The Fourth Apprentice

Chapter 25

The daylight grew stronger as the cats headed back through the woods, following the edge of the stream. Branches were strewn everywhere, left behind by the retreating wave; they had to scramble over them or wriggle underneath, until Dovepaw felt as if her paws wouldn’t carry her a step farther.

I wish I was back in my nest. I’d sleep for a moon!

Gradually the rain eased off, and though it didn’t stop, patches of blue sky appeared as the wind tore the gray cloud into strips. In the shelter of the trees, the cats’ fur began to dry in untidy clumps.

“When I get back, I’m going to groom myself like I’ve never groomed before,” Whitetail muttered. “My pelt has never been as filthy as this.”

Suddenly Toadfoot halted with his head raised and his jaws parted to taste the air. “I can smell ShadowClan scent markers!” he announced.

Strength seemed to flow back into Dovepaw’s paws, and all the cats picked up speed. Soon they crossed the border.

“I never thought I’d see the day when I was glad to be in ShadowClan territory,” Lionblaze murmured to Dovepaw.

She nodded. This journey has changed the way we think about the other Clans, forever.

A few heartbeats later, she picked up the scent of approaching ShadowClan cats, and soon they appeared through the trees: a patrol led by Tawnypelt, with her apprentice, Starlingpaw, and the warriors Owlclaw and Redwillow.

“Toadfoot! Tigerheart!” Tawnypelt exclaimed, bounding forward through the rain. She touched noses with Toadfoot, and she pushed her muzzle into Tigerheart’s fur, murmuring, “You’re safe!”

A shiver went through Dovepaw as she imagined what this meeting would have been like if Tawnypelt’s son Tigerheart had not returned.

“This is wonderful!” Tawnypelt went on, drawing back to gaze at the rest of the cats. “You brought the water back! Starlingpaw, run back and let Blackstar know right away.”

Her apprentice took off through the forest, his paws skimming over the pine needles and his tail waving excitedly.

“Come on,” Tawnypelt urged. “You’ve got to come back to our camp and tell us everything.”

Dovepaw exchanged a glance with Lionblaze; she wanted to be home in the stone hollow, but at the same time she was reluctant to say good-bye to the rest of the patrol.

Whitetail and Sedgewhisker whispered together for a heartbeat; then Whitetail nodded. “We’ll be glad to visit with you,” she mewed.

Lionblaze agreed too, and though Petalfur seemed reluctant, she followed the others as they were escorted through the forest by Tawnypelt and the rest of her patrol.

Dovepaw could hear the yowling of excited cats long before they reached the camp. Through the trees she saw the ground slope upward to a line of bushes where Blackstar stood, flanked by his warriors. More cats were emerging from the bushes around them.

“Welcome to our camp!” Blackstar called, beckoning them with his tail. “Rest here and take your pick of the fresh-kill pile.”

“Who are you, and what have you done with Blackstar?” Lionblaze muttered into Dovepaw’s ear as they padded up the slope.

Flametail and Dawnpelt, Tigerheart’s littermates, dashed up to touch noses with him.

“I just went down to the lake!” Dawnpelt announced excitedly. “The water is flowing back.”

“It’ll take a while to fill up,” Flametail added, rubbing his muzzle against his brother’s shoulder. “But the Clans have been saved, and you did it!”

“We all did it together,” Tigerheart meowed.

Dovepaw felt strange to be welcomed like this, especially when the cats of ShadowClan had been so secretive and suspicious in the past. Besides, she didn’t feel as if she deserved this much praise. We lost Rippletail, and we nearly didn’t destroy the dam at all. And we couldn’t do it on our own—we needed kittypets and a loner to help us.

“Come into the camp.” Blackstar repeated his invitation as he padded forward to meet the patrol.

Petalfur dipped her head. “Thank you, Blackstar, but no. I have lost my Clanmate, and I must go back to RiverClan and tell them how he died.”

“We’ll go with you,” Lionblaze offered immediately; Whitetail and Sedgewhisker murmured agreement.

Petalfur held her head high. “Thank you, but I will go alone.” Without waiting for a reply, she dipped her head once more to Blackstar, then to the rest of the patrol, and walked away. Dovepaw watched her until she disappeared among the trees.

“It’s time for us to go, too,” Lionblaze told Blackstar. “Whitetail, will you and Sedgewhisker travel back with us?”

“Yes, we will,” Whitetail replied. “Blackstar, thank you for asking us into your camp, but it’s time we went back to our own Clans.”

A pang of regret clawed through Dovepaw as she turned to say good-bye to Toadfoot and Tigerheart. They seemed different, somehow, now that they were back with their Clanmates. Already their scent was sharpening, had become less familiar, and their expressions were harder to read. They’re more…more ShadowClan now. When we were traveling together we were all one Clan.

Toadfoot was standing beside Tawnypelt; he gave Lionblaze and the others a dignified nod. “I’m proud to have traveled with you,” he meowed. “And prouder still that we achieved what we set out to do.”

