Five Creatures - Chapter Five
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Wolf fastened his teeth into Adderpaw’s scruff, yanking his head up to drag the smaller apprentice towards him. Adderpaw let out a squeak of pain and struggled underneath Wolf’s weight. Wolf locked his forepaws around Adderpaw’s shoulders to keep the other apprentice pinned to the dirt floor.
“That was perfect Wolf,” Harescar praised, signaling that the pretend fight was over.
Wolf released Adderpaw and stepped off of him, shaking the dirt from his own pelt. Adderpaw stood up, glaring slightly at Wolf and stalking off towards his own mentor. “Adderpaw can you tell me where you went wrong?” Honeyspeck asked gently.
“I let Wolf get ahold of me. I’m smaller than him so that means I’m faster. I should’ve been able to dodge his attacks,” Adderpaw grunted, his eyes locked on the floor.
“Yes, but once Wolf grabbed you you should’ve launched yourself upwards. It may cause slight damage to whatever part of you he was holding, but he would’ve been off of your back,” Harescar chimed in.
“I think that’s enough for today,” the she-cat meowed, running her tail along her apprentice's shoulder as she moved back towards camp.
Wolf followed after the warriors, staying behind them as he slowed to wait for Adderpaw. The tan apprentice dragged his paws as he followed, his tail low and in the dirt. “Hey, I thought you did amazing,” Wolf meowed.
“I was beaten by an apprentice who has less than a moon of training,” Adderpaw growled, although more to himself than at Wolf.
“In your defense, I’m a lot heavier than you. I’m almost the size of Lionblaze!” Wolf rebutted.
Adderpaw said nothing in return, stepping up his pace to catch up with the two mentors. Wolf stayed behind the group, observing them. He had been in ThunderClan for nearly a half-moon now and felt at ease among them and with the clan customs. His ears perked as he heard something rustling beside him. The apprentice unsheathed his claws and turned to face the threat.
A wave of relief crashed over him as Foxdust stepped out of the bushes. Wolf sighed and sheathed his claws, nodding at the warrior. “You seem tense,” Foxdust commented, dropping his mouse.
“I guess I don’t have everyone’s scent memorized just yet,” Wolf admitted, suddenly feeling embarrassed.
Foxdust twitched his ear and nodded, picking up his mouse and directing Wolf to follow him back to camp. Wolf liked Foxdust. The warrior was always gentle with him, but also seemed to understand that Wolf wasn’t born in the clan and would, therefore, feel rather pent up and lonely as he got used to ThunderClan as a whole.
Badgerpaw said that Foxdust and Dogpelt had adopted Adderpaw when the kit was found by the pair near the lakebed, all alone with no scent attached. While Adderpaw was a kit, he was raised by the two toms, although he felt like an outsider himself during his first few moons in the camp. Wolf never would’ve guessed that Adderpaw wasn’t clan-born, as the apprentice seemed just as loyal to ThunderClan as any other warrior in the camp. But, Wolf had realized while Badgerpaw explained that this made sense as to why Foxdust was so considerate of his own feelings.
Foxdust and Wolf entered the camp together, with the warrior shooting the apprentice a warm look before heading off towards the fresh-kill pile. Wolf looked up, seeing the beginnings of a beautiful sunset as he walked over to the elders’ den.
The black tom entered the den, relishing in the warmth and security brought within it. “Hello youngster, how can I help you?” Bumblestripe asked, the pale tom looking over at Wolf.
“I’m here to clean out your den,” Wolf answered, already starting to scrape out all of Jayfeather’s old moss. “Jayfeather in the medicine den again?”
“He spends more time there than in here,” Bumblestripe chuckled, sitting up and moving out of the way so Wolf could clear out his nest as well.
“Tell me a story,” Wolf prompted, dragging his thick claws through all the moss he could.
Bumblestripe purred appreciatively, “Have you heard the one about the time a tree fell in the camp? When Firestar was still leader?”
Wolf shook his head and tuned in as he rolled the moss into a ball and placed outside the elders’ den. Luckily for him, a fresh batch of moss had been delivered to the elders’ den moments after he himself had entered it. Badgerpaw must’ve put it there.
“And so Longtail rushed into the camp to ensure that Mousefur wouldn’t!”
Wolf laid out the moss in the way he knew Jayfeather liked it before moving onto Bumblestripe’s nest.
“When the tree fell, Briarpaw and Longtail were still in the camp, but no one could see them!”
Wolf did the same procedure to Bumblestripe and Lionblaze’s nest, with the former elder nowhere to be seen. “Lionblaze lifted the tree off of Briarpaw, all by himself?” He asked, more engaged in the story.
“Oh yes! It was quite a sight to see. Lionblaze was one of the fiercest warriors back in his youth. No one and I mean no one wanted to get into a fight with him,” Bumblestripe laughed, sweeping his tail across the den as fond memories swept over him.
“When I’m a warrior, I’m going to be the most fierce one anyone has ever seen,” Wolf meowed briskly, “I want ThunderClan to know how thankful I am that you all took me in.”
“Well you’ve more than proven yourself to be a capable apprentice, I’m sure one day you’ll be recognized as one of the greats by even StarClan.”
--
Wolf had the unfortunate pleasure of being on a dawn patrol the next morning. Stormcloud led the patrol, his broad shoulders making an easy marker for Wolf to follow in his half-asleep state. Also on the patrol were Mousepool and Harescar, the two siblings walking side-by-side.
