Chapter 7
Fatepaw woke up and saw a ginger face in Fatepaw's face.
"Ember…Emberpaw?" Fatepaw yawned sleepily.
"Fatepaw." Emberpaw snarled.
"Wha…what's wrong?" Fatepaw whimpered. She had no idea why Emberpaw was so angry. Did she sleep the wrong way? Is she always angry in the mornings? Or-or did she overhear on Fatepaw's and Graypaw's conversation last night?
"Don't fool with me, Fatepaw. I heard that talk you had with Graypaw last night," Emberpaw spat.
Anger burned inside Fatepaw until she was smoldering with rage. "You eavesdropped on us!"
"Yes, I did, and who says I can't?" Emberpaw replied back. "But that's not the point. The point is-don't lay a paw on Graypaw, don't even stare at him. He's still mine. He might say that he loves you, but I know that he'll come to his sense sooner or later. He will love me, and not you, never you!" Emberpaw huffed.
"Just because the cat that you like doesn't like you doesn't mean you have to get so upset!" Fatepaw shouted. "Live with it, Emberpaw. It's not the end of the world."
"Fatepaw! Emberpaw! Calm down!" Bladestar walked towards them. "I don't know what the topic of your conversation is about, but what I do know is that you two have to calm down. It looks like you two want to claw each other to death!" Bladestar scolded. "You two can't argue. I know that you two don't like each other, but at least make an effort to be nice!" Bladestar walked away.
"What's happening?" Graypaw walked up to them. Fatepaw's stomach felt like ten million butterflies were fluttering in her.
"Why don't you love me?" Emberpaw cried.
Graypaw just looked at her. "I like you as a friend," he curtly responded.
"That's not enough! I want you to look at me like you look at Fatepaw! Why did you even fall for her? How did you ever fall for her? You know what Icecatch said. She said that Fatepaw was so ugly, and Icecatch disowned her. Why do you even pay attention to her?" Emberpaw burst out.
Graypaw was taken by surprise. "For me, it's not all about looks," Graypaw answered calmly. "For me, it's all about the inside and the heart."
"I have a good heart!" Emberpaw protested. (Yeah, right.)
Graypaw stared at her. "You mean that after all of those insults that you said to Fatepaw, you still consider yourself to have a good heart?" Graypaw asked. He didn't wait for Emberpaw to answer. He turned away and walked towards his mentor.
Fatepaw scampered off towards her mentor.
"Today we learn the hunters' crouch," Heatclaw meowed. "So, you crouch down, and then you silently stalk towards your prey," Heatclaw instructed. "Watch me."
He crouched down, and, waving his tail a little bit to balance himself, he silently took a couple of steps forward. He looked behind at Fatepaw. "Then, when you get close enough, you pounce, and then you trap the prey, and kill it with a bite to the neck, or whatever you want. Just make sure to kill it," Heatclaw meowed.
"This is going to be easy for you, because you've already learned how to walk without your tail, and since you have no tail, you can't "accidently" move it to distract any plants that can be overhead," Heatclaw mewed. "Just make sure to check your surroundings, so that you don't walk on any twigs, and check the wind, to see if it's carrying your scent to the prey or if the wind is carrying your scent away from the prey." Heatclaw dipped his head. "Let me see it."
Fatepaw crouched down, and, trying to be as silent as possible, she slowly shifted her weight and took a couple of steps, still in the crouch. She eyed a leaf. She took a couple more steps, and then she pounced, trapping the leaf in her paws, and she ripped the leaf in half.
She turned to look at Heatclaw. His eyes were glowing. "Let's try that on some real prey."
They moved to an area where there was plenty of prey. Heatclaw spotted a fat vole. "Try and catch that," Heatclaw whispered. Fatepaw nodded. She first tested the wind. The wind is blowing downstream, carrying her scent away from the prey. Fatepaw crouched down, and she silently stalked her prey. The vole was nibbling on a chestnut. Suddenly…SNAP! Fatepaw cursed silently in her head. She had stepped on a twig! Thankfully, since the vole couldn't smell her, the vole only stood more alert. The vole looked around, and Fatepaw willed herself not to move. Finally, the vole started nibbling on its chestnut again.
Cautiously, Fatepaw stepped towards the vole. When she got close to it, she sprang with lightning fast speed and (remembering to balance herself) she trapped the vole with her forepaws and killed it with a scratch to the neck.
