Maps
Chapter One
Thunderstar watched approvingly as Snail Shell scrambled through the bracken at the edge of the forest, moving fast. Tensing his hind legs, the young dappled gray tom gave a flying leap and disappeared from sight. After a few heartbeats, he emerged from the undergrowth with his tail held high, a fat vole dangling from his mouth.
“Nicely done.” Thunderstar blinked approvingly at Owl Eyes beside him. “You’ve trained him well.”
Owl Eyes purred. “He was eager to learn.”
Snail Shell dropped the vole at Thunderstar’s feet. “Did you see how I pounced?” he asked excitedly. “When Owl Eyes started training me, I always landed a little short of the prey, but he told me to try to jump just in front of prey, and I’d get my paws right on it.”
His sister, Apple Blossom, flicked her tail dismissively. “Lightning Tail didn’t have to show me that,” she bragged. “My pounces were always good.”
Lightning Tail’s whiskers twitched with amusement. “But it took a while for you to learn to pick out the scent of your prey. Let’s show Thunderstar what you’ve learned.”
The orange-and-white she-cat scented the air. “I can smell… mice,” she mewed. “And there’s a rabbit! In the ferns by that oak tree.”
“Very good,” Thunderstar told her. “So which should you hunt?”
Apple Blossom gave a thoughtful flick of her tail. “The mice would be easier to catch,” she mewed slowly, “but a fat rabbit would feed more of the Clan. The rabbit?”
Thunderstar nodded. “Rabbits can be hard to catch,” he told her. “The cats in WindClan eat a lot of rabbit, and they hunt them in pairs to make it easier. Why don’t you and Snail Shell hunt this rabbit together?” Apple Blossom hesitated, and Thunderstar twitched his ears at her encouragingly. “You’re in charge.” If the young cats had trouble catching the rabbit, there would still be plenty of the day left to hunt easier prey.
“Okay.” Apple Blossom’s eyes lit with excitement, and she turned to her brother. “Snail Shell, go around on the far side of the ferns, and keep upwind. I’ll chase it out toward you.”
The young she-cat, her tail held low, slunk carefully toward the tall patch of ferns, each paw step silent.
Thunderstar nudged Lightning Tail. “Good stalking form,” he whispered, and the black tom nodded, his eyes fixed on his apprentice.
Leaves rustled as the rabbit hopped hesitantly out of the ferns, its ears twitching. It sniffed the air, its bright eyes darting alertly in every direction. Apple Blossom froze for a second and then charged.
With a flip of its white tail, the rabbit bolted away from her, straight through the ferns. Apple Blossom followed. There were the sounds of a struggle and the rabbit’s short shriek, then Snail Shell and Apple Blossom pushed their way back through the ferns, Apple Blossom proudly carrying the plump rabbit in her mouth.
“Very good,” Thunderstar praised them, impressed. “That will fill a lot of hungry bellies.”
The cats buried the rabbit and the vole to collect on their way back to camp, and Thunderstar led the hunting patrol toward the river that marked ThunderClan’s border with RiverClan.