Meadowlight's Tale

Chapter 2

After many tries later, my brother and I had finally gotten the hang of it.
It was my turn, and I slid under him and quickly clawed his belly, claws sheathed. Before he could jump away, I rolled over, knocking him down. Fluidly, I turned back and pounced ion him, putting a paw on his neck.
"Excellent!" I was surprised to hear Mintheart's voice. I turned around to see the pale brown tom.
"You saw?" I asked, getting off of Otterpaw. Mintheart nodded.
"They both have learned the move. Do you want to teach another one and then have a mock battle?" Oakfoot looked at Mintheart questioningly. The black and white tom was a young warrior and this was his first apprentice so he didn't quite know what to do.
"Sounds good." Mintheart agreed. "This is called the Drop and Kick. It's a counter move to the upright lock, this move requires the knowledge that your opponent will be using the upright lock. You'll have to watch for signs that your opponent is confident in their size and strength. When the opponent moves into the upright lock position with both paws raised, quickly move under them and strike up with powerful back legs. Preformed without enough speed this move is disastrous, and should only be used with confident fighters. I'll show you with Oakfoot."
Oakfoot was smaller than Mintheart, but he still reared up on his hind legs and pretended to be bigger. The light brown warrior dropped to his back and rolled under him. In a quick move, he kicked up at Oakfoot's belly with a lot of force. The black and white tom fell down, and Mintheart placed a paw on his throat. "See how it's done?" He asked.
Otterpaw and I nodded wordlessly.
"You can try." He said, getting off Oakfoot.
"You do it first." Otterpaw said.
He reared up, and stood tall above me. Quickly I rolled onto my back, slithered beneath his body, and in one fast movement kicked both my back legs upward into his belly. He toppled over, and I pounced on him as he was just getting up, pushing him back into the fallen leaves.
Oakfoot and Mintheart praised me, and I got up.

