Warmpaw looked out at the forest, fading out into darkness. Hearing the chirps of crickets and owl hoots, he felt himself calm down from his earlier agitated state. He took a deep breath, relishing the feeling of cold air filling his lungs. Once leafbare set in, it would get a lot colder than it was now. It would feel as if you inhaled ice. But right now, it was just right in his opinion.
He sighed sharply. The whole Clan must have been wondering what in StarClan has happened to him. But as he stood up, he heard a mewl from somewhere deeper into the forest.
He strained his ears to hear, and there it was again. It was definitely a cat.
Warmpaw raced to the sound, paws flat to the ground as he ran. The leaves at his paws scattered where he passed. There was little moonlight, but it was enough for Warmpaw to see. He was careful not to trip on anything this time.
He traced the sound all the way to the training clearing. By now, the clouds have shifted a little, leaving a patch of open sky, where the moon shone bright enough to illuminate it. Looking around the open space, he located the source. He nearly jumped in surprise.
Archkit was bunched up in a crouch, brown tabby tail flicking with fur sticking out in all directions. She was partly hidden behind a tree trunk.
“Archkit?” He called her attention, and the cream kit turned and ran over to him.
“Warmpaw!” she cried, sticking to him.
“What happened here? Why’re you out here?” he asked, looking around for any rogues or foxes, but finding the clearing clear.
Her voice shook with fear. “Twigpaw told me everything about what you three did yesterday, and I got curious. So I followed you three to this clearing, then you split up so I followed Sandpaw. Then I watched them train, then I got lost.”
“Good thing I found you then.” Warmpaw said.
Archkit laughed a little, and Warmpaw was glad to know that she was getting less fearful. He ended with a large huff.
“So what happened to you today?” Archkit asked, shoving him with a paw, “Did you learn anything?”
Warmpaw felt his positivity sink away again. “Nothing happened today,” he related bitterly, “I didn’t get any training. Goldenfur left me, so I ended up learning nothing.”
“Now, there’s this prophecy about me supposedly,” he admitted, “And I don’t even understand why! Apparently, I’m going to lead a Clan someday.”
“So why is that a bad thing?”
Warmpaw laughed. “How is a cat who doesn’t even know how to hunt supposed to become a Clan leader?”
“You’d make a great leader, in my opinion,” Archkit mewed.
Warmpaw narrowed his eyes in confusion. “And what makes you think that?”
Archkit was silent for some time, like she was thinking. “I just know it, that’s all,” she said, shrugging.
“Well, it’s useless anyway,” Warmpaw meowed as he turned away.
“Not if I can help it,” she answered firmly. She walked over to where he could see her again. She stared defiantly into his eyes, and Warmpaw could almost swear that he saw flames.
She turned, flicking her tail. “Come on, let’s hunt.”
Warmpaw was taken aback by this sudden outburst. But he felt a new surge of energy course through him at his friend’s words. “Yeah!” he yowled, “Let’s do this!”
“Just keep to me,” she nodded.
They bounded into the forest. He felt more confident than he did earlier that day, and he was determined to catch something now that he had a hunting partner. But as the time wore on trudging through the shadows, Warmpaw began to feel his confidence slowly melt away.
“Um, Archkit… I’m beginning to think that we need to go back.…” he stammered, “We don’t need to do this, you know.”
Archkit silenced him with a look. Warmpaw kept walking behind her, getting more and more frightened by the second. Her cream coat stood out starkly against the surroundings, and he wondered whether she knew what she was doing or not. But she seemed to be poised and confident.
He was jolted out of his thoughts by her meow. “Will you quiet up back there?” Archkit meowed sternly, “You’re swishing up the leaves.”
Warmpaw realized that his tail was flicking down on the ground, disturbing the dried material at his paws. He forced it to a stop and lifted it a little. “Oops, sorry,” he said, wincing.
Archkit went ahead. Warmpaw huffed. It wasn’t a nice feeling to be told off by a kit. But he had to admit that she was right. Still, he thought as he they skirted a thorn bush, she’s acting as if she’s my mentor.
Archkit’s tail lifted, and they ground to a halt. Around, the forest buzzed with the sounds of crickets and other things. The leaves above swayed with the slight wind breezing across, ruffling both of their pelts.
Warmpaw spotted a vole nibbling amongst the bushes. He felt like stalking it, when Archkit held him back with a light tap.
“We have to move. We’re upwind, so it can smell us.” Archkit mewed. Warmpaw blinked back at her. Archkit sighed. “The wind is blowing from us to the vole, so it can smell us,” she explained.
