Warriors: Rise of the Shadows (Book 2)

Chapter Eight

"Try again, Kinkpaw." Advised Reedfall, crouching down and waiting for his apprentice to leap.

Kinkpaw growled, they had been doing this all morning and all she wanted to do was hunt! She raced at her mentor, darting to the right and left many times before launching into the air and crashing into the black and white tom.

Reedfall sank his hind claws into the ground and shoved her away into the sand, shaking his head. "It's okay, Kinkpaw." He meowed sympathetically, watching her get to her paws. "I didn't get it at first either."

Kinkpaw lashed her tail, glaring at her mentor. "Then why don't you teach me correctly!" She shouted at her calm mentor, eyes blazing. "I want to hunt, not fight!" With an angry snarl, Kinkpaw stormed away into the camp without waiting for her mentor.

"Kinkpaw!" Called Reedfall behind her but the apprentice didn't stop until she was pushing through the brambles sheltering the camp.

Haystep was lounging on his back with Hawkstrike, their tails twined together with their eyes closed. Whitefang and Starlingstar were speaking with each other by the prey pile while the other cats in the camp were scattered around.

Kinkpaw stomped over to the apprentice's den and flopped in her nest, fury coming off her in waves. Her eyes closed as she tried to calm down but to no avail.

She sighed in annoyance and eventually drifted off to sleep. Her eyes flew open and Kinkpaw saw a grassy field in front of her. The trees were a bright shade of green for their leaves and a healthy dark brown for the bark.

"Where am I?" The apprentice demanded, looking around to see if any other cat was around. "Hello? Hello!"

"No need to shout, mouse-brain." Replied an unfamiliar voice from her left. "I can hear you loud and clear, you know." Turning her head to see the source of the voice, Kinkpaw was surprised at what she laid her eyes on.

A young blue tabby tom was padding towards her, eyes flickering in confusion. He looked around Kinkpaw's age, maybe slightly older.

"Who are you?" Asked Kinkpaw, tail flicking to show her curiosity as well as her confusion.

"I could ask you the same thing, rabbit-chaser." The tom curtly replied, his leaf-green eyes dancing with amusement as his lips curled into a smirk.

"'Rabbit-chaser'?" Demanded Kinkpaw, eyes narrowing. She stretched her neck out and sniffed. Muzzle wrinkling in disgust at the strong smell of fish, Kinkpaw recoiled. "You're from IceClan!"

The tom purred with amusement and nodded. "Correct, DuskClan cat." He meowed and looked at her, stepping towards her and making her step back warily. "You smell like the heather on the moors, which is why I called you rabbit-chaser."

"That makes more sense the more I think about it." She admitted, ear twitching. "What's your name?" Kinkpaw asked, tilting her head.

"Icepaw," answered the tabby tom. "And you are?" He meowed, eyes fixed on Kinkpaw's.

Pelt growing warm under his stare, Kinkpaw quickly answered. "K-Kinkpaw."