Dawnstar's Trouble -Chapter 8-

Dawnpaw flicked water droplets off her whiskers, breathing in the scent of rain as well as prey. She walked carefully on the wet soil, coating her white paws in mud. She hated the feeling, but after so much rain she had grown slightly accustomed to it. Her green eyes rested on the mouse slowly nibbling on a small seed. Without hesitation, she went for her prey, killing it quickly. She looked at her catch, soggy prey wasn’t the greatest thing to eat but with how much rain the forest had getting, they didn’t really have a choice.

Dawnpaw buried her catch and continued hunting, she enjoyed hunting like this. Thornpelt had wanted to go on a patrol, so he sent her to hunt and catch at least four pieces of prey. She liked hunting by herself, and she didn’t have to worry about the looming threat of being punished or yelled at by her mentor. Dawnpaw had a permanent nick in hear from the amount of times Thornpelt had cuffed her over the ear for doing something wrong.

The mouse had been her second piece of prey, and she had been out here for a quite a while. As it rained, the forest grew colder and and the prey scarcer. Dawnpaw had heard Nightwing talking about how it was going to be a rough leaf-bare if this rain didn’t stop. Dawnpaw wasn’t sure to expect with leaf-bare but she heard stories of little prey and sickness. SunClan was working on getting as much prey as possible, so Dawnpaw could understand why Thornpelt was telling her to get a lot.

Dawnpaw moved towards the MoonClan border, keeping her eyes and nose peeled for anymore prey. She soon spotted a squirrel at the base of a tree, dropping into a crouch she prepared to leap. She had to be careful here, any sound would alert the squirrel and it would run back up the tree. Flexing her claws in the wet soil, she took a deep breath and ran forward. The squirrel started it’s escape, but Dawnpaw was faster. He claws hooked into it’s flesh before it make it up the tree, she pulled it down and killed it.

Feeling confident in herself, she continued hunting. After a while of not finding any prey, she grew slightly nervous. If she didn’t bring back four pieces of prey Thornpelt wouldn’t be happy with her. Dawnpaw continued her hunt, feeling as if she walked along the entire forest. After a long hunt, Dawnpaw caught the scent trail of another mouse. She began stalking, keeping silent until she spotted the creature. She killed it without issue and lifted her head proudly.

Dawnpaw began backtracking and going to pick up her other pieces of prey, and managed to catch another mouse along the way. When she got back to camp it was nearly sunhigh and she had been gone since morning, as she stepped back into camp she was greeted by her mentor. Thornpelt looked at her haul of prey.

“Took you long enough,” He snorted. “But good job, put them on the pile.” Dawnpaw nodded and walked past her mentor, going to the fresh-kill pile which had been reinforced in trying to keep the prey dry.

Feeling satisfied with herself, Dawnpaw left the pile to try and find her brother to talk to before she had more duties. Instead she found Fawnpaw face to face with Nightwing, both she-cats had bristled fur.

“I swear, you’re the most careless apprentice I’ve ever seen, Fawnpaw!” Nightwing hissed, Dawnpaw saw Fawnpaw visibly tense with anger.

“If you’re so picky about everything, maybe you should just do it yourself!” Fawnpaw spat.

“You’re an apprentice! Maybe you should do your duties correctly!” Nightwing retorted, the old she-cat’s blue eyes burned with anger and annoyance. “Apprentices think they’re so high and mighty, but I’ve been in your pawprints and I was never this careless! If I gave this kind of moss to the elders we had I would’ve lost an eye!”

“Well then you must be capable, maybe you could do something other than sit around in the elder’s den and do nothing!” Dawnpaw let out a small gasp, she knew Fawnpaw was bad tempered but was she really going that far?

“Fawnpaw!” Flowerstar’s voice cut through the air like thunder. The pale brown she-cat tensed, she looked slowly over her shoulder. “I know that your parents taught you to respect not only your elders, but your Clanmates.”

Fawnpaw whirled on the leader. “It’s not my fault she didn’t like the moss I brought!”

Flowerstar closed her eyes, Dawnpaw could see annoyance written visibly on her face. “Fawnpaw, you realize that today is yours and Adderpaw’s warrior ceremony, correct?”

