A New Horizon Book 2: The Dying Forest {COMPLETE}

Chapter 3

Falconpaw stumbled, kicking up dirt and getting stabbed by sharp stones and sticks. He let out a hiss of anger and got back on his paws, the mouse he had been hunting was nowhere in sight. He shook the dirt free from his pelt and licked his paw which had been injured by a stone.

"Are you alright, Falconpaw?" He heard Cherryleaf's mew from behind him as she padded up, her voice was concerned but in her green eyes, amusement glowed brightly. Falconpaw turned away and licked his chest with embarrassment.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He growled, wishing he hadn't made such a kit mistake and tripped over a root while hunting, he didn't recall this many roots being up in the forest.

"Don't beat yourself up too much." Cherryleaf flicked her tail over his ears. "It was an honest mistake, there will be more prey." Falconpaw nodded and continued with his hunt, stalking through the forest but unfortunately not finding any scent of prey. Falconpaw kept searching, however, he refused to give up.

Falconpaw found a slight trace of mouse, he hoped it was the one he left get away and followed it. He hadn't realized how long he had been following the faint trail until he reached the river. Falconpaw lifted his head and let out a sigh before turning back around. Where was all the prey today? It wasn't cold, leaf-bare was still a few moons away.

"Not finding anything?" Cherryleaf asked as she pushed her way out of the forest. Falconpaw shook his head, looking away in shame. Perhaps his skills were just off today. "Neither can I," Cherryleaf added, padded closer to him. "Prey could just be running slow right now, let's head back to camp and try again tomorrow. It's getting late." Falconpaw hesitated, looking at the river. He didn't want to return to camp empty-pawed, it wasn't right as a warrior.

"Don't worry about not catching anything, Falconpaw." Cherryleaf stepped closer, lightly shoving him. "SunClan has plenty of prey, we'll just have to catch extra tomorrow, okay?" Falconpaw looked at her, and after a few moments reluctantly nodded. Cherryleaf turned and started back through the forest, Falconpaw slowly followed but kept his eyes and nose at the ready for any trace of prey. The only scents that surrounded him were of the forest, SunClan and no prey.

Falconpaw's head was hung low as they stepped back into SunClan territory, when they stepped inside they were faced by Cinderflame. "How'd the hunting go?" She questioned kindly. "Doesn't look like you brought much back." Falconpaw dug his claws into the ground.

"No, prey is incredibly slow today." Cherryleaf replied, her voice steady. "We were out there for a while, and we didn't find much of anything."

Cinderflame let out a half-sigh, her amber eyes looking trouble. "Snowtail's patrol said the same thing. It's strange, we're barely into leaf-fall and prey is already starting to run low. We need to step up hunting patrols, gather as much prey as possible. If hunting is already getting bad, we can imagine what it will be like in leaf-bare."

Cherryleaf nodded. "We're ready to help in anyway we can, Cinderflame." She held her head high and Cinderflame's eyes glowed.

"Thank you, Cherryleaf. You've become quite the warrior." Cinderflame gave a respectful nod then turned to go to Dawnstar's den. As Falconpaw watched her leave he remembered that Cinderflame had been Cherryleaf's mentor.

"Why don't you take some prey to Sandfoot?" Cherryleaf mewed. "Get ready to be up early for more hunting tomorrow, we have to make up for today." With that, she turned away and joined Briarrose and Cloudspots to talk. Falconpaw walked with heavy paws to the fresh-kill pile, wishing he had brought more and feeling horrible that he hadn't caught anything. What would Falconclaw say to him? He reluctantly grabbed a vole for Sandfoot and carried it to the elders den where she was talking with Squirreltail, the blind queen often visited her mother.