“Oh.” Warmpaw finally got it.
“So here’s how it’s going to work. You’re going to have to move silently downwind of the vole.” She elaborated further, “That means that we’ll be on opposite sides of it. Then, I’ll chase it towards you, then you do the rest.”
Warmpaw gulped at the thought of sinking his claws into a small animal. “You sure of what you’re doing?”
For a moment, Archkit looked unsure. “Fairly,” she said, “I sat through Sandpaw’s training, remember?”
She pointed him away to his position. “Go ahead. Just keep low and be ready.”
Warmpaw nodded, then he went ahead and moved around until he was downwind of the vole. The tempting scent of potential fresh-kill reached him, and his mouth watered.
From his low crouch hidden behind tall grass, he could spot his target, only a few fox-lengths away. He tensed up, and he couldn’t help but twitch a little.
Suddenly, he heard Archkit let loose a hiss from the other side, launching herself at the vole. The startled vole made a run for it, and it wasn’t in the direction they had intended. Archkit jumped in its path to drive it back on course. Warmpaw then sprang out, long forepaws stretching out to snatch the vole and drag it towards him. He killed it with a bite.
Archkit approached him with a smile. “Well, there you have it.”
The black and white apprentice just stared down at the vole. “Whoa. I don’t even know what to say.”
“No need to say thank you. We’re friends, right?”
“Yeah.” Warmpaw looked up at the silver moon. It was well into the night, and he couldn’t help but yawn.
“We best get back.” Warmpaw said, grabbing the vole in his jaws.
They kept walking until they were at the entrance. Already, Warmpaw could feel that there was someone guarding the entrance.
He was right. As they passed through the tunnel, he could clearly see that Redstep was talking with Blazetail in the clearing.
Too late, he realized that Archkit wasn’t allowed out. Kits weren’t supposed to be out at any time, let alone late in the night.
“Archkit? Warmpaw?” Redstep peered at them curiously.
“What are you two doing out this late?” Blazetail asked.
Warmpaw racked his brain for an acceptable answer. But under the stares of both warriors, he couldn’t seem to find an answer that wouldn’t put either Archkit or himself in trouble.
“I… we…”
“I wanted to go explore. I’m sorry, Redstep.” Archkit replied, to everyone’s surprise.
“Archkit, it’s established that you can go outside of the camp before you’re six moons old,” chided Redstep.
“Did you have anything to do with this, Warmpaw?” Blazetail asked.
“I…” he started, but Archkit interrupted.
“He was off hunting. I got lost, then he found me and brought me back here.”
Warmpaw noticed a little smile creeping into Archkit’s muzzle. He couldn’t help but do the same. It was technically true.
“You may leave, Warmpaw. Thank you.” Redstep flicked her tail to the apprentices’ den. Warmpaw dropped the vole at the fresh-kill pile. He nodded back and left.
He entered the den, the snores of other cats everywhere. He crouched down on his nest, trying to get comfortable. Darkness ate at the edges of his vision. He sighed, a content feeling in his chest. Today didn’t turn out to be all that bad in the end, after all. With that thought, he closed his eyes, feeling sleep dissolve his fatigue.
A loud snore roused him. Warmpaw’s eyes shot open. He raised his head groggily. He heard another ear-splitting snore, coming in the direction of Thornpaw and Twigpaw. He snorted in displeasure, shooting a glare in their direction. How in StarClan am I going to get some sleep? He thought, wrinkling his nose, They’re snoring loud enough for the entire lake to hear!
He looked outside. The two warriors just left, and Archkit was on her way back to the nursery. Warmpaw met her halfway.
“Hey,” he greeted her.
Archkit stared back at him, and for a moment he forgot what he was going to say. “Thank you,” he meowed when he remembered, “for teaching me how to hunt. I really appreciate it.”
The cream-pelted kit beamed at him. “Thank me tomorrow.”
Warmpaw got confused for a moment. He wasn’t sure how to reply to the vague answer.
“Redstep said that I should stay in the camp,” said Archkit, “and that she would make sure by telling Yellowleaf to keep her eyes on me.”
“But that means you won’t be able to go out anymore.” Warmpaw’s tail dropped in disappointment.
“You know me,” she mewed, grinning cheekily, “I’ll find a way.”
“Still,” he countered, “if you won’t be able to go out tomorrow night that means I’ll have another fruitless session with Goldenfur.”
She chuckled, then went towards the nursery. “As I said, thank me tomorrow,” she called back.