by Erin Hunter
“No,” Cherrypaw replied. “They chased after the fox, but it came back, and we thought we’d be eaten. But there was another cat! It hissed at the fox, and the fox ran away!”
Firestar shook his head, a puzzled look in his green eyes. “I didn’t see any other cat up there.”
“It sounds unlikely to me,” Brackenfur murmured.
“Yes.” Berrynose agreed. “Look, you two, it’s not funny to make up stories about something so dangerous.”
“You had a big scare,” Sandstorm added, sounding sympathetic. “But there’s no need to invent mysterious cats coming to the rescue. Brightheart and your mentors did a great job scaring the fox away.”
“But we’re not making it up!” Cherrypaw protested.
“Right,” Molepaw insisted, pressing up close to his sister. “There was another cat.”
Jayfeather could sense that the young cats were telling the truth, or at least that they believed what they were saying. He realized that Firestar was taking their story seriously, too.
“What was this cat like?” the Clan leader asked.
“We never saw it clearly,” Molepaw confessed. “We were hiding in a bramble thicket. And we couldn’t smell it above the scent of fox.”
“We’re not even sure it was a ThunderClan warrior,” Cherrypaw added.
Firestar was quiet for a moment. “I’ll ask the other warriors if they saw anything,” he mewed at last. “The only thing that matters is that every cat is safe.”
The group of warriors began to split up.
“Not you,” Jayfeather meowed, sweeping his tail around the two apprentices. “I want you in my den so I can check you out.”
“But we’re fine,” Cherrypaw told him.
“I’m your medicine cat, and you’re not fine until I say so. Inside.”
He herded the two young cats into his den, to find that Briarlight was already treating the warriors’ injuries.
“Brightheart’s paws were full of bramble thorns,” she explained to Jayfeather. “I pulled them out, and gave her dock leaf to rub on.”
“I feel fine now,” Brightheart mewed. “Briarlight did a great job. I’ll get out of your way, Jayfeather, so you can treat the others.”
Jayfeather gave her paws a sniff to make sure everything was okay, then waved her out of the den with a flick of his tail.
“Foxleap has a fox bite and some scratches on his shoulder,” Briarlight went on. “I’ve given them a good lick, but I don’t know what herbs are best for bites.”
Jayfeather sniffed carefully at the wounds; the scratches had already stopped bleeding, but the bite was deep. “We’ll put a poultice of burdock root on that,” he decided. “Chew it up small, Briarlight, and fix it on with some cobweb. You’ll need to rest it for a day or two,” he added to Foxleap.
“But who’ll be my mentor?” Cherrypaw asked anxiously. “I don’t want to be stuck in camp while Molepaw is learning stuff.”
“You can do the elders’ ticks,” her brother told her, then squeaked, “Ow! Keep your claws to yourself!”
“That’s enough,” Foxleap scolded them. “Of course you’ll have a mentor, Cherrypaw. I’ve already asked Cloudtail. He says he’ll take over your training for a couple of days.”
“Cool.” Cherrypaw sounded satisfied.
“I’m just scratched a bit,” Rosepetal told Jayfeather. “And I’ve lost some fur from one side, but I don’t think there’s anything serious.”
Jayfeather checked, and found that the scratches were quite shallow. Since Briarlight was still fixing Foxleap’s poultice, he went to the store for some marigold, and trickled the juice onto Rosepetal’s wounds.
“Come back tomorrow for some more of that,” he instructed her. “You’ll need to take it easy at first, but I think you can carry on with your duties. Let me know if the pain gets any worse.”
“Okay, thanks,” Rosepetal meowed.
When she and Foxleap had gone, Jayfeather sent Briarlight out of the den. “You’ve done really well,” he told her. “Go do your exercises and get some fresh air.”
He waited until the dragging sound of her movement had died away before turning back to the apprentices. He was pretty sure that they weren’t hurt, but he wanted the excuse of checking them over.
“Tell me more about the other cat you saw,” he mewed as he sniffed Cherrypaw’s fur.
“Don’t want to,” Molepaw muttered sulkily. “You’ll only say we’re lying.”
“Yeah, or that we got scared and imagined it,” Cherrypaw added.
