"And then you coil up your haunches, and pounce for the killing blow." Breezepelt performed a demonstration as Harepaw nodded, watching intently. It was his first training lesson in MeadowClan after having been given a tour of the territory the day before, and already Harepaw was surprised at the immense difference between this Clan and his former one. Here he was able to learn without the fear of being tortured in the process.
"Why not you give it a try, Harepaw?" Breezepelt suggested, breaking through Harepaw's train of thought. He nodded once more and crouched down to the ground. He focused on a nearby leaf, green with the brown stains of decay. Wiggling his haunches, Harepaw then sprang into the air, his gaze never leaving his target. He missed by nearly a half of a tail-length; the wind caused by his attempt fluttered the leaf into the air, spiraling into a nearby bush. Naturally, Harepaw felt disgraced by his failure, and held his head down as he waited for a nasty retort. Instead, he heard a mrrow of laughter erupt from his mentor.
"Looks like your prey ran away," Breezepelt joked, seemingly unaware of Harepaw's humble instincts. "Give it another try; this time lower your haunches a bit, all right?"
Harepaw forced himself to relax, and then attempted the move several more times until he managed to land directly on his target. For the most part, he enjoyed the training session, stopping every now and then to get a look at the scenery; newleaf had arrived, as shown from the tall green grass surrounding him, and the occasional flower peeking out. As he practiced, he sensed a bond forming between his mentor and him; a bond that he hadn't even achieved a fragment of with Pantherclaw. It was still hard to believe that that life was far behind him, though both the physical and mental scars would never diminish.
As the sun began to retreat below the horizon, Breezepelt stretched for a heartbeat, and then straightened up. "You're doing really great for your first lesson; let's call it a day and head back to camp; maybe we can catch a little something on the way back." Harepaw followed obediently as Breezepelt led the way towards camp.
When they were nearly half way there, a soft rustle in the towering grass sounded, announcing the presence of a vole. Its dark eyes shifted from side to side, alert as it scampered about in search of food. Breezepelt and Harepaw halted in their tracks and dropped to the ground before it could spot them. Breezepelt rested his tail on his apprentice's shoulder, signaling that he wanted him to try to catch it. Harepaw immediately began to stalk forward, keeping his training session in mind as he moved in for the kill. As the vole stood still for a few heartbeats, he bunched up his haunches and then pounced, paws flailing. He came down fast, slamming one paw onto the vole's skull before it could react. While it was dazed, he lowered his head and delivered the killing bite to the neck.
"Nice kill," Breezepelt meowed as Harepaw gripped his catch in his jaws. For the first time in what seemed like moons, Harepaw smiled as he bounded back to camp behind his mentor. He had thoroughly enjoyed his training session.
When they arrived back in camp, Harepaw was about to drop his catch in the fresh kill pile, when Breezepelt shook his head and mewed, "Can you give that to the elders? Their den is over there." He gestured towards a clump of roots that had originated from the enormous tree in the center of the camp. Harepaw nodded and padded over, glancing over his shoulder to see Breezepelt heading inside the warriors' den. He wondered briefly if apprentices slept outside the camp as they did in CreviceClan, but he dismissed that thought for later as he approached the elders' den. Three cats dwelled there; one, a dark brown tabby with white hairs on his muzzle, was sound asleep in a bed of moss, while a white cat with gleaming yellow eyes was nodding intently as a young tortoiseshell she-cat with only a stump for one paw spoke to her.
"I mean I just couldn't believe her! So then I-" the tortoiseshell she-cat broke off when she spotted Harepaw. She narrowed her eyes, recoiling slightly. "Oh, it's one of the two CreviceClan newcomers," she spat.
The mention of his former Clan stung Harepaw as he quietly set the vole down before her, careful to avoid her glare. He recalled Violetstar saying earlier that not every cat would welcome him with open paws into the Clan; now he could see that she had been entirely true. Though he noticed that the white she-cat was shaking her head as the tortoiseshell cat continued.
"Parading into this camp, expecting us to leap for joy at their presence after having raked their claws all over our pelts and our camp. The nerve!" It took nearly all of Harepaw's strength not to give in to his submissive instincts as the she-cat's angry gaze bore into him. For just a heartbeat, the tortoiseshell she-cat's face transformed, and instead he was seeing his mother's white face and blue eyes. He saw her sneering as she looked down on him, that cruel, merciless sneer that could only mean he was about to be punished. Harepaw shut his eyes, erasing the image, but it left him feeling suddenly weak and wobbly on his paws.
"My apologies," he choked, and then, with a quick dip of his head to the arrogant elder, Harepaw slipped out the den. He suddenly bumped into a mound of yellow tabby fur, and looked up to see Reefwind.
"Sorry," he muttered, and then started to back away before Reefwind put a paw in the way.
"Don't pay Redfoot any mind, Harepaw. She was testing you; she tends to do that with many newcomers," Reefwind explained. "I'll go over there and tell her off; she shouldn't be doing that anymore."
Reefwind's presence and respectful manner towards Harepaw calmed him down a bit. "Thank you," he replied. Then, with a quick glance at the darkening sky, he added, "Where should my sisters and I sleep for the night?"
Reefwind flicked his tail towards a loose bramble thicket covered in moss. "The apprentices' den, of course." Silently relieved that he wouldn't have to sleep outside, Harepaw thanked him again and then slowly began padding towards the apprentices' den, keeping his eye out for his sister as he went.
