Warrior Cats: Hidden Secrets (Book One)

Chapter Six (REVISED)

   "We passed our assessment!" Cried Hollypaw as she barged into the camp, Nightpaw hard on her paws. Meadowpaw looked up from her shrew, still chewing, as the two apprentices skidded to a halt beside her and Cinderpaw.

  "Congrats." She meowed, swallowing her prey. Cinderpaw muttered his response before stuffing his face with mouse.

  About five moons of Meadowpaw's training has passed, and the Clan was thriving. Leaftail had given birth to four kits about three moons ago, a couple days later when Meadowpaw met Yellowpaw. Just yesterday, Cherrypelt joined the nursery with Leaftail, and Pinenose was also expecting. Kits are going to be overrunning the Clan sometime soon. Thought Meadowpaw as she watched Pinenose and Cherrypelt sun themselves at the edge of the camp, their bellies swollen with unborn kits. I bet Cinderpaw, Hollypaw, and Nightpaw are excited for Pinenose's third litter, she thought, returning to her prey for another bite.
 
  "Meadowpaw, how about we go hunting after the ceremony?" Meowed Cinderpaw, licking his jaws.

  "Yea, sure. We'll be the only apprentices after all, until Leaftail's kits are old enough to be apprentices."
  "Soon, there will be enough apprentices in the Clan, but we might be warriors by then." Cinderpaw stood up, streched, and shook out his fur.

  "I'm going to check if the elders have any ticks." He was staring at her as if he had something else to say, but shook his head and turned away, padding towards the elders den. A cat nudged her shoulder, and she turned to meet the green eyes of Hollypaw.

  "My brother likes you."
  "Huh? What?"
  "He spends half the time watching you sleep, silly."

  Meadowpaw looked down, and flattened her ears. Why are tom-cats suddenly interested in me? I'm not that pretty.

  "I'm not pretty, though."
  "Well toms like you because you're a really kind and sweet cat. Now, if you excuse me, I need to groom my pelt." With the flick of her tail, Meadowpaw was left all alone near the fresh-kill pile.
  StarClan help me, she thought, I hope I make the right choice some day.

||

"Hollypaw, from this day forward, you shall be known as Hollyflower." Meowed Birchstar, his tail resting on the new smoky gray warrior, who blinked her green eyes proudly. After respectfully licking his shoulder, she stepped away and stood by her brother, newly named Nightpelt. The Clan erupted into cheers, calling out the two names.

  Meadowpaw felt a pang in her chest. Now she and Cinderpaw were the only apprentices, and that now the younger warriors would have to help them with their chores. But it wouldn't be long until Leaftail's kits, now five moons old, would join them. Pinenose's and Cherrypelt's kits were born on the same day, two moons ago, and were already exploring the camp. The nursery is going to have to expand soon, now that there is a lot of kits, thought Meadowpaw as she turned her attention away to the Nursery, where seven small kits sat in front of their mothers, who's tails were wrapped around each other tightly.
  As the Clan broke apart, Meadowpaw was immediately approched by Cinderpaw. He flicked her ear with his tail, and purred,

  "So, are we going to go hunting?"
  "Yea!" She meowed eagerly, standing up to follow Cinderpaw out of the camp. A pair of eyes, however, seemed to burn into her pelt. She turned to see who was watching her, and it was Tanglebush. His eyes were emotionless. Why was he staring?
  Pushing a nervous thought away, Meadowpaw opened her jaws and pushed the air past her scent glands. A fresh trail of rabbit. Flicking her tail, she beconed Cinderpaw to follow the trail.
 
Later, the two apprentices gathered quite a large amount of fresh-kill. They started to haul their catch back, creating a large pile by the fresh-kill caught last night. One of the warriors, Ashwood, saw what they were doing and approched, meowing,

  "Well done, you two. I'll put in a word for Iceclaw that we don't need to send out any hunting patrols and I'll let Birchstar know what good hunters we have. Take the rest of the day off." He purred, and Meadowpaw exchanged a delighted glance with Cinderpaw.

  The senior warrior turned away and began to pad away. Energy surged through Meadowpaw as she jumped up onto her paws and padded towards the forest. She fluffed her fur up, soaking in the warm rays of the sun and listening to the songs of the birds.
  Suddenly, a wail echoed in the air, startled Meadowpaw. Thinking of it as an enemy warrior or one of her Clanmates needed help, she bolted towards the sound, and skidded to a halt, dumfounded.

  "Please help me!" Cried a familiar black she-cat with rain-blue eyes. It was Rainpaw.