Yawning, I casually stretched as my foggy mind tried to process last night’s training. Sometimes I wish Moon would give me a break every once in a while… With a sigh, I poked my head out to look around the camp.
“So green cough managed to take away another cat,” my ears perked as I overheard Starlingflight, a brown-and-white she-cat, murmuring to Autumnclaw. I felt my breath stop for a brief heartbeat, before risking a look towards the center of the camp. Sure enough, past the flock of mourning warriors, I could manage to make out a still body. I slipped back into the den and padded over to Rustypaw, who was snoring slightly.
“Hey, Rustypaw wake up,” I roughly prodded his shoulder and he mumbled drowsily about sleeping for five more minutes. He rolled away from my paw, which made my ears twitch in annoyance. “Rustypaw wake up, someone died!”
“What?” Rustypaw’s eyes widened and he quickly leapt to his paws, all morning lethargy gone. “Do you know who?”
“No, I was going to go over and check now,” I responded.
“Well what’cha waiting for, let’s go!” Rustypaw quickly hurried past me and, following close behind him, we left the den. The number of warriors had dwindled slightly by the time we arrived to the body. “So the one who died was Nix…” Rustypaw fell silent as he dipped his head in respect for the deceased warrior. “I haven’t been in the Clan for very long, but even in that little time I could see that he was a strong warrior.”
“So he finally succumbed to the illness,” Rustypaw and I turned to see Jayflight approaching us. She padded past us and gently tapped Nix’s body with her tail, a farewell gesture.
“Say why’d Nix die? I mean if he was one of the Clan’s stronger warriors, shouldn’t he have been able to fight against the green cough?” Rustypaw stared inquiringly at the older blue she-cat.
“A warrior with a broken heart, no matter how strong he may appear, is as vulnerable as a newborn kit,” was her response, which made me flinch as my dead sister’s face flitted unwelcomed into my mind. With one last glance at the deceased golden warrior, I whirled around and hurried away. It’s all my fault… all my fault… the phrase repeated relentlessly through my mind as my guilt tugged relentlessly at me.
“Firepaw, wait up!” Rustypaw dashed after me and skidded to a halt in front of me. His blue eyes narrowed slightly as he took in my pained expression. He then smiled and exclaimed. “Let’s hunt. The warriors are stretched thing trying to keep the borders freshly marked and we could definitely use for more fresh kill.”
“Alright,” I wanted to forget these feelings, I didn’t like them one bit, and hunting would be a good distraction. My ears twitched and I looked over my shoulder to see Littlepaw emerging from our den. I waved for her to come over to us and exclaimed. “Hey Littlepaw, come hunting with us.”
“Will it be okay? What if our mentors have something planned for us?” Littlepaw padded over to us her gaze focused on her mentor, Soulwhisper.
“It’ll be fine, if we catch something they’ll have no reason to complain,” Rustypaw reasoned.
“And if we don’t catch something?”
“Simple, we just won’t return until we all have kills,” Rustypaw declared and he puffed out his chest proud of his (self-proclaimed) brilliance.
“You have got to be kidding me…” Littlepaw sighed before shrugging her shoulders slightly. “Fine I’ll come along, but only because I need to make sure you two fuzz-brains don’t do something stupid.”
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“We should split up, it’ll make it easier to find prey,” I suggested, my breath leaving puffs in the cold morning air, as we padded through the forest.
“We should meet at the Moss Rock once we’ve caught something,” Littlepaw added before bounding off.
“Well, good luck on your hunt,” Rustypaw flicked my shoulder with his tail before dashing in the opposite direction of Littlepaw.
“Okay, let’s see what I can find,” a walked farther into the forest, occasionally sniffing the air for any hints of prey. Of course nothing was out, even prey was smart enough to stay in their burrows during a cold winter day, and my tail tip started to twitch in frustration. That’s when I caught a whiff of a rank scent that made my lips curl back in disgust. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a dog and it definitely wasn’t a mouse. Curiosity getting the better of me, I slowly stalked closer to the scent’s source. That’s when I spotted a russet furred creature slipping casually through the woods.
It paused, its large ears perking up and then turned its focus towards me. We stared back at each other, its amber eyes wide with interest. “This is a… fox, right?” I murmured to myself as it bared its fangs in pleasure and lunged forward. So fast! I barely managed to leap out of its path, and gulped nervously as its sharp fangs only just missed my tail.
I hissed angrily back at the predator while arching my back in a show of hostility. It thought nothing for this as it dashed towards me, its hungry eyes never leaving mine. It tackled into me, its fangs ripping into my shoulder as I was slammed to the ground. I snarled angrily as I fiercely kicked against its underbelly while managing to slither out of its grip.
The fox would take none of that and, as I was about to dash away, its fangs enclosed around my hind leg. There was a loud snap followed by a jarring pain that made me howl in anguish. With my free leg, I desperately lashed out at its face. My paw made contact with one of its eyes and it let out a startled yelp, releasing my stinging leg. Standing up, I gritted my teeth against the burning agony that traveled up my injured leg. “I can’t die yet…” I started to hobble away, determination and desperation driving me forward.
I wasn’t able to get far when the fox rushed towards me, it easily knocked me to the ground and lunged for my throat.
YOU ARE READING
Firetalon's Destiny
Fanfiction"Beware fire's wrath, one false move and the code shall burn while the Clans turn to cinders." Firekit, besides being the Clan leader's son, is nothing but a normal, energetic kit. But as time passes, and as he witnesses one harsh reality after anot...
