Ghosts of the Clans

Chapter 4

"Greetings, Minnowtail. You've come at last." Opening her eyes, Minnowtail found herself face-to-face with a ragged dark brown tom. He had scars crisscrossing his pelt, and his pale yellow eyes were hard. "Who are you?" she asked, trying not to tremble under his imposing posture.

He puffed out his chest. "My name is Shredtail, and I'm going to help you become a better warrior than you are now." "I'm good enough!" Minnowtail growled, her hackles raising. How dare he insult me? He's so scrawny, I could beat him in a fight easily!

But she thought wrong, for Shredtail looked amused and challenged, "Attack me, then."

Baring her teeth at the dark brown tabby tom, she hurled herself at him, swiping at his muzzle with her sheathed claws then flung herself onto his back, pummelling his spine strongly. But the fight was turned when Shredtail knocked her off with one paw and slashed at her eye. Only just managing to duck away, Minnowtail saw that his claws were unsheathed. He could have blinded me!

But no, she wasn't going to give up. Rearing, she bore down on Shredtail, but at the last moment he barrelled forward, pushing against her belly and unbalancing her. Falling to the ground, Minnowtail clawed at Shredtail's pale-furred belly while he pinned her down, jagged claws digging into her shoulder. 

Gasping as warm blood began trickling down, Minnowtail rolled, throwing him off her, and scrambled to her paws hastily before leaping again. This time, her claws caught him on the ear, and she tore it, biting down hard on his tail and clawing his hindquarters before pummelling his spine. Shredtail collapsed, and she felt a prick of satisfaction. But suddenly, without warning, he wrestled her off, then pinned her down with one paw on her neck. "Still want to fight?" he snarled, yellow eyes glinting with menace.

Minnowtail swallowed. He can't kill me! But she still croaked weakly, "Alright, I give up."

His shoulders loosening, Shredtail let her up before telling her, "Now do you accept my offer? With my training, you will get an apprentice easily and train that cat well too. What do you say?"

Finally, after a long moment of thinking, Minnowtail nodded.

Immediately, Shredtail bowled her over, though he kept his claws sheathed now. "When I did this, what did you do?" he questioned. Recalling the battle, Minnowtail batted at his belly again, dislodging tufts of tabby fur, then rolled over. Shredtail leapt clear before she could squash him and advised, "When you roll, keep your paws at the ready and tuck in your belly tighter. If I'm fast, I could leap clear and land on you when you roll. Then, you would be vulnerable. Try it."

She tried the move again, this time reaching out her paws to bat Shredtail away when he leaped onto her. He tumbled away, recovering quickly. "There. And when I faked to collapse, you fell for my trick. Try to counter it, now that you know what I'll do."

Minnowtail jumped onto his back and thinking quickly, leapt into the air when he collapsed. Surprised at the fact that there was no weight on his back, Shredtail leapt onto his paws just as she landed behind him. Then, she darted in and gave him a quick blow to his side before dancing away gracefully, wincing at the sting in her shoulders as she did so.

"Well done! Though of course, you would need more practice before you can actually fight me in my full strength. However, the sun is rising, and I'm busy tomorrow, so see you the following day!" meowed Shredtail, starting to fade.

Minnowtail also closed her eyes and woke up in her nest, the moss beneath her clotted with blood. She sat up, gave her wounds a good licking, and replaced her moss quickly. No one had to know that she had been training at night.