DawnStorm's Life Stories

My eyes burst open. The nursery was still; like time itself had froze on me. It wasn't an unpleasant sensation; I was planning something. I smiled mischievously and with high paws I tip-toed in front of my mother. I crouched low and had to stop from giggling. Mother looked monstrous when she was asleep. I whipped my head around the pitched nursery; Lizardlily, a queen, stirred and kicked her foot furiously. I squeaked and wormed my way out of the nursery entrance.

Outside was just as deserted-seeming like inside the stuffy old nursery. The air had a prick of freshness but still was silent. A few warriors were speaking to each other; the faded echos seeming to fade with the air. I wished I would have brought Brownkit; although then again she would blow my cover. Every time I tried to pull this off I took Brownkit with me; but her paws have taken a fondness of snapping the twigs and rustling the fallen leaves. I shivered as a cold chill skidded across my back and rustled my fur.

I stalked alongside the shadows. I didn't really plan to make it this far; I was going to take Brownkit with me. The warriors ahead had the warm golden streaks of light in their fur, probably from the moon, and the shadow's edge seemed to stretch too far from them to get close enough to hear their words. I sighed. What should I do? I crept up to the camp's entrance. I could get in too much trouble, I thought in my mind worriedly. I wanted to go out there for a second but I know I can't. I shuffled my paws in a high yet silent manner. Finally my paws attracted to a leaf and it cracked. I seemed to become paralyzed as I stood in place. Only my eyes circled the area; mostly leaning to the warriors. They still talked though, so I let out a sigh of relief. But then I could hear their surprised voices and saw them start to lumber over slowly and cautiously. I emitted a hushed, high-pitched squeal and bounded off through the camp entrance.

I knew I had no where to go when I reached the tip of the entrance. I shuffled my paws again. I wasn't going to go outside of camp; they're are too many predators out in this time of night. I shrieked as I saw something above my head. My head tilted up. Owl. OWL?! I gasped. It didn't see me yet but it was lowering down nearer to the ground and was hurling itself above me. I turned around and bolted through the weave of the camp entrance. When I reached the heart of camp I bumped into something stiff; closing my eyes, I lifted my head. Opening my eyes to a black, overly-large tom,I sighed. The tom looked at me sternly and grabbed me by the scruff. I flailed. "No! Nighttalon!" I screeched as he threw me aside. He spotted the owl along with a few others obviously. He whipped around and ,paw in front of paw, padded close to me slowly. "Dawnkit! Your not supposed to be away from the nursery! Now we are going to wake the whole camp fighting this owl! Go hide under a tree or something," he growled through gritted teeth and turned around. She crouched and flicked his tail, and bolted toward the other warriors. who were struggling to fight the owl.

I stood there motionless. Then I realized what I had to do and hid under a thin tree next to the High Rock. I watched as the warriors flailed and attacked. I heard as others were awakened and saw them peak out of their den. I shrunk and tried to blend in the shadows. I was so embarrassed and completely terrified. Dawn was peaking from the distant mountains. Some of the queens who were poking their head from the nursery were terrified when they saw me cowering. I smiled meekly. I was dead. I then saw, in the corner of my eye, the owl striking after me.

I gasped and bolted the other way, screaming. I wasn't going to end like them. I tripped over a root and turned around so my belly faced the sky. The large talons were about to encase me, but I instinctively swiped and lashed out with my claws, reaching the rough skin of the creature. "Ah!" I screamed and I slashed. The owl screeched and flew back up. He beat his wings and scanned below him when he was high enough. He was going to strike again. I got to my paws and raised my haunches, ready to fight. I yowled up in the air. I saw my brother Flametail on top of the High Rock rolling his eyes. He rushed over and scooped me up.

Flametail threw me into the nursery and I was caught by a queen. The other queens huddled back up behind the nursery to watch the owl. Two injured cats lay down by the entrance. My heart sank. My eyes met my mother's and some other queen's; again, I smiled meekly and was put in the corner. I slunk down. I knew I was in trouble. Big trouble.

I had to bolt to keep up with the swiftness of my mentor, Ashfoot. She was swift and fast, like any warrior. "You always," she turned around and stopped. "Always, know that you are worthy if you can keep up with warriors," she mewed to me. She was very traditional and such, but that made me admire her even more.

We wove our way through the tall grass on one side of the moor. Ashfoot didn't tell me exactly what we were doing, but I didn't care. I loved training. I kept a good pace with my mentor; she got faster by the second to test my skill. I loved the way she did that; testing me harder every time. We finally reached a small ravine with fresh, clear water that went up to the top of my collar bone, just about. The current was average; meaning it would take about as much strength to me as tug-a-war with a five moon old kit. I stopped a few lengths away from the river. "Uh..." I mewed, searching my mentor's expression for answers.

