Turtlestar's Destiny: Book 1

~Chapter 23: Wolf~

~Chapter 23: Wolf~

Ever since Turtlepaw had that talk with Lakesong, she could not get her mind off the prophecy. "Leafbare and Greenleaf?" She thought while watching the sun set from inside her camp one evening, "What does that mean? Are they referring to cats....?" She sighed, resting her head down in her paws. "Hey." Pebblepaw's casual voice interrupted her thoughts and her eyes snapped open. "Want to share tongues?" He looked at her hopefully, a sad little smile stricken on his face. She was silent for a few seconds, then smiled. "Sure."

"Ahh.." Turtlepaw sighed as she plopped herself in her nest, stretching out her long legs. It felt good to lay down after a long day of endless hunting and chores. She closed her eyes. In a rush of cold, she snaped her eyes open, looked around. Whe shivered, standing up. Blackness. Everywhere. Suddenly, things became bright and a wave a heat washed over her. The brightness hurt her eyes, and she shut them quickly. then tehre was blackness agin, then brightness, it was on and off. She fell to the ground with confusion, moaning and putting her paws over her head.

"Turtlepaw!" Falconpaw's rouge voice woke Turtlepaw. she lept up. "Black! White! Black-" her brother took a step back, his eyes wide, but then grinned. "Strange dream, eh?" She blinked, and smiled embrasssedly. "Yeah.." she muttered. Turtlepaw gave her pelt a shake, giving her chest a quick lick. falconpaw started out of teh den. "dawn patrol. You, me, Hollowstep and Tigerstripe." he said, disappearing out of the den. she yawned, mumbling something and started after him.

************

"Good, good. We're all here. Now we can get going." Tigerstripe nodded to Turtlepaw then lead the Windclan patrol out. Turtlepaw could barely focus on her task, her mind was completely wrapped around her dream. "It was so vivid..." she though, taking up the back if the patrol as they headed towards the Riverclan border line, "What does it mean? Was it a message from Starclan? Or a simple nightmare?" She shook her head at all the questions. "It's something much bigger." she thought, catching up with Falconpaw.

***********

It was an uneventful patrol; everything and every clan was in order. Turtlepaw and Falconpaw both caught a couple rabbits on the way back, for prey was becoming more plentiful as Greenleaf approached. Turtlepaw held them firmly in her mouth on the trek back to camp, rendering her experience with the rouge before. They reached the camp safley, however, and Tuerlepaw and her brother dropped the rabbits off at the fresh kill pile. She turned to Hollowstep. "Now what?" "We've got the whole day. Go take your run, then come back and change the nursery's moss." She sighed, as she was hoping for battle training, but trudged out of camp for her sprints.

**********

Turtlepaw returned to camp shortly after her run. She was becoming the fastest runner in Windclan, thanks to her special training. She smiled at the thought. Turtlepaw stretched and then headed over to the nursery, grumbling under her breath. "At least it's the nursery, not the elder's den," she thought, sighing, and entered the den. She was greeted by an excited Ebonykit. "Hi Turtlepaw! You would not BELIEVE what happened today...!" She squeaked, bouncing a little. Turtlepaw smiled good naturedly. "What happened?" Ebonykit's eyes widened and she lowered her voice. "Mudkit and I....saw...a THUNDERCLAN cat! Right outside the camp border!" She squealed, twitching her paws. Turtlepaw chuckled. "Such a big imagination." she thought. "Oh wow! Next time, tackle him for me, kay?" she mewed, ruffling the kit's head and moving on. She carefully dragged the old moss out of the nursery, and out of the camp. Then, the apprentice ran into the moors and picked some fresh moss, returning once again to the nursery with it and laying it out. "There." She breathed satisfied, looking down at her work.

**********

"Hi, honey." Turtlepaw pricked her ears and turned to face Goldenfur. "Hi mom!" She purred, nuzzling her cheek. Goldenfur studied Turtlepaw. "You've become so big." she sighed, her eyes shining in pride. Turtlepaw smiled. "See you later. Gotta go back to Hollowstep." Her mom nodded and watched her daughter walk out of the nursery, a hint of sadness in her eyes.

*********

"Fine. But what's your name?" Turtlepaw overheard Larkstar's stern voice as she passed through camp. She turned in the direction it came from to see Larkstar facing the rouge, lashing her tail. Turtlepaw hurried over to join Pebblepaw and Snakeleg to watch. The rouge growled. "Wolf. The name's Wolf." He snarled, staring up at her. Larkstar relaxed a bit. "Well, Wolf, mind telling me why you and your 'friends' were in Windclan territory?" Wolf looked around at the Windclan cats gathering around. "No reason," he said, not taking his eyes off the cats, "We just needed more food than the two leg place provided." He looked up at Larkstar again. Her eyes stared into his for a couple seconds, then blinked. "I believe you are telling the truth." she said, backing away a bit. He stood up, grinning. "Great! Now I can get out of here-" She held up her tail. "Wait." Wolf paused, looking at her. "You have been proven pretty worthy. And....our clan needs more warriors. How would you like to join Windclan?" Wolf's eyes clouded. He looked up at the sky, then down on the ground. "I can't believe in saying this..." he muttered, "But why not? Sure, I'll join Windclan." Larkstar dipped her head. "From now on, you will no longer be known as Wolf, but as.....Wolfheart."

**********