Chapter Seventeen
The morning dew brought a chill to the air as Briarpaw trekked after the rest of her patrol. She was glad to have relief from the humidity that had hung in the air over the last quarter moon, but it was still cold enough to make her shiver. The rising sun promised to bring warmer weather as the day went on, though. It would be a very good day for hunting and patrolling.
"I'm hungry," Smolderpaw meowed, slackening his pace to match her stride. "I should've grabbed something to eat before we left."
"You have to feed the Clan before you feed yourself, feather-brain."
"Oh, come on. The fresh-kill pile has been full enough lately that they wouldn't have even noticed if I took one little sparrow or mouse. Besides, we'll bring back plenty of prey to make up for it. Ever since the storm passed, there's been an abundance of prey."
"True. Especially birds. All that rain brought plenty of worms, and that's attracted enough birds to feed every cat in the Clans!"
Smolderpaw wrinkled his nose at her words. "On second thought, maybe it's best that I didn't eat. I think that nearly every meal I've had in the last few days has been some type of bird. Makes me lose my appetite for them, really. Perhaps we can catch something else on this patrol."
"Like a nice, juicy rabbit?"
Smolderpaw licked his chops. "Or perhaps a nest of field mice. It's been a while since I tasted them. I like the taste of their tender flesh."
"And the satisfying crunch of their bones beneath your teeth," Briarpaw agreed.
Quiet down, you two," Hazelgorse ordered. "We're coming up on a spot that has plenty of burrows where prey might be hiding. You'll startle them off with all of your talking."
Briarpaw and Smolderpaw lapsed into silence, and fell into step behind Hazelgorse and Cherrytail, the other cats on the patrol. Although they had not detected any prey yet, they instinctively tensed their legs and softened their pawsteps into a stealthy walk.
"Look," Briarpaw hissed under her breath, flicking her tail. The rest of the patrol followed her gaze, and saw that, several fox lengths away, grass stems were stirring as some creature pushed through them. Briarpaw tasted the air and caught the scent of a mouse.
She dropped into a crouch, beginning to stalk forward, but Smolderpaw flicked his tail in front of her, stopping her. "Looks like someone already beat you to it."
She glanced up to see a spotted owl circling overhead. Silent as the wind, it dove towards the twitching grass. They heard a squeak that was abruptly cut off, and the owl swept upward, the mouse in its talons. Gliding back down again, it landed in the field, and used its sharp beak to start tearing into its prey. As it glanced up, it caught sight of the cats nearby and tensed. It tucked the mouse carcass closer to itself, and fluffed up its feathers. Briarpaw guessed it didn't know what to make of them, as owls very rarely interacted with cats, usually only seeing them from the sky.
The owl let out an ear-piercing screech, and the cats backed away, giving it space. The four of them likely could've scared it off pretty easily, but it wasn't worth risking injuries from its sharp talons for a half-eaten mouse. Besides, the owl was just looking for a meal too, there was no need to provoke it. Although, Briarpaw couldn't help feeling slight irritation at losing the prey.
The feelings were quickly forgotten, however, when a chorus of chirps caught their attention.
Ground squirrels!
Briarpaw felt a thrill of excitement. The plump, noisy creatures often congregated in large groups. Where there was one, there was bound to be many others. The tricky part was taking them down before they vanished down their burrows, which were never too far away.
Hazelgorse slowly stalked to the left, and Briarpaw to the right. Cherrytail and Smolderpaw made their way around to the opposite side.
When they were all in position, Briarpaw and Hazelgorse pounced forward. The ground squirrels shot away from their outstretched claws, squealing alarm calls to the rest of the colony. All around them, the creatures shot away into the mouths of their burrows, but it was too late for the ones trapped between the members of the patrol. As they raced away from Hazelgorse and Briarpaw, Cherrytail and Smolderpaw reared up out of the grass, each of them pinning down a ground squirrel and dispatching them with a swift bite to the neck.
The third creature squealed, before quickly wheeling around, which brought him right into Hazelgorse's claws.
Dropping their kills, the cats sprinted after the fleeing prey, although as Briarpaw's paws slapped down against the mouth of the burrow, empty-clawed, she realized the prey had gotten too much of a head start.
The patrol began to turn back to grab the fresh-kill, but Briarpaw stopped them with a flick of her tail, cocking her head to listen closely.
She could hear the sound of heavy panting, and soft, anxious squeaks. Swiveling her ears around, she pinpointed the sound to a nearby burrow.
"There's some more of them hiding close by," she whispered to the others. "We might be able to flush a few of them out."
The patrol gave her swift nods before each prowling over to a burrow nearby her. Briarpaw shifted into position, before giving them a signal.
The three cats frantically began to dig along the sides of the burrow, hissing and snapping their teeth so that the sound echoed through the tunnels. Yelps of alarm came from within, and Briarpaw held her breath as she waited, stilling every part of her body, even as the swaying grass stems tickled her pelt.
Heads popped out other burrows, and she had to resist the temptation to chase them. They were too far away, and would be down the tunnels long before she reached them.
Suddenly, one of the ground squirrels darted out of the burrow in front of her, and, quick as lightning, she snagged it with a killing blow before it could warn the others.
