Chapter 10
"So... you understand the plan? You'll follow through?"
Darkpaw shifted her paws uneasily as she stared up at the circle of spirit cats that encompassed her. While she had been sleeping, she had been 'summoned' to their dwelling place. About twelve cats of varying sizes and colours stood around her in a circle. Some looked mean, while others looked bored or vaguely friendly.
She was in their land now, an open moortop that was bright and vibrant. Various colours flashed around her vision. At the bottom of the hill she was sitting on, there appeared to be a dark, gloomy forest full of shadow, with towering black trees.
"Darkpaw! Listen you mousebrain!" Darkpaw scowled at the she-cat who spoke to her.
"Yeah, yeah. You want me to kill some rogue cat I've never even heard of." Darkpaw found the spirit cats to be significantly less friendly now that she'd come to their realm a few times. Not really the best way to impress me to join your side, guys.
Hisses and scowls exploded from the semi-circle of cats around her, as Darkpaw spoke confidently and defiantly. Even the 'friendly' cats were staring at her with narrowed eyes. A massive tom she remembered as Earthstar looked about to leap at her with unsheathed claws when the she-cat spoke again.
"Darkpaw, dearest, you are so young and foolish. I understand you feel weak, and uncertain of going on a massive quest. For that reason, I have given you a life goal that will be... simpler for a cat of your ability to accomplish."
Darkpaw tipped her head to one side, and blinked innocently. "And what might that be?" She asked.
"Kill Pebblepaw." All the spirit cats seemed to speak in unison, and Darkpaw smiled with all her teeth. That was a task she could certainly achieve.
"Earthstar will check your progress every quarter moon, dearest Darkpaw. Don't disappoint," the she-cat spoke again, and Darkpaw nodded.
This was a task that she had wanted to do ever since Pebblepaw had padded into camp with her brother's blood on her flank. She hadn't been certain at first that it was the right decision, but with the spirit cats all in agreement, Darkpaw couldn't help but feel encouraged. She would avenge her brother's death! Then the claws that pierced her heart from the second she woke up would let go. The world could return to normal. One cat's blood for the security of the clan and a small bit of vengeance. It's normal to want vengeance. We're warrior cats, after all. We fight, sometimes cats die. Pebblepaw will be fine rolling around in StarClan, really.
The spirit world was shifting away from her vision, the cat's shapes paleing. All the cats raise their voices to chant in Darkpaw's mind. "Kill Pebblepaw! Kill Pebblepaw!" Darkpaw grinned, and fell into a deeper sleep.
"Uh... hey." Some cat was prodding Darkpaw in her side.
She let out a grunt, trying desperately to hold onto a dream she had just had. Nightpaw and her had been running through the forest together, flanks heaving with exertion. They had run over rolling hills, past tall pines, until they couldn't run anymore. Then, the two of them had curled up together. Darkpaw could remember Nightpaw's soothing voice, telling her that everything would be alright.
"Come on, come on!" That was Firbush's voice. "Batpaw, are you so useless that you can't even wake up a sleeping denmate."
The prodding hesitated for a second, and Darkpaw hoped that Batpaw had given up trying to wake her. Those meetings with the spirit cats always tire me out. Suddenly, there was an extremely sharp jab in her side, and Darkpaw let out a hiss of pain.
"Unnecessary!" she snarled just as she opened her eyes to look at Batpaw.
The tall white and grey tom flicked his ears uneasily. "Firbush's orders..." he managed, then added apologetically, "yeah. Sorry, Darkpaw."
Darkpaw took a second to adjust to the gloomy warmth of the apprentice's den. All the other mossy nests had been vacated, and only Darkpaw and Batpaw remained in the den. She merely bared her teeth at him, and padded out of the den.
As her eyes adjusted to the bright light outside the den, she nearly collided with Firbush, who let out a hiss of frustration.
"Lousy apprentice," he muttered irritably. "Come on, the others are already at the training clearing for the Flame Trial."
Firbush started to pad away into the thorn barrier that lined the camp wall. "Flame Trial?" Darkpaw echoed blearily.
"Do you ever listen to anything I say," Firbush snarled. "Flame Trial. Troutstar will be there."
Firbush looked at her with such irritation in his expression, that he was almost amusing to look at. As Troutstar padded up to them from the nursery den, where his mate had just had her one kit, he looked up at Firbush. "Any problems?" he asked irritably. "You woke up my darling Thrushkit."
As Troutstar padded towards Firbush at the den entrance, Firbush instantly straightened and changed his composure. "No problems, sir," the brown tabby spoke confidently. "Just preparing my apprentice for the Flame Trial today.
Troutstar merely nodded and padded past him out of camp. Firbush filed out obediently behind Troutstar. Darkpaw hung back a little before following them both out of camp; she couldn't help but let out a chuckle that the word 'darling' had come out of Troutstar's mouth.
As Darkpaw padded into the forest, trees dappled with newleaf sunshine, she heard pawsteps behind. She wheeled around, slipping on some bright green moss that was underneath her paws. She fell, unceremoniously onto her side, and looked into the amber eyes of Batpaw.
"Were you trying to hurt me?" she hissed at him.
Batpaw's eyes widened and the white and grey tom offered her a paw, but Darkpaw batted it away with unsheathed claws. Batpaw winced slightly as she drew blood. He deserves it, she thought to herself. He'll forget about it soon anyway, nothing ever stays in the head of that massive tom for long!
As she got to her paws, Batpaw spoke. "Er... Darkpaw?" He began slowly.
"Get on with it," she muttered.
She padded ahead of him, and Batpaw had to race to catch up. They were going to be late anyway, and Darkpaw thought it would be easier to explain her tardiness if Batpaw arrived even later.
