The Apprentice's Quest

Chapter 3

The sun had gone down, and the outlines of the forest trees above the stone hollow had begun to fade into the twilight. Alderpaw sat outside the apprentices’ den, giving himself a thorough grooming.

This is a special night. I have to look my best.

He and Sparkpaw had been apprentices for almost a half-moon. Looking back, Alderpaw felt that he hadn’t done too badly. Molewhisker had praised him for being responsible about helping the elders and doing his share of the chores, like collecting moss to make every cat’s nest comfortable, along with all the other tasks apprentices had to do. He had gone out on a border patrol, paid attention to the leader, and done everything he was supposed to.

Even though I haven’t caught any prey yet, I almost caught a bird yesterday, and Molewhisker told me birds are especially hard to catch.

But Alderpaw had to admit that even though he was doing well, Sparkpaw was doing better.

She never came back from hunting empty-pawed, and she seemed to find it so easy to learn battle moves.

But just because she’s brilliant at everything doesn’t mean that I’m awful, Alderpaw told himself, trying hard to believe it.

I wonder what it would be like if I weren’t an apprentice at the same time as Sparkpaw.

Then I wouldn’t have to compare myself with her all the time. But the thought felt disloyal to his littermate, and he thrust it away, his pelt hot with guilt. She’s my sister! Of course I want to be with her!

At that moment Sparkpaw appeared out of the gloom. “Are you ready?” she asked, bouncing on her paws with excitement.

“Bramblestar is gathering the Clan by the thorn tunnel.”

Alderpaw sprang up, pushing away his worries. Anticipation tingled through him from ears to tail-tip. “This is going to be so great!” he meowed. “Our first full-moon Gathering!”

“And we get to be introduced to the other Clans,” Sparkpaw added as she and her brother scampered across the clearing side by side. “I can’t wait!”

Joining the crowd of cats who clustered around the tunnel entrance, Alderpaw wondered what the other Clans would be like. Apart from glimpses across the border when he was on patrol, he’d only seen cats from another Clan once, when he was still a kit and two medicine cats from RiverClan had come to talk to Jayfeather and Leafpool. They had looked just like normal cats, except that their pelts were especially thick and sleek, and they had left a funny, fishy smell behind them. And while they were in the camp, all the ThunderClan cats had been tense, casting sidelong glances at them, with their neck fur bristling.

Anyway, medicine cats are different from real warriors, Alderpaw told himself. It was hard for him to imagine whole other Clans full of cats.

At last Bramblestar raised his tail to lead the cats who had been chosen to go to the Gathering. As Alderpaw padded through the tunnel near the back of the group, his excitement began to ebb. I hope I don’t do something stupid in front of all those strange cats.

By now Alderpaw was becoming used to the forest in daylight, but he realized when he slid out through the thorn tunnel that it looked quite different in twilight. The trees seemed thicker and more mysterious; the air was cooler and carried different scents. The darkness was full of new sounds, and it was hard to work out where they were coming from.

By the time he and his Clanmates emerged onto the lakeshore, Alderpaw’s heart was pounding. He had barely left the shelter of the trees when he heard a hooting sound above his head. Flinching, he whipped around to stare up into the darkness. A pale wing swept across his vision, and then the owl was gone.

Suppressing a shiver, Alderpaw turned to Squirrelflight, who was padding along beside him. “I’ve heard stories about huge owls,” he began nervously, “big enough to snatch up a cat.

Is it true?”

Squirrelflight’s green eyes glinted in the dusk with a mixture of kindness and amusement. “The owls in these woods aren’t big enough to attack a cat,” she replied.

Alderpaw mulled over her answer. He was only partly comforted: Did his mother mean that somewhere else there were owls big enough to take cats as their prey? And if there were, couldn’t they come to the forest one day?

Molewhisker, who was walking on Alderpaw’s other side, flicked his apprentice’s ear with his tail. “Someday Cherryfall and I will take you and Sparkpaw hunting at night,” he meowed. “There’s a lot of prey that’s out of its nest at night instead of during the day.”

“That’s… er… great,” Alderpaw responded weakly.

