West Woods: Sliverstone's Destiny

3 -- First Prey

Hollypelt watched Sliverpaw carefully as she examined her posture. "Keep your tail down, Sliverpaw. Now your haunches are too low. Ugh, start over from standing position."

Even with her mentor's irritated tone, Sliverpaw couldn't help but try to impress the dark she-cat. After all, Hollypelt was apprentice to the most respected cat in West Woods history: Honeywing! Sliverpaw once again slipped quietly into position.

"Quiet is not good enough," Hollypelt scolded. "We're aiming for silent. Try again." Over and over the silver apprentice got up and slid into position, finally satisfying her mentor. Hollypelt snorted, "That'll have to do for now. We can finally try to catch something."

The she-cat sank into position next to her apprentice, and Sliverpaw saw the experienced concentration in the warrior's green eyes that she would later inherit. "It's all in the spring," she explained in barely a whisper that Sliverpaw had to ignore everything around her to hear. "Watch me."

Hollypelt squinted and flexed her haunches in preparation for a swift leap. Her eyes scanned the area until they rested in full concentration on a tiny shrew nibbling on a grass seed. Unblinking, she unsheathed her claws and took a mighty leap, landing squarely on her target. She killed it with a clean nip to the spine and stood up gracefully.

Sliverpaw's jaw was dropping in awe with the elegance. One day, I'd look like that!

"Your turn," Hollypelt mumbled through clenched teeth. The apprentice tensed. She knew she was going to mess up, that was no surprise to her being the first hunt she was yet to attempt. It was the fact that she was going to mess up after such a performance. Did anyone else see that?

"We don't have all day, Sliverpaw," the dark warrior meowed impatiently. Sliverpaw swallowed and raised herself up from the ground, examining the undergrowth just like her mentor had done.

When she spotted her target, a small mouse, she slid out her claws and prepared her hind legs for a leap. It was awkward being the first time, but she found her balance. Waiting until the mouse was still, the apprentice leapt at a surprisingly accurate length and landed almost perfectly on her prey. Before it squeezed through the she-cat's paws, Sliverpaw killed it with a quick bite.

"I'm impressed, Sliverpaw," Hollypelt congratulated and examined the catch. "Though it could've been a cleaner kill. All in all, you did pretty good for a first try." She picked up her shrew in her teeth and spoke once more to her apprentice before leaving to the fresh-kill pile at Highrock, "Keep it up and you'll be as great as me." She let out a quick and quiet chuckle before heading away.

Sliverpaw picked up her first prey with pride. I can't wait to tell Breezepaw and Nightpaw about this! She grinned as she happily skipped her way to the fresh-kill pile.