Chapter 3

Chapter 3

              

                You know how apprentices are on the day of their ceremony, since it’s happening to you, right?  Well this is no different with medicine cat apprentices.  Their wait is just as long, but it’s spent traveling, instead of escaping their mother’s paws and running to their local elders.  Medicine cats must travel to the Moonpath to receive their apprenticeship, and to receive their full names.  From FireClan territory, Moonpath is about half a day’s journey away, farther than the Eight Stones!  Oh, Eight Stones is where both the Northern Clans and the Southern Clans meet for a gathering every four seasons.  You’ll get to go there some day.

                My apologies, I’m getting off track.  So on the day of her ceremony, Graypaw couldn’t simply walk beside her mentor, she bounded beside Ashfeather.  Graypaw closed her eyes as the wind flew threw her mane of beautiful, long gray fur.  Graypaw giggled as she began to jump four paws at a time, instead of trotting two paws at a time.  It was Ashfeather’s turn to laugh as Graypaw tripped on a rock.

                “Excited, Graypaw?” Ashfeather said, interrupted by giggles between her words.

                “Uh, duh!  But you can’t call me that for long, Ashy!  Soon I’ll be Graydapple!” Ashfeather lifted her ear as Graypaw got up and continued to bound away.

                “Um, Graypaw, Moonpath is that way,” Ashfeather said as she pointed toward a tree with moss on it.  “And since when do apprentices pick their own names and call their mentors silly nick-names?”  Graypaw laughed.

                “Since now, Ashy!  And one day I’ll be leader of the forest, and all mentors will have nick-names!  You know, I’ll consider to let you into my V.I.P club, Very Important Paws club for free!  Consider yourself lucky to know me.  Stay cool, yo.”  Graypaw’s head was turned to her trotting mentor behind her, and she didn’t notice the tree in front of her.  Thud.

                Ashfeather laughed.  “What are the herbs for that, Graypaw?  Oh, excuse me, Your Majesty.”

Graypaw grumbled, “mmrild n cmbs.” 

                “Um… what was that, Graypaw?” Ashfeather asked.  Graypaw peeled her head from the tree and stepped away from it causiously.  She seemed a bit dizzly and hobbled from side to side toward her mentor.

                “Marigold for infection and cobwebs; poppyseeds for the pain, Ashy.  Depends on what injuries happened,” Graypaw replied.  Ashfeather nodded. 

                “Well done, Graypaw.  Well done.”  Ashfeather padded on past her apprentice.

                “Wait up, Ashy!”  Graypaw ran up and met Ashfeather, who continued to pad on.  Graypaw picked up her pace and passed the orange and brown cat, then turned around and walked backyards facing her.  Ashfeather lifted her ear.

                “Haven’t you learned your lesson yet?” Ashfeather asked.  Graypaw shrugged.

                “Leaders don’t take orders from randoms,” Graypaw replied.  Ashfeather just rolled her eyes.

                “Graypaw, if you continue that tone I won’t give you your full name, and I’ll be late to the gathering. 

                “Okay, yeah, yeah.  Say, on that note, what will my name be?” Graypaw looked at her mentor curiously.  Ashfeather looked at her and shrugged.

                “You’ll find out soon, Graypaw.  It’ll be a surprise-“  Ashfeather was interrupted by Graypaw, again.

                “Graytail would be cool!  I mean, after all, my tail is gray!  Or Grayleaf, since I’m a medicine cat!  But leaves aren’t gray, right?  I mean, I don’t know many gray leaves!  Do you know any leaves at all, because I don’t!” Ashfeather rolled her eyes.

                “Once I named a leaf Rabbit, but the wind took it.  I never saw Rabbit again.  Wait, I haven’t seen a feather covered in Ash either.  Where did you get the name Ashfeather?!  It just doesn’t make sense!  And Grayleaf doesn’t either.  We’re like twins, but born in different times!  We can be medicine cat buddies!”

                “Graypaw, we already are medicine cat buddies,” Ashfeather said with a smile.  Graypaw shrugged.

                “Or, Graydapple!  That’s perfect! I mean, I have gray fur, but dappled!  Splotches of light gray, medium gray, and dark gray!  Hehe, while you mousebrains get little gray hairs later in your life, mine will be invisible!  I’ll be young forever!” Graypaw bounded ahead with her eyes closed.  She was met by… another tree?

                “Huh?” Graypaw looked up.  A serious looking cat was staring at her. 

                “Eek!”  Graypaw jumped back and stared at the cat.  Ashfeather padded up beside her.

                “What are you doing next to the DeathClan border?  Are you spies sent by Flamestar?” the cat asked, rather hostile.  Ashfeather didn’t look scared.  She met the cat’s eyes.

                “Relax.  We’re on our way to Moonpath.  I’m Ashfeather, and this is Graypaw.  We’re FireClan’s medicine cats.”  Ashfeather’s voice was calm and relaxed.  The cat snorted.

