Warriors: The Light Within

Chapter Two

Emberkit pounced on the moving object, stretching out his sharp claws to sink into the furry target. With satisfaction, his thorn-like claws sank into the fur and his teeth were not far behind to give a killing blow. My first prey, he thought excitedly. "Ouch!" Nettlestem snapped, immediately whisking her tail away from her son. "My tail isn't a play-thing," she scolded. Emberkit pretended to be ashamed but was secretly proud that he landed on the target this time. He was three moons old now and bored out of his mind sitting around the nursery. Nettlestem sighed. "Why don't you go play in camp?"

Emberkit squeaked excitedly and quickly raced towards the entrance. "Don't go anywhere you're not supposed to go!" His mother yelled after him. This was the first time he had been allowed to go out of the den on his own. Nettlestem was always particular about keeping a close eye on him. He thought back to yesterday, and how his father had come into the den and talked with Nettlestem for a long time. Perhaps he had convinced her to give him more freedom.

Once out of the den, he scanned the clearing, able to see the entire camp now that his eyes had further developed. Warriors were sitting, standing, and talking while basking in the gentle heat. He also noticed that the apprentices were cleaning out the elder's den. A ball of moss, likely material for an elder's nest, sat enticingly off to the side.

Emberkit hurried over, excited by the prospect of something new to play with and hooked it in his claws. It was springy and easy to grasp, which made it the perfect play-thing. He tossed it into the air, and it landed a tail-length away. Emberkit scrambled over to it again and repeated the process, thoroughly amusing himself. Small bits and pieces broke off every time he threw it, and soon the ball dwindled to less than a quarter of the size.

Just then, an angry yowl made Emberkit freeze. "What are you doing?" He turned around to see a black cat with a white spot on his face glaring at him from the entrance of the elder's den. "I had to collect that moss myself, and now you've ruined it!" Emberkit realized that the cat must be an apprentice, and he backed away from the moss, feeling guilty.

"Calm down Badgerpaw," a she-cat's voice murmured soothingly. She appeared from behind the other apprentice. "He's just a kit. We can go get more. It wasn't enough for a full nest anyways." Her fur was much longer and fuzzier than her denmate's. When her blue gaze met Emberkit's, it was gentle and sympathetic.

Badgerpaw hissed in annoyance. "It'll take forever to find new moss, Swiftpaw. It just rained yesterday, and everything is still wet. That was the only dry moss I could find." He glared once more at Emberkit, then ducked back inside the elder's den, muttering to himself. Swiftpaw blinked at Emberkit once more, then followed her denmate back inside.

Emberkit left the ruined moss in search of something new to do, undaunted by Badgerpaw's annoyance. His whiskers quivered with excitement. His eyes homed in on another fun looking target: the fresh-kill pile. A mouse had fallen off to the side, and the wind pushed its fur the wrong way, creating the movement that caught Emberkit's eye. He knew he wasn't supposed to mess with the pile, but he couldn't look away. He crouched and slowly made his way towards it, his tail end wiggling in the air. When he was only a couple tail lengths away, he stopped, preparing himself for the biggest, most impressive leap that he had ever done.

"You're not going to catch anything like that," a dark ginger tom called out, breaking his concentration. Emberkit blinked at looked at the tom who was now coming towards him. His own multicolored eyes met his father's blue ones. "You have to keep your entire body close to the ground." Redshade gently pushed Emberkit's back end down. "And when you're stalking your prey, keep your tail off the ground. You don't want to make any noise by accidentally brushing against a leaf, because your prey will hear it." Emberkit nodded, focusing back on the mouse. He stilled his body and lifted his tail off the ground. Then he leaped, landing squarely on the prey. Redshade nodded in approval at his son. "In no time you could become a great hunter. Maybe, one day, the best in the clan."