Legacy: Timeless (Book 2)

Chapter 55: Broken Paths

Chapter 55: Broken Paths

The sun shone down through the trees, the tiny green leaves dappling the ground beneath them in clustered shadows. The air was warm, a little too warm, and the breeze was the hot breath of the land. The drowsy heat of the day was faced by two cats, training vigorously in a moss covered clearing.

"No, you're doing it wrong," Boulderfall mewed, stalking around her with his tail lashing.

"I'm always doing it wrong," Scorch grumbled back. Frustration scorched her insides and the sun burned her fur. She'd been trying to get this move right for forever now!

"I'm going to say it again. Leap, and then twist," Boulderfall snapped, stepping back. "Now try it again and land on my back."

Scorch crouched, chest pressed against the warm moss that tickled her as she drew her legs together for the jump. She sprang up into the air, twisting and turning so she could land on Boulderfall's sturdy back.

"Ooof!" the air was knocked out of her as her mentor leaped and knocked her out of the air, landing on the ground with her spine against the earth and Boulderfall's paws holding her legs down.

"You didn't do it right again," Boulderfall growled, leaning close to her muzzle with his lips curled back in the beginnings of a snarl.

"I leaped, and then I turned," she spat back, frustrated and angry that she didn't understand what he wanted her to do. "What more do you want?"

"Your turn started as you leaped. Leap straight, as if you were just going to jump forward, and then spin at the last moment. Starting your turn at the beginning shows your back to your opponent and it is easy for them to attack you, as I just did. You need to leap, and then twist," Boulderfall spat the words out one by one, leaning closer until their muzzles touched.

Scorch glared at him, the frustration added to her embarrassment and the embarrassment added to the heat and the heat added to her anger. "How am I supposed to twist in midair?" she growled, sitting up as Boulderfall released her.

The gray warrior snatched her tail between his two claws and waved it in front of her nose. "Does this look familiar? You have a tail for a reason, so use it."

Scorch frowned as she backed up, couldn't he have said that to begin with? She crouched again, her heart beat a steady rhythm for her to breathe with. This time, she would get it right and show Boulderfall that she could do it.

She stared at Boulderfall and he stared back, their gazes locked. Scorch leaped high into the air, her body pointed straight forward. As she sailed over Boulderfall's head, she whipped out her tail and spun around landing on the ground behind Boulderfall. The second her paws hit the ground she shot forward, knocking into Boulderfall's exposed back and tussling him to the ground.

"There," she purred, her red and black paws pushing on his shoulders as she lifted her head triumphantly.

"You're supposed to land on my back, not behind me," Boulderfall mewed in a surly tone.

"Whatever," Scorch mewed, flouncing off of him. "As long as I turned in midair and took you down, the effect is the same, right?"

"No, not right," Boulderfall sighed, getting to his paws. "In a real battle, you might not have room to maneuver so much. Your biggest trouble is that you take too much room to do your moves. If you were in WindClan or ShadowClan that might be okay, but not here in the forest. You know there isn't nearly as much space here," the tom pointed out.

Scorch scuffled her paws, realizing he had a point. But she wasn't used to living in such a crowded place yet, the leaves on the trees pressed down above her head and the bushes and thickets crowded in around her. "Okay," she conceded, "I'll do it again."