Kestrelfur watched as Waspstar, and the rest of the CloudClan patrol, left and started heading back to their territory. She wished she had gotten a chance to talk to Waspstar, but everything happened so fast. Now she was stuck at the GladeClan camp until the Gathering, which wasn't far away, but she still hated GladeClan.
"Feel free to have some fresh-kill," said Harestar, padding up to her. "You can relax for the rest of the day, and if you have any questions feel free to ask."
Kestrelfur was surprised by how nice and welcoming the GladeClan leader was. "Wow. Okay."
She went to the fresh-kill pile. Not surprisingly, over half of it consisted of rabbits. Clearly the GladeClan stereotypes were true.
Her stomach growled and saliva was forming in her mouth as she plucked a thick and juicy rabbit from the pile. She found a spot by other GladeClan warriors who looked close to her age and took a bite. The flavors exploded in her mouth, juice sliding down her throat. It seemed like the best rabbit she had ever had.
She was ready to dive in for another bite when Grapesplash came up beside her. He was the CloudClan warrior Waspstar had picked to stay at the GladeClan camp. His apprentice, Redpaw, stood beside him. She looked anxious, biting her lip and casting glances over her shoulder every few seconds. Since she was Grapesplash's apprentice, it made sense that she was the apprentice chosen to stay.
"Do you want to share?" asked Grapesplash. It took Kestrelfur a moment to figure out he was talking about the rabbit. She heaved another bite down her gullet.
"Sure," said Kestrelfur, pushing the rabbit towards him. Except the rabbit was gone. All that was left were the bones. "Oops. I guess I ate more than I realized," she said with a laugh.
"That's okay," said Grapesplash. "I'll just get my own and share with Redpaw." Redpaw followed her mentor to the fresh-kil pile.
Strangely enough, Kestrelfur still felt a little hungry. Nothing had been able to substain her in the past few days. But this wasn't her clan, and she didn't want to look like she was stealing prey.
She was about to get up and hunt when the GladeClan medicine cat padded up. She searched her head for his name, but she couldn't think of it.
"I'm Mudcloud," he said, as though reading her thoughts. "Um... I was just wondering if Cherrynose has checked you for pregnancy."
Kestrelfur's eyes widened in surprise. "No, she hasn't. What makes you think I'm pregnant?"
"Well," said Mudcloud, his voice coming out in a rasp, "you clearly eat a lot and your stomach looks a little swollen."
Kestrelfur felt embarrassed that he pointed out her stomach and found herself pulling her tail closer to her belly.
"These are the first few signs of pregnancy," he continued. "But don't worry, you still have at least a moon to go before kitting. Probably a little longer than that."
Kestrelfur nodded, excitement boiling under her pelt. She wished she could tell Waspstar about it, but he wasn't there. Perhaps she could sneak across the border one night and tell him. Then ask about Beetlestar and Briarwing, of course.
--
"Mouse-dung!" she hissed as yet another rabbit escaped from her grasp. It felt so weird hunting in GladeClan, without the shelter of the trees and bushes. Whenever she got close the prey would magically see her and run off, so fast it would be impossible to catch. She also hated how the tall grass brushed her whiskers as she stalked the prey, making it hard to concentrate.
"What, don't CloudClan cats know how to hunt?" sneered a warrior named Badgermask, holding a field mouse smugly in the air.
"I'm one of the best hunters in my clan," retorted Kestrelfur, sticking her tongue out at him.
"Well, that just proves my point," he said with disdain. "Because if you're the best hunter in your clan, but even you can't hunt, that must mean your entire clan can't hunt.
Kestrelfur was about to shoot another retort when a tail brushed her flank. She jumped, startled, but she turned to see it was another GladeClan cat.
"Are you Fawnbreeze?" asked Kestrelfur, trying to remember her name.
The she-cat nodded. "Yes. I just wanted to say that you should just ignore him and all the others like him. For a long time GladeClan has been underestimated and they always like to show off to other clans to prove they're better." Her tail moved across her flank, making Kestrelfur feel a little uncomfortable. One thing she had noticed about GladeClan was that they had no respect for personal space.
"I bet we'd be struggling just as much as you if we had to hunt in your territory," added Fawnbreeze. "I've always been curious about CloudClan's hunting style. I heard you stalk in the trees and then leap down on prey when they're not suspecting it."
