Chapter 26

The whole of Shadowclan was tense. It was night time of the same day, and Raggedstar had sent a patrol to meet Aspen at the border. The patrol consisting of the senior warriors Blizzardwing, Mousewing, Lizardstripe, Mudclaw, and of course, Snowleap had left a little while ago and were due to be back soon. Branchtail felt like he could explode from waiting.

He was sitting with his sisters, Tangleburr, and Deerfoot in the clearing. "I almost wish I could go to my nest and sleep," Ivyshine yawned, "But there's no way I'd fall asleep."

"Brrr..." Flowerdapple shivered, "The nights are getting colder."

"Really?" Ivyshine blinked. Then she looked at her thick gray coat that she had inherited from Yellowfang. "Oh..."

"Yes, smart one," Branchtail snorted, "Can't you see our breath is coming out in puffs?"

"Well, I," Ivyshine shuffled her paws in front of her in embarrassment.

"Yes, not all of us were blessed by Starclan with thick pelts," Tangleburr chimed in, shifting slightly, "Although that pelt must be just awful in the height of greenleaf.

"Alright, enough of Ivyshine's pelt," Deerfoot interrupted, "You two, have you picked names yet?"

"No," Tangleburr answered, "We're going to wait to see them before we give them a name."

The group sat in silence before Flowerdapple looked past Branchtail and said suddenly, "They're back."

Branchtail turned to see the patrol entering the camp. He wasn't the only one to see them; his clanmates who had also been sitting outside waiting had quickly gotten to their paws. Soon, they were clustered around the returning patrol. Raggedstar emerged from his den, and immediately the crowd parted to let their leader through. "Well?" he demanded, "How did it go?"

Snowleap met her leader's gaze. "We'd better go into your den and discuss this," she said quietly.

"Alright," Raggedstar nodded in reply. Then he turned to the crowd and said, "We'll discuss this in the morning! For now, every cat back to their nests."

No cat argued, as it was currently moonhigh and dawn would be approaching soon. Branchtail followed the steady stream of warriors into their den as each cat made their way to their respective nests. Branchtail curled in the moss with Tangleburr beside him.

Dawn was there before Shadowclan knew it and time for the senior warriors to teach them how to fighting like the rogues of Thunderclan did. "Right," Raggedstar said, once the clan was assembled, "I want all of you to listen carefully. These fighting tactics are rather savage and should be only used against the rogues or as a last resort if you should ever find yourself in a fight for your life. Amberleaf has set up a training schedule."

Then he took a step back and Amberleaf stepped forward. "For the first set, I have chosen only warriors to start," she said, "The cats mentoring the newly made apprentices should start teaching them the basics before letting them learn these advanced moves."

Branchtail gazed at Whitepaw, who looked slightly disappointed that he wouldn't be able to take part in learning the new moves. "You haven't even learned to hunt yet," he whispered to his disgruntled apprentice, "No offense, but what makes you think you'd be able to keep up with these moves yet?"

"I guess you're right," Whitepaw sighed.

"Hey, your sisters and denmates won't be learning these either," Branchtail gave him a playful nudge, "And we can all go and learn to hunt while the others train."

Whitepaw brightened at this and blinked up at Branchtail. "Really?" he said excitedly.

"Yes, really," Branchtail purred.

"What are we waiting for?! Let's go!" Whitepaw exclaimed with a bounce.

"Not so fast, we have to eat, and I have to talk to the other mentors," Branchtail reminded him, "Go pick something to eat."

"Ok," Whitepaw said cheerfully. The black-and-white tom went over to the fresh-kill pile where his denmates were. While Whitepaw was having himself some prey, Branchtail spoke to the mentors and they agreed that they would meet to teach the youngest apprentices the hunting crouch.

"How come Mintpaw and Marigoldpaw get to go and learn the moves?" Applepaw whined.

"Because they're nearly warriors," Ashheart, her mentor, retorted, "Their denmates were made warriors not too long ago and it's nearly their turn."

