The Fire Prophecy/Book 1

Chapter 12

As every clan was gathering up to leave, Cursedpaw wasn't paying attention to his surroundings as the feeling of hatred went through his body. He growled to himself and walked straight into another cat.

"Hey, watch it!" The Moonclan apprentice from earlier hissed.

Cursedpaw looked at her, narrowing his eyes and growling. They both stared at each other, growling, claws unsheathed. As Cursedpaw stared, he studied her more. She was rather beautiful in fact. Half her body and face were black while the other side was orange. Her eyes were a beautiful light green and power shone inside of them.

Cursedpaw was caught in a trance on how beautiful she was. The She-cat stopped growling and looked at him, slight anger in her gaze. Cursedpaw finally snapped out of it and shook his head as a voice interrupted them. A voice that was all too familiar.

"Halfpaw, it's time to go. And what did I say about talking to Fireclan cats, especially him." Tigerstar growled, looking at Halfpaw.

"I'm sorry Tigerstar, I won't do it again." Halfpaw mewed and quickly ran to her clanmates, Cursedpaw watching her go.

"And you, Cursedpaw. Stay away from my clan." Tigerstar hissed. Cursedpaw stood tall, even though he was smaller than Tigerstar, and growled deeply.

"I don't want anywhere near you or your filthy clan." Cursedpaw snarled and walked away, his tail held high. You have no control over me.

Cursedpaw turned his head, watching as a thin fluffy black tail vanished within the other cats. Why do I wanna see her again? Cursedpaw sighed and turned away, running back to camp with his clanmates.

It was the next morning and Cursedpaw stepped out of the apprentice den that he now shares alone and stretched in the new morning sunlight. He shook himself off and went over to the cooked pile, grabbing a cooked vole. Cursedpaw had dreamt about a certain She-cat and was very ashamed of himself.

"Cursedpaw! Hurry it up, we're going hunting!" Ashblade called from the other side of the camp. Cursedpaw quickly swallowed the vole, running over to his mentor.

"I'm leading a hunting patrol and I want to see your hunting skills again. Emberclaw and Cracklecoat are coming with us." Ashblade meowed sternly.

Cursedpaw's tail instantly went down at the mention of Emberclaw. Great. They waited at the camp entrance as Emberclaw and Cracklecoat came running up to them. Cracklecoat licked Ashblade's ear and purred. Ashblade nodded his head and ran out of camp.

They found a good area to hunt, away from the fire caves. Emberclaw instantly raised his head, opening his mouth, trying to catch any scent of prey nearby. Cursedpaw did the same, catching the scent of something. Rabbit!

Cursedpaw could tell Emberclaw hadn't scented it yet. He was never the best hunter. Cursedpaw quickly crouched down and went into the bushes beside him. He opened his mouth again to smell the air and the Rabbit's scent was stronger. Cursedpaw looked around, keeping his body low to the ground. Then he spotted it.

A brown rabbit, a huge one at that, was chewing on some grass as it sat by a puddle of water. Every now and then its ears would twitch, listening. Cursedpaw moved downwind from it and unsheathed his claws, digging them into the ground.

Cursedpaw moved his shoulders, getting ready to pounce. The Rabbit stopped chewing and its ears went to the side as it heard something. Now! Cursedpaw jumped out of the bushes and went right on top of the large mammal.

The Rabbit instantly panicked and began running, but Cursedpaw held on tight, his claws digging into its flesh. He bit down hard on the back of the Rabbit's neck. The Rabbit was panicking so much it was headed straight for Emberclaw, and of course, he wasn't paying attention.