Into the River

Into the River Chapter 4

Leafpaw returned to camp proudly with five pieces of fresh-kill. It would have been six, except she had lost her robin. However, she did catch plenty of prey; a mouse, a vole, a thrush, a sparrow, and a pigeon. She oddly felt like she was being followed when she caught the thrush, sparrow, and pigeon, and when she lost the robin; that some cat was hiding upwind and scaring the prey towards her.I was downwind, so then, why couldn't I scent them? I smelled nothing strange, and there weren't any scents a cat could have rolled in. Maybe it's a cat from StarClan helping me to catch prey. But then why would those pieces of prey be so important? Or it could be a dead cat roaming the forest like the ones some 'Gifted' cats can see. Or it could be a medicine cat or a special cat who had a dream of being like the dead who still roamed the forest. I'll ask Lavapaw and Clawpaw what they think about it. Looking around for her littermates, she saw Lavapaw sitting outside the apprentice's den, washing. Dropping her prey on the fresh-kill pile, she padded to meet her. "Well, it's some time past dawn now," she mewed, "How are you feeling?" "I think I could do battle training without being clumsy," Lavapaw answered. "Good," Leafpaw mewed, "Riverecho won't notice then?""Pretty sure," Lavapaw replied."Lavapaw," Leafpaw began hesitantly."Yeah?" Lavapaw asked curiously, "You can tell me anything," she encouraged."When I went hunting, I felt like I was being followed," Leafpaw confessed. She saw Lavapaw's ears twitch. "Are you sure?" Lavapaw mewed, sounding like she was trying to keep her voice steady, "You might have imagined it," "Do you have something to do with this?" Leafpaw mewed sharply, "Did you follow me?" "No, of course not," Lavapaw replied, still looking as if she was hiding something. "Lavapaw," Leafpaw mewed, her voice serious. "You can tell me anything too, you know," "Okay," Lavapaw sighed, "I had this dream that I was in the camp, and you went out, so I followed you and saw that you were hunting," Lavapaw confessed, "I saw you hunting, except for the mouse and the vole, and I could go through things, but the prey could somehow sense me, and so I scared them toward you so it would be easier for you to catch them." "Okay, well, it might have been just a dream," Leafpaw mewed. "Probably," Lavapaw agreed, relieved. "Did you remember anything else?" Leafpaw asked. "Well, I remember that you missed a robin," Lavapaw answered, "Did you?" "I did!" Leafpaw exclaimed, "Anything else?" "I pounced through the prey from upwind," Lavapaw answered again. "Hmmm, I do think that the prey was running towards me," Leafpaw mewed, "I don't think that you only had a dream. I think it was a sign from StarClan!" she finished excitedly. "Do you think that I'm going to become a medicine cat?" Lavapaw asked. "Maybe." Leafpaw answered, "Although, it might be like the dream StarClan sent to Bramblestar, Squirrelflight, Feathertail, and Crowfeather,""That could be true," Lavapaw mewed, looking more excited, "Do we get to go on a journey?""Maybe," Leafpaw mewed, "You should tell Marshleaf,""No, I don't want to tell the Clan yet," Lavapaw mewed. "Okay, but if we are going on a journey then, we should probably become warriors first. The Clan won't let three young apprentices make a journey,""True," Lavapaw mewed.Riverecho and Doveripple padded out of the warrior's den."Do you two want to train together?" Doveripple asked."Yes, please," Leafpaw answered."Okay, we're going to do some battle training," Doveripple mewed.Racing out of camp with Doveripple, Lavapaw, and her mentor Riverecho, they headed toward the battle training clearing. "Okay, we're going to practice the double-front-paw slap-down," Doveripple decided.They waded in the river until Leafpaw's belly fur was soaked. She shivered"Okay, so, you rear up, and then you slap your front paws onto the water," Doveripple instructed, "This will splash water into your enemy's eyes and they will be temporarily blinded. Now try it,"Rearing up on her hind legs, Leafpaw slammed her front paws onto the water, hard enough to splash Doveripple, but not hard enough to hurt her front paw while she landed. But Doveripple slid neatly out of the way, and some water splashed onto Leafpaw's nose. "That was a good first try. Your balance was perfect and you landed just hard enough," Doveripple praised, "But, you need to be faster, or else your enemy might get a chance to slash at your belly, and your splash will miss,""Okay," Leafpaw mewed, eager to try again.Rearing up again, she immediately slapped her paws down, this time, Doveripple got splashed a bit before she could dodge out of the way, and her nose stayed dry!"Very good! You seem to be a natural fighter," Doveripple praised.Looking over at Lavapaw, Leafpaw saw that she seemed to be having trouble. When she reared up, she hesitated before she slammed her paws down. Once, she waited so long before splashing that Riverecho could prod her belly, causing Lavapaw to fall into the deeper part of the river. Lavapaw soon came back up, although she was now soaking wet."Riverecho!" she complained playfully, "Did you have to do that? You know you could've just told me I was doing it wrong!" "Okay," Riverecho responded, "You're doing it wrong. You need to slap faster.""I meant before you push me in the river," Lavapaw said, quickly rearing up and splashing down at Riverecho, soaking her."That was much better," Riverecho remarked, shaking off the water. Turning, Lavapaw splashed water toward Leafpaw. Leafpaw tried to dodge away as Doveripple had, but the water still splashed onto her flank soaking it, and the tip of her ear, and the training dissolved into laughter and splashing.