Warriors: A New Beginning #1: The Beginning

Chapter 3

"Wake up Wavepaw!"

Wavepaw yawned when she heard Speckledfur's voice. She stood up and looked around. Where were the kits? Then she remembered. Today was her first day as an apprentice!

"Coming!" she yowled, and bounded out of the den, toward the entrance of the camp. She saw her mentor waiting at the edge of the camp.

"There you are," Speckledfur meowed. "I'm going to show you ThunderClan's territory-- our territory." Then she padded out of the camp.

As Wavepaw followed her, she noticed Curlyfur, now out of the nursery, with her eyes narrowed at Speckledfur. Wavepaw was confused. Was Curlyfur jealous of Speckledfur? Or was it something more?

Once they were in the woods, out of camp, Wavepaw couldn't believe it.

"The forest goes on forever!" she breathed. Speckledfur's whiskers twitched in amusement.

"Maybe not that far," she mewed, "but the forest certainly is big. Come," she beckoned, "I'll show you ThunderClan's territory.

"Are we going to see Sunningrocks?" Wavepaw asked, remembering the tales Bearfur told her of the endless battles between ThunderClan and RiverClan for Sunningrocks.

"No." Speckledfur shook her head. "Right now, Sunningrocks belongs to RiverClan."

"Will we take it back?"

"Maybe," Speckledfur said. "But that's up to Goldstar." She started padding through the forest. "Let's go," she said. Wavepaw followed her.

***

"This is the Thunderpath," Speckledfur mewed. The Thunderpath! Wavepaw had heard so much about this. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It stinks!"

"That's Thunderpath smell," Speckledfur said, "remember that."

Suddenly Wavepaw heard a faint roaring. It got louder and louder, then suddenly a huge thing roared past ion the Thunderpath. Wavepaw couldn't suppress a screech of fear.

"That was a monster," Speckledfur explained. "They're nothing to be afraid of, because they usually stay on the Thunderpath, except when you're crossing the Thunderpath."

She started padding off in another direction. "Come, I'll show you Fourtrees." Wavepaw suddenly felt a burst of excitement. She had always wanted to go to Fourtrees! She followed Speckledfur until they came to a massive area. Four huge oaks formed a square around the area. In the square was the biggest rock Wavepaw had ever seen.

"This is Fourtrees," Speckledfur meowed. "This is where the four clans meet at Gatherings. That rock you see there is the Great Rock." She looked up at the sky. "We need to get back to camp." When she saw Wavepaw's disappointed face she said, "Don't worry, you'll see Fourtrees plenty of times!"

Wavepaw sure hoped so.

***

When Wavepaw came into the camp, she saw Wheatpaw lying in the sun.

"Hi Wavepaw!" she meowed. "How was your first day as an apprentice?"

"Tiring!" Wavepaw said. "But Speckledfur is very nice. Though I feel like Curlyfur doesn't like her..."

"Don't be silly." Flamepaw padded up. "I've never seen Curlyfur like that around Speckledfur."

Wavepaw shrugged. "Training was fun though! Speckledfur showed me ThunderClan's territory. The forest is huge!"

"I know!" Wheatpaw said. "Say, I'm hungry. Want to share a mouse?"

"Sure," Wavepaw said. "Bye Flamepaw!" She and Wheatpaw walked to the fresh-kill pile. Reedtail was there, with a vole in his mouth. He placed it down to speak.

"Hello there! How was your first day of training?"

"It was good!" Wavepaw said to the ThunderClan deputy. "It feels like the forest goes on forever. And ThunderClan has so much territory!"

Reedtail's whiskers twitched in amusement. Then he picked up the vole, dipped his head, and padded over to the warriors den.

"I wish we could go there," Wheatpaw said wistfully.

"Don't worry," Wavepaw promised. "Our turn will come soon enough." She picked up a mouse in her jaws and motioned Wheatpaw to the apprentices den. Together they walked over and lay down. Wheatpaw divided the mouse in half and they each settled down with their share.

"I just realized I never got the chance to ask," Wavepaw mewed. "How was YOUR first day as an apprentice?"

"Great! Sunfur showed me ThunderClan's territory, like you did with Speckledfur." Wheatpaw paused to take a bite out of her mouse. "Did you see the Thunderpath?"

"Yes!" Wavepaw exclaimed. "It smells horrible!" She remembered the stench that had reached her nostrils when Speckledfur had shown her the Thunderpath. "I saw a monster."

"You did?" Wheatpaw's eyes widened. "Wow..." She picked up the last of her mouse. "That was tasty!"

"We should do this more often," Wavepaw realized. "Sharing prey, sharing tongues..."

"We're busy now that we're apprentices," Wheatpaw pointed out.

"Yeah..."

A voice rang out from the entrance. "Wheatpaw!"

"I gotta go," Wheatpaw said. "That's Sunfur calling. See you soon!"

"Bye!" Wavepaw called, as Wheatpaw hurried to join her mentor.