// chapter 4 //

                                    

                                          
    "Nightpaw, keep your body lower to the ground!"
                          
    Rowanstorm's sharp command made the black apprentice huff in frustration, breath rising up in a cloud in the cool morning air. He focused once more on the red leaf on the ground before him, dropping into a crouch just as the warrior had shown him. With his legs staggered, belly fur practically touching the ground, and muscles tensed, Nightpaw felt ready to pounce.
                          
    Instead, he received a heavy swat over the ear. He jumped back in surprise to see a very irritated Rowanstorm standing before him.
                          
    "Are you not paying attention?" the brown tabby asked. "If your tail's waving like that, your prey and every other possible piece of freshkill in the area will see you."
                          
    "Not to mention your enemy," Marshclaw added from her position a few foxlengths away. "Flamepaw and Cinderpaw, why don't you show Nightpaw how it's done?"
                          
    Nightpaw narrowed his eyes at the tortoiseshell but kept his mouth shut. He watched his littermates drop into their hunting crouches instead, Cinderpaw giving him an almost apologetic look while Flamepaw's jaws stretched into a smug grin. To Nightpaw's annoyance, their hunting crouches were identical.
                          
    "Try mirroring them," Rowanstorm said, flicking his tail idly. Nightpaw nodded, clenching his teeth determinedly. Focussing on Flamepaw's ginger form, the black tom lowered himself, shifting his back legs apart and staggering his front paws below his chest. This time, he made sure his tail remained still.
                          
    A second of silence, then two, then three. Nightpaw tensed every muscle, waiting.
                          
    "Pounce."
                          
    He shot forward, leaping and landing squarely on the red leaf - only the leaf was no longer there. Confused, Nightpaw glanced around, finally finding the item clamped in Flamepaw's jaws.
                          
    "Too slow," the ginger tom said playfully, spitting the leaf out. Nightpaw twitched his whiskers in disappointment but accepted his defeat all the same. This was his first lesson with the warriors, while Flamepaw and Cinderpaw had been training for almost a moon now.
                          
    "Again," Nightpaw decided, knowing he would not get better without practice. Rowanstorm and Marshclaw exchanged glances, taken aback by Nightpaw's authoritative tone.
                          
    "Do as he says." The voice came from a black tom sitting at the base of an aspen nearby. When no one moved to obey, the otherwise silent guardian gestured with his tail for the training session to continue.
                          
    "Last time," Rowanstorm said.
                          
    Nightpaw nodded, knowing this was his last shot. The red leaf lay before him, rustling in the slight breeze that blew through the forest, and the tom stared at it until it was the only thing he could see.
                          
    Dropping into his crouch, he felt the tension return to his muscles, first in his front legs, then inching up his spine until it reached the back of his body. His claws slid out of their sheathes, energy flowing through every bit of him, and then - 
                          
    The wind picked up, taking the leaf with it. Nightpaw leaped in a desperate attempt to reach it, but it flew out of his grasp and floated up to meet its siblings in the trees. The apprentice hissed in annoyance, dropping back to the ground.
                          
    "That's enough for one day," Rowanstorm decided, eyeing Nightpaw disdainfully. "Flamepaw, Cinderpaw, I want you to split up and hunt until sunhigh. Don't leave the forest."
                          
    Flamepaw nodded, immediately moving off into the forest, while Cinderpaw lingered to give Nightpaw a meaningful look before turning to do the same. Their mentors followed, loping off at a steady pace. Nightpaw watched them go, suddenly feeling heavy and useless.