I hope you guys enjoy this next chapter from Lakepaw's perspective. Please leave a review :)
"You good for nothing apprentice," Wasptalon spat. "Can't you do anything right?"
"I'm sorry!" whimpered Lakepaw, flattening her ears. "I caught the shrew, I swear!"
Wasptalon stepped closer to Lakepaw- she could feel his hot rancid breath hitting her muzzle. "I'm no idiot," he hissed. "You're no hunter. I've never once seen you catch a piece of prey. Now tell me who really caught this shrew, or it'll be no prey for the rest of the day," Wasptalon threatened, his teeth bared.
Lakepaw stared at the ground, unsure of what to do. "Flurrypaw caught it," she lied, her voice barely a whisper.
"I knew it," Wasptalon said, a sick grin spreading across his face. Lakepaw swallowed, praying that Flurrypaw and her mentor would return soon and save her from the situation. "No prey for the rest of the day. Actually, no prey for two days. And you're going to be cleaning the elders' den for the rest of the week."
"But-" protested Lakepaw.
"Shut up, you stupid apprentice. I'm your mentor, and I feel that your deceptive behavior deserves punishment." He paused, studying Lakepaw, seeming to take pleasure in her distress. "You should count yourself lucky. I'm going easy on you this time."
Lakepaw refused to give her mentor the satisfaction of seeing her cry. She tried to swallow the lump in her throat, and lifted her chin.
"Aren't you appreciative of my lenient punishment?" Wasptalon continued saucily.
Lakepaw's paws were quivering with rage. "Thank you," she murmured, her voice shaking.
"What was that?"
Before Wasptalon could get an answer out of Lakepaw, Flurrypaw and Ferntail returned, each carrying a sparrow in their jaws. Duskheart trailed after them.
"Hey, Lakepaw!" Flurrypaw mewed brightly. "Catch anything while we were gone? Look at this awesome sparrow!"
"No," Lakepaw said quietly. She could feel Wasptalon's eyes burning into her pelt. She shuddered at the thought of what might happen if she told anyone what Wasptalon was doing. "Nothing."
"That's enough prey for now," Duskheart said, dropping a small rabbit at his paws. "Let's get back to camp."
Flurrypaw waved her tail from across camp, a squirrel in her jaws. Lakepaw shifted her paws nervously as she approached. "Want to share this?" Flurrypaw asked, dropping the fresh-kill in front of Lakepaw. Wasptalon was observing from across camp.
"Oh no, it's okay. I'm not hungry," Lakepaw said. Unfortunately, her stomach betrayed her with a sizable growl.
Flurrypaw gave her a suspicious glance, but conceded. "Alright. If you say so."
Lakepaw gave her a weak smile.
"Maybe we could go hunting again sometime," Flurrypaw offered. "You can show me that trick you did to catch that mouse."
"Oh- actually," Lakepaw began. She wasn't really sure how to explain it. "I don't think I can show you that trick."
"Why not?" Flurrypaw inquired, around a mouthful of food.
Lakepaw's stomach rumbled again, but she ignored it. "I don't actually know how I do it. So I can't exactly teach you," she admitted, scuffing the dirt with her paw.
"Oh, okay," Flurrypaw said, clearly disappointed.
Lakepaw had only told her half the truth. She didn't really know how she did it, but there was more she wasn't willing to tell Flurrypaw. It was almost like she had a… connection... to the mouse. Like she could sense it was near before scenting or seeing it. And if she wanted it to walk under her paw- it did. But that had only happened a few times- it was surely a coincidence. She wanted to tell Flurrypaw about it, but she doubted she would believe her. Lakepaw wasn't even sure herself, after all. It was… a crazy idea.
"Sorry," Lakepaw apologized sincerely, her gut twisting with the guilty feeling of keeping a secret.
"You're fine," Flurrypaw assured her, smiling. "But my offer still stands. Hunting tomorrow morning?"
"I don't know if Wasptalon-"
"Don't worry," Flurrypaw interrupted. "He only wakes up before midday if he's assigned a patrol, and he's not due for a morning patrol tomorrow."
"But we're not supposed to leave the camp without a warrior," Lakepaw pointed out anxiously. She desperately wanted to go, but the thought of getting in trouble again with Wasptalon was holding her back.
"We can ask Ferntail. She loves morning hunting," Flurrypaw suggested. "So?"
Lakepaw glanced one last time at her mentor, and took a deep breath. "Yeah, I'm down."
"Catch anything?" Flurrypaw had snuck up behind Lakepaw while she was sitting, concentrating on her thoughts. Lakepaw nearly jumped out of her pelt, yelping with surprise.
