Warriors: Uprising (Book 1)

Chapter 11

       Blizzardpaw woke up in the Apprentices' den. She was the only one in there because of her being the only apprentice in Driftclan right now. I kind of miss being in the Nursery with Sagethorn, it's very lonely in here... She thought and stretched herself out in her nest. Blizzardpaw didn't mind being alone in the Apprentices' den for a while. She knew that Dampkit, Thistlekit, and Eaglekit would become apprentices themselves in about a moon. Then it'll be more fun in here! Blizzardpaw almost meowed out loud. She got up from her nest and stretched once more before heading out of the den.

"Nice to see you awake, Blizzardpaw." A low meow came from beside her, which nearly made her jump.

She turned to see who it was; it was just Sandcoat sitting there calmly, cleaning his fur.

"Sandcoat, you scared me!" Blizzardpaw mewed.

"Forgive me, but we will train soon." He meowed back.

Blizzardpaw gasped. "Really?! I can't wait!" She bounced around happily like a kit.

Sandcoat gave a tiny purr, "I'm glad you are excited, but let us share a piece of fresh-kill so we can have energy." the nearly cream-furred tom said.

"Alright!" Blizzardpaw replied and headed over to the fresh-kill pile with Sandcoat following right behind her.

*

After the two shared a nice fish, Sandcoat flicked his tail to signal Blizzardpaw to follow him. He led her to an area was behind Driftclan. There were many more trees here than around Driftclan itself.

Sandcoat stopped and turned to Blizzardpaw. "Are you ready for your first lesson?" Sandcoat asked.

"Yeah! What are we doing? Hunting? Fighting?" Blizzardpaw quickly replied with an enormous smile on her face.

"We will meditate," He meowed.

Blizzardpaw sat down and tilted her head to the side. "Meditating? What's that?" She questioned.

"It's where you close your eyes and focus on one thing in your head and achieve a calm and stable state."

"That sounds boring." Her ears flattened, and she frowned a bit.

"It may sound that way, but it allows us Driftclan cats to hunt like this." The tom closed his eyes and carefully got into the hunter's crouch.

Do... what? Blizzardpaw thought.

Sandcoat stayed in the same position for a few heartbeats and then quickly ran behind a tree to his right and stopped for a moment before coming back with a bird Blizzardpaw hadn't seen before.

Her jaw dropped as she saw what her mentor had done. "Woah!"

He dropped the bird in front of her. "I almost lost it there, but anyway, catching fish and seagulls is very tough sometimes, but when you meditate before you hunt, it makes things much easier." Sandcoat smiled at her reaction.

"I want to try!" Blizzardpaw mewed eagerly.

"Alright, but for now, I just want you to focus on the sounds around you and try not to move." her mentor ordered.

Blizzardpaw closed her eyes and listened carefully. She could hear the tiny breeze that was blowing by her, some birds making noises and the leaves on the trees and bushes rustling, but she heard pawsteps behind her. They were very light.

Is that Sandcoat behind me? She thought, then twisted around. "Sandcoat?", she whispered.

Whatever was standing in front of Blizzardpaw pounced on top of her and pinned her down. She gasped when it happened and opened her eyes to see her mentor pinning her.

"Splendid job for turning around, but what you should have done is go for the pin as I did," Sandcoat said and got off his apprentice.

"Aw..." She frowned and got up herself.

"Don't worry, Blizzardpaw." he began. "I just wanted to have you meditate for now. I won't be teaching you how to fight yet. Did you hear any other sounds while you were meditating, though?"

Her frown quickly turned into a smile as her eyes glittered. "Yeah!! I heard the trees and bushes, and what I think were birds?" she mewed.

"Great! That means we're off to a wonderful start. I want you to meditate when you can from now on and focus on everything around you and maybe sniff out for scents," Sandcoat told her.

"I will!"

Sandcoat smiled at Blizzardpaw. He could see how determined she was to become a warrior. "Let's get back to camp now." he padded back towards where Driftclan was with Blizzardpaw right on his tail.

*

Once they got back to camp, Sandcoat turned to the fluffy white apprentice. "I will go rest for a little, we're finished for now." He meowed.

"Okay!" Blizzardpaw replied as she watched her mentor go to the Warriors' den.

"Hey, Blizzardpaw!"

She looked to her right to see her father Icejaw standing there, smiling at her.

"Icejaw!" She ran up to him and nuzzled him.

"How's being an apprentice so far?"

"It's great! I watched Sandcoat catch a bird, and I learned how to meditate!" She mewed excitedly.

"I'm happy for you-"

"Hey, Icejaw! I need you!" It was Shellstar yelling from the entrance for Icejaw.

"Well, looks like Shellstar needs me. We can speak to each other later!" He ran over to the leader.

I'll still be making you proud of me, Icejaw! Blizzardpaw happily thought.