Froststar's Destiny

Chapter Twenty

Frostwind woke up groggily and looked up to see the sun hadn't even risen yet. There were orange-gold streaks in the sky, indicating it was dawn. She looked up lazily to stare at Skyfeather, groaning.

"What did you wake me up for?" she complained, rolling over.

"You have an apprentice you know," Skyfeather pointed out mildly. Frostwind frowned, thinking hard, and then her thoughts drifted back to Hickorypaw.

"I do, don't I?" she asked in wonder. After all she had done, she'd still been given an apprentice. And she didn't even want the apprentice.

Skyfeather nodded with false grimness. "Yes, you do," he said in the most solemn tone she had ever heard.

Grinning, she cuffed him over the ear causing him to stagger backwards but both their eyes were alight and playful. 

"Go wake up your lazy furball," Skyfeather pressed.

Frostwind nodded, the grin sliding off her face as she glanced in the direction of the apprentices' den. It was going to be a long day.

She trudged there to find Hairypaw and Smallpaw already up and doing warm-up exercises. Their mentors, Cloudbeam and Windecho, gave Frostwind disapproving stares, even though her white brother's stare was soft and not very challenging.

"You're late to wake up your own apprentice! Heh! Someone else should've gotten her," Windecho sneered, like Hickorypaw was some sort of prize. Frostwind wrinkled her nose. Who'd want Hickorypaw for a prize? Not her, definitely.

"I didn't even want her, what's your problem?" Frostwind demanded shrilly. "I was fighting a real battle yesterday! What were you doing again? Oh, probably sleeping, no?"

"I was training my apprentice!" Windecho snarled, baring his teeth.

"Oh, so helpful," Frostwind droned.

He almost lunged to attack her but Cloudbeam lay his tail reassuringly on Windecho's back. "Don't fight," the white tom meowed softly. "It isn't worth it, brother."

Windecho stared back at Cloudbeam and his gaze softened for a split second before he turned back to Frostwind with as much anger and annoyance as before. "Well, go on and wake her up," he growled impatiently.

"I'm not letting you wait for me," Frostwind meowed mildly. "Why don't you go first?"

Surprisingly, Windecho nodded and dragged Smallpaw away. Sighing, Frostwind entered the apprentices' den to find Hickorypaw on her back, sleeping peacefully. Frostwind gave her a hard jab in the side. Who cared if she was a tiny apprentice? She'd have to learn to deal with pain eventually, and if she knew she would wake up to pain, she'd wake up earlier.

Hickorypaw let out a small squeal of pain and her eyes widened in terror. Her side had been soft and not muscled. Not that Frostwind could expect anything better of a kit, but it couldn't stay that way.

"F-F-Frostwind! What did you do that for?" Hickorypaw squealed, getting up and rubbing her side painfully.

"You're a late riser aren't you. I don't put up with that. It's already a little later than dawn, get moving," Frostwind growled.

"Are we seeing half the territory today?" Hickorypaw asked.

"Why half?" Frostwind narrowed her eyes.

"Because I saw the other half with Windecho and Cloudbeam yesterday," Hickorypaw replied.

Frostwind shrugged. "Alright, then you can lead me through that first half, can't you?"

Hickorypaw's eyes lit up, but then flooded with panic. "But I don't really know my way around there... I mean, it was only my first time yesterday... show you around, really?"