Forest Of Secrets

Chapter 25

Fireheart paused at the edge of the trees. “Wait,” he warned Cloudpaw. “We’re near Twolegplace, so we have to be careful. What can you smell?”

Cloudpaw raised his nose obediently and sniffed. He and Fireheart had just been on the first long expedition of his apprenticeship, tracing the Clan boundaries and renewing the scent marks. Now they were near Fireheart’s old kittypet home, outside the garden where Cloudpaw’s mother Princess lived.

“I can smell lots of cats,” Cloudpaw mewed. “I don’t recognize any of them, though.”

“That’s good,” Fireheart told him. “They’re mostly kittypets, and maybe a loner or two. Not Clan cats.” He had caught a trace of Tigerclaw’s scent, too, but he didn’t draw Cloudpaw’s attention to it. He remembered the day long ago, when snow was on the ground, when he had tracked Tigerclaw to this place, and found the deputy’s scent mixed with the scents of many strange cats.

Now Tigerclaw’s scent proved he had been here again. Fireheart still could not tell whether he had met the other cats, or whether their scents just happened to have crossed. But why should Tigerclaw come so close to the Twolegplace, when he despised Twolegs and everything to do with them?

“Fireheart, can we go and see my mother now?” Cloudpaw demanded.

“Can you smell dogs? Or fresh Twoleg scent?”

Cloudpaw sniffed again and shook his head.

“Then let’s go,” mewed Fireheart. Looking carefully around, he stepped out into the open. Cloudpaw followed him with exaggerated caution, as if he wanted to show Fireheart how quickly he could learn.

Since his apprentice ceremony the day before, Cloudpaw had been unusually quiet. He was obviously trying very hard to be a good apprentice, listening to everything Fireheart told him with wide-eyed seriousness. But Fireheart couldn’t help asking himself how long this uncharacteristic humility would last. Instructing Cloudpaw to wait, he leaped onto the fence and looked down into the garden. Lurid-colored flowers grew against the fence, and in the center of the grass some Twoleg pelts hung on a spiky, leafless tree. “Princess?” he called softly. “Princess, are you there?”

Leaves quivered on a shrub close to the house, and the tabby-and-white figure of Princess stepped delicately onto the grass. When she saw him she let out a delighted meow. “Fireheart!”

Bounding over to the fence, she sprang up beside him and pressed her cheek against his. “Fireheart, it’s been such a long time!” she purred. “It’s good to see you.”

“I’ve brought someone else, too,” Fireheart told her. “Look down there.”

Princess peered over the fence to where Cloudpaw sat on the ground below, looking up at her. “Fireheart!” she exclaimed. “That’s couldn’t be Cloudkit! He’s grown so much!”

Without waiting to be told, Cloudpaw leaped for the top of the fence, paws scrabbling madly against the smooth wood. Fireheart leant over and fastened his teeth in his scruff to pull him up the last couple of mouse-lengths so that he could sit on the fence beside his mother.

Cloudpaw looked at Princess with wide blue eyes. “Are you really my mother?” he asked.

“I really am,” Princess purred, looking her son up and down admiringly. “Oh, it’s so good to see you again, Cloudkit.”

“Actually, I’m not Cloudkit,” the fluffy white tom announced proudly. “I’m Cloudpaw now. I’m an apprentice.”

“That’s wonderful!” Princess began to cover her son with licks, purring so hard that she barely had breath enough for words. “Oh, you’re so thin…do you get enough to eat? Have you made friends where you are? I hope you do what Fireheart tells you.”

Cloudpaw didn’t try to answer the flood of questions. He wriggled out from his mother’s caresses and edged away from her along the fence. “I’ll be a warrior soon,” he boasted. “Fireheart’s teaching me to fight.”

Princess closed her eyes for a moment. “You will have to be so brave,” she murmured. For a moment Fireheart thought she was regretting her decision to give her son to the Clan, but then she opened her eyes again and declared, “I’m so proud of both of you!”

