Lichentail crept silently through the grass, breathing in the heavy scent of mouse. Just ahead, she could see the tiny critter munching away on a seed, with its back turned to her. She gathered strength in her legs, sprang, and trapped the mouse under her paw. The stunned creature lay still long enough for her to kill it with a quick bite to the neck.
"Nice catch, Lichentail!" Flarepelt, a white she-cat with ginger patches, called to her. Her coat gleamed like snow and fire in the bright sunlight.
"Thanks!" Lichentail called back. She picked up the mouse and bounded over to the spot where the hunting patrol was burying their caught prey. She buried it just between a freshly caught sparrow and a robin, and then hurried off to find more. The air felt cool after the recent rain, and sparkling dew drops sprayed up from her paws as she ran. Suddenly, she skidded to a halt and gasped as she saw a black cat with an orange mark on his chest walking up to her, dragging a huge, limp hawk.
"You caught a hawk?" she exclaimed. The thing was nearly as big as a cat!
"Swifthawk and I did," he said.
"Well, you spotted it, I killed it." A large light brown tom came strutting proudly out from the bushes.
"That was so cool!" squeaked Swifthawk's apprentice, Burningpaw, jumping out after him. "It's even bigger than the one that tried to carry off Heatherbreeze's kits!"
Swifthawk hissed and cuffed his apprentice over the head so hard he fell over. "That's not funny," he growled. "Those kits are my younger siblings, remember?"
"I wasn't laughing about it!" Burningpaw mumbled into the dirt. He lifted his head. "It was really cool when you and Lightstripe fought it off."
"When we fought what off?" Another brown tabby tom came into the clearing, a shrew dangling from his mouth, which he dropped at the sight of the hawk. "Great StarClan! How did you catch that?"
"To be fair, it was weak and old," Swifthawk admitted. "I snuck up on it and pounced on its back. It tried to bite me, but I got it by the throat!"
"We better get this thing back to camp so the whole Clan can see!" said Flarepelt. She and Swifthawk helped Shadefire carry the giant bird, while the others picked up the other prey and headed for the ThunderClan camp. The hawk made just as much commotion as predicted. The entire Clan came out to see it. Two kits hid and trembled behind their mother, a long-haired light brown she-cat named Heatherbreeze.
"Don't worry, it's dead," Heatherbreeze soothed. "It won't hurt you."
"Are we going to eat it?" One of the kits exclaimed, his little eyes growing huge.
"Yes," said Heatherbreeze with an amused purr.
"Ha! Take that, stupid hawk!" said the she-kit, coming out from behind her mother to make faces towards the slain bird. The ThunderClan deputy, Redwing, who was Swifthawk's father, came over, waving his tail proudly and rubbing his cheek against his son's.
"This will feed the Clan for moons!" he purred.
"Well, I don't know about moons, but it certainly will for a while," said Swifthawk. He proudly posed over the bird as more cats came to congratulate him.
Lichentail rolled her eyes. Swifthawk was a very skilled warrior, and popular because of it, but personally she didn't care for the way he showed off.
"Not impressed?" Lichentail's former mentor, Foggyheart came up beside her with a hint of amusement in his voice.
"I am, it's just he's so arrogant," Lichentail murmured.
Foggyheart's whiskers twitched. "Yeah, he is, kind of," he admitted with a chuckle. "My sister thinks he's the greatest, but doesn't see that Sunstorm is the one that likes her."
Lichentail looked over to see Foggyheart's sister Icefeather standing not too far away, staring at Swifthawk with dreamy looking eyes.
Lichentail snorted. "Sunstorm's a better cat for her," she said.
"I agree," Foggyheart whispered.
Lichentail purred. Her apprenticeship had ended a few moons ago, but she and Foggyheart still remained close. He seemed to be the only other cat in ThunderClan who didn't think Swifthawk was the greatest.
"What a catch that has been made today!" The leader of ThunderClan, Sapstar, stood proudly on the Highledge, looking down at his Clan with the sun glowing behind him. He was a dark brown cat with beautiful golden spots.
"Swifthawk, you truly are your father's son," said Sapstar. "I have no doubt that you'll be deputy like him one day."
Excited noises and cheers rang through the clearing, except for Lichentail, who winced as Swifthawk stuck his nose up in the air with a cheeky grin. Something about having him as deputy and then possibly leader made her fur stand on end.
"Now, I've got some news to announce to everyone," said Sapstar. "Redwing has reported to me that his patrol picked up WindClan scent inside our territory."
The cheerful voices were suddenly replaced with low growls and hisses.
"Now, the scent was fairly stale, and it seemed there were only a few cats, so it isn't a huge worry," said Sapstar. "But I'd still like some extra patrols along the WindClan border, and I will bring it up at the next Gathering."
"I won't let any of those skinny fleabags into our territory!" said Swifthawk, unsheathing his claws and lashing his tail. "You can count on me!"
