A Leaders Nine Lives ⚘ A Warriors Fanfiction

Mentoring

Duskfall widened her eyes when she saw the black and white tom that emerged from the shadows. "Acornfall?" she exclaimed, grateful to see another cat she recognised. Acornfall began to purr. She hardly recognised him; he had looked so meek and helpless when he died after the rock slide at snakerocks. Now, he looked strong and well fed, muscles ripping as he walked around her.

Duskfall had a million things to tell him, about Ravenpaw, the Clan, being deputy, his mate Snowcloud, his kits Patchkit and Dovekit. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped when he pressed his nose to hers. "With this life, I give you mentoring. Use it well to train the apprentices in your Clan, and any cat who may need it."

A spasm ran through Duskfall, shaking her whole body, but she managed to stay on her feet. "Don't you want to know ab-" Acornfall put his tail over her mouth to silence her. "I've been watching the Clan. I've seen Patchkit and Dovekit. They are strong, just like their mother." he said, "And so are you."

***

Duskstar opened her eyes, her head pounding. The soft trickle of water filled her ears instantly, and she wondered if she was still in the river. She tried to lift up her head, but her body was sore, probably bruised from hitting rocks. A soft line of blood was dripping out the side of her mouth, and she figured she must have hit her jaw. She scented no cat, which meant she had drifted ashore.

After a few moments, she regained her strength and sat up, feeling stronger each second. Instead of grooming her pelt, she licked away the blood at the corner of her mouth. Only the half of her body that had been sitting in the water was wet, the rest was just matted. She shook herself off and made her way back to the forest. Judging by the brightness, Duskstar guessed it was dawn, which meant the dawn patrol would be leaving.

She was almost at Sandy Hollow when she saw Alderflight, Slytherpaw, Blacktail, Hufflepaw, Hollyflower, Gryffinpaw and Ravenpaw. "Duskstar!" Hollyflower called, her shiny black pelt shimmering in the rising sunlight. Duskstar trotted over to them, all her previous exhaustion forgotten in the excitement of what would happen next. 

"It's pretty early for an assessment, don't you think?" she said.

Blacktail's tail was held high, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "Are you ready?" he asked the four apprentices. Gryffinpaw bounced in the air, pouncing on Slytherpaw. The two restled while Ravenpaw and Hufflepaw stared at them. 

"That's enough! Are you kits?" Blacktail hissed. 

"They're just excited." said Alderflight.

Blacktail scoffed. "They can be excited quietly. Come on now, let's start." he said. 

"Shouldn't we get volunteers?" Hollyflower asked Duskstar. 

Duskstar nodded. "Go fetch... Boxpaw, Tigerpaw, Featherstem and Lilypaw." she ordered. Hollyflower took off towards camp. Alderflight cocked his head at Duskstar. 

"What happened to you? Did you drown?" his tone was mocking.

"Yes." she replied. He opened his mouth to say something when Boxpaw tore into the clearing, her ginger-and-brown pelt full of thorns. 

"Where were you? How'd you get here so fast?" Slytherpaw asked. 

"I'm ready to help!" she panted, ignoring Sytherpaw's question. Duskstar guessed they didn't get along very well. No one really got along with Slytherpaw. That, or Boxpaw was just too excited to help with the assessments.