The Hidden Truth Book 1

Chapter 1

Snailpaw yawns, stretching up out of his nest. "Another day of cleaning the elders' den..." He sighs, trotting out into the clearing.
"Morning Snailpaw. Didya enjoy sleeping til sunhigh?"
Wavepaw, one of the other apprentices liked to tease him, and today was the same as usual.
"It's not even sunhigh!"
Silverpaw, his younger brother, interrupts.
"It's ok Silverpaw, you should catch up with your mentor."
Silverpaw nods, cantering off. Wavepaw also makes her way to the warriors den, sneering at Snailpaw. At this point, morning patrols had already been sent out, and Snailpaw was alone in the clearing. Unfortunately, a few days prior, he had eaten prey on a hunting mission, so his punishment is to take care of the elders for the rest of the moon. The gathering is in a few days, and he's excited for his discipline to be over with. Salmonshine, the only elder right now, is pretty kind though. Sometimes, while he cleans, she'll even tell him stories. Snailpaw sighs once more, walking to the elder's den. Salmonshine greets him warmly as he walks in.
"Good morning Snailpaw, I hope you slept well."
"Thanks Salmonshine... Wavepaw was teasing me again."
"Oh, that's truly unfortunate. I wish apprentices nowadays were kinder to each other." She sighs, seemingly frustrated with her great granddaughter.
"Just keep in mind, some cats can be better than they seem." She smiles at him, ears pointed up in a sympathetic manner.
"I suppose I should start to clean out your nest." Snailpaw tilts his head, smiling back at her. He trots over to her, inspecting her nest throughly.
"No thorns. We're good there! I'll get your ticks next. Be right back, I'll go get mousebile from the medicine cat."
He dashes off, running straight to the medicine den.
"Well hello there, Snailpaw. What's up?" Honeysong giggles at him almost crashing into the medicine den.
"Hi Honeysong! I need some mousebile to clean Salmonshine's ticks!"
"Alright then, here you go." Honeysong passes him a moss ball covered in mousebile. As Snailpaw picks it up, he cringes at the awful taste.
"Thanks Honeysong." He dashes back out of the medicine den, his paws thudding against the grassy clearing. As he reaches the elders den, he drops the mossball at Salmonshine's feet.
"Thank you, Snailpaw." Salmonshine's eyes glint with happiness as Snailpaw cleans her pelt of ticks. He quickly finishes up, and takes the mossball to the pond nearby the camp. He cleans his paws, and buries the mossball. When he makes his way back, Salmonshine is asleep. Luckily, that's all he had to do for the day.