Lurking shadows (Jaguarfur POV)

Chapter 15

Jaugarpaw woke up to a crowd of his clanmates gathered outside the nursery. Specklepaw was sitting in the of their den, watching like an owl. He still felt like he hadn't had a wink of sleep for the last two nights after Mapleleaf's death. Blazepaw sat a little way off, watching from beside Darksong and Nightclaw who were sitting at the entrance to the warriors den.

"What's going on?" He asked, settling down beside his sister and ducking his head to see past the leaves.

"Sparrowflight is having her kits" She replied, not taking her eyes off the nursery.

They both sat in silence, watching Whiteberry and Thistledawn going in and out without Mapleleaf doing the same. The air around them seemed to echo with tenseness, and everyone talking in hushed voices.

Looking around camp, he suddenly noticed that Pigeonfeather was out on patrol. Did he know his mate was kitting? No, of course not. Whiteberry's small brown head popped out of the honeysuckle bush.

"She's had two kits; a tom and a she" She announced, stepping out and trotting over to her den. Falconsoar padded into camp, followed by Stripedflower, Pigeonfeather and Bluefeather. Rabbitear shared a few words with the grey tabby before he dashed to the nursery.

"Are we not training today?" He asked his mentor as she padded past.

"I thought i'd give it a rest today, you haven't been putting much effort into it since Mapleleaf died" She explained. It was true, he hadn't been as focused on it for the last few days, but he had hoped his mentor hadn't noticed.

"Won't it make me fall behind in training? I had four days out when I hurt my shoulder too"

"There's no point in forcing you to unless you feel up to it, otherwise we can just continue tomorrow" She meowed, "And your shoulder still hurts, doesn't it?" She added.

"Well... sort of, but it's not that bad"

"Then do you want to go out now or not?"

"Sure, i'll work harder" He promised, getting to his paws.

"Lets go then" She flicked her tail and lead him out of the tunnel and into the frosty forest. The amber leaves scattered on the ground had hardened, and he gave into the urge to crunch one.

He looked up to see his mentor bat a falling leaf with her tail, aiming it perfectly on the top of his head.

"You-" Before he could do anything else, she raced off through the forest towards the training area. He followed hard on her heels and almost crashed into her when she stopped abruptly at the side of the training area.

"I want you to practice some more defensive moves. They can be what lie between us winning and loosing the battle" She meowed as they padded into the training area.

"For example, if a cat had you pinned down, what should you try and do?" She asked, spinning around when they reached the center.

"Try and get out as quick as possible in case they crush you" He replied. Even just being in one battle was enough to be told you need to get back onto your paws as quick as possible.

"Right, and the best way to do that is sliding out" Falconsoar meowed, and in an instant had pinned him down. "Now, your belly is exposed to me, you need to slide out backwards, so push your back paws off my haunches" She instructed, and he did as she said, pushing his back paws off her paws. But as he did so, She let her weight go limp.

"Good, but you need to be quicker or I can tell what you're doing" She said, lifting herself off him.

"Ill show you, pin me down" She instructed, and he put his paws on her shoulders to keep her down. He felt paws push on his haunches, and in an instant the body beneath his forepaws disappeared, and he fell onto his face.

"It's a tactical move, and when you're on the ground I can land a few blows"

"Can I try it on you now?" He asked eagerly. She nodded, and leaped on him before he had time to think. Recalling what she had done, he pushed off her haunches, slid out from beneath her, but as he tried to twist around and land on his paws, he slipped and crashed onto the floor.

"Try it one more time, you did the first part great" He nodded and waited for her to pin him back down. Once she had him pinned, he pushed off again and flipped, this time landing on his paws. It was a bit messy, but he did it.

"Well done!"

They spent the rest of sun high doing more moves until the clearing was bathed in gold from the setting sun.