by Erin Hunter
Billystorm shrugged. “What they say is true,” he murmured. “I wasn’t part of the raid.”
Leafstar winced at the edge beneath his calm voice. She didn’t want to quarrel with Billystorm.
To her relief, the ginger-and-white tom said nothing else about the raid. “I’m leading a hunting patrol,” he told her. “Sharpclaw thought you might like to join us. Snookpaw and Cherrytail are coming, too.”
“That would be great.” Leafstar felt a tingle in her paws at the thought of hunting with Billystorm and the others. I spend too much time in camp, she thought. It makes me see too many problems.
There was a startled screech from Clovertail as the tiny raiding party pounced. Leaving Fallowfern to rescue her denmate from the kits, Leafstar followed Billystorm up the trail that led into the woods. Snookpaw and Cherrytail brought up the rear.
“You can’t hunt birds in the same way as squirrels, mouse-brain,” Cherrytail was telling the apprentice. “They have wings!”
“Well, they both hide in trees,” Snookpaw argued. “So leaping up and stalking them along the branches will work for both.”
“Maybe…” Cherrytail admitted reluctantly. Leafstar was pleased to hear that while she sounded as bossy as usual when she was talking to an apprentice, she wasn’t being unfair on her daylight-Clanmate. “You have to be really careful when you jump on them, though.”
Leafstar left them to their debate and picked up her pace until she was padding beside Billystorm. “I’m truly sorry about the raid,” she mewed quietly. “We should have waited for you. I promise you, it won’t happen again. In the future we—”
“I understand why you did it,” Billystorm interrupted. “I don’t bear you any ill will.” He paused for a heartbeat to taste the air for prey, then added, “I know we’re in an odd position, living with a paw in both worlds. Maybe the time is coming for us all to make a choice.”
Leafstar found that her heart was suddenly beating faster. What if he decides to go back to his housefolk? “Which would you choose?” she whispered.
“It’s so hard,” Billystorm responded with a sigh. His amber gaze was fixed on a tiny beetle as it climbed up a grass stem a mouse-length from his nose. “I love my housefolk, and they’re kind to me. I know they make my life much easier than it would be if I lived in the Clan all the time.” He took a deep breath, swinging his head around so that his warm gaze fell on Leafstar. “But I could never leave you,” he murmured.
Leafstar’s heart beat faster still, and the forest blurred around her into a chaos of green and gold. “I would never want you to,” she breathed.
Her muzzle touched Billystorm’s, and she felt her tail twining with his.
“Stop!”
At Cherrytail’s yowl, Leafstar leaped back. Billystorm sprang away from her, his eyes startled and his fur beginning to fluff up defensively. But when Leafstar spotted Cherrytail among the long grasses, the tortoiseshell she-cat had her back to them. She was talking to a cream-colored tom who looked vaguely familiar. It was the cat they had watched hunting near the border! He was crouched in the shade of a straggly bush, much closer to the camp than when Leafstar had seen him before.
“Why are you in our territory?” Snookpaw demanded, shouldering his way through the ferns to confront the loner. “Didn’t you smell our border scent marks?”
The tom flattened his ears to his head and showed the whites of his eyes.
“Back off a bit, Snookpaw,” Leafstar ordered. “But he’s right,” she added to the tom. “You were given the chance to join SkyClan and you turned it down. So now you have to stay out of our territory.”
The loner ducked his head awkwardly. “I know,” he meowed. “But I’ve changed my mind. I’d like to join your Clan, if you’ll still have me. My name’s Egg.”
“What made you change your mind?” Billystorm padded up beside Leafstar, suspicion glinting in his amber eyes. “It’s a bit sudden, isn’t it?”
Egg blinked rapidly, as if he wasn’t sure how to answer Billystorm’s question. Leafstar’s paws tingled; she didn’t want to put off a possible new warrior by interrogating him. After all, she’d seen this cat move through the trees, and he clearly had natural hunting skills.
“The offer still stands if you can prove your loyalty to SkyClan,” she told him.
“Sure. Of course I can.” Egg’s blue eyes lit up with eagerness. “Can I start now?”
Leafstar turned to Billystorm. “Can you take the hunting patrol from here, while I take Egg back to the camp?”