Jayfeather tipped his head on one side. “Try me.”
“Well, we don’t really remember anything,” Molepaw went on after a moment’s hesitation. “Brightheart sent us deep into the brambles. We couldn’t see much, but we heard this other cat.”
Jayfeather grunted. Pretending to check Molepaw for injuries, he pressed his paws down on the young tom’s shoulders and let his mind drift into Molepaw’s memories.
Sunlight dazzled Jayfeather’s eyes as it shone on the slope above the hollow. On an open stretch of grass surrounded by ferns and brambles, Brightheart was showing a move to the two apprentices, while Foxleap and Rosepetal sat close by, looking on. The fur on Jayfeather’s neck began to rise as he waited for what he knew would happen.
“That’s great, Cherrypaw, but try—”
A loud snarling interrupted Brightheart as the fox leaped out from a clump of brambles. Foxleap and Rosepetal sprang to their paws as it lunged toward the apprentices.
“Hide!” Foxleap yowled as he hurled himself at the intruder.
Rosepetal let out a screech as she dashed past the fox and raked her claws down its side. Brightheart spun around and shoved both apprentices toward the nearest bramble thicket. “Get under there and don’t move!” she hissed.
Molepaw and Cherrypaw burrowed into the brambles; Jayfeather could feel their fear surging over him like waves. Once they were in the thicket, he couldn’t see much of the fighting, but he heard yelps and snarls from the fox, a shriek of pain from Foxleap, and furious caterwauling from Rosepetal and Brightheart. Through a gap in the tendrils he spotted the fox driven back from the clearing, with all three cats in pursuit.
The fox scent faded and everything went quiet.
“Do you think we can get out now?” Cherrypaw whispered. “I’ve got thorns digging into my pelt.”
“Better not,” Molepaw replied. “Brightheart told us to stay here.”
They waited a little longer, their fear gradually dying away. Jayfeather tensed as the fox scent grew stronger again, and Molepaw muttered, “I think it’s back.”
He peered out through the gap in the brambles and spotted the fox sniffing along the ground a couple of tail-lengths away.
“It’s looking for us!” Molepaw’s voice was a terrified whisper.
“What if it finds us?” Cherrypaw asked. “Where are the others?”
The fox drew closer; Jayfeather guessed it had picked up the apprentices’ scent. Then a loud hiss and a snarl came from the shadows underneath a nearby bush. The fox raised its head. The hiss was repeated, and after a heartbeat’s hesitation the fox turned tail and slunk away out of sight.
“That was close!” Molepaw gasped.
Jayfeather realized there was definitely another cat under the bush. But the brambles blocked his view and in the shadows he could make out nothing more than a vague shape. He strained to catch a scent.
“Ow!” Molepaw squealed. “You’re pressing too hard!”
Jayfeather’s vision vanished, leaving him in darkness again. “Sorry,” he muttered, frustrated to be thrown out of the young tom’s memory just when he thought he might have learned something. “Okay, you can go.”
When the two apprentices had scampered off, Jayfeather padded into the clearing to discover that the patrols had returned. Poppyfrost was in the middle of the hollow with Cherrypaw and Molepaw. Other cats had gathered around her, listening to the apprentices retell their adventure.
“What?” Poppyfrost screeched. “A fox nearly ate you? This is dreadful! Brambleclaw, what are we going to do about it?”
“Calm down, Poppyfrost,” the deputy meowed. “There’s no harm done—”
“Don’t tell me to be calm!” Poppyfrost retorted. “My kits could have been eaten!”
“I know it’s worrying.” Brambleclaw’s voice was reassuring. “I’m surprised there’s a fox in the territory at all. It hasn’t been long since we chased the last one out, and I wouldn’t have expected it to come back so soon.”
Jayfeather padded across, wanting to discuss the mysterious cat who had rescued the apprentices, but in the tumult around Poppyfrost no cat wanted to listen.
He shouldered his way into the group and became aware of Ivypool beside him, shrinking in a wave of guilt. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
“I think this was my fault,” Ivypool replied miserably. Raising her voice to make herself heard, she meowed, “I think I might have brought the fox into the territory.”
“How?” Firestar demanded.
