The Rogue Traitor #3 - Two Worlds

Chapter Four

"Okay," mewed Whiskerstar, grabbing his apprentice's attention as they came to a halt in the familiar training clearing, "I want to see how much you have progressed, or possibly deteriorated, over the last two moons in terms of your battle training." Birdpaw nodded and shifted into a crouch, a familiar feeling running through her bones as she remembered all the training session she had with her mentor. He was the best mentor she could ever ask for, way better than Maplestar could have ever been.

In a couple of heartbeats, the apprentice found herself on her side with her head pushed into the dusty floor.

"That was the most pathetic retaliation I have ever seen from you ever," came a voice and Birdpaw did her best to look up at her mentor as he continued to hold her down, "we have some serious work to do."

"Sorry," she mumbled, slowly standing up and shaking out her fur as he released her, "I was thinking about something else."

"Well, focus this time," replied Whiskerstar, his voice not too stern but slightly disappointed, "you can't afford to be thinking about other things on a battle field." The apprentice nodded and shifted into a crouch again, forcing all thoughts out of her head as he watched her mentor.

He was pacing backwards and forwards, eyes watching her as she began to copy his movements, smiling slightly. When it felt like they had been pacing for eternity, Whiskerstar came rushing at her with a yowl, mock anger dancing in his eyes. Birdpaw stopped pacing and watched as he continued to rush at her, making no movement except her flicking tail. However, when he was about a fox-length away, the apprentice leaped to the side and kicked a well-aimed kick into his side. The leader fell and skidded across the training ground floor, temporarily winded.

"Good thinking," he puffed, standing up as he slowly got his breath back, "but I more meant attack me rather than dodge me." Birdpaw smiled cheekily and pranced around on her paws as her mentor rolled his eyes.

Eventually, they took their positions again and this time the apprentice made the first move, rushing towards her mentor like he had just done but she anticipated that he would dodge to the side. So instead of still running straight at him, she swerved to the side to hopefully meet him head one, but the leader was one step of her and he dodged to the other side of her. Birdpaw didn't let it phase her and instead nipped him on the leg, which earned herself a rather sharp tap on the head. She backed away, hissing, as she shook her head to try and clear the pain. Whiskerstar took the opportunity to run into the side of her and push her back down to the ground.

"Better," he smiled, "but still not good enough. How about this time, we pretend that I am an intruder and you are trying to stop me? Just take a moment to get yourself ready and attack when you are ready." Birdpaw took a deep breath and closed her eyes, imagining she was at the border, and when she felt ready, she slowly opened her eyes, only to discover that Whiskerstar had disappeared. She smiled to herself and sniffed the air, sure enough, she could clearly smell his scent in the bushes to her left. The apprentice knew that he would be able to see her clearly, but she shifted into the crouch and quietly stalked his hiding place before leaping onto her mentor. He let out a joyful yowl and the two rolled across the training floor before Birdpaw (somehow) managed to pin him down. A smile split across her face as she held her paw down, gently, on his throat while Whiskerstar pretended to glare back at her.

There was rustling from the ring of bushes around the training ground and the apprentice looked up just in time to see a ginger shape rush out from the bushes and knock her away from Whiskerstar. She rolled on the ground, a sharp pain shooting through her shoulder from Maplestar all of those moons ago. At first, the apprentice thought it was a fox, but then Whiskerstar spoke in an oddly calm voice.

"Leave her Foxleap," he meowed and Birdpaw twisted her head around to see that it was indeed the feisty ginger warrior. The ginger tom swung his head back around to the apprentice and glared at her before looking back at his leader.

"But she just tried to attack you!" He protested, not making any move to release the suffocating pressure on her throat while she tried to wiggle free.

"No she didn't," retorted Whiskerstar, beginning to make his way over, "we were just training."

"It didn't seem like training," grumbled the warrior, turning his head back around to glare at the apprentice, who wasn't sure how much longer she could stay under his paw. Just when Birdpaw was sure her eyes looked like they were popping out of her head from lack of oxygen, the warrior grumbled something under his breath and released her. Whiskerstar hurried over as the apprentice scrambled up and took in short, sharp breaths to try and clear her sudden headache.

"Are you okay?" He asked, offering his weight as she stumbled on her sore shoulder.

"Yeah," she winced, "I am fine, my shoulder just hurts a little bit. I can easily keep training." Whiskerstar was definitely not convinced and looked over his shoulder at the still fuming Foxleap before lowering his head.

"It isn't that shoulder is it?" He asked, clearly referring to the shoulder Maplestar injured, and Birdpaw nodded. She didn't know why he was whispering but was hoping that it was so Foxleap didn't hear her weakness.

Although Flowerstem and Chiveleaf had both done their absolute best to try and heal her shoulder, it was never going to be the same as it first was. It looked perfectly fine from the outside, but on the inside, the damage was irreversible. The bone had cleanly snapped in two places and was almost impossible to line up perfectly, and still now, the medicine cats were not sure if it was straight. Birdpaw suffered from aching joints every now and then, especially when it was cold weather, and it was still very tender. And it didn't help when certain warriors (like Foxleap) decided to roll her across a very hard dirt floor and spark pain in the joint again.

She had to be very careful with everything she did from that moment on, because one wrong movement (or one warrior like Foxleap) could leave her unable to walk.