I don't own this. Never did, never will.
Chapter 3
"HEY! Someone put wet moss in my bedding!"
Surprised by Toad paw's sudden outburst, Hawkpath jumped, hitting her sore head on the rock wall of the training cave. She staggered back with a yelp, trying to blink the stars out of her eyes.
"What's going on in there?" Poppyfur was the guard that night. Hawkpath was relieved; even though Poppyfur was Thorntail's sister, she was much nicer.
"Oh, I - I hit my head on the wall."
Hawkpath thought she heard Poppyfur give a mrrow of amusement.
"Be careful in there!" Poppyfur called.
Hawkpath looked out of the mouth of the cave and saw an angry Toadpaw confronting Srucepaw. From what hawkpath had seen, Sprucepaw was rather obnoxious. She pitied the cat who had to mentor the Moonclan apprentice.
She sighed and retreated back in the depths of the training cave.
Hawpath had been in captivity for four long days. It would get incredibly boring just lying around, so she had decided to do something with her time and had been practicing hunting nd fighting moves to keep herself from dying from boredom.
Hawkpath crouched in the shadows and gazed into the twilight mouth of the cave, facing an imaginary enemy. Suddenly, she leaped, unsheathing her claws, and landed neatly on the floor, digging her laws into the old moss. Then, she jumped again, twisting in midair and lashing out with her sharp claws, just as Birchclaw had taught her. Hawkpath purred, pleased. It was a difficult battle move, but she had done it perfectly.
She sighed, tired, and sat down. She groomed herself, carefully avoiding her wounds. "They would heal faster if Leapstar and Oakstar let the medicine cats help, Hawkpath thought grumpily." She had heard Thorntail telling the leaders about the incident with the mouse. "It's a waste of good food, especially when prey is so scarce..." Wasn't that what he'd said?
Hawkpath lay down, trying to ignore the hunger curling through her stomach. She hadn't had anything to eat since then.
Cursing Thorntail, she curled up tighter to stay warm. Hawkpath wished she was in the warrior's den, warm with her clan mates. She missed Rainfire and her parents, Ripplegaze and Sprigstep, and hoped her mother's fox bite wasn't causing her too much trouble.
At first, Hawkpath had hoped her clan mates would come back for her, but she had eventually realized she was being mouse brained; of course they wouldn't return! There were too many cats in the camp. If anything, they probably thought her dead.
In a bad mood, Hawkpath stood up and padded to the mouth of the cave. "There's no use trying to sleep," she thought grumpily, "this cave makes it impossible."
With a sigh, Hawkpath watched Poppyfur stifle a yawn.
To pass the time, Hawkpath watched Nightclan going about its business. Pebbleshine, Swallowstep, and Nettleclaw - he'd gotten his warrior name yesterday - were organizing their stack of herbs.
Clearheart, a pale orange she-cat was leading in a hunting patrol consisting of herself, Stoneface, and Fogpaw, their jaws laden with prey. Hawkpath felt her jowls filling with water as the delicious scent of squirrel wafted over to her. Her stomach gave an indignant pang of hunger, and Hawkpath decided she would have to sneak out of the cave at Moonhigh to hunt.
She tore her eyes away from the heaping prey pile and turned her eyes to the nursery. Mousepelt, a skinny brown Sunclan queen was listening to a proud Thorntail as their kits play-wrestled outside the nursery.
Hawkpath couldn't understand why Mousepelt would want such a prickly cat as a mate, but she liked watching their adorable kits. Whitekit, a black-and-white tome, was the smaller of the two, while the energetic smokekit reminded Hawkpath of Berrykit. Smokekit, a dark gray tom, was a little older than the black Berrykit and they were from different clans, but they had the same energetic disposition. Hawkpath sighed. She missed Berrykit nd the rest of her clan, and being stuck in their old camp only made it worse.
Hawkpath pushed away her sorrow and watched Robinpaw and Meadowpaw enlarging the nursery; with four queens and seven kits, it was way too crowded. It would be even more full when Owlfeather, the fourth queen, had her kits. From what Hawkpath had heard, that would happen pretty soon. Hawkpath couldn't wait to see the new kits and wondered what their names would be.
Hawkpath licked her chest fur a couple of times to make it stay flat, then looked around again.
Pebbleshine was bringing borage to Owlfeather, who was dozing outside the nursery. Dovewhisker, a tawny Moonclan queen, was leading her two kits, Wolfkit and Tallkit, to the preypile.
Hawkpath let out a mrrow of amusement as Tallkit, a lanky white tom, tried to grab hold of his mother's tail. She looked at Poppyfur, whose green eyes were sparkling with fun.
Hawkpath yawned suddenly, and decided she'd better get some sleep if she wanted to catch some prey. She looked at the sliver of moon over her head before she went into the cave, and soon was fast asleep, despite the cold.