Swiftstar's Prophecy - Unofficial version

Chapter Fourteen

After the tour around the whole, large territory of winding streams and ponds and creeks, Blizzardtail simply asked Swiftpaw to lead them back to camp.

"Why me?" she asked, alerted, nervousness rising in her chest and her tail hairs spiking. Blizzardtail lashed his shredded tail and blinked slowly at her, "To simply test your knowledge. Also, an apprentice always have to know the way back to camp." At that moment, it felt like Swiftpaw's knowledge of the whole territory had been forgotten. Agh! How can I forget so easily now? She thought in embarrassment, as her tail curled between her legs.

Swiftpaw lifted her amber eyes and looked around them. Currently the two cats were at the border between TideClan and BoulderClan, near the end of the known clan territories until it goes off into tall trees and shrubbery. They sat on a log (strong enough to support Blizzardtail), their backs facing the end of the territory, but with the rising sun to their faces, Swiftpaw had an idea.

"Follow the sun!" She declared, and leapt off the log unto the soft grass. Blizzardtail followed behind her, as Swiftpaw strayed close to the BoulderClan border as they came close to a small gathering of low, small trees. There were only about ten trees, with red leaves and some pink flowers, and so this was called the Blossom Clearing. Not too far away was three creeks that conjoined together, called the Entwining Tails. Swiftpaw wanted to head towards it for more aid, her paws seemingly leading her towards the Blossom Clearing first.

It wasn't too far from the border, but far enough to relax Swiftpaw a bit. The possible thought of interractions with another clan was way out of her league. Red leaves scattered parts of the green grass as they now left it to the Entwining Tails. Dashing in belly-high grass and leaping over small rocks and bunches of flowers, Swiftpaw led Blizzardtail through the small clearing to the central creek. Tall grass grew parallel to it, and the calico apprentice pushed past it until her paws rested on wet pebbles.

"Stop here, Swiftpaw," Blizzardtail's quiet meow made the apprentice begin to worry. Oh no! Have I done something wrong? Her chest swelled in panic and her front paws began to fiddle around. The large white tom emerged from the grass border, his mottled pelt a bit messy. He looked down at the creek, a bit more wide, before he stuck his massive paw into the water. Swiftpaw curiously watched as the running water ran through his fur.

"Swiftpaw," he began, his icy-blue eyes narrowing, "I want you to swim in this creek. I want to see what you've already know," he retracted his paw, and sat back to watch his apprentice go at it.

Swiftpaw briefly glanced at her reflection, before diving right into the shallow waters. Her forepaws brushed brown sand and pebbles and regretted diving in. The illusion the creek gave of not being deep worked perfectly, as a cloud of corrupted sand and soil surrounded her paws. Holding back a growl, she stood up straight and began to plod through the water, the current making her sway a bit. But when the water reached up to her shoulders, she began to swim against the current.

She didn't expect the creek to be so deep, nor that her legs would be weak. After about ten heartbeats of paddling in the water, the current finally swept her down and she submerged her head below for a bit. That was until Blizzardtail grabbed her by the scruff snf hoisted her back to shore.

Coughing water, Swiftpaw asked, "The currents are so strong! Why did you make me swim in that?"

Blizzardtail gently settled her down on the wet pebbles, and he sighed. His white paws rested where some water pooled into a small puddle. "We are called TideClan for a reason, apprentice," his massive paw came down unto the small tides what washed up, "The tides attract us, and it's our spirit that drives us to these ancient waters. I'm surprised you kept up ten seconds of your time against the current, just shows me you're capable of already passing the much later assessment."

There was a glint in his blue eyes, and when he lifted his head to the sky of fading stars, he told her, "You know you're a true TideClan cat once you can battle the currents of the Grand River. Swiftpaw, I know that your clanmates, especially Redstar, doubt you. But I'll make sure my job is to show you how you can use your power for good, not bad."

"Power..?" She tilted her head, and his tail lashed to her legs. "Don't you realize why you're so quick? Your legs are a powerful tool, and if you don't know how to use them, you'll never surpass Redstar."

It was at that moment Swiftpaw knew that her mentor was something else. Someone different than any other cat, but such a mystery. Her amber eyes drifted down to her legs, and realized the flexed muscles.

~

"Wormpaw can't even hunt yet!" Fallowpaw teased, her wicked face pressed close to Swiftpaw's. Acornpaw stood beside her, his eyes narrowed. Swiftpaw growled to Fallowpaw, "Stop calling me Wormpaw! You have no right to!"

Behind her was a bristling Webpaw. The tiny apprentice was nothing against the older apprentices, but still spat anyway. They were in the clearing of camp, and Swiftpaw had just come back from swim practice, not knowing an thing about hunting fish. But that didn't mean that the older apprentices can do that to her.

"You're going to be worthless. Just how Redstar thinks," Acornpaw savagely meowed, before a loud, angry voice was shouted to them. "FALLOWPAW! ACORNPAW!"

Sparkclaw, Mothnose, and Blizzardtail hurried over, with Blizzardtail's fur bristling mildly. Fallowpaw and Acornpaw shrinked back a bit, but Swiftpaw lifted her head to her mentor.

And for the first time in the two days she has seen him, the blue fire that burned in his blue eyes made Swiftpaw scared. And it seemed that Fallowpaw and Acornpaw were scared, too.