“Thanks!” Acornpaw accepted the compliment, brightening up at it. “Now what?”
Pebblefur shook his head, the smile still plastered on his face. “We’re still on the hunting crouch. I want to see you stalk that chunk of onion grass over there.”
Acornpaw shuffled his paws and found himself staring at some long, sickly green moor grass that had been pulled up by an onion-hating warrior. The brown apprentice shrugged. He remembered Hazelstar ordering patrolling warriors to pull out any growing onion bulbs, as a cat could trip over them and get a sprained paw, which wasn’t good in battle.
“Go ahead, sneak up on that bulb like it’s an innocent rabbit kit,” Pebblefur licked his lips hungrily as he said this. “Yum! Speaking of that, hurry so we can get back and eat.”
Grinning to himself, Acornpaw commenced to inch forward. His mentor still had some apprentice in him.
Acornpaw, keeping a sharp eye out for any protruding sticks or leaves that would make noise if stepped on, made his way forward. It’s a rabbit kit, he thought to himself, repeating Pebblefur’s words. It’s a rabbit kit.
Suddenly, crackle! Flinching and cursing under his breath, Acornpaw pushed on. He had placed a wild paw on a dead maple leaf. Stupid leaf!
“Come on, you can do it,” Pebblefur’s encouragements refreshed Acornpaw, and the tomcat was just a paw-step away from the grass before long.
With a sly simper, Acornpaw pounced, feeling the rush of the wind through his fur as he leaped. This is what I was born for!
Acornpaw dug his claws into a blade of thick onion grass as if he were killing it, then jumped back proudly.
Pebblefur’s head bobbed up and down in support. “Wonderful, wonderful,” the gray tabby proclaimed as he trotted up. “By the way, don’t even think about smelling your claws. You’ll need to wash ahead of reentering the camp.”
However, when his mentor turned, Acornpaw cheated a sniff at his thorn-sharp talons and gagged silently. Tangy onion scent engulfed his nose.
As Acornpaw desperately tried to remove the gross odor from his head, Pebblefur apologized. “I’m sorry that I was lazy today. It’s just that I’ve... you know, never been a mentor before. I’ll try to get us on a patrol later, okay?”
Acornpaw nodded in an instinctive reply, but he answered “yes” when he realized that the gray tom, who was ahead of him, wouldn’t catch his signal of acknowledgement.
The two cats padded into the WindClan camp clearing and smiled widely at any passing Clanmates.
Towards the center of the assart, Acornpaw and Pebblefur parted, Pebblefur heading to the fresh-kill pile and Acornpaw to the apprentices’ den.
Poking his head inside, Acornpaw called for Cloverpaw or Gorsepaw, but the den was empty and deserted.
All of a sudden, Acornpaw was lonely. He felt his paws start to walk over to the nursery, but he stopped them quickly. Fastkit and Morningkit were in his past. He was an apprentice now.
Dovecry came to mind, and happily Acornpaw sprinted around the clearing, asking fellow Clan members if they had seen his mother.
Finally the friendly, kit-loving elder Daisytail answered his question and told him that she last glimpsed Dovecry walking into Hazelstar’s den. Acornpaw frowned. Not good at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment