Warriors : Wolfclaw's wrath

Ch. 9

It was afternoon when Wolfpaw finally heaved himself up and out of the apprentice den. His stomach grumbled but he had no time to eat. He joined Willowflight at the entrance. She slipped out of camp and he followed groggily. They headed to the middle of the woods. Willowflight told him more about stalking and hunting and she had him do some exercises. He went through them without thinking about it. 

           "Wolfpaw!" snapped Willowflight. "You're no concentrating." Wolfpaw snapped out of his thoughts. 

          "Oh sorry," he apologised, looking at his feet. 

          "Let's try some fighting moves then," sighed Willowflight. Wolfpaw brightened. "Let's try the front paw blow." Wolfpaw nodded. He had heard about it from Oakpaw. 

          "You have to be strong on your back legs. With your front paw you're going to bring it down on your opponents head. It's easy but with strength you could greatly wound your opponent, try it," Willowflight said. Wolfpaw hesitated. What did she mean?

          "Right now? On you?" Wolfpaw asked. 

          "Who else?" Wolfpaw frowned then crouched. He sprang up and brought his front paw down as hard as he could on Willowflight. She didn't flinch. 

           "Not bad, but it isn't pouncing like you're hunting prey. It's fighting. Try harder and faster," Willowflight said. Wolfpaw went again. This time, he brought down as much force as he could. WIllowflight didn't make a move once more. 

           "Try it again, don't hit me on the top of my head, try the side," Willowflight suggested. Wolfpaw nodded and tried once more. This time, Willowflight staggered away slightly. Wolfpaw beamed with triumph. 

          "Better but not good enough," reported Willowflight. Wolfpaw tried once more, then again. Soon, he could make Willowflight stagger back maximum two steps. "That was better." Wolfpaw panted but puffed out his chest in pride. 

           "Let's try an easy teeth grip next," Willowflight said. "Alright, leap at me and try to bite my tail, or one of my paws and hold on." Wolfpaw chose her tail. He leapt at it, paws outstretched but she whipped it away. He stumbled and fell. 

          "Again. Faster," she said. Wolfpaw leapt again, eyes fixed on her tail. His front paws thudded to the ground and his teeth sunk into her tail. "Good." Wolfpaw let go. They continued learning easy skills and practicing over and over. Finally, the sun started setting and they had to go back to camp. Wolfpaw's stomach was growling fiercely now. He raced to the food pile and took a salmon. It was slim and long. big enough for two cats but there were so many salmons it was much too much for the clan and Wolfpaw shrugged. He took the salmon down to the stream and ate it, listening to the calming trickling of water. He finished the salmon by himself, it tasted good after battle training. He spat out the scales and the bones into the stream which swept them away. He sighed, it felt good to have a full belly. He would rest well.