Chapter 5

Firepaw and Goldenstar return to camp not long after Sunhigh. Firepaw felt his energy starting to ebb away as he moved through the tunnel. When he emerged into camp he immediately felt as though he was being watched. The fur along his spine tingled as he looked around the camp. At first he thought that he was just imagining the feeling of being watched until he locked eyes with Stonetooth, who was sitting just outside the warriors den. He could feel the intensity burning behind those amber eyes. However, as soon as his eyes had connected with Stonetooth's, the gray warrior broke the stare and turn around disappearing into the warrior's den.

'That was odd, but maybe he just isn't use to seeing me in camp.' Firepaw thought. Before he could think any further, a soft voice called his name. He looked up and saw Runningpaw sitting in front of him.

"Oh hi Runningpaw what are you doing?" he asked.

"Well Owltalon asked Smokecloud to teach me a new battle move today, since he went hunting today. I'm just waiting for him to finish speaking with Squirrelfur." she mewled.

"Why is he talking to Squirrelfur?" he asked curiously. She purred softly batting at one of his ears.

"Well it might be because she is pregnant with his kits, but I could be wrong." she said with a slight laugh.

"Oh, well then would you like me to go get him?" he asked.

"No need, I'm here" meowed a new voice. Firepaw turn to see the dark gray tom pad up to the two apprentices. Runningpaw got to her feet and followed him into the tunnel meowing a brisk farewell to Firepaw. Firepaw bid her goodbye and moved to the apprentice den, where Longpaw was currently sunning himself. As he approached Longpaw meowed a greeting to him.

"Hey Firepaw how was your patrol with Goldenstar?" he asked

"It was great. Thanks for waking me up by the way." Firepaw meowed with a sheepish grin on his face. Longpaw tapped Firepaw's shoulder with his tail.

"Think nothing of it. Anything happen while you were exploring the territory?" Before Firepaw could answer he was cut off by Lightningpaw.

"Of course nothing happened while they were out." Lightningpaw scoffed. Firepaw flicked his tail agitated.

"If you must know something did happen while we were out of camp." snipped Firepaw.

"Oh I highly doubt that since Goldenstar would have never let you be out of camp as long as you were." meowed a new voice. Firepaw turned his glare from Lighningpaw to the new voice. He came face to face with a long legged black tom with a gray muzzle. He immediately recognized him as Spiderfang.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Firepaw meowed with an edge in his voice. Spiderfang puffed up his chest before answering.

"I mean Goldenstar would never have taken you out by herself if there was a chance one of the Clans would start trouble." Firepaw open his mouth to speak but was cut off by Spiderfang.

"That's the problem with being an apprentice, you can't go anywhere without a mentor or your mentor's permission. Other than patrols or assignments we warriors don't need permission to leave the camp, and we don't-"

"Brag about our status to apprentices, because it could get us put back on apprentice duties." growled Sootpelt who had come up behind the dark warrior and was currently giving him an annoyed look at the back of his head. Spiderfang gulped and had the decency to look embarrassed as he turned to face Sootpelt. Sootpelt shook his head.

"Honestly Spiderfang, do I need to tell Goldenstar that you need a few more moons back in the apprentice den? Because your certainly not acting like a warrior." Spiderfang looked horrified and quickly shook his head no.

"I'm sorry Sootpelt." Sootpelt scoffed.

"It's not me you should apologize too." Firepaw could tell Spiderfang was fighting back the urge to sneer at him as he hissed out his apology. Sootpelt gave a nod fixing Spiderfang with a glare.

"If you weren't so busy gloating in front of the apprentices, you would know that Goldenstar called you to be a part of the patrol that is going out to track down the weasel she and Firepaw discovered while out in our territory." Spiderfang's, Lightningpaw's and Longpaw's eye's widened. Firepaw couldn't help but feel a little satisfaction.

"Just one or were there more?" asked Spiderfang.

"You won't know if you don't move your tail." Sootpelt growled again. Spiderfang took off toward the tunnel where Silverwind and Blackflower were waiting. Sootpelt watched him go before turning his attention back to the three apprentices.

"Lightningpaw, I believe Ashstorm told you to get mouse bile from Fallowpelt for Ivyclaw's ticks. You better hurry." Lightningpaw grumbled a bit, but raced off to find Fallowpelt. Sootpelt watched him go before turning his attention back to the two other apprentices.

