Warmpaw followed as they filed out, passing the dirtplace and into the thorn tunnel, Blazetail taking the lead, being the oldest of the three warriors. His paws started itching with anticipation as he looked out at the forest just outside the tunnel, light pouring in from the entrance. Why are we walking so slowly? He thought to himself, impatience growing.
Finally, they emerged out into the forest, the bright sunlight flooding Warmpaw’s vision. His eyes adjusted, and he was able to take in the surroundings.
Green leaves swayed in tree branches above, with the scents of warm prey everywhere, hidden in the thick grass. Warmpaw closed his eyes and dug his claws into the soft soil. It was all so different from the inside of the camp; in a good way.
“Okay. First things first,” Blazetail began, stopping in his tracks to face the new apprentices. “Stay with your mentors. That means no ‘Hey, I found a mouse!’ and running off to wherever.” At this, Twigpaw groaned.
“I know you’re all excited to see the territory. And you will get to. Under our watch.”
He flicked his tail forward. “Let’s start.”
The cats marched, apprentices beside their mentors. Blazetail was well occupied, answering every question Sandpaw had. For Twigpaw, it was mostly the same. Warmpaw and Goldenfur kept walking, not speaking a word to each other.
The air here was fresher than the air in the camp, due to the fact that it was enclosed from any wind from the outside. The good thing was that they were well sheltered against most storms, but in effect, they weren’t getting the cooler air out here on good days such as this.
The path they were treading on carried the scents of other cats. He could pick some of them out. Maplebranch, Redstep… even Sprintpaw. The other apprentices had gone on the dawn patrol, just before getting back to Warmpaw’s ceremony. Now, there were apprentices for nearly all of the warriors. Only Hawkeye did not have an apprentice.
“Look in front of you, everyone.” Blazetail headed forward and gestured to what was in front of him.
The ground was flattened, compressed in a wide strip stretching in two directions. There was a weird scent to it too, which made the apprentices wrinkle their noses. It was stale though, which meant that whatever used to walk here hasn’t been here for a while.
“The Old Thunderpath runs through the middle of ThunderClan territory. It’s safe though. No monsters pass here.”
Goldenfur shrugged disinterestedly. “You never know.”
Blazetail ignored him and beckoned them over the Thunderpath. Despite what he said, Warmpaw was still wary, placing each paw forward lightly. You can never trust Twolegs.
They crossed more forest before the thick canopy thinned, leaving open sky above. In front of them, water glistened in the sun, stretching in a wide expanse. Cool wind blew in from its direction, ruffling fur. From where they were, Warmpaw could see gray outlines, possibly more trees. The ground underpaw was hard and pebbly. He ran his paw through them, feeling them move around it. He sighed in awe. It was such a breathtaking place to be.
“This is the lake. It borders all the Clans. Great, isn’t it?” Blazetail asked.
Warmpaw was too busy staring at the water to notice.
“Hey, look.”
Behind them was a large oak tree, close to shore. Its branches stretched up high into the sky, catching the sun and filtering its light.
“The Ancient Oak is the tallest tree in our territory.” Blazetail explained, “Squirrels love it. You can hear them up there if you can listen well enough.” Warmpaw strained his ears to listen. He caught a few chatters, but it was so weak that he wasn’t sure if it was real or it was something his mind made up.
Blazetail continued, waiting for the apprentices’ attention to switch back to him. “It’s also a place where you can practice tree climbing when we start your training.”
Twigpaw dashed for the tree in full speed. But before he could reach it, he was caught by the scruff by Flyingfeather, who had dashed ahead of him. The silver apprentice dangled from his jaws, swinging from side to side. He was dropped in front of Blazetail.
But Blazetail didn’t seem in the mood to be angry. Warmpaw supposed that he was still high up in the clouds at becoming a new mentor. “I said, ‘when we start your training’ right?” Twigpaw fidgeted.
Goldenfur laughed, one of the few times Warmpaw had seen him do so. “Don’t try outrunning Flyingfeather. The only one who can catch up to him is Maplebranch.”
Flyingfeather chuckled.
Sandpaw looked embarrassed at having such a spontaneous and unpredictable brother. Warmpaw just watched, wondering what else there was in the territory.
“Moving on!” Blazetail called, heading back towards the forest where they came from. The rest of the cats followed, keeping in stride.