She slowed her pace sufficiently for Batpaw to catch up. His ears twitched uneasily as he padded closer to Darpaw. "Darkpaw I don't really... appreciate your meanness towards Pebblepaw?" He said it as though it was a question.
Darkpaw swished her tail, encouraging Batpaw to continue through slitted eyes. Batpaw took a deep breath and restarted his 'speech'. "I guess I'm sort of a follower, you know? I like to let other cats take the lead."
Darkpaw let out a short mrow of laughter. "You think of me as your leader?" she asked, allowing a small amount of amusement to come into her voice. The tom had always sort of looked to her for direction.
Batpaw leaped over a protruding root. "As a little kit, yes. To be honest, Darkpaw, I was kinda sorta head over paws for you when I was two moons old. You were just so confident, so cool." He rushed the last part out quickly, then continued. "I like to follow, I like to let other cats talk, and listen to what they have to say. But what I don't like is the way you bully Pebblepaw." He took a sharp inhale, "I may have sometimes find her antics... annoying, but she's really growing into an empathetic cat..."
Darkpaw cut him off. They were nearing the training hollow now. She brushed through a thick wad of leaves, and spoke. "So... your point? Are you threatening me?"
Batpaw sighed, "I just want you to be careful. I want you to know that I'm not that little kit anymore. I don't want to obediently follow any cat who speaks with confidence."
Darkpaw rounded on him. "Fine by me," she hissed and ran quickly towards the training hollow.
She felt Batpaw's impenetrable gaze on her tail as she whisked out of his sight. Huh, she thought. What a weirdo.
"Ready, set, go!"
Shimmerclaw's voice ran out to begin the tracking contest. Darkpaw fluffed out her fur, and narrowed her eyes. The apprentices had been split up into two separate teams. To even out the numbers, since Thornpaw wanted to test out her tracking, newish warrior Basstail had been added to the competition. Darkpaw had always disliked the silver and black tabby she-cat, who acted as though she was a powerful, dominant, senior warrior. It was often that she'd be telling the apprentices off for one thing or another, even though she had been promoted to a warrior less than five moons ago.
The point of the competition was to use all tracking skills to search for members of the opposite team. The catch was that the searching cats had to close their eyes and rely solely on scent and smell. The hiding team had to choose one spot within a set perimeter, and stay there for the whole match. Darkpaw had been teamed up with Thornpaw and Basstail of all cats. Great. The dominant jerk and the Medicine Cat apprentice.
Basstail spoke somewhere amidst the darkness of Darkpaw's closed eyelids. "Follow me! Quit tripping over my tail, Thornpaw! Darkpaw, where in StarClan's name are you!" she shouted out random orders.
There was a muffled,"Sorr-eee," which sounded like Thornpaw.
Darkpaw shut off all the senses of the other mousebrained cats, and focused on one scent trail, which smelled of Pebblepaw. She started tracking it, then heard pawsteps behind her, and felt a massive block of muscle whamming into her.
"Safety precautions," Firbush muttered under his breath.
"Yeah, sure it is," Darkpaw muttered mutinously.
She opened her jaws to taste the air, and sure enough she could scent Pebblepaw.
Tripping unceremoniously over a root, Darkpaw swore under her breath. She was sure she heard Firbush muffling a laugh. She scowled, wanting to lash out at him, but focused instead on Pebblepaw's scent trail, drawing ever closer.
"Got me!" Darkpaw heard the distant mew of Min, but turned her senses forward and toward Pebblepaw.
After a few more pawsteps, Darkpaw heard a sound that was somewhere between the squealing of a dying mouse and the rough laughter of an amused cat. Relying on sound alone now, Darkpaw jumped a crisscross of ferns and nearly collided with a bramble bush.
The sound was coming from inside the bramble bush. The scent trail ended here. Darkpaw got into an attack position, unsheathed her claws, and leaped forward.
"Ack! Darkpaw..." That was very clearly Pebblepaw's mew.
"Pebblepaw's been found!" Firbush raised his voice.
"Ok!" That was Shimmerclaw's distant mew.
Darkpaw opened her eyes to look down at Pebblepaw. She was laying in a ball, underneath Darkpaw's unsheathed claws, trembling like a newborn kit. Darkpaw glowered down at her, ready to snarl and hiss at the small grey she-cat, when suddenly she realised something. Pebblepaw was crying.
Firbush pushed the bramble bush aside easily and padded over to the two she-cats. His look was vaguely menacing, until he saw Pebblepaw in a ball with tears streaming down her face. At this point, a look of extreme discomfort spread over his face. Eventually he raised his voice in a yowl. "Shimmerclaw! Come here." To Darkpaw he added, "Shimmerclaw will deal with... this." He gestured to Pebblepaw's frantic, trembling frame. "You come with me."
As Darkpaw and Firbush pushed their way through the undergrowth back to the training clearing, Shimmerclaw looked at them with unease. "Where's Pebblep..." she began.
"Over there," Firbush vaguely gestured his paw in the direction the two of them had come. "She's having one of those... things again," he spat out half disdain, half bewilderment.
It was then that Darkpaw noticed Basstail, her tail and eyes proud as she herded Min and Batpaw into the clearing. Batpaw was covered in moss, and Min purred with amusement.
"Darkpaw." Troutstar turned to her with his piercing gaze.
"Yes?"
"Walk with me." With that, Troutstar turned abruptly and padded out of the clearing.
Darkpaw padded behind Troutstar as he made his way to a miniature river that lapped at his paws. He narrowed his eyes on her. " I think we need to talk," he mewed darkly. "The way you padded after Pebblepaw was more like that of a hunter, than that of a tracker."