APPRENTICE DAYS
"Get up, you lazy furball!"
Moonpaw blinked her eyes and yawned.
"What?" she asked in a sleepy voice.
Her friend Mallowpaw was standing over her, her pale blue eyes shining with excitement and dark brown, half-mottled fur almost bristling.
"Stripetail and Hollythorn are taking us on a patrol around Fox-Place."Mallowpaw meowed.
That woke her up more.
She and Mallowpaw, and Mallowpaw's siblings, had been apprentices for a half-moon and had been cleaning nests and bringing cats fresh-kill. They only stepped paw outside the camp to get moss for nests and to catch a fresh mouse for mouse-bile to get rid of the elders ticks, other than their first day of apprenticeship, when their mentors had taken them around half the territory, as custom.
"Great! If I have to even look at another tick in the next quarter moon, I'll go insane."Moonpaw drawled.
"Me too. They said to get some fresh-kill and meet them by the Moss Clearing."Mallowpaw meowed as the two she-cats slipped out of the fern den that was the apprentices den.
"So long as it's not a mouse."Moonpaw mewed and both she-cats giggled.
The passed by a group of other apprentices, including Greenpaw a tortoiseshell she-cat who was Moonpaw's father's apprentice. Brackenpaw, a golden-brown tom, Snakepaw, a dark gray and white tom, and Lightpaw, a pale gray she-cat with a dark gray speckled muzzle, were with her.
Moonpaw and Mallowpaw waved their tails in greeting.
They selected a fat rabbit to share and devoured it hungrily.
A loud cough behind them made them turn.
Palepaw, a pale gray tom, Lightpaw's brother, was coughing and he ran out the camp entrance and vomiting sounds came from outside the camp.
He came back a moment later and trudged to the medicine cat's den.
Moonpaw looked at Mallowpaw, then at the mostly eaten rabbit.
"I'm not hungry anymore."Moonpaw meowed."Me neither."Mallowpaw looked at the rabbit with a sick look on her face and both she-cats sprang up and padded quickly out of the entrance, making a wide arch around the place where Palepaw had been moments before.
When they arrived at the Moss Clearing, it was to find Hollythorn and Stripetail talking in low voices.
When they heard the she-cats coming they straightened up.
"Come on then."Hollythorn meowed. She led the three other cats out of the Moss Clearing and into the forest. The two mentors were leading and the two she-cats were behind them, gazing around in amuazement. A robin was just rising off the ground and Moonpaw leaped into the air after it. But her leap was untimed. Her claws yanked off a couple feathers from the bird's tail and she landed, feeling disappointed.
"Good jump,"Hollythorn praised." Just check your timing. We'll have hunting practice tomorrow."
This made Moonpaw feel happier.
"That was amazing!" Mallowpaw exclaimed, happiness and pride for her friend dancing in her eyes.
"Thanks."Moonpaw replied.
Soon they came to a clearing. In the middle of the clearing was a big pile of boulders overgrown by grass.
A sharp scent stopped Moonpaw short.
"Fox."Hollythorn apparently had seen Moonpaw's confused expression.
"They're disgusting!"Mallowpaw exclaimed, wrinkling her nose.
"Shh!"Stripetail scolded."there are three foxes in there. A mother and her two kits. The cubs we have seen already. They're younger than you and about the same size as you. We don't want a mother fox with kits coming after us."
Mallowpaw hushed.
Moonpaw bumped her gently, comfortingly.
Mallowpaw nodded, letting Moonpaw know she was aware of the gesture.
Stripetail seemed about to say something else, but was interupted by a hiss from Hollythorn.
"Hide!"she hissed.
Stripetail and Hollythorn streaked into the brambles. Moonpaw glanced around and shot up a tree, followed by Mallowpaw.
It was an oak, so,when they reached the first branch, they were at least two foxlengths high, and had a great view into Fox-Place, since the branch they were on stretched to the middle of the boulder pile.
They stayed near the trunk more, so they were above the edge of the clearing.
Now Moonpaw knew why Hollythorn had told them to hide.
An animal, as big as three cats put together, was coming out of a gap between the boulders. It was a russet color, with a long white muzzle and a bushy, white tipped tail. Its paws were white, too, and its legs were black.
And its gleaming teeth were yellow.
Mallowpaw squeaked and Moonpaw slapped her tail across her mouth.
The fox froze.
The she-cats froze.
The fox looked around, sniffed the air, then went back inside the boulders.
Moonpaw led as they scrcambled down.
Stripedtail and Hollythorn were waiting for them at the base of the tree.
Once their paws touched the ground, Stripetail and Hollythorn took off toward camp.
Moonpaw sped after them, followed by Mallowpaw.
Half-way to camp, the four cats slowed.
When Moonpaw reached her mentor, she was gasping.
"Are you alright?"Hollythorn asked both of them.
Moonpaw nodded, too out of breath to answer.
Mallowpaw drew in a shaky breath and asked,"Was that a fox?"
Stripetail nodded.
"It was huge!What if it had seen us?"Mallowpaw meowed.
