The Fourth Apprentice

by Erin Hunter

  “Be careful!” he gasped as he recovered his balance. “These logs are slippery.”

  He realized something that he hadn’t noticed before: The beavers had gnawed all the bark off the tree trunks, leaving the shiny pale wood exposed. Whitetail was edging along one long trunk, setting her paws one in front of the other in a straight line and digging her claws in, while Sedgewhisker tried to jump, dislodged one log, and managed to scramble out of the way before it swept her into the pool.

  Yowls and furious growling from the other side told Lionblaze that the rest of the cats were having the same trouble. How can we destroy the dam if we can’t even move around on it?

  He and Dovepaw were struggling to drag one log out of the pile when Lionblaze heard a splashing sound, followed by the heavy padding of paws. Every hair on his pelt lifted with horror as two beavers lurched up in front of him, their blackberry eyes and curved teeth gleaming in the moonlight.

  “Oh, no…” Dovepaw muttered.

  Lionblaze let out a yowl and hurled himself at the nearest beaver, slashing at its side as he sprang past it. To his dismay, his claws glanced harmlessly off its pelt, which felt thick and greasy, like mud. As he spun around, he saw both beavers heading for Dovepaw; the apprentice faced them bravely, leaping into the air as they rushed at her. She landed on the shoulders of the leader and cuffed him over the head and ears, but the beaver ignored her. Tossing its head, it shook her off as if she were a fly, sending her crashing into the logs.

  The beavers slithered up to the top of the dam where Whitetail and Sedgewhisker were waiting, outlined against the sky. The she-cats’ backs were arched and their fur was bristling as they let out caterwauls of defiance.

  Lionblaze checked that Dovepaw was unhurt and left her scrambling to her paws while he flung himself back into the battle. When he reached the top of the dam, he saw one beaver swing on its forepaws and deal a massive blow to Sedgewhisker with its tail. The WindClan warrior let out a shocked yowl as she fell backward. In her fall she brushed against Whitetail, who sank her claws into the nearest log so she didn’t follow her Clanmate.

  Peering down into the darkness, Lionblaze spotted Sedgewhisker lying on the dry streambed below. She was moving, so he guessed she was just stunned; there was no time to go check. As he whirled to face the beavers again, Whitetail clambered up and stood at his side.

  “Fox dung, I’ve torn a claw,” she muttered.

  One beaver had disappeared, but the other was coming at them; it reared up on its hind legs and let out a furious hiss. As it lunged forward, Lionblaze slipped to one side while Whitetail sprang at it from the other. The beaver’s teeth slammed together a whisker’s width from Lionblaze’s ear; Whitetail managed to aim a slashing blow at its head before it could turn to face her.

  “Well done!” Lionblaze gasped.

  Briefly he spotted Dovepaw fleeing from the second beaver, leaping and scrambling across the slippery logs while the heavy animal lumbered after her. Lionblaze wanted to spring down to help her, but he was nearly knocked over by the slap of a flat tail as the beaver he was fighting turned on Whitetail.

  “Lionblaze, help!” Whitetail screeched.

  She lay sprawled on the logs; the beaver’s vicious teeth were snapping at her throat. Lionblaze hurled himself at the creature’s side; the impact felt as if he had tried to shift a tree, but he distracted the beaver for a heartbeat, enough for Whitetail to wriggle free, aiming a blow at their adversary’s ear on the way.

  This is hopeless! Lionblaze thought. They’re too strong for us! And where are the others?

  Scrambling out of range of the beaver, he reached the top of the dam and gazed across to the far side. His heart lurched when he saw the other four cats fighting for their lives against another pair of beavers at the bottom of the dam near the pool. As he watched, he saw Petalfur knocked off her paws and pitched backward into the water. She resurfaced, swimming strongly, but she was having trouble climbing out again onto the smooth logs.

  Toadfoot and Tigerheart were fighting like a whole patrol, but these beavers were even bigger and stronger than the ones on the top of the dam. We can’t win, Lionblaze realized, bitter failure sweeping over him. Glancing back, he spotted Whitetail with Dovepaw crouched just behind her, looking terrified but determined. Both the beavers were advancing on them, letting out their threatening hisses.

  “Get back!” Lionblaze yowled. “Get back to the bank—climb a tree! I’m going to help the others!”

