Chapter 8

Darkpaw lowered her body as her prey was only a few mouse lengths away. It was a good thing that the wind was not blowing, the mouse was busy nibbling on the nut that it had found on the ground. Darkpaw glanced at her mentor, he was up high in a tree nearby, looking at her every move, he finally nodded, letting her know that she can prance at her prey. Darkpaw nodded back to her mentor, leaping into the air with her eyes tightly closed, her fur brushing against the leaves and landed…on top of small stones and grass. She opened her eyes and noticed that mouse was running away, she ran after it but saw it just in time as it disappeared into a small hole in another tree. She pawed her paws into the dirt ground but the mouse was long gone. She hissed to herself with frustration, this was the fifth time she had failed to catch anything! She felt her mentor brushing against her fur, but he seems also a bit frustrated.

"Darkpaw! How many times do I need to remind you? You never close your eyes when you leap onto your prey! Only kitty pets do that!"

Darkpaw felt her ears flatten, she wanted to prove her mentor that she was a worthy clan member, but apparently she was not impressing him at all. Barkstalker sigh and shook his head,

"Well, you've only been an apprentice for three days…I guess I can understand, but please open your eyes next time."

The young black she cat nodded,

"Ok Barkstalker…"

The deputy sigh and nudged his apprentice to follow him. She did as she was mentioned and she appeared in front of a small meadow. The grass was very short and she saw more stones and rocks everywhere. The dark brown tom padded in front of her and turned his head to face her,

"This is what I call the stone den. We can practice more here, I used to be mentored here when I was an apprentice, I trained here for more of my fighting moves…I was a terrible fighter back then. Anyway,"

His tail lashed towards a small pebble only a fox length away from him,

"Try to jump from here over that small pebble."

Darkpaw looked up at her mentor with annoyed eyes, he was underestimating her! Any apprentice could do that! She did not argue though and jumped gracefully over the other stone. Her mentor nodded,

"Hm…very good, but this time don't close your eyes. Why are you closing your eyes whenever you jump?" Darkpaw shrugged as she felt her ears flatten with shame,

"I don't know…I just feel like someone would hit me in the forehead!"

Her mentor rolled his eyes,

"Fine then. We will be doing this until you learn how to keep your eyes wide open! I don't care if that means we stay up for the rest of the day with not a wink of sleep!"

Darkpaw's eyes widen and was about to protest but the mentor lashed his tail for silence. Darkpaw narrowed her eyes and muttered with frustration. Her mentor put a larger rock a rock length away from her, and put a few leaves and sticks around her,

"Ok, this time try to jump and land on your prey without making a sound AND with your eyes wide open! I will be watching you."

Darkpaw muttered in response and crouched down and glared at the big stone. When she saw her mentor nod once she pranced, but her eyes once shut again and she landed on a bunch of weeds and small pebbles not too far away from her target. Barkstalker's eyes widen,

"It seems you have some mental issues…"

Darkpaw glared at her mentor,

"I do not! I just need more training!"

Her mentor rolled his eyes, but thought to himself for a few more moments,

"You said whenever you jump you think someone will hit you in the forehead right?"

Darkpaw nodded. Barkstalker nodded and closed his eyes for a few moments. Darkpaw went on muttering to herself on how terrible she was to not be able to land on her targets just because she felt someone was going to attack her. Barkstalker finally opened his eyes and meowed,

"I think I know just what the solution is! Darkpaw, look here!"

Darkpaw looked towards her mentor and noticed his paws reaching towards her face in full speed, she could not help but close her eyes quickly.

"Aha! I think we need to practice on fighting moves. Hopefully that will make you brave enough to not close your eyes and in attacks you won't close your eyes every two seconds like a kitty pet would!"

Darkpaw narrowed her eyes as she heard her mentor being rude to her,

"Hey! Are you calling me a kitty pet?!"

Her mentor grinned,

"You're not a kitty pet, but you sure hunt like one."

Barkstalker padded and stood in front of her, chuckling at how Darkpaw made a face because of what he had said earlier.

"Well now, I will show you an attack stance, it is quite similar to a hunting stance but your tail needs to be raised a bit higher."

Barkstalker explained as he crouched down into an attack stance, he glanced at Darkpaw to check if he was paying attention,

"Well? Now you try it."

Darkpaw did as she was told but once again her mentor got picky,

"Raise your tail a bit higher. It looks like you're about to surrender or your about to make dirt. Relax yourself now."

Darkpaw muttered under her breath as she raised her fluffy tail higher into the sky. Barkstalker nodded, "Hm…not bad. Ok now I'll teach you more attack moves. There are several attack moves that you can learn, but because this is training I don't want you to use your claws quite yet."

Barkstalker stood back into his attack stance and without warning Darkpaw kicked her off balance with his back paw while doing a small twist. Darkpaw landed on top of a small patch of grass and quickly got up,

"Hey! You didn't say that you were going to attack me!"