                “In that case, you’ll need an escort.  Hollybush?  Blooddrop?” The cat looked behind him.  A dark brown she-cat and a black and brown tom emerged from deep in DeathClan territory.

                “Who’s this?” The she cat asked.  She looked hostile, but not as much as the first cat.

                “They say they’re the FireClan medicine cats,” the hostile cat said.  She other tom lifted his ear.

                “They claim they’re medicine cats?  What mousebrain would lie about that?  I’ve seen the orange and brown one at the Northern Clans gathering before.  The gray one must be a new apprentice,” the tom said.

                “The gray one has a name,” Graypaw muttered.  Ashfeather gave her a gentle warning shove.

                “Ow!” Graypaw glared at her mentor.  The hostile cat turned to face the black and gray tom.

                “Blooddrop, I’m leading this patrol.  Just because you’re deputy doesn’t mean you’re in charge of everything!” The gray cat who turned out to be Blooddrop rolled his eyes.

                “Fine,” he muttered.  “But what’s the problem you have with them?”

                “They might be spies!  We need to accompany them to the CreekClan border, Blooddrop.”  The she-cat rolled her eyes.

                “Bonetail, don’t you think that’s a bit… ridiculous?” Hollybush asked nervously. The white cat just rolled his eyes.  The she-cat sighed.

                “I guess it is your decision,” Hollybush muttered.

                “Then it is settled; we will escort these two cats to the CreekClan border.  Come along now,” Bonetail ordered.  Ashfeather followed behind Bonetail, and as Graypaw tried to catch up with her mentor, the she-cat cut her off and Graypaw was forced to follow behind her.  Blooddrop took the rear. 

                Graypaw turned her head and glared at the cat behind her.  “Medicine cats don’t need to be escorted,” she sneered.  The tom rolled his eyes.

                “Hey, I wasn’t the pain in the tail back there, Bonetail was.  If I were the leader of this patrol, I would’ve let you two be on your way, okay?” Blooddrop replied.  Graypaw rolled her eyes.

                “We don’t need you to let us go, you know.” Graypaw puffed her tail up and held her head high.  “Ashfeather and I walk where we want!”

                “With that attitude you may end up someone’s lunch,” Blooddrop muttered.  “You know DeathClan cats eat little kits for dinner?”

                Graypaw laughed.  “Yeah, right!  You know FireClan cats have two times the IQ of DeathClan cats?”

                “Don’t speak to me that way!”

                “I’ll speak to you however I want!”

                “Well I’m the DeathClan deputy!”

                “And I’m leader of the forest!” Graypaw growled at herself.

                Blooddrop laughed.  “Leader of the forest?  You’re kidding, right?” He looked at Graypaw and saw that she was serious.  This made him laugh even more.

                “It’s not funny!” Graypaw whined. 

                “Is too!”

                “Is not!”

                “Is too!”

                “Knock it off you two!” Hollybush warned.  “We’re almost to the CreekClan border.  Go tell it to Streamstar, just not in front of me!”  Blooddrop and Graypaw glared at each other, then Graypaw turned her head in back to Ashfeather.  The terrain was getting softer: more and more grass was appearing under Graypaw’s paws.  The trees were becoming scarcer and scarcer, thus the pine needles were vanishing as well, along with the leaves.  Soon Bonetail stopped.

                Swish, grrall, swiil.

                “We’re here: the CreekClan border.  Come on, Blooddrop and Hollybush.  We have better things to do,” Bonetail marched away, with the two other cats on his heels.  Ashfeather let out a sigh of relief.

                “Thank StarClan that’s over!  If we don’t hurry, we’ll be late!  Come on, Graypaw!”  Ashfeather turned to reveal a huge river before Graypaw.  The apprentice gasped.

                “This is the Great Stream, the border between DeathClan and CreekClan.  We follow it to Smooth Paths, StarClan territory.”  Ashfeather began to half run half pad alongside the stream.  Graypaw did the same to catch up with her mentor.

                “Did you see how rude that cat was?  It’s hard to believe Blooddrop is the DeathClan deputy!  More like DeathClan pain-in-the-butt!”  Graypaw snorted at the memory.  Ashfeather laughed.

                “Aren’t all deputies that way?” Ashfeather asked.

                “StarClan, no!  Sharpfang’s not that bad!  He’s a great deputy slash brother!”  Graypaw retorted.

                “That’s right, Sharpfang is Snowfur’s mate.  You know, Snowfur is so much more mature than you for being born at the same time, actually just a few minutes before you, Graypaw.”

                “Well, medicine cats have to train longer, Ashy!”

                “Graypaw, I know that.  This has nothing to do with the amount of training a cat receives, but a cat’s heart.” Ashfeather’s words stung Graypaw with a force that she’d never felt before.

                Maybe Blooddrop isn’t the only problem in the forest.