Just then he heard a shocked, excited sound from Sparkpaw, who was just behind him along with Cherryfall. Glancing back, Alderpaw spotted little lights flickering on and off in the darkness, as if little scraps of sunlight were dancing in the air.

“What are those?” Sparkpaw asked, staring at the lights as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“They’re called fireflies,” Cherryfall explained. “Insects that light up just like the stars. Isn’t that cool?”

“It’s fantastic!” Alderpaw mewed.

Sparkpaw shot off toward the lights, and Alderpaw hesitated less than a moment before he followed her. Excitement filled him as he leaped up, batting at the fireflies with his paws as if he could catch the little sparks of sunlight.

Beside him his sister was leaping up too, twisting in the air, but the tiny glints of light were always just out of reach.

“Sparkpaw!

Alderpaw!”

Squirrelflight’s stern voice rang out after a few heartbeats.

“Come back here right now.”

Alderpaw and Sparkpaw dropped to their paws and padded back to the group of cats, panting and disheveled.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Squirrelflight asked as they rejoined her.

“When you’re on your way to a full-moon Gathering, you’re representing ThunderClan, and when you meet the other Clans you had better behave perfectly.”

Alderpaw dipped his head. “We will. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry,” Sparkpaw echoed.

“I should think so!” Squirrelflight stalked on ahead.

The two apprentices followed, but as soon as Squirrelflight was out of earshot, Sparkpaw leaned closer to Alderpaw. “Wasn’t that amazing?” she whispered. “We never saw stuff like that when we were stuck in camp all the time!”

The ThunderClan cats skirted the lake, keeping close to the edge as they passed through WindClan territory. On the way, they watched the moon emerge from behind thick clouds, shedding a cold silver light over the surface of the water.

“Good,” Molewhisker meowed. “If StarClan is angry, they cover the moon. This means the Gathering can go ahead.”

At the far side of WindClan territory, Alderpaw spotted a cluster of Twoleg dens in the frosty moonlight. “That must be the horseplace,” he murmured to Sparkpaw.

“Remember Daisy telling us about it in the nursery?”

Sparkpaw paused a moment, scanning the ground beyond the Twoleg fence. “I can’t see any horses,” she mewed, sounding disappointed. “Maybe they go into their dens when—”

She broke off as Squirrelflight gave her a prod. “Keep moving. We’re almost there.”

Alderpaw’s excitement mounted as they crossed a stretch of marshy ground and the tree-bridge leading to the Gathering island came into view. Another group of cats was milling around the shore near the end of the fallen tree.

“That’s WindClan,” Cherryfall told the two apprentices. “Take a good sniff so you can learn their scent.”

Alderpaw had encountered the WindClan scent on their border with ThunderClan, but it was much stronger here: a scent that suggested cool air and tough, scraggly plants. There was a hint of rabbit, too, he decided. The WindClan cats looked fairly ordinary, though they were thinner than most of his Clanmates, with long legs and wiry, muscular bodies.

Bramblestar paced forward through the crowd of cats and dipped his head politely to a brown tabby tom whose graying muzzle told of his age.

“Greetings, Onestar,” Bramblestar meowed.

“How’s the prey running in WindClan?”

“Well enough, I suppose,” the WindClan leader replied gruffly. “I hope your warriors kept close to the lake when you passed through our territory.”

“Of course.” Bramblestar’s tone was calm.

“ThunderClan would never dream of trespassing.”

Onestar’s only response was a grunt.

Bramblestar signaled to his cats to stay back while the WindClan cats crossed the tree-bridge to the island. Alderpaw’s paws prickled with nervousness as he watched them balancing along the trunk and leaping to the ground at the far end.

I wonder if any cat has ever fallen into the lake, he thought. That would be so embarrassing!

As Bramblestar began to lead the ThunderClan cats across, Alderpaw kept his head high. When it came to Sparkpaw’s turn she raced across and hurled herself onto the shore of the island with a yowl of triumph.

Cherryfall, who was next, rolled her eyes.

“I’ll have to say something to her about taking risks,” she muttered.