Billystorm looked undecided, with another uneasy glance toward Egg. “I’ll come with you if you want.”
Warmth spread through Leafstar at the thought that Billystorm wanted to protect her, even while her paws prickled in protest. I’m Clan leader; I don’t need protecting!
“I’ll be fine,” she mewed briskly, then added more gently, “I’ll see you later. Maybe we could go hunting together another time?”
As she spoke, she spotted Cherrytail and Snookpaw staring at her in wide-eyed amazement. Her embarrassment flooding back, she didn’t wait for Billystorm to reply. “Come on,” she ordered Egg, with a whisk of her tail. “It’s this way.”
As they headed back to the gorge, Leafstar noticed how jumpy he was, leaping into the air at every rustle from the undergrowth. He was almost as spooked as Shrewtooth. Maybe he’s been hurt by a Twoleg, too?
“Why did you change your mind about joining us?” she asked, trying to make her tone unthreatening.
“Well … er … it just made sense,” Egg stammered, still sounding as if the question bothered him.
At that moment they arrived at the top of the trail, and there was no chance for Leafstar to question him any more. Egg followed her down the trail; glancing back over her shoulder from time to time, Leafstar saw his eyes stretch with interest as he saw the activity in the camp: Lichenfur and Tangle washing themselves on a rock; Tinycloud and Rockshade dropping prey on the fresh-kill pile; other cats crowding around Sharpclaw as he sorted out more patrols.
By the time Leafstar and Egg reached the bottom of the gorge, Sharpclaw was heading toward the training area with Petalnose, Waspwhisker, and their apprentices. He paused, his ears pricked, as Leafstar padded up to him.
“This is Egg,” Leafstar announced. “He’s decided that he wants to join SkyClan. Egg, this is Sharpclaw, the Clan deputy.”
Egg dipped his head politely.
“We’re glad to have you!” Sharpclaw’s green eyes glowed. “We’re just going for some battle training. Do you want to come with us?”
Egg’s tail shot right up in the air. “Great!”
“Come on, then.” Sharpclaw led the way up the gorge.
Leafstar was about to follow when her deputy looked back and gave his whiskers a dismissive twitch. “We’ll be fine, thanks.”
At first Leafstar began to bristle, her claws flexing in annoyance. Am I Clan leader, or has Sharpclaw taken over? Then she figured that her deputy probably didn’t want her breathing down his neck the whole time. He was perfectly capable of handling a training session.
I think I’ll ask Sharpclaw to mentor Egg, she thought as she turned back toward her den. I know Egg is more than six moons old, but he’ll need to go through an apprenticeship to learn all the ways of the Clan.
In spite of a spatter of rain in the air, she felt warm as she padded back to her den. She was happy to have such a promising new addition to the Clan, especially when he had inherited the powerful legs and jumping skills of the old SkyClan. Letting her gaze travel around the camp, Leafstar watched Lichenfur and Tangle fluff up their fur against the rain and snatch a piece of fresh-kill before plodding back to their den; Echosong was returning with a mouthful of herbs; Fallowfern’s kits protested loudly as their mother tried to herd them back to the nursery.
And Billystorm will be back soon… Everything would be perfect if he decided to live here all the time.
CHAPTER 25
Leafstar dozed in her d
en until sunhigh. By then the shower was over and the sky had cleared; the rocks steamed as the hot sunlight sucked up the rain. Looking down into the gorge, Leafstar saw that most of the cats had returned from patrol. Sharpclaw and Egg were sitting together near the fresh-kill pile, talking with their heads close together as they ate. Stick and Cora were with them, too.
Egg seems to be settling in well, Leafstar thought.
She ran lightly down the trail into the gorge and jumped onto the Rockpile. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Rockpile for a Clan meeting,” she yowled.
Most of the Clan were already there, glancing up curiously at Leafstar poised on top of the rocks. Tangle and Lichenfur emerged from their nests, their fur rumpled with sleep. Echosong appeared from her den and padded up to listen.
“We have a new Clanmate,” Leafstar announced, angling her ears to where Egg sat beside Sharpclaw. “Egg has decided to join us, and will become an apprentice today.” With her tail she beckoned Egg forward until he stood alone at the foot of the Rockpile. “From this day forward,” she went on, “this apprentice will be known as Eggpaw. Sharpclaw, you are a brave and skillful warrior, and I know you will pass on these qualities to your apprentice.”
