Warriors: The Deadliest Challenge

Chapter Six

Ambertail dragged her paws as she led her hunting patrol towards the river. She was still tired from staying up so late the previous night. Everyone else seemed tired as well, but not just from Specklepelt's vigil; the challenges everyday were making everyone drowsy, except for the apprentices, who were bouncing around with excitement most of the time. But after Specklepelt's death, even they were moping around.

Cinderstream walked beside Ambertail, their fur brushing.

"Swallowflight told me about how you comforted her yesterday," the grey tabby meowed. "I think you would make a good leader."

Ambertail looked at the young she-cat with shock in her eyes. She had no idea other cats thought she could even become leader.

"What? Why?" Ambertail blurted out.

"You're always ready to help anyone, you always put others first, you're calm and collected, I could go on," Cinderstream told her, her eyes full of amusement.

"Yeah, I agree!" Tigerpaw chimed in, skipping alongside Fishpatch, his mentor.

Ambertail felt her fur go hot as Fishpatch's gaze raked over her; there was something intimidating about the look in his eyes. Maybe he thought he would make a better leader than her, since he was still in the competition. But he said nothing, to Ambertail's relief.

"Uh, thanks Tigerpaw," Ambertail meowed awkwardly, her whiskers quivering slightly.

The patrol stayed quiet the rest of the way to the river and all sat down a few tail-lengths away from each other, except for Tigerpaw and Fishpatch, who sat beside each other.

Ambertail put all of her focus into watching for fish. She pushed away all of the pressures of the challenges, and the death of Specklepelt, and how her Clanmates were starting to turn on each other. All that mattered in this moment was catching fish to feed her Clan.

A flash of silver shone through the water, and Ambertail darted her paw in and hooked the fish on her claws. It landed beside her with a thump. It flopped around for a moment, until she killed it with a swift bite.

Further upstream, she heard Tigerpaw hiss in annoyance. "I had it! It slipped away!"

Fishpatch's calm voice cut through him. "It's okay, just try again. Maybe let's move."

Who am I kidding? Ambertail thought to herself. There are so many other warriors that would make great leaders. Fishpatch, Waterheart or even Sprucejump would all make better leaders than me!

After fishing for a while, Ambertail only had two fish on her small pile, reminding her of the first challenge. She looked up to the sky and through the clouds, she could see that it was nearly sunhigh.

Oh no! The next challenge is starting soon!

"Alright everyone!" Ambertail called to her patrol. "We need to get back to camp now!"

She saw Fishpatch look up to the sky and have the same revelation she just had. She grabbed her two fish in her mouth and raced back to camp, the sound of her patrol's steps pounding behind her let her know that they were following her.

As she burst into camp, she saw that all of the competing warriors were already sitting down to listen to the rules. She quickly placed her fish on the fresh-kill pile and sat at the back beside Waterheart. Streamswirl gave her a quick smile, then looked out across the warriors.

"Today's challenge is a hunt, but a different sort of hunt," the medicine cat explained. "You will all be hunting for the same thing: a rock marked with blood. The cat to bring the rock back to camp will get a head-start in the next challenge."