"Shadepelt," I hissed. "Get in here! Speckletail, Loudbelly, wake up!" I prodded them with a paw.

"Let us sleep Frostfur!" Speckletail growled.

I prodded her again "No! Mudfur is alive!"

Shadepelt rushed into the medicine den. "What is it?"

"Mudfur is alive!"

Shadepelt stared at me as if I had just told her that a flying hedgehog had caught us breakfast.

"See for yourself!"

Loudbelly, Speckletail, and Shadepelt scrambled past me.

"He's breathing!" Loudbelly exclaimed.

"Hello my friends! Who's here?" Mudfur sat up straight with renewed strength.

For a moment we were all speechless. Then Shadepelt stepped forward.

"Hi Mudfur, it's Shadepelt. Frostfur, Speckletail and Loudbelly are here too."

Mudfur looked slightly disappointed. "Is that all? Hardly the makings of a new clan," He muttered, half to himself.

"Ah, well let's get a hunting patrol going," He went on briskly.

"Shadepelt and I were about to go…Mudfur?"

"Yes Frostfur?"

"How is it that you are alive? I mean we all saw you die…" I could see that the other cats were curious about this as well, but had been too nervous to ask.

"Ah I thought you might be wondering about that. All right, sit down." He paused as we made ourselves comfortable. "When I died, Crookedstar came to get me. He told me that this was not my time to die. He said that a couple of cats had stayed behind for my vigil and that they would need my help to survive. He then gave me another life and sent me down again." He looked around nervously, as if he was avoiding one part of the story.

We stared at him in shock. "Another life?" Speckletail mewed in disbelief.

"Yes," Mudfur meowed simply. "Well go on," He said to Shadepelt and I. "Get hunting. We will need food to keep our strength up."

Shadepelt and I backed out of the den reluctantly.

I could see her eyes still blazing with questions, (My eyes were the same) but Mudfur refused to say anything more.

"Still want that fishing lesson?" Shadepelt asked.

"You bet!" I replied.

Shadepelt led the way down to the river.

It was much smaller than usual. I remembered the RiverClan deputy, Mistyfoot, explaining that the twolegs had changed the flow of the river. Stupid, mousebrained twolegs! Why couldn't they just leave us alone!

The small scuffling of a mouse broke me out of my reverie. I instinctively dropped into the hunter crouch.

"Frostfur? What are you doing?" Shadepelt mewed softly.

I silenced her with a flick of my tail.

My mouth open slightly, I crept towards a small clump of bracken where the mouse seemed to be hiding.

Closer, closer, one more step…and I sprang on the little unsuspecting creature.

I bit into its neck with satisfaction and gave a little prayer of thanks to StarClan.

"Nice catch!" Shadepelt praised.

"Thanks," I mumbled around a mouthful of mouse. I set it down. "Do you want to try?"

"Sure!" Her eyes gleamed with excitement.

"Okay come here." I paused as she trotted up next to me.

"In ThunderClan, we use a special hunting crouch. We keep our paws light, so our prey can't feel their vibrations. Especially with mice. With birds your paws don't have to be light, and rabbits will smell you before they feel or hear you."

I smiled as I heard myself repeat one of the main lessons a ThunderClan apprentice has to learn.

"So basically just remember to step lightly and always be downwind of your prey." I concluded. "Now copy me."

I dropped slowly into the hunters crouch, nodding enthusiastically as she copied me. "Now, creep forward and spring."

Shadepelt nodded.

One more step…snap!

Shadepelt had stepped on a twig.

The mouse she had been stalking looked up and fled.

Shadepelt launched herself after it but I called her back. "There's no point. It's gone."

When I saw the disappointed look in her eyes I added, "Don't feel bad. I don't know one apprentice that caught the first prey they stalked. Cheer up."

"I s'pose you're right. Come on, lets go fishing!" We started off again towards the river.

When we reached it's banks, I couldn't help but notice again how small it looked. Would it feed us? I hoped so.

Shadepelt beckoned me over with her tail.

Now she was the mentor and I was the apprentice.

"Look into the water," she said. "Do you see any fish?"

"Yes."

"Good. Now make sure your shadow doesn't fall across the water- that would alert the fish." She waited patiently as I readjusted myself.

"Watch me." She mewed.

Shadepelt stared into the water for a long time. I followed her gaze and spotted a big, juicy fish. She waited until it was right in front of her and then flashed out a paw, quick as lightning. The fish flew up in the air and landed on the bank. It wriggled around for a few moments until Shadepelt finished it off with a bite to the neck.

"Wow that was great!" I meowed.

She beamed. "It was nothing. You try."

"Okay," I mewed uncertainly.

My fishing was not successful that day.

On my first try, the fish saw my shadow and darted away before I could catch it.

On my second try, my paw wasn't quick enough to grab the slippery fish.

On my third try, I flung the fish in the air and it hit me in the muzzle before it flopped back into the river.

I decided my fishing career was over.

"How 'bout we make a deal," I meowed to Shadepelt. "You catch the fish, and I'll supply the land prey."

"Good idea," she mewed, her whiskers twitching.

She caught another fish and then we headed home. On the way there, I caught another mouse and a sparrow.

We padded towards the camp, our pelts brushing and our mouths full of fresh-kill. It had been a surprisingly warm day for leaf- bare. I was content.

This is how life should be, I decided. Peaceful and happy.

Okay that's it! Thanks and goodbye until next update. I should be able to get the next chapter up by next Monday. Review please!