MoonClan's ambitious story/(1): The First Four Leaders/2/20

### Chapter 20: Shadowpaw's Exams

It was almost a half-moon ever since Begoniaclaw joined the Clan, and it was now green-leaf.

Shadowpaw groaned loudly, sitting at the prey pile poking his mouse. Other people at the pile looked at him, since they had obviously heard it, especially Zebrapaw and Quailpaw. Shadowpaw didn't care though. The day had finally come, and he hated that it was almost at the wrong timing. *After Goldenlily died,* he thought miserably.

And he noticed Mousekit was acting very sick, too, and Begoniaclaw also noticed, too, when nursing them. Petalkit was like a perfectly normal kit, but Mousekit was very sluggish and coughing every once in a while. Even Primrosepaw and Mountainpaw noticed this and Primrosepaw had worried if Mousekit had *her* condition.

This made Shadowpaw feel even worse, because now he was fourteen moons old. And it was the day that he had to take his final exam to become a warrior. But instead, he just felt like postponing it for another moon. *I wouldn't care even I became a warrior eight more moons later,* thought Shadowpaw in sorrow. Then he looked at Quailpaw, who was the same age as him and taking the exam with him and Icepaw.

He had always wondered if Icepaw getting punished caused Goldenlily to get too stressed out and go into labor, even though it was around the right time, two and a half moons. But he wasn't sure if her being too stressed would have caused her to bleed to death from kitting. And Mousekit's coughing, whatever the cause may be, made him even more depressed and sorrow. *At least Petalkit is okay... I think,* he tried to think a little positively. But he was scared for Mousekit, when he was supposed to be looking forward to becoming a warrior.

Quailpaw shared his concerns, even though he wasn't directly related to Goldenlily. He was less sad about it, of course, but he still empathized with Shadowpaw such as when Moonstar died, since he was closer to her than other kits or young apprentices at the time.

Shadowpaw told Quailpaw, "Well... I don't feel like it... can I postpone it for a moon?"

Quailpaw knew what he was talking about. The exams. "Well, I guess you could, but you'd still be Snowstar's apprentice. I mean, I guess you will do fine, especially with what Snowstar taught you. And since he is also the leader, he will feel much more confident about you unlike apprentices with normal mentors, especially since he is watching you yourself."

Shadowpaw just nodded, but then Robinkit came to Quailpaw excitedly. "Have you heard? I will be an apprentice very soon! Just a few more days, Snowstar said!" he exclaimed in great enthusiasm.

Quailpaw looked happy for the soon-to-be-apprentice. "I know, right? And so will your littermate, Soarkit! And then Heronwing will be able to be a normal warrior again!" Robinkit had gotten close to Quailpaw after meeting Icepaw, Mountainpaw, Sandleap and Redwater, whom the former two were Quailpaw's friends, sort of, and the latter two were his sister and cousin.

Shadowpaw glanced at them for a moment before putting the mouse back in the pile and walking away. Quailpaw gave him a look saying, *But I wasn't finished talking to you!* but Shadowpaw still left.

Shadowpaw went to the nursery and noticed Stonepaw talking to Begoniaclaw about Sorrelkit and Brownkit. He had never thought about Stonepaw ever being interested in kits, much less kits from AdderClan, even if they were Begoniaclaw's, but he thought it was nothing serious. *Maybe it is for the better,* he told himself, although he couldn't believe that she had learned her lesson completely. But it seemed like she was ignoring Petalkit and Mousekit completely.

He went to Petalkit and Mousekit, sliding past Stonepaw but completely ignoring her and sat down next to his younger sisters. He now had four younger sisters, of which Icepaw counted as one because she was born after him, making him the oldest kit, but he also knew he had to help them and protect them.

Stonepaw noticed him and stopped talking about what she was talking about, which was about how AdderClan functioned. Shadowpaw realized that they can squeeze secrets about AdderClan from Begoniaclaw, since the Mountain Clans never really talked to each other that much except during battle. The most they talked was at a Mountain Meeting which was required every two years by the Miracle ancestors at the time, but now StarClan. But he was also a little worried that she might spill secrets about MoonClan to AdderClan if she got the chance, especially about Swanpaw or Primrosepaw's conditions.

Shadowpaw did think Stonepaw was a little smart for asking Begoniaclaw about info, though, but he still despised her.

"What are you doing?" Stonepaw asked coldly. "We're speaking about some private info."

"I am not listening to you," he replied in the same tone. "I am seeing the kits of my mother."

Stonepaw just nodded slowly, as if she didn't believe it that much, but she just nodded to Begoniaclaw in a positive way and left the nursery, probably to leave Shadowpaw alone, which was fine with him. After all, Stonepaw and Shadowpaw didn't really like each other and had nothing good to talk about.

