FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 4

Once the two toms came to the entrance, they both tried to quietly sneak through the bush and into their den. I hope no cat notices us.Flare thought.

Almost as soon as Flare made it into his den, he heard a voice. "And just what do you two toms think you're doing?" MoonStar said in a stern voice. Flare stopped in his tracks and slowly turned around.

"I...It..." Flare stumbled. "It was nothing. Really." He told MoonStar. She gave him a look of disbelief.

"Really?" She asked him.

"Yes, really." Flare said as he turned back towards his den. "You start training at dawn." MoonStar informed Flare as he went into his den.

Uhg. I'll barely have any time to sleep! Flare thought. When Flare was in his den he pushed aside a few extra branches and curled up tight. He slowly drifted off into sleep, having no dreams that night.

Flare woke up that next morning to a paw sharply prodding him in the side. "Come on Flare!" A voice said aloud. Flare was too tired to distinguish it and curled up tighter. "Flare! Come one!" The voice said louder. This time, the paw jabbed him in the side.

It's too early for this! Flare thought as he rolled over to face the cat the prodded him. It was EagleHeart. Maybe I should just call her Eagle now. Flare thought, remembering last night's conversation. "What?" Flare asked in a groggy voice. "How long did I sleep?" He asked her.

"Well, first you should ask what we're doing today." She told him. "I don't know how long you slept, but MoonStar let you sleep in a little bit. Today we're training, but MoonStar hasn't told us where yet. We're waiting on you now." She told Flare.

Oh yeah. But, I'm so exhausted. I'd be surprised if I even live through today. Flare thought. "Come on." EagleHeart said as she left Flare's den. Flare dragged himself out of the den and into the clearing.

When he got outside, he noticed that Jasper and Techno were outside as well. He also noticed the fog on the ground and he could barely see the tip of the sun rising. Techno was laying in the middle, swishing his tail from side to side. Jasper was sitting a little ways away from Techno playing with his own tail.

They couldn't look more bored. Flare thought to himself. Flare walked over to the edge while EagleHeart went over to Jasper.

Flare passed Techno on the way. Techno simply stared at him for a moment, then continued swishing his tail. Flare sat down and stared at his paws. Flare didn't notice MoonStar had come out until she called out to every cat.

"Morning to you all. Today, I want you cat to go over into the oak forest. I want you all to work as a team for hunting. This is not a competition." She told the cats. Flare had turned around and was now facing MoonStar, who had jumped on top of the pointed rock in the clearing. That might be hard. Flare thought, looking at Techno.

"Flare." MoonStar called, taking Flare by surprise.

What now? He thought, still exhausted from lack of sleep.

"Come up with the group." She told him. Flare walked up closer to the other cats, not saying a word. He sat down near EagleHeart. Flare noticed Techno getting up and walking to his den as MoonStar jumped down from the rock.

"Wait," Flare started. Every cat turned to look at him. "Doesn't Techno have to train too?" Flare asked MoonStar.

"No, he's already proven that he's gotten it down." She replied. What? Then he just gets to sleep? Flare thought angrily. "Now, you three, go on." She told the cats. All three went to the left side of the camp reluctantly. That's when Flare noticed the exit on that side, but it clearly wasn't used as much as the other one.

When the cats got outside of the camp, the fog appeared a little heavier. "Where are we supposed to go?" Flare asked, not directed to any cat.

"The oak forest isn't too far from here. If we keep walking in this direction, we'll be there in no time." EagleHeart told him over her shoulder.

"Oh." Flare said quietly as he followed at the back of the group. He looked behind himself to remember what the entrance looked like, and noticed MoonStar sitting in front of it. What is she doing there? Why is she just watching us? Does she have nothing to do? Flare thought as he turned back to following EagleHeart and Jasper.

After a few moments, they came into a part of the woods that had a ton of large oak trees standing tall. They blocked out most of the sun, but little slivers still shined through. Thick fog hung on the ground. Almost looks like clouds, but on the ground. Flare thought as he stopped to take a look around.

"We're here." Jasper announced joyfully. Flare looked over at Jasper and EagleHeart, who were a little ahead of him. Flare walked up to the other cats. "So, we just need to catch a few things?" Flare asked. Should be easy. He thought.

