Heartstar's rise : Book Two

Ch. 3

               "This is the elder's den," finished Deerpaw. They were in front of a bunch of fern bushes. Suddenly, a grey and white spotted cat poked his head out of the ferns. 

                "What is this?" he snapped. "Deerpaw, are you bringing in a ShadowClan cat without introducing him to me?" Deerpaw smiled. 

                "Heartpaw, this is Pigeonfeather," announced Deerpaw. Pigeonfeather grinned. He looked young to be an elder and not grumpy at all. He took a liking to the elder at once. 

                "Nice to meet you, Heartpaw," said Pigeonfeather.

                "You too," he smiled. 

                "You must be thinking why I'm here," sighed Pigeonfeather. "My two hind legs are lame." 

                "Oh sorry," Heartpaw said, not knowing how to respond. 

               "I'm thirteen moons old," sighed Pigeonfeather. 

                "Deerpaw!" yelled a voice. 

                "Come on!" Deerpaw said and Heartpaw followed her to the middle of the camp where a brown and white cat was waiting impatiently. Beside him was a white cat with a black tail. 

                "That's my mentor," whispered Deerpaw into Heartpaw's ear. "He's pretty annoying." 

                "I have ears," said Deerpaw's mentor sternly. "I am Moorpelt. This is Blacktail. Good to meet you Heartpaw. I am Deerpaw's mentor and Blacktail will be yours for now." Heartpaw nodded. "We will not waste time. We will start training now. If you are to become RiverClan, then you must learn our ways." Heartpaw nodded excitedly. Blacktail smiled in approval.

                "Come," motioned Moorpelt. He led Deerpaw and Heartpaw out with Blacktail behind. They trotted into the forest. The air was cool but Heartpaw felt happier than he had had in a while. No cats had come over to talk to him but none had whispered to each other right in his face or started a fight. They seemed to be talking his arrival into their stride. But he knew he mustn't celebrate yet, he had to show that he was trustworthy and a good warrior. Blacktail turned to me. 

                 "You will start with fighting," she told me. Moorpelt nodded. 

                "Deerpaw, you will attack Heartpaw," he orderd Deerpaw nodded eagerly. Heartpaw was starting to take a liking to her bright personality. 

                 "Yes. For now, Heartpaw, you will only defend," said Blacktail. Heartpaw nodded and faced Deerpaw. He fixed his eyes on her and watched her every movement. She crouched and kept her tail low. Then she sprang, her paws out. Heartpaw's instinct was to try and push her down but he dodged sideway and turned to face her once more, restraining himself from striking out as she landed, back on him. Deerpaw turned around and pounced once more, lower to the ground. Heartpaw sidestepped but she shot her paw out to trip him. He managed to stumbled out of her grasp but she then lashed out with her front paw, going for a front paw strike. Heartpaw rolled away from her. She went for a back kick and Heartpaw managed to block her flying foot which didn't take much strength. Finally, Blacktail called a stop. 

                "Good job," she said. "How many moons old are you?" 

                 "Um," Heartpaw thought. He hadn't thought about it. He had had more pressing things on his mind. But he thought to be about nine moons old. "Ten moons." Blacktail nodded. 

                 "I'm eight moons old," grinned Deerpaw. Moorpelt rolled his eyes. 

                 "Deerpaw, that was poor performance for someone who was attacking. You barely landed a blow!" Moorpelt said. Deerpaw hung her head and Heartpaw felt slightly guilty but mostly proud.