Applepaw just gave a huff and went to stand by her sister, Tallpaw. "Wait! Wait!" Stumpykit called, racing over to the group, Cinderkit right behind him. "Can we come with you?"

"Please?" Cinderkit begged, his amber eyes wide and pleading, "There's nothing for us to do!"

"You're not six moons yet," Tallpaw reminded him gently, "You still have half a moon to wait."

"So?" Stumpykit scoffed, "We're old enough."

"No, you're not," Rowanberry said sternly, coming up behind her sons.

"Mouse-dung," Cinderkit whispered quietly so his mother wouldn't hear him.

Apparently she did. "Mouse-dung indeed," Rowanberry said, "You really thought I wouldn't notice you trying to plead your way out of camp? Now, go play."

The two toms slunk off, clearly disappointed that their plans had been foiled. "Sorry about that," Rowanberry said apologetically, "They're getting restless."

"It's fine," Nettlespots, Darkpaw's mentor purred, "Cloudpelt was the same way when he was that age."

Rowanberry gave a purr of amusement and, saying heir goodbyes, the group headed into the forest. "Brr," Wetpaw shivered, "Looks like the days are getting cold too."

"Prey will be going underground soon," Clawface, who was Wetpaw's mentor, added.

Branchtail's thoughts went to Tangleburr back at camp. Would there be enough for her and their kits to eat come the snows? Shadowclan was getting larger and with that size meant more mouths to take up the precious little prey of leaf-bare.

After a few moments, the group arrived in a large clearing. "Right," Nettlespots said, "All of you, line up. We're going to teach you a basic hunting crouch."

Clamoring for spots, the five apprentices lined up across the clearing. Once they got their spots, the apprentices watched them expectantly. "Here it is," Branchtail said, his muscles falling into the position.

The apprentices tried to copy, with varying levels of success. Branchtail walked around his apprentice, inspecting his stance. "Good start, but you have more of your weight on your left side. Your weight has to be distributed evenly in order to have an effective leap," Branchtail said.

Whitepaw adjusted his hunches. "Good," Branchtail said approvingly, "But now you have your tail in the air."

Whitepaw smacked his tail to the earth. "Not all the way, just so it's right above the ground," Branchtail purred.

He lifted his tail slightly. "There!" Branchtail said, "You've got it."

Whitepaw beamed. "Now, let's work on stalking," Ashheart called.

"Now that you have gotten the crouch down, the next step is stalking," Crowtail said. Then she demonstrated.

"You don't want to move too quickly because your prey might hear you. And you always want to be sure of where you're putting your paws," Crowtail called, stalking forward. Then she sat up. "There, you try."

Branchtail watched as the apprentices had their first attempts. "Slow down a bit," Branchtail instructed.

Whitepaw slowed himself down a bit. "Now we'll practice leaps," Crowtail continued.

One of the mentors demonstrated and then it was the apprentices' turns. It wasn't long until the leaping turned into a competition of who could jump the furthest, and then escalated to jump on top of each other instead of the forest floor. Good-natured play-fighting ensued amid happy mews. The young cats looked like they were having such a fun time that Branchtail was almost sorry it would have to stop. "Hey, you five, cut that out," Crowtail said sternly, "We're trying to teach you unruly lot how to hunt properly."

Applepaw, Tallpaw, Darkpaw, Whitepaw, and Wetpaw broke apart, looking sheepish. "I think that's enough for now," Clawface said, trying not to laugh.

Crowtail was not as amused. "Seriously, you are apprentices now, not kits. I expect you to act more mature than this," she sniffed, "But I agree with Clawface. We'll head back to camp and have a break."

The group traveled back, where they met Snowleap. "Amberleaf says that you're part of the next group, Branchtail," she said.

Branchtail glanced at Crowtail, who said, "Go ahead, I'll take Whitepaw."

Crowtail was one of Shadowclan's senior warriors and Branchtail knew Whitepaw would fare well with her. "Thanks," Branchtail said gratefully.

Branchtail followed Snowleap to the training hollow where his training was to begin.