Chapter 15: Hunting
When Silverstar awoke, she could hear Goldenfur organizing the dawns patrols.
"I will lead the hunting patrol." Goldenfur was meowing as Silverstar padded out of her den. "Anyone up for hunting patrol?" she asked.
"I'll come," volunteered Silverstar.
"Okay," meowed Goldenfur. "Anybody else?"
"May I come?" asked Leopardfire.
"Sure." answered Goldenfur. "Willowshine, Brook, Angelflame, Snowbird, and Dovepaw, you too. Moonrain, Berrypaw, Windflight,
Crookedpaw, Moonflower, Mistypaw, Sandpelt, and Angelflame will go on dawn patrol. Sandpelt will lead." she thought for a moment. "That takes care of everything." Goldenfur meowed as she leaped from the tree and bounded to the fern tunnel.
"Where should we go?" asked Leopardfire. She had learned the new territory rather quickly, and was itching to go on a new adventure.
"Let's try around the Great Ash tree." suggested Silverstar.
She squeezed through the fern tunnel and bounded across the forest floor. She jerked to a halt next to the Great Ash and tasted the air. Squirrel, mouse, rabbit, vole...and pheasant!
Pheasants were rare in the forest. Little did they ever wander in from the moors, and even there, they were rare.
She tasted the air again. Good. No NightClan scent. Twenty sunrises had passed since the battle, and Silverstar wouldn't put it past them to launch another surprise attack.
"We should split up and look for prey. We'll meet here." decided Goldenfur.
The group of cats broke up, all heading in different directions. Silverstar followed the pheasant's scent trail.
Very fresh, she thought.
Silverstar padded across the ground, keeping her belly low and her tail straight, all the while making sure she didn't step on a twig or rustle any dead leaves with her fur.
She crept forward about ten tail-lengths and then saw it. The pheasant was by an oak tree, pecking at the ground a couple more tail lengths away. Silverstar made sure she was downwind, slithered forward as close as she could without alarming the bird, bunched her muscles in her hind legs, and pounced!
Silverstar dropped squarely on top of the pheasant. It tried to escape, but it was too late. Silverstar bent down and snapped it's neck with a swift bite.
She quickly buried it, and opened her mouth, tasting the air again.
Rabbit, my favorite! she thought. Silverstar headed toward the scent. The rabbit was easily spotted, standing and sniffing the ground for food. Silverstar crept behind it, easily leaping forward and tearing its throat, feeling it go limp in his paws.
She carried it back to the place she buried the pheasant and buried it as well.
Then, Silverstar scented the mouse, and the vole. She headed toward the vole's scent. It led her to a small shrub, in which she heard small scuffling noises. She crept around the shrub until she was downwind, where the vole couldn't smell her.
She dropped to a hunting crouch and slithered forward. She crept forward pawstep after pawstep. Crack! Silverstar stepped on a twig. The vole began to pelt off into the trees.
"Fox dung," muttered Silverstar. At that point, something flew down from above. Silverstar only caught a glance of flaming orange color-Fire! she thought- when it landed squarely on top of the vole, nipped it's neck, and started purring. "Leopardfire!" Silverstar gasped. "How did you do that?"
Leopardfire shrugged. "I just climbed a tree, calculated a bit, and jumped down onto that vole before it disappeared."
Silverstar gaped at her, then narrowed her eyes, thinking hard. "That could become a battle move!" she suddenly exclaimed. "We can climb a tree and leap down on our enemies while their unsuspecting! Leopardfire, that's perfect! I shall tell the Clan as soon as we get back. And you caught a nice, fat piece of prey too."
Leopardfire was surprised to be praised by the Clan leader, but she was still proud.
She left to collect her other fresh-kill, while Silverstar collected hers.
She found her catch and padded toward the rendezvous point, where all the other cats were waiting for her.
On the way, she snagged a mouse that almost ran right into her paws, and an unsuspecting squirrel.
They had a good catch. Altogether, the cats had five mice, four squirrels, three voles, three starlings, two magpies, two rabbits, and one pheasant.
In addition, Brook managed to catch a fairly large hawk that had been keeping an annoyingly close watch on the Clan for any kit that strayed to far from the nursery.
The eight cats headed back to camp with their jaws full, and chose a piece of well deserved prey for themselves to share with their friends.
Then, Silverstar bounded onto the Highledge and called, "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey come and join me at the Highrock for a Clan meeting!" The other cats stopped sharing tongues and padded into the clearing. Silverstar meowed, "Today, Leopardfire showed me a new fighting and hunting technique. She cl..."
Silverstar's voice was covered as muttering broke out.
"A new fighting and hunting technique?" she heard Stonestream mew disbelievingly.
"That hasn't happened in a long time, and I don't think a loner could come up with one so good that Silverstar would announce in front of the whole Clan," Mousepelt agreed.
Silverstar waited until the noise died down, then began again. "Leopardfire climbed a tree, and while a vole was running towards a safe shelter, she jumped down onto it and nipped it's neck. Here, why doesn't she show you?"
