Warriors | Broken Spirit (Draft 1)

Chapter 7

Pyramis was awoken abruptly by the feeling of someone crushing his spine. He squeaked and jumped up, squeezing out from below the cat above him. He spun around, claws out, hissing loudly at whoever it was. He blinked away the sleep and noticed who it was. It was simply SagePaw and TinyPaw roughhousing. The two looked up at him, surprised he had awoken and had reacted with such determination. Pyramis wiped the sleepy drool from his chin and licked the fur back down on his spine, looking at them out of the corner of his eye. 

"Well, he needed to wake up soon anyway," TinyPaw shrugged up at SagePaw, who had pinned her down. She suddenly kicked SagePaw in the belly with her back legs, SagePaw went flying backwards, hitting her body against the low ceiling and landing on her side with a loud thud. TinyPaw rushed over and pinned her down, standing a little off to the side so the larger apprentice couldn't pull the same move. 

"Alright! Alright! I'll help you! Stars..." SagePaw complained, referencing the job that HoneyWhisker had assigned TinyPaw last night. TinyPaw let her up and the black she-cat licked away the remnants of the fight. 

"How did that not hurt?" Pyramis gawked, his eyes wide and his body cringing at the sheer idea of getting body slammed into a hard stone ceiling at full force. 

"It did, you just gotta learn to get over it," SagePaw shrugged. "Now hurry up, or you're going to be late."

"Late to what?" 

"Your apprentice ceremony, duh," TinyPaw mumbled. 

"Shoot!" Pyramis cursed, immediately beginning to groom his messy fur. "When is it?"

"It'll be around when the bottom of the sun is visible over the trees."

Pyramis gasped, looking at the horizon. Only a slither of the ball of light was hidden behind the treetops. There's not nearly enough time! He thought frantically, grooming as much of his pelt as he could. When he took a glance around, pretty much everyone was up already, the elders were eating, kits were playing, and patrols were being organized by HoneyWhisker as she sat next to an old tree stump with part of it split off so it looked like a lilypad. Small flowers grew around the roots, HoneyWhisker looked like a painting in the sunlight. He quickly noticed SilverStar emerge from the cave in her den, her pelt freshly groomed and her bulging muscles as visible as ever. She strutted up to HoneyWhisker and murmured in a hushed tone in her ear. HoneyWhisker nodded and SilverStar lept on top of the stump, meowing loudly through the island and catching every cat's attention.

"Cats of ScaleClan, gather beneath the sun tree for a clan meeting!" She yowled. Immediately everyone began flocking towards the stump, gathering around in a tight circle. A queen and her kits stayed off to the side, though, sending her children to sit on the outer rings with the elders while she joined the crowd. 

"Why do they call it the sun tree?" Pyramis asked, desperately trying to gross the rest of his pelt. 

"Because how long the shadow is, tells you the time, duh," TinyPaw muttered offhandedly. 

Pyramis hopped up and ducked into the crowd, following SagePaw and TinyPaw as they gathered next to their mentors. He jumped in next to MurkyPaw and his mentor, an ugly brown tabby with a squished face. MurkyPaw didnt say anything, just shuffled so he could sit next to him. There was a quiet muttering between the clan cats before SilverStar waved her tail, and everyone shut up.

"As you may be aware, there was a new member of our clan to join us yesterday. Today he will be receiving his apprentice name and mentor so he can train to be a loyal warrior of ScaleClan beside all of you," SilverStar meowed, an aura of dense authority radiating off her shiny grey pelt. "Pyramis, step forward."

Pyramis swallowed and pushed his way through the crowd until he came to a stop in front of the leader. HoneyWhisker smiled comfortingly to him, making him feel less insecure about his messy pelt. It was usually tradition for a mother to groom her kits before they got to their ceremony, so they looked at least presentable, but this time there was no mother around to help him. Pyramis's pelt stuck up around his shoulders, haunches, and neck. He had a goofy smile on his face. When he gazed up at his leader she towered over him, making him drop his head and cower below her harsh gaze. 

"Pyramis, you have agreed to leave your life behind and devote yourself as an apprentice of SpruceClan," SilverStar started. "From now on, until you have received your warrior name, you shall be known as SedgePaw. Your mentor will be HoneyWhisker. I hope she is able to use her brave and intellect and is able to pass it down to you."

Pyramis - no, SedgePaw, smiled widely, sucking in a deep, excited breath. HoneyWhisker! He thought with a grim. HoneyWhisker will be my mentor! The honey pelted she-cat stood from her place next to SilverStar and glided over to her new apprentice, her paws delicately placed by the graceful cat. She stood in front of her apprentice and leant down, winking happily at him.

"Touch my nose," She whispered to him, SedgePaw reached up and touched his pink nose to her tan one and the clan erupted into a reluctant cheering. Some of them seemed a little uncomfortable with the idea of a new cat, but they congratulated him non the less. SedgePaw was suddenly swarmed with the other apprentices and their mentors. He jumped when cats sniffed his pelt and smiled awkwardly at his peers, still giddy over being chosen to be the deputies apprentice.

"You lucky son of a-"

"TinyPaw!" SoftShell hissed at her. Everyone around them chuckled and laughed at the unruly apprentice and her mentors struggle to reign her in. 

"Between you and me," TinyPaw whispered in SedgePaw's ear. "Everyone here would prefer HoneyWhisker as our mentor." SedgePaw smiled and giggled nervously, glancing at his new friend's faces. He heard a throat being cleared and gazed up to see a heavily scarred white tom with a brown muzzle that had recently become flecked with age. He looked SedgePaw up and down, his eyes narrowed.

"My name is GooseCry, I am SagePaws mentor. I hope you are as loyal as SilverStar believes you are," The old tom growled menacingly. SedgePaw swallowed, suddenly feeling as small as he did when he ran into that SpruceClan patrol. GooseCry's shadow loomed over the young tom, choking him with its darkness. SedgePaw glanced at SagePaw, who sat off to the side of TinyPaw with similar narrowed eyes. 

"Hey," SedgePaw spun around, coming face-to-face with an older apprentice with spotted ginger fur. She looked him up and down and seemed to process something deeply. "My names RainPaw, if you're loyal to us, I'm loyal to you." SedgePaw nodded to her and smiled a little as she dipped her head and walked away, back to the den to resume the sleep that had been stolen from her by guard duty last night. 

"SedgePaw!" He heard WillowPaw shriek, she pounced onto him, but SedgePaw locked his legs and stayed standing, the she-cat laying on top of him and giggling uncontrollably. "SedgePaw, SedgePaw, SedgePaw," She repeated to herself, climbing off her friend. "It's gonna be weird to say that for a bit, but I like it!"

"I like it, too," SedgePaw admitted, the smile on his face almost spreading to his ears. 

"You're so lucky! I can't believe you get to be HoneyWhisker's apprentice! She hasn't taken an apprentice since-"

"Enough, all of you," HoneyWhisker cut through, nosing everyone away from her new apprentice. "I would like to take SedgePaw on a tour around the territory now. You can all speak to him when we get back tonight." She then turned to the mottled brown tom. "Are you ready?"