Ravenpaw's farewell

"Are you really not going with us?" Ravenpaw whispered in order not to disturb Riley and Bella who were sleeping.Several beams of light seeped through the cracks in the barn wall, filling the air with warmth.

Barry shook his head: "We have already discussed this matter." He meowed: "I think this is a big mistake."

"I thought you believed me!" Ravenpaw retorted. "I'll be back soon, if I get Riley and Bella to SkyClan. Firestar and Sandstorm made the trip safe. So can I."

"They're warriors!" Barry hissed.He sounded angry, but Ravenpaw could hear the pain in his words: "Is that what you want? You want to prove that you're as good as a Clan cat, even if you're an apprentice?"

Ravenpaw took a step back. "What are you talking about?"

"I don't believe you're doing it for Riley and Bella. I think you're doing it for yourself because you want to fit in."

"You're wrong!" Ravenpaw gasped.

"Really? You've been blah blah blah blah about your Clan life ever since we went to the forest. I bet you regretted leaving!"

Ravenpaw felt his shoulders slack. "You're ridiculous. That's the end of it, Barry? Just shouting at each other?"

"You were the one to leave first," Barry roared.

"Easy to say!"

"Is it time?"

The two cats turned around.A small orange face looked down from a haystack.Bella was soon there, with a few weeds on her ears.

"We're waking up!" Riley announced.He jumped off the haystack and landed next to Ravenpaw. "Shall we hunt first?"

Barry shook his ears. "No," he meowed gruffly, "I caught some just for you last night." He moved a haystack, revealing two mice and a young pigeon.

Ravenpaw blinked at him, "Thank you."

"I'm not for you. I'm for them." Raising his voice, Barry added, "I'm going for a walk. If you're not here when I get back, fine, I hope you find what you're looking for. "

Bella looked up, his cheeks bulging from the pigeons. "Aren't you watching us set off?" she said vaguely.

"Ravenpaw knows the way," Barry replied.The tip of his tail flicked. "Don't do anything stupid. Make your mothers proud." He paced out of the barn, taking one last look at Ravenpaw.

"Eat as much as you can," Ravenpaw told the young cats, trying to be more optimistic.I can't believe he didn't even say goodbye. "But don't hold back. We've got a long way to go"—he remembered again that he didn't know how far—"so we'll stop and hunt."

His stomach churned to make room for the food, but in the end he just took a few bites of the rat.He wished he could remember the herbs that Spotted Leaf gave him when he went to Moonstone. It was some years ago, and all he remembered was a bit of astringent taste on his lips.

They ate some and hid the rest under haystacks.Ravenpaw looked at the cats in front of him, so much like his old friends Firestar and Graystripe.But these cats know nothing about life in the wild.he reminded himself.You have to teach them everything they know.

Riley and Bella watched him expectantly, their hair fluffed and their eyes sparkling.They made a choice, and they couldn't imagine anything wrong.

Ravenpaw looked up: "Come on, you two. Let's go find SkyClan!"

He led them across the pasture—half covered with rich pasture, half emerging with new green—and all the way to the river.Riley and Bella stared at the running water with wide eyes.

"Aren't we going to swim?" Bella neighed, fluffing her hair.

Ravenpaw thought for a moment.Mars said to follow the small river to the canyon, but never said not to cross the river. "No," he replied.

"Hey." Bella breathed a sigh of relief.

They trotted along the path, which was wide and flat and smelled of Twolegs and dogs.Riley and Bella stop and go, every paw print, every little track.Even a small leaf will be crushed by them.

"How do I dance?" cried Riley, and a few beech leaves fell on his muzzle.

"Put your weight on the back and jump again." Ravenpaw told him, "If you move your front paws, you'll lose your balance." Riley crouched down again. "But you'll be tired if you keep doing this," Ravenpaw added.He noticed Bella staring at the reeds. "We'll hunt later, I promise," he told her.

"I'm not hunting. I'm looking at the green stone with eyes."

