Emberstar's Journey

Chapter 5

Sunlight poured down on the russet toms back as he slinked forward, eyes narrowed on the prey animal in front of him. Despite all that happened the day before in combat training, he was still allowed outside of the camp, though he did get a stern talking to by the leader and his mother. Darkpoppy wasn't keen on the leader 'dismissing' (as she put it) his behavior but the leader only huffed that the Clan couldn't spare an apprentice not being trained, besides, it wasn't as if this was unprovoked considering how horribly Lionpaw and Tigerpaw treated him when he was a kit.

"He'll pay for this." Darkpoppy snarled, amber eyes glittering in rage as she stalked away.

"Don't mind her." Lynxstar snorted, seeing Emberpaw eye the retreating dark she-cat in worry and fear. "She has maggots in her brain. Try to ignore her empty words."

That's exactly what Emberpaw did as he leaped on the mouse and delivered a quick nip to the back of its neck and closed his eyes.

"Thank you for this prey." He murmured before he turned to Deertail.

She was still stiff and slightly weak but for two days she began to walk around and take over his training once more.

"Good catch!" Deertail called and smiled slightly, "Come on, we have some training to do!" She turned and began to bound away.

Emberpaw smiled, everything as of late seemed okay. Of course, there was the little hiccups, Tigerpaw and Lionpaw took every chance they had to harass him, but other than that it was okay.

The only thing that bothered him was Lilypaw, ever since that training session she seemed... standoffish, to say the least. She was always with Lionpaw and Tigerpaw, laughing and smiling with them but whenever he showed his face she just... stared.

His fur rippled in discomfort as anxiety returned and his eyes shifted around, eyeing every tree, bush, and flower with distrust.

"You okay? You stopped smiling." Deertail turned her head, golden eyes shining in the pale sunlight of morning.

"I-I-I-I-" Emberpaw bit his tongue, shutting up, "I'm fine.." He mumbled through the fur of his mouse. Deertails ear twitched but she didn't push. "Come on, we need to head over to the lake for water combat training."

"You mean I have to SWIM?" That didn't go so well last time Emberpaw went into water.

Deertail blinked, "Yeah, you have to, it's what separates us from the rest of the Clans. It's what makes us DeltaClan!" She frowned, "Aren't you proud of that?"

Emberpaw only sniffed, looking away. Was he proud to be DeltaClan? Sure he was, DeltaClan was all he knew and he definitely didn't want to be a rogue or kittypet. How about the other Clans?

BreezeClan maybe? No, the territory was to open, not enough things to hide behind.

MarshClan? No, to... marshy and muddy. He had too thick of fur and too short of legs to be able to wade through that torture all day and it was a barren wasteland as far as he was concerned.

StormClan were much too fierce and their leader much too strict for him to be able to get into it anyway. Besides, it was too closed, too many places for enemies to hide.

DeltaClan was ideal for him but was he happy? Sure, his mom was here and so was Deertail.

"I'm content." He decided, picking up his mouse.

Deertail raised a brow as she led him off, "Proudness and contentedness are two very different things Emberpaw."

Emberpaws ear twitched and he glanced over at the gray she-cat. He knew that but right now he didn't want to think. Thinking brought anxiety and he didn't feel like freaking out over anything. The trek home was filled with slightly uncomfortable silence but Emberpaw couldn't bother with it. He couldn't give Deertail an answer yet, he didn't know the answer yet.