Hope ✓

Chapter Twenty-One

I groaned as I was thrown to the snowy ground; I had landed on my bruised shoulder. I slowly stood up and shook my head, eyes narrowing at my opponent. I charged forward and nipped at his shoulder before darting to the opposite side.

My opponent, Fogbreeze, threw his weight towards me but I narrowly dodged being rammed into. His paw darted out, though; I winced at the jab. I quickly spun and tried to slide beneath the grey warrior but he dropped on top of me before I could escape.

"Okay, you win!" I said with a short laugh. The tom was pushing me into the ground, driving the breath from me.

Fogbreeze stepped off me with a small smile. "You're fast, but not fast enough."

I slammed into him, catching him by surprise. I ended up pinning him down. "Who's not fast enough now?"

"Hey, I thought we were done with training." The grey warrior said with a purr.

"It's like you taught me, never let your guard down in battle." I said.

It had been a moon since arriving to Mistclan. I still wanted to leave, but I also didn't want to spend my whole life as an apprentice. So I had trained with Fogbreeze every day since he made me his apprentice. He seemed a cold and a bit, I don't know, sort of emotionless at first; I don't know how to describe it but something was off about him. Now he was beginning to warm up to me.

Fogbreeze looked me over and nodded, agreeing with something in his mind. "Why don't you go hunting? You've seemed to grow more accustomed to hunting in our foggy territory since you first arrived."

"You're not coming with? I thought you said a cat is never sent out here alone in case they got lost?" I questioned.

"Who says I won't be nearby, assessing you?" The grey warrior responded.

Surprise lit up my face and he purred. "Don't worry, this isn't your final assessment."

That didn't exactly help with the worry I felt, but at least if I messed up it wouldn't affect whether I became a warrior or not. I nodded. "Okay," and started off into the misty forest.

-

On my hunt I had caught a skinny squirrel and a healthier looking mouse that had been scavenging for food in the snow. Prey had become harder to find as leaf-bare continued and the snow began to come.

Fogbreeze followed me into camp and went over to the leader's den. I dropped my catch on the small prey pile and made my way to the medicine den, bringing along the mouse I had caught.

In the past moon as the days grew colder, more cats than just Lightstar had grown sick. None had the same wounds as the leader, but the pain was on the inside. I didn't know everyone's names yet, but about six or seven other cats were sick. Lightstar still hadn't recovered, and though she was still alive she seemed to be hanging on by a mouse tail some days.

I stuck my head in the den and called out to Bella. Who emerged, though, was the black and white speckled apprentice, Poppypaw.

"Bella's tending to Dawnwillow." The young tom responded.

Dawnwillow, I remembered her. Wasn't she the queen who got sick? How unfortunate that the only expecting queen was the one to get sick. I set down my catch.

"How is she? Are the kits alright?" I asked.

Poppypaw glanced nervously inside. "No better, no worse."

I nodded and nosed the mouse toward him. "I caught this for you and Bella. The medicine cats need to stay healthy, too."

Poppypaw smiled gratefully. "Thank you, Lavenderpaw." He picked up the mouse and emerged into the den again.