River Of Fire

“You should do as you’re told,” Sparkpelt snapped at her from where she stood a couple of tail-lengths away.

Uh-oh, Twigpaw thought. She’s not going to be pleased when she finds out what Bramblestar has in mind.

“Yes, you had a ceremony with Ivypool,” Bramblestar meowed, his voice even. “And now you need one with your new mentor.”

“It’s so exciting!” Finpaw piped up. “We’ll be apprentices together.”

“Sure we will,” Twigpaw responded, wishing she could share her friend’s enthusiasm. She turned and nodded to Bramblestar, wishing too that she hadn’t protested in the first place. I don’t want to start out by being difficult.

“Then from this time forward,” Bramblestar began, “Twigpaw will be a ThunderClan apprentice. Sparkpelt,” Bramblestar continued, “you are a brave and loyal ThunderClan cat, and I know that you will pass on all you have learned to Twigpaw.”

“What?” Sparkpelt’s eyes widened and her neck fur began to fluff up as she gazed at Twigpaw. But she had enough sense not to protest her Clan leader’s decision, even though he was her father. “I’ll do my best, Bramblestar,” she added with a sigh.

Twigpaw padded over to Sparkpelt and made herself touch noses with her as she met her new mentor’s irritated gaze. I’ll show you! she resolved. I’ll be the best apprentice any cat ever had.

Once the ceremony was over, Bramblestar returned to his den, and the rest of the Clan began to disperse. Most of them headed for the warriors’ den to settle into their nests for the night.

Twigpaw found herself alone in the middle of the camp, suddenly feeling a little lost, as if she didn’t belong there after all.

I’m sure I made the right decision to come back, she insisted to herself. But I never thought it would be like this. I thought it would be better. . . .

A few tail-lengths away, Larksong was talking to Finpaw, making arrangements to take him on a tour of the territory the following day. Finpaw was bouncing up and down, hardly able to contain his excitement.

Somehow her friend’s enthusiasm made Twigpaw feel even more uncertain. Staring at him, she waited for the swell of excitement to come back to her. Instead she felt strangely flat.

Oh, StarClan! This is my home now. So why don’t I feel happier to be back among my Clan?

CHAPTER 2

Violetshine clamped the fern stems more firmly in her jaws and began dragging the bundle of fronds into the SkyClan camp, through the tunnel between the brambles that reinforced the fern walls. It was almost sunhigh, and she had been gathering bedding for the new ShadowClan nests since just after dawn.

This is an apprentice task, she grumbled to herself. But there’s so much to do, and the new apprentices are so young. . . .

She had never imagined that fitting the ShadowClan cats into SkyClan would be so difficult. Expanding the cave where the warriors slept to make room for the new arrivals was only one of the things that had to be dealt with. Her father, Hawkwing, was up to his ears in problems, encouraging the cats from SkyClan and ShadowClan to work together, and they were all tripping over one another’s paws.

I’d complain, she thought gloomily, but who am I going to complain to? No cat listens anymore!

Sometimes she wanted to blame ShadowClan for all this extra work, but then Violetshine would remember that it wasn’t just ShadowClan or SkyClan alone, but the strength of all the cats around the lake that had finally defeated Darktail and his rogues. She knew she should do everything she could to help the ShadowClan cats adjust to their new life, because the lake territory needed all the good and honorable warriors who had survived.

But it’s kind of weird to be so close to ShadowClan cats again, she thought, giving her bundle of fern fronds another tug. It reminded her of the time when she had been a lost kit and then a ShadowClan apprentice, with a sister who lived in ThunderClan.

It wasn’t our choice back then. The cats who found us decided we should be divided between their Clans. . . .