Jaggedstar's Choice {COMPLETE}

Chapter 20

Jaggedtail crossed LichenClan camp towards the apprentice den, he had an long and early day of hunting and training planned for Foxpaw and they needed to start right away. He poked his head into the den all four occupants were sleeping soundly in their nests including Foxpaw. Careful not to wake the others, Jaggedtail lightly poked Foxpaw in the side.

The apprentice shifted in his nest, letting out a quiet grumble. Jaggedtail repeated his pokes and Foxpaw finally opened his groggy eyes. "Wha?" He muttered, clearly not fully awake yet. "Jaggedtail?"

"It's time for us to go out and train." Jaggedtail explained. The idea of training seemed to awaken Foxpaw more, he stood up and stretched out in his nest. "I'll let you wake up, come meet me by the High Stump when you're ready." Jaggedtail turned out of the apprentice den and moved to the High Stump where he sat down to wait for his apprentice.

It had been a moon since Foxpaw and Flamepaw were made apprentices and it had been one of the best moons of Jaggedtail's life. He loved training Foxpaw, the apprentice was excitable and eager to learn. He wasn't the fastest learner but he listened to every word that Jaggedtail said and if he practiced enough, he would learn the skill swiftly. He also loved training alongside Maplepool, though he wished Elmheart was a mentor with them. He knew that Daisyfern's kits wouldn't be apprenticed for another four moons, Jaggedtail hoped that one of them would be given to Elmheart, though Foxpaw would have been an apprentice for five. Still. Elmheart deserves an apprentice.

It didn't take long for Foxpaw to appear from the apprentice den, his fluffy tail high and his pawsteps confident. Jaggedtail stood up and faced his apprentice. "Are you ready?" Jaggedtail questioned.

"Of course." Foxpaw boasted.

"Then let's head out." Taking the lead, Jaggedtail led Foxpaw out of the back of camp, behind the apprentice den.

"Where are we going?" Foxpaw questioned, looking around the forest with curious amber eyes.

"Towards the twolegplace. We don't hunt around this area a lot because prey doesn't usually come this way." Jaggedtail explained. "Hunting in a place with scarce prey is good practice for when the entire forest becomes like this in leaf-bare. You need to be prepared to hunt in a season like that."

"Leaf-bare just ended though." Foxpaw retorted. "It's so far away now."

"It will come quicker than you think." Jaggedtail explained. "And you need to be prepared, it is a very hard season. Warriors must hunt to keep their Clanmates fed while the medicine cats take care of the sick."

Foxpaw didn't respond, but he seemed to be understanding why it was so important. Jaggedtail led him near the border of the twolegplace, separated by a sharp, wall of unknown tendrils. They were stronger than any brambles and incredibly sharp. Jaggedtail remember hearing nursery stories of a former LichenClan leader named Sweetstar who lost her leg by getting trapped in the mesh. Jaggedtail made sure to keep his and Foxpaw's distance from the thing.

"When hunting in leaf-bare you need to be extra careful, because one piece of prey could be the difference between life and death for some cats. There may even be days that you go hungry because kits and elders need to eat before we do." Foxpaw nodded. "You need to be extra careful, and you will soon learn that having dark ginger pelts makes hunting against white snow even harder. There's not much we can do about it except perfect our hunting techniques."
"Do you remember how I taught you to hunt mice?" Jaggedtail quizzed.

"Stay light on your paws, because a mouse can feel vibrations in the ground before they ever see or even smell you." Foxpaw recited the information with ease.

"What about squirrels?"

"Speed is everything, you have to be fast because the squirrel can quickly get into a tree and get away." Foxpaw was clearly confident in his answers.