A second creature popped out, and let out a loud shriek as it saw Briarpaw It quickly glanced at the burrow that it had just came out of, but Briarpaw was blocking that escape route.
She pounced at it, but the creature darted away quicker than she had imagined. She hissed under her breath as it escaped down another burrow.
"Hey! At least you got the one," Cherrytail encouraged, trotting up to her. "Now we'll have plenty of prey to bring back to the Clan."
"Yeah! That was a great idea, Briarpaw," Smolderpaw meowed, his amber eyes sparkling with admiration.
Hazelgorse offered no verbal praise, but gave her an approving nod.
"Thank you," she meowed, dipping her head to her Clanmates.
"Right," Hazelgorse meowed briskly, "Let's go grab our kills, then loop around towards the RiverClan border on our way back to camp. There may be some more prey over there. Even though this is a good catch, it won't sustain the Clan forever." Her eyes darkened, and Briarpaw guessed she was thinking about how they had gone hungry after the fox attack. "You can never be too careful," she growled, before padding over to pick up one of the ground squirrels. Smolderpaw and Cherrytail followed, and Briarpaw picked up the one lying near her feet before bounding after them.
They hadn't gone far when the scent of rabbit tainted the air. Briarpaw exchanged an excited glance with Smolderpaw. It had been days since they had eaten a good rabbit.
"Can we go after it?" she pleaded to Hazelgorse.
The russet warrior flicked her tail. "Ok, but keep an eye open. We aren't too far from the Horseplace."
"Don't worry, we will."
"Can you two catch it on your own? I think Cherrytail and I are going to continue to camp so we can get this prey back as soon as possible."
"Definitely," Smolderpaw assured, glancing at Briarpaw.
The two she-cats padded away, and Smolderpaw and Briarpaw walked out into the meadow. Briarpaw and Smolderpaw dug a shallow cache in the ground, before dropping in their prey and covering it with dirt.
She glanced across the moor, hoping to catch a flash of brown fur, or a fluffy white tail. Beside her, Smolderpaw nudged her, pointing his muzzle out into the meadow, where a rabbit stood, grazing on clover.
The two apprentices split apart and stalked towards the rabbit, Briarpaw approaching from the right, and Smolderpaw from the left.
Then, the rabbit casually lifted its head, and froze as it met Briarpaw's gaze. She leaped, and the sudden movement seemed to snap it out of its daze, and it streaked across the moor. Briarpaw and Smolderpaw pounded after it, strategizing their next moves.
Slowly, but steadily, they were gaining on it. She and Smolderpaw flanked it from either side, so it had nowhere to go but straight, which would make it easy to catch up to it. The rabbit was done for.
She was only a few fox lengths behind it now. Smolderpaw was a few tail lengths behind, so she would be the one to make the kill. She squared in on the prey, when suddenly a familiar scent hit her nostrils.
No!
Briarpaw looked up to see the sheep flocking in front of her, and the rabbit vanished in a blur of brown beneath their hooves.
"Fox dung," she hissed as Smolderpaw skidded to a halt beside her.
Her friend's eyes were alight. "I can't believe we lost another rabbit to them," the tom fumed. "We may have plenty of prey now, but that can change quickly. I wish the twolegs would just get these pests out of our territory already!"
"Yeah, well, they took more than the rabbit from us," she muttered, lifting her muzzle to taste the air.
"What do you mean?"
"The ground squirrels! Remember, we buried them? Now the sheep are blocking the cache!"
"What? But I thought…" the tom glanced around, the confusion in his eyes giving way to frustration. "Mouse dung! Now we're going to go back with less prey then we went with!"
"I'm not giving up that easily," she hissed through clenched teeth. She scanned the legs of the sheep, looking for an opening.
"What? You can't actually be considering going in there!"
"Why not?" She paused, turning to him. "Do you really want to tell Hazelgorse that not only did we not catch the rabbit, but we lost the ground squirrels as well?"
Smolderpaw's gaze was uncertain. "Fine. Let's make it quick."
Briarpaw darted into the fray. She sensed Smolderpaw hesitate before hurrying after her.
Hot wool pressed in on all sides of them. Briarpaw shrunk away from the creatures, trying her best to avoid contact. Anxious bleats sounded around her, and, trying to ignore them, she raised her muzzle. The rich, peppery scent of the sheep filled her nose, and she strained to smell something beneath the thick cloud of scent.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Smolderpaw muttered, picking his way towards her.
"This way," she replied as a faint scent of fresh-kill reached her. The scent grew stronger as they made their way deeper into the herd. "It's around here somewhere. Can you see it?"
"It's over here," he called, and she made her way over to where he stood beside a mound of overturned soil.
Briarpaw reached his side and began to dig. When he didn't join her, she gave him an annoyed glance. "Aren't you going to help?"
He didn't respond. The tom's ears were pricked, his body rigid.
She scrambled up to her paws beside him. "What's wrong?"
He turned to her, his amber eyes wide. But before he could reply, a sound echoed through the air.
Briarpaw and Smolderaw exchanged a fearful glance. Her voice was barely audible as she spoke.
"Dogs."