The Adventures Of SilverPack

Chapter 5

"Packmates, it is time for one of the most important duties of the leader: the naming of new warriors. Lightpaw, come forward," Silverfang announced to the Pack.

The apprentice, trembling, stalked forward until she was right in front of her Alpha. "Lightpaw, you will now be known as Lightthunder. The pack admires your skill in battle and I hope you will be a strong, fast, and wise wolf," the alpha proclaimed.

The new warrior stepped back for her littermate to go through. Silverfang repeated the ceremony for Bearpaw and Flowerpaw, naming them Bearthorn and Flowerpetal. The rest of the warriors cheered and dispersed to their dens. The three new warriors remained on the Starstone.

Meanwhile, Lion commanded a team of 5 warriors to go night hunting. "Bluetail, Dawnstripe, Starlight, Lemonheart, Sandwhisker, are you all here? Good. Now we can start," Lion said.

The warriors nodded and together went out the entryway. It was very dark because the moon wasn't out. Bluetail shivered. She couldn't see a paw in front of her face! Lemonheart brushed against her side, and she jumped.

Lemonheart laughed. "Are you okay?" he whispered. Bluetail nodded shakily. Realizing that she was still afraid, Lemonheart twined his tail with hers and pressed against her.

They stayed like that until Dawnstripe said, "Hey you two, lovebirds, we're supposed to be hunting!" The two wolves jumped apart, embarrassed, and went to catch prey. Bluetail picked up the trail of a deer and flicked her tail up. Sandwhisker and Starlight came to join her. Then, slipping into the hunter's crouch, they spread around the clearing. Starlight padded into a bush near the doe and pounced on a twig, making a loud noise in the quiet night. The doe snapped its head up and backed away from the bush Starlight was hiding in. It ran right towards Sandwhisker and he jumped on top of it. Bluetail joined him with Starlight hot on her heels. But the doe was getting away! It wrenched itself away from Sandwhisker, but Bluetail was still on top of it. It kicked her off and Starlight lamed it with a big bite to the front leg. Snarling, Bluetail fought to get back onto it. There was a loud struggle and Lion, Lemonheart and Dawnstripe raced to them. Lion's eyes widened when he took in the scene. He dropped his rabbit and leaped into the turmoil. Dawnstripe raced after him with Lemonheart pounding behind her. Both wolves had dropped their small prey on the ground. 

Soon, the six wolves had brought the doe down and Bluetail gave a quick, clean blow to kill it. The wolves stood for a moment, panting.

"Great job, Bluetail," Lion panted, and took the scruff of the doe in his powerful jaws and pulled. Bluetail, Dawnstripe, Sandwhisker and Starlight eached grabbed a leg and pulled it to the camp. Lemonheart raced ahead and took Lightthunder and Flowerpetal to help. 

By midnight they had dragged the enormous doe into the camp, scent marked their camp so no one would steal it, and went to bed. Bluetail and Sandwhisker went to collect their prey that they had abandoned earlier. By pre-dawn, everybody was sleeping safe and sound except for the warriors named the previous day.