Waging War Book 4: Empty Peace {COMPLETE}

Chapter 2

"Blossompaw, focus." The slightly stern voice of Mudfall pulled Blossompaw's attention back to reality once again.

"Sorry." She dipped her head, feeling her pelt burn from embarrassment once again. Mudfall just gave her a nod and gave Hollystorm a signal to continue. "We'll start by practicing a a finishing move. You will use this move on an already weakened opponent to get them out of the fight and send them running. Burnclaw and Mudfall will demonstrate."

Blossompaw watched as Mudfall and Burnclaw stepped forward and faced each other. "This move requires great strength and speed, it is a powerful tool to finish off your enemy but if you're not fast or strong enough then it leaves you vulnerable for a belly rake.

"Mudfall will demonstrate the attack while Burnclaw will be the one he is attacking. First Burnclaw will not fight back so we can show you what a successful attack looks like, then we'll have Burnclaw defend himself so you can see how to defend yourself in the opposite situation."

Blossompaw and her brothers watched as Mudfall and Burnclaw got into position. "To pull of this move you will rear up on your hind legs and bring your entire body weight down onto your opponent." Mudfall did just as Hollystorm described, rearing up then slamming his body weight down onto Burnclaw. The pale golden warrior let out a huff and and he seemed momentarily dazed before recovering.

"At the moment you are on your hind legs your belly is dangerously exposed to your enemy, that is why you must be quick." Hollystorm explained. "Now we're going to have Burnclaw fight back. Your opponent may try and attempt to do the same to you, in this case you must lock into a fight with them and wrestle them underneath your own body weight." She gave the nod for the two warriors to continue.

Mudfall did the same as he did before, but so did Burnclaw. The two toms began to wrestle for dominance, but in the end Mudfall overpowered the slightly smaller warrior and pinned him to the ground. "You will all attempt this, rotating out so you may all attempt both sides. We'll start with Rushpaw and Blossompaw."

Blossompaw inhaled a deep breath through her nose and breathed out, steadying her nerves. I need to focus. No more thinking about anything else. I need to improve my training if I want to become a warrior.

Blossompaw stepped forward, trying to ignore the thoughts of Owlbreeze as well as the cold weather biting at her pelt. She and Rushpaw stood where Burnclaw and Mudfall had been and she looked at her brother. He was not nearly as muscular as Oakpaw, who had grown into quite a large tom with broad shoulders and big paws. Rushpaw, however, was lean and quick and he never seemed to lose focus. He's faster and bigger than me, and more skilled, but I can still try.

"Go." At Hollystorm's word, Blossompaw channeled all of her speed and reared up on her hind paws. Rushpaw matched her speed, but he was quicker in moving towards her. He locked his forelegs around her and she nearly lost her footing instantly. Blossompaw managed to recover slightly but Rushpaw had priority in this battle.

She wrestled back against him as best she could but in just a few short moments, Rushpaw overpowered her and Blossompaw's hind legs gave out and her body slammed into the ground. She felt an aching pain in her shoulder and flank and she let out a hiss of pain but Rushpaw let her up quickly. "You alright?" Rushpaw looked at her with concern.

"I'm fine." Blossompaw replied and rose shakily to her paws.

"Your speed was good, Blossompaw." Mudfall spoke up. "But you know Rushpaw is faster than you so you need to be better than good against an opponent like him, and you were unable to overpower him. You have speed and intelligence but your physical strength needs work."

Blossompaw stared at her paws for a moment, listening to Mudfall's words carefully but feeling a bitter urge to kick herself for everything she had done wrong. When you mess up there are two things you can do. You can sit and groan and complain and wallow in your own self pity and not improve. Or you can move on, take note of what you did wrong and do it again. To her surprise, the words of Slateheart echoed in her mind. He's right. She took a deep breath and cleared her mind once again. I'll be stronger this time.

"I'm ready to go again." She declared, finding the courage in her voice.

"Very well." Mudfall nodded. "Go."

This time Blossompaw wouldn't hesitate. She moved as quickly as she possibly could, Rushpaw once again matched her and the two of them collided, but this time Blossompaw wasn't going to be knocked down so easily.

She mustered all of her strength and pushed against Rushpaw, she could feel his legs starting to waver. Don't give up! She mustered the last of her strength and pushed her entire body weight into Rushpaw, his hindlegs gave out and Blossompaw pinned him to the ground. He didn't land as hard as she did originally, but she had still overpowered him.

"Very good, Blossompaw." Mudfall praised. "You listened to the advice I gave you and you made an incredible improvement. Very well done." Blossompaw held her head high, feeling confidence in herself for once. Though it did annoy her slightly that it had been the words of Slateheart that had gotten her to find her strength. He will never know. Blossompaw told herself.

The rest of training went relatively the same, with Blossompaw swapping out with Oakpaw and later her going against Oakpaw himself. Oakpaw had easily overpowered her multiple times due to his increased size and strength, but she eventually managed to outspeed him and knock him down.

By the end of training it was past sunhigh and Blossompaw's body felt sore and half-frozen, she was grateful to see that even her brothers seemed to be worn out from the training. Their mentors finally allowed them to head home and get some prey in their bellies despite how little there was and the three of them ended up sharing a squirrel together. None of them were full, but at least they weren't starving.

After their successful training, all mentors had given them permission to attend the gathering tomorrow which Blossompaw was excited about, she could finally get to see Owlbreeze again and she wanted to do her best to let Owlbreeze know that she was doing alright, despite the fact that she really wasn't sure if she was alright.

As Blossompaw headed to the apprentice den she noticed Squirreltail being guided by Honeyfrost to the medicine cat den as the blind queen coughed. Oh no, please don't tell me there is sickness in the nursery. SunClan had eight kits in the nursery, the last thing they needed was for any of them to get sick.

Please let leaf-bare end soon. Blossompaw prayed silently. Why must this season be so cruel and unforgiving?