Alderpaw clambered onto the tree trunk and was relieved to find that it was much wider and steadier than he expected. He didn’t like the sight of the dark water just below him, or the sucking sound it made as it lapped against the tree, but he kept his gaze fixed on the island ahead of him and was massively relieved when he reached the tree roots. He jumped down beside Sparkpaw, who had waited for him.

“Come on, slow mole!” she urged him.

“We’re missing all the fun!”

Alderpaw saw that the ThunderClan warriors were pushing their way through a thick line of bushes at the top of a slope that led up from the beach. With Sparkpaw beside him, he raced up the slope and thrust himself into the bushes after his Clanmates. As the thorns raked through his pelt he reflected that he hadn’t needed to spend so much time grooming himself.

On the other side of the bushes Alderpaw found himself at the edge of a wide circle of grass. A huge, gnarled oak tree stood in the center, its roots as thick as a cat’s body. All around it cats were milling around; some were talking together in clusters, while others found comfortable spots and settled down facing the oak tree. Their mingled scents caught Alderpaw in the throat so that he almost choked.

“It looks like all the other Clans are already here,” Sparkpaw murmured into his ear. “I’ve never seen so many cats!”

Alderpaw nodded in agreement. He was especially astonished to see a crowd of young cats— probably apprentices like us, he thought—yowling and tussling together in the shelter of the bushes. I thought you were supposed to behave perfectly at a Gathering, he thought, remembering what Squirrelflight had told him.

But maybe other Clans have different rules.

“Well, what do you think?” Molewhisker asked; he had padded up unnoticed while

Alderpaw was staring at the rowdy young cats.

“It’s amazing!” Alderpaw breathed out.

“It sure is,” Cherryfall agreed, emerging from the bushes and giving her pelt a shake.

“Especially your first time.”

“Look,” Molewhisker meowed, pointing with his tail. “That’s Rowanstar, the ShadowClan leader, climbing into the Great Oak.”

Alderpaw blinked as he looked up at the powerful ginger tom who settled himself in the fork between two branches and gazed around commandingly. He looks like a cat I wouldn’t want to cross.

“You’ve already seen Onestar, there on the branch just above Rowanstar,” Molewhisker went on, indicating the brown tabby tom. “And here comes Mistystar, the RiverClan leader.”

Alderpaw saw a gray-blue she-cat leap gracefully into the tree; several leaves fluttered down as she found a spot on a lower branch. He noticed that Bramblestar too was heading for the tree, and felt a thrill of pride to see his father ready to take his place with the other leaders. He’s so important!

“The deputies sit on the roots,” Cherryfall told the apprentices. “The brown-and-white tom is WindClan’s deputy, Harespring, and the black tom next to him is Reedwhisker from RiverClan. The cat just joining them is Crowfrost from ShadowClan.”

“And I’d better get my tail over there, too,” Squirrelflight meowed as she padded past.

Pausing briefly, she added to the apprentices, “This is your chance to get to know cats in other Clans. Go and introduce yourselves.”

Alderpaw saw that the older ThunderClan cats were mixing with the other Clans already, settling down with their friends and eagerly exchanging gossip. Squirrelflight joined the other deputies, while Bramblestar swarmed up the tree and sat on a branch near Mistystar.

Alderpaw looked around nervously, not knowing which of this milling crowd of cats he dared approach. I’d rather just stick with Sparkpaw, he told himself.

“I’ll introduce you to a few cats, if you like,” Cherryfall offered.

Alderpaw was about to accept gratefully when Sparkpaw’s ears twitched. “We don’t need help, thanks,” she mewed. “We’ll manage just fine on our own.”

“Okay.” Cherryfall dipped her head. “See you later.” She padded off and plopped herself down beside a rangy tabby she-cat who looked as if she belonged to WindClan.

Alderpaw turned to glare at his littermate.

“Why did you say that?” he demanded. “I’d much rather be introduced by Cherryfall than walk up to a strange cat and have to introduce myself.”

Sparkpaw returned his glare. “I’m not going to hide behind an older cat like I’m some kind of kit,” she hissed. “What would the cats from the other Clans think of me then?”

“Fine,” Alderpaw retorted. “But who are we going to talk to?”