Sharpclaw showed no surprise in being named Egg’s mentor. He dipped his head to Leafstar, then padded over to Egg and touched noses with him.
“Eggpaw! Eggpaw!” the Clan cats yowled, crowding around the new apprentice to congratulate him. Sparrowpelt and Rockshade looked particularly pleased, pressing up close to him and burying their muzzles in his shoulder fur.
Leafstar spotted Billystorm on the edge of the crowd; he had called out Egg’s name to welcome him, but he still looked slightly doubtful. Leafstar reminded herself to ask what was worrying him when she had the chance.
As the yowls of welcome died down, Egg looked up at Leafstar where she still stood on the Rockpile. “Er… Leafstar, Eggpaw’s an okay name, but if you don’t mind I’d like to stay as Egg. Stick said that’s what he and his friends did.”
Leafstar’s tail-tip twitched. She didn’t like the way that Stick and the other newcomers didn’t think that warrior names were important, and she was even more annoyed that they were spreading their opinion throughout the Clan. Names matter. They’re part of who we are as warriors.
The Clan waited in tense silence for their leader to make her decision, while Egg gazed up at her, blinking cheerfully as if he had no idea that he had said anything wrong. With an effort Leafstar hid her irritation. There was no point in putting Egg off right at the beginning of his apprenticeship. Maybe when he’s been with us for a while he’ll be ready for a warrior name.
“If that’s what you want,” she replied evenly. She was relieved when none of the Clan cats argued, though she saw Snookpaw lean over to say something to Billystorm, and she caught the young cat’s murmur. “I think Egg should be proud to have his apprentice name!”
Leafstar’s paws were itching; she jumped down from the Rockpile and made her way over to Sharpclaw and Egg as the crowd around them broke up. “I missed out on hunting this morning,” she meowed. “Do you want to come out with me now? Ebonyclaw, you and Frecklepaw can join us.”
“Good idea,” Sharpclaw replied, while Egg kneaded the ground in front of him in excitement. “Egg will get an idea of how SkyClan cats hunt.”
Leafstar headed for the bottom of the trail, weaving a path through Fallowfern’s kits, who were wrestling together near the foot of the Rockpile. But before she had gone more than a few paw steps, she heard Echosong calling her name, and waited for the medicine cat to catch up to her.
“Can Frecklepaw help me find herbs this afternoon?” Echosong puffed. “There’s no cat in the medicine den right now, and I want to build up my supplies for when Clovertail has her kits.”
Trying to ignore the eager light in Frecklepaw’s eyes, Leafstar shook her head. “Echosong, we’ve already discussed this,” she meowed. “Frecklepaw is Ebonyclaw’s apprentice, and she needs to keep up with her patrol duties.”
“But I need an apprentice,” Echosong protested, her ears flicking back in frustration.
“Well, then, wait until Fallowfern’s kits are old enough,” Leafstar suggested. “It won’t be long.”
“What?” Plumkit sat up suddenly, twitching her tail away from Rabbitkit. “I don’t want to be a medicine cat!”
“Neither do I,” Nettlekit agreed, scrambling to his paws from where he had been rolling Creekkit in the dust. “It’s stinky and yucky!”
“And boring!” Rabbitkit added.
“We’re going to be warriors,” Creekkit announced, scrambling to his paws and drawing his lips back in an attempt at a fierce snarl. “I’m going to be Clan leader.”
“No you’re not, I am!” Plumkit hurled herself at her brother.
Creekkit dodged and ran off; his littermates followed him, squealing at the tops of their voices. Leafstar sighed. None of them will ever make a medicine cat, she admitted to herself.
Echosong dug her claws into the ground while her gaze traveled around the listening Clan. Leafstar realized she was angry that most of the Clan had heard the argument, and found herself struggling hard not to show it.
“We’ll discuss this later,” the medicine cat hissed. “I don’t want to hold up your hunting patrol.”
Leafstar felt close to despair as she watched Echosong stalk away. We were so close once.
As the patrol headed up the trail and into the woods, Frecklepaw lagged behind. “I wanted to stay and help Echosong,” she complained.
