Warriors: Shadows Of The Night

Chapter 14

That day, Ravenpaw had a new energy. She had went on the dawn hunting patrol, surprising Thornwhisker by waking up early. Palefoot and Berryflower had also been on the patrol. They had caught a vole, three mice, and a blackbird between the four of them.

After the hunting patrol, Ravenpaw brought a mouse to Longfur before taking one for herself. She ate alone near the apprentice's den.

As Ravenpaw ate, she thought about the dream she had. Had Nightshadow really been training her from the dead? She wondered if she'd see him again.

Probably, Ravenpaw thought, After all, it did sound like he has intentions to train me more.

After Ravenpaw finished her mouse she went to make dirt. When she was done that, she sat down beside the apprentice's den and began grooming herself. As she did that, Sandpaw emerged from the apprentice's den, yawning. She padded over to Thornwhisker, who was sharing a mouse with Palefoot at the foot of the Leader's Rock.

"Is Blacktail awake yet?" Ravenpaw heard Sandpaw ask. Thornwhisker nodded, angling his ears toward the warrior's den.

At the same moment Birdflight emerged from the warrior's den, stretching. He saw Sandpaw and meowed: "Blacktail and Iceclaw are awake. They want to take you and Graypaw to the training clearing."

"I'll go wake Graypaw!" Sandpaw mewed, turning and bounding over to the apprentice's den. A few moments she emerged with Graypaw close behind her. Graypaw's fur was ruffled from sleep, but his eyes were bright and he was clearly ready for the day. At the same time, Iceclaw padded out of the warrior's den. Blacktail padded out behind him. Ravenpaw turned her head away, remembering how her mother had said she wasn't ready to be a warrior. Looking at Blacktail made Ravenpaw angry.

"Are you two ready?" Blacktail asked.

"Of course!" Sandpaw meowed, "I'm always ready!"

"Good," Iceclaw gave the apprentices a nod, "Then let's go."

"Wait," Shallowstar emerged from her den, "Thornwhisker and Ravenpaw should go with you."

"Sure!" Ravenpaw mewed, standing up and flexing her claws. I can get a chance to practice what Nightshadow taught me last night!

"Alright," Thornwhisker said, padding over from a spot at the edge of the clearing, where he had been sitting with Palefoot. "Are you ready Ravenpaw?"

"Yes," Ravenpaw meowed, flicking her tail back and forth energetically. I want to prove that I'm ready to be a warrior!

"Then let's go!" Sandpaw bounded ahead of the cats out of the camp, her tail sticking straight up. The other cats followed, Ravenpaw keeping to the back of the group. She thought about the dream and wondered if there was more to her father's story than she'd heard from her Clanmates.

They soon reached the training clearing, which was a small clearing in a sense part of the woods directly in the middle distance with the camp and DarkClan's border. Ravenpaw's mind was still focused on Nightshadow as the cats entered the clearing.

Blacktail padded to the center of the clearing and faced the others. "Today we are going to be focusing on simple attack moves."

Iceclaw padded to Blacktail's side and nodded, flicking his tail. "Since Ravenpaw is the oldest, Blacktail and I have decided that she should show the younger apprentices some basic fighting techniques."

Ravenpaw felt a stab of excitement. Now I'll get to use the move that Nightshadow taught me!

"Ravenpaw," Iceclaw meowed, "Try to pin me to the ground."

Ravenpaw nodded and crouched down, facing the white warrior. Iceclaw was watching her every move carefully through narrowed blue eyes. Then Ravenpaw hurled herself at Iceclaw's legs, wrapping her paws around them and twisting her forelegs so that he fell to the ground. Then she pounced on his flank, holding her paws to his shoulders to pin him to the ground.

"Wow," Graypaw breathed, his voice full of awe.Even Sandpaw, who was sitting beside him, looked slightly impressed. Thornwhisker stared at Ravenpaw with amazement as she stepped back and let Iceclaw stand.

"That was great!" Thornwhisker exclaimed, "Where did you learn to do that? I'm not sure I remember teaching you that."

Ravenpaw shrugged. "I must've picked it up somewhere." She decided not to tell her Clanmates about her dream. After all, they'd probably think she was crazy. Not to mention they all hate Nightshadow.

"That's good," Thornwhisker meowed, "It's always good to learn a few moves on your own."

"Will you tell us how you did it?" Graypaw asked, pricking his ears forward.

"Of course!" Ravenpaw twitched her ears, glad that Graypaw and Thornwhisker were impressed by the way she had pinned Iceclaw to the ground.

Ravenpaw glanced at Blacktail and Iceclaw. Both cats didn't impressed at all, though. In fact, they both looked... suspicious. Blacktail was eyeing Ravenpaw with a starled look on her face, while Iceclaw's eyes were narrowed, as if suspicious. Soon Blacktail had the same look in her own yellow eyes.

What's gotten into them? Ravenpaw wondered, feeling odd as they stared at her. She quickly looked away, back at Thornwhisker, who was looking at her fondly.

"Alright," Thornwhisker said with a cheerful flick of his tail. "Explain to the apprentices what you just did."

"Okay," Ravenpaw agreed, remembering exactly what Nightshadow had told her and explaining it to the two apprentices. As she did so, she risked a glance over her shoulder at Blacktail and Iceclaw. The two cats still were staring at her with suspicion in her eyes.

Why?