"It didn't and wouldn't. The fox would have followed us back to camp if we ran. But foxes are both cowards and clever. If they're around enemies that outnumber them, they flee. But if they've more members than the cats at hand, they'll attack. Two cats for the fox is almost an even match. Three is almost too much for a grown fox. Four cats make the fox try a little at fighting, but it'll flee if us cats put up a fight."Her eyes were sparkling with amusement.
Stripetail wasn't as happy.
"The fox must've scented that you two weren't fully grown yet, otherwise it probably wouldn't have come out at all. And we wouldn't have as many foxes in our territory every couple moons if the Twolegs hadn't put those boulders there in the first place!"Stripetail growled.
"We've already been over this, Stripetail,"Hollythorn mewed."Twolegs do stupid things 'cause they're too stupid to do anything else. They might know that we live here. Might. And if they do, than they don't care. And we can't do anything about it."Turning to Moonpaw and Mallowpaw she meowed,"Come. You two look tired out."
Hollythorn glanced at the sky. It was sunhigh.
"And no wonder,"Stripetail meowed."We've been out since dawn."
The four cats trotted briskly back to camp and Moonpaw and Mallowpaw pretty much collapsed by the apprentices den.
All their excitement, which had kept them going, turned into exhaustion after their long run and their terror of the fox. They were tired.
"Hey!Moonpaw!Mallowpaw!"
They turned their heads to see Mousepaw, Mallowpaw's light brown brother, and Daisypaw, Mallowpaw's yellow sister. Seeing them all together, near each other, was almost weird, though Moonpaw was used to it. It was almost weird because they all had the exact same eyes, as though they had all copied their father's eyes and now all had the exact same sky blue eyes.
Mallowpaw was an exact copy of her father, from the light brown mottled flanks to the dark pink nose. The only difference between the two were gender and age.
If Mallowpaw and her siblings' and father's eyes were like the day sky, then Mallowpaw's mother had eyes like the night. They were so many shades darker than Mallowpaw's that you'd have a hard time pinpointing her as Mallowpaw's mother from a group of she-cats. Unless you knew it, it'd be almost impossible.
But, like Moonpaw's mother to her, Nightgaze(Mallowpaw's mother) loved her kits enough to tear a new lake in the ground, if needed. At least, that's what Moonpaw's great aunt, Yellowpetal, liked to say.
Yellowpetal was her mother's aunt. She had yellow fur and a strict tone.
"What're you guys doing on the ground?"Daisypaw meowed, bringing Moonpaw back from her thoughts.
"We were chased by a fox!"Mallowpaw blurted out.
Two pairs of identical blue eyes widened.
"Really?"Mousepaw asked.
"Where?"Daisypaw inquired.
"Were you hurt?"Mousepaw questioned.
"Did it smell bad?"
"Did you chase it off?"
"Was there more than one?"
"Did you kill it?"
"We weren't chased by a fox!"Moonpaw meowed, glaring at Mallowpaw."We hid from a fox before it even saw it. We weren't hurt and it did smell bad. We didn't chase it off and there was only one. And we didn't kill it 'cause we didn't get the chance to."
"Oh, ok."Mousepaw mewed." Have you had any fresh-kill yet?Brackenpaw and Greenpaw brought in a pheasant just now, but they'd eaten before they hunted so they didn't eat it. Come on hurry!"
All four apprentices hurried to the fresh-kill pile, hoping to get a big pheasant. But when they had gotten to the fresh-kill pile, Snakepaw was already selecting the pheasant.
Downcast, Moonpaw turned to leave.
"Hey, did you want this?" Snakepaw called behind them.
Moonpaw turned to see the dark gray and white tom dragging the pheasant over to them.
"Here," he meowed once he had set the pheasant looked at Moonpaw." You can have it. I'm not hungry enough to eat this whole thing anyway."
"Thanks."Moonpaw meowed to the tom.
"You're welcome."Nodding to each of the apprentices in turn, he turned, selected a pigeon, and went to sit by the apprentices den.
The four hungry apprentices fell on the big bird with almost savage hunger, eating it down to the bones and feathers.
And, since their mentors had given them the rest of the day off , since some warriors (including their mentors) went down to investigate the Fox-Place further, the four apprentices chatted and shared tongues until nightfall.
Before they went to sleep, Moonpaw padded over to her parents, who were sharing a fat vole together.
Her mother, Birdwing, was a kind silver and white she-cat with dark greens eyes and a soft voice. Moonpaw had inherited her mother's eyes, who had inherited her mother's eyes, and so on.
Falconclaw, Moonpaw's father, was a dark brown, muscular tom-cat with pale green eyes.
"Moonpaw!"Falconclaw meowed."How have you been? I heard you went out of the camp today to almost get eaten by a fox!"
"Hush now, Falconclaw,"Birdwing chided gently."And you, Moonpaw, look exhausted. Go on to your nest. I don't want you too tired to stand."
"Alright. Goodnight mother, father."Moonpaw meowed, then hurried over to the apprentices den.
She slipped inside to find all the other apprentices asleep.
She settled into her nest beside Mallowpaw's and Greenpaw's, slipping into sleep.