Hawkpaw wrinkled his nose at the disgusting stench. Falconblaze glanced over, half amused by Hawkpaw's face, half queasy over the smell himself.
"What IS that?" Hawkpaw asked, gagging a little. Falconblaze just shrugged, not daring to open his mouth in case the smell floods in. Carefully he searched the area a little, but couldn't find anything.
"Let's just get away from here and train somewhere else." Falconblaze suggested. Hawkpaw nods, eager to get out of this place. Quickly they ran off towards the nests, relieved as the scent faded with the distance. They cleared a small area, then stood facing each other about a fox length apart, ready för battle.
Falconblaze was impressed about Hawkpaw's improvement lately. The young apprentice had only been training for, what, about a moon? And already he had learned a lot. It seemed like his brain just soaked up any information it came across and was permanently burned in. Despite only being 7 moons, Hawkpaw had the knowledge of a much older apprentice at about 9 moons!
"What are we doing today?" Hawkpaw asked, crouching down and swaying a little on his paws, ready for any incoming attacks.
"I was thinking we could do something more advanced this time." Falconblaze smiles.
"Sure! What do you have in mind?" Hawkpaw asks.
"How about the leap, twist and rake?" he suggested, eyeing Hawkpaw's strong haunches. Hawkpaw tilts his head.
"Explain."
"First of all, you need some speed. Then you must leap as high as you can. While you are still in the air you have to twist around, so that when you pass over your enemy's back you can rake them at the same time and still land perfectly behind them. I'll demonstrate,"
Falconblaze takes an enormous leap, then twists 180* so he flies backwards. Then he carefully taps his paws along Hawkpaw's back before landing behind him. Hawkpaw twists around and looks at him with awe.
"Wow! That was amazing!" he exclaimed. Falconblaze purred, feeling a little proud.
"Ok, now it's my turn!"
Hawkpaw managed the leap perfectly, but as he twisted he lost balance and in his moment of panic squished Falconblaze beneath him. Hawkpaw got off quickly, blushing hard with embarrassment. Falcobnlaze shakes the dust of his fur and chuckles.
"Nice try, but not quite." he meowes, making Hawkpaw blush even more.
"Let me try again!"
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The sun had gotten considerably lower when the two cats decided to stop training. Hawkpaw had mastered the leap, twist and rake and was already working on another move. Falconblaze suggested a quick swim and Hawkpaw agreed, and after drying their fur they went for a walk.
Hawkpaw insisted on going towards the strange smell, intent on finding the source. Falconblaze hesitated, but because he was secretly curious too he went along with it. As Hawkpaw bounced eagerly forwards Falconblaze started breathing through his mouth instead of his nose in a feeble attempt to prevent the smell from overwhelming him.
Hawkpaw scrunched up his nose too, but couldn't do it completely since he was tracking it. They zigzagged for a long time and Falconblaze was just about to ask if they should return when Hawkpaw stopped. Suddenly he pounced into a bush, leaving Falconblaze to follow.
"What is it?" he asks, struggling through the thorny bramble bush. he spots Hawkpaw standing frozen by a large deer carcass.
"Whoa...!" Falconblaze gasps. He was staring at it so hard, he barely heard Hawkpaw's warning hiss. He glanced up once, before returning to the deer, but after a short moment his eyes shot back up.
"Falconblaze..." Hawkpaw mewed and backed off slowly. The apprentice was shaking, his green eyes wide with fear. Falconblaze swallowed. "Is that...?" he asked. Falconblaze nods.
"The creatures." he confirms. "And I remember what they are called too. Wolves."
Standing in front of them were two wolves, one jet black and one reddish-brown. They stood snarling behind the carcass with large teeth bared and drooling, eyes narrowed and hostile. Their fur was bristling and the thick tails stood straight our behind them.
"When I say go, we run as fast as we can towards those trees we passed on the way. Do not slow down or try to fight, just RUN. Got it?" Falconblaze whispers. Hawkpaw gives a faint nod.
"Ok then... GO!" he yowls. They spin around and dive back through the bush. They exploded out on the other side, with the wolves charging around. Falconblaze didn't even dare look back as he ran. It was enough to hear the snapping jaws, and the paws pounding the ground as they raced for their lives.
The trees Falconblaze had told them to run for wasn't far, but the wolves were fast and persistent. Glancing over he saw Hawkpaw running with all his might, tears of fear streaming down his face. The young apprentice yowled as one of the wolves lunged for him, missing his haunches by a whisker. But the trees gradually came closer, and as soon as they had the chance they leaped and scrambled up the branches.
Suddenly Hawkpaw slipped, and clung to the paws with just his front paws. One of the wolves jumped, and Falconblaze had to jerk his apprentice up to safety before the wicked animals could grab him. As soon as they both were safe he finally dared to look down. The wolves were yipping and circling the tree, occasionally trying to jump up. But they soon grew bored, and ran back to their pack, which was probably somewhere close. Hawkpaw sighed with relief.
"They're gone now, right?" he asked, his voice shaking.
"For now. But they might return, so we better get away from here!" Slowly Falconblaze lowered himself to the ground, keeping a watchful eyes in case the wolves should return. Hawkpaw stumbled down after him, and as soon as they were ready they hurried off to their nests.
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Ember and Spiritus came running into camp all excited. Vargos and several of the Betas raised their heads in surprise. Vargos got to his feet and walked up to the two Omegas, shortly followed by Denali.
"What's going on?" he growled. Spiritus and Ember were scrabbling at the ground and scuffling, clearly wanting to speak.
"We found cats!" Ember barked.
"Two cats!" Spiritus added.
That caught Vargos's attention, and he perked his ears. Could it be the same two cats? Beside him Denali just snorted.
"Cats. So? Not important, cats everywhere." he scolded. Vargos snapped at him to be quiet.
"Tell me more." he instructed. The Omegas exchanged a surprised glance, then continues with their story.
"We went to Deer caught yesterday, for some food." Spiritus began. "Suddenly small cat leaps through bush! It startled us, so we growled at it to go away, that the food was ours. Then another cat follows!"
"Yes, bigger cat. Funny colors." Ember chipped in. Spiritus nudges his friend to be quiet.
"So the cats run, and we run after. They ran towards trees, and climbed before we got to them." Spiritus concluded his story with a little bounce, as if trying to catch the cats.
"I lunged once, almost caught the little one." Ember added.
Vargos thinks for a moment. The other three wolves are silent as they wait for their leaders next orders. Vargos gets an idea.
"Track down cats tomorrow. They cannot steal from our food. Instead, they can be food! Catch cats and bring them back for pups."
Ember and Spiritus looked pleased, and even Denali didn't seem too unhappy. This might turn out to be Vargos's year after all. He lead the pack safely to the Meadows, the pack is thriving, and now he might finish his own personal quest of tracking down those cats.
