Chapter One

“Featherkit!”

…

“Featherkit!”

…

“Hey!” 

“Ow! Hey… Sunpaw!” Featherkit squints, slowly opening his eyes. Bright sunlight peered into the den, warming up his light colored pelt. He stares over at the light yellow and white molly sitting next to him, her eyes light green, her fur long and silky, and a large smile of glee.

Sunpaw stands up on her four paws, her ear giving a flick. “You can’t seriously be late for your ceremony! How do you mess up so badly?” Sunpaw rolls her eyes, nudging Featherkit up. 

Featherkit slowly sits up, rubbing his eyes, and blinking as the light sets in. He lets out a long yawn, feeling himself starting to fully wake up. “Okay… I’m ready... Where’s Yellowstar…?”

“Your mom’s talking to her. I think she’s getting ready to start it up.” Sunpaw snorts, “C’mon! When I had my apprentice ceremony last moon, I woke up incredibly early!”

“Yeah… I remember…” Featherkit yawns again. Standing up, he stretches his legs, momentarily kneading his paws on the ground. Sitting down again, he licks his chest fur, and then moves onto licking his paw, and rubbing his forehead. 

“Featherkit! C’mon!” Sunpaw gives another whine, running back into the den. She pins back her ears, her green eyes staring at Featherkit with annoyance.

“Okay okay! I think I’m good to go.” Featherkit shakes his head, taking a deep breath. He starts to walk out from the nursery, his back fur bristling as he feels his heart beat faster. 

The apprentice ceremony. The moment every kit in the clans wakes up every morning waiting for. When a kit turns six moons, they finally get to become an apprentice. Apprenticeship means so much to a clan cat: They get to leave camp, train, and finally get to be older. Their suffix also changes as well, taking the -kit suffix kits have, and getting the -paw suffix apprentices get up until they become a warrior.

Becoming a warrior is the most exciting part of a clan cat’s life. Apprentices still have to clean dens, assist the elders, and have to follow their mentor’s directions at all times. Warriors? Not only do they get a unique name, but they get to fight, hunt, and truly serve their Clan. Almost every cat can’t wait to be a warrior.

Almost every cat? That’s become some clan cats choose another path: The path of a healer. Instead of hunting and fighting, healers get to heal their clanmates, and most exciting of all: Meet StarClan.

Featherpaw could feel excitement banging in his chest. His eyes shine.StarClan! I’m so close to meeting the clan’s ancestors! I’m going to have such a special connection to them! I can meet all of the famous Clan cats throughout history! Poppyfern, Wolffrost, Acorncharm, and Cherryheart!

There are four clans in the mountain valley the clan cats make their home in: ArdentClan, ValiantClan, GallantClan, and HonorClan; Featherkit’s Clan.

He stood in the middle of the camp clearing, looking up at the small tree that stood tall in the center on an edge of camp. The tree had an unusual staircase twisting around the tree, and in the center of the top, was a worn down tiny twoleg den. Featherkit’s mother Redfern had told him that twolegs had built a nest around the tree, but it had since been abandoned. He used to worry the twolegs would come back someday, but it never seemed to cross anyone else’s mind. 

Right then, a gray-brown and white molly ran in front of Featherkit, her dark blue eyes looking at the tom with wide eyes. “Yo Featherkit! It’s your ceremony ain’t it?” 

“Oh! Hi Finchkit!” Featherkit gives a small smile, waving his paw. 

A dusty brown tom runs up to Finchkit, pinning his ears back. “It’s not fair! Why can’t we become apprentices already? We’re both already bigger than he is!”

Featherkit turns his ears to the side, pursing his lips. “Well… I’m older than both of you. I’ve reached six moons now, and you’re four moons.”

Finchkit scoffs, “Please! Look at me! I bet I can already fight off all the other clans! Right Gerbilkit?”

Gerbilkit laughs, “Oh please! I wanna see you try! I bet’cha three mice you couldn’t do it!”

