Bright Forest

Chapter 9

-Rustpaw!- someone called him while he was sleeping. -Rustpaw! Wake up!

He slightly opened his eyes: Deerleap was in front of him. -Come on! It's your big day!

-I'm coming...- he mumbled. "Oh right..." the ginger tom said while he stretched his legs. "The hunting assessment...".

He yawned as he walked outside. A small raindrop landed on his nose as he licked his chest.

A moon has passed, and the trees have turned from orange to almost nothing, days were getting colder and the prey was scarce. Glistenfall and Rainingbud had caught whitecough, so he was under everybody's mentorship, usually Poolspring. He struggled to keep his training, due to the weather being cold and Marigold being strict about not wanting apprentices to catch a fever.

Marigold and the other medicine cat squad was also very afraid, since it was almost time for Rainingbud to have her litter. But with a low fresh-kill pile the chances of it being peaceful and healthy in the first place were low.

Deerleap was taking him out for his hunting assessment today, with extra help by Poolspring. Deerleap wasn't even a senior warrior yet, but she supervised him on hunting missions and occasionally even helped him find new strategies to find and kill prey.

-Come on, sleepy head!- she mewed, sitting in the rain at the side of the camp.

-I'm coming!- he trotted immediately next to her. -Poolspring?

-He's coming too...- she pointed at the golden deputy trotting to them.

The tom quickly licked his shoulder then mewed:-Are you ready, Rustpaw?

-Very!- he felt the excitement rush in his paws. "After this I will focus more on battle training..." he thought. "If I pass."

-Good!- said the deputy. -Let's go into the forest. I'll tell you what you need to do. -Come along.

He followed the two warriors out of camp, the dew brushing against his fur. "Why is being wet an option..." They padded to the training hollow, silent as the rain filled it with puddles. "Despite it though, I like rain... oh, what am I thinking, I'm supposed to focus on the assessment..."

Deerleap ran into the clearing, jumped and rolled herself into the sand.

Poolspring chuckled:-Now now, you're not a kit anymore!

-Yeah but it's fun!- she said, as she rolled up. -It's also used to not die in battles!

She padded up to them, wrapping gently her tail above her paws.

-Rustpaw, - started Poolspring. -we'll watch you while you hunt. After you caught at least 4 pieces of fresh-kill, you'll meet us here and we'll tell you how you went.

-The prey you catch is up to you!- Deerleap added. -However, you must hunt in a specific location, which is Pine Path, the one connecting twolegplace to DoveClan territory. We also need to go there to see if there are any rogues around...

Rustpaw nodded, knowing that she was talking about the rogues that attacked a patrol last moon. They were presumed DoveClan cats, but none of them were recognizable. Yet this doesn't exclude possible trespassing.

-We might as well start!- he said. -You must go now, Rustpaw.

The apprentice nodded and made his way at Pine Path, a series of pines that followed a path (hence the name) that belonged to StormClan. Sometimes, the ginger apprentice wondered whether a war would start over this section of territory, since pines were almost a symbol to DoveClan. But the other clan never set a paw on that territory, even though mice and shrews could sound better than rats and lizards... or whatever DoveClan cats ate. Some of them were skinny, and they didn't seem that fed, but they were a strong clan regardless.