Wild Cat: Chapter Eleven: Are you sure?

Chapter Eleven:
Are you sure?
At first, it didn't register to me, the cats around me were suddenly speaking a different tongue, and I couldn't understand them, it wasn't until I shook the sleep away, that I learned, they were talking about me. They were saying that I was Lilyspirit's apprentice now? No, that can't be, Waterpaw, he'll get better.
Lilyspirit was before me now, touching my nose, an instinct, called manners, made me speak, "Thank you, Lilyspirit." My voice sounded different, as though it wasn't mine, and I watched everything dissolve.
"Wow, congratulations Luckpaw!" Firepaw mewed, her brothers joined her.
"Though, I would have liked to see what Path you would have chosen." Blazepaw mewed, almost wistfully.
"But this is big! I wonder why she chose one so soon…" Flamepaw mused, and it rang in my ears.
'I'll let you in on a little secret; I'm on my last life… If he dies, I don't know how I'll find a new apprentice without arousing suspicion.'
"I think she did it because she wanted to show me how hard a Leader's job is, and I'll appreciate this chance while I have it, and when Waterpaw gets better, I'll better appreciate him for his hard work." I nodded defiantly, ending the discussion. I was about to head off to my nest, when I saw Snowpaw and Hailpaw glaring at me.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked Snowpaw, my friend.
"Are you sure you want Waterpaw to get better? I'm sure you would just love if he was out of the way, then you could be leader, huh? Do you think you'll get our support? Come on Snow!" Hailpaw answered instead, and he stalked off, Snowpaw gave a mournful and confused glance in my direction, and followed him.
"This isn't going to go well." Icepaw appeared by my side, I jumped, she rarely ever slept in the apprentice den, and she was always quiet, usually because she was busy, or had herbs in her mouth.
"Do you agree with him?" I asked, calming down.
"No, if you had wanted my brother dead, you would have taken longer to get the cobwebs. But, the others won't have the same reasoning." She smiled. "But I wouldn't worry. Waterpaw is still breathing. He won't die if I have anything to say about it," she tilted her head, and her ears swiveled. "Vinetail is calling me." She said suddenly, and raced away.
I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep, so I decided to hunt. I quietly exited the camp, but no sooner had I reached the entrance, a voice spoke from the darkness.
"Luckpaw? What are you doing?" it was Fernpush.
"Oh, I was going to hunt, what are you doing?"
"Guarding the camp." She said. I tilted my head and she sighed, "I can hear a bit more than you, but no matter, Jumpkick and Vixentooth were tired, and Boldclaw was injured nothing big, just a deep scratch on his leg. So, don't worry, the camp is in my paws." I heard her laugh.
"But, you're…"
"Blind, true, but, can you see me?"
"Well, no, but-"
"Exactly. Congratulations on becoming Lilyspirit's apprentice."
"Thank you, but, I don't know if it's okay, I mean, some cats are really upset about it." I said.
"Then hope that Waterpaw gets better."
"I will." I mewed, and I padded off.
At first, I was set on hunting, but my concentration wouldn't focus on hunting.
"A Leader apprentice? That will never work, but I'll give it a try, and then I'm going to be a Tracker, if it's the last thing I do." I said to myself defiantly.
"You never know, that last thing you might do is talk to yourself."I jumped, and whipped around, expecting a cat.
"Hello, Luckpaw, I am Flame, leader of the Black Foxes." A small she-fox twitched her whiskers and gave a mocking bow.
"How do you know me?" I glared at her, wary and suspicious.
"I know lots of things, I can visit the Tribe that Knows and Sees as well."
"So?"
"They speak of you," she began to circle me slowly, "they whisper your name in prophecies unspoken, they yowl for your future glory, they purr for your unborn kits, they mew about your decisions, they chant your name and your names to come," her breath tickled my ear as she spoke, "they boast about your accomplishment, your victories already on their tongues, their excitement uncontainable, their voices deafening, whispering, chanting, mewing, purring, yowling,  they speak of one cat, and one thing only, Luckpaw." Her nose touched mine, and her green eyes glittered hungrily, I jumped back, shaking my head.