“Well, you can’t.” Ebonyclaw sounded cross and frustrated, and Leafstar couldn’t blame her. “You’re my apprentice, and you need to train.”
“I don’t want to have a stupid training session.”
Leafstar guessed that Frecklepaw hadn’t meant her mentor to hear her last muttered comment, but the black she-cat’s ears were sharp.
“I’m not too keen, either!” she snapped, giving her apprentice a sharp flick over the ear with her tail. “Now stop moaning and concentrate!”
Leafstar spotted Sharpclaw rolling his eyes. “Both of you need to concentrate,” he meowed. “Carry on like that, and you’ll scare away all the prey between here and the Twolegplace.”
Ebonyclaw lashed her tail but said nothing. Relieved that she didn’t have to step in to end the quarrel, Leafstar led the way deeper into the woodland, picking up the strong scent of squirrel.
It was Sharpclaw who spotted it first. “Over there,” he whispered, angling his ears to where the squirrel was crossing a clearing just ahead of them in a series of short bounces. “Aren’t we lucky?” He glanced sideways at Ebonyclaw. “There’s still some prey left. Maybe it’s deaf. Egg, do you think you can catch it?”
Egg’s eyes gleamed. “I’ll try.”
Frecklepaw gave her fur a bad-tempered shake. “He’s only just been made an apprentice!” she grumbled.
Egg dropped into a crouch and began to creep forward, using tufts of long grass as cover. But he had forgotten to check the wind direction; the breeze was blowing directly from him to the squirrel. Suddenly the creature sat upright, then raced for the nearest tree, its bushy tail waving in the air.
Letting out a screech of frustration, Egg erupted out of the grass. He hurtled across the clearing, cutting down the squirrel’s lead, but he was still several paw steps behind when it reached the tree and began to climb. With a massive SkyClan leap, Egg hurled himself up the tree behind it, and fastened his jaws in its tail before it could reach the safety of the branches. Egg and the squirrel fell to the ground together; the squirrel struggled frantically for a couple of heartbeats, then went limp.
Egg rose to his paws with his prey dangling in front of him. “Was that okay?” he panted through a mouthful of fur.
“Great catch!” Sharpclaw declared, padding over to him and giving the squirrel a sniff.
Leafstar noticed that Ebonyclaw was nodding in agreement, and Frecklepaw’s
eyes were wide with awe, her ill temper forgotten.
“Well done,” Leafstar meowed as they padded over to join Egg at the foot of the tree. “But next time, remember to check the wind. If you’d worked your way around so your scent wasn’t carried to your prey, you wouldn’t have had to chase it like that.”
Egg’s eyes were still shining with triumph. “I’ll remember,” he promised, dropping the squirrel at Leafstar’s paws.
“When we’ve caught some prey we bury it,” Sharpclaw explained, scratching busily at the soft ground beneath the tree with his hind paws. “Then we come back and fetch it later, when we’ve caught enough to take back to camp.”
“I can see a pigeon!” Frecklepaw hissed in an excited whisper as Sharpclaw dropped the squirrel into the hole and began scraping earth back over it. “Can I try to catch it?”
Ebonyclaw nodded, and her apprentice slipped away into the undergrowth. Leafstar spotted the pigeon: a fine plump bird pecking among the roots of a nearby oak tree. Frecklepaw was carefully skirting the clearing to approach from the right direction; Leafstar guessed she was extra eager to make a catch of her own to prove she was just as good as Egg.
As Sharpclaw finished burying the squirrel and dropped a beech husk on the spot to mark it, Leafstar caught sight of Frecklepaw peering out of a clump of fern next to the oak tree. But something alerted the pigeon; it fluttered upward to land on a branch.
“Bad luck!” Ebonyclaw muttered.
But Frecklepaw hadn’t given up. She emerged from the ferns and bunched her muscles to take a leap into the tree, on the side away from the pigeon. Though Leafstar didn’t think she could possibly have startled the bird, it flew off into another tree before she could get close enough to pounce. Frecklepaw followed with a neat jump from the end of a branch onto a fork in the next tree.
“Come on.” Leafstar waved her tail to beckon her patrol. “Let’s see what happens.”