Dawnpaw saw the worry on Fawnpaw’s face, was it really going to be their ceremony today?

Fawnpaw didn’t respond, she just nodded. “After all these moons of collecting moss you’d think you would know how to do it by now. I’ve seen better moss and hunting from Yarrowpaw and Cinderpaw.” Flowerstar’s words were harsh, Dawnpaw could see Fawnpaw wincing as if she had been struck. “Maybe you’re not ready to be a warrior.”

Fawnpaw jumped forward, her green eyes wide with alarm. “No! I’m ready to be a warrior!”

Flowerstar shook her head. “I don’t think you are, clearly you need to work on your attitude and respect towards your fellow Clanmates. Not only will you not be earning your warrior name today, but you will only be collecting moss and caring for the queens and elders, though I hope you don’t treat your siblings the same way you’ve treated Nightwing.”

Fawnpaw stood with her jaw dropped, she looked hurt. “Flowerstar please--” She began pleading.

“Enough.” Flowerstar cut her off harshly. “This is my decision, if you make an attitude improvement and start respecting your Clanmates, then you’ll earn your warrior name before you know it, but not today.” The leader turned away with a flick of her tail, signalling the end of the conversation. The entire Clan had watched the engagement between them, and none of SunClan really knew what to say.

Dawnpaw turned away, not wanting to take a chance that Fawnpaw would take her anger out on her. She supposed she would wait for Adderpaw’s warrior ceremony, as far as she knew that would still be happening today. Soon, after Fawnpaw had moved from her spot of being shocked, she left to camp, presumably to get more moss and also to avoid Adderpaw’s ceremony. It wasn’t long before Adderpaw returned to camp and Flowerstar called the meeting. Dawnpaw heard the complaints of kits as the Clan gathered and looked over to see Willownose struggling to reign in Flamekit, Heatherkit and Brackenkit. Flamekit was a fiery ginger she-cat, Heatherkit had soft brown fur, and Brackenkit had dark brown fur that normally stuck up in all directions. Eventually, Willownose managed to get them back in the nursery and sat outside to watch them, what did she think? That he daughter managed to get out of her warrior ceremony, it was normally a very proud day for parents.

“Today we are welcoming a brand new warrior into SunClan,” Flowerstar began, Dawnpaw could tell she felt slightly uncomfortable. She probably wasn’t happy about holding back Fawnpaw’s warrior ceremony, but Dawnpaw figured she had to handle some harder duties as leader, including punishing warriors when needed. Dawnpaw noticed Bramblepelt sitting beside Thornpelt, Bramblepelt’s look was stoic, yet calm and Thornpelt looked as annoyed as ever. Dawnpaw suppressed a laugh, Fawnpaw was more like Thornpelt than her actual father.

“Adderpaw, step forward.” Flowerstar continued and the silver striped apprentice stood forward. Dawnpaw would miss Adderpaw in the apprentice den, he was kind and funny, but she was happy for him. “I Flowerstar, leader of SunClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice, for he has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn.” Flowerstar jumped down from the SunTree and faced Adderpaw.

“Adderpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and defend the Clan even at the cost of your life?”

“I do.” Adderpaw’s voice was steady.

“Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your warrior name. Adderpaw, from this day forward you will be known as Adderstrike. StarClan honors your courage and wit, and we welcome you as a full member of SunClan.” Flowerstar rested her muzzle on Adderstrike’s muzzle, and Dawnpaw a noticed a certain tenderness in her eyes, something she hadn’t see in Redclaw and Squirreltail’s ceremony, then Flowerstar remembered that Adderstrike was the son of Stormwind, Flowerstar’s sister and he was Flowerstar’s nephew.

“Adderstrike! Adderstrike! Adderstrike!” The Clan cheered their new warrior and Dawnpaw felt the same buzz of excitement in her paws as when Redclaw and Squirreltail became warriors, and she started longing for her own warrior ceremony. However, she had a long ways to go before she finally earned her warrior name.