The gray cat sat by the riverside and faced me. "Today," she announced, "you will learn a bit about swimming and fishing." My jaw nearly fell to the ground. Fishing? Were not RiverClan! Of course, I didn't say that. Ashfoot was more of the type to reply 'Yes, but every cat must have some knowledge of every clan, right?' to that kind of question. I gulped. "Uh, okay..." I whispered. Ashfoot stiffened. "A warrior does not mumble," she said firmly, and sat up straight. She winked at me and I mimicked her position. She smiled. She wiped her smile away and went back to training. "Here. Dawnpaw, you get in the water and get used to this. Once you get used to it we will continue training."

I flushed and shrunk down. "Uh, get used to it? What does it feel like?" I blurted out. Ashfoot just looked at me and tilted her head. Her expression clearly read: 'Well, why don't you find out?'. I crept into the current and my eyes nearly popped out of my head. "AH!" I screeched. The echo seemed to reach for thousands of miles. The water was the coldest thing a cat could touch. Ashfoot backed up. I guess I must've been a bit too loud for her. I flushed again and saw the sternness in her clear blue eyes. I waded into the current more and winced at the chilling sensation. I shivered as the water settled into my pruning skin. The water finally seemed a bit more comfortable to work with; I glanced at my mentor and waited for instructions, still twitching a little from the chill.

Ashfoot studied me carefully, making me feel slightly uncomfortable and stiffen. She then stopped. "Dawnpaw, show me how you would swim. Go," she ordered. She walked into the water far enough that all four paws-pads at least wet. I processed her command and picked my pawpads off the sandy floor nervously. Bad idea. The current drifted me away, a little downstream. I flailed and kicked. "Ashfoot!" I shrieked, kicking and screeching nervously. I saw the gray blur of my mentor sigh and pounce into the water after me. She went under and disappeared. I panicked more. I kicked and screamed and flailed more. Then Ashfoot's head popped in front of me and grabbed my scruff. She fought against the current and threw me onto the sandy shore. I got up and shook my pelt along with Ashfoot.

Ashfoot shook her head again and looked at me firmly. "Dawnpaw, you cannot be afraid of the current. The worst that can happen is you get carried away downstream to RiverClan territory. And if that did happen it would be because your afraid," she said, mewing loudly. I cowered. I knew Ashfoot was right, but it was hard to not be scared. "Well.... er..." I started, but Ashfoot shot me yet another look to try again. I waded back into the water and tried again.

This time I had better results. I fought with my legs doing most of the work, flailing out of the water. I was carried away a little, but confidence seemed to push my back up. Every time I glanced at my gray mentor, she was hushed and watched in pure determination. I finally pulled- no, dragged myself out onto the shore. "How was that?" I gasped, collapsing. Swimming took a surprising amount of energy. Ashfoot nodded. "Very nice. You seem to understand the main concept. Now you just need to work on stealth. You flail your back legs too high and you paws pad up to the surface of the water in a left-right movement. We need to prevent this," she replied, but I saw a certain amount of pride in her pale eyes. The way her chest puffed out also gave away some of her pride.

I waded back into the water. But this time, I saw something strange coming (SHAMU!!!! Lol that would be so hilarious). It was like a fish, or something. I squinted, but the current suddenly grabbed hold of my paw and I fell into the water. I tried kicking and being more calm to keep balance, but the shadow was coming closer. I wailed. Ashfoot was on her feet, too, squinting at the figure. Her eyes suddenly widened and she pounced on the beast. I could barely see what was going on, because the current was getting stronger and I suddenly could do nothing but let to current take me. I tried to clench on to twigs, but they snapped. I reached with my back paws to dig my claws into the sand, but the sand seem to have its own force. I splashed and swiped and panicked even more then last time. I could see blurry splashes of Ashfoot fighting that.... thing, but my eyes prevented me from the details.

I floated more and more downstream, the unbeatable force conquering my strength. At last, I lunged with my paws on a firm stick leaning over the beautiful water. I clung to it, and my body streamed above the water behind me. I sighed and the stick creaked, making me silence. I assured myself it was fine and went back to being partially relaxed. I climbed down the stick so I can haul myself onto the shore and run up and help Ashfoot, but I lost grip. Nearly. I was now hanging by a thread on the stick, the underside of my shoulders encasing the thin, last line of the long and slim stick. I whipped my head to the other side of the shore. It was Ashfoot.

