Woops again?
Moongaze's pov
"How have you been hunting lately?," I ask Dewfrost. "As in, what are you doing for food? Are you going after whatever you see?"
Russetspots, Hazelstream, Hailstorm, and I were with Cherrystream, Molefur, Snowstorm, Ambergaze, Ivypool, Jayfeather, Lilystream, Dewfrost, and Seedstar to talk about ways to save the clan. I had Pitchfur mentor Birdpaw for the day so that I could focus on helping. Spotpaw, meanwhile, had taken Brackenfoot as his mentor.
"We've been doing it so that the warriors hunt the prey closer to the ground. That way, energy is saved from climbing and we can hunt more," Dewfrost answers.
"Well, that's your problem," Hazelstream says. "When I was cast out, how many cats did you actually lose?"
"Three. You had Birdpaw and Spotpaw," Ivypool says.
"Exactly. Some prey you might be hunting could be expecting or could be caring for their young. Then, you lose prey that could be hunted in the future instead," Hazelstream says.
"Same thing would go with the eggs you would find in bird nests," Hailstorm says. "Young birds are in them."
"Are you saying to change our hunting techniques back to when Firestar was leader?," Seedstar asks.
"In a way, yes," I answer. "If you can avoid killing future prey, then you may be better off."
"We've also been having trouble with badgers," Cherrystream says. "My border patrol had just chased off a young one only three sunrises ago."
"I remember that," Lilystream says. "Evepelt is still limping. Good thing she's moved to the nursery now. That was by the border next to the unknown territory, right?"
"Yeah," Dewfrost says.
"Maybe increase the border patrols in the areas with more badgers intruding," Hailstorm says. "I remember how, the more we had stuck around an area, the less foxes and badgers as well as prey there was."
"We could add some claw marks to the trees, too," Molefur says. "Maybe it'll show that we will defend this territory."
"Thats a good idea," Dewfrost says.
"Actually, there has been a shortage of herbs lately," Lilystream tells Jayfeather. "I've been keeping up with the garden, but less has been growing."
"I wonder if Graylight would know how to help," he says. "She was from the horseplace. She must know something about growing herbs."
"You should ask," Dewfrost says, standing. "Anyways, we should discuss this more later. There are patrols to be sent and apprentices to mentor."
The rest of us agree, and we all pad out of Seedstar's den. I pause at the top of the rocky slope, looking around until I see Redwing laying with Evepelt and Dawnpaw. Redwing's belly had grown, and I have to smile.
"Gonna go talk to your mate, or what?," Ivypool asks, padding past me. I just laugh, shaking my head, before jumping down the large slope and padding over to Redwing.
"You guys hungry?," I ask the two queens as Dawnpaw pads over to Lilystream.
"I think we're good," Redwing purrs.
"I wish Blackspot would ask me that," Evepelt says, laying her head on her paws. "He's always hunting these days."
"He's making sure there is enough food for you and his kits," I say. "If I was a better hunter, I probably would too."
"You're a great hunter," Redwing says.
I twitch my tail. "Maybe for herbs."
"Glad you're not a medicine cat," she says.
"I would have loved to see how you two would have worked out if that was the case," Evepelt says. She then yawns and gets up. "I think I'm gonna take a nap."
"I will too," Redwing says, sitting up. She looks past me for a moment before turning to me. "I think Dewfrost wants you."
I look behind me to see Dewfrost looking, and he waves his tail to tell me to come over. Then I turn back to Redwing, touching noses with her before padding over for my patrol.
Skyfur's pov
"I hate how they're treating us," Sunfoot complains. "You would have thought that we had broken the warrior code or something."
"Who even knows anymore," Badgerstripe says bitterly, pushing a pebble around with her paw.
I just sigh, watching as Gingertail, Hawkleap, and Stormheart leave for a border patrol. "I wonder how the others are doing," I say.
"Probably better than us," Badgerstripe sighs. "Even Olive, Slink, and Lilac are being treated better than us."
"At least we aren't Raggedfur and Fernbush," Sunfoot says, looking over at the two warriors who were strictly told to stay in camp the entire moon.
Badgerstripe turns to him. "Excuse you. We have different situations going on," she says. "The clan just isn't sure how to feel about them yet, since they were cast out. Us, meanwhile, were told that we have to have warriors watching us. At least they trust them enough that they won't constantly have a warrior keeping an eye on them. They have their problem, we have ours. They aren't the same, so let's not treat it like that."
"Alright. Alright. Sorry," he says.
"I want to go hunting," I sigh, standing. "I'll see you guys later."
