The Renaissance - Book 1: Rising Sun - Chapter 13
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Chapter Thirteen
Another moon passed and Sunpaw and her littermates continued to grow and blossom. Sunpaw spent more time training with Bramblestar and focusing on her warriors skills. She wanted to learn as much as she could to be the best warrior she could be.
"Hollypaw, keep your tail tucked in!" Hazeltail called to her apprentice from the sidelines of the training hollow. "If you don't, Sunpaw could dart around and bite it, or pin it down to hold you."
"Sunpaw, keep yours tucked in as well," Bramblestar added. "Your form is good, but remember not to expose your belly too much. Your opponent will see that you're slacking in that area and they'll go for it."
Hazeltail nodded. "Same with you, Hollypaw."
Hollypaw rolled her eyes and crouched low again. Sunpaw mimicked her sister's movements and kept her tail tucked in as she was instructed. Hollypaw's tail stood tall and erect. It twitched once and Hollypaw launched herself off the ground at Sunpaw. Sunpaw reacted quickly and ducked under her, reaching one paw up and ran it along her belly.
An annoyed hiss sounded from the sidelines and Hazeltail stepped forward. "Why would you try that? It might work on a dumber opponent, but a smarter one will do exactly what Sunpaw did and you'll have your guts spilling everywhere!"
Hollypaw rose from her crouch and lashed her tail in annoyance. "I'm sorry, okay? Can I try it again?"
Hazeltail opened her mouth to say something, but Bramblestar stepped up beside her. "Perhaps we should call it a day. The sun is setting and I was hoping to get some hunting done."
"Okay," Hazeltail meowed slowly. Sunpaw could see the reluctance in your eyes, but the gray she-cat tore her eyes away from the two apprentices and turned them to Bramblestar. "Were you thinking along the lines of an assessment?"
Sunpaw's ears pricked up at the word "assessment". Her fur prickled with excitement at the thought of passing and becoming a warrior. She looked at Bramblestar expectantly.
The large brown tabby tom shrugged his shoulders. "If you like," he whispered. "Where would you like them to start?"
Hazeltail's whiskers twitched as she thought. "How about they begin outside the training hollow. We can give them until sunset to hunt as much prey as they can and meet us back here."
Bramblestar nodded. "Sounds good."
The four cats padded out of the training hollow. Sunpaw's paws itched with anticipation to get out and begin her first assessment. I will not let Bramblestar down, she promised silently.
"You may begin," Bramblestar mewed after a second.
Sunpaw wasted no time and bounded off into a clump of ferns. She made her target the familiar Ancient Oak, traveling with her jaws open to taste the air for prey. She padded along, and it was not long until the scent of wood pigeon wafted toward her.
She spotted the bird pecking at something on the forest floor just up the trail. Sunpaw crouched low and did as Bramblestar taught her—keeping her tail slightly elevated so she wouldn't rustle any leaves. She bit her lip in determination to keep her paw steps light as well as quiet.
The pigeon continued its pecking, oblivious to its hunter that was closing in. Sunpaw was less than two tail-lengths away when her own tail swished some leaves left over from the newleaf thaw. The bird's head shot up and its small black eyes looked straight at Sunpaw. She could almost see her reflection in the bird's soulless black eyes.
Without a moment's notice, both the cat and the bird took flight. Sunpaw shot off the ground, claws out-stretched as the wood pigeon fluttered upward on its delicate wings. The birds attempt to escape was futile. Sunpaw brought it back to the ground and gave it the killing bite.
After burying her catch, Sunpaw continued on toward the Ancient Oak. Along the way, she caught a mouse and a vole as well. As she neared the large tree, she tasted the air and picked up the scent of a crow. It was not unusual to smell an occasional crow, but the bird's scent was almost overpowering.
Sunpaw's lips curled back in disgust at the stench. She couldn't seem to detect the scents of any other prey. Moving swiftly and quietly, she began to circle the oak, her ears pricked and mouth open. As she rounded along the other side of the oak that faced ShadowClan territory, she drew back in horror.
Amongst the scent of the crow, she did not detect the smell of rotting flesh. A few tail-lengths away from the gnarled roots of the massive tree, the lifeless body of a cat lay. Seven crows were gathered around the body, some even beginning to pick at the unfortunate cat's entrails. Sunpaw stared in horror at the blood and organs that spilled out from the cat's body. A large wound stretched along the length of its belly as if it had been gutted. Sunpaw shivered as she remembered that she could have performed the same move on Hollypaw earlier if she had wanted to injure her sister.
"RiverClan?" Bramblestar asked, coming up beside her.
Sunpaw jumped and looked at her mentor with an irritated expression. "Bramblestar, great StarClan, you scared me! What do you mean RiverClan?" she asked lashing her tail.
"Can't you smell it? RiverClan scent? The victim must be RiverClan," Bramblestar meowed.
"That victim," a new voice growled. The two cats looked up to see a small patrol of RiverClan cats bounding up toward them from the lakeshore. "Is my mate!" a dark brown RiverClan tom snarled. He rushed up the dead gray-and-white she-cat. "Petalfur…" he whispered, gazing at the dead body longingly. "Oh, Petalfur…" Sunpaw watched sadly as the growl in his voice melted away to a soft whisper as he nuzzled the corpse as if he hoped that she would suddenly open her eyes and return to him.
The gray she-cat that had spoken for RiverClan at the Gathering came forward and stood before Bramblestar. "Do you know why one of my warriors is dead on your territory?" she asked, her voice on the edge of a growl.
Bramblestar narrowed his eyes, but otherwise showed no further signs of aggression. "Do you see blood on our paws, Mistystar?"
The RiverClan leader flattened her ears against her head and then narrowed her eyes. "No… but who's to say that it's not a ThunderClan cat committing the murders?"
Sunpaw's eyes widened in disbelief. No ThunderClan cat would ever think about killing another cat so ruthlessly. Bramblestar growled. "A ThunderClan cat could have done this just as easily as a ShadowClan, WindClan, or RiverClan cat! What gives you the right to accuse your birth Clan of murder?"
All of the cats, even the tom who was crouched by his dead mate went silent. Mistystar bared her fangs. "I am a RiverClan cat," she declared simply. "I have no relations what-so-ever toward you forest-dwelling, pheasant-eaters!" she growled.
"And I am a ThunderClan cat, even if my father might have died as a ShadowClan cat. No one questions your loyalty, I just want to know why you're so quick to judge a Clan that has done nothing wrong," Bramblestar said simply.
Mistystar's hackles rose. "I don't care if you're half StarClan!" she snapped. "All I know is that my warrior is dead!"
"You're right—she is dead. Do not forget that ThunderClan has lost warriors too," the ThunderClan leader pointed out.
"No—a warrior."
Bramblestar's neck fur rose. "What exactly are you accusing us of?" he growled.
"I want to know if you're responsible for the murders!" the RiverClan leader spat.
Sunpaw stared at the two Clan leaders. She knew that they could smell her fear scent, but she couldn't control it. She unsheathed her claws, ready to defend Bramblestar if she had to, but she didn't want to harm any RiverClan cats. We shouldn't be fighting each other! Sunpaw thought despairingly. We should be putting this negative energy toward finding the real killer, not shooting accusations at one another!
The other RiverClan warriors began to gather around their Clan leader, growling. Sunpaw stared at them wide-eyed but stepped forward to defend her Clan's honor.
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