They passed lots more trees, the grass soft; it cushioned their pawsteps. But the walk was taking longer. The same trees everywhere. The sun was starting its journey down behind the horizon, and it would be dusk soon. Warmpaw resisted the urge to go racing forward, leave all of them and start exploring himself. But he knew better.
At last, the trees vanished, and they found themselves to the border of a clearing.
“This…” Blazetail pounced forward, and swept his glance at all of them. “is the training clearing. Here, you will learn how to fight.”
Warmpaw gazed around the grassy clearing. So this will be where we practice.
“This is it for now.” Blazetail announced, “The day’s going to end soon, and we need to rest.”
The mentors and their apprentices followed him, vanishing behind the treeline.
Entering the camp, Warmpaw felt like he could just flop down on some moss. The tour took a lot out of him, and all he wanted to do right now was to retire to the apprentices’ den and possibly talk with Archkit. She had stayed here in the camp, performing apprentice duties. She’s going to be so jealous once I tell her where we went. Warmpaw smirked at the thought.
His paws dragged across the sand of the hollow, leading him to his nest, and he curled up in it. Sprintpaw, Thornpaw and Leafpaw were inside along with him.
“So, how did the tour go?” Sprintpaw queried.
“It was great,” Warmpaw said simply before letting out a yawn. He was really sleepy, and he felt the invisible claws pull at his conscious mind. He forced himself not to fall asleep.
“It’s always great the first time around.” The meow was Leafpaw’s, sitting up from her spot next to Sprintpaw. Her brown pelt stood in stark contrast to his white one. She laughed. “You’ll find that it will start to get boring after the next few patrols.”
She was cuffed over her ears by Thornpaw’s large orange paw. “Don’t listen to this mousebrain here.” he told Warmpaw. “It’s just going to get even better.”
Leafpaw smacked him back. “You’re the mousebrain here!”
“Honestly…” Sprintpaw said in a teasing tone, “you two look adorable when you fight. Please continue.” That seemed to silence them both, and they both walked out the den looking flustered, heading separate directions.
Sprintpaw chuckled. “Yep. They’ve just made it even more obvious that they’re into each other.”
“How long have they been friends?” Warmpaw asked.
“They have been arguing since they were kits! So yeah, I guess you can say that they’re friends. Lucky mice, the two of them.” He sighed and stared out the den, looking at the commotion outside. It was dusk, and the camp was at one of its peak operating hours. Warmpaw wouldn’t have been surprised if Redstep caught the two other apprentices and put them on a patrol.
He seemed fixated on something outside, and Warmpaw was curious enough to get up from his comfortable position and look in the general direction of his gaze. From what he saw, a black she-cat and Deerpaw were talking. They seemed really into it too. “Compared to me, of course.” Sprintpaw finished.
“Who’s she?” Warmpaw asked, pointing with his tail at the she-cat. Her pelt was night-black, glossy and shining in the light of the setting sun. Whenever she blinked, her amber eyes would shine. No, wait. Warmpaw thought as he saw her turn to face and talk with Cloudcover, who had popped up behind her. Amber eye. The other one was as blue as the middle of the lake.
Warmpaw winced, feeling stupid all of a sudden. I really should have talked to more cats.
“She’s Nightfall.” He let loose another long sigh. Warmpaw fixed him with a bewildered look.
“Okay,” he started tentatively, “so she’s Nightfall. Is she your friend too?”
“Yeah. She’s always been one of my closest friends.” Sprintpaw replied.
“So… what’s the problem here exactly?” Warmpaw asked, regretting it immediately. It felt like he was crossing into something that didn’t concern him. He expected Sprintpaw to get set off and hiss at him, but he didn’t. Instead, he blurted out, “I don’t want her as a friend.”
Warmpaw was taken aback, ears flattened. “I-I don’t get what you mean.”
“I like her. A lot.” Sprintpaw confessed, a dazed look in his eyes. As if he couldn’t believe he was spilling all this to someone a little more than a kit. “I wish she’d find out how much I love her. Then maybe she’d return my feelings.”
“Make the first move then!” Warmpaw meowed before Sprintpaw tackled him, knocking most of the wind out of his lungs. From his numbed senses, Warmpaw heard a few questioning meows from outside to which Sprintpaw replied. His sight cleared enough to see Sprintpaw move close to him and give him a hard look. “Shhhhh! A little too loud.”
