Chapter Nine
Echopaw followed Dappleleaf through the forest, her pelt ruffled by the cold wind that glided through the trees, she was on her way to learning about hunting. "Brr, it sure is cold today!" Dappleleaf shivered.
"I know," Echopaw responded.
The day before had been so nice with blue skies and plenty of sun, it wasn't a good day to hunt, but instead to curl up in her warm nest and sleep.
"Are you ready?" Dappleleaf asked, stopping at a grassy clearing near the centre of the territory.
"I sure am!" Echopaw exclaimed, she had been looking forward to this for moons.
"Okay, I'll teach you the proper hunting crouch first."
Dappleleaf shifted herself into a low crouch, her tail was tucked underneath her hindlegs and one forepaw seemed to be in front of the other. Echopaw copied her, her spine prickling with confidence. "Am I doing it right?" just as she finished speaking, she toppled over into the grass. Oof!
Dappleleaf let out a purr of amusement, "Don't tuck your tail in so far that you lose balance," she advised.
Of course, I was never going to do it right! Echopaw leapt back to her paws and shifted herself back into the position, this time not tucking her tail in as far.
"Good," Dappleleaf's mew was satisfied, "your tail is important for balance, but you don't want it to sweep against the leaves."
"Why can't I just hold it in the air then?" Echopaw tilted her head to one side.
"That's another technique that we'll try once you've mastered this," her mentor replied, "now show me your stalking."
Without trying to get too cocky, Echopaw started to creep forward, like the way she used to creep up on Mudsplash. "Good job, you're a natural, but always remember be slow and silent, if you do that then your prey won't realise that you're there," Dappleleaf explained.
Echopaw nodded, I can't wait to tell Berrypaw that Dappleleaf said i'm a natural, his reaction will be hilarious! "Can I try catch real prey?"
Dappleleaf shook her head, "Not so fast, you need to practice pouncing of something first and then the whole thing again."
Oh for StarClan's sake, it can't be that hard, I just want to catch my first piece of prey! "Okay," she murmured.
"Don't worry it's easy, you just have to try to be as accurate as possible and slam down hard, not so hard that you'll hurt yourself but hard enough your prey won't be able to escape from your grip," Dappleleaf told her.
I can do that! Echopaw nodded confidently. "Try on that stick." Her mentor pointed her tail to a small stick a few fox lengths away.
Echopaw pounced at the stick, but without thinking about her accuracy, she landed with her back paws on it, instead of her front paws. "You came down perfectly hard, but you need to remember accuracy next time, even a mouse could escape from your back paws, they don't have as much power, now try again."
Echopaw padded back to where she was before and leaped at the stick again, this time landing on it perfectly. "Excellent!" Dappleleaf praised her with a purr, "now try the whole routine."
With a sigh, Echopaw lowered into her hunting crouch and crept forward, when she was close enough to the stick, she leapt, landing on it perfectly. "Wow, Echopaw i'm really amazed, that was perfect!" Dappleleaf seemed shocked.
Echopaw puffed out her chest in pride. I bet any cat would've been able to do that, but I might as well enjoy the pride while I can, after all I might struggle to catch real prey.