Kestrelfur shrugged. "We'll do that occasionally, though we usually prefer to hunt on the ground. If we can't find any prey on the ground, then we might try hunting in the trees."
Fawnbreeze's eyes glittered with interest. "That sounds cool." Kestrelfur smiled at the compliment.
"I noticed you were hunting differently than us," said Fawnbreeze. "I guess in CloudClan you have to have a different hunting style since the environment is different. I'll show you how GladeClan hunts."
She crouched and stalked an imaginary piece of prey. Her crouch looked the same, just a little stiffer than in CloudClan. After she stalked for a little longer, Kestrelfur expected her to leap, but instead she took off running as fast as she could. She looked like a blur in the tall grass, brown against green. She zigzagged through the grass, making sharp turns. Then she hooked her claws on the imaginary prey.
"Whoah," said Kestrelfur. I haven't even seen Waspstar run that fast before, she added silently.
"What was different?" asked Fawnbreeze, tilting her head as she padded back to her. She seemed mildly out of breath, but not gasping like Kestrelfur would have been.
"You ran," said Kestrelfur. "In CloudClan we pounce instead."
Fawnbreeze nodded with understanding. "Yeah. I bet it's because you're camouflaged more in the shelter of the trees and bushes so the prey doesn't notice you like it does in GladeClan. But we're in the open, and unless you have a green pelt, you don't blend in. There is nothing to block the breeze either, so if the breeze carries your scent to the prey it will take off before you can say mouse. Then it's gone. So we run after the prey, and if we're fast enough we can catch it."
"Sounds like a lot of work," said Kestrelfur, not really wanting to run after the prey. She was terrible at running.
"Well I bet hunting in the trees is a lot of work too," said Fawnbreeze. "Most cats here can't even climb a tree. It sounds hard at first, but once you get the hang of it you'll find that it's easy."
Kestrelfur nodded as Fawnbreeze padded away to continue hunting. Kestrelfur tasted the air and immediately caught the scent of a rabbit. She crouched and stalked in that direction. She remembered how stiff she needed to be if she didn't want to rustle the grass. When she could see it through the blades of grass, digging a hole in the ground, she prepared to pounce out of habit. Then she bluntly remembered that she was supposed to chase it instead. She took a deep breath and ran.
As soon as she started running the rabbit took off too. It bolted through the tall grass; Kestrelfur tried to catch up. But every second it seemed to get more out of reach, dashing quickly on its small legs. Kestrelfur already felt out of breath, her legs clumsily sliding out from under her. She hoped something would come to block the rabbit's way, a tree hopefully, to help Kestrelfur get closer. But unfortunately this was GladeClan, and there would be nothing but open land for the next tree-length.
She stopped running, knowing she would never catch it. Her breaths came in ragged gasps. She bent over to try to regain her breath.
"Does CloudClan call that fast?" asked Badgermask, coming up beside her.
"In CloudClan we don't have to chase after prey," she said, her voice coming out in a hiss.
Badgermask smiled smugly. "Well, you better get used to it because you're stuck here until the Gathering. Not the best hunter now, are you?"
"Oh, well I bet you would be a great hunter back in CloudClan, where you're surrounded by trees and bushes and branches," said Kestrelfur.
"Well, I bet I could at least catch some prey," he said, picking up his field mouse and padding away.
Kestrelfur dug her claws into the ground, wishing she had some way to reply to that.
She got to her paws, deciding to go back to camp. It wasn't like she was going to catch anything anyways.
But then she noticed something under her paws. A dead rabbit, with a clean slash right through the neck. It was clearly left here on purpose, but who would leave a perfectly good rabbit, and why?
She looked around, but saw no one. Could Badgermask be the one who left it?
She looked around once more, but no one was in sight. She leaned down and picked the rabbit up in her jaws. Maybe I did catch something after all.
A/N::
Who do you think left the rabbit? What do you think about GladeClan? Which do you prefer, CloudClan or GladeClan?
Honestly, I'm not sure. I like both clans almost equally. I like the GladeClan cats better, but I like how in CloudClan they are sheltered and can climb trees. So, I guess I don't have a favorite between those two.
//Edited