"Don't let them get to you, you're no different than any other apprentice." Sootpelt meowed before walking off. Firepaw's pelt fluffed out a bit at Sootpelt's comment. Longpaw meowed an agreement before heading toward the fresh-kill pile promising to bring back something for Firepaw. Firepaw thanked him before glancing around the camp again. He was disappointed that he didn't see the familiar white pelt of Dovepaw. He turned to Longpaw who had returned from the fresh-kill pile and had dropped a thrush at his paws.

"Where's Dovepaw? I saw Runningpaw when I came into camp." asked Firepaw as he pulled the feathers off his thrush. Longpaw took a bite of his starling before answering.

"She went on a hunting patrol not long ago with Mapletail and Owltalon." he meowed through a mouthful of starling. Firepaw looked amused by his friend talking between each bite. His eyes brightened as he thought of the white apprentice. Suddenly a thought came to him as he watched Lightningpaw cross the clearing.

"Why did Ashstorm tell Lightningpaw to get bile for Ivyclaw?" Longpaw laughed his eyes sparkled in amusement.

"Lightningpaw didn't listen to Ivyclaw when she was telling him he didn't put enough feathers in Toadleg's nest. Lightningpaw told her that she didn't know what she was talking about. Toadleg was livid when he finally got in his nest and almost clawed Lightningpaw's ears off. Lightningpaw got mad at Ivyclaw saying she distracted him from putting in more feathers. If Ashstorm hadn't come into the elder's den right then I think Ivyclaw would have sent Lightningpaw to Starclan early." Firepaw purred with amusement.

He started to take another bite of the thrush before he once again felt like he was being watch, though with not as much intensity as before. Firepaw looked around and saw Sharpkit and Leafkit wrestling just outside the nursery. As he watched them the feeling came back and a flash of fur in front of the entrance in the nursery made him look up. He spotted Sunkit watching him from the entrance of the nursery. Firepaw thought that he had seen a flash of sadness in her eyes before she turned her gaze onto her brother and Leafkit. Firepaw then remembered yesterday how Redflower said she would get better with time. He nudged Longpaw who was taking another bite of his starling.

"You told me yesterday wasn't the time to talk about what was wrong with Sunkit. Will you tell me now?" he asked curiously. Longpaw gave a heavy sigh before answering.

"Yeah okay, you see Redflower use to have three kits. Her third kit was named Flamekit. Almost a full moon ago, Flamekit snuck out of the nursery a little before Sunhigh while his mother and siblings were having a nap. We hadn't noticed he was missing until Redflower woke up and yowled that he was missing. We searched for him in camp and through our territory, until one of our warriors found his body near a den that use to belong to a fox. His body was litter in teeth marks and he had the scent of fox on him. The only odd thing was the teeth marks weren't long enough to be from an adult fox, but it might have been a younger fox. Sunkit hasn't been the same since he died." Firepaw felt a little sadness for Sunkit. He glanced at the nursery before focusing back on Longpaw.

"How did Sharpkit take it?" he asked sadly.

"He took it better than her. He has always been closer to Leafkit, than Flamekit and Sunkit. Flamekit was closer to Sunkit and they spent a lot of time together. It's probably why she took his death so hard." Longpaw said with a sad mew. Firepaw picked at what was left of his thrush. He didn't have much of an appetite. Suddenly a thought came to Firepaw as he thought over what Longpaw had told him.

"Did she stop talking to everyone after he died?" Longpaw seemed to think for a moment.

"Now that you mention it, she did stop speaking to the other warriors and she barely speaks to the apprentices." Firepaw was going to respond when a familiar white pelt brushed against his own pelt. He looked up to see Dovepaw standing beside him. She purred softly.

"Hi Firepaw, I saw you and Goldenstar today while you were out patrolling." She meowed. Firepaw's, eyes widened in surprise.

"You did? I didn't see you or your hunting patrol." Longpaw and Dovepaw purred in amusement.

"Maybe if you had looked up you would have seen me." she meowed. Firepaw looked confused.

"But if I had looked up, all I would have seen are a bunch of tree branches… wait you were hunting in the trees?" Dovepaw gave him a quick nod.

"Yes its part of being a SkyClan cat we hunt in the trees." she purred softly.

"Wow that's amazing." Firepaw meowed. He began to imagine himself leaping up jumping from tree branch to tree branch.