Ashfoot stared at me. I couldn't smile back. She was soaked to the core, much like me. Blood streamed down her body and she was a little limp. Looking like it was painful, she waded into the water and when she reached the tip of my stick and pulled it out of its roots and swam back to the shore. She collapsed. I did, too.

"What happened to that... thing?" I asked meekly. Ashfoot groaned but struggled to her paws. "Nothing," she coughed. She grabbed me by the scruff and got me on the paws. She looked at me, a long, dark stream of lifeblood going down the side of eye. She winced. "Next time, we'll be a bit more less forward about your swimming lessons," she wheezed. I shrunk. Ashfoot tilted her head at me and them trudged up the dune. I followed behind her, bolting to keep up with the swiftness of my mentor. (Hehe)

I awoken in a lush, green field. Prey pranced around me, and I pranced with it. I joined in with the gray, pouncing on rabbits and mouse while I'm at it. I dug my claws in a warm, plump mouse and rolled over, gnawing on it. I giggled. I was in StarClan, I just had to be. My brother Deathfoot came leaping down the meadow. I laughed more and pounced up, bounding after him. We pranced in the meadow, giggling and tell stories by glancing at each other. We told of what happened since we parted, and every time I read his glance it was like an open book. I could understand sadness, happiness, and farewell. The details were excempt. Looking at Deathfoot's deep brown face comforted me like warm milk streaming down my throat. The heat of our untold stories stroked us.

Then I awoken, in the musty old warriors den. Tears were drenching my fur. I raised a paw to my cheek and went down with my paw. I looked at the glistening clear water on my paw and rose to my feet. Windystorm's sleek, broad form was exiting the den. I smiled and shook my pelt. Few warriors were still sleeping. I nickered and bounded off after Windystorm.

Dawnkit warily pushed her way out of the nursery entrance, her mother nosing her forward. "Mother!" Dawnkit squealed, turning around toward the nursery and away from Onestar, her father. Today was the day she became an apprentice. A sharp wind bristled and finally, after Onestar gathered the cats of the clan, she was nudged along with her siblings on the line of the High Rock for WindClan. She looked at her mother, Rosetail one last time and sighed. Her mother sighed and sat down in the crowd, mouthing something and then turned to talk to the other cats.

Dawnkit frowned, but her sister Brownkit nudged her forward. "It's okay Dawnkit," Brownkit chimed. Dawnstorm smiled at her sister's gentle face and pressed forward as some other apprentices had their ceremony. She glanced at the air hardly, as if to search it for an answer. She whimpered, but her soft cries seemed to float away with the sprays of wind.

Finally it was Dawnkit's turn. She looked up the cold, gray stone and frowned. She hesitated, but Brownkit slid her end under her tail and pushed her up, and she sprang onto the stone. Looking at her father, who gestured her closer, she felt more relaxed. Her muscles were paralyzed; the biting cold seemed to glue her in place. After a few moments, she padded forward shyly. Onestar allowed her to sit down next to him. He turned and smiled at her as if his warm face could soothe any cat.

Dawnkit faced the crowd of cats, all expressionless. She huffed out an icy breathe. Onestar faced his clan and stood up, tail high. "Dawnkit!" he announced, first looking at the clan, them switching his soft gaze to Dawnkit. "You have reached the age of six moons, and it is high time you are apprenticed. From this day and on, before you become a warrior," he heaved a sigh and proudly stared at his kit. "You will be known as Dawnpaw. Your mentor will be," he hesitated, and looked around. His gaze landed on his deputy, Ashfoot. He smiled.

"Ashfoot. May she pass down all she knows to you." He looked back at his clan and yowled as usual. He looked up to the sky, as if looking for StarClan to gaze upon him and his daughter. He returned his beady eyes to his deputy. Nodding, Ashfoot scrambled up the High Rock and sat next to Dawnpaw. She lowered her head and met my gaze, with a friendly smiled. Dawnpaw returned the smile, and then turned to her father, who sat down again next to Ashfoot. Onestar looked at his deputy, his eyes gleaming like warm milk and pride.

"Ashfoot, you have proved loyal to WindClan. For that, I grant you an apprentice. May you pass down your knowledge to young Dawnkit," he finished. Dawnpaw smiled and peered over to look at Ashfoot. They both stiffened up and walked in front of Onestar. Shooting a nervous glance at her father, who nodded, and touched noses with her new mentor. WindClan howled and hollered her names. Dawnpaw pulled away at her new mentor. Ashfoot grinned to her apprentice, and Dawnpaw smiled back.