Hunting Flees >Briarpaw

[mintpaw]

Silence. The leaves on the trees touched each other lightly. The wind was making them dancing. The sun was about to leave and the darkness of the night was coming slowly. You could see the moon and one or two stars already shining on the coloured sky. Mintpaw was crouch on the ground, breathing silently. His gaze was focused on the squirrel that was eating a nut. He calculated the wind and his position was perfect. He move forward of one pace. Slowly. He knew that the other apprentice would have jumped already, but he wasn’t as swift as them. He moved forward of another pace. He stopped breathing and jumped. However, while his hind legs were giving him a leap, he slipped. The squirrel easily jumped away, looking at him strangely from a branch in the tree. Mint stood up. He wasn’t too shaken, it was the third time. The tricolour cat sighed. The sun was going away. He must bring a prey to the clan. He wanted to prove to everybody that he was able to. He looked at his fur; there were dirt on his white pelt. He grinned. Mint hated to have dirt on him, but this time, he tried not to be too preoccupied and tried to find another prey not too far away. There is a rabbit not too far away. The little cat followed his nose in the rabbit’s direction.

For a moment, he stopped, his paws were so sore. However, it wasn’t the pain that stopped him; it was the fact that he was tired. Mint hadn’t eating since dawn. But the feeling of eating what you don’t deserve cut away his appetite. It was true, he usually bring only one prey, or even sometime, none. The tricolour apprentice gazed at the stars, wondering what the ancestors would be thinking about him. That he was a waste? No use? Surely, that was most of the cats’ thoughts. An idea troubled him. Were they even his ancestors? He never knew his real family, only that they never wanted of him, since he was found in the woods. They were bright. Fireblaze never should have taken him back. The cat shook his head like he had flees, trying to make all of his thoughts go away, because he knew that the truth can hurt you way more than any lies.

He bended on the cold ground and stared at the rabbit. He was fat so he won’t be too fast. Mint smiled, he can surely have this one. Slowly and without a sound, he crawled like a snake up to the prey. The scent was so delicious; it tickles his noses and almost made his stomach growl. One step after another, and he arrived behind the little animal. He made a little jump, almost too far, but he managed to strike his claws and fang unto the rabbit. Blood filled his jaw and his fur. Mint released the prey and stepped back. He made it. He can go back to the camp and look normal. With a little smile, he took the kill with his pointed tooth and head camp. On the way back, everything seemed so beautiful. He wasn’t nervous anymore; his kill can feed a cat in the camp, he was useful. Suddenly, voices of cat shredded the silence.

“Woah, you made four kills?” An apprentice’s voice he recognized asked
“Yep. But you managed to have two, which is really good! And that squirrel was fast!” The other one responded.

Mintpaw looked at his rabbit. He wished he could bring so much prey too. He stopped and decided to turn back. Even if the sun was almost gone, the apprentice was determined to bring another prey home. Even if he must stay up all night. With his paws, he started to dig a hole for his rabbit. After his prey was hidden, he head for the Owl-tree. Birds were faster than rabbit and mice, which will do the thing. A strong smell of lark filled the air. Not so long after, he spotted the feathered animal, singing on a tree. Mint grimaced. He never liked trees and climbing trees even less. Maybe there are other birds on the ground, he thought. As he lifts his nose up in the air, he smelled a sturdy odour and it wasn’t a prey. A cat of his clan was approaching.