Gustclan Post 59

Zirconpaw’s mouth only just fit around the fox skull. He’d finally worked his way back to camp after what felt like possibly even a whole moon of time. It had definitely been intentional – what a lovely detour he’d gone on! He’d only had to hunt 3 times in his detour! Just like he definitely planned! The squirrel that his mentor had challenged him to catch had long since gone into his stomach (and probably had left too, in all honesty). He had no proof he’d caught it now except for the lack of rumbling in his stomach.

He may have lost his squirrel, but there was no way that he was going to lose his fox skull. It was a mighty prize, worthy of his brilliance, and a good talking point, and hopefully the other apprentices would recognise him as he was (and maybe Umbrastep would either be nicer or recognise his brilliance too). His teeth fit snuggly around the broken remains of its snout.

He trotted along the path, having finally found it, and followed the well scented path down towards camp. There was the very recent smell of Gannetpaw, Gullpaw, and Adoniscloud. Maybe it was family bonding that they were leaving on again? It certainly wasn’t unusual, and apparently it had happened a good few times before he had joined Gustclan too. He could smell what he assumed was the morning patrol – was that Squirrelclaw leading? – and the fresh scents of new prey as well. Certainly the clan had been busy.

It was now getting into evening, with the wind picking up, and blowing leaves up and against Zirconpaw’s back. The ground wasn’t just an earth brown, but instead a million hints of fire, bright as the apprentice’s own fur colour.

And now camp was coming into focus again. There it was, framed on all sides by tall trees. A simple courtyard, paved with broken up square stones, enclosed by a flower bed and a wall, with a big wooden building on one side, and the main interior space of camp on the other. The warriors had grown so numerous that they were moving more and more into the big wooden building now, and Zirconpaw was going to join them in there one day – he was going to sleep in what he could see from the outside as a window, so he could tell the whole den if something was happening down below.

The entrance to the courtyard was framed on either side by a low brick wall, which had once been Pearstone’s wall and was not just generally used by whichever warriors were keeping an eye on camp. There were few real predators that could get over the buildings, so warriors were generally focused either around the Apple tree at the other side of the courtyard, or resting on the wall.

And normally, it was warriors, not just Zinniapelt sitting alone.

She was looking off into the woods, and as Zirconpaw approached, he could see her nose twitch a few times, her face slowly lower in his direction, and her eyes narrow.

“Zirconpaw?” Her eyes flicked rapidly between his fox skull and his face. “Where on earth have you been?” There was a tiny quiver in her voice.

Zirconpaw placed the fox skull on the ground between his feet before speaking.

“I was being awesome. Look what I brought back!”

“Yes. I can see. I meant, where did you get that?” Her eyes were only narrowing further.

“I was being very intimidating, practicing my fighting on a squirrel, and there was a fox nearby, and I scared it out of its skin entirely, and I brought the skull back to prove that I really managed it, and I really have learned a lot for Sparrowfoot. Maybe I’ll be a warrior sooner because of it!”

“I don’t believe that for a moment. Tell me where you really found it. And be honest. We all know about your lying, negative moons.”

“I’m not lying about that! I am 12 and negative three quarter moons.” Zirconpaw huffed. “I found it while hunting. I caught my squirrel, I went into a clearing, and there it was.”

Zinniapelt looked visibly worried. She didn’t say anything for a few moments. “You didn’t notice anything else concerning did you..? Like… Other foxes? Did you smell anything?”

“I didn’t smell anything. I thought foxes were meant to have a really strong smell, weren’t they?”

“Some do, some don’t. I’m surprised you can hold any in your mouth like that and not vomit, though.” She twitched her tail, a little thoughtfully. “And where was it exactly, in relation to the hole?”

”Just outside.”

”And was there anything else I should know before taking someone else to sort it out?”

Zirconpaw shook his head lightly. “Nothing. Just a hole and a fox skull. You’re not going to tell anyone who’s not going, right? I want everyone to know how mighty a warrior I’ll be.”

Zinniapelt smiled, slightly, waving her crooked leg in a dismissive gesture, and Zirconpaw felt she had to be thinking back on what she managed during her apprenticeship. “Of course not.”