Outcast

Warmth spread through Lionpaw from ears to tail tip at his father’s praise. “I’m fine,” he replied. “They weren’t fighting hard.”

“They looked like apprentices to me.” Crowfeather padded up, spitting out a mouthful of gray fur.

“Maybe they were having a bit of fun,” Brambleclaw suggested.

“Fun!” Crowfeather rolled his eyes.

“They were just trying to scare us.” Tawnypelt leaped down from the boulder where she had sprung to chase off her attacker. “They weren’t hunting or protecting their camp.”

“You Clan cats fought well.” Talon staggered back along the path. He hesitated and added almost to himself, “Won’t these battles ever end?”

Gray and Bird were exchanging uneasy glances. Bird murmured, “I don’t think we’ll ever have our home to ourselves again.”

The Tribe cats had come off worst in the battle, Lionpaw realized. Gray’s ear was bleeding, while Bird had scratches down one side and Talon had lost fur from his shoulders.

They really needed to learn warrior fighting techniques.

But instead, they seemed to be giving up. What hope was there for the Clan cats to help them, if the Tribe cats wouldn’t even help themselves?

Chapter 24

Hollypaw led the to-bes out of the cave in time to see Lionpaw and the rest of Brambleclaw’s patrol disappear across the rocks.

For a heartbeat she wished she could go with them. But she knew it was equally important to give the Tribe to-bes some practice in warrior fighting techniques.

“Sit there and watch,” Breezepaw ordered when every cat had emerged from the cave and leaped down to the open space beside the pool. “Hollypaw and I will show you how to fight.”

Hollypaw’s pelt prickled. Even if they were acting as mentors, he didn’t have to sound so bossy! “Why don’t we let them show us what they know already?” she suggested. “We might be able to build on that.”

“Well… okay.” Breezepaw gave an ungracious shrug.

“Only the cave-guards learn this stuff,” Pebble explained, stepping forward to face Hollypaw. “We’re taught how to fight off eagles if they try to attack the prey-hunters.”

Hollypaw sat down and wrapped her tail around her paws.

“Fine. Show me what you do.”

Pebble crouched down, then used her powerful hind legs to thrust herself into the air. At the top of her leap she lashed out with both forepaws, then landed neatly and dropped right away into another crouch.

Hollypaw was impressed; the leap was beautifully timed to fight off a flying enemy. How could she adapt it to attack one on the ground?

“That was great,” she meowed. “Can you all do it?”

A couple of the other to-bes stepped forward. “We can.

We’re going to be cave-guards like Pebble.”

Three to-bes, including Screech and Splash, remained standing by the pool. All three of them were giving Hollypaw and Breezepaw hostile looks.

“I don’t see why we have to do what you tell us,” Screech muttered. “You’re not warriors yet.”

“We know more than you about fighting,” Breezepaw shot back at him.

Hollypaw stifled a sigh. Breezepaw was right, but being so obnoxious about it was only going to ruffle Screech’s fur.

“We’re doing it because Brambleclaw asked us to.”

“So what?” Screech turned his back rudely, then glanced over his shoulder to add, “He’s not our leader. We don’t have to do what he says.”

“Besides, we’re prey-hunters.” At least Splash was being more polite than her Tribemate. “We’re trained to hunt.”

“Okay, pretend Breezepaw over there is a rabbit.”

“Hey!” Breezepaw protested.

Before he could say any more, Splash had dropped into something similar to the hunter’s crouch and gave an enormous leap to land on top of him. The WindClan apprentice threw her off and scrambled to his paws, shaking his ruffled fur.

“Well done!” Hollypaw mewed. “That would be great in a battle, but you’d need to follow it up with some claw work, or sink your teeth into your opponent’s throat.”

Splash nodded; to Hollypaw’s relief she was looking interested rather than hostile. “I’d do that to the rabbit,” she pointed out, “but I thought I’d better not do it to him.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Breezepaw growled.

“Your leap would be good, too.” Hollypaw turned back to the cave-guard group. “But instead of clawing at the top of the leap, land on your enemy’s back, and then use your claws.”

That was quite an advanced move, and the trespassing cats might not be expecting it. “Now Breezepaw and I will show you some more basic skills,” she added.

They ran through some of the techniques a new apprentice would learn: dashing past an enemy to rake its side with their claws, and rolling over to claw an opponent’s belly with their hind paws.

“Now let’s see you try,” Breezepaw ordered. “In pairs, a cave-guard with a prey-hunter.”

“And remember, claws sheathed for practice,” Hollypaw added.

She and Breezepaw sat side by side to watch the to-bes. To her surprise, the prey-hunters were picking up the new techniques faster. They were more agile, and she guessed it helped that they didn’t have to unlearn the moves the cave-guards already knew.