Chapter Three
Thistlepaw's nudge woke Dawnpaw from her deep sleep.
"Wha…? What is it," she asked drowsily. Her pale green eyes flickered open slowly. Had she been a little more awake, she'd have shaken her head in amusement at the smoky black head inches from her face.
"Furball, get your stinky lizard breath out of my face," she mumbled, sitting up and stretching. Thistlepaw rolled his amber eyes.
"I had a finch for breakfast, thank you very much," he said snootily. "You and I are on the dawn patrol with our mentors and Hawkstar. You'd better hurry, lazybones."
Dawnpaw froze in the middle of smoothing the fur near the base of her tail. Twisting around until she looked like a coiled rattlesnake, her panicked green eyes met Thistlepaw's amber ones. "Dawn patrol?" she squeaked. "Why didn't you tell me?" She hastily untwisted herself and streaked out of the den. Thistlepaw followed behind more slowly.
Amberslash and Batclaw were chatting quietly near the entrance to camp. Dawnpaw could see the bright golden sands through the red stone arch that separated their sheltered rocky hollow from the shifting sand particles outside. The sun was just peeking over the horizon, painting the lightening sky in shades of pink and orange. Dawnpaw's green eyes glittered.
A scent drifted to her nose, and a second later Dawnpaw spotted their huge leader padding softly towards them. His soft brown fur rippled in the growing light. Dawnpaw quickly caught up with Thistlepaw, who was forging ahead to stand with his new mentor.
"Is everyone ready to go?" Hawkstar asked in his deep voice. The warriors nodded. "Good." He turned, his unusual long fur swishing in the still morning air. He bounded out of the camp and onto the soft desert sands. Dawnpaw couldn't help but grin at its soft warmth as the sand wrapped around her paws.
Hawkstar led the way towards the sun, which was just beginning to peek above the horizon. The sky was cast in yellows and oranges now, the soft pinks fading away. Dawnpaw drifted back to match her mentor's steps.
"Why are we going east?" she asked quietly. Amberslash turned her orange gaze on her apprentice.
"Why do you think, Dawnpaw?"
Dawnpaw felt her heart flutter as she thought it over. "Because that's our only weak border," she said uncertainly, her inflection making it a question. Amberslash regarded Dawnpaw quietly.
"Don't ask me, Dawnpaw. Tell me. Why are we going east?" Amberslash's voice was unyielding. Dawnpaw's eyes narrowed.
"It's because our eastern border is our weakest border," Dawnpaw repeated, this time firmly. Amberslash nodded, and looking into her eyes, Dawnpaw felt as though she had passed some sort of test. She took a deep breath, letting her happiness flow through her.
Hawkstar flowed to a halt ahead of them. Batclaw was at his side, staring out. Dawnpaw gasped, seeing their eastern border for the first time as the sun burst in full glory over the horizon.
There were hills, rolling like dunes except infinitely more solid. Rocks were strewn about everywhere, like scraps of tumbleweed after kits had finished tearing them apart. She heard a snap as she stepped forward, and looked down with a frown. Under her paws was a yellowish stick, its forked tines marking it as a misplaced section of one of the scraggly plants that surrounded her. She glanced around, seeing if any of the others shared her wonder. Hawkstar was leveling a serious gaze at Dawnpaw; it was only then that she realized she'd padded straight past him and was likely on enemy territory. She shrunk down a bit and padded meekly back to Amberslash's side. Her mentor said nothing, only stood watching as Hawkstar and Batclaw conferred in quiet voices.
Thistlepaw gave her a look. Dawnpaw stuck her nose in the air, refusing to acknowledge her embarrassment or her friend's silent sniggering at her expense.
"There's no fresh scent. The entire area smells stale," Batclaw said quietly. Dawnpaw's ears flicked forward, her interest piqued despite her mother's constant admonitions against eavesdropping.
Hawkstar dipped his head. "It may not be cause for worry. It has been also been many sunrises since we have marked this border."
Batclaw didn't look convinced. Her deep green eyes bored into the leader's. "All the same, we need to post more patrols. If GrassClan is unable to send border patrols, we may be in danger too."
Hawkstar's eyes flicked towards the two apprentices and Amberslash. Dawnpaw quickly pretended to be sniffing at the ground, absorbed by a stray bit of twig caught in the sands. He straightened and squared his shoulders. "That may be," he murmured to his deputy. "But we don't have enough cats to be patrolling this border at all hours. We're struggling to feed ourselves as it is. I'll add a dusk patrol, but that's all we can manage."
Hawkstar flicked his fluffy tail and trotted off, always staying on the sands. Dawnpaw supposed that that was how the border was distinguished. She longed to walk on the hills, but the sensation of sand slipping through her paws at every step distracted her. I love the desert, she thought happily. I'm so glad I wasn't born in those mountains Amberslash told me about. It sounds so cold and dreary there.
