Rewritten ✔
Edited ✘
"You- you what? But- Troutfrost is our deputy!" Shadepaw hissed, taking a step back. His orange-and-black fur was puffed up in both rage and slight fear. He feared Pebblepaw was right, and if she was, Troutfrost might've seen, and then she might be next.
"I'm almost sure!" Pebblepaw exclaimed, almost hurt that her friend didn't believe her. Key word: almost. She knew Shadepaw probably wouldn't believe, since again, Troutfrost is a seasoned deputy, and she is a six-moon old apprentice.
"No, no. You didn't actually watch him kill Goldenglow, did you?" Shadepaw asked, his voice shaking.
"Well, no-"
"Then you must have seen wrong. Must have." Pebblepaw nodded at his words. Shadepaw was older than her-- more experienced, wiser. He knew Troutfrost would never do this. Right?
When the storm has passed, Pebblepaw thought. There will be an enemy...
"I- um- I had this... dream..., Shadepaw," Pebblepaw started, glancing at her friend to see any signs of confusion. He nodded his head, his eyes cold. Continue.
"And, um... there was this voice... and it said, 'When the storm has passed, there will be an enemy who will always last. As the breeze blows in, a choice may cause the Clans a terrible end' and the voice sounded familiar. Am I going crazy or something?" the younger rambled on, only stopping when Shadepaw strode forward and put his paw up to her mouth.
"Shush. You are not crazy. It was just a dream. Just a dream, you hear me?" Pebblepaw nodded at his words, and he put his paw back on the ground.
"Let's get back to camp," Shadepaw murmured again. She nodded, and the two of them started along the winding trail. Going back to camp was much scarier than getting away from it, especially since the night had advanced since then. The shadows were longer, the sky darker, the trees seemingly taller.
Pebblepaw tripped over a branch without a sound. Shadepaw didn't seem to notice and kept walking, leaving the younger cat alone.
"Shadepaw?" she squeaked, turning in a tight circle. "Shadepaw?" she meowed louder, taking a step forward.
"Pebblepaw? Did you fall?" Shadepaw said, suddenly appearing at Pebblepaw's side.
"Eep!" she squealed, leaping backward. Once she realized who it was, she felt her ears heat up in embarrassment. "Yeah," she sighed. "I fell." He nodded, drooping his tail to lay on her back.
"I'll keep my tail on your back so if you fall again, I'll notice," the older meowed, laying his tail on her back. He smiled, and Pebblepaw felt her ears heat up. She glanced to the ground. They make it back to camp unharmed and weren't caught, and Pebblepaw almost immediately passed out once she laid down.
* * *
The next day, Pebblepaw was woken up by someone gently shaking her.
"Pebblepaw," Sparrowpaw's voice sounded, "Troutfrost wants to take you hunting." Pebblepaw blinked open her eyes at that.
Hunting? With Troutfrost? Were her thoughts as she stumbled out of the den, blinking as the too bright sun shined in her eyes. What if he...? she could never finish her thought.
The world seemed to hot to be leaf-bare to Pebblepaw. Little flurries of snow had started falling during the night though, so it had to be colder than she thought. The ground was covered in a thin layer of the cold snowflakes, and Pebblepaw liked how it felt on her paw pads.
"Since the river is freezing over," Troutfrost said, turning to look at Pebblepaw, "we will have to hunt land prey." His stare was intense; his eyes seemed to glow with a yellow fire. Pebblepaw nodded. They made their way down the riverside, trying to find a water vole or shrew.
Troutfrost stopped suddenly, his head tilted upward, his ears pricked and alert. He crouched down and waved his tail at Pebblepaw to do the same. Pebblepaw tried to focus, she really did, but knowing her mentor was possibly a murderer was taking its toll on her.
Should I tell Otterstar? she thought as she watched Troutfrost demonstrate how to catch a vole. He'd never believe me.
What about Stormpuddle? She tried to catch a vole herself but missed and caught her claw on the rocky river shore. No, she wouldn't believe me either... she's known Troutfrost since they were kits.
Maybe Sparrowpaw? No, I don't want to burden him with my worries. She missed another vole and a mouse.
"Pebblepaw? There's a shrew over there. Maybe you can catch that?" Troutfrost meowed, his eyes filled with some feeling-- pity maybe? Or the urge to murder someone? Pebblepaw could only hope not.
She crouched down, cleared her thoughts, and made sure her tail was low to the ground but not touching it, and stalked forward. She wiggled her haunches once she got near enough to pounce, and leaped onto the shrew.
I caught it! she thought as she hit her target, claws catching in the shrew's scruffy fur. It was very skinny due to there being not enough food during leaf-fall and then leaf-bare, but it was a shrew either way.
