//Un//marked

// chapter 21 //

    Cold days turned into even colder nights and Dewpaw's routine continued. Train, hunt, eat, sleep; and so the days passed. Interspersed were thoughts of what he'd heard from the gathered she-cats and the observations he made as he went about his day. Nightchaser truly seemed on edge but, truthfully, when had he not?

    The others carried on as they always had. Sprucetail retained her air of authority but contributed to patrols just as anyone else did. Quartz continued training her charges, though with a renewed vigour. Mira hunted, Lily sorted. Mothpelt came and went, usually with leafy greens in her jaws.

    Only Cinderblossom seemed different. Watching her from his spot near the Tumble-Down Den a few nights later, Dewpaw noticed she walked with a heaviness in her step, head down. She seemed much older, or as though she carried the weight of the world on her shoulders. Curiously, her few brighter moments took place around Killian, who the others continued to distrust. Dewpaw did not think much of it; he liked Killian well enough.

    There were others Dewpaw had grown decidedly distasteful of. With Quartz's new training regimen more rigorous than ever, Hazel, Finch, and Soren grew increasingly harder to stomach. Webpaw's competitive nature resurfaced and every time Dewpaw lost to her he ached for days.

    Despite this, Dewpaw knew the training was working. Already, he felt more confident in his fighting techniques and even more so in his hunting. Every night, he fell into his nest with the knowledge that he'd worked harder than the day before.

    "Dewpaw, who have you not yet fought?" Quartz barked. Before her, a bruised Oats was getting to his paws, Crisp prancing away happily from their mock fight. Dewpaw paused a moment before deciding.

    "Hazel."

    The brown she-cat smirked. "That's because you don't even have a chance of beating me."

    A moon prior, Dewpaw might have agreed with her. Now, he gritted his teeth against a barbed retort.

    The two took up their positions, Hazel gracefully sliding into a crouch and Dewpaw lowering himself, his leg sticking out awkwardly behind him. Hazel began to circle but the tom held his position firmly, watching her every move.

    When she attacked him she was quick, a front paw strike right to the face. Dewpaw dropped to the ground, propelling himself forward with his hind paw and smashing into Hazel's front paws. The she-cat hissed, jumping back. Dewpaw straightened.

    "Weren't expecting that, were you?" He was quite proud of himself for his strategy.

    Hazel narrowed her eyes. "You're crowfood."

    She leapt, turning mid-air to protect her stomach and slashing with the back paws. Dewpaw felt her blows connect with his back and growled deep in his throat. Turning as quickly as he could, he swept his body in a full circle, wiping Hazel's paws right out from underneath her with the deadweight that was his back leg. She fell to the ground with a surprised yelp.

    "Well done!" Quartz's voice came from somewhere near him but Dewpaw hardly took notice. He turned to face his opponent and leapt.

    Too late he realized his mistake. His back leg weighed him down and his leap was not high enough to clear Hazel. She reared up, coming back down right over him and trapping him under her weight. If this were a real battle, Dewpaw knew, she would be shredding his back and sides to bits.

    "Hazel wins," Jaystrike decided, stepping forward to observe the two fighters. Dewpaw gave a huff, but Hazel did not let him up.

    "Though you did a very good job today Dewpaw," Quartz praised. "Better than you ever have." A small cough escaped her before she told Hazel to get up. The trainee half-heartedly obeyed.