Finchkit’s ears pin back, and she gives a devious smile. Bet!

“No! No betting! No…” Featherpaw held up his paws in front of Finchkit and Gerbilkit. He gives a chuckle. They’ll never change…

Finchkit giggles, “Talk to me again when I’m Finchstar!”

“C’mon! I’m getting tired of calling you Featherkit!” Sunpaw stood by the edge of the tree, waving her paw in the air. “They can bother you later!”

Finchkit bounces around, and gives a wide smile. “Yeah! When you get your full name, I can bother you all day!”

“Yeah!” Gerbilkit raises a paw. “You’ll never know peace!”

Featherpaw rolls his eyes, and playfully chuckles, following Sunpaw.

From the top of the tree, two cats stood next to each other, conversing. The yellow-colored molly turns her head towards the ground with a gentle smile. “Redfern, I think he’s ready.”

“Thank you, Yellowstar.” The russet molly Redfern smiles, and climbs down the tree as Yellowstar stands on the large ledge in front of the tree. 

From the edge, an old black molly with white flecks on her cheeks climbs up the staircase to stand next to Yellowstar. She looks down at Featherkit with a nod.

That’s Mosswhisker! She’s gonna be my mentor! Featherpaw gives an awkward wave of his paw.

Yellowstar approaches the ledge of the leader’s den, and stands up tall. “All cats old enough to catch their own prey, gather beneath the highbranch!”

Yellowstar is HonorClan’s leader, still being pretty recent in her leadership. Leaders are most often first chosen as the clan’s deputy, being the leader’s second in command. When the previous leader passes on or retires, the deputy becomes leader, and meets StarClan at the Moon Crater to receive their nine lives, and the -star suffix. Only leaders receive nine lives, and can only get them if StarClan approves of their leadership.

Featherkit gulps. Yeah… I’m old enough to catch my own prey… or whatever. It’s fine! I can do this! How do you fail at a ceremony anyways?

Sunpaw nudges Featherkit, and pushes him forward with a smile.

“Featherkit! Come over to the highbranch!” Yellowstar looks at Featherkit with an enthusiastic smile, her soft orange eyes shining.

Featherkit runs up towards the staircase twisting around the leader’s tree, and as he runs, he trips. Featherkit stands up nervously, and gives a sigh of relief as he realizes he was just in the right spot, right behind the rest of the crowd. He doesn’t think anyone saw him anyways. He makes his way all the way to the highbranch, looking at Mosswhisker and Yellowstar with a nervous smile. 

Yellowstar turns her head towards Featherkit. “Featherkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. You have expressed wishes to be a healer apprentice, so from this day on, until you receive your full healer name, you will be known as Featherpaw. Your mentor will be Mosswhisker. I hope she will pass down all she knows to you.”

Featherpaw slowly approaches Mosswhisker, watching as the old healer walks up to him. The two touch noses, and both look back at the crowd.

“Featherpaw! Featherpaw!” The crowd cheers with excitement.

“Meeting dismissed!” Yellowstar calls as the crowd dissipates. 

Featherpaw walks backwards, closer to Mosswhisker as he keeps his eyes on the crowd. He takes a sigh of relief, before feeling something hit him from behind. “Wha!” Featherpaw turns around, spotting the smiling face of Sunpaw standing behind him. 

“Hey! You’re finally a healer apprentice! That’s so cool!” Sunpaw jumps around with enthusiasm.

“Sunpaw! Get down from there!” A large white tom calls from below, a large scar running down his shoulder. He takes a deep breath, pressing a paw to his face.

Yellowstar chuckles, looking down at the large tom from beneath the highbranch. “Brookfur, she’s just happy about her best friend being an apprentice. There’s no need to scold her.”

Sunpaw runs to the edge of the highbranch, laying down off of the edge and looking down at Brookfur. “Why don’t we show Featherpaw around territory? I mean hey, it’s not like you can keep me in camp all day!”

Mosswhisker turns towards Featherpaw. “Sunpaw can come if you wish. I’m sure she can help me out with the talking aspect.”

