Silverpaw blinked her eyes open and saw the familiar face of her mentor, Dewdrop. She jerked her head towards the clearing and padded out of the apprentice's den. Silverpaw sat up, yawning, and stretched her body out and shook her fur. She gave herself a quick groom before heading outside. Silverpaw looked up to see that the dawn patrol was still gathering and followed Dewdrop out of camp and to a small clearing just outside camp.
Dewdrop sat, waiting in the middle of the clearing. "Today, I will teach you the hunters crouch. Once we've practiced till sunhigh, we'll join Eagleshadow and Daisypaw on a border patrol and continue teaching you what to do on a border patrol as well." Dewdrop explained. "I wanted to teach you one on one, which is why I've brought you out so early." Silverpaw nodded.
Dewdrop crouched down, keeping her tail low and her hind legs drawn close to her body. Silverpaw crouched down, copying her. Dewdrop sat up and examined her hunters crouch, nodding approvingly. "Good, you've almost got it. Tuck your hind legs a bit more. It'll add power to your jump." She nosed Silverpaw's back legs and Silverpaw tucked them in further. Dewdrop used a paw and gently pressed Silverpaw's tail a bit lower.
"Make sure your tail is low, but not low enough that when you're stalking, it drags on the floor and disturbs the brush and alerts your prey." Silverpaw nodded in understanding and pressed herself low.
"Good! Very good, Silverpaw. You're a quick learner." Dewdrop mewed, and Silverpaw sat up and purred.
"Let's work on stalking now," Dewdrop mewed, dropping low and dragging her body quietly and quickly towards a bundle of moss. She sat up and mewed, "You try now."
Silverpaw crouched down and slid herself across the floor. She reached the moss ball and sat up and looked at Dewdrop. "Good, you're doing excellently, Silverpaw," Dewdrop mewed. Silverpaw purred happily, proud of her quick learning and skills she learned.
Dewdrop then began to explain the different types of stalking for different types of prey, such as placing her paws down softly when stalking mice, and keeping extra quiet when hunting a rabbit. Dewdrop also taught Silverpaw how to stay downwind of her prey, so they wouldn't smell her coming. They then started practicing pouncing and judging a good distance to stalk to before pouncing.
By the time Silverpaw had practiced her stalking wonderfully and her pouncing was great, it was almost sunhigh and they began heading back to camp. Upon arrival, the duo saw Eagleshadow and Daisypaw as well as Volepaw. "Where's Icepelt?" Dewdrop asked Volepaw.
"He went on a hunting patrol and decided to have me join this border patrol to get some experience and learn." Volepaw explained.
Dewdrop mewed an "okay" before turning to the other apprentices. "Have any of you eaten yet?" Volepaw and Silverpaw shook their heads while Daisypaw nodded.
"Alright, go get something to eat quickly, you two. We'll leave as soon as you're finished." Dewdrop mewed before sitting down and grooming herself.
Silverpaw padded over to the fresh-kill pile and looked around. Volepaw padded up beside her and picked out a juicy rabbit and turned to Silverpaw. "Would you like to share this with me?" Volepaw asked, his voice muffled by the rabbit fur. He sneezed as the soft rabbit fur tickled his nose and Silverpaw let out a purr of amusement. She nodded and the two padded to the edge of camp and began to eat.
Daisypaw looked over at the two sharing a rabbit and saw that Volepaw was sitting a bit closer than normal to Silverpaw. She felt a prickle of annoyance and turned around and licked her paw to groom her ears.
After they finished eating, Volepaw and Silverpaw joined the patrol and followed Dewdrop and Eagleshadow out of camp. They were approaching the Darkclan border when Eagleshadow stopped abruptly, shortly followed by Dewdrop. Daisypaw caught up to the two warriors and saw that their noses were twitching. Silverpaw took a good sniff and recognized Darkclan scent was well into their territory, accompanied by rabbit bones and tufts of fur everywhere.
"Darkclan," Dewdrop hissed. "They've been here and stolen our prey!" Eagleshadow let out a low growl and Volepaw stiffened.
"We better report this to Mountainstar, he'll want to hear about this," Eagleshadow growled. The patrol began to head back to camp. Silverpaw led up the rear when all of a sudden she heard a rustling in the trees. Her gaze darted up the tree and saw a squirrel gnawing at an acorn with its back to Silverpaw. Quickly, she leaped at the tree, digging her claws in. Her legs began to tremble in fear, as this was her first time climbing a tree and SIlverpaw had no interest in falling. She quickly shook away the fear and thought to herself, As long as my claws are in and I don't look down, I should be fine. She began to leap higher and higher, from branch to branch until she was just behind the squirrel. The squirrel continued to chew at the nut, completely oblivious to its incoming death. Silverpaw breathed in nervously, before shooting off at the squirrel, pouncing at it and grabbing the squirrel's neck in her teeth. She barely managed to land on a branch before she bit down on the squirrel's neck and killed it. The squirrel let out a loud squeak of pain before it went still.
Silverpaw sat up, purring proudly. Dewdrop burst through the bushes, quickly followed by Volepaw and Eagleshadow. "What's going on?" Dewdrop mewed urgently and watched as Silverpaw gracefully leaped down the tree, the squirrel dangling from her mouth. Dewdrop watched with shock and pride before breaking into a purr.
"Did you catch that yourself?" Dewdrop asked. Silverpaw placed the squirrel on the ground at her feet and nodded.
