4

Rosepaw crouched down to the ground, making sure to keep her tail still.

"Tuck in your hind legs!" said Hazelslip. "You need to have strength in your pounce!"

"Sorry!" she replied. Hazelslip had taken her on her first hunting lesson. She was trying to master the hunter's crouch, something every apprentice needed to know.

"Is it good now?" she had tucked her legs in as far as they went and became as still as can be.

"That's perfect! Oh the joy when Spottedmist hears that my apprentice can do the hunter's crouch better than her!"

"Huh?"

"Oh, right, uh I forgot I was talking to you."

I must be super good to get that kind of praise

"No worries. All that matters is that I learned it. So now can we go hunting?"

"Okay, let me call the other mentors," with that she padded over to the warriors' den and came out with the two cats behind her. Rosepaw went into the apprentices' den to get her sisters.

"Our mentors want us, it's our first hunting session," she squealed with excitement.

"Sounds fun," Eaglepaw said delightedly.

They walked out and met up with their mentors.

"Are we all ready?" Barktail asked.

"Are we?" Amberpaw put in humorously.

"Yes, we are," said Spottedmist, looking at Amberpaw. "Unless you don't want to come of course"

Amberpaw muttered something and Rosepaw had a feeling the words weren't so kind. All of the apprentices and mentors padded through the forest keeping alert for prey. The trees seemed alive in the wind as though they were reaching for the clouds. Once they were in the center of the territory, they stopped.

"This is where we hunt," said Barktail. "You will hunt in pairs. Mentor with apprentice. Now of you go"

Rosepaw scented the air. She picked up many scents, such as fresh grass and the cool breeze, among them lay the fresh scent of vole.

"I think I found something," she whispered to Hazelslip.

Hazelslip scented the air and then nodded, signaling for them to track it. They followed it around a bush. Rosepaw suddenly halted. The vole was sitting under a tree. It was nice and plump. Hazelslip saw it, too. Rosepaw crept into a bush to the right of the vole as Hazelslip went to its left. She scared it into falling for their trap. It ran away from Hazelslip and went straight to where Rosepaw was hiding. She gave its neck a quick bite. It quickly fell limp in her jaws.

"My first kill!" Rosepaw exclaimed. They buried it and continued hunting. Hazelslip caught a shrew before they collected the vole and headed back to regroup with the rest of the patrol.

Eaglepaw and Barktail emerged from the trees behind her. Eaglepaw was carrying a squirrel in her jaws.

"This squirrel had no idea we were even there," mumbled Eaglepaw around a mouthful of fur.

Amberpaw and Spottedmist came back with a sparrow before they headed back to camp.

Rosepaw, Ambrpaw, and Eaglepaw showed Snowspeckle and Pinestar the first piece of prey they had ever caught.

"They caught their first fresh-kill ever!" said Snowspeckle "All of them are wonderful!"

"Excellent work," said Pinestar.

Rosepaw glowed with pride from the praise her parents had given her. She could see her sisters felt the same way.

"I'm sure the queens would love a good meal," her mother said. "You should take all that wonderful prey you caught."

"Okay," said Rosepaw. She bounded off with her sisters to the nursery. She stuck her head into the den. Frostsplash looked at her fondly.

"Come on in," she said to the three sisters. "You brought fresh-kill I see."

"We caught it ourselves," said Amberpaw proudly.

"We'll be able to hunt our own prey soon!" squeaked Shadowkit. He and his littermates ran over to where the apprentices were standing.

"Yeah! I'll be the best warrior in the whole forest!" said Redkit.

"No you won't!" protested Dawnkit. "I will!"

"No I will!" said Silverkit, emerging from the back of the den

"I'm sure you will all make wonderful warriors," Rosepaw said.

"Ok kits, say goodbye to the apprentices, and say thank you for the delicious meal!" Fernheart told them.

"Thank you!" they squeaked in unison.

"You're welcome," she said, smiling

Rosepaw went to get her own piece of prey and sat down with her sisters.

"It was a great day for hunting, wasn't it?" Eaglepaw said, breaking the silence

"Yes, it was. I'm so glad we caught so much prey for the clan!" Rosepaw agreed

Amberpaw yawned. She suddenly realized it was already turning dark. The first crickets began to sing their songs. They headed back to their den to get some rest after the long day of hunting.

Rosepaw looked around, expecting to see her sisters next to her. only to find disappointment when she noticed the Eaglepaw had moved her nest closer to Brackenpaw than hers, Sprucepaw's was very close to hers, though Amberpaw was still next to her,

Is there something going on with them?

She pushed that thought to the side and drifted off into a dreamless sleep.