Brookfur lashes his tail. “Okay, we can go if you get down from the leader’s tree.”

Sunpaw gives a smug smile. “Only if you let me go!”

“I already agreed to it! We’re-” Brookfur sighs.

Mosswhisker starts to walk down from the stairs, and stops, looking back to see if Featherpaw was following. Featherpaw and Mosswhisker start to walk out the camp, with Sunpaw eagerly bouncing around her mentor, Brookfur.

With tall trees shooting up to the skies, a breeze of fresh air blew through the forest, causing Featherpaw to shudder. The sunshine was let into through the foliage of the trees, but cold air still blew through the leaves, leaving Featherpaw uncomfortable. What is this? I don’t remember this in camp? The wind blew through his short fur again.

Featherpaw runs back up towards the rest of the patrol, trying to catch up to them as they walk faster. His face turns from side to side, eyes focusing on the different details of the forest around him. He starts to run towards the nearest large leaf he could find, eagerly tapping it with his paws. He watched as the dewdrops fell down from the leaf, dropping down to the ground. Featherpaw’s eyes glow, and he turns back to Mosswhisker with a smile. “Look! What’s this?”

Sunpaw approaches Featherpaw. “Featherpaw, we barely even left camp.”

Featherpaw twitches nervously, running his paw down the large leaf. “It’s soft!”

“Yeah, it’s a leaf.” Sunpaw’s tail tip twitches. 

“Bigleaf Magnolia! It’s used to carry herbs!” Mosswhisker steps closer to the big leaves, and starts to pick off some of the giant leaves.

Featherpaw looks around to see another plant near him, with spiky leaves and white flowers. The flowers had a sweet scent that brought him closer to it. 

“That’s chervil,” Mosswhisker answers, turning her head back to Featherpaw as she starts to place down the leaves. “It’s used for infections and bellyaches, but can also be used for kitting mothers.”

“Come on! We were supposed to explore! Not whatever you’re doing!” Sunpaw pouts, running back and forth between Featherpaw and Mosswhisker.

“Here’s some cobwebs.” Brookfur stood behind Mosswhisker, carrying a bundle of cobwebs in his mouth. He spits them out, wiping his mouth.

Mosswhisker dips her head. “Thank you Brookfur.” She turns back to Featherpaw. “Now, you remember how I taught you to make herb pouches? We can put the chervil in there!”

“Yeah!” Featherpaw chirps.

“Come on!” Sunpaw stomps her foot. “Brookfur, say something!”

…

Featherpaw carries his big herb pouch in his mouth, with cobwebs wrapped around the top to hold the structure together. 

Sunpaw walks next to him, with her eyes narrowed in annoyance. Letting out a deep sigh, she runs ahead of Featherpaw, stopping in front of him. “Okay Featherpaw! I want you to stop!” She holds out her paw.

Oh now you want to stop? Featherpaw stops, dropping his herb pouch as he sits down, waiting for Sunpaw to say anything.

“Now! Do you notice anything?” Sunpaw circles around Featherpaw.

“I’m sure he notices you wasting time, now let’s…” Brookfur sniffs the air, and pins back his ears. “It’s a mouse. Sunpaw, let’s show off what you learned.”

Sunpaw shakes her head. “I want to see Featherpaw try.” She narrows her eyes playfully, and pushes Featherpaw forward.

“I don’t know what to do!” Featherpaw argues, yelling out loud.

Sunpaw holds a paw to his mouth. “Ssshhh, quiet.”

You were the one being loud. Featherpaw lets out a deep sigh, turning around and looking for any sign of a mouse. He swears Sunpaw was just messing with him, and that Brookfur was just playing along with it. He turns his head around with slight nervousness, and he stops.

A small mouse stood in front of him, scurrying around. Featherpaw crouches down, with his paws standing out away from his body, and his pupils dilating. His tail thrashes, and he jumps…

…And doesn’t make it high up.