Shadowpaw paid attention to Mousekit more, as she was sleeping next to Petalkit. Then he looked at Begoniaclaw, who said nothing, but think about something he couldn't tell what it was. *This cat should have been my mother,* he thought sadly. He didn't need his mother physically anymore, but he still needed her emotionally. He wondered if she would visit from StarClan, but not yet has it happened. That was beknown to him, anyway.

Finally Begoniaclaw said something, but he hadn't expected the reply from someone who used to be an AdderClan cat, all their life, probably. "You still miss your mother, right? I know that terrible feeling. It's like you want to go back to meet her but you can't, and you are trapped in a world where they don't exist physically anymore, and it is so horrible. But at least we have StarClan to look forward to, and if you are lucky you can visit them from StarClan. You see, my mother... she died when I was a young kit, when I still needed to be nursed. Adderstar, the leader at the time, who was also the founder, wasn't really fond of me because I was mourning her throughout my entire kithood. And..." She sighed.

Shadowpaw just blinked in surprise. "Really?" he said, not knowing she had such a history.

She nodded sadly. "And my sibling, Smoothkit, died, too." She sighed and continued, "I worry about my kits, though. Would AdderClan have told them that I had died? Fangstar can do anything, I am pretty sure, and he thinks that being the great-nephew of Adderstar made him superior above everyone, even before becoming leader." Her ears drooped sadly.

Shadowpaw just said, "I think that they will be safe, though. But it would be terrible to be separated from your kits." Begoniaclaw had said that she was exiled due to being accused of mating with a SnowClan cat, and she refuted the claim, but Shadowpaw wasn't so sure. Birchpaw also asked Shadowpaw if he trusted her and what she said, and he had replied, "Not completely."

Begoniaclaw just nodded. "I hope I can do something." Then she seemed to realize something seemingly positive. "Oh right, I remembered that your exams are going to start soon. Snowstar told me himself. And it is lucky that he is your mentor because he can watch you personally!"

Shadowpaw just nodded, but he wasn't sure that he shared her excitement. The exams, even in normal times, could be pretty stressful because one mistake could make your mentors change their mind. But MoonClan was pretty lax about this, since they weren't aiming to build the best army of every affiliation in the Mountains like AdderClan, but he still knew he had to be good enough to defend themselves from enemies and hunt for the Clan effortlessly even in leaf-bare. He remembered that fox which booted Zebrapaw and Swanpaw off for a brief second, but he knew he wasn't ready for the fox at the time. *Now, maybe I am,* he thought in a confident way.

Shadowpaw tried to build confidence by training with his mentor the leader, but he still couldn't remove that doubt. He tried to convince himself that he will be all right and that he will pass with flying colors since he was a good fighter and hunter. But he had noticed Icepaw and it was a lot worse. For the first quarter-moon after Goldenlily's death, she did nothing but wail for her in the apprentices' den, skipping all training sessions. Even him and Swanpaw, who were also mourning equally for her, had to comfort her. So did Quailpaw, Mountainpaw, Zebrapaw, Primrosepaw, Rainpaw and Dandelionpaw.

Now, she was handling the sadness much better but he didn't even know if she wanted to take it in the first place.

But he didn't know if he himself wanted to take it either.

#### Later

It was a few hours later.

Shadowpaw had to do the exams now. Along with his littermate, Icepaw, and friend, Quailpaw. It decided if they were going to be warriors within this moon or not.

Icepaw was very reluctant to do this but Shadowpaw and Quailpaw told her that Goldenlily was watching from StarClan and would be extra proud of her if she passed. Which boosted her spirits a little because she always wanted to impress someone, and that cat was usually Goldenlily.

Shadowpaw was also feeling like Icepaw, but he tried to hide the reluctance with the same reason Icepaw had. *To impress Goldenlily,* he thought in a positive light.

Snowstar, Forestcreek and Blazesky, all senior warriors and their mentors (and Quailpaw's father and uncles on both sides), gave them some good words for courage and self-assurance, and told them to try and catch a very difficult prey which needed a lot of expertise, an eagle.

That was really hard and Shadowpaw and Icepaw didn't know if they could do it. But they promised themselves that they would try.

They were allowed to stick together, but they should catch their prey separately from one another. Their mentors padded behind them a slightly short distance behind.

Shadowpaw sighed to himself in an already exhausted way but forced himself to focus. Goldenlily was in his mind all the time, and he didn't know if she being there was going to help or hurt. He glanced at his littermate and saw she seemed to struggling to be focusing, too, however. Quailpaw gave them reassuring looks and mouthed, *It will be okay, we will do it.* Shadowpaw and Icepaw just smiled appreciatively and gave him a small nod.