Barkstalker chuckled,

"Oh please, as if an enemy would inform you that he will attack you."

The black apprentice rolled her eyes in frustration,

"Stop being so mean to me."

The deputy chuckled,

"Fine. I won't, I was only teasing you that's all anyway. I'll give you a small tip, try to predict what your enemy will do."

Darkpaw nodded once and for the rest of the training remembered what her mentor had told her to remember.

Rainmist ran across the short grass as she chased after her squirrel, the prey was very fast but the warrior was not about to give up. She noticed her prey jumping up into the tree, but the white warrior did not hesitate to stop because she jumped on top of the tree and climbed after the squirrel. Down below her the other warriors were waiting for her.

"Rainmist? You up there?"

Foxstrike yowled towards the tree. There was no answer. Bolttail rolled his eyes,

"There's no need to worry, Rainmist is swifter then you anyway. She's one of our best hunters and climbers." Foxstrike glared at the warrior,

"Well, is there something wrong being worried for Rainmist? We just lost a cat yesterday!"

Bolttail sneered,

"You don't have to worry about Rainmist, she's safe as long as she's around me."

The ginger tom flicked his tail,

"Since when were YOU interested in Rainmist?"

Before his other companion would answer they were surprised as Rainmist jumped from the tree and landed swiftly without a scratch between them. In her mouth dangled the squirrel that she was chasing after earlier. "Nice catch Rainmist, we're lucky to have a great hunter like you."

Bolttail purred to the she cat. Rainmist blushed in embarrassment,

"Oh thanks Bolttail…but I bet anyone could climb a tree…"

The she cat glanced at the two toms with her eyes wide,

"Well? Didn't you guys catch anything while I was chasing that squirrel?"

The two toms looked at each other and glanced at their empty paws.

"Well…"

Foxstrike was about to explain but Rainmist interrupted him,

"Well I guess you two will just play around while I do the hunting then."

The swift she cat padded off with her prey as she left the two warriors behind. Foxstrike muttered,

"We could have hunt and found prey if it wasn't for you who started the argument."

Bolttail rolled his eyes,

"Oh please, you wouldn't have caught a single thing. Besides, our territory is so small, we don't get much prey! It doesn't matter how hard we try to hunt, we still won't have that much prey…we'll all die out by leaf bare…" The two cats muttered to themselves for a few more seconds and ran to different directions to catch more prey for their clan.

Darkpaw leaped and pushed her mentor to the side, knocking him off balance and making him fall to the ground. Barkstalker got up quickly,

"Well, that was nice! It seems that you're more of a fighter then a hunter…strange…most she cats are better at hunting."

Darkpaw smiled and leaped up into the air,

"Can we try more fighting moves?!"

The great tom chuckled,

"Fine Darkpaw. This time, I'll attack first. Concentrate."

Darkpaw looked closely at her mentor who was now getting into an attack stance. She noticed he was building energy on his legs, he was about to jump and pin her to the ground! And her guess was correct, the deputy leaped into the air, heading towards Darkpaw! Darkpaw quickly moved to the side as the deputy landed on the patch of grass that she was standing on earlier.

"Nice!"

Her deputy purred with pride. Darkpaw grinned and held her head high, she was proud at the fact that she was quite good at fighting. She didn't want to stop fighting…she felt the urge that she wanted to fight the whole day. The two cats both heard a stick snap in half, Barkstalker's ears quickly raised,

"Who's there?"

He meowed towards the sound. The apprentice and her mentor were in their attack stance until they saw Snowpaw's face pop out from the bushes.

"Don't attack us! We were just passing by!"

Darkpaw ran towards her friend,

"Snowpaw! How's your training going?"

Snowpaw smiled,

"I'm touring around the territories now. By the way, nice fighting moves!"

Spottedfang appeared behind the white apprentice,

"Snowpaw! We need to continue touring around the territories!"

Snowpaw glanced at her mentor,

"We can just look around the territory later Spottedfang!"

Spottedfang groaned but when he noticed Barkstalker his attitude changed immediately,

"Oh Barkstalker! How if your training going with Darkpaw?"

The deputy smiled,

"Hello Spottedfang, Darkpaw and I are going just fine. I was just training Darkpaw some fighting moves here." The senior warrior raised an eye brow and faced Darkpaw,

"Really? Well, this is interesting. Are you enjoying fighting Darkpaw?"

The apprentice nodded and smiled,

"I enjoy it more than hunting for sure."

Spottedfang turned to glance at Snowpaw,

"Well, I've been teaching Snowpaw a few fighting moves, maybe you two can fight each other."

Snowpaw flattened her ears,

"But Spottedfang…"

Barkstalker glanced at his daughter,

"Can you show me how good you're fighting moves are Snowpaw?"