Jayfeather located the Clan leader bounding over from the Highledge; the other cats quieted down as he confronted Ivypool.
Ivypool began by describing how she and Jayfeather had found the marigold plants eaten by rabbits. “So I went to find some fox dung and put it on a stick,” she went on, her voice shaking. “I put the dung around the plants to frighten the rabbits off. The fox must have smelled it and followed the trail over the border. I’m really sorry,” she finished.
“Mouse-brain!” Cloudtail commented loudly.
“Yes, you nearly got my kits killed!” Poppyfrost hissed.
“Hey, that’s not fair.” Lionblaze thrust his way forward to stand beside Jayfeather and Ivypool. “How was Ivypool to know what would happen? We don’t normally train up there.”
“That’s right,” Sorreltail added. “And we’ll all be glad of the marigold once it grows back.”
More voices broke out, talking all at once so that Jayfeather couldn’t make paws or tail of the argument. Finally, Firestar’s yowl rang out.
“That’s enough. What’s done is done.” As the noise began to die down, he added, “Now we need to focus on regular patrols to make sure the fox doesn’t come back.” He let out a snort. “And keep a lookout for strange cats hiding in bushes!”
Jayfeather could tell that his leader was only half joking. Strange things were happening, and the Clan needed to be extra vigilant. Molepaw’s memory was still fresh in Jayfeather’s mind, and he knew there had been a cat on the cliff top.
“Hey, Dovewing,” he meowed, picking up her scent as the Clan cats separated. “What was that you were meowing about earlier? What did you hear happening on the cliff top?”
He sensed Dovewing’s defensiveness as she halted and faced him. “Nothing,” she replied.
“Not the first attack?” Jayfeather persisted.
“No.”
“And what about afterward? Were there any signs of a cat you weren’t expecting to find?”
“No!” Dovewing burst out. “I didn’t hear anything, okay? Stop expecting me to look after the whole Clan!”
She turned her back on Jayfeather and stalked off. A moment later Lionblaze’s scent wafted over Jayfeather, and his littermate came to stand beside him.
“What’s going on?” Lionblaze asked.
“I think the apprentices were right,” Jayfeather told him. “There is an intruder.”
Alarm surged through Lionblaze; Jayfeather could imagine his neck fur fluffing out. “I’ve got to get a patrol together to track it down,” he meowed.
“No, wait.” Jayfeather reached out and curled his tail around his brother’s foreleg. “If this cat saved the apprentices, then I don’t think she’s any threat. In fact, I don’t think she was a threat to begin with.”
For a moment Lionblaze said nothing; Jayfeather could almost hear thoughts buzzing in his head like bees in a hollow tree. He knew Lionblaze would reach the same conclusion as he had. “Really? You think so?” Lionblaze mewed at last. There was an undercurrent of hope in his voice, as well as nervousness.
“We didn’t find her in the tunnel,” Jayfeather pointed out.
“Would she really come back?”
Jayfeather took a long breath. “We learned long ago that we didn’t know her as well as we thought. Maybe she would.”
Chapter 6
“Climb higher! Higher than that!”
Twigs lashed across Ivypool’s face and raked through her pelt as she clawed her way up the tree.
“Faster!” The insistent yowl came from the ground below. “Higher! Now jump!”
“Great StarClan!” Ivypool muttered, digging her claws into the bark of the trunk. “I’ll break my neck if I jump from this high up.”
She and the cats with her were so far up the tree that the trunk was starting to bend under their weight. There wasn’t enough room for four cats to climb safely.
Ivypool risked a glance downward, peering through the gloom of the Dark Forest. She could hear the sounds of cats training all around her, until the noise of fighting almost drowned out the slimy rustling of the leaves. I wonder if Birchfall is here? And how many other ThunderClan cats?
Below she could just make out Shredtail, who was in charge of the training exercise, sitting on the trunk of a fallen tree. Antpelt stood beside him. He had been Shredtail’s apprentice when he first came to the Dark Forest, but now he was a full warrior; it was he who was doing all the yowling.
“That mangepelt loves throwing his weight around,” Breezepelt hissed, clinging to the trunk beside Ivypool. “Just because he died doesn’t make him more important!”