Sparkpaw let her head and tail droop a little, as if she was only just now thinking that through. Then she raised her chin high again and looked around.

Almost at once Alderpaw spotted another cat gesturing to them with her tail. She seemed to be an apprentice by her size, a sleek silver-gray she-cat with white chest fur. Her bold green eyes sparkled as she called out, “Hey!

Over here!”

Relieved that another cat had made the first move, Alderpaw trotted over with Sparkpaw by his side. He picked up the weird reek that was familiar from the ShadowClan border, but was too polite to wrinkle his nose.

“I’m Needlepaw,” the silver she-cat announced. “This is Sleekpaw, and that’s Beepaw.”

The two apprentices she was with nodded in greeting. Sleekpaw was a yellow she-cat, and Beepaw a plump white she-cat with black ears.

“Hi,” Beepaw meowed, shifting to make room for the two ThunderClan apprentices under the bush where they were crouching.

“We’re from ShadowClan.”

“Is this your first Gathering?” Needlepaw asked. “It’s my second—I’ve been an apprentice for three moons.”

“Yes, it’s our first,” Alderpaw responded.

“I’m Alderpaw, and this is Sparkpaw.”

“We’re from ThunderClan,” Sparkpaw added.

“Are you really?” Needlepaw’s brilliant green eyes widened. “Does that mean you want to boss all the other cats in the forest around?”

“No, it does not!” Sparkpaw exclaimed with a lash of her tail, while Alderpaw’s neck fur bristled. “What are you even talking about?”

Sparkpaw went on. “Why would you insult us like that?”

“All right, keep your fur on,” Needlepaw meowed, with an amused glance at her Clanmates. “I was only teasing. All the Clans have reputations with the others. ThunderClan cats are bossy, WindClan cats get scared and run away, and RiverClan cats are too fat and lazy to hunt properly.”

Alderpaw narrowly stopped himself from gaping, exchanging a scandalized glance with Sparkpaw. Who does she think she is, talking about other Clans like that?

“Well, I think it’s stupid,” Sleekpaw added, licking one paw and drawing it over her ear.

“What Clan you’re in doesn’t decide what you’re like. It’s just where you’re born. Some of the cats in ShadowClan are every bit as bossy as ThunderClan cats.”

Sparkpaw’s ears pricked forward in shock at Sleekpaw’s idea, though Alderpaw had the feeling that she might be right.

Before Sparkpaw could argue, a cat’s voice rang out across the clearing. “Cats of all

Clans!” It was Rowanstar, standing tall and proud on his branch. “Welcome to the Gathering. Mistystar, would you like to speak first?”

The gray-blue she-cat dipped her head as she rose to her paws. “RiverClan is doing well,” she began. “The lake is full of fish…”

“RiverClan cats eat fish!” exclaimed Beepaw. “Can you imagine? No wonder they’re so smelly.”

Alderpaw glanced around to see if any

ShadowClan warriors would correct Beepaw’s behavior, but there were none within earshot.

He hoped furiously that Mistystar hadn’t heard the comment, but if she had, she ignored it.

“A new litter of four kits has been born to Lakeheart,” she announced, then dipped her head again to Rowanstar before resuming her seat.

“Onestar?” Rowanstar gestured to the WindClan leader.

“Hunting has been good on the moor,” Onestar announced.

“I bet he hasn’t done much hunting,” Needlepaw muttered. “Creaky old mange-pelt!”

“Yeah, my mentor said he couldn’t catch a blind hedgehog, never mind a rabbit,” Sleekpaw responded.

They’re talking about a Clan leader!

Alderpaw couldn’t help but be amused, and he heard a suppressed snort of laughter from Sparkpaw. But he was shocked by their comments, and even more shocked that ShadowClan warriors would talk like that in front of apprentices.

“Some rogues passed through the edges of our territory,” Onestar continued. “Crowfeather led a patrol to keep an eye on them, and the rogues left without making any trouble. They’ll be a long way away by now.”

“I’d have clawed their ears off if they’d come to ShadowClan,” Beepaw murmured, sliding out her claws. “That’d teach them not to trespass on our territory.”