They reached a point where the hills seemed to disappear into the desert sands. Dawnpaw saw only glimmering blue in that direction, like the sky was reaching down to touch the earth. They got closer and Dawnpaw realized why that was: they had reached the southern ravine, the last border that Dawnpaw had needed to see.
She padded closer, careful to stay behind Hawkstar this time, and looked down. She could see the slightest shimmer of blue down at the bottom. Dawnpaw looked down it to the right. The ravine was similar to the one in the north, but wider and deeper, and it curved like a snake as it wriggled across the sands.
"Amberslash, Batclaw, you two are dismissed. All I ask is that you teach your apprentices something today," Hawkstar said, a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. Batclaw gave him a meaningful glance but dipped her head. She flicked her tail to Thistlepaw and trotted off. Hawkstar took off down the ravine. Dawnpaw stared after them until their dark pelts were just flickering shadows amidst the desert mirage.
Amberslash's stern voice shattered the early morning calm.
"I'm quite certain your mother has told you not to eavesdrop, Dawnpaw. Did you conveniently forget that lesson, or am I mistaken?"
Dawnpaw cringed. "I, uh… I have selective memory?" She sunk down even further, until she could feel her belly fur scraping the sands. Amberslash's piercing amber eyes bored into Dawnpaw's smoky green ones.
"Selective memory, is that it?" she said, looming over her apprentice.
"I won't do it again, Amberslash," Dawnpaw pleaded. Her pale green eyes stared up at the larger she-cat miserably.
Amberslash shook her head. "I doubt that. I swear, apprentices get into more trouble than mice in a forest full of cats. Just promise me you won't go jabbering what you heard to the rest of the Clan. StarClan knows we don't need that news running around camp."
Dawnpaw looked up triumphantly, her pale fur rippling as she straightened. "Aha! You were eavesdropping too!"
"And?"
Dawnpaw was taken aback. "And…" Dawnpaw huffed as she stared into Amberslash's challenging eyes. "And… you're the mentor, so it doesn't matter if you were eavesdropping or not."
Amberslash grinned. "We're getting along so well, don't you think?" She flicked her tail at her apprentice's nose gleefully. Dawnpaw rolled her eyes with a snort.
"Don't get too excited, Amberslash, this is only the second day," she muttered, grinning despite herself as she heard her mentor's chuckle.
The sun beat high overhead as Amberslash made her way to the dunes. Dawnpaw knew that they were just south of camp, but the desert made everything seem distant. She wished they were inside the camp, with its cool caves that offered shelter from the beating sun. Her pelt absolutely itched with the heat.
"Amberslash?" she finally ventured. Her mentor looked at her with gleaming amber eyes. "Can we rest for a while? I'm tired and thirsty," she said, ashamed at her weakness.
The amber eyes glinted with sympathy. "This isn't a good place to rest, Dawnpaw. Just keep going a little further, I promise we can rest then." Dawnpaw nodded and stumbled after her mentor.
Dawnpaw saw their destination rise out of the mirage like a claw poking from the desert sands. The spire of rock rose high into the air, sticking out from amongst the dunes. The red stone seemed to glow with the heat, but near its base was a patch of shadow that looked absolutely gorgeous.
Amberslash's bright orange eyes scanned the ground at the base of the rock before she padded over and gently levered herself onto the sands. Dawnpaw did the same gratefully. The shadow cooled the desert air and sheltered her from the unforgiving sun. This is better, she thought.
"Today, I will teach you to hunt." Amberslash's words sent a jolt of excitement through Dawnpaw.
"It isn't a difficult skill to master. Pouncing on a small creature is hardly difficult. The difficult part is getting close enough to do that." Amberslash's eyes scanned her apprentice critically for a moment. She stood and padded off into the desert. "Out here, the only thing we can use to hide is our own pelt. We must be soft, quiet, and fluid, like the sands." Amberslash flicked her tail to a shadow that was flickering across one of the dunes ahead.
"Watch carefully, Dawnpaw," Amberslash breathed, then slunk away. Dawnpaw's green eyes watched her mentor sharply, all thoughts of the scorching heat forgotten. Amberslash moved slowly up the face of the dune, keeping out of sight of the snake. It continued to wriggle across the top, oblivious. Amberslash rounded behind it, keeping her belly fur low enough to slide along the sands, and placed her paws down softly, so as not to make a thump and alert her prey. She got to within two tail lengths before springing, slamming her paws down on the snake near the base of its head and clamping her jaws down before it could thrash away.
Dawnpaw sprinted over to her mentor. Her eyes glimmered with hunger as she stared down at Amberslash's catch.
"Were you paying attention, Dawnpaw?" Amberslash asked, oblivious to her apprentice's hunger. Dawnpaw tore her eyes away from the juicy, meaty, wonderful rattlesnake and nodded. Amberslash picked up her catch and padded off.
