Board Thread:Fun and Games/@comment-27804437-20160216194037/@comment-27804437-20160302035615

Chapter 5

Lionstar led Stonepaw through the undergrowth towards the edge of the territory near the lake. Today he was going to access Stonepaw's hunting skills.

"Let's stop here," Lionstar suggested when they got to the Sky Oak. He turned towards Stonepaw and sat down, wrapping his tail neatly around his paws. He flicked his tail instructing Stonepaw to do the same.

"Today you will have a your first hunting assessment," Lionstar began. "All the prey you catch will go straight to the fresh kill pile." Stonepaw nodded patiently. His sister Heatherpaw should have been accessed too, but she was getting over whitecough.

"You have until sunset," Lionstar finished, looking up at the sky, it was nearly sunhigh.

Stonepaw nodded and headed through the woods in the direction of the Windclan border. Lionstar waited a moment and then began to follow Stonepaw's scent. It led him though the dense forest. He stopped when he scented a freshly killed mouse nearby, he found it buried under some leaf debris. Lionstar purred, so early in the assessment and already his apprentice was doing very well.

He left the mouse and hurried through the forest, sniffing the air every few tail-lengths for Stonepaw's scent. He spotted Stonepaw just ahead of him and quickly crouched behind a bramble bush, he hoped that his apprentice wouldn't scent him. To his relief he was downwind of Stonepaw.

He peered through the bush just in time to see Stonepaw jump into the air after a thrush, his apprentice's claws just caught its wing, he brought it to the ground in a cloud of feathers and killed it with a swift bite to the neck. He buried it beneath the roots of an oak tree and set off once more towards the Windclan border. Lionstar decided he would wait until his apprentice was a little further off until he would follow him.

Lionstar padded out from behind the bush and sniffed the air while he waited, seeing if he could scent any prey that would be close by. Even though Stonepaw was catching quite a bit of prey, extra prey was always a good thing. He stopped dead as he scented something that wasn't prey. Fox! And fresh, by the smell of it. Before he could do anything he heard a screech through the woods, Stonepaw!

He pelted through the trees, brambles snagging his pelt and branches whipping at his a face. He came to a little clearing and was horrified by what he seen. A fox stood over Stonepaw, jaws parted about to snap at his neck. Without waiting another moment, Lionstar flung himself at the fox, he heard the fox howl as he dug his sharp claws deep into it's russet colored back.

"Run back to camp Stonepaw, get help!" Lionstar managed to yowl, before he was flung off the fox's back. The wind got knocked out of him as he hit the ground.

Before Lionstar could get up, the fox was over him, snapping at his neck. He moved just in time and instead of the fox biting his neck it got the tip of his ear. Lionstar yowled in pain and got to his paws.

He turned his head as he heard a Thunderclan patrol screeching a battle cry. Before he could join in, out of the corner of his eye, he seen the fox swipped one of it's huge red paw and felt a sharp pain on the side of his head. He fell to the ground, his world turning black.

He woke up a few moments later, with Fawnpelt pressing her head into his belly fur.

"Fawnpelt," he croaked, his ear felt like it was on fire.

"Lionstar, you're alive! " Fawnpelt purred, and started licking his head.

"I lost a life," he confessed. To his surprise, he didn't mind that Fawnpelt was fussing over him.

"What happened?" Lionstar asked, struggling to his paws. Fawnpelt pushed against his shoulder to help him.

"That fox knocked you out with a blow from it's paw. Luckily Stonepaw made it back to camp. I led Dustfur, Blueblaze and Shadefoot here as soon as I could," she began. "That fox won't come back anytime soon, we gave it some blows that it won't soon forget. But we should get back to camp, your ear looks really bad," Fawnpelt finished, her eyes flashed with fear.

"Where are they now?" Lionstar asked, and began to slowly pad towards camp, leaning his shoulder on Fawnpelt.

"I sent them back to camp. I told them I would stay with you until you woke up."

"And Stonepaw, is he hurt?" Lionstar asked, as he just remembered his apprentice's assessment.

"He stayed at camp. I didn't see any deep wounds, and he went to Suntail's den as we left. I'm sure he'll be fine," Fawnpelt added.

"Thank you," Lionstar meowed after a moment, and sat down, his ear still throbbing.

"For what?" Fawnpelt stopped, her head tipped to one side.

"For staying with me," he answered, and licked her cheek, purring.

I know it's a bit longer but I think it's good. And Frostfeather, I will do 6. Sorry for the confusion.😸