Warriors: Retribution (Book 2)

Chapter 18

    Trust yourself and trust what your heart says to do. Then you will find out how you want to live. The words of that Starclan she-cat echoed in Mistpaw's head as he tossed and turned a little in his nest. The Driftclan apprentice was dreaming about his encounter with that cat again. "Mistpaw..." he then heard a familiar voice while he was dreaming, but he couldn't tell who it was.

"Mistpaw?" the meow got louder. He was waking up now.

"Mistpaw!" that meow was right in his ear, which caused his eyes to shoot open.

"Who-" he stopped himself as he saw who was calling his name.

It was Hollowpaw; she had a worried look on her face as she backed away from his brother. "It's just me," she meowed.

"Oh!"

"Yeah, you seemed like you were having a bad dream, because you were moving around a lot in your sleep..." she said.

Mistpaw only smiled. "I wasn't at all. Thank you for waking me up, though. I didn't want to sleep for too long!" he mewed back to his sister.

Hollowpaw's worried look went to a friendly smile. "Yep! Aren't you and Dampbreeze going to hunt today?"

"Yep, and I can't wait!" the tom sat up in his nest and stretched.

Mistpaw loved training with Dampbreeze, although he was questionable. The day he became an apprentice, Dampbreeze didn't seem like he wanted to train at all. Mistpaw only figured that his mentor got tired and Mistpaw understood. Every cat gets tired, right? When they were practicing battle strategies, Dampbreeze was quiet for some time and gave little instruction. Mistpaw didn't understand why he was barely telling him to do anything. Mistpaw thought mentors would be harsh on you when you don't do something right while training, but that wasn't the case with Dampbreeze. He would only shrug it off and say something like, "It's whatever," or "It'll be fine, let's just try again."

I guess he's just calm about things! Mistpaw thought as he exited the apprentices' den. He then saw Dampbreeze and Shellstar speaking with each other near the entrance of the camp. I wonder what they are talking about? Mistpaw made his way over to his leader and his mentor.

"Well, it's too late now, Dampbreeze, we already talked about this!" Mistpaw heard Shellstar meow.

"But Shellstar, I'm going insane-" He stopped when he saw Mistpaw padding up to them.

"Hello!" he meowed.

"Hello, Mistpaw." Shellstar smiled at him.

Dampbreeze only sighed.

"I'll be going then. Have fun training today, Mistpaw!" Shellstar quickly turned around and headed to his den.

"Thanks!" Mistpaw called out to him.

Dampbreeze seemed very irritated now. "Let's just go..." he meowed through his bared teeth.

"Okay!" Mistpaw replied and followed Dampbreeze out of Driftclan camp.

*

"No, No, No! You're doing it all wrong, Mistpaw! Keep your tail up, you mouse-brain!" Dampbreeze hissed at his apprentice.

"S-Sorry!" Mistpaw mewed and went back into the hunting position again.

Dampbreeze gave a heavy sigh. "Your tail is too low again, Mistpaw! At this rate, you'll never become a warrior..." he meowed.

Those words caused Mistpaw to stop what he was doing. He turned around as his eyes filled up with tears. Dampbreeze's expression then went from angry to sad at the realization of his own words. "Mistpaw, I didn't mean to say that-"

Mistpaw darted back to Driftclan with tears streaming down his face.

Does his mentor think he's not capable of becoming a warrior?

*

It was now moonhigh, and Mistpaw was sitting on the Ocean Side next to Fang once more. He was sobbing. "He said that I'll never become a warrior..." he was looking down at his paws.

"Hey, I'm sure he didn't mean it!" Fang put her tail on his shoulders.

He looked at her. "How do you know...?"

"Well, Shredflash is a little harsh on me too, but he only is because he cares about me and he knows I will do better," she meowed.

Mistpaw sniffled.

"He was probably just having a bad day. You never know, Mistpaw." Fang said.

"Yeah, I guess..." he meowed back.

"I'm sure he cares a lot about you, Mistpaw, just like how I care a lot about you!" She purred and touched noses with him.

Mistpaw gained a smile as he touched noses with Fang. "Thank you, Fang. I care a lot about you too!"

"Looks like you're feeling better already!" Fang mewed.

Mistpaw nodded. "Yeah! All thanks to you!"

"I'll help you anytime you need it, Mistpaw. How about I help you with hunting for a little while before we go back?"

Mistpaw's smile widened. "Yeah, that sounds great!"