Warriors 03 - Forest of Secrets by Erin Hunter

hunting with me, if you like.”
    â€œThanks,” purred Brackenpaw, beginning to look happier.
    â€œI’ll come too,” offered Sandstorm, gulping down the last of her meal and running her tongue around her jaws. She took the lead as the three cats made their way along the gorse tunnel.
    â€œNow, Brackenpaw,” Fireheart meowed when they had reached the edge of the training hollow. “Where’s a good place to look for prey?”
    â€œUnder the trees,” replied Brackenpaw, pointing with a flick of his tail. “That’s where mice and squirrels come for nuts and seeds.”
    â€œGood,” meowed Fireheart. “Let’s see if you’re right.”
    They headed farther around the hollow; on the way they passed Brindleface, watching fondly as her kits scrambled about in the snow. “They needed to stretch their legs,” she explained. “All this snow has made them restless.”
    Cloudkit was sitting under the yew bush with a couple of his littermates, explaining importantly that those were deathberries, and they must never, never eat them. Feeling amused by the young kit’s seriousness, Fireheart meowed a greeting as he went by.
    Beneath the trees at the top of the hollow the snow was not so thick, and streaks of brown earth showed amid the white. As the three cats crept forward, Fireheart heard the scuttering of tiny paws, and scented mouse. Automatically he dropped into a hunting crouch and slid forward, barely putting any weight on his paws so as not to alarm his prey. The mouse remained unaware of the danger, its back to him as it nibbled on a fallen seed. When Fireheart was a tail-length away, he sprang, and turned back triumphantly to his friends with the prey in his jaws.
    â€œGood catch,” called Sandstorm.
    Fireheart scraped earth over his kill so he could collect it later. “The next one’s yours, Brackenpaw,” he meowed.
    Brackenpaw raised his head proudly and began to stalk forward, his eyes darting from side to side. Fireheart spotted a blackbird pecking among the berries at the foot of a holly bush, but this time he held back.
    The apprentice noticed the bird almost as soon as Fireheart did. Stealthily, paw by paw, he crept up on it. His haunches rocked from side to side as he readied himself to pounce. Watching, Fireheart thought he held back a heartbeat too long. The blackbird sensed him and fluttered upward, but Brackenpaw hurled himself after it with a mighty leap and batted it out of the air.
    Keeping one paw on his prey, he turned to look at Fireheart. “I got the timing wrong,” he admitted. “I waited too long, didn’t I?”
    â€œMaybe,” Fireheart replied. “But don’t look so upset. You caught it, and that’s what counts.”
    â€œWhen you get back, you can take it to the elders,” meowed Sandstorm.
    Brackenpaw brightened up at that. “Yes, I—” he began. He was interrupted by a shrill, terrified wailing that came from the direction of the hollow.
    Fireheart spun around. “That sounds like a kit!”
    With Sandstorm and Brackenpaw at his side, he racedtoward the sound. Bursting out of the trees, he launched himself toward the crest of the hollow and looked down.
    â€œGreat StarClan!” Sandstorm gasped.
    Just below the three cats loomed a bulky black-and-white animal; Fireheart picked up the rank scent of a badger. He had never seen one out in the open before, although he had often heard them shuffling noisily in the bushes. With one massive, hook-clawed paw, it was reaching into a gap between two rocks, where Cloudkit was cowering.
    â€œFireheart!” he wailed. “Help me!”
    Fireheart felt as if every hair on his body was bristling. He launched himself down into the hollow, his front paws outstretched for the attack. He was dimly aware of Sandstorm and Brackenpaw at his heels. Fireheart raked his claws down the badger’s side, and the