Ravenpaw walked towards her: "That's a frog. Don't eat it unless you're starving to death. Of course, you can eat it if you're a ShadowClan cat."

"Oh, we've heard about the Shadow Clan!" Riley meowed, "Tell us their story!"

Ravenpaw sighed. "If you can concentrate on walking." He didn't want to scare them, so he made up a story about the ShadowClan queen teaching the children how to jump like a frog.This keeps Riley and Bella focused enough until Ravenpaw realizes it's time for them to rest.The bushes on the side of his road crouched down and licked his waist.His legs were sore, and his stomach seemed to have a stone in it.

There was a noise behind him.Ravenpaw turned to see Bella proudly carrying a shrew across the fence.She kept her prey in front of him. "Fresh game!" she announced with her tail raised.

"Nice job!" Ravenpaw purred.There was another sound from the other end of the fence, and Riley went through it too. "Ah!" he gasped, "I lost a sparrow."

"Don't worry; Bella has enough prey for us to eat," Ravenpaw meowed. "I'm not surprised it got away. You sound like a cow!"

Riley rubbed his sister's forehead.He had to tiptoe. "You're already a warrior!" he meowed.

"You still have a lot to learn," Ravenpaw reminded.At this moment, a dog barked from behind the path.Ravenpaw jumped up, his hair standing on end.

"We're used to it," Riley boasted. "We have a fluffy white dog in the garden next to our garden. Bella and I scratch his nose every time we see him." Leigh's eyes widened. "But it's not as big as this dog!" he screamed.

He hopped onto the fence as if he had grown wings, and Bella followed, and Ravenpaw climbed the fence too, nudging Bella up to a higher branch.They clung to the swaying branches and looked down at a tan beast, sniffing the remains of a shrew.Then, its pink tongue popped out, letting out a foul stench.

"Does he want to eat us?" Bella whimpered.

"I hope not," Ravenpaw said in a low voice.He rubbed his paws on the branches.

The approaching roar of a Twoleg made the cats jump.The dog looked around, then dropped his ears and ran away.He waited until the sound of footsteps died away before coming to the ground.Riley followed him, but Bella stayed put, holding on to the branch beneath her feet.

"Come down, Bella!" Ravenpaw meowed, "It's all right!"

"What if the dog turns back?" Bella squeaked.

"It won't," Ravenpaw replied.

"You don't know!"

Ravenpaw sighed. : Well, not sure, but I can't see or hear it now.If we go the opposite way, he will definitely not be able to catch up with us. "

"I'm so scared." Bella meowed softly. "I want my mother."

Riley smashed the leaves under the soles of his feet. "Perhaps," he said vaguely.

For a moment, Ravenpaw wanted to go along with him.But he also remembered Silverstream telling him that he was the only cat who could help them choose their own paths. "All samurai have fears," he told them, "and that's the only place where you can show your bravery. You protect yourselves from dogs, don't you? You've all done well. Violet feels for you." Proud. But we have to keep going and don't wait for the dogs to come back."

There was a whimper in the top of his head.

Ravenpaw looked up. "You can't live there forever, Bella! Fences are no place for cats, pet cats or samurai!"

"Did you swear the dog wouldn't come back?" Bella meowed.

"I swear."

With some leaves and sawdust, Riley came under the fence.Her hair was covered with sawdust, and her eyes were wide open in terror.Ravenpaw licked her forehead. "Well done. Very good."

He walked on the path and looked around.No signs of life, Twolegs or dogs, not at all. "Let's go!" he yelled, and trotted out.Riley and Bella followed him.Ravenpaw tried to appear untroubled by the incident.

They had to avoid some Twolegs and dogs, but they were easy to spot.Bella was strangely quiet, and Riley leaned close to her, licking her for encouragement.When it got very dark, Ravenpaw found a place to spend the night, a den of gray stone with dry dirt on the floor that smelled of cows but was nothing but foxes and badgers .

Ravenpaw led Riley and Bella into the den, and they looked exhausted, curled up, their sides up and down, their fur covered in dust.

