Heart Of A Fighter (Book 4): Magic In The Valley

Chapter 8: Nerves Hit

"Duck, spin, paw slam to the head! No, spin, and THEN slam, not turn your head!" Hollered an annoyed Geyser Whisker, a she-cat with chocolate torbie patterned fur, a sliced ear, and glassy olive eyes.

"What is wrong with you?! Idiot!" She shouted furiously as Lionpaw nervously wrangled himself free from Leviathan's paw lock and made his way to her in shame.

Wren winced as the she-cat delivered a whack to his head and continued to yell at him while Leviathan, a trainee from Hearts Of The Restless with black sunshine fur and brown eyes grinned triumphantly.

Glacier Storm had assigned most of the strongest she-cats to all the BlazeClan apprentices as their mentors, and while the tom apprentices looked down on them in the beginning they were quickly humbled within moments.

Unlike most of the BlazeClan she-cats who were raised to be meek and delicate, the tribe she-cats were brash, strong and very strict.

They were not lenient like the Titanpaws and Starpaws' former mentors, and expected nothing short of perfection and would not stand any sort of funny business whatsoever.

Wren watched as Leviathan was soon pitted against Cootpaw, and the once cocky tom apprentice was quickly defeated by the speedy young Kerauno with a swift slam to the chest.

Wren wasn't really surprised. The BlazeClan Titanpaws only depended on mere brute strength and intimidation to ward off any opponents, but they were not ready to deal with speedy and agile cats like Leviathan.

Cootpaw was loudly scolded for his failure by his mentor, a sleek, red ticked tortoiseshell she-cat with lilac-tinted eyes named Frigid Song while Leviathan was taken by her mentor for a short rest.

"Wren, you're up against Venatrox," Lagoon Snarl informed her, gently pushing her to the ring where a tom apprentice with ruddy tabby fur, patchy skin and crisp green eyes was waiting.

As per tribe custom, she and the Chrono bowed respectfully to each other before beginning the battle stance. Like her, Venatrox was a healer, so they trained separately from all the other apprentices.

With a deep breath, Wren launched forth, swiping a paw at the ruddy tabby tom. Venatrox ducked and she sailed over him, quickly regaining balance and spinning around to face him.

Venatrox narrowed his eyes at her and began to lash out his paws at her, darting in and out of her range to land blows on her pelt.

Wren managed to swerve to dodge a number of them, but her footwork was not the best as she kept stumbling around trying to evade his sharp strikes.

She hissed as his claws managed to nick her ear and flank, and barely avoided a strike to her face as Venatrox nearly got her when she stumbled and almost tripped.

She found a proper chance to strike back as Venatrox suddenly charged at her, paws extended. Wren bolted forth and reared up to slam her paws with his, claws locking.

With a mighty grunt, she flared open her wings and slammed them onto the ruddy tom's head as hard as she could, earning a cry of shock and surprise.

Wren repeated the motion several more times until Venatrox pushed himself away forcefully with a howl, and Wren dropped to her paws before charging at him like a bull and ramming into his chest.

Venatrox yelped in surprise and the strong force sent him barreling backwards and out of the ring. "Bravo, Wren!" Shouted Lagoon Snarl as she glanced up, slightly dazed.

She glanced back at Venatrox, worried he'd lash out at her, but instead he grinned at her. "That was amazing!" He laughed, and relief flooded Wren's heart.