Sagepaw opened his eyes sleepily. Sunlight was filtering in through the cave’s opening, warming up his bed of moss as well as the other three apprentices’. All of them were empty except for Windpaw’s; she was still sleeping soundly. He stayed still for a while, listening to the sound of Snowspots dividing out the patrols.
He got up and stretched, his belly brushing the ground. He barely had time to finish his stretch before Birdpaw popped her head in the cave.
“Oh, good, you’re up. I thought you were going to sleep forever!” The she-cat’s ice blue eyes twinkled in amusement. “I thought you would be up much sooner, with today being your assessment and all. Mousetail’s waiting for you near the Cave Mouth. He says to come once you’ve eaten.” With that, she disappeared.
Sagepaw blinked in surprise. His assessment? He’d totally forgotten about that! Quickly, he skittered out of the den’s tunnel and out into the clearing. He went over to the prey-pile and grabbed a plump mouse, settling down to eat it next to Rabbitpaw, the sister to Birdpaw.
“I hear your assessment is today,” the black-and-white apprentice said around a mouthful of raven.
“Yeah, I know,” Sagepaw muttered, clearly signaling that he did not want to talk.
Taking no notice of Sagepaw’s prickly tone, Rabbitpaw continued. “You’re so lucky. I wish I was having my assessment today. It feels like I’ve been an apprentice forever.”
“You’ll get there eventually,” came a friendly voice. Shimmertail sat down a little bit away with a squirrel between her paws. “It felt that way for me too, but when you’re a warrior, you’ll be glad of all the time you’ve spent learning as an apprentice.”
“Yeah, but I bet cleaning the elder’s den and searching them for ticks doesn’t teach you anything.” Sagepaw growled.
“Actually, it teaches you to respect those who are older than you. Besides, if you were old, wouldn’t you want to be looked after as a reward for all your hard work when you were younger?” Shimmertail reasoned.
“I guess,” Sagepaw shrugged, his tail twitching.
“Sagepaw, hurry up. All the prey will be asleep before you finish eating.” Mousetail came up and flicked his thin, wiry tail across Sagepaw’s ears.
“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” he grumbled. Gulping down the last morsel, he and Mousetail padded into the Cave Mouth, choruses of ‘goodbye’s and ‘good luck’s’ following them.
Once in the forest, Mousetail turned to face Sagepaw. “Alright, you know the rules. Find as much prey as you can. I’ll be watching you, but you won’t see me.”
Sagepaw nodded curtly, then turned around and ran eastward, his beating heart matching the speed of his pawsteps. Panting a little, he stopped for a moment and opened his jaws wide, hoping to catch the scent trail of some prey. His nose quivered as squirrel scent flooded his senses. He dropped down into a crouch and then padded slowly forward, aiming for a bushy brown tail waving at the base of an oak tree. When he was close enough, he leaped, his paws outstretched and his claws unsheathed. Sagepaw’s heart leaped when his claws sunk into flesh. Happily, he buried his kill and then searched for more.
By sunhigh Sagepaw had caught two birds, a mouse, as well as the squirrel. He was just digging up his last stash when Mousetail appeared behind him. “Well done!” he applauded him. Sagepaw’s chest puffed out in pride. “Now, let’s get this prey back to camp so we can show Vinestar your wonderful work.” Sagepaw’s mentor reached down and picked up the two birds in his jaws, and the two toms headed back to camp.
After setting down the prey, Mousetail padded over to the Meeting Tree and vanished into the gaping hole in its roots. Sagepaw settled himself down into a patch of sunlight and waited patiently while grooming his fur. Mistypaw, the medicine cat apprentice, stepped out of the overhanging branches of a willow tree and grabbed a thrush from the prey pile. She took it over to Sagepaw and sat down. “So, how’d your training go?” she asked before tearing into the meat.
“Fine.” he said curtly.
Frowning slightly, she looked up at him with her deep blue eyes. They seemed to stare straight into his heart.
