Firepaw dropped two mice on the fresh-kill pile, then turned to face her mentor, who frowned. "You had the entire day. Is that all you could catch?" It had been a quarter moon since Firepaw's strange dream, and the dream was almost completely forgotten.
Firepaw shook her head. "I buried more behind that bush." She flicked her tail toward a bramble bush a few catlengths away.
"Show me." Rolling her eyes, Firepaw padded toward the bush, swatted a few brambles out of the way, ignoring the stinging scratches that formed on her paws, and revealed a squirrel, a starling, and two voles.
She could hardly keep the annoyance out of her voice. "Satisfied?"
"What's gotten into you?" Brightwing demanded. "You're not normally like this." It was true. Firepaw herself knew that she was more irritated than she would normally be, and she didn't know why. She had the feeling that something bad was about to happen, but she couldn't tell what.
"I don't care!" Firepaw spat furiously. Even her mentor got onto her nerves today, and she seemed to be acting overly protective. Then, she softened her voice, blinking her brilliant green eyes. "I'm sorry."
"Why don't you go and do something that you enjoy?" Brightwing suggested gently. "Then, we'll have to leave for the gathering."
The Gathering! Though it would be her first, Firepaw didn't feel like going. There was a nagging feeling in her chest that she should make sure nothing bad happened in camp during the night. Yeah, the Gathering.
Shrugging, Firepaw padded over to Darkpaw and Stormpaw. "Want to practice fighting?" Anything to get my mind off... off what? Just to relax myself.
From behind her, she heard Brightwing mutter, "When I suggested doing something you enjoy, this wasn't exactly what I had in mind."
Darkpaw shrugged. "Why not?"
"It'll be fun!" Stormpaw chimed in. "Darkpaw, you and me first!" Firepaw dipped her head, then padded to the top of a large boulder, then sat, watching, as the two cats circled each other. She stifled a yawn as Darkpaw attacked first, but Stormpaw dodged, sending her reeling back with a blow to her head. Darkpaw was on her paws almost immediately, and she ducked a blow to her ear.
Darkpaw crept under Stormpaw, then dug soft paws into his belly and threw him onto his back. Darkpaw relaxed a little as Stormpaw went limp, but he surged upward, throwing her off, then jumped on her and pinned her down. "I won!"
"Then go against Firepaw!" Darkpaw suggested, and Firepaw sprang down from the rock, ready to meet her littermate in a mock battle.
Stormpaw leaped first, but Firepaw dodged to one side and brought both her paws down, hard, on Stormpaw's head, fueled by unexplaineable anger at nothing in particular. Stormpaw howled in pain and stopped short. His eyes fixed on something behind her. "Look behind you, Firepaw!"
Firepaw twisted her head around to look, and in the same moment, she found herself on the ground, pinned firmly by Stormpaw.
"You cheated!" Firepaw growled, angrily. She wriggled free to face her brother. "You distracted me on purpose! You cheated!" Her claws unsheathed, and she whipped her ginger head from side to side. Froststar whispered to Ashflame a few tail-lengths away, and Firepaw cursed inwardly as she saw them exchange worried glances.
Firepaw wasn't angry at her brother.
Or anything, for that matter.
She just knew that something bad would happen soon. It was just a feeling. And she was angry because she knew that she was powerless to stop whatever was happening.
She turned and darted away, out of camp, into the forest.
Ignoring her brother's furious yowl of, "Hey, come back! I'm no cheat!"
What did he know.
He probably didn't have a sense of foreboding.
Fuming, she settled down in an empty clearing. She didn't bother to sheathe her claws. Her ginger fur was still fluffed up, and her hackles were still raised as she stared blankly at her surroundings.
Pawsteps sounded behind her, and, lifting her head challengingly, she saw that it was Ashflame and Froststar. Her green eyes still blazed as she glared at them. Froststar padded closer. "Firepaw, there's something bothering you, and a blind rabbit could see that. But it wasn't fair of you to call Stormpaw a cheat."
"How can you say that?" Firepaw demanded. "He tricked me into being distracted!"
"Just calm down, and then, when you feel better, you can go and apologize to-" Ashflame began.
Firepaw cut him off. "I'll never apologize to Stormpaw!" she hissed. "Why don't you two just... leave me alone!" She turned and raced away, into the deeper part of the forest. She was pleased when her parents didn't follow. Firepaw sank her claws into the bark of the Sky Oak, then pulled herself up. Anything to distract myself. She leaped from branch to branch, then looked down, perched on one of the highest branches.
She could even see to RiverClan territory, across the lake. It was a view of all the clans. Fascinating.
"She can really climb, can't she?" The voice nearly made Firepaw fall out of the tree in shock. The voice belonged to Ashflame.
"Yes, she can." That was Froststar.
No, it couldn't be.
She'd left them all far behind her.
But still, as she looked down, there stood her mother and father. Firepaw jumped from branch to branch, climbing down the great oak tree, dropping to her paws tail-lengths from Froststar and Ashflame.
"I thought I told you to leave me alone?" Without waiting for a reply, she turned and stalked away.
She nearly barreled straight into Ashflame.
"Firepaw, I'm your father, and I know what's best for you." Ashflame's voice was firm. "Tell us about it."
"There's nothing wrong!" Firepaw practically yowled.
Froststar flicked her tail. "Why did you yowl at Stormpaw like that? He's your brother, and he was only playing. It wasn't even a real fight."
"These fights with your littermates, they're only meant to make you grow stronger," Ashflame mewed.
Firepaw shrugged. "Maybe I shouldn't have called him a cheat, then. But Brightwing says that my emotions are really obvious and easy to read. Then how come Stormpaw couldn't tell I was in a bad mood?"
"Look, Firepaw, I agree that Stormpaw also is a little bit to blame. But how about you? You can't just call your littermate a cheat and walk away as though nothing happened!" Froststar mewed, running her tail over her back.
And then, a yowl, or more like a dying screech, rang through the air, leaving Firepaw to watch as her parents turned away, bounding through the forest in search of the victim.