RainClan's Fate; The Apprentice's Destiny | Warrior Cats Fanfiction

~Chapter 12~

Amberpaw woke the next day with the pangs of terror from her dream still inside her. She'd been falling into an endless black pit, neither hitting the ground nor banging into any walls. Darkness was spread around her. Amberpaw shivered at the memory.

She sat up in her nest and quickly washed herself. Toadfeather emerged from his den and nodded at Amberpaw before hurrying out of the medicine den. He's probably going to collect herbs, Amberpaw thought to herself. She stood up, stretched, and padded out of the medicine den. She looked around and sighed with relief when she saw that everything seemed to be fine.

Barkstripe was sharing a mouse by the warriors' den with Patchfoot, and Riverfreckle was just headed over to join them. Silverheart was leading a patrol that consisted of Ashtail, Foxheart and Daisyfern. Honeyflower and Eaglefur were sharing tongues beside the nursery; Willowheart was sunning her swollen belly nearby. Burntstar was just emerging from his den to find Moonfire waiting for him, flicking her tail in pleasure as her mate greeted her.

Amberpaw's yellow eyes followed Wolfstrike as the dark grey she-cat padded over to the apprentices' den and poked her head inside. A minute later, Stormpaw appeared, shaking her moss-covered pelt and meowing to her mentor. A few heartbeats later Wolfstrike padded over to Burntstar's den with a flick of her tail and Stormpaw went to the fresh-kill pile. She bounded back to the apprentices' den with a sparrow in her jaws; she lay down to eat just as Snowpaw and Mousepaw left the den and joined her. A heartbeat later Mudpaw and Flamepaw were racing back from the fresh-kill pile to eat beside the tree stump. Silkpaw was nowhere to be seen. Amberpaw padded over to the fresh-kill pile and selected a crow for herself. She headed across the clearing to where her friends were sharing prey.

"Hi, Amberpaw," Flamepaw meowed as Amberpaw joined them. "Stormpaw was just telling us about what she'll be doing today."

"Okay," Amberpaw lay down and bit into the crow.

"Wolfstrike's showing me a new battle move!" Stormpaw bragged. "We're going to be in sandy hollow all day, she told me."

"When Riverfreckle gets back we're going to the pond to catch fish," Snowpaw implied. "And then we're going to patrol the borders."

"I'm going to be in a patrol too," Mousepaw cut in. "With Ashtail. When he gets back, we're doing battle training and then we'll be on the sunhigh patrol!"

"Well, I'm doing battle training!" Mudpaw meowed excitedly. "Ivytail says we need more warriors."

"Thistlestorm's taking me on another stupid hunt," Flamepaw muttered. "I wanted to do battle training, but apparently the sandy hollow's too full."

"Well, it would be," Stormpaw replied. "With me, Mudpaw and Mousepaw all there. Maybe you'll do some battle training tomorrow?"

"Maybe," Flamepaw huffed. He stood up and shook his pelt. "I better get going. Thistlestorm wants me to meet him at the pond by sunhigh."

"I'll come with you," Snowpaw offered, finishing off her vole and standing up. "Bye, guys!"

"Bye," Amberpaw called as the two apprentices hurried away. She turned to Mousepaw. "Where's Silkpaw? Is she already out?"

Mousepaw shook his head. "She's still in her den. I think Dawnlily's death made her really upset."

"It didn't seem to have any effect on you!" Stormpaw joked. "I mean, look at you — all happy and cheerful the day after."

Mousepaw shrugged. "I guess. I'm just not moaning about it like Silkpaw is. Think about it this way; I want to become the cat Dawnlily wanted me to become, and how can I achieve my goal of becoming a warrior if I just spend my time moaning about her death?"