Crowtalon's Madness/Chapter 4

Crowkit hissed as she was flung to the ground by Blizzardwing. Her pelt was bleeding from many shallow cuts, but the combined pain of them made her feel stinging waves of pain everytime she moved. This was all part of Blizzardwing and Darkwater's sadism training, with the goal of turning Crowkit into an emotionless and cold cat who took no qualms in killing. Surprisingly no other cat knew about this and always assumed that Crowkit was just being adventurous.

It had two moons of the routine. Crowkit found herself mercilessly slaying small prey items without a care. When her foster parents taunted her, their words didn't pierce her stone cold heart. Crowkit felt bitter to know that Blizzardwing and Darkwater had succeeded in their reformative training. And all this while, Crowkit had wondered why they wanted to mentally torture her so much.

￼Blizzardwing had wanted to beat the emotions out of Crowkit this day, but suddenly Maplestar's call rang out loud and clear across the camp clearing. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey come gather for a Clan meeting!"

"You are lucky, this time." Blizzardwing spat, then picked up Crowkit by the scruff and padded towards Maplestar.

"Today, I have decided to make a new apprentice. Crowkit, step forward." Maplestar mewed.

Despite all her numbed emotions and the sting of her wounds that her pelt hid, Crowkit felt the slightest tinge of excitement. Finally, after moons of suffering, she would become an apprentice, breaking free of Blizzardwing and Darkwater. Or at least, that was what she thought.

"Crowkit, you have reached the age of six moons, and it is time for you to be apprenticed. From this day on, until you receive your warrior name, you will be known as Crowpaw. Your mentor will be Snakeheart. I hope Snakeheart will pass down all she knows on to you." Maplestar spoke the traditional words. Crowpaw's heart sank and her hopes plummeted. Hadn't she suffered enough? Now with a mentor like Snakeheart, she could only turn worse. First her parents' death had turned her unfeeling, then her adopted parents' turned her sadistic. What would Snakeheart turn her into?

Blizzardwing was glowering at Crowpaw while Darkwater glared. Crowpaw shot a nasty look back as Maplestar continued.

"Snakeheart, you are ready to take on an apprentice, the first once ever since your previous apprentice Hickorypaw had been blinded. You have received excellent training from Smokehawk, and you have shown yourself to be courageous and a skilled fighter. You will be the mentor of Crowpaw, and I expect you to pass down all you know to Crowpaw."

Snakeheart nodded, her eyes glistening with emotion. Eyes brimming with devotion and determination, she padded up to Crowpaw and touched noses with her.

"Crowpaw! Crowpaw! Crowpaw!" The Clan chanted.

Crowpaw stared up at Snakeheart. Maybe the she-cat didn't live up to her name after all. "So... what are we going to do know? Battle training?" she asked, with a hint of eagerness at the words battle training.

"Slow down, youngster." Snakeheart laughed. "I'll take you on a tour of the whole territory, and then we'll go hunting."

Crowpaw deflated a little, but brightened when she saw Deathpaw - no, Deathflight, bounding across to her. Crowpaw allowed Deathflight to take a part in her cold heart, as he was the one who always offered sympathies after her foster parents' reformative training. Deathflight pressed his muzzle into her cheek, and his breath warmed her cheek as he purred her new name, "Crowpaw."

"Deathflight," Crowpaw purred back, then drew away. "I'm going to go on a tour of the territory, then go hunting," she added briskly, slipping back into her emotionless self. "Catch you later."

Deathflight nodded and bounded away. Snakeheart beckoned with her tabby striped tail and Crowpaw followed her out of the gorse tunnel and into the forest...

Crowpaw stared at the all-too familiar ThunderClan forest. A patch of ferns was still splattered with Crowpaw's blood, though Snakeheart did not seem to notice as she plowed on, briskly addressing all the landmarks in ThunderClan territory and briefly explaining where the borders were. Crowpaw took a liking to Snakeheart's mentoring style - short and sweet as she liked it.

Before the sun had even gone down, Crowpaw and Snakeheart were done with touring the territory. Snakeheart turned and faced Crowpaw, her muscles rippling under her striped tabby pelt as Crowpaw's mentor walked towards Crowpaw. "Now, we're going to go hunting," Snakeheart mewed, and flicked her tail to a squirrel nibbling at a nut at the bottom of a tree's roots that Crowpaw did not even notice. "Drop into your hunter's crouch and let me see what I can do to correct it."

Crowpaw, with only a slight trace of the usual eagerness and enthusiasm that normal, newly apprenticed apprentices showed, dropped into a hunter's crouch, her ears pricked, and her haunches bunched to spring.

"Pretty good for your first try." Snakeheart commented, but nudged Crowpaw's front paws. "Tuck them in a little more, it'll help you leap if you're in a more square position. That's better. Now bring your paws forward silently - and don't forget your tail, it must not be near the ground or sweeping the floor. Now, we're downwind of the prey, so I didn't really say much, but always make sure you're downwind of your prey - that way they won't smell you coming."

Crowpaw nodded, trying to absorb as much information from Snakeheart as possible. She put her paws in front of her slowly, silently, trying not to step on a twig or do anything stupid that would give her away. Crowpaw glided silently across the forest floor and once she was near enough, the black apprentice sprang, slamming her paws into the squirrel's body, killing the squirrel with a swift bite.

"Good job." Snakeheart praised her apprentice. "This squirrel will feed many of the Clan. Give thanks to StarClan for its life, Crowpaw."

But Crowpaw raised her head defiantly to the sky, where the first few glittering stars were starting to appear. Were her parents two of them? Crowpaw didn't bother to thank StarClan if they didn't save her parents' lives and instead glared at the stars. They were pretty, but useless. Utterly, utterly useless.