I pad over to Pinefoot, of whom was sharing tongues with Featherstep. "Pinefoot. Is it okay if I go hunting?"
"The hunting patrol hasn't left yet. Would you like to go with them?," he asks.
"Yeah. That would be great," I say.
"Okay. Just go and tell Maplepelt you're joining his patrol," he says.
I pad over to Maplepelt who was sitting with Redfern and Sandpaw, who was the tan and white apprentice. "Pinefoot says I can join your patrol," I tell him, and he nods.
"Alright. We're just waiting for Softfoot," he says. It isn't long before Softfoot pads over and we leave the camp, heading toward the Thunderclan border.
Once out of the trees, I look across the lake to where there was still a little bit of smoke rising from the horseplace. "What happened there, anyways?," I ask.
"Twolegs came over and lit it on fire," Softfoot sighs. "The old twolegs had already moved out, though. They did leave all of their stuff."
"Where did the twolegs go?," Sandpaw asks, her ears perked up in curiosity.
"We don't know," Redfern says. "They just suddenly left within a single moon of each other."
"Wait. Do you hear that?," I ask. The rest of the patrols stops to listen too, and we hear sounds of distress coming from closer to the Riverclan border.
Maplepelt immediately turns to us. "C'mon," he says, running toward the border with us following behind.
"Is that fox?," I ask, smelling the terrible scent in the air.
"Most definitely," Maplepelt says, and swerves around a tree before immediately crouching down. "Get down."
The patrol crouches, and we slowly crawl forward. Once I am past the tree I notice what was so dangerous.
"Deadeye! Pufftail!," I shout, jumping up and running over, not even hearing Maplepelt's call. The two warriors were stuck in a tree, three foxes barking trying to get them from below.
"Skyfur!," Pufftail shouts. The branch they were on sways, and I notice how flimsy it was.
I jump onto the back of the largest fox, digging my claws into it's skin. The fox howls, jumping back and thrashing around to shake me off.
"You are such an idiot!," I hear Redfern yell, and hear one of the other foxes yelp. When I look up, the rest of the patrol was attacking the foxes, and I look up to Pufftail and Deadeye before I'm thrown off of the fox's back.
I land with a thud, and before I knew it my front leg was being bitten and I was thrown a ways away from the fights, rolling over again and again before coming to a rest.
Pain flares from my leg when I put pressure on it, but I still manage to hobble my way back to the fight. Deadeye was just running off one of the smaller faces with Softfoot while Fernbush was with Sandpaw, battling the other small fox. I'm looking for Maplepelt when I'm knocked to the side, the stench of fox flooding my senses again as the fox snarls down at me.
"Skyfur!," I hear, and then the fox yelps again, getting knocked aside. Deadeye and Maplepelt both start clawing at the fox, and eventually it whimpers and limps into the bushes.
The other small fox had also ran, and Deadeye pads over to me. "You okay?"
"Hey. He's not your clanmate," Maplepelt growls, shoving him aside. "You both need to learn your boundaries."
"He's my friend!," Deadeye shouts.
"He was my apprentice! He's in my clan! He's on my patrol! I think I know him better than you!"
I stand back, as does the rest of the patrol and Pufftail, until Redfern steps up. "Maplepelt. Take it easy. They were cast out together."
"Skyfur was not cast out!," Maplepelt yowls, turning to glare at her before looking back at Deadeye. "This useless drypaw was! How could he think he knows Skyfur better than me!"
"His parents know him better than anyone! Even me! You can't say that you know him better!," Deadeye shouts.
"Of course his parents know him better! Why do you think I'm saying I do!," he shouts, then freezes.
"What?," I ask.
"Aren't Pinefoot and Featherstep your parents?," Pufftail asks.
Maplepelt sighs, then waves his tail. "I will explain at camp. Looks like you've dislocated your shoulder. Let's go," he says, then turns to Deadeye and Pufftail. "And you two. Don't get yourself into trouble like that again. Someone might not come around to save you."
With that, Softfoot helps me hobble back to camp with my patrol, Deadeye and Pufftail padding the other way.
Didn't even think about having that happen until I was writing this chapter. I was trying it find a way to make Maplepelt's outburst a big thing, and... that happened. If you remember me saying that something later in the book wouldn't match up correctly, chapter 27 or 28 I think, this was what wasn't matching up.
Here is a chapter question. Which chapter has been your favorite from this story? Mine isn't one that I have published yet, or the one where Moongaze and Redwing got together. Not sure.
Have an awesome week! Bye!
Ttyl
-TheRealDigiGal