Chapter 24: Falconpaw
Falconpaw took off. In front, his prey - a stray chicken - was clucking in fear and running as fast as possible.
Falconpaw caught up with the fat bird easily and with a huge pounce, he pinned the chicken down and killed it with a quick bite.
He spat out some feathers that got stuck in his mouth and scanned the area, looking for Rivernight.
Falconpaw spotted the SunClan deputy padding up to him. "Well done," she meowed, looking at the bird. "It's lucky that you managed to catch this, because leaf-bare is slowly coming our way. Many of our prey are slowly preparing for the cold days ahead. We must treasure what prey we can catch."
"How about the battle?" Falconpaw asked.
"We will have to train harder," Rivernight replied, her gaze darkening. "Echospring is still injured from the fox that attacked her. She has recovered mostly, but... her focus is off lately."
"We need our medicine cat more than ever," Falconpaw added. "Do you want me to bring this to her?"
He stared at the chicken, waiting for Rivernight's response. "Yes," she mewed. "After that, you may take a little break. I will call you before sunhigh for battle training."
Falconpaw nodded and grabbed his prey. It was heavier than expected, so Rivernight had to help lighten his load.
When they reached the camp, Rivernight went over to meet with Pouncestar while Falconpaw heaved the chicken into the medicine cat den. Echospring was sorting out some herbs, but she looked distracted.
"Echospring?" Falconpaw mewed, putting down his prey. "I caught this for you."
The SunClan medicine cat's eyes fell onto the chicken and she smiled a little. "Thank you," she mewed. "I can't finish all of this though. Would you like to share with me?"
"Sure," Falconpaw meowed. He remembered eating chicken when he was a kit, and he tried to keep himself from drooling at the thought.
Falconpaw sat down and took a bite after plucking off some feathers. It tasted quite strange, different from his usual meal of rabbits and sometimes a small bird.
They ate in silence. Falconpaw busied himself with plucking off the rest of the feathers and putting them to one side so that he could line his nest with feathers later.
Suddenly, Echospring stopped eating. "Is there something wrong?" Falconpaw asked, looking up from his prey.
"There has been something troubling me," the SunClan medicine cat admitted. She shifted her paws nervously.
"Remember when I was attacked?" Echospring mewed. "It was a fox that attacked me and if that cat didn't come in time, I would have died."
"What cat?" Falconpaw pricked his ears.
"A rogue," Echospring explained. "With blue eyes. I... can't remember his pelt colour."
A memory jolted back to Falconpaw. "Is it a cat with icy blue eyes?" he asked eagerly.
Echospring nodded and Falconpaw jumped up in excitement. Finally, he had a clue of the mysterious cat with icy blue eyes that he had seen in the past moons. At last, his curiosity could be satisfied.
Falconpaw left, meowing a quick goodbye to Echospring, who had a confused expression on her face.
Strangely, his paws seemed to carry him to the edge of SunClan territory. There, the wide open moor became flooded with tall grass and looming trees.
Falconpaw breathlessly looked around, unsure what to expect. He wondered what he was thinking, whether it was fruitless or not to wait for something that may never come.
A rustle was heard. Falconpaw snapped to attention, his fur fluffed up and claws unsheathed.
A cat leaped straight towards him, his eyes wild. Falconpaw ducked and rolled to the side, meeting the face of his attacker. It's him!
He gasped, his eyes shocked. His attacker didn't respond with words, only clawing out at the apprentice with vicious claws.
Falconpaw's face stung as the rogue's claws made contact with his face. Falconpaw retaliated with an up swipe, causing his attacker to stumble backwards.
However, that only made the rogue even angrier. His swipes became so fast that Falconpaw was unable to dodge.
The SunClan apprentice backed off, his paws trembling, ranting at himself for being so rabbit brained - putting his life on the line just to satisfy his curiosity.
As the rogue pounced, Falconpaw closed his eyes tightly, waiting for his demise at the rogue's merciless claws.
Another shadow loomed over Falconpaw and his attacker was knocked off by another cat, whose pelt was a mashup of black and white.
"Run!" his saviour commanded in a booming and authoritative voice.
Falconpaw didn't hesitate, fleeing for his life, wondering what explanation he could come up with to explain his scratches. It's my own fault.
This is what happens when I get too curious.
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Who was Falconpaw's saviour? What do you think of Falconpaw's actions?
Feel free to comment down your thoughts!
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