"I bet Goldenstar will start teaching you to hunt soon. She'll probably teach you how to catch birds while they are in mid-flight." meowed Longpaw, as he gathered up his feathers. Firepaw looked at his half eaten thrush and nudged it to Dovepaw.

"Would you like some of my thrush Dovepaw?" he asked looking at the white apprentice. Dovepaw nodded and purred her thanks before finishing the rest of Firepaw's thrush. Firepaw and Dovepaw gathered up the thrush feathers and brought them to spot where feathers were stored. They made their way over to the apprentice den's settling down in their nests to sleep.

Firepaw woke up to a voice calling his name from outside the den. He stretched out of his basket and noticed that Dovepaw and Longpaw sleep in their nests. Lightningpaw and Runningpaw weren't in the den.

"Firepaw are you awake?" called Goldenstar into the den.

"Yes Goldenstar I'm coming" he meowed as he moved toward the opening of the den. As he stepped outside the apprentice den, Goldenstar sat patiently watching him as he gave himself another stretch.

"Come Firepaw, today I'll be teaching you how to hunt follow me." she meowed as she moved toward the entrance of camp. As they approached the entrance, Firepaw could see Runningpaw and Owltalon sitting patiently beside the tunnel. Goldenstar meowed a greeting which they both returned. Goldenstar turned to Firepaw and meowed softly.

"Okay Firepaw as I said we will be hunting today and Owltalon and Runningpaw are coming with us." she meowed. Firepaw nodded, his eyes shining with excitement. Goldenstar led the way through the tunnel with Firepaw right behind her. Runningpaw took her place right behind Firepaw and Owltalon brought up the rear.

Goldenstar led the patrol through the forest. Firepaw watched as they passed the training area. He could see, through the trees, the large oak that stood proudly in the center of the grassy clearing. Goldenstar led them to an area where there were bushes a circle of bushes were surrounded by the trees. Goldenstar moved to the center of the bush circle, she beckoned for Firepaw to stand with her.

"Owltalon you can take Runningpaw over there to hunt for a little, while I work with Firepaw." Goldenstar meowed as she pointed her toward a few oak trees a few fox lengths away. Owltalon nodded a led his apprentice over to the oak trees. Firepaw watched as the pair silently leaped into the closet tree, vanishing in the cover of leaves.

"Okay Firepaw, I'm going to show you how to ambush a bird from a leaping behind bushes. If you do this technique properly you should be able to snatch any bird that flies past you without having to wait for it to be on the ground." meowed Goldenstar. Firepaw nodded. Goldenstar motioned for Firepaw to follow her behind a bramble bush. She showed him how he should crouch, flexing her hind legs slightly before giving a great leap in to the air making a swiping movement with her forepaws. She landed in the center of the clearing and turned to bush Firepaw was still crouched behind.

"Okay Firepaw, you give it a try." meowed Goldenstar. Though it was still a little dark Firepaw had been able to see what Goldenstar showed him. Firepaw crouched down; he took a short breath and leaped a high as he could into the air. He didn't get as high up as Goldenstar, but it was still a pretty good jump. He remembered to swipe the air with his forepaws the way Goldenstar showed him before landing in the clearing close to Goldenstar.

"Not bad, but we'll have to work on the height of your jump." meowed Goldenstar. Firepaw nodded and they practiced a little more before Owltalon and Runningpaw rejoined them each with a fair catch of prey. Firepaw watched as they buried their catches. Goldenstar gave them a nod before leading them off in the direction of the twolegplace.

The sun had begun to peek over the horizon as they reached the Bat Hollow. Firepaw noticed a black cloud approaching from the distance. He was going to tell Goldenstar that maybe they should wait to hunt believing the approaching cloud to be a storm cloud, until he realized the cloud was flying through the trees. He then began to make little screeching noises. Firepaw realized that they were bats and turned to look at Goldenstar who was moving behind a bramble bush. Firepaw noticed Runningpaw and Owltalon do the same. Firepaw quickly ducked behind a bush the closest to him and waited for the bats to get closer. He crouched low remembering what Goldenstar had showed him. The screeching got louder as they soar over head. Firepaw leaped into the air swiping with his forepaws and knocked down three bats. He saw out of the corner of his eye owl talon doing the same thing. Firepaw landed and looked at the three bats he managed to hit. One had died from impact with the ground, another had a broken wing and its breathing was shallow. Firepaw gave it a swift bite to the neck. As Firepaw moved to inspect the third it took off into the sky before Firepaw could stop it. Goldenstar approached Firepaw with three bats hanging from her jaws. She put them down to speak with him.