  “No!” Dovepaw screeched back. “We’re not leaving you!”

  “I’ll be okay!” Lionblaze fixed his eyes on his apprentice, hoping she would remember that he couldn’t be killed in battle. “Now go!”

  To his relief, Whitetail spun around and gave Dovepaw a push along the dam; both she-cats fled for the bank, scrambling over the logs, with Whitetail limping on three legs. There was still no sign of Sedgewhisker; Lionblaze assumed she was still lying stunned on the streambed.

  Let’s hope she stays there.

  Lionblaze turned back to head for the opposite side of the dam and found himself face-to-face with the beavers; their eyes gleamed as they crept up on him.

  “You think you’re getting an easy victory?” Lionblaze taunted them, fluffing up his fur. “Think again!”

  He hurled himself at the beavers, aiming for the narrow gap between them. As he slid through, helped on his way by their slimy pelts, he ducked his head to avoid their stabbing teeth and dodged from one side to another as they tried to claw him. He jumped over their tails as they swept around, trying to knock him off his feet, and then he was through. His sides felt battered, and as he landed he almost lost his balance and fell off the dam, but he managed to stay on his paws.

  “See?” he yowled triumphantly. “Not a scratch on me!”

  The words were scarcely out when he felt a heavy blow from behind, knocking his legs from under him. Another beaver had arrived, and it stood over him, its tiny front paws quivering as it lunged down to bite his neck.

  Lionblaze rolled away, paws flailing as he slid down the side of the dam, ending up at the bottom, where Toadfoot and the others were still fighting.

  “Retreat!” Lionblaze gasped. “It’s over!”

  “Not while I’m on my paws!” Toadfoot snarled, aiming a blow at a beaver that was trying to thrust him off the dam.

  “Or me!” Tigerheart asserted through gritted teeth.

  Lionblaze could see that both ShadowClan warriors were injured: Toadfoot had blood trickling from above his eye, while deep claw marks were scored across Tigerheart’s pelt.

  There was no time to argue. Lionblaze slid down to Petalfur, who was still trying to balance on the lowest logs, grabbed her by the scruff, and threw her onto the bank. He watched for a couple of heartbeats, until he saw her scrambling up the slope to safety. Then he glanced around for Rippletail. His heart slammed into his throat as he spotted the RiverClan warrior, who was cornered by the biggest beaver of all at the point where the dam met the bank. Rippletail was facing the creature defiantly, with teeth bared and claws extended, but Lionblaze could see that he didn’t have a chance.

  Just as he hurled himself at the beaver, the creature lunged forward. It fastened its long, cruel teeth in Rippletail’s shoulder and tore a ragged wound; the RiverClan warrior let out a shriek of agony. Lionblaze flung himself at the beaver’s head, digging his claws into its ears. The beaver let out a bellow of pain and backed off, its tail flailing at Lionblaze. Rippletail was able to slip past them, slither over the log where they were struggling, and plunge into the water.

  “Help him get out!” Lionblaze screeched, clinging desperately to the beaver’s head while it tried to slash his flank with its hind claws. He spotted Petalfur racing back down the slope.

  “Rippletail! Rippletail!” she yowled.

  Just then the beaver reared up and flicked Lionblaze off; he lay helplessly on the logs, struggling to catch his breath while the beaver bore down on him with glittering eyes and wicke
d teeth.

  Then Toadfoot thrust himself between Lionblaze and the beaver; distracted, the creature turned to pursue the ShadowClan warrior. Toadfoot stood just out of range, snarling and batting at the beaver with his forepaws, until Lionblaze managed to scramble to his paws and flee.

  Lionblaze and Toadfoot jumped off the dam and ran to the edge of the water, with Tigerheart hard on their paws.

  Petalfur was crouched on the edge of the shore. “I’m going to help Rippletail,” she yowled, launching herself into the water and swimming out to where her Clanmate was flailing. Lionblaze couldn’t help remembering how happily the two RiverClan cats had played in the water the day before.

  All five beavers were clustered together on top of the dam, watching the cats below. Lionblaze and Toadfoot turned to face them, ready to fight if they attacked again before Petalfur could rescue her Clanmate.