"Flurrypaw!" she exclaimed, batting the she-cat's ear. Flurrypaw let out a mrrow of amusement.
"Sorry, I couldn't help it," she giggled, tickling Lakepaw's nose with her tail.
Lakepaw sneezed. "Hey, stop it," she mewed playfully, pouncing on Flurrypaw. The apprentices play tussled, laughing and screeching and having the most fun either of them had had in moons. When they finally rolled to a stop, they lay on their backs and looked up at the leafy canopy of the forest, both breathless from laughter. They lay there for a while, just taking in the moment.
Suddenly Flurrypaw sat up, her nose twitching. "Do you smell that?" she whispered. Lakepaw felt a pang of fear hearing the concern in Flurrypaw's voice. She scented the air. She could detect the faintest trace of…
"Fox!" Flurrypaw yelped. They both sprang to their paws. The scent was growing stronger. Lakepaw could hear pawsteps- coming straight for them!
"Uh, Flurrypaw- I think it scents us too," Lakepaw squeaked, panicking. Where in the world was Ferntail? She thought, but didn't have any time to dwell on it.
Flurrypaw looked around. Her eyes lingered on the tall pine trees. The tall, slippery pine trees. "Quick, climb!" Flurrypaw said, shoving Lakepaw towards the nearest tree. Lakepaw swallowed, looking up, up, up… Her stomach dropped.
"I can't," she whispered.
"What?" Flurrypaw glanced behind her as the scent of fox grew stronger.
"I can't climb trees!" admitted Lakepaw, tears welling up in her eyes. They were going to get killed, and it was all her fault. "I'm afraid of heights- and I'm no good at climbing anyways."
Flurrypaw seemed unphased. "Okay. Then we fight."
"What? No!" exclaimed Lakepaw. "You climb to safety, Flurrypaw. I can run. I'm fast."
Flurrypaw shook her head. "Not fast enough. You start running, that fox will give chase. I'm not letting you fight a fox alone."
"Flurrypaw-"
"We're facing this together, Lakepaw," she said softly, meeting Lakepaw's eyes.
"O-okay." Lakepaw cringed at each pawstep as the fox came within a tree-length of them. Flurrypaw's fur was bristled and she was already crouched to spring. Beady eyes appeared in the undergrowth ahead of them, followed swiftly by a lithe orange body.
It's huge! Lakepaw had never been so scared in her life. The fox was easily twice the size of Flurrypaw, and it looked hungry. With a snarl, it lunged towards Lakepaw. She screamed, dodging the attack. She heard the fox's jaws snap shut right where her throat had been moments ago.
Flurrypaw sprang into action, springing onto the fox's back without hesitation and scoring several blows with her claws. "No one touches my friend," she grunted, digging her claws into the creature's throat.
Lakepaw staggered to her paws, and made to rake her claws along the fox's hindquarters. She landed a successful hit, and the fox yelped, spinning around and lunging for Lakepaw with razor sharp teeth. Flurrypaw was knocked from the fox's back, and rolled a couple times on the ground before dashing to Lakepaw's side.
"Watch out!" she warned. Lakepaw looked up to see the fox, face to face with her. Her breath caught in her throat as she watched it open its mouth with a snarl. Lakepaw was frozen, terrified.
"Lakepaw!" Flurrypaw screamed, jumping into her and knocking her clear of the fox's jaws. Lakepaw lifted her head, dizzy. The fox seemed befuddled for a moment, then realized its prey had been replaced by another, even larger one. Flurrypaw was just lying there. Why isn't she moving? Lakepaw thought. Her friend had knocked her a good few tail-lengths away- she couldn't make it… why wasn't she moving?
Then Lakepaw caught sight of the large gray stone protruding from under the grass. She noticed the blood slowly dripping from Flurrypaw's head. The fox was about to bite her throat- it was about to kill her.
Lakepaw didn't know how she did it. It just came naturally to her- this 'ability'. It was like she could connect with other animals besides cats and… speak to them. But she had only ever used this ability on very small animals. Mice, shrews, voles, frogs… never anything as large as a fox. Yet here she was, her paws digging into the ground, her concentration focused so intensely on the fox she felt tears streaming down her face. And the fox was backing away from Flurrypaw's unconscious form. Slowly, it disappeared into the undergrowth. When Lakepaw was sure it had gone, she collapsed on the ground, panting, exhausted.
"Flurrypaw…" she murmured sleepily. She tried to get up and help her friend, but she was completely drained. A few moments later, she too was entirely unconscious.
Would you guys like me to continue responding to reviews at the end of the chapter? What're we thinking of Wasptalon? Don't worry- he only gets worse :)