Torn - A Warrior Cats Fanfiction

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A skinny brown tom moved silently through the undergrowth, his pawsteps scarcely making a sound as he deftly tracked his prey. Several tail lengths ahead, a squirrel sat unaware of the threat looming so close by.

A heartbeat later, the tom shot out and made quick work of catching and killing his prey and sat up eagerly, looking around for the hidden eyes he knew had been watching him the whole time.

"Well done Harepaw." A deep purr rumbled in the chest of a dark ginger tom as he pushed through the undergrowth and affectionately flicked his tail over the ear of his apprentice. "You've caught the most prey so far today, Ashpaw only caught a thrush and mouse, while Lilacpaw has only just caught herself a shrew."

Harepaw's ears flicked up in pleasure at his mentors praise, he set the squirrel down before looking up at Fallenember. "Does this mean I passed?"

Fallenember watched his apprentice carefully. He had been training for seven moons and he had to admit to himself that Harepaw was more than ready to take on the roles of a full warrior. "I think so, go on and gather your prey while I have a word with Honeystar."

Fallenember watched as his apprentice darted off into the woods to collect the other prey had had managed to catch during his assessment, while Fallenember turned and began making his way back to camp.

Along the way he spotted Dovepaw make an enormous leap and bring down a pigeon that had nearly gotten away. "Great catch!"

Dovepaw flicked her tail in happy acknowledgement and padded away to find her own mentor.

It had been Fallenember's idea to take most of the apprentices out for some hunting practice, while he had been giving his own apprentice his final assessment. He figured that if Harepaw was still able to do well with a bunch of other cats running around, he most definitely had the skills needed to become a warrior.

The only two apprentices who hadn't joined were Lilypaw and Shrewpaw. That was because their own final assessments weren't that much farther off and their mentors wanted to make sure they had learned all the proper battle moves.

As Fallenember reached camp he surveyed it with a bit of dismay. The clan was just growing too quickly and the camp wasn't large enough to support the surplus of warriors, queens, and apprentices that the clan had.

Shaking his feelings away, he padded over towards the fallen tree where his leader resided. Her den was where an old badger set used to be, and the fallen tree nearly covered the entrance entirely. Pausing at the entrance he called a quick greeting and waited to be called in.

"Come in Fallenember, I've been eagerly waiting to see how your apprentice has done." Honeystar called gently and Fallenember forced his broad shoulders through the rather small opening and crawled the few tail lengths to reach the more open den where his leader was sat sitting up in her nest.

Right beside her was the deputy Hawkfeather who only slightly dipped his head in acknowledgement before looking away from Fallenember.

"So, how did Harepaw do?" Honeystar prompted, wrapping her fluffy golden tail around her white paws.

"He did superb. Even with all of the younger apprentices milling around, he never once managed to get distracted and he collected six pieces of prey. His hunter's crouch is perfect, and he makes proper use of his strong hind legs to leap from farther away to catch his prey." Fallenember reported dutifully, pride surging through him at how wonderfully his apprentice really had done.

Honeystar let out a rumbling purr. "That's always great to hear Fallenember, when Harepaw returns from fetching his prey, let him know that his warrior ceremony will be held at sun down today."