  The RiverClan she-cat reached Rippletail, grabbed him by the scruff, and began towing him back to the bank. Meanwhile, Whitetail limped up to them from the streambed on the other side of the dam; her paw was bleeding heavily from where she had wrenched out her claw. Dovepaw and Sedgewhisker padded just behind her, with Sedgewhisker leaning on Dovepaw’s shoulder; she still looked half-stunned from her fall off the top of the dam.

  As Petalfur swam into the shallows with Rippletail, Lionblaze and Toadfoot waded out into the pool and helped her drag him onto the bank. The RiverClan tom was barely conscious; his paws wouldn’t hold him up and his head drooped. Lionblaze and Toadfoot gripped his shoulders, while Dovepaw and Petalfur held up his hindquarters, and together they maneuvered him up the slope, back to the fern thicket where they had rested earlier. Whitetail and Sedgewhisker struggled up after them.

  When they reached their makeshift shelter, Dovepaw tore up some bracken to make a nest, and the cats laid Rippletail down. The shoulder where the beaver had bitten him was bleeding heavily, the blood running down into his wet fur. Lionblaze felt his belly clench as he looked at the long, deep wound.

  “We have to stop the bleeding,” Dovepaw mewed. “Does any cat know the proper herbs?”

  Lionblaze tried to think. Surely Jayfeather must have said something, sometime, that would be useful now? But between fear and exhaustion, he couldn’t think.

  “Rippletail was the cat who knew most about that.” Petalfur’s eyes were wide and frightened. “Mothwing gave him some training before we left.”

  Lionblaze’s claws raked the ground in frustration. “Rippletail?” he hissed. “Rippletail, can you hear me?”

  But the RiverClan warrior didn’t respond. His eyes were closed now, and his breathing was shallow.

  “Cobwebs stop bleeding,” Whitetail meowed.

  Dovepaw sprang to her paws. “I’ll go find some.” She plunged into the undergrowth.

  Petalfur bent over her Clanmate, gently licking his wet fur as a mother would have cared for her kit. The rest of the cats watched in silence. Oh, StarClan! Lionblaze prayed. Don’t let him come to you yet.

  He looked up as a clump of bracken waved wildly, expecting to see Dovepaw returning, but instead it was Woody who stepped into the open, a vole dangling from his jaws. He gaped, dropping his prey, as his gaze fell on Rippletail, and his eyes stretched wide with horror.

  “What happened?” he croaked.

  “The beavers happened,” Toadfoot replied tersely.

  Woody padded up and gave Rippletail’s wound a cautious sniff. “I can’t believe you cats would put yourselves in such danger,” he meowed.

  “It’s what we do.” Lionblaze had to restrain himself from snarling at the loner. “The warrior code says that you must fight for your Clan to the death.”

  “In that case, you’re fools,” Woody snorted.

  Tigerheart let out a snarl of fury and lunged at the loner. “Can’t you see how brave this cat was?”

  Woody whipped around to face him, sliding out his claws, but before Tigerheart could reach him Whitetail darted between them and thrust the young warrior back. “This won’t help Rippletail,” she pointed out.

  As Tigerheart sat down, breathing hard and glaring at Woody, the bracken parted again and Dovepaw reappeared, hobbling along on three legs while she held up a pawful of cobweb.

  “Thanks, Dovepaw.” Petalfur took the cobweb and packed it into Rippletail’s wound, but his blood quickly soaked it. His breathing had grown shallower still.

  “His fur is burning,” Petalfur whispered.

  Lionblaze realized that the moon had set and the sky was growing pale with the approach of dawn. All the cats, even Woody, sat in silence around Rippletail, listening as his breathing grew fainter and more ragged. At last, as a golden line appeared on the horizon, it stopped.

  Lionblaze bowed his head. Rippletail had been a young warrior, with so much to offer his Clan. And in the time that they had traveled together, Lionblaze had begun to think of him as a friend. The beaver had ripped all that away.

  “He hunts with StarClan now,” Toadfoot murmured; he reached out with his tail and touched Petalfur’s shoulder.

  Petalfur crumpled to the ground with a choking sound of grief. Whitetail and Sedgewhisker pressed close to her, one on each side, and the three she-cats huddled together beside Rippletail’s body. Tigerheart looked on appalled, as if he couldn’t believe that a warrior’s life could end so quickly.

