True Warrior Hearts (Book 2)

Chapter 11: Leaf-bare approaches

HEY GUYS! Thanks a great mil for all those reads! It was such a nice X'mas gift to see how many reads and votes TWH reached

ALSO, I WISH YOU A WARRIORS CHIRISTMAS, AND A MEOW-TASTIC NEW YEAR! (X'mas in my country is probably earlier than most of ya) xD Now if you'll excuse me, I need to open the Harry Potter lego set I got for Christmas and work on that... :)

Juz kiddin, this chappy is on top of that on my priorities list lah ;) Enjoy~

Chapter 11: (Christmas special, LOLZ)

A moon past quickly in midst of training, patrols, and hunting. The three apprentices looked up to the sky to see the white trees in the forest.

It was leaf-bare, perhaps the most hated season of all, but for some apparent reason, Jaypaw loved it. Tawnypaw never liked the idea of white ground- after all, her black pelt would show obviously, contrasting greatly. Brackenpaw felt neutral towards the cold season, no liking nor hatred for this season.

Jaypaw just enjoyed the feeling of the cooling wind, the frosty ground, and of course, the snow. He often wondered about how was it it fell from the sky, as though it was a gift from StarClan.

Tigerheart padded along with him and they went on a small hunt. Being of neutral colours, Tigerheart and Jaypaw could hide in the surroundings well.

Jaypaw caught sight of a rather large rabbit and pounced. With a swift bite to its neck, he caught the prey easily.

"Good job," Tigerheart purred gently as Jaypaw beamed. However, he felt something stir within Tigerheart.

In this moon, he had been training his power to read minds and dreams, so as to help in the final battle, but somehow, what he sensed in Tigerheart was different.

It was not seemingly dangerous nor evil, but it was foreign yet at the same time, warm? The warm feeling... just what was it?

As his sapphire blue eyes turned to look at Tigerheart, her amber eyes pleased at her own catch of two squirrels, he shook the thought away.

Whatever that is, that can wait, he thought as they headed back to camp, well-stocked with prey.

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Brackenpaw was out hunting as well. Along with Tinylight, who seemed smaller than her now, even though she was only 9 moons old and him an experienced warrior.

It was hard to hunt in the prey, Tinylight had told her as he headed to hunt, as the prey were all in their own dens, hiding from the cold. So don't be disappointed if you didn't find any prey at all.

Brackenpaw smirked. This was when the power she had been training would come in handy. The ability to summon smaller animals.

After all, if you can't find them, you should make them come to you right?

She closed her eyes and focused. She could imagine mice and squirrels vivdly, and as she opened her eyes, mice and squirrels could be seen everywhere.

She smiled as she pounced quickly, grabbing as much prey as she could and landing bites on them as fast as she could.

The prey fell dead as the rest of the small animals dashed away. She counted her catch. 5 squirrels and 6 mice! It was even better than Tawnypaw, and she was supposed to be skilled in hunting! Hah! That will show her sister!

"Tinylight!" she called to her mentor as he arrived with only one dove. His eyes widened in surprise and happiness at all Brackenpaw's prey.

"Brackenpaw! You're fantastic! This can keep the clan stuffed for at least a quarter moon, I bet! How did you do it? Oh StarClan, I'll bet you could easily pass your assessment, you hunt so well, we have to get this back-" Tinylight meowed excitedly as he carried their catch in his mouth and his back, Brackenpaw following, doing the same. Heading back to camp, Brackenpaw couldn't wait to see the clan's reaction to all this food.

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Tawnypaw, however, was the worst off of the three littermates. Her mentor, Whitefall, was a white she-cat and could hunt perfectly well in the snow.

She, however, was completely opoosite her white-pelted mentor. Her black pelt was a dark shade which was so different from the snow, Whitefall decided against her hunting.

"What? Why?" she had complained, Whitefall also quite sad about the decision. She was a brilliant hunter, but the snow was just too white.

"You'll scare off the prey, your jet black pelt will show," Whitefall had explained while going with Frostsnow. "Just stay at camp and help out wherever you can, okay?"

Tawnypaw growled as she sat in the apprentice den, staring at nothing in particular. Then a thought popped up in her head.

Wasn't now the best time to test her hunting and adapting skills? She had trained them often and they had never failed her... but now?

Purring, she headed out to the forest, where she engaged in hunting. She crouched, and then... pounced as she saw the thrush, landing a killing bite.

Who says that a black cat can't hunt in the snow?

She caught sight of yet another bird and she went for it, catching yet another prey for LightClan.

-----

The three siblings were all back at camp. Jaypaw with his large rabbit, Tawnypaw with her two birds, and Brackenpaw, the proudest of them all, with her 5 squirrels and 6 mice.

Putting them on the prey pile, many cats had praised Brackenpaw, making her even more pleased than usual.

Pinepaw and Mumblepaw, who had not caught anything at all, just sulked as Brackenpaw taunted in their faces. "You were just lucky," Mumblepaw had retorted.

It seemed like a typical leaf-bare, but Fuzzypelt was still looking at her three kits. They were definitely aware of their powers, especially Brackenpaw.

She'd bet Brackenpaw had used her summoning ability to catch all those squirrels and mice. Was it time to tell them more of their powers?

Sharing a snowy owl, that she had caught along with two shrews, with Sandtail, she thought about her kits. Would they be able to save the clans?

"Anything bothering you, Fuzzypelt?" her mate's kind voice woke her from her thoughts.

"Nothing," she told him as Sandtail raised an eyebrow. Like he was her mate for no apparent reason. He knew something was wrong, but what?

All he could do was hope she would tell him.

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Hope you enjoyed the chappy~~

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Once again, MERRY CHRISTMAS! x3