Warriors: The Chosen Warrior: Way of the Stars (Book 2)

Chapter 2

Leafsong woke to a prod in her side.  She opened her eyes and saw Whitewing, one of the newest warriors, standing over her.  “We’re going hunting with Spiderleg and Mousepaw,” the white she-cat meowed.  “Brambleclaw wants us to hunt near the lake.”

“Okay,” Leafsong meowed sleepily.  She stretched and quickly groomed her fur before following Whitewing out of the warriors’ den.  Then something dawned on her—this would be the first time she would be able to hunt in a moon!

The two warriors padded over to where Spiderleg and his apprentice, Mousepaw, sat at the thorn tunnel.

Spiderleg stood up as they approached.  “Are we ready?  Let’s go.”

He led the patrol towards the lake, Leafsong following in back.  She looked around at the forest—trees were losing their red and gold leaves, letting them flutter to the ground to cover up the floor, and some birds were preparing their nests for leafbare.  Wow, I missed a lot outside the camp in a moon!  Leafsong mused.  She could already smell the salty water of the lake as they neared it, reminding her of the battle again.  No one knows except StarClan, Leafpool, Firestar, and me.  She told herself.  And Leafpool moved Hawkfrost’s body somewhere else.  But the blood….

The patrol suddenly stopped, and Leafsong would have run Mousepaw over if she didn’t stop soon enough.

Spiderleg was motioning his tail at a squirrel for Mousepaw to catch.  Mousepaw dropped into the hunter’s crouch and crept slowly forward, the wind blowing from ahead.  He paused, judging the distance from him and the squirrel, then pounced.  Just a heartbeat before Mousepaw had got the squirrel trapped under his out-stretched claws, it scurried up the nearest tree.

“Mouse dung!” Mousepaw spat and kicked at the fallen leaves covering the forest floor.

“Bad luck,” Spiderleg meowed.

“Nice try,” Whitewing sympathized.

Leafsong looked around and tasted the air to find other prey.  She spotted a sparrow pecking at some seeds on the ground.  Leafsong crouched and prowled closer to the sparrow.  She pounced and killed the skinny bird with a bite in its spine.  It felt good to hunt again!

“Nice catch,” Mousepaw mumbled, still upset about his prey.

Leafsong dropped her prey to speak.  “It’s okay, Mousepaw.  You will catch plenty more prey later.”  She buried the limp sparrow with earth to come back for it later.

The patrol continued along the shore, searching for more prey.  “I think we should head back,” Spiderleg decided.  “We could catch more prey on the way.”

They got Leafsong’s sparrow and headed back to the camp.  Whitewing caught a small vole, and Mousepaw caught a bony squirrel.  They went through the thorn tunnel and placed their little prey on the fresh-kill pile, which was only a pathetic mouse.

“It seems like this leaf-fall will be a hard one,” Whitewing murmured.

Spiderleg snorted.  “Leaf-fall?  What will we do in leaf-bare?”

“Firestar!”  A yowl came from outside the camp.  “Firestar, hurry!”  Honeypaw, burst into the camp, her light brown tabby fur standing up in alarm.  “ShadowClan is attacking!”