A bit later I was assigned to a hunting patrol led by Wasptooth. I waited by the entrance for the rest of the cats. The patrol was Wasptooth, Dovesong, Hickorytuft, Brightnose, Badgerpaw, and myself. Hickorytuft and Brightnose were my parents, and I was glad to be on the same patrol as them. I didn't see them nearly enough.
"How's your training going?" Brightnose asked me.
"Good! I learned the Drop and Kick and the Half Turn Belly Rake today." I told her excitedly.
"I remember learning those." Hickorytuft chimed in.
Before he could say anymore, Wasptooth said,"This is everyone. Let's go."
He led us to the Bare Trees. They were long dead trees near the VineClan border, but the undergrowth around them was full and alive. It was a good spot to find prey.
"Let's split up, but not too far." Wasptooth said. We all nodded and went our own ways.
I padded silently through the growth, searching for any prey scent. There were so many, but I caught onto the freshest one, a mole. I tracked it down to a clump of bushes and long grass. It was right in front of me now, hidden by the grass. I readied myself and pounced, arching perfectly over the grass. Before it knew what was happening, I had it in my mouth. I dug a hole by the largest dead tree, and patted it in well.
I walked off a little bit further in the opposite direction this time. I was a little bit closer to the border, but I was careful not to cross into VineClan. I caught scent of a squirrel in the trees. I doubted I could get it, but then it climbed down. One the ground, it was an easier target. I inched closer to it, getting ready to strike.
Right before I jumped, a loud yowl split through the air. The squirrel took off, running high into the trees.
"Mouse dung!" I swore. But my mind quickly forgot about the squirrel, and turned to who had yowled. It was close, probably at the border.
I raced off, coming only in time to find a SunClan border patrol fight a huge VineClan patrol. Foreststar must have brought his whole clan!
I raced in to help, spotting Leappaw trying to fight two other, much larger apprentices. I swiped at one's ear, and kicked at it hard with a foot. I was surprised by the large tom's agility. He bombarded me with strong, fast blows, and I was barely defending myself.
He turned around, and I went to leap on his back, but mid-leap, he kicked out powerfully with his back legs. I was sent flying, and my whole body hurt as I landed on the ground and leaves. The VineClan apprentice pinned me down as if we were mock fighting, but then remembered this was real.
"You stupid SunClan cats think you're so great, but you're just rude cocky kits who've just opened their eyes. I'll teach you a lesson you'll never forget." He growled. I winced at his words, wishing I could just be safe and back at camp. But I wasn't, instead I was helplessly pinned by a VineClan apprentice.
He raked his claws down my flank, blood gushed out. I yelped, and he grinned. He took a claw, and slowly tore it through my left ear, tearing it in two.
Next he took his claws and went to rake them down my belly. He had just barely started before a big black and white tom rammed into him.
"Leave her alone!" Badgepaw hissed, and pounced on him. He clawed until blood covered both of their fur, and the gray and black VineClan apprentice looked at if he was about to pass out. Badgepaw finally let go, and he let him run off, back to VineClan.
"Thank you." I told him. He nodded.
"Do you need to sit down?" He asked.
"Yes." I could barely stand on my paws.
He let me lean on him, and we darted through the battle. I sat down, hidden by some bushes, but I could still see the battle. He left, and went back to fight.
From behind the brush, I could see everyone fighting. Frogclaw battle Blackwing, and he was losing badly. Frogclaw was Fogstar's only kit, and he had her rare silver coat. Everyone suspected Mintheart as being her mate, but they had never said anything. Frogclaw was a popular cat and he was highly respected among our clan and even the others. Once he had saved StreamClan kits that had wandered off and fell into a river. He was also a smart, loyal cat.
Blackwing crushed him down, and clawed his belly. Frogclaw pushed him off with his legs, and jumped on his back. Blackwing pushed him off, but Frogclaw quickly recovered and jumped on his stomach. With a powerful kick, Blackwing sent him a few fox lengths away with his back legs. Frogclaw landed on a fallen tree branch, and there was a loud cracking sound. When he didn't get up, Blackwing went back into the fight.
"Meadowpaw!" Someone said and helped me up. It was Deerblaze, the medicine cat.
"Why are you here?" I asked.
"Do you want my help or no?" He said.
"Yes, but how'd you know the battle was going on?" I questioned.
"StarClan sent me a sign." He replied. My jaw dropped. "I'm kidding. Otterpaw was on the patrol and he ran for help. Now let me see your cuts."
I did what he told me to do, and soon enough, cob webs and poultice covered me.
"Thank you." I told him. "I think Frogclaw needs help. He's over there." I pointed with my tail to the branch.
"That does not look good. His spine is cracked in half." He ran over and I followed. The battle had slowly moved back to VineClan territory with the help of Fogstar's new wave of cats.
"Is he alive?" I asked.
"Barely. Frogclaw?" He yelled to the silver tom. He mumbled something.
"Get Fogstar." Deerblaze ordered.
I quickly ran off into the mess of cats, who were slowly retreating back. Hickorytuft and Brightnose had a VineClan warrior pinned, Molestrike chased off another cat, and Scorchstorm was fighting off two cats with the help of Hazetooth.
I ran past them, until I found the silver pelt I'd been searching for. Fogstar was beating an orange tabby she-cat, and she sent her running back to her camp.
"Fogstar!" I yelled out.
She turned around to see me. "Yes?"
"You need to see Frogclaw. He's badly wounded." I told her.
Her eyes filled with fear, and she ran along side me back to her son. She had a hard time trying not to speed ahead of me, but as soon as she saw Frogclaw, she pelted towards him, and I ran after her. I couldn't run fast because of my wounds.
"Frogclaw!" She said when she got to him.
"It doesn't look good Fogstar. His spine is broken and a splinter of bone or something punctured his lungs. He's going through an immense amount of pain and he'll die any moment." Deerblaze told her.
Her jaw dropped at the hard, cold truth, and she went up to him. "Frogclaw, Frogclaw." She nudged him. The crumpled silver figure was splattered in blood.
He managed to speak. "Yes." He rasped. You could tell every breath hurt.
"You know I love you." She meowed.
I could almost hear his smile through his voice. "And I, you." He knew his fate. He knew what would happen to him.
"Your father would be so proud." She said.
"Who?" Frogclaw asked, his voice was weak.
"Your father was Mintheart, of course. I think everyone thought we were mates, but I was too focused on my clan for a mate. When I finally became leader, there were no kits so I decided to help my clan. I'm glad I made that choice. You have brought so much love and joy into my life, I realized that there was more to the clan than hunting and fighting. Because of you, I became a better leader. Thank you Frogclaw."
He couldn't even nod or say anything, and he gave her a knowing look. Fogstar smiled at him. She groomed his fur for a while.
"Go Frogclaw, I'll meet up with you later." She said. Frogclaw said something I couldn't hear, and then everything was silent. Fogstar weeped and buried her head in his fur. I walked over to her.
"Has he joined Star Clan?" I asked.
"Yes, yes he has." She told me.