The Endless Prophecy - Night

Chapter 3

"Wow Nightpaw, Rosepaw, you caught two plump rabbits! We'd certainly have a feast tonight!"

Nightpaw was immensely gratified as Ravenpelt and Whiteblaze praised her. Blazepaw and Shredpelt had just returned with two puny mice and a shrew. Blazepaw scowled at them and dropped the prey onto the fresh-kill pile ungratefully.

"Actually, a WindClan apprentice caught this one, but he..." said Rosepaw, and she launched into the story of how Dustpaw had nearly stolen their rabbit. "Then a warrior called Mudpelt was scolding him so loudly that I bet they could hear him all the way to the ShadowClan camp!"

Whiteblaze snorted. "Serves him right, that WindClan scum should never have tried to break the code!"

Nightpaw nodded her head. I wonder what Crowstar is planning to do with Dustpaw. She had heard that the WindClan leader could be very rough and bad-tempered at times. She pricked her ears.  Maybe I could use my special powers!  she closed her eyes.

Dustpaw was in the WindClan apprentice's den, pacing nervously. "I hope it's not going to be too bad," he meowed aloud. The small black-and-white apprentice Nightpaw had seen earlier was next to him. "Yeah," he agreed. "You should have seen the looks on those ThunderClan cats! You gave them the shock of their lives!" the small apprentice giggled.

How rude! Nightpaw thought indignantly. I definitely wasn't like that! Nightpaw angled her ears towards the WindClan leader's den. 

Crowstar was lying on the floor, looking old and weary. Mudpelt was talking to him, looking frustrated.

"Crowstar, Dustpaw broke the warrior code! You must do something about it!" he fretted.

Crowstar raised his head. "Warriors break the code all the time. We don't have to abide by the rules the whole time, it takes all the fun out of it."

Mudpelt widened his eyes. "Great StarClan, Crowstar, you're a leader! How can you criticize the warrior code when you're the most important in the Clan?"

"I am old, and I'm about to join StarClan. It won't be long before you make the decisions. Do what you want, you can decide what to do with Dustpaw, and leave me alone. I'm on my last life."

Nightpaw gasped and opened her eyes. I shouldn't have been eavesdropping, she thought guiltily.

Ravenpelt was looking curiously at her. "Why are you looking so guilty?" she asked suspiciously.

"Oh, erm, I'm just worried that-- if we shouldn't have taken the rabbit that-that Dustpaw caught," Nightpaw stuttered lamely.

Ravenpelt relaxed. "Of course we could," she comforted her daughter. "It was rightfully ours."

Nightpaw nodded, feeling even more guiltier at the thought of lying to Ravenpelt.

I need to focus, she told herself. I can't let other things distract me from my training. Privately she knew that she had to find the other two of the Three, but she didn't know where to look. I could eavesdrop on other Clans, or even on my Clanmates. But that would be too risky. If only StarClan could give me a sign!

"Okay, Nightpaw, Rosepaw and Blazepaw," their mentors padded over to them. "You've all explored the territory and experienced how to hunt. "Now we'll teach you the right way to do it, and adjust your mistakes. After that, if you do well, we will teach you a simple battle move."

"We're going to go to the training hollow," added Mapleheart.

The apprentices chattered excitedly and raced past their mentors to the hollow. Frostpelt was first to appear after them, and he told them sternly, "Making noise like that and running will scare away all the prey."

"Sorry," said the apprentices, a bit more subdued now.

"Sorry fills no bellies," snapped Shredpelt. Then he ripped three leaves off a bush nearby and placed each one in front of the apprentices.

"Imagine that each leaf is a mouse, and you are going catch it," explained Frostpelt. "Now, tell me, what is the difference between hunting a mouse and a rabbit?"

Blazepaw raised his tail. "A rabbit can dig burrows when you hunt them?"he guessed wildly.

Frostpelt and Shredpelt glanced at each other. "Um, no. That's not the point. So, a rabbit can hear you before it scents you, and a mouse can sense your pawsteps before it hears you," said Frostpelt.

"Now, let's see how you do," meowed Mapleheart. "Remember, keep you paws light!"

Nightpaw crouched, and looked directly at the leaf. She ignored Rosepaw and Blazepaw beside her and crawled forward, keeping her paws as light as possible, until she was a tail-length from the leaf. Remembering her mistake in StarClan, she tucked her hind legs in only slightly, and leaped.

She had missed the leaf, but with grim determination she pinned it down and bit it.

She looked around. Blazepaw had fallen onto his back, and Rosepaw was still crouching.

"Great job!" Mapleheart praised her. "You just need to tuck your hind legs in a bit more, you need to have more spring!"

"Well," Nightpaw began. "The last time I tried that, I overleapt my prey."

Mapleheart nodded understandingly. "It's easy to make that mistake. So next time, judge your distance, and if you do miss it, pin it down as fast as you can, like what you did there."

"Okay."

"AAAH!" Rosepaw had leapt too far and barreled into a bramble bush.

"Rosepaw!" Mapleheart exclaimed. "Frostpelt, Shredpelt, help me pull the bush from Rosepaw! On the count of three, give it a sharp yank!"

"What do we do?" asked Nightpaw anxiously.

"You two can pull Rosepaw from the bush," came the curt reply.

After some excessive tugging, Rosepaw finally emerged, covered in scratches and thorns.

"Come on, we'll get you back in camp," ordered Shredpelt. "Apprentices, you can have a break."

Nightpaw blinked sadly at Rosepaw, not only did they not get to learn a battle move, her sister got hurt. However, Blazepaw was growling at Rosepaw.

"You must have bees in your brain! Why did you go into that bush? We could have learned a valuable battle move!"

"Shut up!" Shredpelt snapped at Blazepaw. "So a battle move is worth more than your kin? I'm having second thoughts about being your mentor!" 

Blazepaw stared at him in dismay, then turned around and said, "Fine, if you don't want me, then I'll go."

"I didn't mean that--" Shredpelt tried to reason, but Blazepaw was already gone. Rosepaw let out a low pained moan, and they quickened their pawsteps back to camp.