"Yeah but, we need to catch prey as a team." EagleHeart told him. "That's easy!" Jasper exclaimed. EagleHeart looked over and gave him a look of disbelief.

"Don't you think it's too early in the morning and too cold to be doing this sort of thing?" Flare questioned the cats. The two cats turned to look at him. "Well..." EagleHeart paused. "MoonStar says we need to train in all sort of environments. You never know what could happen, and maybe we'd have to go somewhere else one day." She told Flare. "But it'll be harder to find prey this early." Flare pointed out. "Some of them are just coming out of their holes." He told EagleHeart. "Well," She started, looking over at the sun starting to rise. "Most of them should be out by the time we really start hunting." EagleHeart said, looking in the direction of the slowly rising sun. "Fine." Flare said in a grouchy tone.

There was a moment of silence. Why am I still here? It could be so easy to leave but, what would I do then? Flare thought, looking at his paws and questioning himself. I'd just go back to the same thing everyday again. Do I really want to live that way?

"So how should we go about this?" EagleHeart asked both the toms, breaking Flare's train of thought. Flare looked up from his paws. "Well, we have to do this together right?" He asked. "Yeah." EagleHeart said with a questioning tone and gave Flare a questioning look. "Well, then we find some prey, corner it, and kill it. Easy." Flare told her.

"That sounds good!" Jasper said, looking at EagleHeart. "Uh, I guess that'll work." She said, looking over at the trees. Uh, why is she looking over there? Did I say something? I should just forget about it for now. The sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get back to my nest and sleep. Flare decided.

When the cats had just finished talking, a blur of black had suddenly leaped out of a tree and landed in the middle of the group. All the cats jumped back in surprise, giving out squeaks of surprise as well. It was a cat. The cat stood up and looked at the group. It wasn't just any cat, it was MoonStar. What? How did she get here? Why is she here? And how come I didn't notice her? Flare thought angrily.

"One of the things I want you cats to learn is surprise." MoonStar told the cats. "I don't want the prey to notice you until you are right on top of it." MoonStar finished. Why is she telling us this? We should already know this. I know how to hunt well enough to feed myself! Flare thought.

"Flare, are you paying attention?" MoonStar said. Flare put aside his thoughts and looked at MoonStar. "You three will need to be more alert and aware of your surroundings for today's training. You got that?" MoonStar finished with a question.

"Yep!" Jasper said joyfully. "You'll also need to be more quiet." MoonStar scolded. Jasper lowered his head and looked at his paws after she said that. "Okay." EagleHeart told MoonStar. Flare only nodded his head in acknowledgement.

"One last thing," MoonStar started. Jasper looked up, and the others made sure to pay close attention. "I'll be watching and assessing you on this, but I will not be helping you. After you catch a good amount, I want you three to try and catch me. Understand?" She asked the cats. They all nodded.

"Good, now go bring back some prey." MoonStar told the cats as she walked away from the group. Now we can finally get this done and over with. Flare thought with relief. He looked over to where MoonStar had went and could only make out a faint outline as she disappeared in the th fog. This forest is so dense, and now the fog will be heavier longer than normal. That's going to make it harder to find prey, and longer. Flare thought.

Flare started to sniff around with his nose in the air. He kept sniffing for a moment before he detected the scent of something.

"I smell something." Flare whispered to the others, still sniffing the air. EagleHeart and Jasper turned to look at him, then they too started to sniff the air as well. "It's a rabbit." Flare whispered to the cats. EagleHeart and Jasper stopped sniffing the air.

"Can you tell which direction it's coming from?" EagleHeart whispered. There was a moment of silence before Flare responded. "No." He told EagleHeart. There was another pause as EagleHeart bent down and started sniffing around on the ground. "I think it's over there." EagleHeart whispered, indicating with her paw at the trees behind Jasper. Flare and Jasper crouched down. "Jasper, you stay on the right." EagleHeart told Jasper. "Flare, you stay on the left." EagleHeart told Flare. All three cats kept crawling in the direction of the rabbit.

Flare stopped and perked his ears up. EagleHeart noticed and stopped as well. "Jasper," She whispered. He stopped to look at her. "Stop." She whispered to him. There was a small scraping sound coming from a few feet away. Flare squinted and he could just make out the outline of a rabbit. It was scratching at the roots of a tree. "On the count of three," Flare whispered to the other cats. "We close in and kill it." He finished.

