New Dawn: The Apprentices Trial

Chapter 9

Act 2 - Insights Of Drifting Dreams

The sun shone bright in the sky when Mousepaw passed through the entrance of the camp with his mentor, Swiftstrike. "You did good today Mousepaw, but try practicing a little bit more, your balance was a tad off." His mentor commented before walking towards the warriors den. Mousepaw grunted and padded of to find his brother. He poked his head through the apprentices den finding that Ratpaw's scent was stale from that morning.

Weird, I haven't seen him all day, he should be back by now.

He whipped around by the sound of pawsteps coming his way. His expression turned into frustration when he saw the faces of Rabbitpaw and Sunpaw, he hated the two apprentices, they would always tease him as a kit, and single him out. They were both so snotty. They both ignored him and pushed their way past the small tom.

His ears dropped, he couldn't help feeling sad. The only friends he had were Ratpaw and Lightpaw, and even then those two were pretty popular among the clan. Yet Mousepaw was quiet, judgmental, and full of anger and insecurities. He was going to go back out until he saw Ratpaw's mentor, Brokenwing.

"BrokenWing! Have you seen Ratpaw? I thought he was out hunting with you?" A small growl exited his meow, he couldn't help coming off as grumpy all the time, he didn't care. BrokenWing looked upset, "You haven't heard? No one's seen him or Deerpaw all day, we were supposed to be on the dawn patrol together, but he never showed up, Foxflame and Timberfall found their scent leaving the camp and going past that one badger den, but they lost it after that, no one knows where they could've gone... I'm sorry Mousepaw..." he said sympathetically. The tom put his muzzle on his shoulder, but he quickly flicked him off.

"Whatever!" Mousepaw growled and stormed off into the forest, even though his heart was aching at the news.

Ratpaw was knelt down to the ground, he was shaking and his fur bristled, looking like small needles. There were small scratches littering his pelt and a tear fell from his face, onto his cheek. He looked up at Dragonpaw, "Y-you saved me.... thank you so much!" He said gratefully, still trembling from the shock.

Dragonpaw let out a big smile, "No problem, I don't know what we would've done without you! You got the dream for us!" He mewed before flicking his tail on his face, wiping away his tear.

Suddenly, Deerpaw rushed to Ratpaw's side and started licking the biggest scratch on his lower back, and wrapped her tail around his small stumpy one. Her scent filled his nostrils, making him feel at ease.

BumblePaw timidly plodded towards the two, "I-if you want, I c-can t-treat that? I-I'm not a medicine cat a-apprentice, but my s-sister is." He stammered. "Y-you too Dragonpaw, t-they look pretty bad."

Ratpaw nodded In thanks and DeerPaw moved aside for Bumblepaw to look at their wounds. He inspected Ratpaw and Dragonpaw to see how deep the wounds were. "Well s-some of them are pretty bad," he stated shyly, pulling out some loose stones from Ratpaw's pelt. "I'll n-need some c-cobwebs, could someone g-grab some? I-if they don't mind t-that is." He muttered sheepishly.

Silkpaw spoke up, "I will! I saw some over by those bushes, I'll be back!" she chirped, before dashing off, toward a clump of shrubs next to the collapsed cavern.

The scratches by Ratpaw's neck stung like crazy. He dug his claws into the dry mud below him and looked over at DragonPaw, who was feeling the same discomfort.

Then Silkpaw rushed back to Bumblepaw, a large clump of spiderwebs in her jaws, and she placed them next the the white and ginger tom.

He stammered "T-thanks!" And took some with his forepaw, and carefully placed them on RatPaws worse wounds. They stung like nettles, and as he lay there uncomfortable, BumblePaw seemed to notice his discomfort.

"I-I'm sorry if I'm h-hurting you! The pain will s-stop soon." He said sympathetically.
Ratpaw reassured him with a smile as he finished. "Thanks Bumblepaw! It feels a lot better now." He rested his paw on his shoulder in appreciation, before he moved to help Dragonpaw's wounds.

The apprentices lay there for awhile, waiting for their wounds to stop hurting, and Lagoonpaw and Deerpaw went hunting.

The breeze picked up a bit as they got higher. They still had to get past another large mountain, which Ratpaw wasn't looking forward to.

He had always disliked climbing, it was one of the only things that Mousepaw beat him at. The memory of his brother made his heart ache. He missed the beige and white tom, however stubborn and ignorant he was.

Mousepaw didn't have many friends, and wasn't the most popular among the clan, he had always had issues with his anger, and came off as brash and rude at times. But he still found happiness with his brother, and Lightpaw. He was obsessed with her, she was so kind and gentle, and was always sticking up for him.

"I hope your ok, Mousepaw. I'll be home soon." he muttered. Just then, Dragonpaw got up and padded to him, "Hey, are you ready to get going? Hopefully we'll get past this mountain by nightfall." He said, turning around to clean his flank.

Ratpaw flicked his ear in agreement, and got to his paws and stretched. "Ok, let's get everyone rounded up, then we will head off!" He said, as all the cats got together he spoke up, "Ok everyone, we still have to get past this mountain, I say we get into pairs and the best go up first, then they can help the rest get up." He suggested, everyone agreed and got into pairs.

Dragonpaw, Silkpaw and Lagoonpaw climbed up first, then helped the others from falling. The climbing was very tedious, and Ratpaw almost lost his footing a few times. Lucky there were no casualties, and all 6 apprentices got past with more confidence the second time.

It felt like they had been climbing for ages, then DeepPaw spoke up, "Hey guys! I think I can see the other side!" All apprentices looked up, exhausted, and everybody's eyes all lit up, she was right, RatPaw could see the exit out of the mountains. "Come on!" SilkPaw squeaked, and all the apprentices ran down the rest of the way.

About half way down, While Deerpaw was running, she tripped over her paws and landed fave first into the sandy ground below.