Remember

Chapter 11

Velvetpaw woke after her short nap following the encounter with Silverblade. Juniperfur had promised to take her hunting so she scooted past her sisters and out into the clearing.

Juniperfur was standing at the camp entrance waiting for her apprentice. "Ready for your first hunting session?" She asked.

She nodded eagerly. "Where are we gonna hunt?"

Her mentor replied with a smile. "We're going to the tall oak tree."

Velvetpaw followed her mentor out of camp and to the oak tree. It was very tall, but seemed to have lots of dead leaves. The trunk was a dark brown color, and Velvetpaw could already smell a mouse.

Juniperfur flicked her tail, telling Velvetpaw to stay where she was. She dropped into a perfect hunting crouch and leaped at the small creature. She killed it with a swift killing bite and dropped the mouse on the ground.

"Nice catch!" Velvetpaw meowed excitedly.

She nodded thanks and buried her fresh kill in a pile of dirt. She began, "The first step to hunting a mouse is checking the wind. You want the wind to be blowing towards you so the mouse or other kind of prey can't scent you." Juniperfur looked at her apprentice with a smile. "Which way is the wind blowing?"

Velvetpaw checked the air pressure. The wind was blowing towards them. "In our direction?" She asked.

The tortoiseshell purred, "correct." She then looked around. "I don't smell anything at the moment, but when stalking a mouse your paw prints need to be light. A mouse can feel you before they hear you."

The apprentice nodded. She dropped into a uneven crouch and made big lumpy paw steps, creeping towards Juniperfur.

Her mentor laughed. "Not quite."

"Fox-dung!" Velvetpaw spat.

She demonstrated. "Delicate." Juniperfur meowed. "Your turn."

  The blue she cat nodded nervously. She dropped into her crouch and stalked forward. She was a little uneven, but her paw steps were lighter.

  "Better." Juniperfur purred. "You're a little un even, but we can work on that later. Next is the leap. You want to leap not long after you get into the crouch, or your mouse will escape. Then it's the killing bite. This is simple, you grab the mouse in your paws and give it a bite on its spine."

  Velvetpaw listened eagerly. She quickly scented a mouse and did her best hunters crouch. Again, it was uneven. She stalked forward, but stepped on a leaf and it crackled under her paw. "Mouse-brain!" She growled.

  "You'll get it next time." Juniperfur meowed, though you could tell she was disappointed.

  She meowed, "I'm terrible at hunting! I'll never get it!" A tear streamed down her cheek. She ignored Juniperfur's calls as she ran back to camp. Velvetpaw knew she was overreacting, but out of her sisters, she was supposed to be the one that was good at everything. Mouse brain. No ones good at everything. Besides, it was only my first try!

  She was almost back to camp when she saw a silver she cat and another cat she couldn't really see, we're headed in the direction of camp. She didn't recognize them, so she ran even faster to camp. Velvetpaw could see the entrance but she ran into Ruststar.

  "We've been waiting for you."