Warm shafts of sunshine streamed through the canopy of leaves. Fire Heart remained completely still, his amber fur glowing like a flame. Pawstep by pawstep, he pulled himself forward, eyes on the pigeon. This was a good time for hunting and the Clan needed all the prey they could get before leaffall came again. Although there had been little rain since the flood, the forest was still flooded with wildlife.
He tensed, ready to pounce.
Suddenly, the pigeon raised its head, then shot up into the air. However, it was too late. A snowy figure rushed at it from the other side of the clearing. Fire Heart stared in surprise as his nephew swiftly gave it a killing bite.
"Well done, Cloud Tail," Fire Heart praised. "I didn't even see you coming."
"Neither did this stupid dove," Cloud Tail chimed smugly.
Fireheart glared at him. He tried not to get angry at his apprentice, knowing he was still grieving Turtle Tail, but it didn't mean he should act arrogant all the time.
After Falling Feather had died, Skystar had chosen his next option, thinking it would be best for Fire Heart to mentor his own nephew.
The ginger tom had wanted to have Lightning Tail as his apprentice and help his best friend's son complete his training, but then he remembered he was supposed to watch Cloud Tail. To be there for him.
Instead, Yellowfang had taken over the black apprentice's training. Fire Heart just hoped she wouldn't be too tough on him. He was, after all, still grieving his parents and had been less energetic as usual.
If it weren't for his best friend Thunder being there, he would probably sulk alone all the time, but the ginger tom had managed to get his friend out of his nest most days.
Acorn Fur, his sister, was more mature out of the two and distracted herself by helping the medicine cats sometimes or training with Dew, who she had been reassigned to after Rainswept Flower had passed as well.
They aren't the only ones…Ash Blaze and Ivy Breeze also lost their previous mentors. But Quick Water and Tall Shadow will be good teachers for them until they become warriors.
Cloud Tail narrowed his eyes. "I knew it could smell me. But the dumb dove was too stupid to move." His gaze was defiant.
"It's a pigeon, not a dove," Fire Heart shot back. Why were they always having such random arguments? Once they'd argued about whether mice and voles were the same animal. "And you shouldn't be so disrespectful. This pigeon lost its life in order to feed our Clan."
"Lightning Tail hasn't been being respectful," Cloud Tail retorted. "So why are you lecturing only me?"
"Because that's Yellowfang's job to correct his attitude," Fire Heart reminded him. "Like you, he's still grieving, but sometimes you must know you're not the only ones."
After a moment of glaring, Cloud Tail backed off, looking miserable once more. "Fine," he sighed. He picked up the pigeon and stalked off.
Worried, Fire Heart hurried after him. Ever since the battle, SkyClan had been more paranoid and no one left camp alone. They made sure to stray clear of ThunderClan's border as well, unless they had to mark it, but even so they never dawdled, getting the job done in a heartbeat.
Ahead of them, Thunder and Leaf were also heading back to camp, both carrying prey. Leaf turned and waved his tail at them as they caught up.
"Good hunting?" The black-and-white warrior asked.
"Well, not really," Fire Heart sighed. He hadn't been able to focus. He kept seeing memories…or ghosts. Maybe he was coming down with a case of something. "Cloud Tail caught the pigeon though." He nodded to his apprentice, who brightened up at the praise.
"That's good."
Suddenly, the patrol heard rustling from the nearby bushes and stopped. Fire Heart raised his tail to signal for the others to halt as well.
Cloud Tail had dropped into an attack crouch, eyes glittering and Thunder tensed his muscles ready for anything to burst out.
Fire Heart could scent three cats. Two toms and a she-cat but he wasn't sure if they were a threat or not.
"Is someone there?" Leaf called. "Show yourself!"
After a moment, the three cats stepped out of the shadows of the trees. They were all scrawny and carried a strange, unpleasant scent like carrion.
Rogues then, Fire Heart decided.
"Ew, where'd they come from? The Twolegplace dump?"
Fire Heart whipped around, but didn't see anyone. Is it just me or am I losing my mind? I keep imagining Jackdaw's Cry and Hawk Swoop talking…like they're here with me.
It was the exact thing Jackdaw's Cry would say if he were actually here.
"Fire Heart?" He shook his head to see Leaf staring at him with concern and looked away, pelt fluffed with embarrassment.
"I'm good." He turned his attention back to the rogues in front of them.
The first tom was a large brown one with rings of black on each of his paws. The second was a brown tabby with very small ears, like a mouse's. Finally, the she-cat had ridiculously bushy gray fur.