Hollowpaw of RiverClan was trying to balance on a thin branch just below Ivypool, his eyes shut tight as he let out a low moan of terror. His Clanmate Minnowtail scrambled past him and headed for the top of the tree, almost knocking Ivypool off her precarious perch.
“Hey, watch it!” Ivypool growled, envying the RiverClan cat’s light, strong body and confident movements.
“Minnowtail, you won!” Shredtail yowled from below. “You don’t have to jump. The rest of you, I want to see you jump now!”
Ivypool took a deep breath. I don’t have any choice . . . . Spotting a pile of dead leaves underneath the tree, she launched herself into the air. All the air was driven out of her body as she hit the ground, and before she could struggle to her paws Antpelt was on top of her, holding her down. His amber eyes glared into hers.
“Too slow, mouse-brain!”
Ivypool heaved at him, bringing up her hindpaws to batter at his belly. “I can’t believe you’ve forgotten how I helped you,” she panted. “Thistleclaw wounded you so badly on the woodpile that you died, remember?”
“Who cares about the past? This is my Clan now!” Antpelt hissed, slashing his claws toward her throat. “I deserve to be here.”
Ivypool tucked in her chin and bit down on Antpelt’s outstretched paw. Yes, she thought bleakly. You do. Above her, Antpelt let out a furious yowl and snatched back his foot. Gathering all her strength, Ivypool shoved Antpelt off in time to see Minnowtail jump gracefully down from the tree and land in a clump of fern.
“Well done,” Shredtail meowed as she emerged, looking smug. “It’s a pity more cats aren’t like you.” Swinging around to rake Ivypool, Breezepelt, and Hollowpaw with a glare, he continued, “Right. Time for battle training. I want to see the backflip we practiced last time.”
Ivypool paired up with Hollowpaw while Breezepelt and Minnowtail worked together. The RiverClan cat wasn’t the same nervous apprentice she had tried to help when he first came to the Dark Forest a moon ago. He had learned a lot since then, and his movements were strong and sure. Ivypool was shocked at the power behind his blows as he leaped on top of her, and shocked, too, at her own skill as she slid out from under him and raked her claws over his ears.
She was aware of how she and the others echoed one another’s moves with barely a pa
use, like a well-ordered patrol who had trained together since they were kitted. You would never think we come from different Clans, she thought, dodging a blow from Hollowpaw and leaping in again to give him a swipe across the ear. Our fighting techniques fit together perfectly. This is a force beyond anything the Clans have seen before. And I’m a part of it.
Ivypool was relieved when finally she heard Shredtail call out, “That’s enough!”
“Did we do well?” Minnowtail mewed, springing up to let Breezepelt get to his paws.
“You’re not here for praise,” Shredtail growled. “Leave that to your precious Clanmates. You’re here to fight. If you survive, count yourself lucky.” He flicked his tail dismissively. “Now get out of here.”
Ivypool stumbled away into the shadowy trees, the other cats keeping pace with her. Breezepelt was limping, and Hollowpaw had oozing scratches from a blow she had given him. Even Minnowtail had fur missing from her hindquarters.
None of the cats spoke to one another. Ivypool spotted Blossomfall through the trees, heading in the same direction and looking equally battered. She knew that Blossomfall had seen her, but she looked too worn out to call a greeting. Ivypool was aware of more cats padding around her, their heads lowered with exhaustion and their flanks heaving.
But we’ll all come back next time we close our eyes, Ivypool thought. The Dark Forest has us trapped like flies in a web.
A full moon floated above the lake, turning its water to silver, as Firestar led his Clan out of the forest. Ivypool padded beside her sister. Even though she was bone tired, she was glad to be going to the Gathering.
I won’t have to go to the Dark Forest tonight, because I’ll be awake for too long.
As the cats followed Firestar along the lakeshore, Ivypool noticed that Dovewing kept shaking her head as if she had just emerged from water. She was letting out soft hisses of frustration.
“Is your hearing still not back?” Ivypool whispered.
Dovewing turned toward her, distress in her wide blue eyes. “No,” she replied. “It’s worse than being deaf! How am I supposed to look after the Clan?”