"That's not true! You're just lying to me so you can eat me!" I spat.
The look she gave me, was full of genuine hurt, "Flame of the Black Foxes is no liar kit!" she snapped, baring her white teeth, but she drew back and laid her ears flat, and gave her shoulder a lick as if it was an old habit. "So sorry dearest, but I am not lying, just in the wrong time, right place, has that ever happened to you? No? Understandable, I must leave now, but remember, not all of my foxes will accept you here, and you should go." She smiled a foxy smile, and melted into the forest, I quickly raced back to camp, and almost ran into Lilyspirit.
"Ah, my apprentice, come, I have to show you some things." She mewed, and I followed as she explained why this was that and that was this, but never ever was that and this equal to this and that.
When we got back, I was exhausted trying to remember things, as soon as Lilyspirit said I was free to go, I took a rabbit and a water vole from the Gathered Prey pile. I walked into Vinetail's den, and dropped the rabbit at her feet.
"For me, Icepaw, look, rabbit. Who is that vole for?" She asked, letting her apprentice start the rabbit.
"Waterpaw, I was wondering if he could eat it." I said.
"Well, he might be able to, but you'd have to be quick, I think he just woke up, if he needs it, help him swallow." She mewed, and I nodded.
I padded into his part of the den, one of the tunnels within the Healer's den, and I almost dropped the vole in surprise, I could tell he wasn't asleep, but his breath was raspy, and shallow the shallow den smelled of infection.
"Waterpaw? I brought you a water vole." I whispered, his ear twitched and his eyes struggled to open.
I placed it in front on him, and when he wasn't able to eat it, I slowly fed it to him, and helped him swallow, he ate all of it, surprisingly enough, and I groomed his fur when he started to fall asleep, I avoided the gash on his side, covered by cobwebs, and made sure it shined. When I was done, and he was asleep, I quietly exited the den, it was getting dark, and I wondered how long I had spent in there.
"Luckpaw! Do you want to share a sparrow with me?" Firepaw mewed, beside her, her brothers looked as though they wanted to say the same, but I padded over to her.
"So, what were you doing in Vinetail's den?" She asked.
"I brought them a rabbit, Vinetail and Icepaw, and I brought a water vole for Waterpaw, I had to feed him, and then I groomed his fur, he seems a bit stronger." I tried to sound convincing.
"Vinetail will help him, she and Icepaw." She took a bit from the sparrow and gave me a look, I looked down and realized I hadn't taken a single bite, and she was almost finished with it.
"Snowpaw and Hailpaw though they think…"
"Hailpaw thinks, not Snowpaw, he thinks it's your fault, and Snowpaw doesn't know what to think, trust me, today I was able to beat her, every time, because she is so confused, speak of the fox, here she is, Snowpaw! Over here!" She waved her tail and Snowpaw joined us uncertainly.
"Hello Firepaw, Luckpaw." She mewed.
"Okay, Luckpaw, did you want to be Lilyspirit's apprentice?" Firepaw said so suddenly I nearly jumped.
"No."
"Did you want Waterpaw to become injured so he could no longer train?"
"No! Waterpaw is a good friend of mine." I said, appalled.
"Did you-"
"Stop, I didn't want any of it, I just want Waterpaw to get better!" I snapped. Firepaw, unsurprised, looked over at Snowpaw, tilting her head.
"Told you so." She mewed; Snowpaw nodded her head in thanks and licked my shoulder.
"Thank you for saying so. He's good to have a cat like you supporting him." She mewed quietly, and stepped into our den.
Firepaw looked at me, smugly, and I got up, shook off my fur, and stalked off, the sparrow forgotten.
"Lilyspirit?" I mewed, calling into her den.
"Luckpaw?! Oh, come on in." She mewed, it sounded as though I had startled her. When my eyes adjusted, I could see Volejump beside her, sleeping.
"My brother, don't speak too loudly though, he might be a heavy sleeper, but he can wake up easily enough." She licked his ear after her explanation.
"Lilyspirit, I know, that you need to have an apprentice, but, I don't know, if I'm the right choice…" I bowed my head.