Fire Heart relaxed. He couldn't see how these rogues could cause much harm. They must be like most of the nice outsiders they'd welcomed into the Clan. The rest of the patrol relaxed too.
The she-cat stepped forward. "We heard about the battle from a friend, who sees everything, and thought you could use more warrior cats," she said. "We were wondering if your Clan had room for three more."
Leaf stepped up beside Fire Heart. "Who are you?"
"My name is Holly," the she-cat replied. "This is Mouse Ear and Mud Paws."
The big tom smiled shyly. "Can you guess how we got those names?"
Thunder answered with a smile of his own. "Mud Paws, because it looks like you have mud on your paws," he guessed.
Cloud Tail moved forward, observing the other tom. "You must be Mouse Ear because your ears are as small as mice ears," the fluffy apprentice meowed.
"What was that?" Mouse Ear meowed loudly, flicking his tiny ears as if he couldn't hear well. Fire Heart smiled hesitantly. It was nice to have a joker around after…
He shook his head. "You'll have to ask our leader. You can come with to introduce yourselves."
The three rogues nodded, eyes bright and followed eagerly after them.
"Can they groom themselves first if they're gonna settle down with us?" Cloud Tail whispered to him.
Fire Heart cuffed him, but said nothing as they entered the camp.
Wind Runner was sitting at the entrance to the nursery, watching as her four kits tumbled about.
Petal was heading over to the crowd around Gray Wing, organizing patrols. Birch and Alder chased after her. They were the size of apprentices now, soon to join the others in their den. It would be crowded, but they'd always had a good amount of apprentices. So far they had nine.
Everyone looked around when Fire Heart, Leaf and the rogues approached. Thunder and Cloud Tail had run over to the other apprentices, whispering excitedly.
Tall Shadow had shot away to Skystar's den to no doubt tell the leader of the rogues. Everyone else gathered around. Holly and her friends met some of their gazes calmly, not at all daunted by the many stares.
"What's this?" Jagged Peak pushed through the crowd with Air Leap behind. "More rogues?" His tone wasn't meant to be rude, but Fire Heart still winced on their behalf.
They didn't seem to mind though.
"Hi, I'm Holly," the she-cat purred.
"Oh, h-hi." Fire Heart snickered at his former apprentice's sudden shyness.
"Someone has a crush," Quick Water snickered beside him, thinking the same thing.
"Hello," Skystar meowed, pushing through the crowd. "I hear you want to join us?"
Holly nodded.
"Why do you?" Tall Shadow asked.
"Because we can hunt and fight," Mouse Ear meowed. "Give us a moon to prove it and you won't regret letting us join."
Mud Paws nodded. "Yes. We just arrived to this land and thought it would be best to live in a Clan."
Skystar tilted his head thoughtfully for a moment before he nodded. "Okay. If you don't mind…" he looked around the crowd and his eyes landed on Jagged Peak. "My brother will supervise you."
"Of course not." Holly dipped her head to Skystar and then shot Jagged Peak a smile, who could only gape back.
Gray Wing caught Fire Heart's eyes and rolled his own. Fire Heart shook his head, smiling.
"Alright then, everyone else back to your duties," Skystar ordered before beckoning the three new cats to follow him to his den. "Oh, and remember I want at least three cats in camp."
Another paranoia feeling caused by ThunderClan. They'd been attacked in their own camp plenty and the last battle had been a breaking point enough.
Skystar was more on guard.
Fire Heart sighed as he was excused from patrols and padded over to Raven Hope. "Hey," the black tom purred.
"Hi." He smiled.
As they shared tongues, Fire Heart observed the peaceful camp. Ivy Breeze was listening attentively as Cinder Flower rambled on about some long-winded story. Yellowfang was taking Lightning Tail out to hunt. Thunder had stopped to play with Wind Runner's kits. Cloud Tail had padded over to his littermates.
Fire Heart noticed Pebble Heart staring off into the distance, frowning. He sure does that a lot. The young medicine cat apprentice had always been way mature for his age.
I just hope he doesn't predict another prophecy of our doom soon enough…we just want a few moons of peace at least.
He shook these thoughts away and decided to just relax, enjoying this afternoon which had been pretty peaceful enough.
He closed his eyes and rested his head on Raven Hope's back, pretending he hadn't caught the ghostly flash of a certain black tom.
Welcome to the next installment of DoSkc with three new characters.