Warriors : A New Omen

Chapter 3 >> A New Threat

Early morning light slanted through the walls of the apprentice den. Young cats slowly opened their eyes and stretched their limbs, yawning. Sunpaw gave his paw a couple of quick licks before stretching his legs. Willowpaw rasped her tounge across her chest, then over a paw; which she then dragged over her forehead.

She nudged Frostpaw awake. "C'mon Frostpaw! Do you want to miss our first training session? All the other apprentices will be there!"

Frostpaw's head shot up, a stray bit of moss dangling from her ear. "We're apprentices!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah! Lets go!" Willowpaw mewed, bouncing on her paws.

All the other apprentices were already having their morning meal. Willowpaw led Frostpaw to the fresh-kill pile, choosing a squirrel to share. The fresh-kill pile was now beginning to run low, since the rodents had begun staying in their burrows to escape the chilling weather. Leaf-bare was still several moons away, yet the cold winds were approaching quicker than usual.

The first snow would not be far off.

As Willowpaw and Frostpaw ate, their mentors emerged from the warriors den. They padded to the fresh-kill pile to take a sparrow. Willowpaw's paws tingled with excitement. Their first real session! And with other apprentices, too!

Driftbreeze walked over to Birdpaw, motioning with her tail to come. Brightblossom and Ashpelt watched Beeflight and Oakfur collect their apprentices.

"Hold on, you two. Let me finish my bird." She meowed. She took another bite, drew her tounge over her bloody jaws and stood.

While they waited for Ashpelt to finish, Willowpaw couldn't help staring at her mentor's eyes. One was the color of a clear summer sky, without a single cloud in sight. The other was grass in the spring; bright green with darker flecks.

At last, Ashpelt rose to his paws and led them to the entrance of camp, where the other cats waited.

"Ready?" Driftbreeze asked. Everyone gave a short nod of the head. The deputy waved her tail and bounded off into the trees.

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"Willowpaw, Brightblossom, Sunpaw, Beeflight, Ashpelt and Woodpaw. You practice over there in the clearing. Birdpaw, Oakfur, Frostpaw and I will be over here by the Great Oak." The two groups divided and padded to their assigned places. Frostpaw and Willowpaw exchanged a sad glance at the fact that they became separated, but didn't object.

"Alright, I was thinking that we could do scent identifying." Beeflight suggested.

"That's a great idea! We can sneak up on the apprentices and let them guess." Bightblossom added.

Ashpelt snorted. "Won't that get old?"

Beeflight flicked his ears. "We can make it more challenging." He said.

Sunpaw was up first. He sat in the middle of the small clearing, eyes closed. The other cats gathered in front of him.

Ashpelt waved his tail to Brightblossom. She nodded and padded away into the forest.

A few moments later, Ashpelt meowed, "Who left?"

Sunpaw tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Bee...no, Brightblossom?" he guessed, clearly unsure.

"Postive?" Ashpelt pressed.

Sunpaw lashed his tail. "No, its Beeflight, isn't it?"

"Open your eyes."

Sunpaw blinked and scanned the cats. "Mousedung!" he cursed.

"Watch your tongue, Sunpaw. And why'd you say Beeflight?" Sunpaw cast his eyes at the ground, shuffling his paws. He shrugged.