"Good job, Pebblepaw!" Troutfrost said as he bounded over. He looked almost as prideful as Stormpuddle did when she became an apprentice, almost as if he was her own father. Pebblepaw beamed, proud of herself even though the shrew wasn't the best catch.
"We can cut off training here for today." When Pebblepaw opened her mouth to ask why, he reiterated. "You seem a bit distracted. Grab that and let's go."
Once they got back to camp, Pebblepaw went over to show Shadepaw and Stormpuddle her catch. She decided she would tell Sparrowpaw about it later since he was still out training.
"Stormpuddle, Shadepaw! Look what I caught!" she yelled over to them.
Shadepaw's ears perked up. "You caught something? Already? It took me three days of training to actually catch something, and that was during newleaf!" His mouth was open in awe. Stormpuddle looked proud, and just said a simple "good job".
"Hey, Shadepaw! Sandypaw! Rabbitpaw! Come here!" someone called from across the camp. "You're getting your warrior assessments today, remember?"
Shadepaw turned to Pebblepaw and Stormpuddle with a dopey looking grin. "I'll tell you how it goes!" he promised, jumping up and running over to the source of the voice.
"He's a nice young cat," Stormpuddle murmured, probably to herself. "Also, Pebblepaw, the gathering is in two days. How do you feel about that?"
Pebblepaw's eyes widened. "Two days? Wow! I can't wait!" Her tail twitched in anticipation. Stormpuddle nodded.
"I was nervous during my first gathering. Hailstorm, Troutfrost and I had just been made apprentices the quarter-moon before."
Pebblepaw tried to picture Troutfrost as an apprentice, walking beside her mother. She couldn't conjure up anything.
"Let all cats old enough to swim the rapids gather beneath the Wetrock for a Clan meeting!" Otterstar suddenly shouted from across the clearing.
"Why'd he call the meeting?" Pebblepaw got up to follow Stormpuddle over to the rock.
"I think Otterstar is going to tell us which cats are going to the gathering," she responded, curling her sleek tail around one of her legs.
"Two days from now is the day of the gathering, so I will announce who shall join us." He started listing off names. "Troutfrost, Goldenglow, Ambertuft, Hawktalon, Owlgaze, Sootsky, Shadepaw, Sandypaw, Rabbitpaw, Beesting, Sparrowpaw, and Pebblepaw." He then proceeded to jump off the rock and pad over to his den inside the rotten tree trunk.
"You aren't going?" Pebblepaw asked her mother.
Stormpuddle nodded sadly. "I wish I could see how the other Clans will react to you being an apprentice," she sighed, "but I have to stay and guard the camp." The two conversed for a while, until the peaceful silence of the camp was broken when a black-and-orange blur sped into the clearing, eyes wide, jaws gaping with gasping breaths.
It was Shadepaw.
"Otterstar! Ashleaf!" he called, rushing over to peek inside of the medicine cat den. "We found to kits when we were bringing our prey back! One is injured!"
Pebblepaw perked up and jumped over to the camp entrance. Kits? she thought. But we don't have any queens to give them milk. If they need it, at least.
Stormpuddle appeared at her side. "If they need milk, Tinyblossom will have her kits soon. And if we really have to, I know Mintshine of ShadowClan has had her kits recently," she murmured, seeming to have read Pebblepaw's mind.
"Look!" Pebblepaw meowed. The rest of the cats that had gone out to see the assessments were running back into the camp. Rabbitpaw came in first, carrying a bundle of brown fur. He ran straight to Goldenglow. Shadepaw rushed back outside of the camp, leaving Pebblepaw's fur blown around.
Darklight trotted in next, carrying a haul of prey. I wonder whose prey that is. They must've passed.
Next came Sandypaw, who was running through camp with a piece of gray fluff in her mouth. Her mentor, Sootsky, came trotting in behind her next carrying more prey. Owlgaze came in last, carrying only two mice.
"Hey, Owlgaze?" Pebblepaw padded up to the brown tom. He dropped the mice on the fresh-kill pile and turned his head with a 'hm?'.
"What are Rabbitpaw and Sandypaw carrying? Is it more prey? Or is it the kits Shadepaw said you found?"
"They're two kits," he simply responded, turning away and trotting off to Tinyblossom.
Pebblepaw ran over to the medicine cat's den, wanting to see them herself. She reached the reeds surrounding it and stuck her head in the entrance. A cool breeze picked up, ruffling her fur in different directions. It smelled like the river.
"Careful, Pebblepaw," Goldenglow murmured as Pebblepaw slowly-- and carefully-- walked towards the nest that hid the kits.
She laid on her belly and peeked over the edge of the nest. One kit was a dusty gray color with a scratch on one leg, and the other was chocolaty brown. But those things weren't the first things that caught Pebblepaw's eye.
The brown kit's face was a mess with slashes crisscrossing from ear to ear. The kitten had to be blind.
A/N :
Word Count: 1662 Words
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