Sagepaw turned away uncomfortably. “Sorry. I’m just tired, that’s all. I meant that it went well. I caught a mouse, a squirrel, and two birds. You’re eating one of them now.” He squirmed a bit. He didn’t like lying, least of all to her. The truth was that he was trying to hide his feelings for her. Sagepaw knew that since she was training to be a medicine cat, she couldn’t have a mate. All the same, he couldn’t ignore the warm fuzzy feeling he got whenever she was around.
“That’s great!” she replied chirpily. “You’re going to make a great warrior; I just know it!” Her tail curled in that cheerful way of hers.
Sagepaw smiled, his fur tingling at her praise. “Thanks.”
Their conversation was interrupted by Vinestar’s call as she leaped up onto the Meeting Tree. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath the Meeting Tree for a Clan meeting!” The Clan immediately burst into a flurry of movement as cats crawled out of their dens or stopped eating and glanced up at the leader.
Sagepaw padded to the front of the group of cats, sat down, and curled his tail over his paws. His eyes were shining with excitement, although he tried to hide it and act calm.
Vinestar’s intense green eyes looked down at her Clan. The long-furred gray she-cat waited for everyone to settle down, and then she opened her mouth to speak. “We are gathered here today to observe an apprentice being made a warrior, one of the most important of rituals. Mousetail, do you believe Sagepaw has learned the Warrior Code?”
“I do.” Mousetail held his head proudly, as if he were the one being made a warrior.
Vinestar nodded and continued. “I, Vinestar, leader of CrystalClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. He has trained hard to learn the ways of your noble code, and I commend him as a warrior to you in your turn. Sagepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?”
Sagepaw straightened up and met his leader’s gaze without flinching. “I will.”
“Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior name. Sagepaw, from this moment on you will be known as Sagepelt. StarClan honors your loyalty and your intelligence, and welcomes you as a full warrior of CrystalClan.” Vinestar hopped down from the tree and rested her muzzle on Sagepelt’s head, and he licked her shoulder in return.
Sagepelt couldn’t help but curl his tail in elation as the Clan cheered and called out his name. “Sagepelt! Sagepelt! Sagepelt!”
Mistypaw was the first to come up to him. “Congratulations, Sagepelt!” the black cat murmured, entwining her tail with his. Sagepelt breathed in the smell of her pelt, a purr beginning in his throat. But in a blink of an eye she was gone, and the rest of the Clan was crowding around him, congratulating him and nuzzling his pelt.
By the time they had all finished talking and the elders and the queens had gone back to their nests, dusk was settling and the evening patrol was preparing to leave.
Raindapple, the head of the patrol, glanced to where Sagepelt was sitting and rested her tail on his shoulder. “Good luck guarding the camp tonight.”
Sagepelt nodded mutely, not wanting to break his vigil. He watched with slitted eyes as the patrol padded into the forest.
He waited patiently as the moon slowly rose up into the sky. Soon the evening patrol came back, mewed a few greetings, and disappeared into their nests. Sifting a bit, Sagepelt sighed. He wished there was an intruder coming; this job was so boring. He shook his head furiously. That was apprentice talk! He should relish his first job as a warrior. He glared out into the clearing.
Finally, the sky lightened and shifted to pink and gold. He heard pawsteps behind him and whipped around. “It’s only us,” growled the orange tom. It was his father, Weedwhisker. Beside him was his mate, Whiteheart.
“Don’t be so hard on him, Weedwhisker. If I remember correctly, you were jumpy on your vigil too.” Whiteheart said teasingly. She flicked him with her tail, and then addressed Sagepelt. “Your vigil is over now, Sagepelt. Go get some sleep.”
Sagepelt relished in hearing his new name for a moment, and then padded through the tunnel and to the apprentice den. He stopped quickly though, growled at himself, and turned towards the warrior den. He found a spot of moss that didn’t have a cat’s scent on it and settled down wearily. The busy sounds of the camp faded away, and he fell into a deep sleep.
Soon warm sun flickering on his pelt woke him up. He stretched and trotted out into the clearing, in a thoroughly good mood. He selected a crow from the prey pile and sat down to eat it. He devoured it in a few gulps and then licked his lips, satisfied. He watched as Turtlekit and Marshkit play-fought together, their mother Quailflight watching over them protectively.
