Badgerpaw opened his eyes. The sun glared at him through the fern walls, and he could hear the voice of his brother walking into the den.
Hawkpaw walked through the entrance of the den with Milkpaw by him. "Come on, loser, Froststar is about to hold a meeting," he said. Badgerpaw glared at him.
"You can quit picking on me, Hawkpaw. I already know," he spat. Hawkpaw smiled. "Oh, so Froststar told you, I assume?" He asked.
Badgerpaw glared at him. "You can drop it. I know my origins, and I can live with it. You have nothing to do with me and my thoughts," he said. Hawkpaw laughed. "I'll never stop until I die," he sneered.
Before Badgerpaw could yell at him again, Froststar called out from the lichenrock, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather under the lichenrock for a clan meeting."
Badgerpaw walked out of the den with his siblings and was startled to see why Froststar had called the meeting. Missingfang's body lay dead in the center of the camp.
All the cats gathered, and there were wails of sorrow from a few of them. Even Froststar couldn't help but shed a tear.
"Sadly, last night," she began, "Missingfang passed away. She died of old age. Even she had told me stories as a kit. Pineclan will always remember her, and may we share tongues with her one last time before we send her off to Starclan."
Badgerpaw solemnly padded over to her body with all the other cats. She groomed her fur and shared tongues with her one last time, then left to where the other cats who had finished were.
After everyone was finished, Froststar spoke out again: "This concludes our meeting; Clan dismissed."
Badgerpaw sighed and didn't move as Froststar walked over to him. "It's time for training," she ordered. He nodded and followed her out of camp.
----------------------------------------------------
"No, you're crouching too low. You're gonna scare off the prey if you go any lower."
Badgerpaw scowled. Froststar was trying to teach him how to hunt. "Like this," she said. She lowered her body to the ground in a perfect stance, crept up to a twig, and pounced on it as if it were a mouse.
"Now, begin by lowering yourself at a decent level."
Badgerpaw lowered himself to the same level as before, but quickly corrected himself. That brought a smile to his mentor's face.
She crouched along with him, and begin to slowly move forward. Badgerpaw did the same and followed her steps and movements.
"Now, at this stage, you should wait for the right moment to pounce on your prey. Then you sink your jaws into it, and you're done," Froststar instructed. "Try catching a piece of prey."
Badgerpaw nodded. He cracked open his jaws and took in the scent of a mouse. He spotted it at the base of a tree and dropped into a crouch.
He began to creep forward and stopped about a fox-length away from his target. After a moment of waiting, he pounced.
He was ready to catch it, it's body almost at his claws. At the last second, the mouse spotted him and ran away into a hole. He ended up hitting the base of the tree.
Froststar's shadow loomed over him. "You waited too long," she said. Badgerpaw sighed. At this rate, he would never catch a single mouse.
Froststar looked up at the sun and sighed. "It's almost sunhigh; Training is over for today. Go get some prey from the fresh kill pile and bring it to Mottledmist, please."
Badgerpaw nodded and padded back to camp, his head hung low. When will I finally get the hang of being an apprentice? He wondered.
----------------------------------------------------
Badgerpaw walked through the camp entrance and saw Hawkpaw and Milkpaw talking. Hawkpaw had a big, juicy thrush in his mouse, bragging to his sister about how he caught his first piece of prey today.
Badgerpaw glanced away from him, feeling disappointed. Not only had Hawkpaw caught his first prey before him, but he caught a thrush, one of the hardest to catch!
Badgerpaw shook his head, clearing the thought from his mind. He picked up a vole from the fresh-kill pile and began to make his way to the nursery.
A screech came from the nursery den, and Badgerpaw jumped back. Was that Mottledmist?
Badgerpaw's question was answered when he saw Spiderpelt and Ravenfeather rush out of the medicine den with poppyseeds and a large stick.
----------------------------------------------------
The sun was setting by the time Badgerpaw got a hint of the news. He saw Froststar rushing to the medicine den beside Spiderpelt, worry in her eyes.
Badgerpaw got up and reluctantly followed. Froststar rushed into the nursery, and Badgerpaw stopped to wait.
He knew that Mottledmist was one of Froststar's daughters, so she was, of course, the first to see her and her knew kits.
A cry emerged from the nursery. Badgerpaw thought that maybe Mottledmist was having a spasm, or maybe somehow there was another kit that was just now coming.
But when Badgerpaw realized who the cry came from, he knew that something was terribly wrong.
"How did this happen?" He heard a voice. Froststar's.
"I-I don't know! It shouldn't have happened! Maybe blood loss?"
Froststar didn't respond, and the next thing Badgerpaw knew, she was pushing her way out of the den. She met eyes with him, signaling that he could enter.
He walked into the nursery and stopped. Laying in the middle of the floor was Mottledmist's body, covered in blood near the lower end, with three wriggling kits trying to find milk.
Mottledmist was dead.
YOU ARE READING
Badgerstripe's Prophecy | Warriors Fanfiction | BOOK 2
Fanfiction(UPDATING SLOWLY/ ON HOLD) Badgerkit isn't like the other kits. His mom was the leader of Leafclan, and his dad, now dead, was a part of his clan, Pineclan, but joined Leafclan for love. His siblings don't get him, and one of them still won't accept...
