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“Are we ready?” Onewhisker asked.
Ashfoot flicked her tail. “Mudclaw, who’s catching?”
The deputy glanced across the crowd. “Take…Rabbitfern and Tawnypaw.”
Ashfoot nodded. “Right, then let’s go.”
The two apprentices started to walk together, but Ashfoot separated them with a flick of her tail. “Whitepaw, why don’t you come with me today?”
She glanced towards Onewhisker, and he tilted his head. She pulled ahead, looking apologetically towards Tawnypaw.
“The practice is good,” Ashfoot said, as Rabbitfern left Tawnypaw to find a suitably hidden position. “Where do we start?”
Whitepaw’s eyes searched the moor. She needed this practice; Deadstar wanted the apprentices assessed soon, and Whitepaw’s observations on Outlook Rock had been unsastifactory of late.
“Why don’t we single off that one?” she said, her tail pointed towards a young buck. Ashfoot considered it.
It was early enough in the season that she was avoiding does, but the buck was large enough to feed half the Clan. It’d be a tricky catch, but Onewhisker was fast, and she had confidence in Tawnypaw.
Ashfoot nodded her assent, flicking her ears to tell Whitepaw to startle it. The apprenticed lowered herself to the ground, creeping through the long grass. She was nearly silent, her tail twiching nearly imperceptably to alert Onewhisker when she would strike. Ashfoot knew Whitepaw didn’t enjoy flushing, but she was proud that the apprentice could. WindClan’s knowledge was unique to them, and it was a skill that had saved them from prey-hunger before.
Whitepaw made the first leap, barely a body’s length from the rabbit when she startled it. If it was older, or smaller, she might have been able to catch it by herself. Instead, Ashfoot watched as Onewhisker sprinted after it, curving it in a wide circle to tire it.
The Clan would eat well tonight.