Sprintpaw nudged him back to a sitting position. “Sorry about that.” Warmpaw took a moment to lick a paw and wipe his muzzle.
“So, now what?” Warmpaw asked.
“Honestly, I don’t know,” Sprintpaw admitted, curling his tail over his paws.
There were a few moments of silence. Warmpaw wasn’t sure what to say next, taking a furtive glance back at his pile of moss, wanting nothing more than to curl back in it. But he couldn’t bring himself to go to sleep when someone was talking to him. Well, kind of.
He was just about to turn and make a go for it when Sprintpaw meowed again, making his fur stand on end.
“Got any ideas?” he inquired.
“You could… give her a gift?” Warmpaw mewed out the last few words. “You know, take her some prey. Talk.”
Sprintpaw looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Why don’t you give her gifts on my behalf?” he meowed, and Warmpaw jumped back in shock, baffled.
“What?” His drooping eyes shot wide open.
“You’ll be the one to give her prey for me,” he repeated.
“Why?” Warmpaw was absolutely stumped. “She’s one of your closest friends! I don’t know her!” Warmpaw could just see everything. The confusion, the misunderstandings… No. I’m not getting tangled up in this.
“Please!” he pleaded, “Just once! Then I won’t bother you about this anymore.”
Finally, Warmpaw gave in.
“Fine. Just once. And I’ll do it my way.”
“Thank you!” Sprintpaw smiled in delight, giving Warmpaw a friendly nudge.
Warmpaw headed for his nest immediately. He wanted at least a bit of sleep, since tomorrow, he’d have to go and train with Goldenfur. He’d also have to give someone he didn’t know a gift. He wouldn’t get a chance to relax like this for the whole day. He curled up in the soft moss, sighing as he fell asleep, numb to the world.
“Hey!” was Warmpaw’s reply.
Twigpaw started towards him when his paws were lifted off the ground. He was rising up towards the sky without any apparent reason. “Help me!”
Warmpaw snapped awake. He ran to the den entrance and looked around. It was night, the half moon high up in the sky, casting shadows in silver light. Only a few cats were out, among them, two of his former denmates. Twigpaw was sharing tongues with Archkit over a mouse. When he saw him, he waved his tail.
“Hey! Come join us!” he purred.
Warmpaw quickly withdrew back inside the den, embarrassed and confused. “What did I eat today?” he exclaimed out loud before running out to join them.
Twigpaw was grinning while Archkit was sitting silently next to him. “I told her about everything!”
“Even the part where you were caught trying to climb the Ancient Oak? Carried like a kit by Flyingfeather?” Warmpaw inquired, and it was Twigpaw’s turn to be silent and Archkit’s to be laughing.
“That happened to you?” Archkit was purring hard.
“We’re lucky he didn’t go traipsing off to ShadowClan by mistake.” Warmpaw mused, ushering more laughter from Archkit.
Ivystar appeared behind him, surprising him. “How was the tour?”
“It was great.” Warmpaw and Twigpaw chorused.
“Good.” She leaned in closer to Warmpaw, and immediately, he suspected something.
“Can I borrow Warmpaw for a moment?” She requested, pulling him closer with a paw.
“Sure. Take him for free, for all I care.” Twigpaw flicked an ear at them dismissively.
Ivystar led him away to a corner of the camp, under the same bracken patch he used to hide from Goldenfur. Warmpaw got himself comfortable, tucking his paws under his chest.
“So,” Warmpaw started, “why did you call me here?”
Ivystar looked around cautiously. After making sure there was no one there, she replied, “Because Cloudcover received a prophecy.”
“From the blood of two comes one, paws set on three, strengthening one out of four.”
“You called me here to help decipher it?” Warmpaw started up. “It’s an honor, but there are others smarter than me. Why don’t you call them instead?” He was on his way to get back to Twigpaw and Archkit when he was called back by Ivystar’s hiss. “Wait!”
Shocked, he returned back behind the bracken. Ivystar had a certain emotion in her eyes, one he never saw before, too complicated to explain.
“It doesn’t need deciphering. Cloudcover found it.” She sat face to face with Warmpaw, eyes locked.
“It’s about you, Warmpaw.”