Dawnflower's Sorrow

Chapter 1

Dawnpaw woke to the sound of birds chirping and the sun shining through the cracks in the apprentice's den. She groggily got up and padded out of the den. When she padded out, she stopped and looked around before stretching with a yawn, her light orange tabby pelt with white patches shining brightly, with slight muscles rippling under her pelt. She then padded to the fresh kill pile and took a plump mouse for herself and padded to a shady tree and laid down and began to eat her meal.

When she was done, she licked the remnants of meat off her lips and began to lick her pelt clean. A few minutes later, her best friend, Tigerpaw, padded out of the den and took a rabbit and joined her. "Nice of you to get up, sleepyhead. Berrystream should've named you Sleepykit instead, so then you'll be Sleepypaw." She teased with a laugh once he laid down beside her. "Ha ha, very funny." He said with a smile as he took a bite of his rabbit. Berrystream was his mother, and she is a halfclan cat. Her parents were from different clans. Her mother was of ThunderClan descent, and leader, while her father was Riverclan. That's why her mother came up with the name of Berrystream for her kit. Berries in ThunderClan and streams in RiverClan.

They laughed together for awhile before Dawnpaw's mentor, Blackfoot, padded up to her. "Hey Dawnpaw, Tigerpaw. Care to make room?" He teased as he squeezed in between the two apprentices. "Ugh, Blackfoot! Move your huge mouse brained body!" Dawnpaw teased as she rolled over under his weight. He was a big cat with a fluffy pelt and the two apprentices were like kits compared to him. He just chuckled and got comfy. Blackfoot is a good friend of Dawnpaw's mother, Sparkpelt, and so Dawnpaw grew up with him and became good friends with him as well.

He then got up and sat down in front of them. Dawnpaw took an exaggerated breath of air as she got up. "Oh please." Blackfoot said with a playful roll of his eyes. "Ready to train?" He asked and Dawnpaw nodded. "You'll have to wait for Mistyheart to show up." Blackfoot said with a laugh, referring to Tigerpaw's mentor. "What about me?" A she cat purred from behind Blackfoot. The light gray she cat padded up to Blackfoot and dragged her fluffy tail over his broad shoulders and Blackfoot sucked in a breath. Mistyheart snickered and sat down beside him. "Yes, you two can train together." She purred. The two apprentices smiled wide at each other and got to their paws excitedly.

They padded to the sandy hollow and the two mentors sat down in front of the apprentices. "Blackfoot and I have decided to see how well you two would do if you faced an opponent. So, you two will be fighting each other. You can start whenever you want." Mistyheart said and the two nodded at each other before facing each other. "You've trespassed onto ThunderClan territory, rogue. Leave now or face my wrath." Dawnpaw said with a mischievous smile. Tigerpaw sneered. "And what are you going to do about it, kit?" He spat and Dawnpaw growled and jumped on him, tackling him to the ground.

Tigerpaw bit her front leg and Dawnpaw bit back a yelp and held her ground. He raked his sheathed claws over her belly and she moved out of his aim and raked her sheathed claws over his face and while he was dazed, she jumped at him and bit his neck, signaling triumph and she got off of him and sat in front of the mentors proudly. Blackfoot smiled proudly and he sneered playfully at Mistyheart. She rolled her eyes and looked away, but smiled. They clearly liked each other but Dawnpaw didn't know what was keeping them from being mates.

"Very nice, Dawnpaw." Blackfoot said with a proud smile. "So, how about we show you a new technique?" He asked and Tigerpaw sat beside Dawnpaw and they smiled wide and nodded rapidly. They smiled at each other and proceeded to show the apprentices the trick.

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Dawnpaw scampered into camp as she looked back to talk to her companions while laughing. After a long day of training, she was hungry and she padded to the fresh kill pile. It was getting low and Leafstar would order patrols in the morning. Dawnpaw saw Blackfoot tell Leafstar that they had scented badger near the camp. Leafstar then padded out of her den and leapt onto the Highstone. "All cats old enough to catch prey on their own, gather under the Highrock." She yowled and all the cats gathered beneath. "On the way from training, Blackfoot, Mistyheart, Dawnpaw, and Tigerpaw had scented badger near the camp. I want extra patrols around the territory at-" Leafstar said but a strong scent of badger reined over the camp and a yowl pierced the air as a badger lumbered it's way in the camp.

Dawnpaw's eyes widened with fear as the hoard of cats attacked it at once. Leafstar leapt from the Highrock and onto it's back, biting the back of it's neck hard. Dawnpaw sprang into action, abandoning her sparrow and forgetting about her hunger and tiredness and bit at the badger's back leg. A crash ripped through the air once more as another badger trampled through the camp. Most of the cats went for the second badger but Dawnpaw continued to fight with the first badger. She climbed onto it's back and raked her unsheathed claws over it's back as she bit hard onto the nape of it's neck, tasting blood in her mouth.

The badger yipped in pain as it tried to shake Dawnpaw off it's back but the young apprentrice didn't budge. The badger growled and stood on it's hind legs and proceeded to purposely fall down. Dawnpaw had no choice but to lose her grip on the badger and land on all fours. Her fur bristled and she hissed as she bared her teeth. The badger snarled and rose a large paw and knocked her into a tree.

The impact knocked the wind out of Dawnpaw and she struggled to get up. She opened her eyes slowly and everything was spinning. She then focused on a badger that was in front of her. It was clearly occupied and didn't notice her but she saw a black and white pelt in the jaws of the badger, and it was shaking it's head viciously. She recognized the cat as Blackfoot. Her eyes widened and she struggled to get to her paws. Once she did, she only made it three steps before collapsing in a heap of pain once more. She saw darkness dot her eyes as she struggled to get up.

Dawnpaw started hyperventilating as she rose to her paws. The limp body of Blackfoot hung in the jaws of the badger and it dropped him like a piece of crowfood before lumbering away. Dawnpaw's vision started to clear up and the only thing she was focusing on was her mentor's body, splayed and bloodied. She proceeded to try and crawl over to him but her body screamed in pain. That was the last thing she saw, his splayed body, before slipping into darkness...