"One, two" Flare slowly counted. All the cats slowly advanced towards the rabbit on each count.

"Three." Flare finished. All three cats suddenly closed in on the rabbit, cornering it against the tree. Jasper pounced on the rabbit, delivering a swift twist of it's neck and killing it. Jasper dropped it.

"Good job Jasper." EagleHeart complimented. I'm surprised the rabbit hadn't run away earlier. Why do we have to hunt this way though? It'll be harder and less efficient to catch prey. Flare thought irritatedly.

"Well, where do you guys want to search next?" EagleHeart asked the two toms.

"Let's move to another area." Flare said. "How about over there?" Flare asked as he motioned behind Jasper with his paw. Jasper turned his head to look over where Flare had motioned to. EagleHeart looked over as well. "Alright." EagleHeart replied as both cats turned back to Flare.

Jasper dug a hole and placed the rabbit in it before covering it with dirt. "Why did you do that?" Flare asked when Jasper was done. "I buried it so when we come back, it'll still be there." Jasper said.

"If we don't do that," EagleHeart started. "Another animal might come by and eat it on us." EagleHeart finished. "I was going to tell him that too!" Jasper said with a frustrated face. "You don't need to get your tail in a bunch." EagleHeart told Jasper. Jasper heaved out a sigh and looked the other way.

"Let's just get going." Flare said. "Alright." EagleHeart replied. Jasper only nodded his head.

All three cats headed out in the direction Flare had suggested. By now, some of the fog had lifted, and it was easier to see the forest and it's prey. The group of cats walked through the woods for only a short amount of time before spotting more prey.

"Hey! Look!" Jasper whispered, pointing with his paw in the direction in front of them. It was a group of small birds. There were about five or six of them sitting and pecking at the ground in search of food. All three cats instinctively crouched down. "Let's circle around." Flare whispered to the other two cats. Both nodded and slowly the crept around the group of birds, careful at where they placed their paws and to make sure they balanced their weight on all four paws. When EagleHeart got close to the birds she crouched down so they wouldn't notice and waited for the other two cats to come to a good spot before they all attacked. When both toms got to a good spot they crouched down in the grass. The birds still hadn't noticed them, and continued to peck at the ground. Flare made eye contact with EagleHeart and nodded to her. She nodded back and then did the same with Jasper. He nodded back to her and in the matter of seconds the cats all leaped upon the unsuspecting birds. Flare landed on top one of the birds with one paw on each wing and grabbed one out of the air as it tried to flee with his jaws. Flare killed the one in his jaws by snapping it's back and killed the other one with a bite to it's neck. Jasper had pinned down two birds with his paws, on under each paw. He gave a quick killing bite to each bird similar to how Flare had killed his second bird. EagleHeart had caught the last one just as it started to escape. She killed it with a single bite to it's throat.

When the three cats had finished killing the five birds and placing them in a pile, they all sat down slightly panting. "That was a little harder than I thought." Jasper said, still panting.

"Yeah." Flare agreed, feeling exhausted from something that took so much energy. Even though it ended almost as soon as it started, it took a lot of energy out of the three cats. Especially since Flare and Jasper hadn't gotten a whole lot of rest that night.

"Should we dig-" EagleHeart had started to ask the two toms a question, before she was interrupted by another female's voice.

"That's more enough prey." Said muffled, but loud voice. A cat walked up into the center of the group and dropped a dead hare with the rest of the birds. It was MoonStar. She stood in the center of the group of three cats.

"How did you find our rabbit?" Jasper asked in a disappointed voice. He had hoped that he had hid it so well that even MoonStar couldn't find it. But here it was, right in front of MoonStar's paws along with the five dead birds.

"Because I was watching you, remember?" MoonStar said in her unchanging stern voice and with a frown of disapproval. "If you can't remember even that," She started, her face giving Jasper a harder look. "Then I guess you can't remember what else I said?" She asked Jasper in that same stern voice.

"I remember." Jasper said very quietly and embarrassed, looking down at his paws. Moonstar walked up to him. He almost appeared to shrink back a little when she came to be in front of him.