"Of course you are, for exactly this reason." She purred, "See, you don't want  to be my apprentice like the others would, you're not too ambitious, you're sweet and nice, and you have a friendly disposition, you're perfect for the position, temporarily of course, I'm hoping he makes a full recovery." She smiled, but I shook my head.
"Lilyspirit, another thing, today, I think I went too far in one direction of the forest, and, I met a fox," I paused, her expression first seemed worried, but then it softened to a knowing look, "Her name was Flame of the Black Foxes, she said that I was important, that the Tribe that Knows All and Sees All is speaking of me, constantly, but I don't know if I believe her…" I said, uncertain.
"She's right, in whatever she said, she always is, but, she has trouble with time, as it were, you see, I'm sure you've spent enough time with Little-ears to know that the ancient fox leader of the Black Foxes was also called Flame, well, there's the problem, you see, that is Flame of the Black Foxes, I mean, she's died at least ten times for every moon I've been alive, which is a lot, you see, foxes, they are born into their power, and the Tribe that Knows and Sees grants them the knowledge of their original skulk leaders, Flame has been male once or twice before, I believe, when I was born she was a male, but I guess he died and became a vixen again, she is very interested in our affairs, and visits our ancestors more than they'd like I'm sure, she knows of you from them, whether it be current, or in the near future." She smiled slightly. "Don't worry though, she's friendly enough, and she means well, she always keeps her foxes in check." She nodded.
"Thank you Lilyspirit, I'll do my best for you until Waterpaw gets better, then, I think I'd like to be a Tracker." I nodded, confident, and padded out of the den.
There I stretched, and gave my chest fur a small lick. I felt hungry, and grabbed two mice from the pile, and started eating. I was done with the first, and about to start on the second when a small shape entered the camp.
"Lucky!" he shouted, careless of the camp full of sleeping cats.
"Curly?" I tilted my head.
"Lucky! It took me forever to find this place! But either a really fluffy large cat or a really small fluffy dog helped me, she looked a bit like both, and then I found this place! It was terrible Lucky, Mama says that our Home Mother has to give us away, they already took Nibbley!" he looked sheepish all of a sudden, "it wasn't a huge loss though, and we told Mama where you went, and she said that I could live here, Bobby might come too but he hasn't decided yet, but I know he will because we can't be separated like that, we're brothers, even though you're not his favorite cat right now he'll warm up to it, don't worry." He smiled, and looked around, "Oh wow, this is where you live? On the ground? Where are the bowls, do you eat those mice? Ew, that's disgusting, but I guess if I'm going to live here I'll get used to it, those are some really nice dens here for savages, you cats really do well for yourselves, I like that big one the best, whose den is that? Can I have that mouse, the one at your paws? Thank you." He began to eat my mouse and when he was done he licked his muzzle and smiled, "it's not so bad, what's there to do around here? Do a lot of cats live here? Wow! Look at all these cats! So many new friends! It's going to be so much fun living here!"
It might have been a better judgment of mine to yell at him, or chase him off, at least I could have asked him to shut up, but I just stood there, my fur bristling, and my mouth gaping from shock, so it was up to Lilyspirit to shut him up.
"Curly," she said, her voice low like honey, "remember what I said, I said you could visit, not stay here."
"Well, I was going to visit anyways, but you see, our Home Mother has to give us away, and I can't visit if I live to far away, can I? So I decided to just stay here, oh, look, Bobby is here! Over here Bobby!" he yowled as his brother padded in.
"Curly, Bobby, remember, it's late, you can't shout, cats are sleeping, so please, just go to sleep and we'll settle this out in the morning." Lilyspirit mewed, her teeth clenched. "Luckpaw, show them to your den." She said, in a softer tone. Blankly I nodded and I helped them make room for their own nests, the cats inside, luckily, were all asleep, tired from a long days training session, so it went unnoticed when two new additions settled in.
When I heard that every cat was asleep, I groaned inwardly, how would I live with these two, especially Curly, who hadn't been here for a whole day and already made some enemies I'm sure.