The Fourth Apprentice

by Erin Hunter

But Cinderheart stopped him as he tried to move off. “Are you okay?” she queried, her voice growing sharper with anxiety. “You seem…sort of upset. And—oh!” She gasped. “You’ve got an awful scratch down your side.”

  “It’s nothing,” Jayfeather muttered.

  “Nonsense!” Cinderheart meowed. “You’re a medicine cat; you know very well it’s not nothing. Come on. You’d never let any of us leave camp without having that treated.”

  Taking no notice of Jayfeather’s protests, she herded him back into his den and headed for the storage cleft. A moment later she came back with a bunch of chervil leaves in her jaws. “This should stop any infection,” she announced, beginning to chew them up.

  When the poultice was ready, Cinderheart’s paws moved deftly and confidently as she plastered it on Jayfeather’s side. He let out a sigh of relief as the throbbing pain ebbed.

  Does Cinderheart ever wonder why she feels so comfortable in the medicine cat’s den? She knew exactly which herb to use and what to do with it. Will it ever be the right time to tell her that she used to be Cinderpelt?

  Another pang of foreboding shook him. If there is a battle coming that involves every warrior since the dawn of the Clans, we’ll need all the medicine cats we can get.

  Once Cinderheart was satisfied, Jayfeather headed out again, his pelt sticky with her poultice. Branches rustled above his head, and huge plops of cold water began to fall, splashing on his fur and flung against the trees by the rising wind.

  “It’s starting to rain!” Foxleap’s voice came from among the trees, and a moment later a patrol caught up to Jayfeather, with Squirrelflight, Rosepetal, and Icecloud.

  “Hey, Jayfeather!” Foxleap chattered on. “Isn’t this great? If it keeps raining, we won’t have to go get water anymore.”

  An irritated hiss came from Squirrelflight. “Foxleap, now look what you’ve done! You’ve dropped your moss, and it’s all dirty. Stop getting so excited, and concentrate.”

  “Sorry,” Foxleap meowed, though he didn’t sound at all subdued. “I’ll wash it off when we get to the water.”

  Jayfeather padded beside the patrol until they drew closer to the lake. Then he veered off, heading for the place where he had hidden his stick, and dragged it out from under the roots of the elder bush. Dropping it into the shelter of the bank, he sat down beside it and ran his paws over the scratches.

  The voices of the ancient cats were faint and far away.

  “Rock…” Jayfeather murmured. “Were you at the Moonpool last night? Do you know what is happening in the Dark Forest?”

  “Yes, I know.” A voice breathed in Jayfeather’s ear, sending a shiver through him from ears to tail-tip. “But I cannot stop it—and even if I could, I would not. This is a storm that needs to break, Jayfeather.”

  Jayfeather’s ears twitched up in shock. “Why?”

  “There have been too many lies,” Rock replied. “Too much pain has been caused among the Clans. Cats will have their revenge, and the oldest grievances will be settled.”

  Jayfeather turned his head toward the voice, and he saw the hazy shape of the ancient cat, with his hairless body and sightless, bulging eyes.

  “Did you know?” he demanded. “About Leafpool and Crowfeather?”

  Rock let out a sigh that stirred Jayfeather’s whiskers. “Yes, I knew.”

  Jayfeather sprang to his paws. “Then why didn’t you tell me? Don’t you know how much pain we went through?”

  “It was not your time to know, Jayfeather.” The ancient cat’s voice was calm and matter-of-fact. “You had to be raised as a ThunderClan cat, trained in medicine by your mother, Leafpool. That was your destiny, Jayfeather.”

  “It’s not the destiny I wanted!” Jayfeather snapped.

  “There was no room for you to be half-Clan from birth,” Rock went on, as though Jayfeather hadn’t spoken. “No room for you to be rejected because your mother had broken the code of the medicine cats and the warrior code.”

  Jayfeather stared at him, hardly able to believe what he was hearing. “So you lied, and every cat lied, for the sake of the prophecy?” Rage was building inside him until he was angrier than he’d ever been before in his life; he dug his claws hard into the ground to stop himself from raking Rock’s eyes out. “Do you think it was worth it? Do you? I thought you were my friend!”

  Slowly Rock shook his head. “I am no cat’s friend. I know too much for friendship. Be glad that you will never be burdened with the knowledge that I have. My curse is to live forever, knowing what has been and what has yet to be, powerless to change anything.”

  His outline began to fade. As it vanished, Jayfeather’s fury erupted. He felt around on the ground until he located a sharp stone. Then he snatched up the stick, balanced it across the stone, and brought his forepaws smashing down on one end. He heard the stick break, and splinters pierced his paws. Rock and the ancient Clans had betrayed him, too. Did no cat tell the truth, ever?

  In the same heartbeat, thunder crashed out overhead, rolling around the sky. Rain cascaded down onto the lakebed. Jayfeather crouched under the bank, his jaws wide in a soundless wail, and wrapped his paws over his ears.

  CHAPTER 24

  Dovepaw sank her claws into a branch as the wave of floodwater swept her downstream. The yowling of terrified cats was all around her, but she could see nothing except the heaving dark water and the tops of the trees as they spun past. Her pelt was drenched, she was shivering with cold, and she was more afraid than she had ever been in her life.

