MUDPAW & THE WHISPERING VOICES CHAPTER 3

Instructions

MUDPAW (finally!) This chapter takes place moons after ch. 2. Mentions of death from before the point of the chapter. This chapter also contains a fight, but no blood is shed. ^v^ ========= Hi! My name's Mudpaw, loyal apprentice of BirchClan! Right now, I'm patrolling in the forest with Sorrelstep. I'm really lucky, because Sorrelstep's my dad AND my mentor. I honestly think our leader felt bad for me - my mother, an OakClan cat named Chestnuttail, d1ed before I was born, and the same happened to my sister, Cinnamonkit, not long after. There was a big fight or something at that time, back when I was too young to remember, so both Clans lost a lot of cats. People think I'm kinda weird, but it's probably just because I'm half OakClan. We used to be on good terms, long, long ago, but their current leader, Winterstar, is really prickly and paranoid, so these days, we have to be worried about them. It's been this way my whole life. I'm a nice cat, though. I've earnt their trust. So, yeah. Me and Sorrelstep are hunting near the boarder. There's more wildlife in the oaks, so we stay here in case it wanders over. I crept through the snow, paws spread slightly wider than most cats did to make up for my bobtail and lack of balance. Right in front of me was an enormous snow hare, completely unaware of my presence. I smiled, then pushed off from the ground, paws aiming straight at the snow hare's head. It looked up and started to dart away, but it was too late. I barrelled into its side and finished it off. Sorrelstep, who was perched halfway up a birch tree with a squirrel in his mouth, landed and booped noses with me. He dropped the squirrel. "Good one, little nut." I purred, then began dragging the snow hare along the ground, looking around for the rest of the patrol. "Sorrelstep, where's everyone else gone?" "Sorrelstep?" The black tom's ears were pricked, like he'd heard something. Suddenly, he ducked under a bramble bush. I followed, wincing as the thorns caught my pelt. A lithe brown she-cat raced across the snow towards the border, two mice and a vole hanging from her jaws. She didn't smell like either Clan; rather, a mix of the two. The way she walked made it clear she didn't feel like she was in danger, and her nut-brown eyes scanned her surroundings without worry. Racing after her were the other two cats on patrol. I glanced at Sorrelstep, to see if he was going to help them fight, but he just muttered 'mouse-brains' under his breath. The first warrior took a swipe at her head. The she-cat ducked, then reared up again to avoid a slash from the other warrior. Then, she used her front paw to hook one warrior's paws from under them, before headbutting the other and kicking them into a tree - all with the prey still in her mouth. Then, she darted across the border and dissapeared among the trees. Sorrelstep dragged himself out of the bush, tsk-ing the other warriors as he helped them to their feet. "You IDIOTS. You could've DIED, you hear me?" One of them opened his mouth to say something, but Sorrelstep cut them off. "I was hiding, because I knew that Koi is DANGEROUS, and I didn't have a chance getting that prey back! Now, let's get you back to camp." "The prey-" "I have a squirrel, and Mudpaw has a delightfully large snow hare, so nobody will starve. Come ON." I helped the other warrior to his feet, and we trudged through the snow, back to camp. *** I was waiting for Sorrelstep when he finished his chitchat with the leader. He yelped when he saw me, and I said, without prelude, "Who was that? And why did you call her Koi? That makes it sound like she was a calico, and she was brown. Why did she seem so confident? Where's she from?" Sorrelstep straightened up. "Did you- no, nobody would've told you, would they?" "Told me what?" He sighed and lowered his voice. "That's Koi. Well... nobody knows her real name, but we call her that because, as rumour has it, she found a koi pond up in the mountains that sustains her. She hunts here to assert dominance." I cocked my head to the side. "What's the big deal?" "Well, Koi is an extremely adept fighter. She's been coming down to Clan territories for moons and moons and moons, for small hunts or attacks - as revenge for some slight, long ago. She's undefeatable. Ruthless. No Clan cat has ever given her so much as a scratch. You... you know all those cats that dissapeared, when you were little? Her. All her." I stared at my father. "...wow. Why... why haven't I heard of her before? Or seen her?" Sorrelstep shrugged. "Well, my guess is that everyone kept it a secret so as not to freak you out, and she prefers to harm OakClan anyway. I think they were the ones to cause her anger in the first place."