yarrow. This makes cats sick.”
Hollypaw closed her eyes, ashamed and angry. Why couldn’t she remember anything Leafpool taught her?
“Don’t be hard on yourself,” Leafpool encouraged.
“There’s a lot to learn.”
Hollypaw couldn’t meet her eyes.
“Come on,” Leafpool meowed briskly. “We can do without borage. Fetch some marigold leaves and we’ll go and wake Graystripe.”
Marigold leaves! Hollypaw knew what they looked like.
She bounded to the back of the cave and picked up a mouthful, then followed Leafpool across the clearing to Graystripe and Millie’s makeshift den.
Firestar stood outside with Sandstorm and Honeypaw.
Dustpelt, Thornclaw, Poppypaw, and Hazelpaw milled around eagerly. Graystripe and Millie, still ruffled from sleep, sat among them. Millie was staring from face to face, her ears twitching. Even Graystripe looked uncomfortable, like he had forgotten what it was like to have so many cats around him.
“Have you been awake long?” Leafpool asked, weaving through the others to reach Graystripe. She glanced sternly at the cats clustered around the gray warrior and his mate. “I hope no cat woke you.”
“No.” Graystripe drew his paws closer in and tucked his
tail tighter around him. “The sun woke us.”
“You can catch up with everyone later.” Leafpool twitched her tail, making it clear she wanted the other cats to leave.
“Let me know how they are when you’ve finished,” Firestar requested before he led his Clanmates away.
Graystripe’s shoulders loosened as they left. Millie looked relieved too.
“Any scratches?” Leafpool asked.
“Millie has a cut on one of her pads.”
“Let’s have a look.”
Gingerly Millie held up her forepaw. “There’s a thorn in there,” Leafpool meowed. “Jaypaw was right; it’s infected.”
She flicked her tail at Hollypaw. “My apprentice will pull it out while I prepare some leaves to heal the infection.”
Hollypaw gulped and inhaled a fragment of marigold leaf from the bunch she still held in her jaws. She coughed, spitting the leaves out onto the ground, and glanced anxiously at Millie, who gazed equally anxiously back. Hollypaw knew she couldn’t refuse. This was what she had wanted, a chance to practice instead of simply learning. She peered closely at Millie’s paw. Sure enough, a thorn was buried deep in the pad.
To Hollypaw’s dismay she could see blood and pus oozing around it.
“That must be sore,” she breathed. Did she really have to pull it out with her teeth?
Leafpool narrowed her eyes. “Perhaps I’d better do it.”
Self-consciously, Hollypaw backed away and let Leafpool take her place. “Shall I chew the marigold leaves into a
poultice?” she offered, her fur prickling with guilt.
“Yes.” Leafpool was concentrating on Millie’s paw with a detached intensity that Hollypaw wished she could copy.
Why was it all so difficult?
Graystripe began to wash his face. “It’s so good to see the Clan again,” he meowed between licks. “I always hoped I would find you, but I guess I never knew for sure. . . .”
“How did you know where we were?” Hollypaw asked.
“Ravenpaw told us to head toward the setting sun. We were lucky, and StarClan watched over us.”
“Were you angry at Firestar when you found he’d left without you?” Hollypaw meowed boldly.
Graystripe twitched the tip of his tail. “Yes, I was disappointed, but I can understand why he did it. The forest was in ruins. No cat could have survived there.”
“Ow!” Millie leaped backward and began to lick her paw.
Leafpool was holding the thorn between her teeth. She spat it out. “Press the marigold into the wound with your paw,” she told Hollypaw.
Millie held out her sore paw, which was bleeding and swollen where the thorn had been stuck. Hollypaw shuddered and rubbed her paw in the marigold pulp. She began to smear the juice gingerly onto Millie’s swollen pad. Millie stayed very still, even though it must have hurt.
“Cinderpelt would be proud of you both,” Graystripe meowed.
“We’ll do some battle training this afternoon,” Leafpool announced after they had finished treating Graystripe and Millie. “Even medicine cats need to know how to defend their Clan in battle.”
Hollypaw’s heart soared. No pus, no bitter-tasting herbs, no cats wincing in pain—this was going to be fun! They climbed the slope outside the camp, heading away from the lake, and followed the track that led down to the mossy hollow that the apprentices used for battle training. As they padded through the trees, Hollypaw heard energetic mews up ahead. She sniffed the air. Cinderpaw and Cloudtail were already there.
She raced ahead of Leafpool, wanting to know what real warrior training was like. Through the trees she glimpsed the small gray tabby rushing toward Cloudtail. The white warrior twisted faster than a leaf caught in a breeze, and Cinderpaw hurtled past, missing him entirely.
“No, no!” Cloudtail meowed. “Didn’t you hear what I told you? Aim for where you think I’m going to be, not where I am!”
“Sorry!” Cinderpaw panted. “Can I try it one more time?”
Hollypaw padded down the bank and into the clearing.
“Hello,” she mewed.
“Are you collecting herbs?” Cloudtail asked.
“No. Leafpool’s going to teach me some fighting moves.”
“Great!” Cinderpaw mewed. “We can train together.”
Leafpool padded to Hollypaw’s side. “Maybe another time,”
she meowed. “I think it’s better if I show Hollypaw some basic moves before she joins in with warrior apprentices.”
Hollypaw scowled and scuffed the earth with her paw.
Cinderpaw looked back at Cloudtail. “Can we try that move again?”
Cloudtail nodded. “Just remember—” But Cinderpaw was already hurtling toward him. He whipped around in a circle once more, and once more dodged neatly out of her path.
“Come on,” Leafpool meowed to Hollypaw. “We’ll use that space over there.” She pointed with her nose to the far side of the mossy green clearing. Hollypaw noticed how smooth and soft it looked. Perfect for fighting on. No roots to trip over, no leaves to skid on.
“We’ll start with a defensive move, I think.” Leafpool turned her back on Hollypaw and meowed over her shoulder,
“I want you to watch me and then copy what I do.” She dipped her head, twisted around, and rolled onto her back before springing back up onto her paws. The whole move was over in a heartbeat. “Do you want to have a go?”
Hollypaw nodded. “I think I’ve got it.” She ducked her head, twisted around, and rolled over, leaping to her paws again in an instant.
Cloudtail called across the clearing, “Was that your first go?”
“Yes,” Hollypaw answered. “Did I do it right?” She glanced anxiously at Leafpool.
