Outcast

Chapter 24

Hollypaw led the to-bes out of the cave in time to see Lionpaw and the rest of Brambleclaw’s patrol disappear across the rocks.

For a heartbeat she wished she could go with them. But she knew it was equally important to give the Tribe to-bes some practice in warrior fighting techniques.

“Sit there and watch,” Breezepaw ordered when every cat had emerged from the cave and leaped down to the open space beside the pool. “Hollypaw and I will show you how to fight.”

Hollypaw’s pelt prickled. Even if they were acting as mentors, he didn’t have to sound so bossy! “Why don’t we let them show us what they know already?” she suggested. “We might be able to build on that.”

“Well… okay.” Breezepaw gave an ungracious shrug.

“Only the cave-guards learn this stuff,” Pebble explained, stepping forward to face Hollypaw. “We’re taught how to fight off eagles if they try to attack the prey-hunters.”

Hollypaw sat down and wrapped her tail around her paws.

“Fine. Show me what you do.”

Pebble crouched down, then used her powerful hind legs to thrust herself into the air. At the top of her leap she lashed out with both forepaws, then landed neatly and dropped right away into another crouch.

Hollypaw was impressed; the leap was beautifully timed to fight off a flying enemy. How could she adapt it to attack one on the ground?

“That was great,” she meowed. “Can you all do it?”

A couple of the other to-bes stepped forward. “We can.

We’re going to be cave-guards like Pebble.”

Three to-bes, including Screech and Splash, remained standing by the pool. All three of them were giving Hollypaw and Breezepaw hostile looks.

“I don’t see why we have to do what you tell us,” Screech muttered. “You’re not warriors yet.”

“We know more than you about fighting,” Breezepaw shot back at him.

Hollypaw stifled a sigh. Breezepaw was right, but being so obnoxious about it was only going to ruffle Screech’s fur.

“We’re doing it because Brambleclaw asked us to.”

“So what?” Screech turned his back rudely, then glanced over his shoulder to add, “He’s not our leader. We don’t have to do what he says.”

“Besides, we’re prey-hunters.” At least Splash was being more polite than her Tribemate. “We’re trained to hunt.”

“Okay, pretend Breezepaw over there is a rabbit.”

“Hey!” Breezepaw protested.

Before he could say any more, Splash had dropped into something similar to the hunter’s crouch and gave an enormous leap to land on top of him. The WindClan apprentice threw her off and scrambled to his paws, shaking his ruffled fur.

“Well done!” Hollypaw mewed. “That would be great in a battle, but you’d need to follow it up with some claw work, or sink your teeth into your opponent’s throat.”

Splash nodded; to Hollypaw’s relief she was looking interested rather than hostile. “I’d do that to the rabbit,” she pointed out, “but I thought I’d better not do it to him.”

“I’d like to see you try,” Breezepaw growled.

“Your leap would be good, too.” Hollypaw turned back to the cave-guard group. “But instead of clawing at the top of the leap, land on your enemy’s back, and then use your claws.”

That was quite an advanced move, and the trespassing cats might not be expecting it. “Now Breezepaw and I will show you some more basic skills,” she added.

They ran through some of the techniques a new apprentice would learn: dashing past an enemy to rake its side with their claws, and rolling over to claw an opponent’s belly with their hind paws.

“Now let’s see you try,” Breezepaw ordered. “In pairs, a cave-guard with a prey-hunter.”

“And remember, claws sheathed for practice,” Hollypaw added.

She and Breezepaw sat side by side to watch the to-bes. To her surprise, the prey-hunters were picking up the new techniques faster. They were more agile, and she guessed it helped that they didn’t have to unlearn the moves the cave-guards already knew.

On the other side of the pool, Squirrelflight and Stormfur were training some of the older Tribe cats. Hollypaw heard one of them meow, “Why do we have to do this? We’ve stuck to our ways for season after season and we’ve been fine until now.”

Hollypaw felt a stab of sympathy. She could understand why the Tribe cats wanted to continue in the ways of their ancestors, and she hated forcing them to change. But they have to learn, she told herself. It’s the only way they’re going to survive. She comforted herself with the thought that once the borders were properly established, less blood would be spilled. The trespassers would think twice before attacking cats who knew how to defend themselves.

When the practice was over, she let Breezepaw take the prey-hunters to learn one or two more advanced moves, while she worked with the cave-guards, trying to adapt some of their own techniques.

Sunhigh came and went. Hollypaw’s belly was rumbling, but none of the to-bes suggested stopping to eat, and she guessed that they only had one meal a day. For a couple of heartbeats she longed to be back in ThunderClan, where she could take a piece of fresh-kill from the pile any time she liked, provided she had done all her apprentice duties.

Finally she signaled the to-bes to rest by the side of the pool. “That was great,” she mewed. “I’m surprised Stoneteller hasn’t been out to watch you. I think he’d be proud to see how much you’ve learned.”

“Stoneteller hardly ever leaves the cave,” Pebble told her.

Hollypaw’s eyes stretched wide in shock. “Really?”

“He only comes out for ceremonies at the top of the waterfall, like when a to-be becomes a full Tribe cat,” Splash meowed.

“And sometimes for emergencies,” Pebble added.

“I suppose that’s different in the Clans, too,” Screech sneered. Eventually he’d started to work at the training, but Hollypaw could tell he didn’t like it.