The Clan cheered again. Lichentail choked back a laugh, remembering the last battle ThunderClan had with WindClan a few moons ago. Swifthawk had been badly bitten by Olivestar, the WindClan leader, and had screamed like a kit. Of course, most cats seemed to remember Swifthawk's altered account of the story.
Once the excitement had died down, the cats began to tuck into their fresh kill. Lichentail and Foggyheart each chose a sparrow and sat together at the edge of the camp. Several cats gathered around the hawk to share it. Swifthawk walked over to the nursery with a piece of the meat, laying it down before his younger siblings, Gorsekit and Jumpkit.
"How do you like it?" he asked as they took a few cautious bites.
"It's good!" Jumpkit exclaimed.
"Ha, we're eating it now!" Gorsekit laughed.
"You sure are," Swifthawk purred affectionately.
"Well, you have to admit, he's good to his younger siblings," Foggyheart mumbled to Lichentail through a mouthful of sparrow.
Suddenly, to Lichentail's surprise, Swifthawk came walking over to them.
"Hey Lichentail," he said. "Do you want to come and eat with me and the others over by the hawk?"
"Um…" said Lichentail. "Thank you, but I'm comfortable here."
A glimmer of disappointment showed in Swifthawk's golden eyes, but he shrugged and said "Suit yourself."
"What was that all about?" Lichentail shot Foggyheart a confused look.
Foggyheart rolled his eyes. "He likes to flirt with all the females in this Clan."
"Ugh!" Lichentail hissed. "I really hope he doesn't like me."
"Just ignore him if he does, and he'll stop paying attention to you," said Foggyheart.
Later that night, Lichentail lay in the middle of the clearing with Flarepelt, Shadefire, and Flarepelt's brother Sunstorm, staring up at Silverpelt.
"I wonder if any warriors are looking down on us tonight," said Flarepelt.
"I hope my mother is," said Shadefire. "I miss her."
"Do any of you remember Sparkstar, our old leader?" said Sunstorm. "Flarepelt and I were just kits when she died, but I remember her. She had the brightest orange fur!"
Lichentail shook her head. "I'm four moons younger than you two, remember?"
"Oh yeah," said Sunstorm.
"I remember her," said Shadefire. "She was the granddaughter of Firestar. My mother told me stories about him. Did you know he was a kittypet who came to join ThunderClan?"
"What? No way!" Sunstorm laughed. "You're full of it."
"No, it's true," said Shadefire. "He was six moons old when he left his Twolegs and decided to become an apprentice. He became leader when he was still pretty young."
"Boy, that must have been scary," said Flarepelt. "Entering a new world you know nothing about, full of dangers you never imagined."
"I don't think he regretted it for a minute," said Shadefire. "This has got to be a better life than sitting in a Twoleg nest all day eating food that looks and tastes like rabbit droppings."
"How would you know what rabbit droppings taste like, Shadefire?" Sunstorm teased.
Shadefire groaned. "You know what I mean."
"What? Have you eaten rabbit droppings?" Sunstorm purred.
"Shut your mouth!" Shadefire laughed, pouncing playfully on Sunstorm. Flarepelt and Lichentail watched with amusement as the two toms wrestled.
"I have to go use the dirtplace," said Lichentail. "I'll be right back." She padded across the clearing, her pale whitish-gray coat glowing softly in the moonlight. As she approached the dirtplace, she twitched her ears, picking up on bits of conversation from the warrior's den, where several toms were gathered.
"Who would you want to take as a mate?"
"Hmm…I don't know, maybe Flarepelt."
"Ha, you know she only has eyes for Shadefire."
"I think Sleetpaw is really pretty."
"Batfang, she's only an apprentice!"
"Yeah, which is why I can't wait until she becomes a warrior."
Lichentail let out a horrified gasp as laughter rang throughout the den. She shut her mouth quickly, hoping the toms hadn't heard.
"What about you, Swifthawk? You know Icefeather talks about you nonstop."
"Yeah, I know," came Swifthawk's voice. "But I'm not sure I'd take her as a mate. She's kind of mouse brained."
"Then who would you take?"
"Well," said Swifthawk. "To be honest, I really like Lichentail."
Lichentail froze, her claws automatically unsheathing and digging into the ground. Her breath caught in her throat as the other toms crooned and laughed.
"Lichentail's pretty, yeah," Swifthawk's friend Batfang agreed. "But I don't think she's into toms, or having kits. She's all about being a warrior, as if she were a tom."
"Yes, but who can resist her silver coat?" Swifthawk purred. "It glows like the moon! Can you imagine the kits we'd have? They'd be the prettiest in the Clan! And the most talented, since I'd be their father."
Lichentail nearly retched up the sparrow she'd eaten earlier. She hurried for the dirtplace, where she crouched and shivered in the dark tunnel.
I can't believe how those toms talk, she thought. It's like they think we she-cats are playthings!
Lichentail slid her claws out again, and raked them through the dirt.
If Swifthawk thinks he can be my mate, I'll prove him wrong!