“I’ll get you!” Turtlekit shrieked. “FlameClan warriors aren’t allowed in my Clan!” She leapt and fastened her teeth into her brother’s tail.
“A single CrystalClan warrior is no match for my fighting abilities!” Marshkit yowled. He tugged his tail free and squirmed under Turtlekit’s belly, battering her with his hindpaws.
Sagepelt was so absorbed in watching the kits that he jumped when he felt a tail tip on his shoulder. He turned and saw Snowspots standing over him.
“I thought you would like to go on a hunting patrol with me,” he offered. “I would be honored to go with you on your first patrol as a warrior.”
Sagepelt was shocked. The deputy wanted to go on patrol with him? “No, the honor would be all mine!” he mewed.
Snowspots purred happily. “Well, we better get on, then!” He headed into the black mouth of the tunnel, his brown-and-white tail waving back and forth. Sagepelt scrambled to his paws and hurried after him.
“I thought we’d go over by the gully. There’s always plenty of prey there.” Snowspots said.
“Sure,” Sagepelt agreed.
As they reached the gully, they each set out in search of prey. Sagepelt opened his jaws and caught the scent of mouse. He pinpointed the scent, crouched down, and slowly padded forward. He saw a leaf rustle on the ground and tensed his muscles to spring, desperately hoping he didn’t mess up in front of the deputy. Sagepelt sprang forward, his paws outstretched, and captured the mouse.
Killing it quickly, he then buried it and looked around. Snowspots was absorbed in stalking a squirrel; he hadn’t noticed. Sagepelt bit back his disappointment. After all, he was a warrior already; he didn’t have to prove himself.
Padding a bit to the north, Sagepelt opened his jaws again, searching out another piece of prey. Instead of smelling another mouse, or even a vole, his senses were flooded with a scent that made his pelt bristle and his tail fluff out. There was some other scent with it, but he couldn’t figure out what it was. “Snowspots!” he hissed. The deputy twitched his tail, but ignored him.
“Snowspots!” The squirrel Snowspots was stalking pricked its ears and then scampered away.
Snowspots turned on him, eyes blazing. “What was that for? That fat squirrel could have fed two large warriors! You know better than to scare off prey, Sagepelt!”
Sagepelt scuffled his paws impatiently, waiting for the lecture to end. Finally he burst out, “But I smelled a badger!”
Snowspots’s pelt smoothed out, then instantly flared up again as he realized what Sagepelt had said. “Badger! Where?”
Sagepelt motioned with his tail. “Over by that sycamore. Should I run back and get help?”
The deputy shook his head. “No. We need to know what we’re up against before we decide how many warriors we’ll need. Now, keep quiet and hide in bushes so it doesn’t know we’re here.”
They crept forward, keeping low and using the brambles for cover. As they got closer, Sagepelt stumbled as his paw slipped on something slick. “What is that?” he muttered. He lifted up his paw, red drops dripping from his pads. His jaw gaped open, as did the deputy’s. They both seemed to read each other’s thoughts and moved faster and faster until they were running, their tails streaming out behind them. The two warriors skidded to a stop before a huge black and white body lying on the ground in a huge pool of blood. Picking their way on dry patches of ground, they made their way to the front of the badger.
They stared at it for a while, then Snowspots prodded it with one paw. “It’s dead,” he meowed.
“Who killed it?” Sagepelt asked.
“Good question. I don’t remember any of the warriors going to this part of our territory other than the border patrols, and they would have told us if anything had happened.”
“Do you think warriors from FlameClan killed it? If they’ve been on our territory, I swear I’ll rip their fur off!” Sagepelt growled fiercely.
Snowspots laid his tail on Sagepelt’s shoulder. “Calm down. Even if they did, they’ve done us a huge favor by dealing with this badger. Look how huge it is; it’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen! Imagine if it got into the camp. It would have done terrible damage.” He looked around. “Even so, we’d better check and see if the cat that killed it is still around. He must have terrible wounds.”