They looked up at the trees since that is where eagles usually perched. Shadowpaw remembered his lesson about catching birds from Snowstar. His mentor told him to climb a tree very silently that was next to the tree the bird was perched on, and then pounce and try to silence it quickly. Snowstar once demonstrated by catching an eagle and he did it pretty smoothly. Shadowpaw also remembered when Snowstar effortlessly scratched the hawk that was trying to carry Swanpaw, then Swankit, away from the ditch that she was in, and made it let go.

Shadowpaw had never tried catching or scratching an eagle or a hawk before, however, so this was his first time and he was really nervous.

The three apprentices distanced from one another by a few tail-lengths, and so Shadowpaw tried to look for one, and listen for one, too. He recognized the eagle's cry from that bird hunting lesson, of course.

They searched for a few minutes until they heard wings flapping. All three heard it and stopped padding. Then they tried to see where it was. It was a large bird with brown plumage, and it seemed to be resting. *A golden eagle,* Shadowpaw realized. It was like the one Snowstar caught except slightly smaller, but still counted.

Then they looked at each other, wondering who should make the catch, until Icepaw and Quailpaw nodded over at him. Shadowpaw didn't know why, but probably because he was the oldest of the three, Icepaw by a minute, Quailpaw by a few days. In fact, he was the oldest of all the apprentices, and his friend group, too. So he just nodded back to them and started looking for a different tree. He felt all eyes on him as he padded over to one and started climbing.

Icepaw and Quailpaw still kept looking for more eagles, of course, with their mentors following them, but Snowstar stayed with him to assess him.

Shadowpaw climbed to the altitude where the eagle was, which wasn't that high and hid behind the branches. The eagle didn't notice him yet.

Shadowpaw focused carefully with great precision at the eagle. Then he saw it was grooming itself with its beak and Shadowpaw thought it was the perfect opportunity.

Then he pounced on it and the eagle noticed him and spread its wings out to fly, but then Shadowpaw's claws got hold of its body and his weight went onto the eagle which stopped it from flying. Then Shadowpaw tried to bite its neck but the golden eagle while trying to struggle out of his grasp tried to poke through his skin and used its talons to try and scratch him. Shadowpaw was wary of the beak but kept scratching him. A talon got hold of his leg and Shadowpaw tried to break free by scratching the eagle's leg. Then he bit its chest hard so that it would stop struggling, then scratched its wings.

During this slight skirmish, though, Shadowpaw had nearly lost his balance. The eagle was struggling less but it was trying to flap its wings. Then suddenly, Shadowpaw felt like he fell out of the tree.

He fell into a bush so his fall was cushioned but it felt like to him that it nearly gave him a heart attack. Snowstar ran to him asking if he was able to get up. Shadowpaw didn't reply for a few seconds because he was still shocked but finally he nodded and got up. He wasn't very hurt since it wasn't a long fall, only a few fox-lengths, but he felt like he had some pain on his right flank, the side he fell on.

Then Shadowpaw looked around for the eagle, and saw it had fallen down as well but was trying to fly, but it was too gravely injured to fly well without shaking mid-flight and falling to the mountainous forest floor again. Then Shadowpaw, pretty much okay other than the bruise, leaped onto it and bit its neck.

Icepaw, Quailpaw, Forestcreek and Blazesky had also been watching and congratulated Shadowpaw. Snowstar gave an approving nod to him and Shadowpaw inherently knew that he passed, his worries washing away like a river emptying into a lake.

*Why was I so worried?* Shadowpaw wondered for a moment, but then he realized it was because he never caught an eagle before. But now he did. Rightful pride filling his heart, he beamed up at his mentor who taught him so much and was the best mentor he could have ever imagined. He was one of the many great mentors in MoonClan, but even more so with his experience and expertise at hunting and fighting, which made Shadowpaw feel like the luckiest warrior in every Clan ever made.

He fell down from the tree, but that didn't matter to him as that could always happen during hunting. And he fell into a bush, too. But what was the most important is that he took down a creature that could kitnap small cats and kits, and could feed the Clan, too. It was a larger catch than a hare or a regular bird, too.

Icepaw and Quailpaw nodded in great praise for him and set off to find their own eagle. Snowstar nodded again and told him to follow the other two apprentices, and Shadowpaw nodded, with a ton of praise for him again, and himself. He knew that Goldenlily was watching from StarClan, very proud of him. He knew he made her proud.

*Someone is definitely going to be a warrior tonight,* Shadowpaw thought with self-assurance and optimism. *And I will be a proud warrior to the Clans, and let my descendants and ancestors and other Clanmates honor me!*

**This is a chapter subpage of MoonClan's ambitious story (1): The First Four Leaders.**

*← Previous Chapter: Chapter 19: Mousekit & BegoniaclawNext Chapter: Chapter 21: Shadowclaw, Icemoon, Quailclaw, Robinpaw & Soarpaw →*

*← Previous Part: Part 1: Little Birchkit's LifeNext Part: Part 3: Birchcreek's Selflessness →*