Snowpaw sigh,

"Fine…"

Snowpaw faced Darkpaw, getting into her attack stance. She leaped quickly into the air, Darkpaw moving out of the way as Snowpaw crashed into the ground. Snowpaw's body was twitching as her face was still planted into the ground. The three other cats ran over to her,

"Snowpaw? You alright?"

Barkstalker asked with concerned eyes. Snowpaw lifted her head up and spat out the pebbles, dirt and grass out from her mouth and shook her fur,

"I guess I'm fine."

The two she cats were back into attack stances. Snowpaw was twitching her tail constantly, Darkpaw tried her best to concentrate. Without warning Snowpaw kicked Darkpaw's paws, making her friend fall to the ground. The black she cat got up and grabbed Snowpaw by the tail and with all her might threw her across the grass. Snowpaw yelped as her back landed on a small sharp rock. Snowpaw flattened her ears and ran after her friend, "Are you ok Snowpaw?"

Snowpaw shook her fur once again, this time muttering a curse word but Darkpaw did not hear it. Barkstalker and Spottedfang padded over to their side,

"I think you both did very well. You both can use a bit of training though…"

Just then the four cats heard a great yowl erupting above their heads. Darkpaw's eyes widen and glanced at the other three cats,

"That's Rainmist!"

Barkstalker and Spottedfang glanced at each other but nodded their heads once. Spottedfang's tail pointed towards the forest, "Let's get their before we lose any more cats!"

Rainmist felt herself fall to the cold ground with a small thump. She forced herself to get up and flinched as she felt the deep scratch she had across her face that she had gotten from the rogues. Bolttail and Foxstrike hissed towards the group of rogues.

"Back off! You are crossing Stoneclan territory!"

A skinny white tom snickered with his large orange eyes gleaming,

"Oh, it's one of those pathetic clans! I thought you clan cats were more of a challenge…our females fight well then you three!"

Rainmist got back to her paws and hissed towards the white tom and the others,

"We said to back off! We do not have room for you!"

The skinny white tom's long sharp claws were quickly unsheathed again.

"Snake,"

The white tom turned around to face a cream she cat.

"What is it Butterfly?"

Butterfly glanced at the clan cats and back at Snake,

"Let's just go…we were looking around to find shelter…not to get into a fight."

"But Butterfly! You're about to have kits,"

He glanced at a large dark coloured brown tabby,

"Owl and I will do anything that it takes to get us shelter! Plus, there's plenty of prey in the forest!"

Owl hissed at the three clan cats,

"Let us stay! We only need to stay here until my mate has kits! Is that so much to ask?!"

Bolttail narrowed his eyes,

"It actually is! Our clan is also not being properly feed! If you rogues join…we'll only have more mouths to feed!"

Both Owl and Snake hissed under their breath. Owl snapped at the three warriors,

"I didn't want to do this but…if this means I'll have to kill a cat, I'll do it!"

Butterfly flattened her ears,

"Owl…let's just go, we lost enough of the group through traveling!"

But Owl and Snake both ignored the pregnant she cat and leaped on top of the three warriors. Claws clashed and teeth were sink into pelts.

"We'll kill ALL of you!"

Snake's slighter voice crackled into the forest air.

"STOP!"

A deep yowl erupted, making both the rogues and warriors to stop fighting and face towards the sound. Rainmist quickly noticed Barkstalker and Spotted fang, behind the two toms were Snowpaw and Darkpaw. Barkstalker glared at the rogues,

"What is the meaning of this? Do you kitty pets know what you are even doing? You are crossing a clan's territory!"

Barkstalker hissed towards the loners. A very young black grey tom hissed at the deputy,

"Butterfly is about to have kits! We need a place to rest!"

Spottedfang was about to argue but the deputy raised his tail for silence. The large deputy tilted his head,

"Kits you say?"

The rogues glanced at each other,

"Yes. My mate is about to have kits so we need shelter and prey!"

Owl hissed with narrow light green eyes. The cats all looked at each other in silence. Barkstalker finally spoke, "All of you follow us. We will take you to our clan, you may all join us."

Darkpaw flattened her ears, she heard from Fawneyes that accepting a rogue, loner or a kitty pet would equal to another weight on their back!

"Barkstalker! We can't accept them! Their rogues!"

The rogues heard this and snarled at Darkpaw. Barkstalker covered Darkpaw with the tip of his tail and bowed towards the rogues,

"I am very sorry from my apprentice's behavior, she is just young, she does not understand the trouble you all have gone trough."

Darkpaw glared at her mentor with angered eyes. The clan cats started to lead the rogues towards Stoneclan camp. Darkpaw twitched her ears to listen on what the rogues were saying.

"Hah! Finally we get some respect around here!"

She heard Snake meowed to his companions. Butterfly replied,

"I hope they have enough food for us to share…I feel awfully hungry."

Darkpaw rolled her eyes, why was her deputy accepting these cats anyway? Their rogues for Starclan's sake!