The mouse starts to scurry away, trying to find somewhere to hide.

Featherpaw starts to run towards the mouse, and jumps up, missing the mouse and hitting his chin on the ground.

“Excellent job Featherpaw!” Sunpaw runs up to the small healer apprentice, nudging him upwards. “You messed up on like… all the ways.”

Featherpaw sits up, wiping the dirt off of his face. “How was I supposed to know what to you? You did that just to laugh at me.” Featherpaw’s eyes narrow. Did she allow a mouse to be wasted just to see me fail?

Mosswhisker sits near Featherpaw, and gives a disapproving look at Sunpaw. “Be patient with him, he just became an apprentice after all.”

Brookfur shakes his head. “It’s good to see the mistakes up front first, and we can correct them from there.” He crouches down, placing his front paws in front of him. “You need to place your paws in front of you, to lift you up when you spring upwards.”

Featherpaw purses his lips. Wouldn’t that just get in the way? He shakes his head. “I’m good, I’m not a warrior apprentice. I don’t need to learn warrior stuff.”

“It’s good for all cats to learn basic hunting and fighting skills, Featherpaw,” Mosswhisker chimes in.

Featherpaw lets out a small sigh.

As the patrol moves on, a large foundation starts to appear in the distance, almost like the bizarre twoleg den in HonorClan camp. Featherpaw ran towards it, trying to piece together what it could possibly be.

Mosswhisker walked closer to Featherpaw, looking at the weird den in the distance. “That’s the greenhouse! It’s where a large amount of herbs grow. Come on, let's go!”

Sunpaw bumps Featherpaw, and points her head forward. “Race ya!”

Featherpaw watches as Sunpaw sprints ahead, and he stops, tilting his head in confusion. He stands close to Mosswhisker, continuing to walk.

Sunpaw stops, and turns around towards Featherpaw from the distance, waving her paw around. “Hurry up dummy!”

“I don’t want to run!” Featherpaw shouts.

“Yes you do! C’mon!” Sunpaw shouts back.

No I… I don’t really wanna. Featherpaw walks slowly next to Mosswhisker, trying to slow down for the old healer. His ears perk up as he hears a slight creak from Mosswhisker’s legs as she walks, and he winces. Ouch.

The greenhouse had a large opening, with spirals of ivy covering over the entrance of the den. The walls were transparent, with a white hue to them. The ceiling was worn down and almost nearly gone.

Walking in the greenhouse, Featherpaw admires the lines of flowers and herbs sitting in lines of raised elevation, with similar plants clustered together. He sniffs the purple plant in front of him, sneezing.

“That’s the garlic flower! Pretty isn’t it?” Mosswhisker stands next to Featherpaw, and takes a bite of the flower.

“Wha! You ate it!” Featherpaw chirps.

Mosswhisker nods. “They’re mostly here to be little snacks, but can also be good to give you strength! Also a good treatment for rat bites.”

“Rats? We don’t really get them here.” Brookfur perks up his head, coming closer to look at the garlic flower.

“You never know what’ll happen, don’t you remember when we saw seagulls?” Mosswhisker brings up.

“When I was a kit? Barely.” Brookfur walks off, staring at the other flowers sitting around.

Seagulls? What’s that? Featherpaw stays quiet, but still sits deep in thought, trying to figure out whatever it could mean. He stares out at the distance, the other side of the greenhouse piquing his interest. Mosswhisker was back speaking with Brookfur, with Sunpaw sitting there bored, so none of them noticed Featherpaw walking out to the other side. 

The other side of the greenhouse had a hole in the wall, with a ledge sitting upwards to look outside. Featherpaw crouches down, and leaps upwards, pushing himself up. 

There was a ravine deep in the ground, running so deep Featherpaw couldn’t see the bottom. On the other side of the ravine, was a forest, with tall trees, and leaves of red, and the occasional orange leaf. The leaves rustled from the light breeze.

Through the whistling of the wind, a dark red leaf the color of anthurium petals flitter into the greenhouse beside Featherpaw, nestling itself near his paw. 