The next day, Fawnpaw seemed to have calmed down over being denied her warrior ceremony, but Dawnpaw could still see that she was even more irritable than normal. Dawnpaw did her best to leave her alone, in any other situation, Dawnpaw would sympathy for the she-cat, but Fawnpaw wasn’t the kindest cat, and he needed to learn some manners. Dawnpaw had been taught since she was a kit to respect her elders, and Fawnpaw seemed to have forgotten that.

Dawnpaw sat in camp, the sun slowly rising. Thornpelt had woken her up at dawn for once, but this normally meant he had something planned for her. Sure enough, as she thought this, her mentor approached her. “Where are the other apprentices?”

The other apprentices? Dawnpaw tilted her head. “Turtlepaw is giving prey to the kits, Fawnpaw is getting moss with Cinderpaw and Yarrowpaw and I think Goldenpaw and Lionpaw are out hunting.”

“Poppyfur and Pebblepaw needs herbs.” Thornpelt explained, “But they’re busy cleaning the medicine cat den or something so I said I’d help and send some apprentices out to collect some for them.”

“But all the apprentices?” Dawnpaw questioned, wondering why they needed so many apprentices just for herbs.

Thornpelt’s eyes flashed annoyance. “Because the rain could easily kill the herbs they need, don’t question what I tell you to do.” Dawnpaw flicked her ears but gave a nod, Thornpelt turned away and walked towards the entrance of camp right as Goldenpaw and Lionpaw entered the camp. He stopped and talked to them for a moment before he left the camp.

Dawnpaw met Lionpaw’s gaze who seemed a bit confused but the two of them padded up to her. It had been over a moon since Tigertail’s death, and Dawnpaw noticed that were doing better, but she could still the shadows of grief in their eyes from time to time.

“Did Thornpelt tell you the same thing?” He questioned. Dawnpaw nodded. “Seems odd, but I guess if they need a lot of herbs, a lot of cats are the way to do it.”

“But at Jagged Rocks?” Goldenpaw tilted her head. “Most apprentices aren’t allowed to go by themselves, if a cat gets too high up they could slip and fall, there’s adders and it’s so close to the AshClan border.”

Lionpaw nudged his sister comfortingly. “We won’t climb too high, the adders should be gone from the rain and we won’t cross the border. Simple as that.” Despite his words, Dawnpaw could see doubt flickering in Goldenpaw’s eyes.

“Alright.” She mewed, her tone uneasy. “I suppose we should go get the others.” Lionpaw and Dawnpaw agreed and the three of them picked up Turtlepaw when he finished giving prey to the kits, and then moved out of camp to get Fawnpaw, Cinderpaw and Yarrowpaw, then continued on towards Jagged Rocks.

In the few days that had passed since Fawnpaw had been denied her warrior ceremony, she had become even worse to be around. She was snappy and always complained. You’re not going to get a warrior ceremony like that. Dawnpaw thought with a snort.

“So how’s the training going?” Dawnpaw jumped slightly, she hadn’t noticed that Lionpaw was walking beside her now.

“Oh,” She replied, looking ahead and not wanting to talk about her strict mentor. “It’s fine, I suppose.”

“Why just fine?” Lionpaw questioned. “I noticed you’ve got a bit of a nick on your ear. Training accident.”

Not exactly an accident. She said silently. “Yeah,” She replied. “Thornpelt is a rough mentor.”

“What do you mean?”
“He punishes me if I do anything less than his definition of perfect. He makes me trains for so long and is never satisfied. I’m always tired and sore.” Dawnpaw replied, trying to keep her voice low. She didn’t want every other apprentice hearing her complain, but she trusted Lionpaw.

“Well it seems to be paying off.” Lionpaw pointed out. Dawnpaw looked at him in confusion. Paying off?

“What?” She questioned.

“Look at yourself.” LIonpaw mewed. “You’re strong, you’ve got more muscles than Turtlepaw. You always bring back the most prey while hunting and you could take on Ashpaw, who is much older and bigger than you. I bet you could fight a warrior at this rate.”

Dawnpaw blinked, she hadn’t exactly thought about how the training had been affecting her, other than that it was hard and exhausting.