“WindClan has always been weak,” Needlepaw added. “That’s what I heard Tawnypelt telling Crowfrost, anyway.”

Sleekpaw bent forward to mutter something into Needlepaw’s ear, but Alderpaw stopped listening, as Bramblestar had just risen to make his report.

“The prey is running well in ThunderClan,” the tabby tom meowed. “And two new apprentices, Alderpaw and Sparkpaw, have begun training with their mentors, Molewhisker and Cherryfall.”

Alderpaw was aware of every cat turning to look at him and his littermate. Some of them yowled out their names. “Alderpaw! Sparkpaw!”

Utterly embarrassed, he lowered his head to lick his chest fur. It was bad enough being the center of attention when it was just my own Clan!

Sparkpaw, however, was preening, thoroughly enjoying the welcoming yowls of the other cats.

Bramblestar had taken his seat on the branch again, and Rowanstar stepped forward.

“Prey is plentiful in ShadowClan,” he reported.

“Honestly!” Needlepaw whispered. “Does any cat expect him to say anything else? If we were all starving, he’d say just the same. He must think we’re all mouse-brained.”

Alderpaw was shocked all over again at the disrespectful way Needlepaw spoke. Don’t these cats even respect their own leader? I would never talk about Bramblestar like that!

He was sure that Rowanstar wasn’t lying. These sleek she-cats obviously had all the prey they could eat.

“Twolegs are still using the greenleaf

Twolegplace on our territory,” Rowanstar went on. “But they haven’t caused much trouble, and as the weather gets colder over the next couple of moons, we don’t expect to see much of them.”

“And it can’t be soon enough for me,” Needlepaw muttered.

“Two of our apprentices have been made warriors.” Rowanstar glanced down proudly, sweeping his tail around to indicate a white tom and a yellow she-cat, who stood close together near the Great Oak. “Stonewing and Wasptail.”

The two new warriors stood up straighter, their eyes gleaming, as their Clanmates yowled their names enthusiastically. Most of the other cats joined in.

“Also,” Rowanstar continued when the clamor had died down, “four kits have been made apprentices. Beepaw is apprenticed to Dawnpelt, Sleekpaw to Tigerheart, Juniperpaw to Stonewing, and Strikepaw to Wasptail.”

Instead of yowling to acclaim the new apprentices, a murmur of surprise arose from all the cats. Onestar looked sharply at the ginger tom. “Is ShadowClan really giving apprentices to brand-new warriors now?” he asked disapprovingly.

“By the time ShadowClan cats are warriors,” Rowanstar retorted, the faintest suggestion of a growl in his voice, “they’re ready for anything. Other Clans need to stay out of ShadowClan business.”

Alderpaw noticed that the ShadowClan apprentices sitting beside him were looking a bit smug.

“ShadowClan has lots of apprentices,” Needlepaw informed him loftily. “Rowanstar doesn’t know what to do with us all.”

“That’s nice for you,” Sparkpaw mewed pertly.

Alderpaw felt even more strongly that it was weird, both the way the ShadowClan apprentices talked about their leader and the fact that an apprentice would be so casual about sharing her Clan’s weaknesses with others.

He was distracted from his thoughts when he noticed that the four Clan leaders had drawn closer together in the branches of the oak tree and were speaking to one another in low tones.

A moment later Rowanstar stepped forward again. “The medicine cats have something to say to all the Clans,” he announced. “Something important that they have only discussed with their leaders so far.”

A tense silence fell among the Clans as the medicine cats gathered together in front of the Great Oak. As well as Leafpool and Jayfeather, Alderpaw recognized Mothwing and her apprentice, Willowshine, from when they had visited the ThunderClan camp.

“That old tom must be Littlecloud from ShadowClan,” he murmured to Sparkpaw.

“So the cat with the splotchy gray fur is Kestrelflight from WindClan,” Sparkpaw responded.

The medicine cats conferred together rapidly before Kestrelflight leaped up onto one of the oak roots beside the deputies.

“All of us have shared a vision,” he began.

“We received a prophecy that is vital to all our Clans.”

Meows of shock and confusion rose from the cats around him as he finished speaking.