"You did well, however you should have pounced on that third bat as soon as you landed." she mewled as she looked at his two other catches.

"I didn't think it was still alive." Firepaw meowed.

"I suppose your right, but be more careful in the future." She turned to look at Runningpaw and Owltalon who each had two bats.

"Owltalon give Firepaw your catches and go get the prey you and Runningpaw stashed earlier. I'll take our apprentices back to camp." Owltalon meowed nodded and put his prey next to Firepaw's before leaping into the forest. Goldenstar showed Firepaw how to carry the bats by their wings, before leading both him and Runningpaw back to camp. As they walked the birds that lived in the forest started to sing. Firepaw noticed a chaffinch land on a small boulder not far them. He placed the bats on the ground and snuck carefully toward the chaffinch. Just as he was about to pounce, the bird took flight, but this time Firepaw was prepared for it and brought the chaffinch back down to the ground. He delivered a swift bite to the neck and walked back over to Runningpaw and Goldenstar. Goldenstar gave him a nod of approval as he carried his catch over.

"Well done that was a good catch." meowed Goldenstar. Runningpaw softly meowed her own praise to Firepaw as he picked up his catch and three of the bats. Runningpaw picked up the final bat along with her other two.

When they entered camp, the three brought their catches to the fresh-kill pile. Goldenstar told Firepaw to eat something before walking off to speak to Finchflight, who had emerged from the warriors den not long after they came into the camp. Firepaw looked at the fresh-kill pile looking for something to eat. Longpaw emerged from the apprentice den and joined him beside the fresh-kill pile. After meowing a greeting to newly the awakened apprentice, he searched through the pile before settling on one of the bats they had caught earlier. Longpaw pulled out a wren and led Firepaw to the spot they usually go to eat. Firepaw took a bite of the bat and found it tasted better than he thought it would. Runningpaw came over to join them with a swallow in her jaws. She settled down beside Longpaw.

"You did well on your first hunt Firepaw." Runningpaw meowed as she stripped the feathers off her swallow. Longpaw looked up from his wren and looked at Runningpaw and Firepaw.

"You guys went hunting together? Before dawn?" meowed Longpaw. Firepaw nodded.

"Yeah Goldenstar and Owltalon took us out early to catch some bats." meowed Firepaw.

"Yes Firepaw, caught two bats on his very first try and a chaffinch." Runningpaw added in. Longpaw gave a sigh of relief.

"Thank StarClan." muttered Longpaw as he sank his teeth into back into his wren. Firepaw looked at him with a confused expression on his face. Runningpaw purred softly in amusement before biting into the swallow. Dovepaw emerged from the apprentice den and meowed a greeting over to the three. Firepaw felt his pelt warming up as he watched her walk up to them.

"Hey Dovepaw are you hungry? You want a bite?" meowed Longpaw between mouthfuls of wren. Dovepaw purred in amusement before shaking her head.

"No sorry, I'm going on patrol with Smokecloud, Hawkwing and Sootpelt." she meowed

Smokecloud emerged from the nursery and headed toward the entrance. Hawkwing and Sootpelt were waiting at the entrance. Dovepaw head over to the group waving to them with her tail. Firepaw watched her go with a sigh before gathering up the bat wings.

"Oh Firepaw, bring those to Fallowpelt, she uses them for different things in the medicine den." meowed Firepaw walked over to the medicine cat den. He called a greeting into the entrance.

"Oh hello Firepaw, is there something you need?" meowed Fallowpelt coming out of the den.

"I just wanted to bring you these bat wings, I heard you use them for a lot of things" Firepaw pushed the wings forward.

"Oh yes thank you I'll store these away." Fallowpelt mewled as she picked up the wings.

"Well I should probably go find Goldenstar." meowed Firepaw as Fallowpelt moved to put the wings into the den.

"Okay if you need anything come find me." meowed Fallowpelt.

"I will" Firepaw started back toward the apprentice den, when Goldenstar called him from a spot in front of her den. Finchflight was standing right beside her.

"Firepaw, I would like you to go get Longpaw, we'll be working on some fighting moves today." she meowed purring at the excitement she saw in Firepaw's eyes.

( I think this is my longest chapter I've done so far. Firepaw found out a little about Sunkit. Firepaw will learn some new battle moves. I might start moving time faster in the next chapter. )