The Last assessment

 Rapidpaw padded around the bank of the river. His heart hammered in his chest This is it. he told himself, One last assignment. The tabby was soon to be a warrior, given he could bring back something amazing. No ordinary fish would do. The tom remembered his brother had brought back a small beaver, his sister the largest fish he had ever heard of. Rapidpaw aimed to be as great as they had been. He set his jaw and continued down the river. He had all day to complete the task and failure to do so would result in more than just a little embarrassment. The young tom had tried fishing earlier in the day, but the never ending rain had driven them far into the depth and with his disability, diving for them was near impossible so he had sought other prey.

His ears remained perked for the faintest sounds of something interesting, he had already passed up a water vole, that would not be anything worth bragging about, he needed something interesting, something he could show to the other warriors that would make them think twice about under estimating him.

His paws caused little noise as he padded over the smooth river stones wet with rain. He scented the air focusing all his energy in discerning the muddled rain smells and something he could hunt. Nothing came to mind as he continued down the edge of the river. A sound caught his attention before the scent did, something creaking through the water, not a fish or a tree branch, it moved with purpose, moving through the water without splashing about. He turned  his head towards the river trying to pick out what exactly the thing was. The scent was foreign to him, or at least somewhat foreign, it reminded him of frogs that swam in the river to catch insects, but different the same way. He puzzled over it for a moment before he heard stones being disturbed on the shore a few paces in front of him. He stalked forward, more curious than anything else as he listened to it cut through the grass with precise curved movements. He had never heard anything like it. Then, the tom pinpointed the sound, a snake, a lot like an adder, but without that deadly scent he was all too familiar with, besides, adders didn’t swim. Whatever it was, the thing was big and Rapidpaw was intent on catching it.

The tom sank into a hunter’s crouch, placing one paw carefully and quickly in front of the other. The water snake was getting away, cutting through the grass and rocks just as it had cut through the water. More rushed then he would have liked, Rapidpaw pounced, his claws digging into the thick flesh, grabbing whatever he could of the thing with his teeth. It immediately hissed in protest, it’s body convulsed, every thick muscle tightening all at once as it wriggled making the tom’s jaw ache. Rapidpaw used one paw to pin one end of it down, pushing it hard into the grass, digging his claws in as he batted with the other end to get it to submit. The muscles tightened and loosed in quick succession trying to wriggle it’s way free of Rapidpaw’s grasp. He could taste blood welling in his mouth from the snake cutting itself on his teeth trying to get free. It’s efforts intensified as the tom held on, trying to shake the snake and break it’s spine. It hissed, attempting to bite the tom but unable to curve itself up enough to land the hit. Rapidpaw kept a hold of his catch, ignoring the pain in his jaw from holding onto the wriggling mass. He clamped his teeth tighter, feeling the scales crunch under his teeth as he pushed it to the ground with the weight of his body. He could feel the tail end of the body hitting his cheek in a final attempt to be freed, coiling around his maw before the movements ceased. The body wriggled for a few for moments before falling limp in his mouth.

Rapidpaw set his cat at his paws, stretching out his sour jaw before picking it back up again and heading back to camp.