"Stay here and clean up quickly." Ravenpaw stretched his tired limbs and walked towards the hedgerow.He found a clutch of eggs on the way and rolled them back one by one.Bella made a face at the eggs, but Riley ate them with gusto.

"I'm starving, I can even eat grass!"

Ravenpaw made a nest for them with some moss from the trees by the entrance.Riley and Bella fell asleep almost as soon as they posted it.Ravenpaw lay beside them, feeling their warmth in his belly.Moonlight poured down through the small hole in the wall, and Ravenpaw frowned at the round glow.Is Barry looking at the moon too?he wants to know.He hadn't slept separately since he came to the barn.But exhaustion overwhelmed the sadness and pulled him to sleep.

Bella and Riley remained depressed the next day.Bella refused to eat the thrush caught by Ravenpaw, saying it smelled weird.Ravenpaw wanted to scold her for not being grateful for a moment, but he reminded himself that they had been through so much and missed their mother.He let Riley eat the thrush, and together they turned and walked to the river bank.

They're walking fast now because Riley and Bella don't stop and go anymore.Ravenpaw walked ahead, wary of dogs and Twolegs.The sun warmed his black fur, and though his legs were still tired, he found himself suddenly wanting to explore every corner, watching the creek and the meadows and hedges ahead.His beard twitched to catch every fresh smell and sound, and he felt as if he was young again.Even the pain in my stomach disappeared without a trace.Ravenpaw wanted Barry by his side to share in this adventure.

Ravenpaw decides to go hunting, hoping to find something Bella wants to eat.

"We'll stop for a while," he announced.

Riley jumped into the forest, gray tail flicking and flicking.Bella lay on the edge of the path, scratching the grass with her paws.

"I'm too tired to go," she meowed.

"Then wait until we get back," Ravenpaw told her, trying not to lose his temper.Then followed Riley into the forest.

There was plenty of game here, but he finally decided to track mice in a patch of fern.

Ravenpaw returned to where Bella was with the prey.But the grass was empty.

"Bella?" he called softly.

no answer.Immediately, Ravenpaw heard a Twoleg rumbling by the river.He turned to see a full-grown male Twoleg crouching on the bank of the river.

Bella was hunched over and purring as she happily ate from the Twoleg's hairless front paws.

Ravenpaw dropped the rat and ran along the bank. "What do you think you're doing?" he yelled. "Get out of there!" Bella turned and glared at Ravenpaw. "He's giving me food!" he hissed. "I'm so hungry!"

Ravenpaw jumped forward and bit her neck.It seemed a little comical, since Bella was almost as tall as him.He realizes that the Twoleg has left the river bank and appears to be calling for help.

"Follow me!" Ravenpaw ordered, biting a pinch of orange hair.He dragged Bella into the forest.

"What's up?" panted Riley, who was running towards them through the bushes.

"Bella wants food from Twoleg!" Ravenpaw spat.

"So what?" Bella exclaimed.

"You're a cat that's going to be a stray cat!" Ravenpaw snarled. "Twolegs are not your friends! They're not a source of food!" He took a deep breath, letting his hair down. "If you're going to be a warrior, Twolegs are the enemy."

Bella lowered her ears to him: "What a rat's head! He was very kind to me and gave me something to eat!"

"You can't trust Twolegs," Ravenpaw insisted. "They don't like warriors."

Riley flicked his tail. "She did nothing wrong, Ravenpaw. The ignorant are not guilty."

"Listen, these are the rules." Ravenpaw snarled. "If you won't listen to me, go back now." He tilted his head to one side. "Is this what you want?"

Riley and Bella watched him without moving.

Ravenpaw nodded. : Then go, don't be swayed by trifles. "

He walked out of the forest and back to the path along the river bank.He could hear Riley and Bella trotting after him, their hairs still bristling at his tone.

This is not my problem, Ravenpaw told himself.They have to respect their mentors, otherwise the Celestial Clan will not accept them.I'm going to start teaching them the samurai code.The enormous pressure hit him again.

Do Riley and Bella really have a chance of becoming samurai?