The Renaissance - Book 1: Rising Sun - Chapter 9

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Chapter Nine

"Keep your tail lower to the ground," Bramblestar instructed.

Sunpaw bit her lip and lowered her tail until it touched the ground. She crouched low, her muscles bunched, and ears flattened against her head in determination.

"Not that low!" Bramblestar called, irritation rising in his voice. He trotted over from his seat on the edge of the training hollow. He ran his tail along her spine and entwined his with hers, raising it up. "Not too high to alert the prey, but not too low to rustle leaves."

Sunpaw bit back a sharp retort. I'll never get it right! she thought with despair. Pushing away her thoughts, she focused on positioning her tail and stared straight ahead. "Like this, Bramblestar?" she asked.

He nodded. "Good. Now, leap forward."

She did as he told her and shoved off the ground with all her might. Wind ruffled her fur as she soared through the air and landed on the oak leaf she had been stalking. She pinned it to the ground under her paws before looking at her mentor expectantly.

Bramblestar twitched his whiskers and padded closer again. "Well done, but try to remember to hit the ground with all for paws at once. If your back paws hit the ground before your front, it will alert the prey."

Sunpaw dipped her head and glanced up at the sky. The sun was slanting down into the hollow between the blossoms on the tree branches. She took a brief moment to admire the newleaf beauty before returning her gaze to the ground. It was nearly sunhigh and her belly rumbled expectantly. She suddenly wished that she'd waited longer and eaten something earlier with Hollypaw.

"Can we learn battle moves yet?" Sunpaw asked. Truly, she was bored of learning hunting skills. I'm no good at hunting! I bet I couldn't even catch a mouse if I tried! she thought with disdain.

Bramblestar shook his head. "Not yet. I want you to get better at hunting first." He paused for a moment and pricked his ears toward the forest. "Here, why don't we practice your skills on real prey?"

Her ears pricked up at those words, and she nodded eagerly. Bramblestar's whiskers twitched in amusement and he padded away into the forest. Sunpaw followed on his heels, and kept her mouth open to taste the air for any scents of prey. A gust of wind smacked her in the face bringing with it the distinctive taste of squirrel.

Sunpaw crouched low to the ground as she saw the light brown creature nibbling on something in its paws. Keeping her paw steps light, she slowly started toward it. Just as she bunched her muscles and prepared to spring, a yowl of pain cut her off. She stood up abruptly and her quarry scurried up a tree. "What was that?!" she asked. Sunpaw was unable to keep her voice from trembling as she looked over her shoulder at her mentor. Bramblestar stood tense and ready, prepared to leap off at a moment's notice.

"I don't know…" he whispered. "Come on, and stay close to me." With that, he bounded off toward the sound, and Sunpaw followed him blindly. Bramblestar raced through the forest in the direction of the Ancient Oak with Sunpaw hot on his heels. As they neared the large, majestic tree, Sunpaw slowed down as she saw what was going on.

Bumblestripe, Ivypool, Icecloud and Foxleap stood crowded around a limp form on the ground. As Bramblestar neared them, the cats cleared out of the way for him. Sunpaw edged forward, her curiosity getting the better of her. As she padded forward, Ivypool bounded up to her. "Come with me, Sunpaw," she meowed softly. "Come on, you don't want to see this."

Sunpaw shoved past the gray tabby she-cat. "What happened?" she demanded struggling to see around Bramblestar's form.

Ivypool looked at her for a moment as if she were pondering how much to say, then sighed. "Rosepetal is dead… A rogue killed her."

Sunpaw whipped around to face her. "What?" she gasped. Memories of the day her patrol met the ShadowClan cats flooded into her mind. She remembered vividly Tawnypelt telling them that they, too, had lost a warrior to rogues. "It can't be! Not Rosepetal!"

The older she-cat sighed and dipped her head. "I'm afraid it is… Foxleap… Foxleap is not taking it well… I think that he wanted to be her mate…"

Sunpaw watched and Bumblestripe and Foxleap helped haul the limp form of Rosepetal on to Bramblestar's back. The two toms remained at his side ready to nudge the corpse further on to his back if it started to slide. Icecloud padded over to the other two she-cats, her face solemn. "I can't believe she's gone," the white she-cat whispered.

"I know," Ivypool agreed. "I was just sharing a thrush with her this morning."

Icecloud shook her head. "What a waste of a great warrior," she meowed watching the toms disappear into the ferns. "Come on. We better follow them."

The three she-cats set off in pursuit of the toms slowly. Sunpaw looked at Ivypool, and suddenly asked, "Do you think the rogues that killed the ShadowClan cat killed her too?"

Ivypool's head snapped up and looked at her. "A ShadowClan cat is dead too?"

Sunpaw nodded weakly. She sighed as she remembered that Bramblestar had not told the Clan about Tawnypelt's news yet. "Bramblestar didn't tell the Clan yet… he said he didn't want to worry them but… but now Rosepetal is dead… Do you think that it's just a coincidence?"

Ivypool flattened her ears against her head and let out a low growl. "No. I don't."

"We've had rogues in the territory before," Icecloud pointed out. "They've never meant harm toward us… usually."

The gray she-cat shook her head. "Well obviously, these ones do…" Fear flashed across Ivypool's face for a moment, and then disappeared. She looked at Icecloud urgently. "You don't think this is Sol's work, do you?"

Sunpaw felt Icecloud stiffen. "It can't be… he was chased out moons ago… Firestar—"

"Firestar is dead now," Ivypool reminded. "What if he sees the Clans as being weak and tries to attack? I might not have been alive then, but I remember the stories about what he did to ShadowClan… I also remember what he tried to do when he returned to ThunderClan. Sol is bad news."

"I'm not disagreeing with you," Icecloud replied. "All I'm saying is that I think that he would have to be pretty brave to show his face here again. All the Clans are aware of his nature."

"Who is Sol?" Sunpaw managed to ask in a break of the conversation.

Icecloud looked at her thoughtfully. "You wouldn't know, would you, young one? Sol was a cat that once convinced ShadowClan that the warrior code was just a lie. He convinced Blackstar that there was no StarClan. ThunderClan, however, was able to drive him out, but he returned… He claimed to have saved Cherrystripe and Moleclaw when they were kits, but it was really Hollyleaf, Lionblaze and Jayfeather's long-lost sister. He was planning on destroying ThunderClan, but we soon showed him the exit."

"Do you think that he would seek revenge?" Sunpaw questioned. Her pelt prickled with fear at the thought of a cat who wanted to hurt ThunderClan. A cat as evil as the one described seemed alien-like to her.

Ivypool shrugged. "I don't know… but I wouldn't put anything past him…"

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