Leopardfire climbed a tree silently. Then, Silverstar instructed Nightfall to creep under it, like he was an enemy cat that was invading. Suddenly, Leopardfire flung herself down onto him and landed on his shoulders. There was a piercing screech, and soon, Leopardfire had Nightfall pinned to the ground with her jaws at his throat.
There was a shocked silence, and then the watching cats began cheering. They hadn't imagined that a mere loner could come up with such a great technique. Even Silverstar was surprised at the show she put on.
Silverstar mewed, "We'll call it the Leopardfire Leap." Leopardfire purred until it seemed that the very ground was shaking.
Suddenly, Nightfall hissed, "Get off me, kittypet! You've torn my ear!" Leopardfire had been sitting on him, and now, she sprang off, shocked.
Silverstar was bemused. "Nightfall, you know that Leopardfire isn't a kittypet," she meowed.
He stared at her with eyes narrowed to slits, then turned to slink into the medicine cat's den.
Suddenly, the clearing erupted with meows, with all the apprentices begging their mentors to teach them how to do the Leopardfire Leap, and all the warriors asking Leopardfire to teach them.
Silverstar padded into her den, purring, and thinking, Well! Leopardfire is going to have quite a busy day!
One day, to Lilykit's dismay, their train started shaking harder than usual.
"What's happening?" squeaked Rosekit, frightened.
"I don't know!" Moonflower yowled back.
Sounds of pounding feet flooded their shelter...
The cats later learned that their home had become a tourist site.
~
It had been two moons since the train cabin next to the cats' home had become a tourist site, and even though her mother warned her against it, Lilykit was ready to explore.
Again, the train had two sections; the cats lived in one, the human visited the other. There was a door connecting the two that could easily swing open, but was watched by the adult cats every minute of the day.
Finally, Lilykit came up with a good plan to evade them. But she needed Rosekit's help.
It was a nice, bright day, and everyone was relaxing in the pleasant warmth of the sun, when suddenly, Rosekit let out an earsplitting wail.
All the cats immediately crowded, and Lilykit slipped through the door.
It all hit her suddenly: the brightness, the people, and of course, the ball.
The bright red sphere soared through the air and bounced right off of Lilykit's head. With a yowl, she scrambled under the table...and found a small rock!
Lilykit batted at the round pebble and it rolled. Soon, she was chasing the pebble all over the room, until it rolled under a scooter.
Curious, Lilykit forgot about the pebble. She circled once around the scooter, then climbed onto it, balancing in the middle.
When the scooter got boring, Lilykit bounded onto the the chair next to the chair that the scooter was leaning on.
While she settled herself, Lilykit found out that she was looking at a glass pane. Amazed, she found that she could see through it! On the other side of the glass, covered in dainty, pink flowers, was a tree, a cherry blossom tree.
How beautiful, Lilykit thought as she watched a pair of robins dance and weave around the branches. I wish...
Right then, a pair of hands picked her up------by the tail, that is.
"Mreeow!" The startled toddler dropped Lilykit, who, to avoid hitting the ground on her side, clung to his shorts, pulling them down and revealing... a pair of smiley face underpants! Shocked, the parent picked up a nearly yoyo and flung it at Lilykit, who ran away to a table covered in old-fashioned food.
There, a particularly annoying fly buzzed around her head, distracting Lilykit as she stood wide-eyed, gazing at all the food as humans ate them. A couple were staring at her, whispering to each other. The fly kept buzzing. Finally, Lilykit couldn't stand it anymore. She swatted at it, and it landed in a cup of earl grey tea.
"Eek!" shrieked the woman who was drinking it. She whipped out her phone to call the police. When the cell phone rang, it rang softly, but Lilykit's sensitive ears picked it up immediately. Lilykit darted away, crashing into a book, which fell off the table and fell on a bright pink piggy bank, smashing it into thousands of pieces. In the middle of the shards was a huge, sparkling diamond. Entranced by the light dancing around on the gem, Lilykit picked it up in her jaws and trotted under the table, pleased with her find.
Suddenly, a lithe brown figure darted across the floor. Excited, Lilykit dropped the diamond, which hit it's head, stunning it. Lilykit immediately sank her teeth into the little figure, tasting blood. A mouse! she thought. My first catch!
Lilykit trotted out happily, carrying the limp mouse back to the cats' side of the train.
On her way, she encountered a small, brown, and bird-shaped balloon. Thinking that it was a delicious peasant that was rarely ever caught, she sank her claws into it, letting out a loud 'pop!'
Suddenly scared, she immediately snatched up her mouse and raced back to the other train cabin, where Sandpelt stood with a stern look on her face.
"I'm sorry," mewed Lilykit softly.
Graynose sprang over to nuzzle her. "We were so worried!" he scolded. And then he started purring. "But it's alright now. Just don't go back, okay?"
Lilykit nodded, flattened her fur, and ate her hard-earned mouse. She snuggled in right next to Rosekit, purring softly and thinking, I'm glad this day of adventures is over. I just wonder when I'll go back again... I think I'll bring Rosekit with me next time.
Thinking about this, she slowly drifted off to sleep.
