Warriors but Wolves: Into the Wild

Chapter 11

     Firepaw returned with a marmot gripped firmly between his teeth. He dropped it in front of Bearclaw, who stood waiting in the hollow.

"You're the first one back," barked the warrior.

"Yeah, but I've got loads more prey to fetch," Firepaw said quickly. "I buried it back—"

"I know exactly what you did," Bearclaw growled. "I've been watching you."

A swish of bushes announced Ravenpaw's return. He was carrying a small squirrel in his mouth, which he dropped beside Firepaw's marmot. "Yuck!" he spat. "Squirrels are too furry. I'll be picking hairs out of my teeth all evening."

Bearclaw paid no attention to Ravenpaw's grumbling. "Graypaw's late," he observed. "We'll give him a bit longer and then return to camp."

"But what if he's been bitten by an adder?" Firepaw protested.

"Then it's his own fault," Bearclaw replied coldly. "There's no room for fools in ThunderPack."

They waited in silence. Ravenpaw and Firepaw exchanged glances, worried about Graypaw. Bearclaw sat motionless, apparently lost in his own thoughts. Firepaw was the first to scent Graypaw's arrival. He jumped to his paws as the gray wolf leaped into the clearing, looking unusually pleased with himself. Dangling from his mouth was the long, diamond-patterned body of an adder.

"Graypaw! Are you okay?" Firepaw called.

"Hey!" barked Ravenpaw, rushing forward to admire Graypaw's catch. "Did that bite you?"

"I was too quick for it!" Graypaw purred loudly. Then he caught Bearclaw's eye and fell silent.

Bearclaw fixed all three excited apprentices with a cold stare. "Come on," he said shortly. "Let's

collect the rest of your prey and get back to camp."

Firepaw, Ravenpaw, and Graypaw entered the camp, strolling behind Bearclaw. Their impressive day's catch hung from their mouths, although Graypaw kept tripping over his dead snake. As they emerged from the gorse into the camp, a group of young pups scrambled out of the nursery to watch them pass.

"Look!" Firepaw heard one of them say. "Apprentices, just back from hunting!" He recognized the little tortoiseshell Yellowfang had snapped at the day before. Sitting next to her was a fluffy gray pup, no more than two moons old. A tiny black-and-white pup stood beside them.

"Isn't that the puppypet, Firepaw?" squeaked the gray pup.

"Yeah! Look at his orange fur!" yipped the black-and-white one.

"They say he's a good hunter," the tortoiseshell added. "He looks a bit like Mooseheart. Do you suppose he's as good as him?"

"I can't wait to start my training," said the gray one. "I'm going to be the best warrior ThunderPack has ever seen!"

Firepaw lifted his chin, feeling proud at the pups' admiring comments. He followed his two friends into the center of the clearing.

"An adder!" Ravenpaw yipped again, as the apprentices dropped their catch for the other wolves to share.

"What shall I do with it?" asked Graypaw, sniffing the snake's long body as it lay beside the heap.

"Can you eat adders?" asked Ravenpaw.

"Trust you to think of your stomach!" Firepaw joked, butting Ravenpaw with his head.

"Well, I wouldn't want to eat it," said Graypaw. "I mean, my mouth tastes pretty foul after

carrying it back."

"Let's put it on the tree stump, then," suggested Ravenpaw, "so that Sandpaw and Dustpaw can see it when they get back."