To Dovepaw, it sounded like the kind of formal report a leader would make at a Gathering; not for the first time, she wondered how Toadfoot really felt, and if his loyalty had ever really extended beyond his own Clan to the cats who had traveled with him.

With a sidelong glance at his Clanmates, Tigerheart bounded up to Dovepaw and rubbed his muzzle against hers. “I’ll miss you,” he whispered. “I’ll see you at the Gatherings, right?”

Dovepaw just had time to reply, “Yes, I’ll miss you, too,” before Toadfoot beckoned the younger warrior away with a jerk of his head. Tigerheart bounded back to his Clanmates.

“Keep practicing that battle move I showed you,” Sedgewhisker reminded him. “I’ll beat you at the next Gathering!”

Tigerheart gave a last wave of his tail as the ThunderClan and WindClan cats turned away, heading back through the drenched pine trees toward the stream. With Lionblaze in the lead, they walked silently along the bank, still keeping to the ShadowClan side, until they reached the lake.

Dovepaw had half expected to see it brimming full, as it had been in her dream, but the water’s edge was still far away across the stretch of mud. The stream was spilling out onto the dry stones of the lakebed; I don’t suppose any of us will mind getting our paws wet in future, Dovepaw reflected as they splashed through the water and padded along beside ThunderClan territory.

When they reached the point where she and Lionblaze would need to turn in to the forest to head for the stone hollow, they said good-bye to the WindClan cats.

This is really the end, Dovepaw thought sadly. We’re not a patrol any longer. Just cats from different Clans.

“Good-bye,” Whitetail mewed; her eyes were full of regret, as if she too was sad that their journey had come to an end. “May StarClan light your path.”

“And yours,” Lionblaze replied.

He and Dovepaw stood close together for a few heartbeats, watching the two WindClan cats trek wearily along the edge of the lake. Then the ThunderClan cats scrambled up the shore and headed into the dripping trees. Before they had taken more than a couple of paw steps, Dovepaw heard a yowl behind them and spotted Sandstorm racing across the lakebed, with Foxleap, Icecloud, and Toadstep following her. All four cats carried bundles of soaked moss in their jaws.

“Hey, it’s Lionblaze and Dovepaw!” Foxleap exclaimed, dropping his moss and putting on a spurt to pass Sandstorm and reach his Clanmates first. “You’re back! You brought the water!”

Icecloud raced alongside her brother. “What happened?” she mumbled around her mouthful of moss. “Did you find the animals?”

“Was it scary?” asked Toadstep, his eyes shining as he crowded around with the others.

“Give them some space,” Sandstorm meowed. “There’ll be plenty of time to hear their story back in the hollow. Foxleap, run ahead and tell Firestar that they’re back.”

Foxleap took off through the trees with a joyful flick of his tail, while Lionblaze and Dovepaw followed more slowly, escorted by the water patrol. By the time the thorn barrier across the entrance to the hollow came in sight, cats were spilling out through the thorn tunnel. Just like the floodwater breaking through the dam, Dovepaw thought. Briarpaw, Bumblepaw, and Blossompaw were scampering around, play fighting with one another in their excitement. The older warriors followed more slowly, their tails erect and their eyes shining. Poppyfrost emerged, heavy with her kits, escorted by Ferncloud and Daisy. Even the elders appeared, Mousefur guiding Longtail with her tail across his shoulders, and Purdy lumbering along behind.

As Firestar pushed his way through the thorns, the other cats drew back to each side to let him pass. The ThunderClan leader padded forward until he stood in front of Lionblaze and Dovepaw, and he reached out to touch each of them on the shoulder with the tip of his tail.

“Congratulations,” he mewed, his green eyes shining with pride. “You have saved the lives of all the Clans.”

Gesturing with his tail, he invited Lionblaze and Dovepaw to enter the camp ahead of him. The rest of the Clan poured in behind. Cloudtail dragged an enormous rabbit from the fresh-kill pile and dropped it at Lionblaze’s feet.

“Here, eat,” he meowed. “You both must be starving.”

“Later, thanks.” Lionblaze dipped his head to the white warrior. “We’ve got to report to Firestar first.”

But it was impossible to move because more and more cats pressed around them.

“What was blocking the stream?”

“Were there really brown animals?”

“Did you have any trouble with the Twolegs?”

Trying to ignore the excited questions, Dovepaw strained upward on the tips of her paws, peering over the heads of the cats who surrounded her.

Where is she?

At last she spotted Ivypaw hanging back from the crowd, casting a shy glance at her sister and then gazing down at her paws. Dovepaw shouldered her way through the cats until she reached her sister.

“Ivypaw!” she mewed. “I’ve missed you so much!”

Ivypaw looked up at her with sad eyes. “I was afraid you wouldn’t!” she confessed.

“Don’t be such a mouse-brain,” Dovepaw murmured affectionately. “We’re best friends, aren’t we? I thought of you all the time!” Well, lots of the time at least.

“Hey, Dovepaw!”

