New Flight - a warriors story, Book #1 in The Winding Fates

Chapter 18

Cliffstar stood on his rock. "All cats old enough to climb the mountains gather here for a Clan meeting!"

Hiddenpaw stretched in the dusk light and padded over. Flickerpaw sat beside him. He saw Owlfeather and Sparrowflight, his and Flickerpaw's mentors, talking together on the opposite side.

"We have six apprentices becoming warriors tonight, and StarClan has blessed us with so many." the grey tom meowed, gazing down at the Clan.

"All apprentices, step forward!"

A rustle echoed through camp as the six cats picked their way to the front.

"I, Cliffstar, leader of MountainClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices. They have trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend them all to you as a warrior in their turn." he took a breath and rested a hard gaze on all of the apprentices. "Apprentices, do you all promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your lives?"

"I do!" a chorus of meows was heard as all cats gave a yowl.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior names. Alderpaw, Flamepaw, Hiddenpaw, Flickerpaw, Boltpaw, and Flarepaw, from this moment you will be known as Alderfur, for your loyalty, Flameear, for your strength in hunting, Hiddenstorm, for your strong energy, Flickerflame, for your bright spirit, Boltleap, for your strength, and Flarepond, for your calm personality. StarClan honors you all and we welcome you as a full warrior of MountainClan."

The warriors chanted their names as Scorchpelt padded up to Cliffstar and whispered something to him. Remembrance seemed to flash in his eyes as he spoke.

"Uh... Because there are so many of you, we need to split you up for the vigils. Two outside the tunnel, to inside, and one each outside of the nursery and elder's den."

The new warriors nodded as the Clan swirled around them and wished them that StarClan would light their paths as long as they lived.

Cliffstar had chosen Hiddenstorm and Flickerflame to go outside of the tunnel. He shifted his paws as he saw Flickerflame's eyes shift from him to the mountain in front of them.

((Recreation of Iconic scene in a moment))

"Uh... Flickerflame," he meowed, "Since we aren't apprentices anymore, and you know we're not related, I thought it wouldn't be awkward to..."

"To...?" Flickerflame meowed, looking at Hiddenstorm, her head turned to one side.

"To... uh... tell you something," Hiddenstorm meowed, his ears burning with embarrassment. Flickerflame was still looking expectantly, and Hiddenstorm burst out, "I think I like you!"

Her eyes lit with shock and then went soft. "It's okay... because I might, too."

Hiddenstorm shifted awkwardly and stared on. The rest of the night was filled with silence.

**¥¥¥¥**

Hiddenstorm stumbled through the camp, his eyesight blurry. The other new warriors were stumbling around trying to find the den. Flickerflame was mumbling behind him as Alderfur and Boltleap shuffled at the entrance to the camp. Flarepond and Flameear were closest to the dens.

Owlfeather yawned and padded over to greet Hiddenstorm.

"Hey, kiddo," he mumbled. "How was the vigil? Boring? Yeah- I know-" he sounded kind of tired himself, and the black tom noticed a few new scratches on him.

He shook it off as a thorn in his nest as an ear-piercing yowl shot across the camp.

"It's Featherfleck!" Fallenhollow yowled. Pooflick and Oakpaw came dashing out, skidding into the nursery. Hiddenstorm saw Owlfeather stiffen as another yowl came from the den. Sparrowflight padded over and placed his tail on his shoulder, sitting down.

Shrugging his shoulders and padding out of camp, Hiddenstorm noticed a non-Clan scent. A rogue.

"Hey!" a meow startled him. "How is she doing in there?"

He twisted around to find a brown tom gazing fearfully down at the camp. "Sharp, was it? What are you doing here?"

Sharp looked up. "How's Featherfleck doing? Her kits?"

He shifted, not knowing why a rogue would want to know this. "Fine, I guess. It doesn't sound too bad..."

Sharp flicked his gaze back and fixed them on the nursery. He started to mumble incoherent things to himself.

Blinking and not paying attention to where his paws were taking him, Hiddenstorm realized that he was being dragged to the Spirits' Canyon.

As he stepped in, a cold wave of air hit him. As dawn slowly made its way up the sky, the sun peeked over the mountain while the warriors of StarClan were still visible. Casting its light over the canyon, it made a ring of fire around the stone cat in the middle. Gradually, StarClan warriors appeared, lining around the outside. "Night has turned to day, let our warriors awake." the StarClan warriors all meowed solemnly, turning to face the stone cat. All circling around it, the sun's fiery ring rose above the canyon, bathing all in a warm light. The StarClan cats looked up and yowled, "Let our warriors awake!"

With those final words, they launched into the sky, a trail of fire following them.

Hiddenstorm stared in awe. The stone cat in front of him and turned to a real cat. A cat of darkest night. It stared at him with bright white eyes but seemingly no other face.

"You're new here, young cat."

(oh how I want to end it there- but I can't!)

**¥¥¥¥**

Hiddenstorm padded into camp with two mice. Decent sized mice.

Cats were gathered around the nursery. He saw Owlfeather and Sparrowflight hanging back, but others were eager to see Featherfleck's new kits.

"Opalkit and Mintkit! Such nice names!"

"I know! I would've never thought of that!"

Owlfeather mumbled to himself after he noticed Hiddenstorm walking back in. "Hey. You smell like the canyon."

Hiddenstorm grumbled. "Yeah. I visited."

Sparrowflight smiled and padded over to his side. "Come on, let's go visit our friends in the tunnels."