The patrol approached the WindClan border in silence, each cat sniffing around to make sure that everything checked out. Wolf sniffed around a series of bushes and caught something strange filling his sense, “Hey Harescar, this isn’t a ThunderClan scent, right?”
His mentor was by his side in an instant, giving the bush a good smell and then growling, “No Wolf, that’s Smoketail. He’s a warrior of WindClan, arrogant and not so bright.”
Just as Stormcloud opened his mouth to speak, a WindClan patrol came up to the border. Wolf swallowed his fear the moment he saw Moosepaw with the WindClan warriors. “Is there a problem?” a gray tabby she-cat asked.
“You tell me Fernstripe, why is Smoketail’s scent on our territory?” Stormcloud asked, baring his teeth at the patrol.
“My scent is nowhere near your territory!” A lithe gray tom came up to the border, the black fur on his spine standing on end.
“Liar!” Mousepool spat, “I can smell it from days away.”
“My mentor would never lie,” Moosepaw unsheathed his claws.
Wolf looked to the WindClan patrol and back towards his own. He felt a sudden chill as the air got so tense, one could cut it with a claw. He copied his own mentor and unsheathed his claws as well, glaring at the WindClan cats.
“WindClan always stays on its side of the border,” another cat, a dark brown tom with no tail, snarled in retaliation.
“Stay out of this Spruceheart or you’re going to lose more than your tail,” Stormcloud threatened, stepping closer to the invisible line that marked the difference between WindClan and ThunderClan.
Wolf sucked in a breath and prepared himself for the first fight of his ThunderClan life. It felt like an explosion of tension as Smoketail launched himself at Stormcloud and the two went rolling. Harescar and Mousepool leaped over the border and attacked the other two warriors. That left Wolf facing Moosepaw. Moosepaw hesitated from the WindClan side of the border, his eyes full of fear as he looked at his former friend.
Wolf swelled with anger though, the sudden realization that he was ThunderClan and Moosepaw, well Moosepaw chose the wrong clan. Wolf rammed himself directly into Moosepaw, forgetting all about their old memories and happy times as he dug his claws deep into Moosepaw’s thick fur.
Moosepaw yowled in surprise and rolled over, crushing Wolf beneath him and managing to get a solid blow right onto Wolf’s skull. Wolf hissed and reared back, ducking under another one of Moosepaw’s attacks and digging his teeth directly into Moosepaw’s forearm. The ThunderClan apprentice pulled as hard as he could, getting Moosepaw off balance and allowing him to slice open the WindClan apprentice’s shoulder.
The brown tom backed away, blooding dripping from his new wound. Moosepaw shot Wolf a look of pure hatred and stood up, staggering towards the ThunderClan apprentice and slamming down. Wolf managed to leap away right before Moosepaw’s massive weight crashed into the ground. The world around Wolf blurred and blood roared in his ears. He was defending his territory and he would do so with his life.
Wolf spat and launched himself at Moosepaw. The two apprentices went rolling with each one digging their claws into one another. Wolf felt a blast of white-hot pain seer through his flank as Moosepaw dragged his hind claws across it. He fought against the instinct to pull away and bit down hard on Moosepaw’s ear. The WindClan apprentice yelped and pulled himself free from Wolf’s grip.
The two apprentices circled each other for a moment before they both reared up on their hind legs and crashed into each other. The two stayed standing up, their muzzles mere inches apart as each one fought to wrestle the other one to the ground. Wolf lashed his tail to keep his balance and pushed forward, catching Moosepaw off guard and sending him to the ground. Once Wolf had him down he dug his claws back into the shoulder wound and snapped his teeth into Moosepaw’s scruff.
Moosepaw flailed underneath Wolf, blood now pumping out of his shoulder. Only once Spruceheart knocked Wolf aside did the two apprentice’s realize that the warriors had already stopped fighting.
Wolf backed away from Moosepaw, watching Spruceheart and Smoketail help him to his paws, the latter taking most of the brown tom’s weight. Wolf looked at his own mentor, who’s face and eyes gave away nothing of how he was feeling.
“Stay off our territory,” Stormcloud spat, beckoning his patrol with his tail.
Wolf shot a final glance at Moosepaw and followed after his fellow warriors. Only once they were inside the safety of the trees did Harescar stop to look at Wolf. Wolf then noticed that Harescar was bleeding above his eye and Mousepool had a deep cut in her hind-leg. “You fought him on your hind-legs.”
Wolf paused, tilting his head, “Yes?”
“You could’ve killed him,” Stormcloud added, looking Wolf up and down.
“Moose, or uh Moosepaw and I both know how to do that. All five of us know how to do that,” Wolf responded, suddenly feeling very exposed.
“It’s a good battle tactic, but the two of you were out for blood. I’ve never seen such strength in any warrior, let alone someone less than twelve moons!” Harescar said, his voice high.
Wolf shrugged. It had been pure instinct. To defend his territory and his clan. “The rest of the world kinda just...Blurred. Like all that mattered was defeating the enemy.” He clawed at the dirt, avoiding anyone’s gaze.
Harescar flashed Stormcloud a look, but neither warrior said anything on the matter, “We should head back to camp and explain to Squirrelstar what happened.”
The rest nodded and followed after Stormcloud. Wolf fell to the back of the group, finally feeling his heartbeat settle back into a normal pace. Wolf looked up and a feeling of guilt swallowed him whole as he watched Mousepool limp her way back to camp. Next time, WindClan won’t be so lucky.