Fatepaw felt pride overwhelm her. She had caught her first piece of prey! It was quite big, too. It would feed plenty of cats.
"Well done," Heatclaw praised her. "Let's get back to camp."
When Fatepaw came back with the vole, some cats swarmed around her, including Mintflower, Pinestorm, Windsong, and Graypaw.
"Nice catch," Pinestorm commented. Fatepaw felt happiness bubble up in her pelt. Pinestorm was one of the cats who avoided her, but now he…respected her? She could hardly believe it. She puffed out her chest in pride.
However, Icecatch, Emberpaw, Foxcloud, and a couple of the other Clanmates stood back. "It's just a vole," Foxcloud sniffed. "What good does that do?"
"Foxcloud." Bladestar emerged. Fatepaw could see panic in Foxcloud's eyes. "Is that the way you treat a member of the Clan?"
"She's hardly a member of the Clan; I bet she only caught that vole because of luck!" Foxcloud blurted out. Fatepaw felt unbelievable rage build up in her. She had caught this vole with her skill! She ran up to him.
"I caught this with my own skill! I learned how to hunt, and I wanted you and Icecatch to be proud of me. However, all you do is insult me. When will you ever respect me, father?" Fatepaw spat the last word out.
Foxcloud seemed taken aback. "Fatepaw, calm down," Bladestar chided her. "Although she does have a point." Bladestar stared at Foxcloud. "She's right that her foster parents don't respect her, and she did learn how to hunt."
"Well, why should I respect her?" Foxcloud retorted. "She's crippled, ugly, and scarred. She doesn't even have a tail!"
Several cats gasped at that comment. Although Fatepaw felt angry towards her foster parents, she couldn't help but feel a hint of pride that some cats would take her side.
"Foxcloud, I thought that you had more sense," Bladestar meowed coldly.
"Well, he does have more sense!" Icecatch went to Foxcloud's defense. "She is ugly, scarred, and crippled. She doesn't make us proud, for she will never look like a cat should!" Icecatch snapped.
"It seems like you two judge solely on appearances," Bladestar meowed with a cold edge. "Never in my life have I met cats who are so prejudiced against disabled cats. Although you two haven't broken the warrior code, you two have broken a rule far beyond the warrior code-the rule of fairness." Bladestar went on. "You two are to be banished from GrassClan for two moons. After two moons, we can see if you want to respect your Clanmates or not." Bladestar flicked his tail. Icecatch and Foxcloud gaped at him, and then turned away and walked out of the camp exit.
"Let all cats join under the Grassheap for a Clan meeting!" Bladestar yowled.
"As you all know by now, Icecatch and Foxcloud were banished out of the Clan for two moons," Bladestar meowed. "And that means that we need to appoint a new deputy."
"The deputy will be…" Bladestar looked at all of the cats.
"Heatclaw." Fatepaw felt a burst of pride.
"Heatclaw! Heatclaw!" The Clan yowled.
"I bet you're glad that Icecatch and Foxcloud are banished for a while," Graypaw meowed after the meeting. Fatepaw nodded.
"At least there won't be as many insults," Fatepaw mewed. "And my mentor's Clan deputy."
"True." Graypaw looked at Fatepaw. "You'll be more respected, which is your dream, and being the apprentice of the deputy is a huge honor!" Graypaw licked her cheek, and Fatepaw blushed.
"Graypaw, you're sure about what you said to Emberpaw, right?" Fatepaw inquired.
"Yeah, she'll just be a good friend," Graypaw answered.
"I love you," Fatepaw meowed quietly.
"I love you too. I will always love you, and never anyone else," Graypaw vowed, and he scooted a bit closer to Fatepaw until their pelts were brushing.
Fatepaw felt so happy that she could yowl out her happiness to the world. Fatepaw closed her eyes, and she tried to imagine a future with Graypaw…
Suddenly…
"GRAYPAW! HELP!"
Yeah, I felt like doing a cliffhanger there.
stephenmc- Like I said, I enjoy the idea. I'm going to use it, but I'm going to put a couple of tweaks in there.
Nikonkey- Thanks for the names! Maybe more for Emberpaw, though. They have to be reasonable.
MorningEmerald- Yeah, my school's out :D. It was out a while ago. Thanks for reviewing! And I like your rambling about school .