"I even had to climb a tree to catch it," Silverpaw boasted. Volepaw purred happily and gave Silverpaw a lick on the cheek.
"Great job, Silverpaw!" Eagleshadow praised.
"Yes, I haven't heard of an apprentice catching a piece prey on her first patrol and her first try, and climbing a tree when she hasn't even been trained how yet! Congratulations, Silverpaw." Dewdrop mewed. "I have a strong feeling you'll turn out to be an asset to Mountainclan when you become a warrior." Silverpaw purred happily and Volepaw purred.
The only one who wasn't praising Silverpaw was Daisypaw. Instead of looking at Silverpaw with pride, she gave Silverpaw a look of resentment. Daisypaw glared at Silverpaw hatefully and hissed. Dewdrop noticed the hostility immediately and turned on Daisypaw.
"Daisypaw, what are you doing? It's very un-Mountainclan-like to not praise a clanmate for their accomplishments." Dewdrop mewed angrily and looked at Daisypaw expectantly.
"You're not my mentor, you can't tell me what to do!" Daisypaw hissed.
"But I am," Eagleshadow stepped in, glaring at Daisypaw. "Dewdrop may not be your mentor, but she is still a loyal and valuable warrior, therefore higher in authority than you. Show some respect!"
Daisypaw glared at the warriors murderously. "Yeah, good job, Silverpaw, I guess…" Daisypaw muttered bitterly. It was very obvious she didn't mean it, but the mentors decided not to press her further and began to walk back to camp, gesturing for the apprentices to follow.
By the time Volepaw and Silverpaw entered camp, Eagleshadow and Dewdrop already disappeared in Mountainstar's den, reporting Darkclan. Silverpaw walked towards the fresh-kill pile with her head held high and placed the squirrel at the top of the fresh-kill pile and walked away.
Crystalpaw ran towards Silverpaw excitedly. "Did you catch that squirrel?" She asked. Silverpaw nodded and began to tell the story of how she caught it. Mudpaw and Lilypaw joined Crystalpaw in hearing the story, along with Snowpaw who had heard from Volepaw about what happened. When she finished, the other apprentices stared in awe and congratulated her. The apprentices walked to the middle of camp and heard Mountainstar call a Clan meeting.
"Dewdrop and Eagleshadow reported something very intriguing to me." His gaze swept over the two warriors and gestured for them to explain.
Dewdrop jumped up halfway up the Tall rock. "As our patrol neared the border," Dewdrop explained. "Eagleshadow and I discovered rabbit bones and rabbit fur everywhere, while the area stank of Darkclan scent. The remains were well away from the Darkclan border, so it's impossible that this was an accident."
"Nonetheless, they have invaded our territory one too many times in the past moon!" Dewdrop finished, growling. Mountainstar thanked Dewdrop before continuing.
"That's right, Darkclan scent has been discovered multiple times already in the past moon, so Snoweybramble and I think it's time we teach Darkclan a lesson." Mountainstar announced. "Tonight at dusk, we will travel to Darkclan's territory and attack their dusk border patrol. I'm sure that will send the appropriate message to Darkclan that we won't tolerate constant prey theft and border invasions." The clan burst into cheers of approval and Mountainstar nodded approvingly before raising his tail for silence. The clan quieted down before he continued.
"Snoweybramble will list off the names of the cats who will go," Mountainstar mewed, before jumping off the Tall rock and Snoweybramble leaping on.
"Frostwind, Barknose, Emberclaw, Sunfeather, Antroot, Petalflower, Waterfoot, Shellfur, Hawkfeather, Grayclaw, and Robinflight along with myself will go on the patrol." Snoweybramble mewed before dismissing the clan.
Silverpaw picked up a thrush before turning to the medicine den to find Snowpaw, and heard her talking to Leaffeather. "This will be your first battle," Leaffeather meowed. "We'll be there to treat any injuries then and there. It'll also be a good chance for you to use the skills you've learned so far and put them to good use." Snowpaw nodded before helping Leaffeather collect herbs to bring. Silverpaw entered before mewing a greeting.
"Hi, Silverpaw," Snowpaw mewed, touching noses with her sister. "What can I do for you?"
"I came to bring you this thrush," Silverpaw dropped the prey on the ground. "I didn't see you eat at all after sunhigh, so I thought I'd bring you something."
"Thanks! I'm starving," Snowpaw mewed, picking up the thrush and eating it. Silverpaw left, leaving Snowpaw to eat in peace.
Silverpaw looked up to see the sun begin to set. She picked out a vole for herself and a bird for Crystalpaw before bringing it to the stump where Crystalpaw was grooming her fur. She dropped the bird in front of Crystalpaw before eating her vole. The two exchanged stories of their first training session and saw that the patrol to invade Darkclan was gathering. Silverpaw watched longingly, hoping to be picked to go and see Darkclan territory, but she knew that they would never pick an apprentice who had only one training session, a hunting session too.
Silverpaw noticed that Volepaw and Lilypaw were watching longingly as well, before Mudpaw padded over and gathered the four apprentices together inside their den.
"You three all want to go with them, right?" Mudpaw asked. The apprentices nodded. "Good, because I have a plan…"
A/N: And that's chapter two! Does this count as a cliffhanger? Maybe, but I've written for quite a while and I needed to find a place to stop so enjoy!