At the sound of her mentor’s voice, Dovepaw turned. Lionblaze was standing with Firestar and Brambleclaw near the bottom of the tumbled rocks.

“We need to make our report,” he called. “Firestar wants us to tell the whole Clan what happened.”

“Coming,” Dovepaw replied.

As she padded toward him, she saw Lionblaze’s gaze shift to focus on something behind her. “Jayfeather,” he mewed with a nod.

Glancing back, Dovepaw saw Jayfeather approaching from the direction of his den. She swallowed a gasp of shock: The medicine cat looked seasons older than when she and Lionblaze had left the camp. His eyes were haunted, his body had the gaunt look of an elder, and he had a fresh scar down one side. He put one paw slowly in front of another, as if he wasn’t sure his legs would hold him upright.

“Welcome back,” he rasped.

“Thanks, Jayfeather.” Dovepaw couldn’t take her eyes off him. What had happened while they were away to make him look like that?

Looking back at Lionblaze, Dovepaw saw her own shock reflected in his eyes. She followed Jayfeather as he headed over toward the Clan leader and the other cats, with a quick glance over her shoulder at Ivypaw.

“I’ll be back soon,” she promised.

“That’s very bad news about Rippletail,” Firestar meowed when Lionblaze and Dovepaw had finished their report. “We are all Clanmates in this. We have lost a brave warrior.”

All the Clan bowed their heads in silence.

Spiderleg was the first to break it. “You mean you actually asked kittypets for help?”

“And you fought these…what did you call them, beavers?” Dustpelt meowed. “You’ll have to teach us the right battle moves in case they come here.”

“They’d better not, or I’ll give them somethin’ to think about,” Purdy grunted.

Firestar raised his tail for silence. “That’s enough for now,” he meowed. “There’ll be plenty of time to talk to Lionblaze and Dovepaw later. Let them eat and rest first.”

Lionblaze retreated to the fresh-kill pile, where he tucked into Cloudtail’s rabbit with Jayfeather and a few of the other warriors. Even though she couldn’t remember when she had last eaten, Dovepaw felt too exhausted to join them. She tottered across the clearing and pushed through the ferns into the apprentices’ den.

Briarpaw followed her in. “Look!” she mewed proudly, pointing with her tail toward Dovepaw’s nest. “We made it especially comfortable for you.”

Dovepaw saw that her nest was lined with soft gray feathers. “Thank you,” she purred, warmed by the friendship of the older apprentices. “That looks great. It must have taken you ages.”

“You deserve it!” Bumblepaw added, poking his head through the entrance.

“Yes, you’re a hero!” Blossompaw chirped, popping up beside him. “The Clans won’t ever forget what you did.”

The three apprentices left Dovepaw alone to settle down and rest. It felt strange to curl up in her own nest again. Now that I’m back, I’m just an ordinary apprentice, aren’t I? Shouldn’t I be out on a patrol or something?

Her nest had never felt so warm and comfortable, but Dovepaw kept shifting around in the feathers, unable to sleep.

What’s wrong with me? I’m so tired my fur’s dropping off!

She opened her eyes at a rustling sound to see that Ivypaw had pushed her head through the ferns.

“I thought you’d be asleep,” she mewed.

“I can’t,” Dovepaw confessed. “I feel as if I’ve got ants in my pelt.”

“Want to go for a walk?”

Maybe she needed to do something to make her even more tired. Dovepaw scrambled out of her nest and followed her sister through the thorns and into the forest. This was better than trying to sleep, alone with her thoughts. Her paws tugged her toward the lake and the water that she had freed. The sun had set, leaving the forest shrouded in twilight. The rain had stopped and the wind had died down; the air was damp and fresh, moving softly against her pelt. The grass already felt lush and juicy under her paws.

The drought is over. The Clans will survive! Dovepaw paused briefly, blinking in surprise. I did that, she realized. If it wasn’t for my senses, the Clans would still be dying of thirst. Pride flooded over her with the force of the freed water surging down into the lake. Maybe it won’t be so bad, having these powers, if I can use them to help my Clan.

Reaching the lake, the two she-cats leaped down from the bank to stand on the very edge of the mud, looking out toward the distant ripple of water.

“Am I imagining it, or does it look closer?” Dovepaw whispered.

“I think it does,” Ivypaw replied. She gave an excited little skip. “I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s really full, with the water all the way up here.”

Dovepaw took a pace forward and halted as something sharp dug into her pad. “Ow! I’ve trodden on something.” Looking down, she saw two parts of a stick marked with scratches, the broken ends splintered. With an annoyed flick of her tail, she pushed the scraps away and examined her pad.

“Are you okay?” Ivypaw mewed.

“Yes, fine.” Dovepaw swiped her tongue over her pad. “The skin’s not even broken.”

She stood close to her sister again, their pelts brushing. Ivypaw twined her tail with Dovepaw’s, letting out a soft purr. “I’m so glad you’re back, Dovepaw.”

“So am I.” Dovepaw buried her muzzle in her sister’s soft pelt. “I’ll never leave you behind again,” she promised.