Activity in the camp was relatively slow. He spotted a black tom with white patches sharing a mouse with a ginger she-cat, and a young, mottled, light brown apprentice heading towards the medicine cat den with fresh herbs in her jaws, but not Fishpaw. However, when he at last entered the den, Fishpaw was already there, lying down in a bed of moss and chatting with another apprentice.
"Hi Harepaw!" she mewed as he settled down beside her, enjoying the unusual, yet comfortable feeling of soft moss under his fur. Fishpaw looked better than ever; a pleasant spark shone in her eyes. "I think I've just had the best day in my life."
"Well that day is over just yet," pointed out the apprentice whom Fishpaw had been talking with earlier. He was a white cat with black spots and amber eyes that had not turned away from Fishpaw since Harepaw had entered.
Fishpaw mrrowed with laughter at the apprentice's comment. "You have a point there, Rowanpaw." Harepaw shifted uncomfortably in his nest; for some reason the situation slightly unsettled him. He yearned to discuss the day's events with her, especially hoping to untie the knot that had formed in his stomach since his visit to the elders by sorting that out with her, but it just didn't seem right with Rowanpaw being there.
Harepaw gave a sigh as Fishpaw and Rowanpaw engaged in another conversation without him. He stood up, kneaded his moss bed, and then settled back down again to sleep. After a few heartbeats, he became encased in his own silent world, where he gradually fell asleep.
…
Harepaw stood in the center of the MeadowClan camp, all the cats he had seen that day crowded around him. They were all immersed in conversation, leaving him feeling isolated. All of a sudden, an ominous dark cloud of mist drifted in towards the camp, silent like a cat poised to pounce. Harepaw seemed to be the only one to notice it; he panicked and tried to tell the others, but they wouldn't turn their heads. It was like he didn't exist. Harepaw finally gave up, and turned his back on them. All of a sudden, the mist moved in, and in a flash, Harepaw was encased within it. He attempted to break through, to run back to his Clanmates, but the mist was as thick as a tree trunk, and when he tried to slam through it, he only received a great rush of pain.
Harepaw collapsed to the ground from his efforts, and it was then that the mist formed the shape of a cat with startling blue eyes. Harepaw gasped; he could recognize those eyes anywhere; the slant to them, the cruel glint shining beneath. He recalled seeing those eyes earlier when he had been insulted by the elder Redfoot. They were the eyes of his mother.
The form of Snowstar shifted, and there was an eerie sigh in the air as she reached out towards Harepaw, a small thrush cupped in her forepaw. Its dead beady eyes seemed to stare right at him, sending a chill up his spine. Just as Harepaw began to wonder why he was being shown this, all of a sudden the scene changed, although the misty form of Snowstar remained. Now he was staring into a rushing river, its normally clear water clogged with dark red blood. Harepaw was sickened by the smell that reached his nostrils, and the metallic tang in the air. Just then, he felt an unknown force shove him, and he began to fall for what felt like an eternity, the bloody river never leaving his sight.
The scene shifted once more, and Harepaw plummeted straight down into a field of tall grass. He hadn't been given time to prepare himself for the end of the fall, so his body ached all over. Groaning, Harepaw stumbled to his paws to see the wavering dark figure of Snowstar yet again. He heard a low, snarling sound emitting from beneath her, and out stepped what appeared to be the silhouette of a fox. Tendrils of darkness seeped out from its outline as it stepped towards him, still growling. Suddenly its eyes flashed red, and lunged towards Harepaw, jaws snapping.
Harepaw jumped in fright and tried to dash away, but once again the walls of mist blocked him. The fox closed in, spitting with rage, while Snowstar merely watched, a sneer plastered on her shifting muzzle as she watched the scene. Harepaw's back was against the mist; he had nowhere to run. He could only shiver in utter fear and brace himself as the fox prepared to strike. Then it happened; the fox bared its teeth and then sunk them into his leg, leaving scarlet bite marks; the pain was unbearable, and there was a shrill shriek, but Harepaw hadn't made a sound. The shriek came from afar, and the voice was only too familiar to Harepaw.
The fox seemed to melt into the mist, dark fragments spiraling until they had forged and were undistinguishable from the tendrils of mist, only Harepaw no longer cared. His ears were pricked in the direction where the shriek had sounded. Fishpaw was in trouble! He stood up; the pain from his bitten leg no longer mattered. He didn't know how to react, just that he should. He took one step forwards, and then all of a sudden the shadowy, shifting form of Snowstar cried out.
"Time for another day of training!" Harepaw shot up from his bed of moss, which was torn and scattered all across the den. His body still felt sore, as if he had been running all night long. With wide eyes, he looked up and saw Fishpaw stand over him.
"You look terrible! What happened?" Harepaw realized that he had been breathing heavily as well; he took a moment to try and calm down.
"You're…you're okay…" he murmured, the events of the night's dream still vivid in his mind. Harepaw soon became aware that Rowanpaw and two other apprentices were staring at him as if he was a lunatic. As he gradually become aware that he had been dreaming after all, the dream seemed to vanish into a deep corner of his mind. Harepaw shook himself, got to his paws, and followed Fishpaw out of the den for his next day in MeadowClan.
You won't believe how long it took me to write this chapter. I just spent an entire afternoon and evening on this short little chapter. :/ Still, I hope you enjoyed it. PLEASE REVIEW; it'll mean the world to me. ^^