  Dovepaw sprang to her paws and padded away, brushing blindly through the grass and ferns. Afraid that in her grief she wouldn’t watch out for danger, Lionblaze followed and caught up to her at the top of the slope, above the huge mound of the dam. The beavers had vanished. Apart from a few scattered logs, there was no sign of the battle that had taken place there such a short time before.

  Staring down at the dam, Dovepaw whispered, “We never should have come!”

  CHAPTER 20

  What in the name of StarClan made her come all this way?

  Jayfeather trudged up the rocky path toward the Moonpool, following the scents of Poppyfrost and Breezepelt. His fur prickled as he thought how unlikely it was that the two of them would be together willingly.

  What could he possibly want with her?

  The sun had gone down, and the wind was rising, bringing with it the damp scent of rain. At last the drought seemed as if it could be coming to an end. That’s one good thing, Jayfeather thought.

  One last hard scramble brought him to the ring of thornbushes that surrounded the Moonpool. Pushing his way through, he padded down the spiral path, feeling once more the prints of the ancient Clan beneath his paws. Their whispers surrounded him, but Jayfeather was too intent on finding Poppyfrost to listen to them tonight.

  With the endless gush of the waterfall in his ears, he reached the edge of the pool and picked up Poppyfrost’s scent. The she-cat was sitting at the waterside a little farther around. She was alone; there was no sign of Breezepelt. He’s here somewhere. But where?

  “Poppyfrost?” Jayfeather whispered.

  He heard her gasp of surprise. “Jayfeather! Did you follow me?”

  “Yes.” But I won’t tell her another cat might have followed her as well. “Your Clanmates are worried about you,” he went on. “You shouldn’t have come up here alone.”

  “My kits are fine,” Poppyfrost responded, her voice dull and listless. “Is Berrynose worried about me?”

  Jayfeather hesitated. He hadn’t seen Berrynose before he left; for all he knew the cream-colored warrior was still unaware that his mate had disappeared.

  “You don’t need to answer,” Poppyfrost went on bitterly. “Of course he isn’t! He doesn’t care about me. He’s still in love with Honeyfern.”

  Jayfeather searched helplessly for the right words to say, but Poppyfrost went on at once, seeming to assume that he agreed with her.

  “I wanted to see Honeyfern so much. I miss her more than I can say, and I don’t blame her that Berrynose doesn’t love me.” Poppyfrost let out a shuddering sigh. “I always loved him, even when he was with Honeyfern. But I would nev
er have tried to take him away from her! Then when she died, I thought he might love me after all…but he doesn’t.”

  “You don’t know—” Jayfeather began.

  “Oh, yes, I do!” Poppyfrost flashed back at him. “You can tell from the way he behaves that he doesn’t care about me at all. Why else would he want me to go into the nursery so early? He doesn’t even want to see me in the warriors’ den!”

  Jayfeather was at a loss for how to reply. No cat could make Berrynose love Poppyfrost if he still wanted her dead sister, and trekking up here to the Moonpool wasn’t going to help.

  “I’m going to take you home,” he meowed. “Remember I brought you home once before from a forest you visited in your dreams?”

  Poppyfrost was silent for a moment; Jayfeather could feel the memories stirring in her mind, flickering like starlight on water.

  “Yes, I remember,” she murmured, her voice scarcely audible above the sound of the waterfall. “I was sick, wasn’t I? But I didn’t really leave the stone hollow. So where was that forest?” She caught her breath, and her voice strengthened as she went on. “It was StarClan, wasn’t it? I was dying, and you saved my life!”

  “Yes, that’s what happened,” Jayfeather mewed. “And I’ve come to help you again.”

  He heard Poppyfrost rise to her paws and pad around the Moonpool until she was standing in front of him, her scent strong in his nose.

  “If I went to StarClan once and came back, I can go there again! Please!” Jayfeather could feel her body tremble with longing. “I want to see Honeyfern. I want to tell her that I didn’t mean to take Berrynose from her. Oh, Jayfeather, what if she hates me, too?”

  Jayfeather stifled a sigh. “That’s not possible,” he began. “Warriors can’t just stroll in and out of StarClan. I would have to hurt you or make you sick, and medicine cats can’t—”

  He broke off at the sound of a soft pad of footsteps from the edge of the hollow. Breezepelt’s voice echoed coldly off the stone. “What’s this? Another dilemma for ThunderClan? You cats should really learn to control your emotions, you know. Now you’ll just have more kits who should never have been born,” he added.