Bloodflower

Chapter 10

Rosepaw padded along beside Nightpaw at the back of the patrol, her pelt idly brushing his. It was the day after Rainfoot's kits were born, and she had volunteered for a hunting patrol at dawn. Nightpaw had come along as well, and they were patrolling with their mentors, Pineclaw and Thrushtail, plus Forestfire and Willowstripe.

Thrushtail, the head of the patrol, halted. He turned to face the rest of the cats. "Let's split up and do some partner hunting," he meowed. "Rosepaw will go with Pineclaw, and Nightpaw with me. Forestfire and Willowstripe will go together."

Rosepaw felt a twinge of excitement. She was ready to show Pineclaw just how good of a hunter she'd become! She bounded over to stand beside her mentor.

"Where do you think we should hunt?" Pineclaw prompted.

It's a test to see how I think during the hunt.

"Perhaps we should look around the watering hole near the FireClan border," she answered. "It's getting hotter as the sun comes up, and the prey will want some water."

Pineclaw looked impressed. "Great idea. Just try not to get too close to the boundary. FireClan can be overly suspicious, to say the least!"

Rosepaw nodded obediently, and followed him as he led the way to the FireClan border.
Suddenly Pineclaw veered to the left. "This way."

They nosed their way through a thick swath of ferns and found themselves in a small clearing, with the pond in the center.

"Here we are." Pineclaw scanned the clearing with his ears pricked. He lowered his voice. "Find a spot to hide, and wait until something shows up."

Rosepaw nodded eagerly and wiggled into the most lush clump of ferns she could find. Their fresh scent wreathed around her until she could hardly smell anything else.

She watched Pineclaw in surprise as he rolled in some of the sticky mud beside the pond. Then he brushed against the undergrowth until the leaves stuck to his fur, covering up his reddish coat.

Rosepaw couldn't keep in her laughter. "You look like a walking bush!" she purred.

Pineclaw rolled his eyes with amusement. "It will disguise my scent and help me camouflage," he mewed.

"It still looks funny to me." Yet Rosepaw couldn't help admiring her mentor's cleverness. He settled across from her in a bush, and only his sharp amber eyes were visible now.

Rosepaw kept her jaws parted to taste any prey-scent nearby. But all she could smell was ferns and FireClan's stench, and she felt a pang of frustration. She resisted the urge to move, not wanting to scare away anything that might be nearby.

Suddenly she noticed Pineclaw's eyes narrow, and she tasted a hint of vole. She spotted it scurrying towards the pond, and pausing to quickly lap up a few drops.

Pineclaw sprang from cover the instant the vole was distracted, and landed squarely on top of it with unsheathed claws. He nipped its spine quickly, and it was dead as quickly as it had appeared.

"That was brilliant!" Rosepaw gasped. "You were so quick, like a bolt of lightning."

Pineclaw blinked proudly at his catch, then froze. He lifted his muzzle, nose twitching, toward the FireClan border. Tentatively Rosepaw slithered out of the ferns, wondering what Pineclaw had scented.

Her mentor's eyes blazed with surprise. "The FireClan stench is so strong! But we're at least several fox-lengths from the border..."

"Do you think some cat crossed the border?" Rosepaw asked. She sniffed the air for herself, and she almost stumbled backwards when she realized how much stronger the rival Clan's scent had become.