“Thornpelt may be a harsh mentor, but I’d say that harshness is paying off. It’s not like his attitude is wearing off on you.” Lionpaw added, then met her gaze with sparkling amber eyes. “You’re still one of the most caring cats I know.” Dawnpaw felt her pelt grow hot, she looked away from him.

“Thanks, I guess.” She lowered her head, unsure of what to say in response to that. Luckily, they were nearing Jagged Rocks. The forest slowly thinned out into a large, open field. In this field was Jagged Rocks, a rock formation that stuck out of the grown like large claws. As the apprentices approached it, they stopped for a moment

“What kind of herbs are we supposed to gather around here?” Turtlepaw questioned, looking around.

“Pebblepaw told me that yarrow, chervil and chickweed grow around here.” Yarrowpaw replied.

“Remember to be careful around here.” Lionpaw spoke up. “Don’t fall and don’t cross the border.” He mewed, the apprentices nodded and they started splitting up around the rocks to find herbs. Dawnpaw moved towards the bottom of the rocks where she found some chervil, from her time in the medicine cat den she knew that both the root and the leaves were useful.

As Dawnpaw began to pull up the plant, Lionpaw caused her to jump once more. “You’re really jumpy today.” He chuckled and began gathering the herb with her. I’m always jumpy. Dawnpaw flicked her tail, but didn’t respond. She didn’t understand why Lionpaw was always talking to her, instead of his sister or another apprentice.  “Sorry if I was being a bit pushy when asking about Thornpelt.”

Dawnpaw looked away from her herbs and at him. “It’s fine.” She replied. “It didn’t bother me.”

“That’s good.” Lionpaw purred then looked at his herbs. “You know, he may seem like he’s a badger pretending to be a cat, but ever since my father died both him and Bramblepelt have been looking after me and Goldenpaw when we need it.”

“Really?” Dawnpaw could understand Bramblepelt, but Thornpelt? She didn’t see him as the “fatherly” type.

Lionpaw nodded. “It’s been helpful, knowing that I still have cats like that who love me and want to see me succeed like Tigertail did.” There was flash of sadness in his eyes, but before Dawnpaw could reply she heard a cry of alarm from Yarrowpaw. The two of them jumped to their paws and ran to see what was happening.

The small gray apprentice had climbed a bit higher than he should have and Dawnpaw came around just in time to watch him fall and land on the forest floor. Panic struck her like lightning, but it quickly ebbed when she saw Yarrowpaw stand up.

“Are you okay?” Cinderpaw asked, concern lining her mew. Yarrowpaw gave a nod and shook his pelt clean.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Yarrowpaw replied.

“This is interesting.” Dawnpaw’s fur stood on end as behind Yarrowpaw, an AshClan patrol slipped out of the trees with Echoheart at the front of it. Yarrowpaw spun around in alarm and Dawnpaw realized that when he had fallen, he had fallen on the other side of the border. Echoheart looked at Yarrowpaw as if he was a piece of prey. “SunClan apprentices on the wrong side of the border.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Yarrowpaw scrambled backwards across the border and back onto SunClan territory. “It was an accident, I fell from the rocks.”

“Now how can I believe that?” Echoheart questioned. “For all I know SunClan apprentices could be freely roaming onto AshClan territory, this border isn’t check as often as it should be.”

Lionpaw stepped forward, standing beside Yarrowpaw. “He didn’t mean to cross the border.” His voice was steady and dangerous. “SunClan cats actually respect borders.”

Echoheart’s eyes flashed. “And yet I found a hunting apprentice on the wrong side of the border.”

“You found a group of apprentices gathering herbs and one of them accidently crossed the border by falling.” Lionpaw sounded like a warrior while he faced Echoheart.

“You have a lot of courage for a little apprentice.” Echoheart sneered and Dawnpaw noticed the cats around her were moving closer. Dawnpaw tried to remember each of their names, she recalled Lilyclaw, Graypelt, Mudthorn, Cloverstrike, Ratpelt and Crowstep. She felt unease pricking at her pelt, she didn’t like the look in their eyes.

