Now back to the competition!

Chapter 43: The Bird Tracker

Shatterbreeze blinked at the call of someone. Groaning, she got to her sore paws, trudging out of the den. She was joined by other sleepy apprentices, who had all just come back from the Hunting Competition. It was the second part of the test: tracking. The clan gathered under Bloodrock.

Darkshard seemed cheerful as she spoke to the apprentices. I have the results from the hunting. In first place, with twenty pieces of prey, is Stoneclaw." Everyone yowled in congratulations. Stoneclaw smiled, sticking out his chest with pride as he soaked up his praise. Shatterbreeze and Star scoffed, rolling their eyes.

"Second place, Star, with nineteen pieces." Cheers rose up again. "And in third, Shatterbreeze, with fifteen pieces." Shatterbreeze gave a shy smile as her clanmates' voices rang out.

Darkshard quieted them. "It is only the beginning. Now, the tracking event will begin. Your mentor will have a feather. The objective is to find them using only the feather. The challenge; each feather smells like something different, and you won't know which mentor has which feather scent. Find your mentor the fastest, and look for the clues. That is all." Each cat nodded, showing their understanding, and each apprentice was led to their starting point.

Shatterbreeze sprinted toward the undergrowth, inhaling the air deeply. She twitched her nose, picking up a scent. Waterfowl of some kind, a duck maybe. She parted her jaws, trying to piece together the previous events she gathered from the trail.

"Someone…came this way…doubled back…and…" She took a deep breath, smiling. "This way!" She charged through a hedge. Suddenly, she was stabbed from everywhere. She yelped as the thorn bush ensnared her even more. A trap! I was tricked! Tiny cuts appeared all over her body as she lashed out. She growled, lunging at the branchs and snapping them with her fangs. Some of the thorns cut her gums as she bit her way out.

She collapsed onto the ground, panting. She struggled to her paws, zapped of what little energy she had. Got to find Colddusk. She looked around, scanning the area. She took another breath. The trail had veered at the last moment to avoid the bush, going around it. A clump of silver fur was caught in one of the thorns. Shatterbreeze sniffed it.

"Of course. Ripple. I forgot Ridgebreeze was his new apprentice. He'd want him to toughen up." She signed. She ran away from the bush, opening her stride to achive more speed. Finally, she hit another trail.

"Ripple had a duck feather. Interesting." She looked at the faint, large paw prints in the mud before her. "So the feather reflects the cat? The clues…" She took a deep breath. Cardinal. That must be Russet.

After following a few more trails, she found out a lot. Chill had a Mockingbird feather, for a Mockingbird is a grey, aggressive bird. Silver, known for her intelligence, received a crow feather. The Blue jay feather was given to Tanglewhisper and the Bluebird to Twilightwhisper. But what was Colddusk?

"He has white fur. What bird has white feathers?" She thought out loud. "A lot of birds have white feathers. Maybe with his kitty-pet roots? What bird is found by the Twolegs?" She began to pace to help her think. "White. Twoleg bird."

Suddenly, it dawned on her. "A Dove. It's a dove!" She took off, searching for anything that smelled like her target. Finally, she found the scent crawling up a tree. She leapt, embedding her claws in the bark. She scrambled to the branch, following the wafting scent. It drifted by some berries, and Shatterbreeze smiled, knowing her suspicions were correct. Soon she found Colddusk sitting on a branch, smiling down at her.

"Well done. I actually think you're the first. A few apprentices were convinced I was their mentor, and tried to climb. It was quite funny." He said with a chuckle.

Shatterbreeze laughed, then the mentor and apprentice climbed down, heading back. True to Colddusk's thoughts, she was the first one, and was praised by Darkshard. She sighed, tucking into a piece of prey as she settled down until the next event: The Bloodring fight.

Question of the chapter (and please don't turn this into a full-out war!): Team Star or Team Stoneclaw?

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