They got close enough to see the camp in the distance, but Amberslash didn't stop. They were on the western section of the dunes before Dawnpaw felt her mentor's tail flick down her back. She followed Amberslash's gaze and saw what she was looking at: a jack rabbit pawing in the sands. Its huge ears twitched and rotated as it scratched for seeds and insects to nibble on. Dawnpaw's green eyes found her mentor's and Amberslash nodded.
"Remember to be quiet. Those ears are big for a reason," her mentor warned. Dawnpaw nodded and slunk away. Her heart nearly stopped every time the rabbit glanced up, but it always went back to its nibbling. She carefully padded into the valley between two dunes, staring up at the jack rabbit. Dawnpaw slowly crept up the dune, placing her paws exactly.
She glanced up at the rabbit again and took a step, her paw accidentally jamming too hard into the sands. The grains cascaded down the dune. The rabbit froze and for an instant Dawnpaw met the creature's eyes. Then it sprang away and she was bounding after it, despair freezing her coat because she knew she wasn't nearly fast enough to catch it.
A squeal split the air just as she bounded over the top of the dune. Dawnpaw's confusion lasted only a moment. She sighed unhappily.
Amberslash picked up the dead rabbit, her neat teeth marks in its now limp neck. Her amber eyes were hard, but held a small glint of sympathy. She put the rabbit back down in the sand.
"It was a good try, Dawnpaw. If you'd been paying a little more attention to your paws, you may have gotten it."
Dawnpaw's green eyes flashed. "You knew that I wouldn't get it," she accused her mentor, her pelt fluffing up in embarrassment and outrage. "You knew I was going to chase it away!" Amberslash's expression was coldly unreadable.
"How many apprentices, do you think, succeed on their very first try?" she asked imperiously. "Not many. With the Clan still hungry from the cold season, did you honestly think I would chance a plump rabbit escaping?" Dawnpaw hung her head.
Amberslash's eyes softened. "For all that you didn't succeed, it was a good try. If you were perfect right away there would be no need for me to teach you, now would there? You'll be a fine hunter eventually, so don't get discouraged now."
The golden she-cat straightened once more. "Now let's take this prey back to camp and go practice some more!"
Dawnpaw grinned and picked up the snake, once again enjoying the day as they trotted home with their bounty of food.
~oOo~
The sun was setting behind her, casting the dunes into waves of light and shadow. It was beautiful, but Dawnpaw had no time to look. Her eyes were fixed on a lizard scuttling across the sands in front of her, eager to get back to whatever crevice or cave it called home. Padding lightly behind as she was, it was never going to notice her. Her light green eyes narrowed, and she sprang.
Her claws pierced the tough hide of the lizard as her fangs streaked down, quick as a snake, and clamped on its neck. Triumph rose in her as she felt it go limp.
"My first kill!" she called happily to Amberslash. The golden she-cat smiled and dipped her head. Her orange eyes glimmered in the light of the setting sun.
"I told you a few days would make all the difference," she said, and pride colored the warrior's tone. Dawnpaw breathed deeply, feeling her joy saturate her lithe frame.
"I can't wait to show this to Thistlepaw," she said happily.
Amberflight picked up her own catch, a desert thrush, and led the way back to camp.
"Dawnpaw, I want you to remember something," she said as they padded softly down a dune. Dawnpaw's green eyes locked on her mentor.
"Never, under any circumstances, underestimate the desert. We cats are not the biggest or strongest creatures in this territory, and dusk is the most dangerous time for us to be alone."
Dawnpaw accepted it without comment. She was learning that her mentor's words were full of wisdom just as quickly as she was learning to pad across the tops of dunes without displacing a grain of sand. But at the same time, she wondered… What kind of creatures could be so fierce that we need to share our territory with them?
No sooner had the two she-cats entered camp and set their prey down on the freshkill pile than they were hailed by Lizardclaw.
"Hawkstar assigned you two to the dusk patrol. Meet me by the entrance." His green eyes slid over Dawnpaw. Her heart sank a little at his ambivalence towards her hunting accomplishment, but she brushed it off. I can tell him while we're patrolling, she thought excitedly, mustering energy despite her exhaustion. She imagined her father's look of pride with an eager grin.
Amberslash's eyes were narrowed. "We've been out all day," she muttered. "Surely there are enough cats to go and patrol without working you to the bone." Dawnpaw trotted after her silently. I hope this isn't because of the patrol the other day, she thought. I didn't mean to go on the hill.
Amberslash didn't say anything else as she stood by the stone arch. Dawnpaw tried to ignore the gurgling of her stomach and did the same. Lizardclaw came over within a few moments, his own apprentice, Brightpaw, tagging along behind him. Stormslash padded up to join the patrol. Lizardclaw flicked his tail for them to head out.
