Hawkwing only grunted in reply, waving his tail at the stupid bird.
Blossomheart shrugged. “We never had to deal with that in the gorge,” she mewed.
Her words stung Hawkwing like a thorn in his pad. He knew that his sister wasn’t scolding him, but he could never forget that in a way he was responsible for SkyClan being driven from the gorge.
If I’d never trusted Darktail… Or what would have happened if I’d stayed and tried to take revenge? I might have done that if I’d known that I’d lose Pebbleshine on this journey.
Hawkwing dragged himself away from his dark thoughts to realize that Blossomheart was speaking to him. “I’m sorry… what?”
His sister heaved a sigh. “I said, why don’t we take Bellaleaf and Curlypaw and go exploring on the other side of the lake? We haven’t hunted over there yet.”
“Yes, good idea,” Hawkwing responded, making an effort to be more positive. He wanted to be a good mentor to Curlypaw, but he knew he hadn’t spent enough time with her since he lost
Pebbleshine, and even less since they arrived at the lake. “I’ll check with Waspwhisker, and if he doesn’t want us for a dawn patrol, we’ll go.”
There were fewer trees on the far side of the lake; the ground was covered with smooth grass that stretched as far as the row of small Twoleg dens.
“I don’t like it as much over here,” Blossomheart mewed, with a wary look at the dens. “The Twolegs are too close for comfort, and there’s not as much cover. I’m glad we settled on the other side.”
“Waspwhisker led a patrol over here yesterday,” Bellaleaf responded. “Rileypool went with him, and he told me all the Twoleg dens are abandoned. There’s not even the scent of Twolegs there.”
“Weird…,” Hawkwing murmured. Why would Twolegs build dens here and then just go off and leave them? Then he shrugged.
“It’s not as good for prey over here, either,” he added. “There aren’t as many places for them to hide. Still, we can get in some practice. Come on, Curlypaw, let’s see your stalking. Pretend Bellaleaf is a mouse.”
Bellaleaf crouched down in the grass. “Oh, I’m only a tiny little mouse,” she mewed in a squeaky voice. “Please don’t eat me!”
Curlypaw flattened herself against the ground and began to creep forward, one paw at a time.
“Oh, no—no,” Hawkwing interrupted before she had gone many paw steps. “You’re putting your paws down far too hard.”
His apprentice looked dejected, her head and tail drooping.
“Sorry.”
“You have to remember that a mouse will feel your paw steps through the ground before it hears you,” Hawkwing told her. He couldn’t remember whether he had actually told her that before. It’s one of the first things an apprentice learns… I’m not being a good mentor at all. Everything’s gone wrong since Pebbleshine disappeared.
“Try it again,” he told her.
Curlypaw gave him a nervous glance before flattening herself to the ground again. Hawkwing took a deep breath. He knew his frustration was coming out in his tone. But it’s not you I’m frustrated with, Curlypaw; it’s me.
This time, his apprentice’s stalking was perfect. She seemed to glide over the ground as if her paws were hardly touching it.
“That’s much better,” Hawkwing meowed, trying to put some warmth into his voice. “Bellaleaf, you’re doomed!”
During the lesson, Blossomheart had been poking around among the reeds that fringed the lakeshore. Now she beckoned Hawkwing over with her tail.
“There are voles here,” she murmured when her brother padded up to her. “Shall we take some fresh-kill back for the Clan?”
Hawkwing peered into the reeds and spotted movement among the stems. “Good idea,” he responded, gesturing with his tail for Curlypaw and Bellaleaf to join them.
Spotting a vole, Hawkwing began to creep up on it, remembering what he had told Curlypaw about setting her paws down lightly. His prey was nibbling something, seeming quite unaware of danger.
Completely focused on the vole, Hawkwing was bunching his muscles for the final pounce when Curlypaw suddenly let out a loud caterwaul. The vole gave a start of terror, then scrambled to the water’s edge, jumped in, and swam away.
Furious, Hawkwing swung around. “Curlypaw, what—?”
He broke off as he heard the same raucous screech that had woken him from his dream. Looking up, he saw the brown water-bird above his head, diving straight down at Blossomheart. His belly lurched and his shoulder fur bristled at the sight of the creature’s powerful beak and claws.
With a challenging yowl, Hawkwing raced over to his sister. As the bird swooped over her, Blossomheart reared up on her hind legs and managed to swipe her claws over its eye. The bird let out another screech, raking its talons over Blossomheart’s shoulder.
Hawkwing leaped up and sank his claws into the bird’s shoulder, catching it off guard. As the huge head swung around toward him, glaring with a malignant yellow eye, Blossomheart got in a harder blow, digging her claws into the eye she had scratched.
At the same moment Bellaleaf leaped up from the other side, only to be swatted away by a flap of the bird’s wing. She hit the ground with a thump and lay there half stunned.
Screaming again, the bird began fighting valiantly to free itself from Hawkwing and Blossomheart, flailing with wings and claws and stabbing with its hooked beak. As they fell back, it rose unsteadily into the air and circled around a few tail-lengths above the ground.
At first Hawkwing thought that they had scared it off. Then with belly-churning dread he realized that it was swooping in for another attack, and this time its target was Curlypaw.
“No!” Hawkwing yowled.
He lunged toward Curlypaw, reaching her just as the bird gripped her with its talons and began flapping its wings to take off again. “Help!” she wailed, digging in her claws in an effort to cling to the ground. “Hawkwing, help me!”
Using all his strength, Hawkwing hurled himself upward and managed to snag his claws on the bird’s leg. The extra weight unbalanced it, so that it flopped back to the ground, and Hawkwing was able to sink his teeth into its back.
With another screech the bird loosened its grip on Curlypaw, who twisted around and slashed her claws at its underbelly, even though the bird still had her hind legs pinned. Blossomheart came charging up, blood from her wound spattering the grass, but before she reached them Hawkwing dug his teeth deeper into the bird’s back and wrenched his head around, tearing out a chunk of the bird’s flesh.
Shrieking furiously, the bird let go of Curlypaw and awkwardly flapped its way back into the air. Blood dripped from its wound onto the grass as it flew slowly away.
Hawkwing turned to his sister. “Blossomheart, are you okay?”
Blossomheart twisted her head to get a good look at the wound on her shoulder. “I’ve been better,” she panted. “But I’ll be fine.
Hawkwing, that was amazing! You really lived up to your name.”
Glancing around to check on his Clanmates, Hawkwing saw
Bellaleaf stagger to her paws and pad shakily over to join the others.
“Are you hurt?” Hawkwing asked.
Bellaleaf gave her head a shake as if to clear it. “No, I’m okay.
Just a bit stunned. That bird was really strong!”
Reassured, Hawkwing turned to Curlypaw and gave her scratches a good sniff. He was thankful that they all seemed to be shallow, hardly bleeding at all. But the apprentice was still shivering, her eyes wide with the memory of fear.
“Hawkwing, you saved my life!” she exclaimed, her voice shaking. “Just like you did in the Twolegplace. If you hadn’t been here…” Her eyes grew dark, as if she could see herself being carried away in the grip of the enormous bird.