Cloudpaw sat even taller as he lapped up her attention. He twisted his head to groom himself with rapid strokes of his small pink tongue, and while he was distracted Fireheart whispered, “Princess, do you ever see any strange cats around here?”

“Strange cats?” She looked puzzled, and Fireheart wondered if there was any point in asking the question. Princess wouldn’t know rogues or loners from ordinary ThunderClan cats.

Then Princess shivered. “Yes, I’ve heard them yowling in the night. My Twoleg gets up and shouts at them.”

“You haven’t seen a big, dark tabby?” Fireheart asked, his heart starting to pound. “A tom with a scarred muzzle?”

Princess shook her head, eyes wide. “I’ve only heard them, not seen them.”

“If you do see the dark tabby, stay away from him,” Fireheart warned. He didn’t know what Tigerclaw was up to so far from the camp, if it really was Tigerclaw, but he didn’t want Princess going near the deputy, just in case.

This made Princess look so scared that he changed the subject, encouraging Cloudpaw to describe his apprentice ceremony, and the expedition they had made around the borders. Soon she was happy again, exclaiming admiringly at everything her son told her.

The sun was past its height when Fireheart meowed, “Cloudpaw, it’s time we went home.”

Cloudpaw opened his mouth as if he was going to protest, but he remembered himself in time. “Yes, Fireheart,” he mewed obediently. To Princess, he added, “Why don’t you come with us? I’d catch mice for you, and you could sleep in my den.”

Princess let out a purr of amusement. “I almost wish I could,” she replied honestly. “But really I’m happier as a kittypet. I don’t want to learn to fight, or sleep outdoors in the cold. You’ll just have to come and visit me again soon.”

“Yes, I will, I promise,” Cloudpaw mewed.

“I’ll bring him,” Fireheart meowed. “And Princess…” he added as he prepared to spring to the ground. “If you do see anything…odd around here, please tell me about it.”

Fireheart stopped on the way back so that they could hunt. By the time he and Cloudpaw reached the ravine, the sun was near to setting, bathing the forest in red light and casting long shadows on the ground.

Cloudpaw was proudly carrying a shrew, which he was going to take to the elders. At least it filled his jaws and put a stop to his endless chatter. Fireheart was feeling worn out after a whole day in his company, but he had to admit he was more impressed than he had expected. Cloudpaw’s courage and quick wits promised that he would make an exceptional warrior. As they slipped down the shadowy ravine toward the tunnel, Fireheart paused. An unfamiliar scent tickled his nostrils, drifting to him on the breeze that swept through the forest.

Cloudpaw stopped too and put down the shrew. “Fireheart, what’s that?” He tasted the air, and drew in his breath in a gasp. “You showed me that this morning. It’s RiverClan!”

“Very good,” Fireheart mewed tensely. He had recognized it himself a heartbeat before Cloudpaw spoke. Looking up toward the top of the ravine, he could make out three cats picking their way slowly through the boulders. “RiverClan it is. And it seems they’re on their way here. Now go back to the camp and tell Bluestar. Make sure she understands it’s not an attack.”

“But I want—” The young apprentice broke off as Fireheart frowned. “Sorry, Fireheart. I’m going.” He padded off toward the tunnel entrance, not forgetting to pick up his shrew.

Fireheart stayed where he was. He drew himself up and waited while the three cats drew closer. He recognized Leopardfur, Mistyfoot, and Stonefur. When they were only a couple of tail-lengths away, he asked, “RiverClan, what do you want? Why are you on our land?” Though he had to challenge them for entering ThunderClan territory uninvited, he tried not to sound too hostile. He didn’t want to add to any possible trouble with RiverClan.

Leopardfur stopped, with Mistyfoot and Stonefur just behind her. “We come in peace,” she meowed. “There are matters to be settled between our Clans. Crookedstar has sent us to talk to your leader.”