Short Stories

Healing to Hunting

This is a backstory for my warrior cat Oc from the time when she was a warrior apprentice. Please note that only the OC's are mine. The warriors series belongs to Erin Hunter, this is just a backstory for my made up OC. The Clan isn't cannon either. The only one that is is StarClan. All credits for warriors goes to Erin Hunter. Also, if I write more of these stories they will be added into a book of their own and removed from here so keep an eye out for that.

Paws padded softly on the carpet of fallen leaves. Not a single one crunched, the mark of an expert stalker. Whiskers twitched and the fiery light of the sunset gleamed off of white claws. The cat pounced on its prey. She killed the mouse with a swift bite and sat up.

"Great catch!" A ginger Tom walked over to her.

"Thanks, Flamepaw," Redpaw purred.

"You're really improving," Flamepaw meowed.

A slender brown she-cat batted the side of Flamepaw's head. "Of course she's improving!"

"Sorry, Sparrowpaw. I just meant that Redpaw is improving really fast! Not as fast as I thought she would, I mean," Flamepaw answered hastily.

Sparrowpaw rolled her eyes. "Mousebrain."

"Mousebrain yourself," Flamepaw retorted.

Redpaw laughed. "Do you two need a moment? Alone?" She teased.

Sparrowpaw's face grew red. "Redpaw!" She hissed.

Flamepaw looked at his paws and pretended not to hear Redpaw's comment. "Come on. We're supposed to be hunting, not sitting around talking like a bunch of elders."

"Indeed you are," three larger cats strode out of the dense underbrush, where they had been watching the apprentices. "This is your mid training assessment! It's very important. It will tell us how much longer you need to train before your warrior assessment, or have you forgotten that?" The tom spoke again.

"Burningpelt, don't be too hard on them. They're only apprentices, and they've been doing fine." A slender silver she-cat wove her way in front of the deputy. She looked at Sparrowpaw. "He is right though. This is a very important assessment. You need to do well on it."

Sparrowpaw looked down. "Yes, Silverheart. I'm sorry."

"Now, back to hunting. Remember, you must hunt on your own," another older she-cat spoke.

"Yes, Foxtail." All three apprentices quickly nodded to their mentors. They turned to leave. Sparrowpaw and Flamepaw ran into the forest, accompanied by Silverheart and Foxleap.

Redpaw turned to follow them. "Redpaw, wait a minute."

She turned back to her mentor. "Yes, Burningpelt?"

"I wanted to make sure you're doing all right. I know you haven't been training as long as Flamepaw and Sparrowpaw and I want you to feel like you're getting the same chance as everyone else. Do you need more time to hunt or will you be fine coming back at sunset?" Burningpelt's gruff voice had softened with affection for her.

"It's fine. I don't want the others to feel like I'm getting more time than they are. Flamepaw has been helping me practice stalking. I'll do fine," Redpaw reassured him.

"Ok. I'm just making sure." Burningpelt turned and ran back into the forest.

Redpaw waited a short time before starting again. By the time the sun had completely set, she had caught two squirrels and a blackbird, in addition to her mouse from before. She gathered her catch and started for the training hollow. She could hardly carry it all! She was the second to arrive back, the first being Sparrowpaw. Redpaw set her catch down and look at Sparrowpaws. Three water voles and two chaffinch. Oh, I hope I did all right, Redpaw shifted her gaze around nervously and scented the air for her brother.