A Tale of Fire

Specklepaw grumbled as she applied mouse bile to the tick Honeydew had on her shoulder, trying her best to get the little bug out of the elders fur. She hated this part of her apprentice duties, but it was something she would have to live with. Luckily she wasn’t the only apprentice on tick duty today. In fact all of the other apprentices were here too, except for Hazelpaw who was out preparing for her warrior assessment. Each apprentice was assigned to an elder to get the job done quicker, which was helping a lot. Specklepaw was in charge of helping Honeydew, Tunnelpaw was in charge of helping Eaglepelt, Moorpaw was in charge of helping Dogwoodstripe, Owlpaw was in charge of helping Rivertail, and Birchpaw was in charge of helping Lavenderwhisper. Honestly Specklepaw wished she was helping Dogwoodstripe instead, she liked hearing the toms stories about his days before he joined SkyClan, but she wasn’t about to complain about it. At least she wasn’t stuck with Eaglepelt, he was mean to pretty much everyone and always blamed it on lack of sleep, but the young she-cat was pretty sure he slept the most out of any cat in camp. As Specklepaw pulled the last tick from Honeydew's shoulder the older she-cat sighed with relief, “thank you so much Specklepaw, those ticks have been driving me crazy for days” she purred out happily. The young white and grey she-cat simply nodded her head in return and began to clean up the mouse bile mess she had accidentally made. Soon all the other apprentices had finished cleaning the elders of their ticks as purrs of approval could be heard throughout the den. 

“You all are such helpful apprentices, never once have I heard any of you complain about being assigned to a task,” Lavenderwhisper meowed with a smile as the apprentices picked up the leftover mouse bile and prepared to leave the den. Some of the apprentices let out quiet thank yous while some of them stayed quiet and only dipped their heads in respect. 

“Before you six leave, would you care for a story?” Rivertail piped up as the apprentices started to head to the exit, “or do you have other tasks you need to take care of today?”

“We got some time for a story,” Tunnelpaw meowed as the group of apprentices turned around, “our mentors didn’t give us any more assignments to complete today. This was the last thing they told us to do” 

“Well then please, come back over here and settle in for a story young ones,” Rivertail purred as he curled his tail around him. The apprentices settled in and patiently waited to hear what story would be being told this time. “I think we should tell a new story this time, don’t you think?” the old tom said as he turned his head towards Honeydew, “perhaps the story of the fire? I think they’re old enough for that story now”

“Hmm, are you sure? That’s not really the happiest of stories,” Honeydew murmured warily, “sure it’s a part of our history but, are they really ready to hear it?” 

“There was a fire here? Cool!” Birchpaw meowed excitedly, “I want to hear the story! I’m sure everyone else does too” 

“I don’t…” Owlpaw meowed nervously as he got closer to the ground, “it sounds scary” 

“Oh you’ll be fine Owlpaw,” Specklepaw growled out, “stop being such a kit.” Owlpaw pinned his ears back and looked towards the ground. Birchpaw glared at Specklepaw for a moment before laying her tail over her brothers back. 

“It’ll be alright Owlpaw, I’ll protect you from anything scary.” the cream and brown she-cat murmured softly as she turned back to face the elders, “so can we hear the story about the fire?” 

“Yes, we can start the story,” Rivertail meowed, “but be warned, this story is not meant to seem ‘cool’ or anything of the sort. It is a…complicated part of our history, and you would all do well to take this story as a lesson.” The apprentices exchanged a few glances with each other before Rivertail began to tell the story. “Many moons ago, before any of you were born, there was a cat named Swiftfire. Swiftfire was one of the best warriors we had, being trained by the one and only WolfStar, which I’m sure all of you have heard stories of” 

“Wait- I’ve heard that name before” Birchpaw interrupted. Rivertail sighed as a slightly sad expression formed on his face. 

“I’m sure you have, she is your and Owlpaws grandmother after all, as well as your great aunt young Specklepaw,” Rivertail said as he looked at the three cats, “but that is not the point of this story, so please let me continue” 

“Right, sorry Rivertail” Birchpaw said sheepishly as she settled back in the listen. 

“Anyway, Swiftfire may have been a good warrior, but she was always looking for more praise, to be seen as nothing but loyal to her clan. Everyone could tell she desperately wanted to be part of clan leadership, but WolfStar always saw that the young she-cat was far too reckless and not ready for such a position. I guess after a while Swiftfire decided to take matters into her own paws and began training in the Dark Forest with her father, Firetalon. I don’t know much of what happened during that time, that’s something you’d need to ask FoxStar, but I do know that eventually Swiftfire was fully set on taking WolfStars place as leader. I’m not sure how she did it, but one night Swiftfire set fire to the forest. Most of us got out but a few cats were still in camp. I was one of the cats who was trapped in camp and had to listen to what Swiftfire was saying to WolfStar and FoxStar, well Foxclaw at the time. She had the worst expression I’ve ever seen on a cat as she tried to claim SkyClans leadership for herself, but soon after she got done yelling at WolfStar and her brother one of the trees behind High Ledge fell on her, causing her demise. She was sent to the Dark Forest for all she had done, which was much more than just the fire but that will be a story for another day” Rivertail  meowed solemnly as he shifted his gaze back towards the apprentices, “let this be a lesson in not becoming too ambitious for your own good, or you may find yourself on the same path as Swiftfire.” 

After some time the apprentices had left the elders den and put the mouse bile away in the healers den. Tunnelpaw and Moorpaw had been called away by their mentors to go hunting, while Birchpaw and Owlpaw had been called by their mentors to go on a border patrol. Specklepaw was given the rest of the day off as her mentor, Weaseltuft, was off helping her sister with something or other. The young she-cat decided to go off on her own and go to her favorite spot out of camp. It wasn’t too far out of camp, just a few fox-lengths away, but it was far enough to where she could be left alone with her thoughts. She wedged herself into the little hole she had found under a large maple tree and curled up, checking to make sure she wasn’t lying on anything weird. She started to think about the story Rivertail had told about Swiftfire. She had heard the she-cats name before, seeing as they were related, but she had never heard that particular story before. She wondered how Swiftfire had gotten to that point in the first place, “I wish I could ask her what she was thinking. Doesn’t seem very logical to betray your whole clan like that if you’re looking to be seen as loyal” Specklepaw murmured out loud as she started thinking of ways Swiftfires actions could be justified. Unbeknownst to the young apprentice, the shadowy figure of Swiftfire herself was watching her with interest, a sly smile shown across her face. 

“Oh young Specklepaw, you may just be the cat I need to complete my plans” the she-cat meowed in a low voice as she faded away from view, leaving Specklepaw to herself once more.