Warrior Cats: Icetail's Enemy (COMPLETED ✔️)

Chapter Forty One

Edited ✔️

The large branches of the tall oak trees were caught with the wind, rustling as the cold breeze swept by. The sun was barely visible against the gray clouds in the sky, and Icetail felt cold. Two moons have passed since DarkClan had attacked MoonClan, and things were different ever since. Nobody in the Clan felt easy anymore—Dewstar stole a small portion of MoonClan's territory that day as well, declaring that they had won the battle, and MoonClan had lost.

He clawed the ground just thinking about it. Cold-season is so close now, he thought, and MoonClan is already starting to go hungry. If only we had won the battle, if only I had prevented it, then we would still have that part of our territory. The Clan wouldn't be so hungry if it weren't for me!

"Icetail!" Amberpaw called, running up to him. "Icetail, look what I caught!"

He looked down to his apprentice, his thoughts broken apart. "What is it?" he asked her, trying to sound nice.

Amberpaw held up a scrawny black raven. "I stepped on a dead leaf and it heard me coming, but I caught it's wings and killed it before it could take off," she meowed. "How did I do?"

"You did great, Amberpaw," purred Icetail. "Go on, get back to hunting now. We're going to go back pretty soon."

She nodded and ran off with the raven in her jaws, eager to take it back to the Clan. Icetail sighed, and concentrated on his own hunting. He listened to his surroundings carefully. He wasn't so good at scenting, but he had very good hearing.

He could hear a mouse scrambling inside the trunk of a tree, and the sound of a bird up high in the branches flapping quietly around. He listened more carefully, trying to see if there was something he could reach. Small paws pattered against the earth, stepping over dead leaves and broke twigs.

There!

A scent reached his nose; vole! Icetail crouched down on the ground, and saw the vole looking around the forest floor for food. He crept from his spot, keeping as low to the ground as he could possibly go, until he was close enough to taste its scent, and pounced. Immediately, his teeth grappled around its body, and it squealed, but the sounds died away as he delivered a swift killing bite.

Pleased, he buried his prey and went out to find more.

"That was a good catch you had there," Ashtail's voice rose from the undergrowth. The warrior crept out from the cover. "I was going to hunt that before you came."

"Sorry," Icetail apologized.

"It's okay," Ashtail meowed with a shrug. "At least it'll feed the Clan."

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess." He looked from his spot and studied his surroundings. A large crash sounded, and he jumped, suddenly alert. "What was that?" Icetail demanded.

"It was probably a tree," murmured Ashtail. "The same thing happened a quarter-moon ago, remember?"

"All the prey is going to be scared away!" he hissed. "Why can't those dumb Twolegs stop cutting our trees? It's not like they need them!"

Ashtail sighed. "I'm going to go back to hunting," he meowed. "I need to bring back something for the Clan too. I'll meet you here soon." He padded away, his tail flicking. He disappeared once more into the undergrowth, and Icetail watched until his friend was gone completely.

He fixed his gaze on the forest around him. Things really haven't been the same for me or the Clan, he thought. I wish Dewstar never turned against us.

These thoughts kept running in his mind, until he heard something else. A squirrel was climbing an oak tree, and settled on one of the branches, chewing away at a seed in it's paws. His heart leaped. More prey!