ADVENTURECLAN BEGINS-PART 2
After fleeing Wolfclan and making the overnight journey to find the other clans, the four apprentices must find a way to survive in an unfamiliar land.
Keep reading below for the second part of the Adventureclan origin story!
"Ow!" Maplepaw yelped as the apprentice's muzzle butted hard into his flank. "You don't have to be so rough."
The apprentice, a small and skinny tom who had been on the dawn patrol that had found the travelling apprentices, only smirked. "And you don't have to be so stupid. Now hurry up before I do it again."
Maplepaw glared at the ground beneath his paws, saying nothing. He knew he should be thinking of an escape plan in case of emergency, but his mind wasn't working properly. Stonepaw had always been better at that sort of thing.
"Where are you taking us?" Coyotepaw asked, looking up at the warriors that flanked her with fear and apprehension. She liked to pretend she was all bravado, but really she was still just a child.
The apprentice that had butted into Maplepaw's side rolled his eyes. "We're taking you back to our camp, mousebrain. Are all Wolfclan apprentices this slow?"
Maplepaw felt Stonepaw bristle beside him and cast him a warning glance. The last thing they needed was to pick a fight with a clan that would potentially become their new neighbour.
"Dustypaw, don't be so rude to our guests." One of the larger warriors, most likely the mean apprentice's mentor, scolded. "It isn't their fault that their clan raised them like a bunch of brainless savages."
Stonepaw looked as if he was going to burst with rage. "What do you know about Wolfclan? We've never even met you before!" He snapped, giving the warrior a scathing glare.
The large tom let out a bark of laughter. "I know Wolfclan better than you ever will. I know that they're all cowardly mange-pelts who fled every battlefield they set paw on. I know that they took the first opportunity to get as far away from the rest of us as they could."
Nightpaw winced. "That's not true! We were protecting ourselves. That's what Beechstar said, and he NEVER lied." She argued.
A smaller feline, a she-cat with unusual markings, scoffed. "Beechstar, eh? That old codger still around?"
The four apprentices exchanged dismayed looks. It was clear that none of the other clans had heard what was going on in Wolfclan these days. Maybe, if they told them, they would be more sympathetic.
"Actually, no. He died a few moons ago. That's...sort of why we're here." Maplepaw said. He may not have been good at thinking of plans, or remembering facts, or being brave, but he was the best at telling stories-and that was what he was going to do.
"Wolfclan loved Beechstar. He was the greatest leader we ever had, or that's what the older warriors said. He was kind, and fair, and really smart." Maplepaw began, and his companions chimed in with nods and affirmative mews. "But he got old, and then he got sick, and all of a sudden he had lost his last life. That put Arcticfang, the deputy, in charge. He became Wolfclan's leader."
The large ginger tomcat who had first spoken to them at the border thought for a moment. "I remember Arcticfang. The only brave cat in a clan full of sissies, that's what I always thought."
Ignoring the warrior's rudeness, Maplepaw continued. "Anyway, Arcticstar was a very different leader to Beechstar. He was mean. He hated any cat who didn't agree with him, and sometimes he had them killed for it. He made kits start training too young, and lots of them died. He told us that Beechstar was a weak, foolish cat, and he was going to return Wolfclan to its former glory. He started assessing the warriors, and if they weren't up to standard, they were...they were found dead the next morning. We apprentices knew it was only a matter of time before something horrible happened to us, too."
"So, I hatched a plan." Stonepaw piped up. By now, every cat's attention was on the apprentices. "I managed to convince three other apprentices to run away with me. We would leave Wolfclan and start our own clan for a while, a safe place for us to train and grow stronger. Then, when we were fully grown and powerful enough to defeat him, we would return to Wolfclan and overthrow Arcticstar."
"You are going to overthrow Arcticstar?" The apprentice walking by Maplepaw mewed sceptically.
"You bet we are. And then everything will be good and fair again, like it was with Beechstar." Nightpaw nodded determinedly.
The dawn patrol was silent for a few moments, glancing at one another over the tops of the apprentices' heads. Then, the she-cat spoke up again.
"Perhaps not all Wolfclan cats are as cowardly as we thought." She admitted reluctantly. "It was a brave thing, for you to come here alone."
"But it was foolish. How did you know we weren't going to eat you all for lunch?" The ginger tom added.
Maplepaw shrugged. "We didn't. We just knew that if we stayed in Wolfclan we'd be no help to anyone."
Just then, a yowl could be heard from just around the bend in the path that they had been following, and the apprentices were hit with a wave of cat-scent. This must be the camp of the dawn patrol.
"The dawn patrol have returned, and they bring guests!" A young feline called from their perching spot at the crest of a sloping hill.
A few more cats appeared beside them, peering curiously down at the group entering the camp. A few looked amused, others wary. Coyotepaw wondered if they could smell Wolfclan from all the way up there.
"Four Wolfclan apprentices, found waiting on the border between us and the wildlands." The she-cat from the patrol reported, addressing an important-looking feline who waited by the camp entrance for their arrival.
The leader's eyes flashed momentarily, shock registering on her face. "Wolfclan? I never thought I'd hear from them again."
"Well, get used to it." Stonepaw said, a hard edge in his tone that suggested he was not one to be played with.
The leader looked the grey apprentice up and down, judging silently. "Lots of cheek for such a scrap of a fellow." She observed, smirking. "Anyway, welcome to Marigoldclan. My name is Jaystar."
The apprentices dipped their heads in greeting, Stonepaw rather reluctantly so.
"What is it that you seek, exactly?" Jaystar prompted, narrowing her eyes. "Wolfclan have never been the confrontational kind."
Swallowing hard, Maplepaw spoke up. Sitting down awkwardly in the dust, he began to recount the same story that he had told the patrol-about Arcticstar's rise to power, and the fearful reign he had over Wolfclan. Then, Stonepaw jumped in once again to tell Jaystar about his escape plan, and what the apprentices aimed to do.
When they had finished, Jaystar let out a long breath. "I see." She mewed. "Well, you're quite mature. But I don't know that I want to give up my territory for a few apprentices with a dream."
"No, you wouldn't have to give up anything!" Nightpaw promised hurriedly. "We would use unclaimed territory, on the outskirts of clan land. We wouldn't be any bother to you, really."
There was a snort of laughter from the ginger tom behind them. "Four little apprentices, going it alone in unfamiliar territory with no warrior supervision? No bother at all."
Jaystar looked conflicted, frowning at her paws as she thought. Eventually, her face cleared and she lifted her head. "Okay, here's how its going to go. I'll allow you to stay in this camp for one night, and one night only. I’ll have one of my warriors show you the unclaimed land around the clans’ settlement. Then, by tomorrow, I want you out of my fur. Got it?” She explained.
The apprentices looked at one another expectantly, before turning back to Jaystat.
“Deal!” Nightpaw mewed with her most winning smile.
Maplepaw gazed up, through the trees and to the sky above. These woods would soon become his new home, and he would be surrounded by unfamiliar cats in unfamiliar territory. It was a daunting thought, but somehow…
He felt ready.