Warriors - Burnt Skies

Chapter 13

Nightpaw surveyed the land in front of her, quickly realising that Blizzardpaw was probably right. The 'worst floods' were probably caused by a river in the distance overflowing in heavy rain, especially in leaf fall. The 'silver all year round' probably referred to the silver birches scattered across the territory. And, if it was the correct place, it should be safe from Twolegs.

The black she cat looked around, realising that everyone was silent, in awe at Blizzardpaw's discovery. The grey tabby was the first to break the silence.

"So, what now? StarClan didn't exactly give us clear instructions on what to do when we found this place," he grunted, shaking out his pelt.

"I guess we have to communicate with them again?" Emberpaw asked more than said, looking at Dawnpaw.

"There must be a place we can communicate with them here, or they wouldn't have sent us all this way," Dawnpaw meowed, but she looked uncertain herself.

"We should probably hunt before we do anything. Whilst we're doing that, we can be on the lookout for anything that looks like something StarClan would use to communicate with," Nightpaw decided, already sniffing the air and hoping to scent some rabbit.

"That's a good idea," Dawnpaw said. "But, Blizzardpaw, you'll have to be careful with your leg."

"I'll be fine," Blizzardpaw rolled his eyes and muttered something under his breath.

Blizzardpaw's eyes suddenly lit up and he lifted his tail higher. "There might be fish in the river!" He mewed excitedly.

"Yeah! And there might be frogs somewhere too, because there seems to be some swampy ground behind the river!" Emberpaw meowed as well.

Everyone else looked at him in disgust.

"Frogs?" Blizzardpaw curled his lip in disgust. "I'd rather roll in a pile of fox dung than eat that."

Emberpaw looked disheartened at this, so Nightpaw said that she might try one later.

"Since everyone seems to have different ideas of what to hunt, we should probably split up," Nightpaw reasoned, before turning to Dawnpaw. "Who do you want to go with?"

Dawnpaw paused slightly, deciding which hunt would be the most entertaining to watch.

"I'll go with Emberpaw. I've never seen frogs before, but I've heard that they're quite slimy, so I want to see how he's going to catch them," Dawnpaw announced, jumping down from the fence and starting to head in the direction of the swamp.

"We should meet back here just before sunset," Blizzardpaw called.

Nightpaw glanced at the sky, noticing that it was past sunhigh. She nodded in agreement before turning away and leaping onto the ground below. In most parts, it was quite firm but some of the ground was spongy, as if she was stepping on moss. It was a nice feeling in her paws, but wouldn't help her if she ended up chasing a rabbit. She heading towards the area of former ground, opening her mouth to identify the scents. A sweet and musky scent touched her scent glands. It reminded her of grassy hills, the moor and home.

"Rabbit!" She whispered under her breath before dropping into a crouch.

She skirted a bush and the grey animal came into view. It was sat between two silver birches, ears pricked upright in search of danger.

A mouse may have the advantage of feeling your vibrations, but a rabbit has the gift of speed. It can decide life or death for the rabbit, and whether a warrior is able to feed their clan or not. Us WindClan warriors nurture our speed to compete with the rabbit, and have a chance of going to our nests with full bellies, but we must never forget that the rabbit is always faster. That is why we need the element of surprise." Nightpaw repeated the first hunting lesson every WindClan apprentice was taught. It was to remember that the rabbit is always faster, so she must choose her pawsteps carefully.