Featherstar's Destiny

Chapter 5

"Hey look! I caught a shrew!",  Stormpaw mewed with bright amber eyes.

"Good", Mintnose purred with pride for his apprentice.

"Let's go you two", Lionfur meowed from where he was. Willowclaw was sitting beside the golden warrior and was looking at Stormpaw with an odd look in her amber eyes. Stormpaw looked away when he noticed that the mottled gray warrior was watching him.

"She's after you", Featherpaw nudged her brother with a twitch of her whiskers.  Smokepaw shrugged his dark shoulders and headed towards the prey pile to deposit his catch. 

Smokepaw looked up with wide amber eyes from beside the prey pile.  "I saw your catch", the pale tabby mewed.

"I caught them both at once", she purred proudly.

She hadn't been an apprentice long but her skills were starting to become more advanced than her brother's skills, especially with hunting.

"Good job", the gray apprentice said.  "It must've not taken much effort."

"Great catch", Silvercloud purred. She had made her way through the group of cats and was now sitting beside her kits.

"My little warrior", Breezeclaw purred to Featherpaw he trotted up to his mate and kits. 

"She is doing great", Lionfur purred. 

Breezeclaw nodded to his daughter with pride in his amber eyes and grabbed both of the mice and brought them to the elders. Featherpaw followed to see their response. She spotted the yellow pelt of Petalfur and dipped her head respectfully to her.

"Thank you", Petalfur purred when Breezeclaw brought the elders the prey. "Did you catch this?"

"No. Featherpaw did" he replied.

Petalfur widened her green gaze and nodded to Featherpaw. Graypelt was beside the yellow she-cat and was about to speak up when he began to cough. Thank goodness Berrypelt was busy checking on Russetpelt because he instantly left the elderly ginger tabby and nudged the gray tom to his paws and led him to the medicine cats den. 

Stormpaw raced up to Featherpaw and waved his tail. "Was that Graypelt coughing?" He didn't wait for a response. "Do you want to come with me to go fetch herbs with Oakpaw?", he asked curiously. 

"You can go", Featherpaw meowed with a wave of her striped tail.

She was worried now about the gray elder and gathering herbs wouldn't help. It would only remind her that the elder was sick.

"Okay", Stormpaw meowed. He nodded to the elders and left.

"Let's go hunting", Lionfur told Featherpaw.

He must've noticed her uneasiness because he rose to his paws and looked down at Featherpaw.

"Let's go hunting with Sunstrike," he meowed.

She nodded and they left to find the golden she-cat.

"Go catch as much prey as you can", Sunstrike meowed.

The two cats had found her waiting outside the camp and now Featherpaw was off to go hunting. The image of Smokepaw burned into her thoughts. Why was she even thinking of him? His face made her blush. Shaking her thoughts away, she tried to concentrate on her  hunting mission.  After she had managed to catch a reasonable pile of prey, she looked around for her mentor.  She finally found the golden tabby sitting beside Sunstrike underneath an oak tree.  When Lionfur spotted her,  he leaped to his paws and helped her carry her stash of prey.  As they were padding back to camp,  Stormpaw and Oakpaw were racing towards them  with bundles of catmint in their jaws. 

"Hey", Stormpaw mewed, his breath coming in shallow pants as if he was trying  to catching his breath from his run.

Oakpaw flicked his red-brown tail. "We need to go", he meowed with a nervous glance towards the camp. He noticed Featherpaw's stash of prey.  "Great catch", he meowed.

Featherpaw flicked her tail in acknowledgement. When they arrived into the camp,  Flickerstar met the patrol. He had been coming from the leader's den, his tail held high.

"Wow!", he mewed, his green eyes full of pride for Featherpaw. He looked over towards Stormpaw.  "Good job too for helping Oakpaw", he meowed.  

Lionfur was waiting for Featherpaw at the freshkill pile. After she placed the last of her prey down, Lionfur dipped his golden-furred head to his apprentice.  

"Go and rest, you deserve it", he meowed. 

Featherpaw mewed in gratitude. After she ate, she went to go and visit  Dawnmist's kits and clean their nests. She didn't feel like resting. When she arrived inside the nursery, Thornkit was pawing at a frond of bracken. 

"Featherpaw!", Patchkit mewed. The she-kit raced up to Featherpaw with a purr. 

" I can go fetch you a mouse", Tawnykit offered with a glance towards her mother.

"Show me a battle move!", Patchkit mewed as she pawed at Featherpaw's tail. Featherpaw backed up. She crouched, flashed out her back legs, spun around and nipped at the air. The move was over with in a second and Featherpaw was back into a crouching position.

"That was awesome!", Thornkit mewed with bright eyes. 

"You three need to leave her alone so she can clean out the den", Dawnmist meowed in a scolding tone.

"Let's go", Patchkit mewed to her siblings with a sigh. 

Featherpaw watched them go with a sigh.  I hope I'll have kits someday   she thought to herself.

"Or become leader", a voice whispered in her mind. 

She shook her head and looked around. Who had spoken to her? When she saw nothing but Dawnmist asleep in her nest. It was only her thoughts getting to her.