Warriors: The Broken Heart

Chapter 2

   "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather for a clan meeting." Waspstar yowled.

Applekit's eyes shot open.

Right now?! I just fell asleep!

Ripplekit sprung out of the moss nest. "It's time! Get up, fur balls!" She nudged Applekit.

Leafstorm purred. "Hold on, let me clean you before you get out there."

"We're fine! We can clean ourselves!" Ashkit protested.

Applekit's heart was thudding. He began to think of all the eyes that would be on him when Waspstar would call on him.

"Hey, are you ok?" Ripplekit mewed, her voice sounding worried.

"Yeah I erm-" Applekit stammered, "I'm just really nervous.."

"Don't be!" Ashkit mewed, "I'm sure everything will be fine!" He gave his brother a playful flick on the ears. "Besides, what could go wrong today? I'm sure all we'll be doing is going around the territory. We can finally have a change of scenery!"

Applekit perked up. "Yeah, I guess I'm just worried about-"

"Come on!" Ripplekit interrupted, "we're going to be late for our own ceremony!"

Applekit followed his siblings to the middle of camp, with Leafstorm close behind.

Waspstar stood above his clanmates. His gray fur contrasted the snow nicely.

A few fox lengths away, Eveningfoot, WindClan's medicine cat sat, her blue eyes narrowed and her golden scarred pelt blended in with the sunlight.

Waspstar puffed his chest. "It's come to my attention that three young cats have reached the age of six moons," he paused, looking down at the siblings. His eyes scanned to Ripplekit. "Ripplekit," Ripplekit twitched her paws in excitement. Waspstar surveyed the crowd until he landed his gaze on Songspeckle, a rather young cat who received her warrior name a few moons before Applekit and his sibling's birth. "Your mentor will be Songspeckle," the she cat looked up at her leader rather stunned and confused, her brother, Cedarspeck, gave her sister a proud nudge. "You received excellent training from Voleclaw, so I hope you will pass on the same wisdom to Ripplepaw."

Ripplepaw bounded up to the dark brown she cat and touched noses with her. Songspeckle nodded, with much seriousness in her eyes.

"Applekit," Waspstar's meow made him jump. "Your mentor will be Shellwhisker." Applekit looked over to the calico she cat, whose blue eyes shone with pride as she calmly padded over to him. "Shellwhisker, you have proven time and time again to be an excellent mentor, so I have no worries that you will train Applepaw with that same excellence."

Shellwhisker touched noses to Applepaw. Applepaw's heart had stopped thudding in his chest. Shellwhisker's eyes blazed with pride, which made Applepaw feel better about his apprenticeship.

Waspstar's eyes moved to Ashkit, his gaze flooded with guilt. "Ashkit," he paused. Applepaw looked over to his brother, who looked uneasy. He noticed the medicine cat, Almondfrost, who had the same look on her face. What's going on? He thought. "I come before you with the will of StarClan. Ashkit, you have been called to the position of medicine cat apprentice. Your mentor will be Almondfrost. She will teach you the ways of StarClan and the healing properties of different herbs to help WindClan."

Murmurs and small cries came from the crowd.

"Waspstar! You can't!" Leafstorm bursted out, "my son wishes to become a warrior!"

"You cannot decide this kit's fate just because you heard of something from StarClan!" Viperclaw hissed, "that is cruel!"

Applepaw stood shocked. He had no idea why StarClan would tell Waspstar that Ashpaw should become a medicine cat, especially since Waspstar had seen how much potential Ashpaw had!