Warriors: Into The Wild - Book One (Completed)

Chapter Seven

Waterpaw woke up with a startle. Her eyes jolted open and she looked around the apprentices' den. It was empty. She sighed of relief and laid her head back down, her eyes still open. Her dream was still vivid in her memories. The blue eyes piercing through her like cold ice. She shivered from the thought, then shook her head to clear it as Runningwind poked his head through the brambles. "Waterpaw." He meowed, blinking with confusion, "It's nearly sun high! Come and get some food, then meet me in the clearing." 

Waterpaw yawned and stretched out her front paws, then her back paws. She padded through the brambles and turned towards the fresh-kill pile. It was running rather low when she stopped in front of it. "Leaf-bare must be coming sooner than we think." She softly meowed to herself. Since there wasn't much to choose from, she decided on a small finch. Plucking out the feathers won't be fun, but it's food. So she settled alone a few fox-lengths away. Sandpaw and Dustpaw padded up to the fresh-kill pile as well. She could hear Sandpaw scoff at the sight of it being low. 

"Great!" Sandpaw hissed. "Our fresh-kill pile is low and we're running out of prey." She looked over at Waterpaw and glanced over at the direction Firepaw was sitting. He was sharing tongues with Graypaw in the sun. "It's probably all these kittypets eating our prey!" She added, giving Waterpaw a dirty look and a smirk.

Waterpaw laid back her ears and was about to turn her head back to respond, but Redtail, the deputy, padded over to the two apprentices. "Now, haven't you two have any respect for our new apprentices?" He meowed softly. He had no hostility in his voice. Waterpaw couldn't understand how patient he was with these two. 

"But I.." Sandpaw began, but she was abruptly  interrupted by Redtail. His tail raised and she was silenced.

"I am not here to reprimand you." he retorted. "Finish eating, then go put fetch some fresh moss for the elders. And then when you're done, clean their ticks. Patchpelt has it especially bad." Then he padded off into the clearing near Bluestar's den. 

Waterpaw kept her ears laid back against her head, but smirked with satisfaction as he padded away. At least someone stands up for us unlike some here! She thought bitterly to herself. When Waterpaw finally finished her finch, she padded to the clearing where Runningwind, and Tigerclaw sat. Tigerclaw was a rather huge cat. He had talons no cat wanted to challenge. His apprentice, Ravenpaw was a black, scrawny kitten. He had just a small blotch of white on his chest. He sat awkwardly next to Tigerclaw. Waterpaw felt a sudden sting in her stomach, like someone had stabbed her with a vicious blow to the belly. She sat a tail-length from Ravenpaw and looked at him with concern. "Are you alright?" She meowed, almost whispering.

Ravenpaw looked up at her in confusion as if he was shocked that she knew his emotions or could read his mind.

"I'm sorry to intrude in any thoughts." She meowed, placing her tail on his flank, "You just seemed rather tense this morning." 

Ravenpaw shook his head, "No, I'm fine." He lied. His ears twitched with anticipation.

Waterpaw turned toward Runningwind and Tigerclaw, "What are we doing today?" 

Tigerclaw flicked his ears, then answered, "Practicing your fighting skills. Ravenpaw here isn't very good as his skills, so maybe you can show him a thing or two?" He glanced at Ravenpaw and narrowed his eyes. Ravenpaw's ears flattened and he crouched down like a mewling kit would do, to his mother when in trouble. Waterpaw didn't respond. She felt concerned that she might hurt Ravenpaw. He was in the medicine den for quite some time for a shoulder injury. She'd hate for it to come back and be her fault. 

"Come on!" Purred Runningwind, as he raced towards the trees. "We'll train near the Great Sycamore tree."

Waterpaw raced behind him and kept up with his speed. Tigerclaw followed a few tail-lengths behind, and Ravenpaw was almost following behind a few fox-lengths away. Tigerclaw had no intentions of slowing down for his apprentice. When Runningwind, Waterpaw and Tigerclaw reached the tree, Ravenpaw panted behind and stopped, looking up at Tigerclaw, waiting for his next demand.

"Claws sheathed please." Scowled Runningwind. "We don't need any bruising at a practice round."

Waterpaw looked over at Ravenpaw. She didn't want to fight this scrawny apprentice. He barely looked well enough to fight. It looked like he still needed to be in the medicine den. His shoulder was lopsided and he winced in pain every time he took a step. Did Waterpaw really have to fight this guy? Nonetheless, she had to obey orders from her mentor, so she narrowed her eyes and slowly padded around Ravenpaw. Ravenpaw flattened his ears in fear and hissed. Waterpaw leaped onto Ravenpaw, knocking him down and pinning him to the ground. She stood on top of him and wiped her sheathed claws across his belly. She quickly hopped off to let him get back up, then she raced around to his rear, and nipped his left hind paw. He whirled around and batted at her, but she was too quick and swiped her paw across his cheek. Waterpaw could feel Tigerclaw's anger rise inside him as his fur bristled around his neck.

"Fight, you stupid furball!" Scowled Tigerclaw, "You're getting beat by a kittypet!"

The word kittypet, stung Waterpaw. She dared not to challenge Tigerclaw. Instead of attacking Tigerclaw, she finished up with Ravenpaw by slashing her tail and leaping into the air, knocking him to the ground once more. She landed on her paws, and looked back at Runningwind, who was standing tall and proud of his apprentice. Even though Ravenpaw was an easy target, she felt relieved that she had done good that day. 

"Can we go hunting on our way back from camp?" Asked Waterpaw. 

Runningwind nodded his head and was about to head to camp, when they heard a loud yowl by snakerocks. They all raced over to where the yowl came from and skidded to a halt when they reached the ThunderClan border patrol and ShadowClan border patrol hissing at one another. "We thought there was a fight." Hissed Runningwind. 

"We will if ShadowClan decides to take one more step." Hissed Longtail, glaring at the ShadowClan cats. 

"We're safely on our side!" Spat a brown tom. He had battle scars almost everywhere. He definitely wasn't afraid of a fight. Then suddenly, Waterpaw noticed a pair of blue eyes. Her shocked gaze slowly became softer as his eyes met hers. She was lost for words, but dared not to speak, in case she gave something away to her fellow clanmates. Before she knew it, she was being pushed away by Runningwind. "Move it, you big loof!" He growled, nudging her with his nose. 

"Oh, right." She meowed, then padded on after Tigerclaw and Ravenpaw. She looked back to see if Littlepaw was still looking. To her surprise, he was. She wondered if he had felt the same at that exact moment. If I come back here tonight when it's dark, I wonder if he'll be there waiting for me? She thought to herself, turning back and trotting after her clanmates again. As she reached Runningwind, she could see concern in his eyes. She blinked at him and turned her head to the side, "Whatever you think this is, it is nothing." She softly growled then trotted off past him, catching up with Tigerclaw and Ravenpaw. 

***

Later that night, she closed her eyes to dream. She found herself to be in a familiar place once she began dreaming. A familiar scent blew into her nostrils. She searched around the clearing and finally spotted a large-feathered silver tabby tom. He had stars glittering on his feathery pelt, and his amber eyes glimmered.

"Featherwhisker," she meowed, running up to him and touching her cheek to his, "It's been a while."

Featherwhisker dipped his head, and softly closed his eyes for a quick moment. "I know you won't listen to me," He started, putting his tail over her flank, "But please try to re-think your destiny. Don't stray too far from your destiny, my child." He then vanished.

Waterpaw looked around, and sniffed the air. He was gone. No scent of him anywhere. And his words stuck in Waterpaw's mind like glue. Does he know about Littlepaw?