  “Hold on!” Lionblaze’s voice rose above the chaos of the storm.

  “Where are you?” Dovepaw wailed, but there was no reply.

  A wave crashed over her, filling her mouth and nose with water. Still managing to cling to the branch, she forced her head to the surface, spluttering and coughing as she fought to breathe. Harsh yellow light flashed across her vision, and Dovepaw realized that she was being carried past the dens of the Twolegplace. I hope the kittypets get home safe, she thought fuzzily.

  Something dark loomed up ahead of her: the branches of an overhanging tree, dipping down and trailing in the surge of water. Dovepaw kicked out frantically, trying to avoid it, but the floodwater drove her right into the middle of the branches. They scraped at her fur as she was carried past, almost sweeping her off her branch.

  Gripping as hard as she could, until she thought her claws would be ripped out, Dovepaw was suddenly jerked into open water again. A bundle of tabby fur, dark from the water, whisked past her with a wail.

  Tigerheart!

  Blinking water out of her eyes, Dovepaw watched with horror as the young ShadowClan warrior vanished under the surface.

  StarClan, no!

  Taking a deep breath, she let go of her branch and plunged after him. Catching at memories of Rippletail and Petalfur swimming in the pool behind the dam, she tried to copy their movements. But it was hard. Her soaked fur was heavy and her legs ached with exhaustion. She kept banging into more floating branches that pushed her under the water, and when she resurfaced, waves spat in her eyes.

  Dovepaw had almost given up hope of ever finding her friend when she caught a glimpse of Tigerheart bobbing up again less than a tail-length from her, before vanishing almost at once. She swam toward him, then dived under the surface.

  Above, the water had been dark, with only fitful gleams of moonlight flickering on the surface. Down here, Dovepaw felt as blind as Jayfeather, sending out her senses to locate Tigerheart and pushing through the murky water until her paws touched his pelt.

  He’s not moving! Am I too late?

  Grabbing a mouthful of his fur, Dovepaw paddled frantically upward. As her head broke the surface, a branch bobbed past her and she wrapped her front legs around it. Tigerheart’s weight threatened to drag her under the water again, but Dovepaw wouldn’t let go. Relief flashed through her when she spotted Petalfur swimming strongly toward her.

  “Rippletail will not die in vain,” the RiverClan cat hissed thr
ough gritted teeth. “StarClan will not take any more warriors from us.”

  She gripped Tigerheart by the scruff, relieving Dovepaw of his weight. Dovepaw was able to haul herself a little higher out of the water, where she caught sight of a flat piece of wood being whirled toward them on the current. Floundering through the flood, she managed to grab it and pushed it toward Petalfur.

  Together the two she-cats hauled Tigerheart onto the flat wood and crouched beside him, clinging on as the water carried them across the stretch of green grass at the edge of the Twolegplace, and into the woods beyond.

  Dovepaw realized that she could see more clearly; the rain-filled sky was growing gray with the first pale light of dawn. The water was calmer now; it still overflowed the stream banks, but the first terrifying wave had died down. Looking around, Dovepaw spotted branches scattered over the surface, and here and there, bobbing up and down, the heads of cats.

  “Yes!” she gasped, reaching out her tail to touch Petalfur on the shoulder. “There’s Toadfoot! And Lionblaze! And there’s Whitetail and Sedgewhisker, hanging on to the same branch.”

  “Thank StarClan,” Petalfur mewed. “They’re all safe!”

  As she spoke, Tigerheart began to thrash and splutter, tilting the piece of wood dangerously so that water surged over them.

  “Lie still,” Dovepaw told him. “You’re safe. And we’ll be home soon.”

  At last the current slowed enough for the cats to leave the branches they were clinging to and wade through the shallows to solid ground. All seven cats huddled together, panting and watching as the floodwater gradually washed back between the banks of the stream.

  Rain was still pouring steadily down, but Dovepaw scarcely noticed it. She was wetter than she had ever been, and she had swallowed so much water she couldn’t imagine ever being thirsty again. Drawing a deep breath, she listened to the water glugging and pooling and splashing through the woods, through ShadowClan territory, and finally down to the lake, where it swelled over the dried mud and stones, rippling into every crack and hollow, spreading silvery twigs across the parched surface.

  We did it, she thought. We brought back the lake.

  Tigerheart was sprawled on the ground, coughing up mouthfuls of water while Petalfur rubbed his back.

  “Will he be okay?” Dovepaw asked anxiously.

  “He’ll be fine,” Petalfur assured her. “This is what we do in RiverClan if kits fall into the lake before they can swim. It always seems to work.”

  Tigerheart coughed up more water, then turned his head to look blearily up at Dovepaw. “Thanks,” he rasped.

  When he had recovered enough to stagger to his paws, all the cats gathered and stood in a circle with their heads bowed.

  “StarClan, we thank you,” Whitetail meowed. “You helped us to destroy the dam and protected us in the flood. We ask you to honor Rippletail, the warrior who will never come home.”

  Dovepaw lifted her head and caught Lionblaze’s eye. She wondered if he was thinking the same thing.

  StarClan didn’t save us. We did.

  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. Alrea
dy 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.”