Chapter 4

.: The Nineth Quarter of Leafbare :.

Cloverpaw was in awe of the land around him. He was glad that Bramblestar had set a realitivly slow pace. This allowed him to set his gaze over everything. It was all so majestic to the apprentice. The smells were rich with flavor and the sounds of the forest was music to his ears. All of the sights were beautiful for him to behold. The air was crisp out, there was a cold edge in the air. Dead leafs cracked underneath his paws. They were brittle and had fallen from their trees a while ago. The ground was cold and very hard as he walked over it. Cloverpaw's shorter strides had to take more to keep up with Bramblestar's. This kept him warm though, the air had an icy edge to it.

"We are very thankful to StarClan, this Leafbare has not been as brutal as it has been in seasons past. Though we are not through the harsh season yet. There has been no snow yet the ground is soild as if it has been frozen over. Prey has been uncommon but no cat has starved." Bramblestar spoke softley to his new apprentice. Cloverpaw noticed that the air nipped as him with its chill. His paws tred over the stone cold dirt. His breath was slightly visable as he exhaled. The air he drew into his lungs wasn't warm.

The two of them continued moving through the territory. Their travelling kept Cloverpaw warm. He did not have any sudden questions for his mentor, he just wanted to absorb all that he could from the day's outing. Cloverpaw could hardly believe that this was so big. And not to think that they were only looking at half the territory today too. His mind was expanding greatly. He never realized how the Clan camp only had so much to offer him. That was only a selcluded section of the forest. Not to mention that they had transformed it to fit their needs. Cloverpaw had heard the stories from the elders on how they first came to the Lake. Before living here they had all made their home in the forest over the mountains a long way aways. Cloverpaw wished he could see it, to stand where Greystripe had first met Firestar, to see where Dustpelt and Sandstorm caught their first prey, and to view where Bramblestar had his first outing.

Bramblestar's pace quicken as he hurried up the side of a small hill. Cloverpaw pursued him and came running up beside him. He noticed that they were coming up to something. It looked old and not very well taken care of. It had no traces of being Clan made and it looked so foreign that he assumed Twolegs had made it. They haulted at the edge of it.

"This is the abandon Twoleg nest. At one time we used this to care for all the cats sick with Greencough, though that was well before you were born. " Bramblestar informed him. "This is the furthest part of our territory in this direction." He added.

Cloverpaw stared up at it. The walls did not look very stable. Small bits had fallen off and he had no faith that it was sturdy anymore. Bramblestar and Cloverpaw stayed there for a few more minutes before moving on. The sun was rising in the sky, but it was not yet at Sunhigh, which was when it was direcly over their heads. Cloverpaw looked the whole strange nest over before they left. Now they headed in a new director away from the camp and the forgotten Twoleg nest. Cloverpaw was happy to see the border they shared with ShadowClan.

He soon discovered that the border wasn't to terribly far away from the abandon Twoleg nest. There was a strech of trees and undergrowth seperating them. When they came to the edge of the tree line Bramblestar stopped him. He held his tail to show him this was as far as they would go.

"Take a deep breath in, open your mouth so that you can have a greater scent." Bramblestar instructed. Cloverpaw obeyed and he smelled the scent of pine trees. Another odd thing he smelled was a werid reptile. One time when he was still a kit an apprentice had caught a snake and brought it to the camp. This scent smelled similar but not quite the exact same. He could also smell cool fine air flowing on a breeze to them. The scent of mud was layed into it as well as a musky smell too. "ShadowClan eat frogs and lizards mainly. They are excellent hunters at night and have very good stalking abilities." Bramblestar told him. "I am sure that you can notice all of their trees are pine trees, they keep their dark green color all the time while ours change."

"Is clearing apart of their territory?" Cloverpaw asked.

"Yes, there have been pawfuls of battles fought over this land. During the Greenleaf season the grass grows tall and there is much prey running through it. Originally it was ours then Firestar gave it to ShadowClan." Bramblestar meowed.

"Why did he do that?" questioned Cloverpaw.

"At the time ShadowClan needed the land more then we did. Firestar was a very kind cat, he cared for every cat in every Clan." Bramblestar replied to Cloverpaw. With that they conintued to move down the border line. Bramblestar said they were heading for the Lake. The trail was mostly downhill or flat which made their time faster. They walked along the border and as they went Bramblestar would point on where they usually made the markings to show. When they were half way down Bramblestar paused.

"I would assume you are growing tired, the air is cold and this is your first time out. Wait here and I will catch us a mouse." Bramblestar instructed him. Cloverpaw sat down and gave his paws a rest. They had started to become fatigue and his belly was starting to gnaw at him. Bramblestar disappeared from view and it was not too long before he reappeared with a freshly killed mouse in his jaws. Cloverpaw licked his lips hungrily. Bramblestar sat down too and placed the mouse between them.