"Don't cower." She told Jasper, looking down on him. He only shrunk back a little more. It didn't seem very effective that she said that, and MoonStar sighed at Jasper. "If you remember what I said," She started in a softer voice. "Then what was it?" She asked Jasper.

"You told us that now we have to try and ambush you." Jasper said quietly, and almost questioningly. He shrunk back even further, still looking at his paws.. This time, it was more noticeable than the last two. MoonStar stood back a few paces and sighed even deeper this time.

"Yes, that is what I told you three. Now," She told the cats as she started to step out of the circle of cats. "When you're done burying your prey, let me know." She told the cats. She walked so far away from the group that they almost couldn't see her in the fog.

Flare looked over at the Sun, which was rising and almost reaching the tops of the trees. He looked down at the forest floor to take in all of the fog that was still there. The forest was so thick that the fog didn't go away as fast as it would in other places that were less dense. I guess that's why she chose this place. Flare thought in disappointment. He was hoping that today would be an easy day so he could go back to his nest and rest for the entire day. Obviously the day wasn't going according to his plans.

The three cats each picked up some prey and started to dig holes. One they were done digging sufficient holes, they each tried to stuff their prey into it. The cats managed to do that and so they finished burying the prey by placing dirt on top of it. EagleHeart walked a few paces away and stared in the direction MoonStar had gone. She then turned to the two toms.

"Are you two ready?" She asked them.

"I'm ready." Jasper said in a shaky voice. He was still trying to get over the fright and fear that MoonStar gave him.

"Wait," Flare said, getting the other two's attention. "Didn't she just leave? How are we supposed to let her know we're ready?" Flare asked the cats. Jasper just stared back at Flare with a questioning look on his face. He obviously didn't know how to answer Flare's question. EagleHeart turned to Flare.

"She did walk away from us," She started. "But... She probably didn't go too far." EagleHeart answered Flare's question. All three cats turned to look in the direction that MoonStar had disappeared in. "We're ready!" EagleHeart called out, but only to the fog. There was no reply. "We're ready!" She called out even louder, almost reaching the limit her voice could go. Still no reply. Flare walked up to EagleHeart, and Jasper followed shakily behind him. All three cats strained their senses into the fog, searching, looking, hoping, that they would find MoonStar. Jasper remained shaking behind Flare, but still straining to fine MoonStar all the same.

Jasper was the first to speak up. Or, speak low is more like it "Should we look for her?" He whispered to the other cats. Just then, a crack rang out in the foggy forest, somewhere in the not so far off distance. Jasper jumped at the noise. "WHAT WAS THAT?" He screamed. He had been so tense and afraid that it had caused him to scream out loud.

"SSHHHH." Both Flare and EagleHeart turned around to shush Jasper. Jasper only shrunk down and stared guiltily at them. All three cats turned and looked into the fog.

"We should go check it out." Flare said after a long pause, breaking the silence. Before any cat could respond to what he said, he cautiously walked off into the ever slowly diminishing fog.

"Wait!" EagleHeart tried to say at the highest whisper she could make, before hurrying to catch up with Flare.

Jasper just shook in the fog for a moment, looking everywhere. He was deathly afraid that a cat would jump out at him from the fog at any moment. Then he realised he had been left alone, shaking so hard a cat could almost hear it.

"WAIT!" He yelled as he ran into the fog in the direction that the other two had disappeared in. He ran through the fog, not knowing where he was going. Before he knew it, he bumped right into Flare. He had been running so fast, that he didn't acknowledge that Flare was there before he bumped into him. Since EagleHeart had taken the lead, Flare bumped right into her after Jasper had bumped into him.

"Ow!" Flare exclaimed as his nose pressed into EagleHeart's rear.

"Hey, watch it!" EagleHeart exclaimed back as she tumbled over onto her side.

"Jasper!" Flare said with gritted teeth as he turned to face Jasper.

"Sorry..." Jasper whispered as he scrunched down. Flare said, feeling bad yet again for bursting out at Jasper. But we're supposed to betraining! We have no time to fool around like this. Flare thought as all three cats stood up and shook out any pine needle or leaves in their pelts and fur.

"We should get going." Flare told EagleHeart and Jasper when they were all done orientating themselves.

"Alright." EagleHeart said, and Jasper just gave him a shaky nod.

And with that, they were off, following the scant scent of MoonStar in the foggy forest.