He’s worried about the cat’s wounds? What about trespassing into CrystalClan territory? He’s acting as if the borders are just merely suggestions! Sagepelt thought mutinously. Still, he followed Snowspots as he wandered into the woods, following a trail of blood.
They hadn’t gone far before they came across another body, this time of a cat. “Great, another dead body we have to drag off our territory,” Sagepelt muttered. Its fur was mangled and bloody, and he could hardly tell what color it was, much less what its gender was. However, when Snowspots nosed the cat, it shifted, and he saw that it was a girl.
Snowspots sniffed the body carefully. “It’s hard to tell because of all of the blood, but I think it doesn’t have a Clan scent. It must be a loner.” He turned his head so that his ear was close to the cat’s chest. After a few moments, he murmured, “She’s alive, but barely. We should get her back to camp so Pebblefoot can examine her.”
Sagepelt’s eyes widened. “What? How—” he sputtered. “She fought off a badger and killed it, and she didn’t even have any battle training! How could she be alive? She shouldn’t have been able to survive, much less kill a badger! I mean, look at her! She’s as skinny as a stick!”
“You’re just jealous.”
“No, I’m not!” Sagepelt stopped and took a deep breath, remembering that he was talking to his deputy. “Alright, maybe I am. But why must we help her? She’s a rogue. She shouldn’t be on our territory. Why don’t we just take her out of our territory and leave her there? Or, better yet, why don’t we leave her in FlameClan’s territory? Then she can be their problem.”
Snowspots lifted his head and glared at Sagepelt with cold, hard eyes. “It is the right thing to do. I would’ve thought that you might have a better heart than that cold stone of yours.”
Sagepelt took a step back. “I—I…” he gulped. “I was just thinking about the safety of the Clan. We don’t want her telling others where our camp is.”
Snowspots sighed. “I’m sorry. You’re right, but we can’t just leave her here. We must take that risk. Now, grab that end, and I’ll grab this end.” He carefully fixed his jaws in her scruff, then waited for the new warrior to do the same. Paw step by paw step, they trekked back to the camp, leaving smears of blood behind them.
~*~
Heads swiveled around as Snowspots and Sagepelt emerged from the cave mouth. The Clan burst into loud murmurs as the news traveled around. “Who is that?” “What happened to her?” “Why are they bringing a strange cat into our camp?”
The toms took no notice of the stares but went straight to Pebblefoot’s den. As they pushed through the fronds and into the circle of roots, Mistypaw looked up from sorting the herbs and gasped in horror, her blue eyes widening at all the blood. “What happened? Who’s she?”
“Never mind all that, we’ll tell you later. Where’s Pebblefoot?” Snowspots said, looking around the den.
“He’s giving Rippleclaw some herbs for his throat.”
“I’ll get him,” Sagepelt offered.
“Good idea. Help me put her onto this bed of moss first, though.”
They dragged the cat onto the moss, Mistypaw saying nervously, “Careful!” Once the she-cat was safely settled, Sagepelt hurried off to the warrior den.
“…and make sure you don’t over-work yourself, alright? Actually, take a day off, just to be safe.”
“Never!” Sagepelt walked in to see Rippleclaw glaring at Pebblefoot and lashing his tail. “A stupid sore throat won’t stop me from protecting my Clan!” But with a single look from Pebblefoot, he dipped his head and murmured, “Very well, Pebblefoot.” He raised his head again as he saw Sagepelt. “Coming for an afternoon nap, Sagepelt?”
Sagepelt glanced at him before replying, “No, I came for Pebblefoot.”
Pebblefoot’s eyes flashed with worry. “Is it Mousetail? He has been coughing a bit lately.”
“No, it’s actually a rogue.”
Rippleclaw leaped to his paws. “A rogue? Why would we be helping a rogue?” he snarled.
Sagepelt ignored him. “She was found not too far from a dead badger. We couldn’t tell what blood was hers and what was the badger’s. But she’s very weak. We laid her in your den.”
