Warriors: Into The Wild - Book One (Completed)

Chapter Five

"A medicine cat?" Exclaimed Waterpaw. "I can't be a medicine cat. I'm already an apprentice to be a warrior."

"I wasn't always a medicine cat." Confessed Spottedleaf, her eyes still soft with compassion, "I... I was an apprentice to be a warrior, then when I saw Featherwhisker sorting herbs, I fell in love. It was just so beautiful and I knew that I wanted to be like him."

Waterpaw scrunched up her nose at the thought of sorting herbs all day. "Not for me." She meowed, laying her head down and closing them for a few quick moments.

Spottedleaf remained silent for the rest of the day. Waterpaw longed to be out with the other apprentices. She felt better, but Spottedleaf insisted that she stayed the night. After a long day of watching Spottedleaf go back and forth to the supply store and to her patients, Waterpaw became sleepy. She closed her eyes to sleep and began to dream rather quickly.

"Waterpaw." Meowed a familiar voice, "Waterpaw, over here."

Waterpaw glanced over to the trees. "Featherwhisker!" She meowed, happily. 

"You seemed to have settled in nicely." He purred, sitting down, and wrapping his fluffy tail around his front paws.

Mimicking his position, Waterpaw nodded. "Yes. I like it so far."

"And?"

"And what?"

"Have you thought about Spottedleaf's offer?"

"Of becoming a medicine cat?"

Featherwhisker nodded softly.

"Yeah sure, and hedgehogs fly!" She spat. "No way am I wasting my time sorting herbs all day. I want to be exploring and being in battles!"

Featherwhisker just softly sighed. "If you say so." Then he got up and padded away.

Waterpaw watched him leave in silence, though she longed to make him come back. She shook her head and then she suddenly jolted her eyes open. Spottedleaf was not too far from her and looked over as she awoke. "You're awake." She meowed. "You are free to go. Your mentor is waiting for you."

"Thank you!" Waterpaw purred, then leaped to the medicine den entrance and ran to Runningwind. "I am very much ready for today."

"Yes, and maybe we should stay clear of the thunderpath, eh?" He purred with amusement.

Waterpaw playfully rolled her eyes and padded beside Runningwind as he went out of ThunderClan camp. "Are we going to see WindClan borders?" She finally meowed.

Runningwind nodded and continued on. They were headed to Owltree where the border split between ThunderClan and the Fourtrees path, that leads to WindClan camp. When they got there, there was a river that divided the two Clans. A few WindClan cats were patrolling their borders as they came up to the river.

He stopped and pointed with his muzzle. "WindClan is very open." He added softly to Waterpaw. "We prefer being camouflaged within the trees." He added.

"I can see why we do." She retorted. WindClan was way too spacious. Waterpaw couldn't imagine letting all the pray see them and their scent just carried everywhere. She looked beyond the water and saw just a slight blur of the Fourtrees, "What is that?" She meowed, pointing to it with her muzzle.

"That is Fourtrees." His voice was soft. "Where we go for the Gathering every full moon. There's a truce there. If blood is ever spilled, StarClan would doom us forever."

Waterpaw sensed some sadness in his voice. "Has.." She paused, looking at him with soft eyes, "Has it ever happened?" 

To Waterpaw's relief, Runningwind shook his head no. "Luckily no." He lied, knowing it probably did. But he didn't want to scare her. Runningwind cleared his throat and flicked his tail. "Come on." He meowed. "Let's get back to Camp."

Waterpaw didn't want to go back to Camp. She wanted to stay out and patrol the borders. She wanted to see the rest of the territory and just smell the fresh air. Just being in the forest made her happy and content. She couldn't imagine going back to being a kittypet now. Life was too perfect here in ThunderClan. Waterpaw followed Runningwind through the trees. He must have sensed her itchiness to stay out here. He stopped, and lifted his tail at Waterpaw. "Stop." He meowed softly, "And be quiet."

Waterpaw stopped dead, her eyes wide with fear that something might be attacking them. She looked around, smelling the air for danger, but she didn't see, nor smell anything. Runningwind went into the hunter's crouch. "Get down." He whispered rather loudly. "I'm teaching you to hunt." He beckoned Waterpaw to do whatever he does with his tail. Waterpaw perked up her ears and did the same as Runningwind. "What do you smell?"

Waterpaw raised her head and seeped in the scents of the forest. She opened her mouth to taste the air. She could smell many things, but could barely focus on just one part of a prey. She could smell the flowers, the trees, the scent of ThunderClan, and the scent of many different animals. She closed her eyes and tried again, this time focusing on the smell of just the animals. She twitched her ears, and listened all around her. She heard a slight scurry across the grass from ahead of them. "A squirrel." She softly whispered. 

Runningwind smelled the air, and licked his lips. "Let's go get us some squirrels." He picked up his head above the tall grass and saw the squirrel chewing on some sort of nut. He sprang up on his haunches and leaped into the air as if he was flying and landed right on the squirrel, taking it by surprise. He hissed and bit its neck, killing it swiftly. He turned to Waterpaw, "Your turn." He purred, picking up the squirrel in his mouth by the scruff. 

Waterpaw swiftly nodded her head and listened for the other squirrel. She spotted it a few fox-lengths away, sniffing around. She went into the hunter's crouch just as Runningwind did. She crawled just a few inches, then wriggled her butt just before she pounced onto the squirrel. She landed on the squirrel clumsily,  and accidentally let it go. She stomped the ground with her paw in frustration and looked up at Runningwind with sad eyes. 

"It's okay," He meowed, padding up to her, dropping his fresh-kill. "It's not easy to catch prey every single time." 

"Squirrels should be easy!" Waterpaw retorted, lashing her tail from side to side.

"Well no prey will be easy to catch if you keep making so much movement!" Runningwind almost sounded impatient with his apprentice's comment. "Try again." He meowed softly.

Waterpaw nodded her head, and sniffed the air. She couldn't smell anything. There was no wind, which made it a bit harder to smell any prey. Then some sort of smell came to her, a few fox-lengths away. She lifted her head and opened her mouth to taste the air. "I don't know the prey very well." She softly whispered, "So what do you smell?"

Runningwind did the same as Waterpaw and tasted the air. "Rabbit." He whispered. "Not our type of kill. They're mainly for WindClan. Too fast for us." Runningwind turned his head and sniffed again. "I smell some vole just over there by that tree." He pointed with his muzzle.

Waterpaw looked over and saw a small shadow bounding between the tall grass. She went into the hunter's crouch and laid back her ears, focusing on the vole's movements. Luckily, it was a slow one. She crept up toward it, making sure not to make any sound as she got closer. She twitched her nose, then pounced onto the vole. She caught it between her front paws and quickly bit the neck, killing it swiftly. "Thank StarClan." She softly muttered.

Runningwind happily padded towards his apprentice. "Good job!" He purred. "That was a slow vole, but no one has to know."

Waterpaw purred with amusement, and carried the vole in her mouth, almost dragging its legs on the forest floor. When they reached ThunderClan Camp, she padded faster to the fresh-kill pile and dropped her kill. Runningwind padded not too far after her and dropped his squirrel next to her vole. "Maybe Bluestar will let you come to the Gathering tonight." He meowed, as he turned to go the den to sleep. "I'll ask her." He added, as he padded towards her den.

Waterpaw thought about going to the Gathering. She'd meet so many cats, and she felt very excited. She's bound to meet someone that would be friends with her, even if they are from a different Clan.