leave me?"

Purring the big tom cat jumped out of the tree and landed on the ground with a loud thud. Grunting, he muttered, "Maybe I should stop jumping out of trees." Then, regaining his composure and meowing a little louder, he said, "I was testing you to see how much you knew."

"Oh," Thornpaw mewed. Then feeling a little dejected, he mewed, "Did I fail?"

His mentor paused. "Well, yes. But you did do some things ok. You made the right choice to follow your scent back, but your tracking skills aren't the greatest yet. We'll develop those over time, though, so it's fine. Besides that, it wasn't the greatest thing ever." Then his mentor padded away into the ferns, leaving Thornpaw to follow him.

Thornpaw followed his mentor more slowly, feeling disappointed in himself. Then, forgetting about that, he bounded up to walk by his mentor. "Where are we going now?"

"StormClan border," he replied. Then Brambleheart raced away into the trees, leaving Thornpaw stupefied. Does he always leave without warning? Shaking his head, Thornpaw hared away through the trees after the older warrior.

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"Here is Rabbitrocks," Brambleheart mewed, nodding his head at the huge rocks. "As the name says, many rabbits live here, for reasons that no one knows. They belong to us, but sometimes StormClan tries to take over." Thornpaw sniffed curiously at the rocks. They did actually smell of an odd prey scent, that seemed musty and almost delicious.

Surprisingly, on the way to the border, Thornpaw never tripped while racing through the forest. He didn't even get lost! Then Brambleheart showed him where the StormClan border started. Before that was unknown territory or no cat's land. Then the border started and that's where they've been for the last few minutes.

Thornpaw jumped up onto the lowest rock, then climbed a little higher. Soon he was at the top of the rockpile, seeing everything into the next territory. The trees in StormClan had higher trees and branches, perfect for jumping. Thornpaw's paws itched to be climbing one of those high trees, but that would be crossing the border and he didn't want to start a battle.

"Come on, Thornpaw! I'll show you the gathering place next. It's along the border through here," Brambleheart mewed impatiently.

Thornpaw rolled his eyes. "Coming," he meowed. Then bounded a few tail-lengths down. Suddenly the rocks below him disappeared. Startled, he yowled, then hit the ground hard. He sat up and then looked above him. He seemed to have fallen into some little hole in the rocks.

"Help!" he yowled. He waited until he heard small pebbles being moved above him from the scrambling of a cats paws. Then, his mentor appeared above him.

"What're you doing down there?" he growled. "Get out. We still have a ways to go yet."

"I didn't try to get down here," Thornpaw retorted. "I accidentally fell."

"Then watch where you're putting your paws next time." Then Brambleheart sat down at the top of the hole, waiting expectantly.

"What?" Thornpaw asked.

"Get out of the hole," Brambleheart mewed, starting to wash himself.

"But-"

"Come on, do it. You got yourself in there, you get yourself out."

"Can't you help me?" Thornpaw mewed angrily.

Brambleheart rolled his eyes. "Real warriors don't need help." When he saw Thornpaw not climbing yet, he meowed, "Come on, Thornpaw. We still have places to get to." The his mentor starting washing himself again.

Gulping, Thornpaw examined the rocks. He jumped up, but fell back down immediately. Growling to himself, he jumped again and hooked his claws into a small crevice. He hung there like that for a few more minutes, scrabbling with his hindpaws at the walls. Finally, he found a paw hole for himself. He leaped again and dug in claws into another crevice around the top of the hole. Then he hauled himself up. Exhausted, he lay there panting for a few minutes while Brambleheart washed himself.

Then his mentor wordlessly got up and bounded down the rocks. Thornpaw stood up, then stumbled after him, practically falling off the rocks. Then the two toms headed along the border, Thornpaw dragging his feet clumsily, still exhausted from his climb out of the hole.

Soon, the scent of StormClan began to fade behind him. They headed away along another border that smelled mostly of LeafClan, but the other side had very stale scents, probably from about a moon ago, of all 6 clans; the gathering place.

Excitement replaced Thornpaw's weariness. "Can we go into the clearing? Please," Thornpaw asked hopefully.

Brambleheart looked over at him. He paused briefly, seeming to be lost in thought and considering his question, then meowed, "Sorry, Thornpaw, but another day. I want to show you the rest of the borders before nightfall, which," he paused, looking up at the sky, "Seems to be coming real fast."

"Oh, ok," Thornpaw mewed, a little disappointed. Then he cheered up again and raced ahead of his mentor, smelling everything he could. Then all of a sudden, powerful scent hit him head on, making him jump back in surprise as if a cat had slapped him; the scent of FireClan. He wrinkled his nose in disgust.

Brambleheart padded up to him, then twitched his whiskers in amusement. "Yah, it is kind if smelly the first time, but you get used to it. Come on, let's hurry." Brambleheart bounded away along the border with Thornpaw racing after him.

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Thornpaw rapidly devoured the sparrow that he had grabbed from the fresh kill pile. He was starving after his long trek along the borders and his paws threatened to drop off his legs.

As soon as he was finished, he dragged his paws over to the apprentices den. As soon as he entered, he realized disappointedly that he would probably have to go collect some moss for himself. He stood there uncertainly until Blossompaw raised her head from a nest nearby.

She blinked sleepily at him. "You can share my nest if you want. You look about ready to fall asleep on your paws," she remarked. Thornpaw gladly padded over to her. Then he laid down in the warm nest as she scooted over to make room for him. Almost as soon as he laid down, exhaustion overwhelmed him and he was out in an instant.