Warriors: The Prophecy of Fire

Chapter Seven

"This is stinging nettle, if it is eaten it causes the cat to vomit, which can help get rid of poison. It can be turned into a poultice to apply on wounds and, if mixed with comfrey, it can help heal broken bones. I put it on you when you were first brought in," Mosstail continued. The black tom had been droning on for what felt like hours and Hawthornepaw was sick of it. It was about sun-high of her first day as an apprentice and she was already bored out of her mind. "Are you paying attention?" Mosstail snipped, bringing Hawthornepaw back to now.

"Yep," she replied, a little to hastily.

"Ok, then tell me, what does Oak Leaf do?"

"Umm," Hawthornepaw mewed, racking her brain. "It soothes a belly ache?"

"No," Mosstail replied sternly. "That's Mallow Leaves. Oak Leaf is dried and can stop infections, listen." Hawthornepaw ducks her head in embarrassment. 

"I will, sorry Mosstail." He hrumphs and continues on, quizzing her on which herbs can be used to stop infections, or green and whitecough, what helps the elders with their aching joints, what gives cats energy, and so on.

"All cats old enough to swim gather beneath High Tree for a Clan meeting!" Pebblestar yowled. That's right, they become warriors today! Hawthornepaw realized. She bounded out to High Tree to get a good view of the ceremony. "Lilypelt, Breezecloud, have your apprentices, Silverpaw and Brushpaw, learned the skills of a warrior? Do they understand the importance of the warrior code?" 

"They do," the mentors replied in unison.

"Brushpaw, please come forward." He does as he's told and looks up at his leader. "I, Pebblestar, leader of RiverClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. They have trained hard to know the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in turn. Brushpaw, do you promise to uphold the Warrior Code and protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do," Brushpaw said, his voice strong.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Brushpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Brushbranch. StarClan honors your courage and independence and welcomes you as a full warrior of RiverClan." Brushbranch licks her shoulder and sits back down.

"Silverpaw, please step forward." Silverpaw steps forward, shaking like a leaf in the wind. "I, Pebblestar, leader of RiverClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down upon this apprentice. They have trained hard to know the ways of your noble code, and I commend them to you as a warrior in turn. Silverpaw, do you promise to uphold the Warrior Code and protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?"

"I do," she replied, her voice quivering.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Silverpaw, from this moment on you will be known as Silverfeather. StarClan honors your compassion and determination and welcomes you as a full warrior of RiverClan." Silverfeather walks forward, each step more sure, and licks Pebblestar's shoulder. 

"Silverfeather! Brushbranch! Silverfeather! Brushbranch!" Silverfeather ducks her head in embarrassment but Brushbranch puffed out his chest, proud as can be. Hawthornepaw darts over to them and purrs.

"I'm so proud of you! You're names suit you so well!" 

"Thanks," Silverfeather says, purring.

"I know, right!" Brushbranch says, his eyes wide with pride. Reedheart and Sunpelt rush over and start fussing over their kits, who are now warriors. 

"Oh, my kits are all grown up!" Reedheart exclaims at them, then turns back to Hawthornepaw. "Yes, you too Hawthornepaw. Even though you're not a warrior I know you would have passed, and now you're becoming a medicine cat. I'm proud of you too!" She purrs and Sunpelt starts talking about how proud he is.

"Hawthornepaw! I need you!" Mosstail yowls. She says goodbye to her family and pads over to the medicine cat den, where she sees a cream colored she-cat who looks like an older version of Dovepaw. She has a scratch down her side, her fur turning a light shade of pink.

"What happened?" Hawthornepaw asks, concern in her voice.

"I got caught on some brambles when I was going on a walk, it's not that bad though."

"I thought you could help help her, your first time as a real medicine cat apprentice." Hawthornepaw nods in understanding and thinks back to her training from earlier that morning and races over to the stocks, grabbing Horsetail and some cobwebs. She chews up the Horsetail and rubs it into the cut, finishing by covering it with cobwebs to help stop the bleeding. "Nice job, Hawthornepaw. Now, what should she do?"

"Come back every so often to get it checked on to make sure no infection is coming in, if you start feeling funny come back here right away." Mosstail nods in approval.

"Ok, I will. Thank you Hawthornepaw." Featherstep purrs. She exits the den and walks over to Breezecloud, letting him know what had happened. She saw her former mentor, Lakeclaw, chatting with Hawkheart, and Brushbranch chatting with Dovepaw and smiled, glad that they had both found someone. She felt a cool breeze go by and saw a few of the trees' leaves turning orange.

Mosstail turned to Hawthornepaw, "Let's go gather some herbs, Leaf-Fall is getting near." She dips her head respectfully and follows her mentor out of the den and past Berrytail, who is having and argument with Dawnsky.

"Do you have bees in your brain?" Berrytail hissed. "Of course I'm mature enough to lead a patrol. I've been a warrior for three seasons after all."

"It doesn't matter how old you are," Dawnsky replied calmly. "That doesn't affect your maturity, I mean..."

"No," Berrytail interrupted, "I'm done with you." She stalked off, her head high and her tail flicking in anger.

"Who ruffled her fur?" Hawthornepaw said, her green eyes flickering in amusement.

"Berrytail just gets offended easily, I actually trained her to be a medicine cat for a while but she got her whiskers all in a twist every time I had to correct her. Plus, she wouldn't be able to tell a deathberry from catmint." Hawthornepaw mrowed in laughter and followed Mosstail down the path collecting some fresh herbs. Sometimes he could be a real pain in the tail smart-ears, but once you got to know him he could be fun to be around. Soon their jaws were full of herbs and they walked back to camp, sorting them into their stocks. 

Before she knew it it was moon-high, the dark sky lit up by the Silverpelt and the almost full moon. Mosstail is curled up in his nest, fast asleep. Hawthornepaw walks out of the camp, walking to the edge of the lake, feeling the cool breezes ruffle her short fur. She looks at the lake and can see the reflection of the sky in it. She looks up at the real sky again and back down, but this time she sees a black tom speckled with white standing beside her, his bright blue eyes shining. She turns around, glad to see him again.

"Nightsky! What are you doing out here?"

"Oh, just looking at my namesake. What about you?"

"I just wanted to come out here for some time away from the camp, I miss going on patrols and hunting." Nightsky looks at her, his eyes sympathetic.

"I know it must be hard, but I'm proud of you. I know that you'll do what's best for the clan," he said, purring.

"I should probably be getting back to camp soon, it was nice talking with you."

"You too," he said, and then nuzzled her gently. She gave him one last look as she padded back to camp, wishing she could be with him.