Pawprints In The Snow/Chapter Two

Chapter Two (Bird)
Flowerpaw groaned when the morning shed light into the den. She tried to keep on sleeping, but her friend, Sandpaw, was making that to be difficult. He mewed, “Come on, Flowerpaw, you’re going to be late for training… again!”

Flowerpaw blinked open her eyes, staring up at her frenemy. He had bright green eyes, and his fur looked like sand near a bank of a river. She mewed sarcastically, “You’re kidding me! I thought all those other times I was the first one there.”

Sandpaw scoffed. “Maybe that’s because we started without you, mouse-brain. It took you a while to find us that one time.” He flicked his tail, stalking out of the den.

Flowerpaw sighed, and followed with her tail low.'' I’m too tired to deal with him or training! One can never get enough sleep, s''he thought bitterly, Sandpaw was a morning cat, but that didn’t mean everyone else had to be. She had the feeling he was grumpy because he wasn’t going to the gathering that was coming, and she was.

She looked around the ThunderClan camp curiously. In the distance, she could see Gorsestar, a strong, brown tom, talking with his deputy, Leafclaw, a nimble tabby she-cat, who was whispering hushed words. Flowerpaw's mentor, Rainclaw, was by the depleted fresh-kill pile. He seemed to be thinking deeply, and he looked closely at a mouse before seemingly deciding not to eat it.

Flowerpaw padded up to him, and mewed in an annoyed tone, “Sandpaw said I was going to be late for training.”

Rainclaw stared at her, and then mewed, “Well, you'd better eat first. You'll need the energy; we’re doing battle training today.” He flicked his tail at the nearly empty pile of prey. Flowerpaw obeyed her mentor, and picked a scrawny squirrel to eat.

She noticed Brambleberry, a pretty tabby she-cat, walking into the nursery, her belly plump. "Is Brambleberry pregnant?"

Rainclaw looked at Brambleberry, his gaze softened and he mewed, “Yeah. I should take this to her." He picked up the mouse he'd been eyeing earlier and trotted towards the nursery.

So they're probably his kits, then, Flowerpaw thought, and she swallowed the last stringy mouthful of squirrel and stood up.

Rainclaw hurried back over to her. “Well, if you’re ready, we should get started, all the apprentices are going to be there,” he meowed, signalling with a flick of his tail for Flowerpaw to follow him.

"Aren't you going to eat something?" the apprentice asked her mentor. He shook his head.

"There isn't enough," he meowed solemnly, and beckoned her out of camp.

Flowerpaw followed him deep into the forest where ThunderClan lived. There was never much prey in leaf-bare - and this one was even worse than usual. The sun set patches of light on the forest floor.

I love this place, Flowerpaw thought, she jumped when she heard her name called.

“Hey! Flowerpaw! Be my partner! We can beat up Sandpaw together!”

She laughed when she saw it was Featherpaw; she was jumping up and down beside her brother, Wildpaw, who seemed disgruntled by his sister’s bouncing. Flowerpaw bounded up to the two of them, and she nodded.

“Of course, Featherpaw! Anything to teach the annoying waker-upper a lesson!” she meowed with a laugh.

She noticed Sandpaw stalk in, followed by his mentor, Hawkclaw, whose narrowed eyes always creeped Flowerpaw out.

Featherpaw’s mentor, Birdflight, was talking to Wildpaw’s mentor, Nightheart.

Soon, the mentors got the apprentices in a line, and Birdflight mewed, “Wildpaw and Sandpaw are partners, Flowerpaw and Featherpaw shall be partners, any problems?” she narrowed her eyes.

Flowerpaw and Featherpaw both shook their heads, but Flowerpaw almost felt bad for Wildpaw, who disliked Sandpaw more than Flowerpaw did.

Soon, the two pairs were facing off, while the mentors sat on the sidelines, watching carefully and closely. Rainclaw mewed, “When you all are ready, remember, this is training, no claws.”

Sandpaw drawled, “We know, Rainclaw.”

Flowerpaw made a face at Sandpaw, and then Birdflight mewed, “Begin.”

Sandpaw bounded straight, but Wildpaw yelled, “That’s a bad idea-"

His words never reached Sandpaw, as Flowerpaw and Featherpaw sidestepped, causing the sandy-coloured apprentice to skid into the bushes behind them.

Sandpaw coughed, and yelled, “Help me! We’re supposed to be fighting together!”

Wildpaw made a face as Featherpaw and Flowerpaw advanced on him. He looked for a way to take them by surprise.

Featherpaw leaped, causing Wildpaw to jump back. Flowerpaw skirted around the two, and pinned down Wildpaw from behind.