Echoheart looked down at Lionpaw with malice deep in her eyes, but Lionpaw didn’t back down. “I’ve got a lot more courage than you, murderer.” Dawnpaw could hear the hatred and anger in his voice as he faced the she-cat who killed his mother.

“Oh was that your mother I killed?” Echoheart sneered, the tone in her voice made Dawnpaw unsheathe her claws and made anger twinge her paws. Echoheart didn’t have any remorse for killing Sunstream. “I was only doing my duty.”

“You duty cost you your deputy position, at least my father was a noble deputy.” Echoheart moved like lightning, he claws flashed and Lionpaw stumbled backwards with a slight cry of alarm.

“Lionpaw!” Both Goldenpaw and Dawnpaw cried his name, Dawnpaw saw blood dripping on the ground.

“Attack!” Echoheart gave the call for her patrol and seconds later, the AshClan cats were swarming over the border and onto the apprentices. Dawnpaw started running to Lionpaw’s side, but she was overcome by a large weight. She felt claws digging into her fur and she bit back a cry of pain.

Dawnpaw struggled under the warrior’s weight, but kicked with her hind paws and dug her claws firmly into the body of her attacker and raked them downwards. She heard the cry of pain of a she-cat and she let her grip on Dawnpaw ease. Dawnpaw squirmed away and saw that she had been attacked by Lilyclaw. The silver she-cat was back on her paws in just a moment and there was a dangerous glint in her eyes.

Dawnpaw attacked before she could, going for the she-cats legs to knock her down again. With claws out she swiped at Lilyclaw’s forelegs, but she she-cat stepped backwards to avoid her attack, before Dawnpaw could pull back she Lilyclaw lashed out, her claws scratching just above Dawnpaw’s eyes. She fell back in alarm and winced in pain as blood trickled into her eyes.

With claws out and a deep breath, Dawnpaw made another attack. She put all of her strength into her haunches and jumped onto Lilyclaw’s back, digging her claws deep into the she-cats shoulders. Lilyclaw hissed and started doing her beck to buck Dawnpaw off of her, but each time she did, Dawnpaw dug her claws deep into her flesh.

Finally, Lilyclaw managed to displace Dawnpaw, she fell to the ground hard and had to roll away from another attack. Her body ached but she stood up, there was a flash a golden fur and Lionpaw attacked Lilyclaw before she could land another hit on Dawnpaw. Dawnpaw took a moment to catch her breath, but it didn’t last she felt claws dig into her shoulders and she was thrown to the side. A large rock stabbed into Dawnpaw’s side and she let out a small yelp of pain, when Dawnpaw faced her attacker she saw that it was Echoheart.

The former AshClan deputy was large and fast, Dawnpaw didn’t have time to run or avoid her as Echoheart closed in on her. Echoheart pinned Dawnpaw to the ground, and bit down hard on her already scarred shoulder. Pain ripped through Dawnpaw’s body, she cried out in pain and dug her claws into Echoheart’s fur, clumsily raking them down her side. Pain and blood blurred her vision, she tried her best to pull away but the AshClan she-cat was much stronger than even Lilyclaw.

Echoheart released her grip on Dawnpaw’s shoulder for a moment and Dawnpaw allowed herself to claw at the she-cat and get away. When she finally scrambled away, she noticed that blood was spilling from her shoulder at her alarming rate. She had to ignore the pain, she had to fight.

Dawnpaw attacked the same time Echoheart did, but Echoheart simply knocked her to the ground once more. Dawnpaw struggled more and more each time to get up, but she forced herself to stand. Her legs trembled and her shoulder burned, but she did not back down.

“Scared little kitty?” Echoheart sneered and attacked again, shoving Dawnpaw to the ground once more. Panic swelled in Dawnpaw, she didn’t have the energy to fight Echoheart much longer.

In the distance, Dawnpaw heard a shout and heard more cries than just the AshClan warriors and the apprentices. Dawnpaw slowly lifted her head and saw that Thornpelt and more SunClan warriors had arrived, her mentor had pulled Echoheart off Dawnpaw and pinned her to the ground.