With that Sagepelt hurried across the camp, Pebblefoot limping close behind. They quickly shoved through the willow branches.
Pebblefoot examined the loner carefully, nosing her a bit now and then to shift her blood-soaked body. The moss underneath her was already soaked with blood. “Right. Snowspots and Sagepelt, you two lift her up while I get new moss for her to lie on. Then start licking the blood off of her. Mistypaw, get me some cobwebs and horsetail. Do we have any tormentil left?”
“No.” came the muffled reply as Mistypaw padded over with cobwebs stuffed in her mouth.
“Alright, then we’ll have to use marigold.”
“We’re done grooming her, Pebblefoot. Is there something else you need us to do?” Snowspots asked, stepping back to reveal the cleaned cat.
Pebblefoot turned around and gasped as he saw the she-cat’s fur. Sunlight had filtered in through the branches of the willow tree and fell on her pelt. Her fur blended in almost perfectly in the golden light; and even though her skin was marred with bleeding wounds, she looked like a cat from StarClan that had descended right into the den.
At the same time, a dark sense of foreboding came over Sagepelt. Darkness clouded his vision, and yowls of fighting cats flooded from every side. Screams of pain and agony ripped through his ears, and a sense of death hung like heavy moisture in the air.
But just as quickly as it had come, the vision was gone. Sagepelt blinked, confused. What was that? He shook it off as nothing.
Maybe he was just tired from his vigil. Or was it a vision from StarClan? He looked around, only to find everyone staring at
Pebblefoot, who was as still as a stone as he stared at the rogue.
“Should I grab some poppy seeds?” Mistypaw prodded.
“W—what?” Pebblefoot tore his gaze from the cat and looked at his apprentice. Mistypaw repeated her question patiently.
“No, she’s unconscious, so she won’t feel pain right now. We might need a lot later, though.” Pebblefoot grabbed a bunch of horsetail and marigold from his apprentice and chewed them up into a poultice. He shoved the rest in front of the two warriors.
“Chew.” he ordered. They obediently picked up the bitter herbs, relieved to have their medicine cat acting like himself again.
Sagepelt’s fur tingled as he worked next to Mistypaw, her pelt brushing his. His heart was pounding so heard he was amazed the others didn’t hear it. Oh, why did he have to have feelings for her? Why couldn’t he have a crush on Birdpaw, for StarClan’s sake? He knew there was no chance for them to be together, but he couldn’t stop the feelings raging inside of him.
Once Pebblefoot’s poultice was thoroughly chewed, he licked it onto the cat’s wounds. Mistypaw showed Snowspots and
Sagepelt how to do the same. Pebblefoot then picked up the wad of cobweb and tore of a small section. He applied it to one of the gushing wounds and then repeated the process. Soon the she-cat was bandaged up and the blood had stopped flowing.
Pebblefoot stepped back. “That’s all we can do for her now.”
“Will she survive?” Snowspots asked, looking down at the she-cat with concern in his eyes.
“Hard to say. She’s lost a lot of blood, but she might make it as long as she stays immobile.” Pebblefoot turned away from his patient and focused on the deputy. “Now, how did she get this way?”
Before he answered, Snowspots nodded to Sagepelt. “You can go now, if you like. I’ll tell the story. Get something to eat and then rest. You’ve had a big day.”
Sagepelt dipped his head. As he turned to leave, Pebblefoot mewed, “Thanks, Sagepelt. You’ve been a big help.”
Nodding again, Sagepelt ducked out of the medicine cat den and padded out into the clearing. His hunger raved at him, so he grabbed a vole from the prey pile and chewed on it absentmindedly. Not only were his feelings for Mistypaw plaguing him, but this new cat sprung up many questions in his mind.
Who was she, and how did she manage to kill a huge badger all by herself? Where did she come from? And why did Pebblefoot look at her that way? But most of all, why did he, of all cats, have a vision?
Well, one thing’s for sure. Sagepelt thought, gazing darkly in the direction of the medicine den.
That rogue has something to do with it, and I’m going to find out why. 