“Yes, a Clan leader hunts and patrols with his warriors,” Breezepaw explained. “And fights if he has to.”

“Doesn’t that mean there’s a danger he’ll be killed?” Pebble asked, just as shocked as Hollypaw had been a moment before.

“Sort of.” Hollypaw didn’t want to get started on how a Clan leader had nine lives. She wasn’t sure if the Tribe of Endless Hunting had given nine lives to Stoneteller, and the Tribe cats might feel resentful if not. Besides, the forest was a much safer place to live than the mountains; it was easier to shelter from hawks, and there weren’t many places where a cat might fall to its death. She looked around at the cold gray rocks that surrounded her, and homesickness stabbed her again, sharp as a claw.

“I think we should keep going,” she began, rising to her paws to begin another training session.

She broke off as something landed on her from behind, bowling her over until she finished up sprawling on the very edge of the pool, with her tail in the water. Breezepaw had pinned her down with both paws on her chest. His amber eyes shone gleefully.

“That’s the best way to tackle an enemy!” he boasted.

“When they’re not expecting you.”

He stepped back; Hollypaw heard mrrow s of laughter from the to-bes as she scrambled to her paws.

“Stupid furball!” she meowed, flicking water from her tail into his face. But she couldn’t really be angry. That was exactly the sort of thing she and Lionpaw might have done to each other, back in ThunderClan territory. “Breezepaw’s right,” she went on. “And hunting techniques are good for creeping up on an enemy who doesn’t know you’re there.

Let’s practice some.”

But when the practice session started, Hollypaw felt too hollow with hunger to do it well. Her paws were clumsy; she couldn’t set them down as lightly as she wanted. She was relieved when the scent of cats announced the return of Lionpaw with Brambleclaw and the rest of the border patrol.

Her brother was limping badly as he picked his way down the rocks toward the pool. Hollypaw quickly dismissed the to-bes; they were all getting too tired to go on much longer anyway. Breezepaw accompanied them back into the cave, telling them a story about battling a fox on WindClan territory.

Like there’ll ever be foxes up here, Hollypaw thought. She padded up to Lionpaw and gave him her shoulder to lean on over the sharp stones to the pool. “Are you okay?” she asked.

“Fine.” Lionpaw sighed wearily and crouched by the water to drink. Then he looked up, flicking droplets from his whiskers. “Today was hopeless. We couldn’t get around the whole of the border. The route was just too difficult.”

Hollypaw wished she could cheer him up with news of the to-be training, but she was still unhappy about teaching them Clan ways, and there were one or two like Screech who made it clear they didn’t want to learn. She glanced at the warriors and Tribe cats, who were making their way slowly and dispiritedly along the path into the cave. For the first time she noticed that Jaypaw had emerged and was sitting on a rock by the waterfall with his paws tucked under him. When the full-grown cats had passed him, he leaped down and bounded across to his littermates.

“I’m sick of that cave,” he announced as he came up. “I’m so bored I could claw my own fur off. I’ve been stuck in there all day, listening to she-cats moaning on about their sickly kits.”

“Couldn’t you help them?” Hollypaw asked.

“I’m not their medicine cat,” he snapped. “Can you imagine what Stoneteller would say if I trod on his tail?”

“Well, you’re our medicine cat.” Hollypaw’s frustrations were making her cross. “What about doing something for Lionpaw?”

“Why, what’s the matter?” Jaypaw asked, giving Lionpaw a curious sniff.

Lionpaw was dipping his sore pads into the pool and then licking them. “I’m okay, honestly.”

Hollypaw wasn’t convinced. He sounded exhausted, and his pads were raw and bleeding. “His paws are sore. Can’t you do anything?” she prompted Jaypaw.

Jaypaw twitched his ears irritably. “Where am I supposed to find herbs in this StarClan-forsaken place?” But he stood up, tasting the air, then padded over to the rock wall, where a few scrubby bushes and a narrow patch of grass were struggling to survive. A moment later he returned with a couple of dock leaves in his jaws. “Chew these up and rub the pulp into your pads,” he told Lionpaw.

“Thanks.” Lionpaw sighed with relief as the cooling juices soothed the pain.

Hollypaw heard the pad of paws on stone and looked up to see Squirrelflight walking toward them around the edge of the pool. “How did your training session go?” she asked.

“Okay, I think,” Hollypaw replied. “Some of them learn really quickly. But I’m not sure…”

“What?”

“Whether we’re doing the right thing. They’ve followed their traditions for so long. It feels wrong to be teaching them something different.”

“It’s the same with the border,” Lionpaw meowed. “I don’t think it’s going to work, treating the mountains like Clan territory. The trespassers don’t want borders, that’s for sure, and I don’t think the Tribe does, either. They want things the way they’ve always been.”

“I don’t know why you’re getting your tails in a twist.”

Jaypaw still sounded sour. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting isn’t helping the Tribe, and they don’t want our help. So why should we try to make them do stuff they don’t want?”

“Because they’ll die without us,” Squirrelflight snapped, then touched Jaypaw’s shoulder with her tail to show that she hadn’t meant to be harsh. “I’m sorry, I’m just as frustrated as you. But I don’t think we should give up yet. We have got valuable lessons to teach the Tribe, and sooner or later they’ll realize it.”

Hollypaw wasn’t so sure. There are too many battles going on around here, she thought. And not just the kind that spill blood.