Hollypaw crouched down and pressed her body against Jaypaw’s.
Leafpool nosed the thyme leaves toward Jaypaw. “The thyme will calm him and help with the shock,” she explained.
She licked Jaypaw’s cheek. “Eat them all,” she encouraged.
“They don’t taste too bad, and I’ll send Hollypaw for a nice fresh mouse to wash the taste away once you’ve begun to warm up.”
Jaypaw swallowed the leaves without complaint. He felt too cold and tired to object to anything. He let his eyes close and felt the warmth of his sister’s body seep into his. He was still vaguely aware of the piercing emotion that raced between Crowfeather and Leafpool, but even that slid away as he slipped into the comforting stillness of sleep.
Chapter 10
Dustpelt, Spiderleg, and Ashfur were already waiting by the camp entrance. Firestar stood beneath Highledge with Sandstorm and Brambleclaw, talking quietly to them.
“Why are we hanging about?” Hollypaw fussed, tearing the grass with her thorn-sharp claws.
“It can’t be much longer,” Lionpaw mewed. He felt every bit as excited as his sister. This was their first Gathering, their first chance to meet apprentices from rival Clans, to swap stories and compare training—knowing that the next time they met might be in battle, with claws unsheathed and teeth bared.
“It looks like Firestar’s waiting for Leafpool,” Hazelpaw put in.
“Why’s it taking her so long?” Hollypaw complained.
“She’s only sorting through the new herbs we gathered before sunhigh.”
“She might sort them quicker if she had her apprentice helping,” Berrypaw pointed out.
“I tried helping!” Hollypaw protested. “But Leafpool said it would be quicker if she did it herself.”
Mousepaw’s whiskers twitched. “Are you sure you’re cut out to be a medicine cat?”
“Of course I am,” Hollypaw snapped. “One day you’ll be waiting for
“They’re only teasing you,” Lionpaw soothed her. He thought it was odd that Daisy’s kits were all going to the Gathering, while the Clanborn kits, Cinderpaw, Honeypaw, and Poppypaw, were staying behind.
He looked at Jaypaw, crouching in the entrance of their den, and sighed. He had been sitting there since sundown, forbidden to go to the Gathering as punishment for the adventure that had ended with his half drowning in the lake.
Now he glowered angrily out of the shadows, his sightless blue gaze fixed on his brother and sister joking with Daisy’s kits as they waited to leave.
Why did he have to be so reckless? It was harder now that they were apprentices—Lionpaw’s duties kept him so busy that he could not keep an eye on Jaypaw, as he used to when they were kits. He felt a flash of guilt but pushed it quickly away. His first responsibility was to the Clan now. Jaypaw would have to learn to be more sensible.
He padded over to his brother and smoothed the fur
between his ears with his tongue. “I wish you were coming,”
he mewed.
“You’re the only one who does,” Jaypaw grumbled.
“You know that’s not true,” Lionpaw argued. “It’s your own fault you’ve been confined to camp.”
“Perhaps Firestar just doesn’t want a blind cat at the Gathering.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean it doesn’t look good having an apprentice like me in the Clan,” Jaypaw growled.
Was that true? Before Lionpaw could say anything, he heard Firestar’s call.
“I have to go,” he told Jaypaw. “But I’ll tell you all about it when we get back.”
He ran after the other apprentices, who were already racing toward the entrance. Firestar padded to the head of the party and, with a sharp nod, bounded away through the tunnel. Lionpaw charged after his Clanmates, his heart soar-ing as their paws drummed the forest floor. He felt Hollypaw’s pelt brushing his, rippling with excitement. A moment later they burst out of the tunnel and charged up the slope.
They raced past Sky Oak and down to the lake. The pebbles on the shore clattered beneath their paws. The stones grazed Lionpaw’s pads but he didn’t care; he could already see the island on the far side, rising from the water, crowded with trees. Their slender leafless branches reached up to the
star-pricked sky, trembling like whiskers, and Lionpaw flicked his tail excitedly.
As the cats began the long trek through WindClan territory, Firestar steadied the pace. They passed the horseplace, where Daisy used to live, and crossed into RiverClan territory, always keeping within five tail-lengths of the waterline, as agreed by all the Clans. The ground became muddier as they neared the island. Lionpaw slowed down after he nearly slipped. He didn’t want to arrive covered in mud. He could make out dark shapes streaming over the fallen tree that bridged the gap between shore and island. The scent of WindClan mingled with the scents of ShadowClan and RiverClan; the other Clans were arriving.
“Will you mention the border markers?” Lionpaw heard his father meow. He peered past Mousepaw and Spiderleg and saw Brambleclaw keeping pace with Firestar.
“Do you mean the fact that ShadowClan and WindClan have marked every tree and blade of grass on our borders?”
Firestar asked.
“Yes,” Brambleclaw replied.
“I can’t dictate what the other Clans do in their territory,”
Firestar reminded him.
“But it’s an open show of hostility!” Brambleclaw growled.
“We’re not going to react,” Firestar told him. “Yet.”
“Firestar’s right.” Ashfur hurried to catch up with them. “It would be better to send out more frequent border patrols than give the other Clans the satisfaction of knowing they’ve got us worried.”
“It takes more than the stench of ShadowClan to worry us!” Firestar declared. He broke into a run, bounding the last few tail-lengths to the fallen tree, and skidded to a halt by the withered roots.
Lionpaw stared up at the trunk that bridged the water between the shore and the island. The air was filled with the scents of WindClan, ShadowClan, and RiverClan. “We must be the last to arrive!” he whispered to Hollypaw. Suddenly he felt shy about facing all three Clans at once. “Do you suppose Ferncloud’s nursery stories about ShadowClan are true?”
“You don’t actually believe they let their elders starve, do you?” Hollypaw mewed scornfully.
“Well, no,” Lionpaw murmured. “But what if all the other apprentices are bigger than us?”
“We’ve been apprentices for only a quarter moon,”
Hollypaw pointed out. “There’re bound to be some apprentices bigger than us.”
Firestar leaped up onto the fallen trunk, picked his way carefully across to the far shore, and jumped down. The pebbles swished beneath his paws as he turned to watch his Clanmates cross. Brambleclaw followed him, then Dustpelt, and before he knew it, Lionpaw was watching Hollypaw leap up ahead of him onto the tree. The smooth, black water flowed beneath her, lapping gently at the dead branches that held the tree fast in the lakebed. She weaved her way through the stubby twigs and knots until she reached the other end.
Then she jumped down and turned to watch Lionpaw cross.