She twitched her whiskers, and asked, “Don’t toms ever learn to work together?”

Wildpaw made a face, and Hawkflight called, “Enough, Flowerpaw and Featherpaw have won this training session.” Flowerpaw narrowed her eyes, and let Wildpaw up, he shook out his fur. Rainclaw padded up to them, and mewed, “Good teamwork, Flowerpaw, Featherpaw.”

Birdflight walked up to the two toms though, who were glaring at each-other, “You two still need to learn to work together,” she spat, glaring at them. They looked away from each other.

Flowerpaw was about to say something, but was interrupted by Cloudfeather, who crashed suddenly through the bushes and into the training session.

“Help!" he yelled in horror. "Poppyflower’s been bitten by a snake!”

They all stood in silence for a couple of seconds, then Birdflight growled, “Apprentices, go get Jaywing, we’ll bring Poppyflower to her. Hurry!” Cloudflight led their mentors to where Poppyflower was, while the apprentices hurried back to camp.

Sandpaw asked, “What type of snake though? An adder?” Wildpaw shrugged as they crashed into camp, alerting several cats.

Flowerpaw ran to the medicine cat’s den while the others explained what happened. She yelled, “Jaywing?! Jaywing?!”

Jaywing popped her head out of her nest, and she asked, “What is it Flowerpaw? Relax!” Flowerpaw took a deep breath, and meowed quickly, “Poppyflower has been bitten by a snake!”

Jaywing got up, and ran out of the den. He raced to where Rainclaw and Hawkflight were carrying Poppyflower’s weakening body. While Birdflight tried to calm down Cloudfeather, who was in shock. Jaywing sniffed the weakening she-cat, and murmured, “I’ll need to take care of her now.” The young medicine cat looked at Gorsestar, who seemed worried for his mate. “Don't worry, Gorsestar.”

Gorsestar murmured, “Maybe I should stay with her during the gathering, let Leafclaw speak.”

Leafclaw cut in. “I’m not used to that kind of thing yet.”

Gorsestar helped Jaywing get Poppyflower to the medicine cat den. Flowerpaw watched her go, and then turned to look at Featherpaw.

“Well, that was different,” Featherpaw meowed in hushed tones.

Flowerpaw silently agreed, as Leafclaw called, “I want a border patrol. Flowerpaw, Fernwing, come with me.” Flowerpaw nodded, waving her tail good-bye to Wildpaw and Featherpaw, who seemed confused.

As they headed towards the slopes of the WindClan border, Fernwing murmured, “I wonder what a snake is doing in our territory? I've never seen one before.”

Leafclaw shrugged. “We can’t worry about it now, Flowerpaw.” She turned towards the apprentice, and asked, “What do you smell?”

Flowerpaw sniffed the air, and meowed, “WindClan cats, very recent.”

Leafclaw murmured, “Must be a patrol nearby. Let’s go.”

Flowerpaw followed her and Fernwing. The WindClan patrol was just up ahead, and the small group slowed politely as the ThunderClan cats neared them. Flowerpaw didn't recognise any of the cats, but she heard Leafclaw mew politely, “Hello, Thistleleaf, how are things?”

The cat who seemed to be Thistleleaf made a face “Not great, Leafclaw. The other day we saw some sneaky ShadowClan cats sniffing around our border for prey. We chased them off.” He rolled his eyes, “How pathetic that they have to come all the way to WindClan for prey. Why not steal it from you? No offence,” he added hastily.

Leafclaw frowned. “We haven’t scented any ShadowClan cats near our borders, but I wouldn’t put it past them to try and steal prey from us as well.”

One of the WindClan warriors sighed. “Just when all four Clans are short on prey, too. ShadowClan knows they won’t find anything big if they do hunt on our lands, anyway."

The two patrol leaders nodded, and went their separate ways.

Flowerpaw followed the older warriors back home in silence. When they reached the camp, everyone seemed busy. Leafclaw saw Gorsestar, who was looking up at the sky, his face twisted with anxiety. Leafclaw placed her tail-tip on her leader's shoulder.

“Just have faith in Starclan, she’ll make it through,” Leafclaw told Gorsestar gently.

Flowerpaw jumped when Wildpaw padded up to her.

"Jaywing thinks Poppyflower is going to live," he meowed. "I hope she's right." Flowerpaw nodded as she told him about the WindClan patrol. He frowned in surprise and disapproval. “Do you think they’ll mention it at the gathering?” he asked.

Flowerpaw shrugged. “I don’t know. Thistleleaf seemed mad,” she meowed.

''Maybe they will say something - but all the Clans are already furious. What if an accusation like this pushed them over the edge?''