Featherpaw stares at the giant red leaf, and lifts a paw, slowly coming to touch it.  

“Featherpaw!” Mosswhisker shouts.

Featherpaw stops, turning his head to stare at his mentor.

“What are you doing up there? Are you staring at that place?” Mosswhisker looks with discomfort.

Featherpaw cocks his head to the side. “Place?”

Mosswhisker leaps up to the ledge, and looks out of the hole in the wall. “That’s The Scarlet Forest. It’s on the other side of this ravine, and marks the edge of HonorClan territory.” Her gaze meets Featherpaw’s again. “No cat is allowed to cross the bridge there. The forest is highly dangerous, and is cursed to the Clans.”

“Cursed?” Featherpaw’s paws shake. “How so? It looks pretty there.”

“There are many dangerous predators that roam the forest, such as bears, lynxes, and moose,” Brookfur speaks from underneath the ledge. His gaze was serious. “There have been stories of cats who have gone missing in there, never coming back.” He looks down at the ground.

Mosswhisker nods, and her paws shake. “It’s said that it was where Fennelstar and Spiderstar made camp in order to try and destroy the warrior code. Legends say the blood of the brave warriors Ebonyspirit killed is what made the leaves deep red, and that Ebonyspirit himself still haunts the woods.”

Featherpaw’s eyes widen, and he takes a deep gulp. “Umm…” Great StarClan that’s terrifying!

Sunpaw jumps up to the ledge, and wraps a front leg around Featherpaw’s shoulder. “Oh come on! Does that sound realistic at all? ‘The forest was red with blood,’ please!”

Brookfur’s ears pin down, and his pupils dilate. “Sunpaw! Don’t disrespect Clan History!”

Mosswhisker rolls her eyes with a chuckle. “Calm down Brookfur, it’s just a legend. It could be true, it could not.”

Featherpaw jumps down from the ledge, his eyes closing shut. “Okay…”

“Featherpaw?” Mosswhisker jumps down from the ledge to follow Featherpaw, her green eyes looking with concern.

Featherpaw shakes his head. “It’s fine! I’ll just… not go in there…” He starts to whisper to himself, “Forest filled with blood…”

Sunpaw jumps in front of Featherpaw, her face in confusion. “Featherpaw, you’re training to be a healer, and you’re afraid of blood?”

Featherpaw shakes his head. “No it’s just!”

Sunpaw rolls her eyes. “You sure you’ve got what it takes to be a healer?” She teases.

Featherpaw covers his eyes with his paws. “I don’t know!”

Sunpaw’s eyes widen, and her paws shake around. “Whoa whoa whoa I was kidding! Of course you do!”

Brookfur sighs, “Why did I get stuck with her out of all apprentices…”

Mosswhisker places a paw on Featherpaw’s shoulder, giving a soft smile. “Featherpaw, it’s all okay, I promise. You only just became an apprentice, I promise you’ll be a great healer.”

Featherpaw looks up, his lips pursed. “I don’t know…”

Sunpaw stands close to Featherpaw, playfully nudging him with her elbow. “Hey, if a bunch of healers could do it before, you’ll be perfect for the job! I know it!”

Brookfur gives a nod. “We should probably head back to camp soon. We’ve got a lot to do. I’m sure Featherpaw would like to head back.”

Mosswhisker stands up, looking over at Featherpaw, and nudging forward. “You coming? I’m sure your parents would like to celebrate your apprenticeship.”

Featherpaw sighs, trying to stand as tall as possible. “Okay… yeah!” Get me out of that weird forest!

Sunpaw looks at Featherpaw, and nods. “So you don’t want to race?”

Featherpaw shakes his head.

Sunpaw gives a big nod. “Okay! Let’s try seeing who can go there as slow as possible!”

Featherpaw’s ears pin back, and he gives a glare towards Sunpaw. Sunpaw… that’s another cat that’ll never change. He chuckles, looking forward with a smile.