Chapter 10
In the morning Applepaw woke up half-awake in a nest of moss. It felt good to be able to stretch out instead of cramped against her brothers.
"Wake up sleepy head," Pumpkinpaw playfully shook Applepaw in her moss.
"Yeah you'll have to get used to being an apprentice now, I'll walk you through it, first you go to the fresh-kill pile for morning-kill. Apprentices usually eat at the stump near the den. You've seen it right?" Bronzepaw asked.
"Yeah, I've seen it before," Applepaw replied.
"Meet me there after you get something to eat, and I'll tell you about the rest of the day."
After Applepaw went to the fresh-kill pile and picked out a vole to eat, she rushed to the stump where Goldenpaw, Bronzepaw and Pumpkinpaw were eating.
"Okay, after morning-kill your mentor usually comes and finds you and either gives you a chore like putting mousebile on the elders for ticks, switching out moss for the Elders or Warriors den, something like that, or they'll take you to learn about the territory." Bronzepaw explained.
"I remember; Grassblade took me to the river. I thought it was amazing!" Goldenpaw put in.
"Then you'll come back around sun-high for noon-kill, and then you'll do more chores or go on a patrol, its really simple," Bronzepaw finished.
"Thank you, now I know what to expect," Applepaw thanked.
"I'm done with my magpie, Applepaw can I have some of your vole?" Goldenpaw asked.
"Sure. I'm too nervous to be hungry anyway."
Just then, Maplebrook walked over to Applepaw, "Applepaw, are you ready for your first day?"
"Yes I am, I think I'm ready for anything!" Applepaw responded, more confident then before.
"Okay, follow me and we'll go right to the river," Maplebrook decided.
"Now I'll get to see what Goldenpaw was talking about," she thought.
Maplebrook led Applepaw through the forest slowly, letting her sniff sniffs, and try her first catch at prey, a mouse. When they got to the river Applepaw saw what Goldenpaw meant: there was a waterfall, a couple of stones that stuck out resisting the water flowing around it. They led all the way across the river to the other side.
"Those stones are called the stepping-stones, they lead to WaterClan territory," Maplebrook explained.
She stopped in a clearing and dropped into a crouch, "You see what I'm doing? This is called a hunting crouch, you slowly walk like this so your prey doesn't hear you, and it makes catching prey easier. You try."
"Ok, I'll try." Applepaw tried to imitate her and fell over in a plop.
"Good try; I did the same thing when I first did it." Maplebrook said.
"Mousedung, this is hard," Applepaw complained, trying again.
"You didn't expect it to be easy did you?"
After she perfected her hunting crouch, Maplebrook let her try to catch some prey again, and this time she caught it. Her first prey was a mouse, which she learned to bury to so she could fetch it later. Maplebrook took her through different path back to the camp so she could see more, they picked up her prey and she was about to add it to the fresh-kill pile when Wovenstar came over and let her eat it for noon-kill. After noon-kill, she went on a hunting patrol and got another mouse, and for night-kill she picked out a vole. Her first long day as an apprentice was over.
The End