They turned north, just passing the cracked plains and reaching an area that couldn't seem to decide whether it wanted to be cracked, sandy, or scrubby, like the hills. The ground seemed to be broken in patches, and sand filled out crevices and rounded corners. There was far more plant life here than Dawnpaw had seen in any other part of the territory, but it was all short and stubby, with scraggly little branches—if they even had branches at all. Dawnpaw found it perplexing.
Brightpaw was walking next to Stormslash. His gray pelt gleamed in the half light of the sun. Dawnpaw checked behind her and saw that the sun had sunk behind the cliffs. The sky around it was painted in brilliant oranges and reds. In front of her, the first stars were peeking out of the sky. Amberslash was talking quietly with Lizardclaw up ahead as they padded through the strange landscape. Dawnpaw sighed, wishing that Thistlepaw was there. At least she'd have had someone to talk to then.
He was probably out hunting, Dawnpaw mused. She figured that night was the best time for he and his mentor to hunt, while their pelts blended in with the shadows between the dunes.
Lizardclaw stopped suddenly. Dawnpaw ran into him, still lost in thought. "Sorry," she squeaked, but he silenced her with a sharp hiss. Dawnpaw was taken aback for a moment, but then a breeze floated past her nose. Her eyes widened at the unfamiliar scent.
"What is that?" she breathed, her eyes wide. She didn't like the way her father's pelt was beginning to spike up.
Amberslash glanced at her, and her eyes held the same expression she wore when she wanted Dawnpaw to figure out an answer to one of her questions. Dawnpaw tasted the air again, wrinkling her nose at the stale, rotten scent. It wasn't vulture-meat, but it certainly had some of that on it. Underneath the vulture-meat she scented a musk that coated her tongue. It was disgusting. Glancing at her father's pelt again and seeing how quietly he moved as he slunk towards the smell, she realized that this scent, whatever it was, probably belonged to the same things that Amberslash had warned her about.
Lizardclaw paused. Dawnpaw could see his back stiffen in confusion. Then Stormslash let out a furious hiss and Dawnpaw whirled around. Her eyes widened.
Behind the patrol was a group of three… things. They were half again as large as a cat and had long, ugly snouts filled with sharp teeth. They had giant, snuffling black noses. Their fur was shaggy and unkempt, and she could see that their long bodies were terribly scarred. Their muzzles were stained with vulture-meat. Their eyes were deep black, full of feral hunger.
"Coyotes," Lizardclaw hissed.
One of the things—coyotes, Dawnpaw corrected herself— moved forward on steady paws. Dawnpaw could see dark nails extending from each foot and knew that they would hurt if she was scratched by one of them. It snarled, a deep, rumbling, vicious growl. The others charged forward.
Lizardclaw leaped to the attack, meeting the leader head on. He jumped straight over the coyote's head, clawing down its back and laying stripes of torn flesh down its spine. Stormslash dashed at its legs and sunk his teeth in, slowing its movement. He slashed open a long wound down its belly. Amberslash leaped on another one of them as it tried to snatch Stormslash in its huge jaws. Brightpaw rushed to help her mentor and Stormslash.
Dawnpaw was frozen with fear. The third coyote spotted her and raced towards her, its teeth bared in a feral grimace of triumph. Staring into its black eyes, Dawnpaw felt her fear compact, and anger took its place. She would not let this disgusting creature beat her.
Her mind raced as it bore down on her. She knew she wasn't strong enough to leap onto its back like Lizardclaw had, so she'd need a different strategy. She saw as it skidded through the sand that it was fast, but it wasn't agile.
She grinned, and leaped straight for its muzzle. She heard a cat shout behind her but didn't pay attention. Her claws slashed through the snuffling black nose and she darted to its side, slashing her claws down the side of its face. Her teeth sunk into its foreleg.
The coyote yipped in pain and clubbed her with its own head. She was dazed for only a moment, but that was all the time it needed to leap on top of her. She wrenched her head away and it sunk its teeth into the sand where moments before her neck had been. She was underneath its belly now, the soft flesh exposed to her claws. She yanked her hind claws through its flesh, instinct and adrenaline guiding her paws. A huge paw slammed into her side and sent her rolling.
Dawnpaw staggered up, her green eyes glazed as she felt blood from a wound on her side trickling down her pelt. It must have been those sharp nails, she thought, gasping as she tried to inhale.
She tried to focus on the coyote, but it was hard. She saw it twisting and bucking and noticed a dark pelt attached to its back. Another, lighter colored pelt was clawing at its face, until with a few defeated barks it ran away, tail between its legs. Dawnpaw blinked.
A pair of amber eyes swam in her vision. Was it already that dark? It shouldn't be night-time yet, her muddled mind puzzled out. Dawnpaw's vision narrowed. What pretty eyes… she thought, then collapsed into the sand.
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