"When you catch your prey besure to gove thanks for its life to StarClan. You go ahead, you may have the first bite." Cloverpaw's mentor told him. Cloverpaw joyfully took a bite out of the mouse. It tasted wonderful to him. It was still warm and the meat was juice with full of taste. The mouse wasn't very plump but it was most certainly not some scrawny thing. He thanked his mentor inbetween bites. Cloverpaw purred happily. Bramblestar had a couple bites of the prey, he left the rest for his apprentice. Once he was finished they burried the remains and continued on their way to the Lake. After their rest Cloverpaw had more bounce in his stride. He hadn't realized how tired he was getting. Though seeing the land outside of the camp was marvelous he was still only six moons old and fresh out of the nursery.

They reached the Lake in a much shorter time then what it took them to get to the Twoleg nest. The water scent drifted up into the trees before Cloverpaw as able to see it. The ground sloped downwards as they grew closer to it. Cloverpaw and his mentor went all the way to the waves lapping at the shore. The water was cold as it washed over his front paws. He stepped backwards as the cold came as a shock to him. Bramblestar had a small meow of laughter in his throat.

"If the wind was blowing away from us you could possibly smell RiverClan. They live way on the far side of the Lake, directly across from us. ShadowClan as you already know are to our right. WindClan, which you'll see tomorrow is to our left." Bramblestar meowed. The two toms stood at the shore for a bit longer before turning to head back to camp. "As I remember from being an apprentice you'll have to make your own nest and the softer the moss the better." said Bramblestar. Cloverpaw walked alongside him as they turned back to camp. The passed by the Ancient Oak and Bramblestar stopped to show it to Cloverpaw. The old Oak tree was very close to the shores, no more then severual rabbit hops if he had understood it correctly. One time a moon or two ago some of the apprentices were trying to show the kits how much was a rabbit hop. Rabbits were able to jump much further then cats it would seem, if the apprentices had taught it right. Cloverpaw had need a rabbit before, but they were dead and brought to the nursery for them to eat. He would learn how far they could jump from watching a dead one. They did taste well though, not bad like the small bite of the snake he had tried once. Cloverpaw didn't fancy those slithery things.

The old tree reached higher into the sky then any other tree around it. He had often heard of it, something about how Greystripe had climbed all the way to the top of it. Though Blackpaw had teased that when Greystripe was young enough to climb it it was still a sappling. Cloverpaw had no idea if he could or would ever be able to reach the top of it. It seemed awfully far up there. Maybe that was where he could reach StarClan, the top of the tree wasn't visible to him and it sure seemed tall enough to reach their warrior ancestors. Cloverpaw followed his mentor to the camp. They didn't pass any of their Clan mates before they reached the thorn tunnel. There they saw Amberpaw and her mentor Spiderleg come back with prey. The warrior tom informed Bramblestar that there was an abundance of squirrels in a tree back behind them. Bramblestar decided to take his new apprentice for a quick hunting trip.

"Alright Cloverpaw, before we go back into the camp lets see if we can catch any prey to bring back." He said and padded off to where Spiderleg had said they were located. In no time they found them and the scent of squirrel was overwhelming. They hid in a bush while they watched. Quick as a flash Bramblestar pounced on one that had strolled too far from the tree. He motioned for Cloverpaw to go after one. He darted his eyes around to the closest one. He found two playing with each other and he chased after the. He stepped on one accidentally and made a sloppy kill of the other. He picked up the two dead squirrels and proudly showed them to his mentor. Bramblestar nodded in praise and they both brought their prey back to camp. Bramblestar dropped his off at the fresh kill pile.

"How about you bring those two to the elders den. I am pleased with your basic instincts for hunting Cloveraw, good job." Bramblestar meowed to him. Cloverpaw nodded and bounded off for the elders den. He could't wait to see the look on Sandstorm's face when he showed her the two squirrels he had caught on his first time out.

...

The time information underneath the chapter number is more for you as the reader to understand and help keep track of everything. Something I found when I was reading the orginal series was that I would often get confused with how much time has passed inbetween the chapters and so on. Obviously the Clans do not refeer to it as the nineth quarter of Leafbare, its in the thrid moon and the first week. The first through fourth quarter are all in the first moon, the fifth through eigth are all in the second moon, and the nineth through twelveth are all in the third moon. Listed below you will find the cat terminology for time stuff.

Moons = months
First Quarter Moon = first week of the month
Newleaf = season of Spring
Greenleaf = season of Summer
Leaf-fall = season of Autumn (Fall)
Leafbare = season of Winter

Here's an example. So for the year, there are twelve moons and four seasons . Each season has three moons in it so twelve quarters per a season. So the nineth quarter of Leafbare is the first week of the third month of Winter. I really hope this helps you keep track of the dates and passing time. If not I can give more examples.