Chapter 11
"Are you alright? You've been missing prey all day! Get your head out of the clouds!" Lolliwhisker muffled with a rabbit in her jaws. She was right; he was messing up. He had to catch prey for his Clan mates. He had to get it right. He stretched his legs and shook his pelt. He had to forget what had happened the other day. How he padded into RiverClan territory. He was lucky to not have been net with a warrior but instead, witch two, kind apprentices. His ear twitched as he smelt a rabbit. He crouched and began to stalk it. He padded carefully so it would not hear him. One pounce later and he was holding a plump rabbit in his jaws.
"Great! But you'll need to catch more than that you know?" Lolliwhisker flicked her tail and headed to find other prey. Robinpaw nodded. His ears jerked up at the sound of flapping wings. It was a robin. Robinpaw's claws flexed as he sprung up in the air to catch it. Swiping his paw in the air, the robin changed direction and dodged his blow. Landing back down, he thought of how he could catch birds in mid-air. It would be a challenge, but if he trained himself, it would become possible. If ThunderClan cats could do it, so could he. "Robinpaw!" a female she-cat called behind him. It was his friend, Bellpaw. The distraction of her voice made him miss the opportunity to catch that robin. Striking the earth in defeat he turned to her with his ears drooped, "Yeah? What's up?"
"Lolliwhisker asked to come bring you to her." she said, swaying her tail and as if she read my mind added, "I don't know why though. Now come on!" jumping to face the direction they had to go, she waved her head and began to walk to camp. He took one last look at the robin in the distance and started to catch up to her. What did Lolliwhisker want? Had he not trained enough? His paws were nevertheless aching. Maybe she found out that he treaded on RiverClan territory? His blood ran cold at the thought but tried to shake it off. There was no way she could've found out... right?
"Robinpaw." Lolliwhisker started. Robinpaw tried all he could not to tremble. Luckily, she either ignored or didn't notice his fear. "Are you alright? You've been acting really strange lately." Robinpaw looked up at his mentor, trying to hide the fact he knew what she was talking about. He took his chances and played dumb.
"Really? Oh, I didn't even realise." he acted. Lolliwhisker swished her tail and gave him a cold stare. Her green eyes sending a cold shiver down his spine while being stared down. Surprisingly she didn't say anything else and turned away from him. But just as he was about to go too, in the distance, he hears "Don't think I didn't notice..."
His paws felt cold, even though he was actively catching as much prey as he could. He was still processing what that last comment from Lolliwhisker meant. He hadn't seen her since, so he couldn't ask her. However, when he really thought about it, he wouldn't have had the guts to anyway. With a big sigh, he pounces on a rabbit and bites down on its neck. A random thought came in his mind... was he wrong? Was he discovered? As he leaped on the field mouse, his ear jerked at sudden movement around him. In a jump, he turned to face where the sound came from. The bushes rustled again. Crouching down, he slowly crept towards it. Was it prey? He squinted his eyes and crept closer to it. The scent seemed so familiar yet so alien to him. The rustling stopped and he stood as still as he could. Out from the bushes , two green eyes glowed. He quickly stepped back and prepared for battle. "Who are you?"
The pair of eyes grew closer and the dark figure arose from the bush. Robinpaw stood along with it and stared it in the eyes. It seemed familiar yet so alien to him. It padded towards him, and he stood a stance for battle. "Oh, don't be so foolish. It's me. I don't know if you actually remember my name, but we did meet before." Robinpaw stared more deeply at the creature talking to him until it finally hit him. It was that cat! From RiverClan.
"Quinpaw was it?" Robinpaw relaxed his muscles and met her gaze. She smiled and nodded. The swiftly threw a fish at his paws and swayed her tail. Was it a gift of some kind. "W-what's this about? Are you trying to say I can't catch my own prey?" He stammered, shocked at this sudden affection. She kept quiet and pushed the fish closer. With a jerk of her ear, she turned away.
"H-hey! Wait. At least tell me why." This was all so sudden. Why would a cat from an entirely different Clan, give him some free fresh-kill. Was this really a gift, or a trap? Maybe to force him into her debt? She paused and turned only her head to him.
Softly, she answered. "A little birdie told me you might need it. Make sure to cover it with your scent." She quickly padded away into the plane of her Clan.
Robinpaw was left bewildered and overwhelmed. He took the fish in his jaws and trailed off towards the camp, but not without remembering to cover the scent of the fish with his own. Lolliwhisker was going to think he caught it. But would she really believe him. A WindClan cat catch a fish? There was no way, or was there? She was smart and he knew that. Smart cats are dangerous and so is their strength. He felt a shiver as his heavy paws tread towards the lake. Washing the fish from its dirt and getting a bit wet from it, he assumed that this would help make evidence that he did catch it. A cat was approaching from behind, his ear twitched, and he turned his head to face Lolliwhisker. He remained as calm as possible so she could not smell his fear.
"Hey Lolliwhisker! Look what I caught!" he muffled excitedly, holding the fish tightly. She examined the fish and purred.
"Wow Robinpaw, never thought you might actually get your head out of the clouds and catch a fish. I remember when I used to struggle to catch them Never liked getting my fur wet." she walked closer to the lake behind him and stared into its deep wonders. Fish were dancing in the waves, conversing in strange movements and making air bubbles rise to the top. She slowly lifted a paw and swung. A fish flew into the air, flopping and twisting and Lolliwhisker caught it with her teeth. It wriggled and struggled, begging to be returned to its friends and homeland. Begging to breathe. But its prayers were cut short from a deep bite, killing it.
"And that was that. Simple I'd say. I'll tell you more about it at camp. Let's go." she trotted towards the camp as Robinpaw was still frozen in awe. He wished he could do the same yet, something deep inside him told him not to. He quickly ended his daydream and chased after Lolliwhisker, fish in jaws. But he swore he could see a white fire in the corner of his eye.
He felt, sad. He didn't know why. As he placed the fish in the fresh-kill pile, he realised the sun was going down. He just tricked his mentor. He made her proud out of something he didn't do. WindClan cats weren't built for catching fish, mostly rabbits or birds. RiverClan cats were the fishers. It must have been luck that she'd caught that fish. What was Quinpaw trying to do when she gave him that fish. Why not a mouse or a shrew? His mind hurt and he just wanted to sleep. Why the sudden friendship? But most importantly, why couldn't he get her out of his mind?