Dawnpaw looked around, spotting Bramblepelt, Sandfoot, Icepetal, Rustpelt, and Snakewhisker swarming the AshClan warriors and pulling them off the apprentices. The SunClan apprentices looked much more battered than the AshClan warriors did. Cinderpaw bled from a torn ear and a wound on her foreleg, Turtlepaw had blood trailing down his face, Fawnpaw was missing patches of fur and had a long scratch down her flank, Goldenpaw had several wounds along her flank, Lionpaw had a wound on his chest and Yarrowpaw looked the worst.

He stood trembling with multiple, heavily bleeding wounds on his chest, shoulders and flank. Dawnpaw struggled to stand up while the SunClan warriors attacked the AshClan warriors. Dawnpaw looked over and saw Lionpaw running over to her with concern in his eyes.

“Are you alright? I’m so sorry I left you to deal with Echoheart.” His eyes went to her shoulder.

Dawnpaw gave a small, weak nod. “I’m alright.” She assured him, then watched as the AshClan warriors fled back over the border.

“Run, cowards!” Thornpelt taunted with a flash in his eyes.

Echoheart stopped running and turned to face Thornpelt. “I am no coward, Thornpelt.” She spat.

“That’s why you fight a group of apprentices?” He questioned. “Maybe you were too scared to take on a full grown warrior.”

Echoheart hissed. “They crossed the border!”

“It was an accident you mangepelt!” Lionpaw spat, Dawnpaw could hear the anger in his voice.

Thornpelt raised his tail to silence the golden apprentice and stepped closer to the border. “I’m sure you must’ve been so threatened by a group of apprentices carrying herbs. Honestly, Echoheart, with how you’ve been acting Lionstar must think the made a kit to be his deputy. It’s a blessing that Riverstorm is deputy now.”

Echoheart’s eyes blazed with rage. “You watch yourself, Thornpelt! I was the best deputy AshClan ever had!”

With a lash of her tail, Echoheart led her patrol back into the pine trees, Dawnpaw let out a sigh of relief. “Are you alright?” Dawnpaw looked up to see Thornpelt looking down at her, his eyes showed a small trace of concern.

She nodded. “I’m fine.” She replied and stood up, her shoulder still burning with pain. Thornpelt gave a nod and looked around at the apprentices.

“Let’s get you all home, I’m proud you all fought so fiercely.” Thornpelt mewed and began leading all the warriors and apprentices back to camp. Dawnpaw padded up to her brother, who looked just as exhausted as she felt.

“Are you alright?” She questioned, looking at the wound on his head, but the blood seemed to be drying.

“Yes,” Turtlepaw nodded. “Are you?” He asked, his green eyes traveling to her shoulder. Dawnpaw nodded and she could see the relief visibly on his face. They walked back together, Dawnpaw wanted to stay close to her brother right now. She could see that her fellow apprentices were doing the same thing. Lionpaw and Goldenpaw were together and Cinderpaw was helping Yarrowpaw walk, Dawnpaw felt her heart twist. I hope Yarrowpaw will be okay.

When the cats reach camp, they were greeted by shocked expressions, but the apprentices didn’t stop to answer questions they just went to the medicine cat den. When they stepped inside Poppyfur turned around in shock. “What in the name of StarClan happened to you all?” Pebblepaw looked around in alarm and rushed to her brother, helping him into a nest.

“We were out collecting herbs out at Jagged Rocks  when an AshClan patrol attacked us.” Lionpaw explained, Dawnpaw looked at him. Despite the fight, he seemed to have more energy than the rest of them.

Poppyfur turned her gaze to Thornpelt. “I asked  you to send an apprentice or two to get herbs, not all of them. Are you an idiot?” Dawnpaw held back a gasp, she had never heard any cat speak to Thornpelt that way.

Thornpelt narrowed his eyes. “Don’t speak to me that--”

“I’ll speak to you anyway I want!” Poppyfur spat, her fur bristling. “You send all of our apprentices to one of the most dangerous places in the territory and bring them back to me half-dead! You’re one of the biggest mouse-brains I’ve ever met, get out of my den!” Dawnpaw was shocked at the rage in the medicine cat’s voice, then she supposed that it would be hard for two medicine cats to treat all the apprentices, and it would use a lot of herbs.