“Why would StarClan give you a shared vision?” some cat called out.

“Which cat spoke to you all?”

“It’s been seasons since we had a prophecy!”

The clamor grew louder and louder until

Jayfeather stood up, lashing his tail. “For StarClan’s sake, shut up and listen!” he snapped.

Gradually the noise died down, until

Kestrelflight could make himself heard again.

“Firestar spoke to us first,” he reported.

“Oh, yeah, it would be Firestar!” Needlepaw muttered. “He has his tail in every cat’s business, even now he’s dead.”

“He said, ‘Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky.’”

“And what did he mean by that?”

Harespring, the WindClan deputy, asked.

“We don’t know,” Kestrelflight replied.

Harespring sniffed. “Well, great.”

As he listened to Kestrelflight, Alderpaw couldn’t shake off the feeling that all this was somehow familiar. He could almost picture a large cat with a flame-colored pelt—a cat he had never seen—speaking the words. Could that have been Firestar? But everything was vague, like a half-remembered dream; he tried to push the shadowy memory away and focus on what was being said.

When Kestrelflight fell silent, agitated voices rose all around him.

“What does it mean?”

“What would we find ‘in the shadows’?”

“And how are we supposed to find it if we don’t know what it is?”

“Maybe it’s ShadowClan?”

“If you ask me,” a scarred ShadowClan elder hissed, “what should be embraced is a bit more respect for senior warriors.”

Beepaw and Needlepaw shared a quiet purr of laughter. “Ratscar’s always saying that!”

Beepaw murmured.

A pretty RiverClan apprentice raised her tail. “I found some really beautiful blue feathers that I decorated my nest with in a shady glen,” she meowed. “Do you think they could be important?”

An older RiverClan tabby—her mentor, Alderpaw guessed—gave her a sharp cuff over the ear. “Stupid furball!”

“Our old territory, back in the forest, was filled with shadows,” Onestar murmured. He looked old and frail, his eyes full of memories.

“So much was lost to us when we left.”

“But how could we possibly find our old territory?” Mistystar asked. Her voice was warm and sympathetic, and she stretched out her tail to draw the tip down the WindClan leader’s flank. “It’s gone.”

“I’ve got a question.” Cloudtail rose from where he was sitting beside Brightheart and Whitewing and faced the medicine cats. “Do we think this prophecy applies to all the Clans? Or was it meant for Jayfeather specifically?”

“Good question,” Littlecloud responded.

“Firestar prefaced it with ‘a time of great change is coming for all the Clans,’” Jayfeather replied. “Which would seem to mean, yes, this is meant for all of us.”

A new swell of voices, confused and angry, rose from all four Clans.

“Is StarClan saying that we all must embrace what we find in the shadows—whatever that is?” Crowfrost demanded.

Alderpaw could feel the tension in the clearing, as if a covering of cold, dark fog had suddenly descended. Cats were sharing uneasy glances and muttering to one another in low voices.

“This is so exciting!” Sparkpaw whispered.

“Maybe we’ll find the shadowy thing and save ThunderClan.”

“I doubt it,” Alderpaw responded. I don’t feel ready to be heroic.

“What?”

Needlepaw had obviously overheard. “No ThunderClan cat is better at finding things than any ShadowClan cat!”

“You would say that!” Sparkpaw flashed back at her. “Just you wait and see!”

“I think the whole idea is silly,” Sleekpaw mewed disdainfully, though Alderpaw noticed that she kept her voice low while she said it.

“Prophecies and StarClan and all that stuff are just ridiculous!”

Alderpaw and Sparkpaw exchanged a shocked glance. Does Sleekpaw not believe in StarClan?

Alderpaw wondered.

That’s terrible! He thought that Needlepaw and Beepaw were shocked too, silent for a few heartbeats, even though they finally forced out short purrs of laughter.

A sudden prickling sensation at the back of his neck made Alderpaw feel that some cat was looking at him. He glanced over his shoulder toward the Great Oak, and his pelt began to prickle with alarm. Seated at the foot of the tree with the other medicine cats, Leafpool was staring directly at him.

Why?