WARRIORS: Cruel season #1 Rises the Moon

Chapter twenty four

Crescentpaw stood infront of the bright-rock, tail swaying slowly behind them, their eyes glimmering in the moonlight. Many cats stood before them, warriors, apprentices kits and queens. No one stood beside them, they were the eldest of the apprentices and now they were becoming a warrior. A sting of pain hit them, their moms werent there in the crowd of cats, but they were taking care Bumblepaw now, they were the clans moms somewhere else now. Crescentpaws shadow was casted over the cats, the sun glazing their pelt. Hiddenstar stood at the top of the rock, preparing for the words he was about to speak.

Hiddenstar looked down at Crescentpaw, sitting down. "I stand before cats of sunclan, the sun is high in the sky and it gleams onto this apprentices pelt. Today, I Hiddenstar of Sunclan, give this cat their warrior name. I say this before sunclan so they hear my words and approve of this new warrior." Hiddenstar paused, closing his eyes. "Crescentpaw, from now on, you shall be known as Crescentmaw of Sunclan." Hiddenstar said, opening his eyes once more. The cats of Sunclan cheered their name with pride, even Bruteheart was there yowling along side Sunclans warriors.

 "From now until dawn, you will have your warrior vigil. You shalnt speak a word until the sun rises again." Hiddenstar said, standing back up. "Clan dismissed." He leaped off the bright-rock and padded towards Crescentmaw. "Do a good job, we all know what you are made to do." He whispered in the newly found warriors ear, though they wanted to speak, they knew they couldnt for the sake of Starclans law. A part of them had no clue what to do now that they were a warrior.. And under vigil. They couldnt even talk to another warrior about warrior stuff.

They padded out of camp, looking at the flowing waterfall outside, it was hard to see through the rushing water, they could only make out the little trees from outside. They looked back to camp, the cold stone below them stood still. The only thing they could do was go hunting at the moment, even if the patrols werent going to be sent out for quite a while. They padded down the steep slope, then leaping down onto the wet grass. There were many puddles and spots of mud from the heavy down pour from the day before.

Crescentmaw trotted through the fields, but a scent of a thrush caught their attention. They followed the scent slowly, belly pressing against the ground as they crouched down. The thrush was just about to take off into flight. It stood still, opening its wings. just the right time to pounce. Crescentmaw leaped into the air, catching the bird right from the air. They landed on their paws gracefully, holding the now dead bird in their jaws. Silence filled their senses, they hadnt seemed to realize they were right about to cross the scent border into Astroidclans territory. 

The smell of four cats caught them by suprise, they stood still, trying to think of what to do if they were to find them. A small brown cat sprung from the tall grass, landing right onto of them, making them fall flat on the ground. Now pinned, they tried to escape without looking at his facw, but the tom ontop of them laughed, getting off. Now the three other cats padded infront of them, Sootstar, Rustedclaws and Foxpaw. Crescentmaw sprang up, trying to find a way out of the situation they were in. But unexpectedly, Sootstar bowed his head in greeting. 

"Hello, Crescentpaw." Sootstar said, now noticing just how big Crescentmaw was. Crescentmaw debated correcting him and breaking the vigil, but tried to say silent. Rustedclaws and Foxpaw looked confused on why they werent driving them off, but they stood still. "What are you doing here? I see you have been hunting." Sootstar looked down at the thrush they had dropped. Crescentmaw stayed silent, picking up the thrush. Even if Crescentmaw seemed like a little bit of a menace, they kept to the rules. "You can speak." Sootstar inched closer, the rest of the patrol began to get down, like they were about to pounce.

Crescentmaws vision darted around, they began to shake their head violently. Sootstar looked confused, trying to figure out why they couldnt talk. "Are you sick?" He asked, inspecting them. Crescentmaw shook his head. "Are you under a warrior vigil? Are you a warrior now?" Sootstar asked. Crescentpaw nodded, now standing taller then they did. "Ah wonderful, we are just about to give some of our apprentices their warrior ceremonys tomorrow." Sootstar smiled, signiling for Bumblepaw to get back.  

"What are you doing Sootstar? They are a trespasser." Foxpaw asked looking up at his father. "For now it is none of your business." Sootstar whispered. Bumblepaw bounced with happiness. "We're both going to be warriors!" Bumblepaw squealed, holding Crescentmaws gaze. "When we're done our vigils we can tell eachother our new names!" He said, now standing infront of them. Crescentpaw nodded, about to give him an affectionate lick but realized the two other cats stood with them. "Well, for now until we know your name, we can call you Crescent. So, Crescent. We suppose you should get going now, but remember you arent going to be welcomed if im not on the patrol who finds you." Sootstar said, turned away and walking off.

Bumblepaw stayed however, leaning over to Crescentmaw. Silence. "You can tell me your name now, no ones here!" Bumblepaw asked, now face to face. Crescentmaw looked around, questioning to speak or not. "crescentmaw." They whispered into the ear of the other. Bumblepaw grinned, he seemed content. "Nice, Sootstar said my name is going to be real unique." Bumblepaw said, plopping down infront of them. "He said Bumble is a hard prefix to find a suffix that matches it though." He continued, still looking at them. Crescentpaw smiled, enjoying listening to him talk. "Im gonna go now, they'll realize im gone soon. Bye!" Bumblepaw skipped off without looking back.