as Firestar spoke to them.
“Lionblaze.” Firestar flicked his tail toward the golden tabby warrior who stood close to the tumbled rocks that led up to the Highledge. “You will be mentor to Dovepaw. You are a loyal warrior and your battle skills are outstanding. I know that you will pass these qualities on to Dovepaw.”
She bounded over to him, anxiously looking up into his amber eyes. She was astonished and delighted to see how pleased he looked as he bent his head to touch noses with her.
“I’ll work really hard,” she promised him in a whisper.
“So will I,” Lionblaze replied. “We’ll make a great team.”
Dovepaw stood proudly beside him and listened as Firestar repeated the ceremony for her sister. Ivykit looked lonely and nervous all by herself in the middle of the circle of cats, but she kept her head up bravely, her gaze fixed on Firestar.
“Ivykit,” Firestar meowed, “from this day until you receive your warrior name, you will be called Ivypaw. May StarClan watch over you and guide you in your journey to become a warrior.” He paused for a heartbeat for the rest of the Clan to call Ivypaw by her new name, then swept his tail toward Cinderheart. “Cinderheart, you have shown courage and endurance in your apprenticeship, and I trust now that you will teach Ivypaw to follow in your path.”
A murmur of approval rose up from the surrounding cats as Ivypaw scampered across the clearing to touch noses with Cinderheart. The gray warrior’s blue eyes shone with joy as she welcomed her new apprentice.
“Dovepaw! Ivypaw!” the Clan called out.
Dovepaw felt as if she were about to burst with pride and happiness as her Clanmates crowded around to congratulate them both.
“What do we do now?” she asked Lionblaze eagerly.
“Nothing exciting, I’m afraid,” he replied with a twitch of his ears. “The Clan needs water. We have to collect some moss, and then go down to the lake to soak it.”
Dovepaw gave a little skip of excitement. “That’s great! I’ll get to see more of the territory.” Glancing around for her sister, she added, “Can Ivypaw and Cinderheart come with us?”
“Of course.” It was Cinderheart who replied, padding toward them with Ivypaw bouncing at her side. “But we have to watch out for RiverClan. They might try to cause trouble.”
“I thought RiverClan was on the other side of the lake?” Ivypaw asked, tipping her head on one side.
“Not anymore,” Lionblaze growled. “Let’s get going, and I’ll explain on the way.”
He led them through the thorn tunnel and headed in the direction of the lake. Dovepaw had never been more than a few fox-lengths outside the camp, but her excitement at seeing somewhere new was mixed with indignation at what Lionblaze and Cinderheart were telling them.
“But RiverClan can’t just take the lake like that!” she protested. “Can they?”
“Why doesn’t Firestar fight them?” Ivypaw mewed.
“Firestar doesn’t like to cause trouble,” Cinderheart explained. “He always tries to look for a solution that doesn’t involve fighting. That’s part of what makes him such a great leader.”
Dovepaw wasn’t sure that she understood. Even though she was only a new apprentice, she knew that Clans didn’t trespass on one another’s territory. That was part of the warrior code!
“Stick close to me and Cinderheart,” Lionblaze warned them. “And whatever happens,
Their mentors took them to the foot of a huge oak tree, where they collected balls of moss from the roots, and then onward to the lake. As they emerged from the trees onto the bank, Dovepaw’s mouth dropped open, letting her moss fall.
“I thought the lake was huge!” she gasped. “Not just that little bit of water right over there.” She felt a stab of disappointment. Why did the warriors make such a fuss about something that was not much bigger than a puddle?
“It usually comes right up to where we are now,” Lionblaze told her. He angled his ears forward to where a narrow strip of pebbles gave way to dried mud. “It’s only because of the drought that it’s shrunk so much.”
“The drought also means there haven’t been so many Twolegs around this greenleaf,” Cinderheart meowed. “So it isn’t all bad.” It sounded as if she was trying to convince herself as much as the apprentices.
“What if the lake shrinks away altogether?” Ivypaw asked.
“It won’t,” Cinderheart stated, though the look she exchanged with Lionblaze told Dovepaw that she wasn’t completely certain. “It’s bound to rain soon.”
“Now that we’re here, you might as well learn something about the territories,” Lionblaze meowed. “This is ThunderClan territory, of course, and over there”-he swept his tail around in an arc-“is WindClan.”
Dovepaw’s gaze followed his pointing tail to where smooth grassy moorland swelled up to meet the sky. “There aren’t many trees for hunting in,” she remarked.
“No, WindClan cats like open spaces, so their territory’s perfect for them,” Cinderheart told her. “ShadowClan cats like pine trees, so they chose the territory over on that side.”
Dovepaw and Ivypaw both examined the dark line of trees that bordered the lake on the other side of ThunderClan. “I’m glad I’m not a ShadowClan cat,” Ivypaw mewed.
Dovepaw concentrated for a moment, trying to memorize everything that the scene in front of her could tell her. She could see a group of cats on the ShadowClan side, trekking across the barren ground toward the distant lake, and she drew in a long breath to taste their scent. On the WindClan side, cats were returning to the shore, and Dovepaw breathed in their scent, too.
“Ivypaw,” she whispered, flicking her sister over one ear with her tail, “you should be picking up the scents of those cats over there. It’s all stuff we need to know.”
“What?” Ivypaw gave her a puzzled look, but before Dovepaw could say any more, she was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Lionblaze.
“Now what’s happening?”
Dovepaw looked across the brittle brown mud and spotted a patrol of ThunderClan cats close to the water’s edge. They seemed to be struggling, their backs arched and tails thrashing in the air. A couple of heartbeats later one of the warriors began racing back to the shore; as he drew closer she recognized Thornclaw.
“Trouble?” Lionblaze called.
“Berrynose and Spiderleg are stuck in the mud,” Thornclaw panted, pausing briefly. “I need a branch or something to get them out.”
“We’ll come and help,” Cinderheart told him, with a whisk of her tail to beckon the two apprentices. “Come on, you two. Bring your moss, and watch where you’re putting your paws.”
As she led them out onto the mud, Dovepaw glanced back to see Thornclaw pull a long stick out from under the roots of an elder bush at the edge of the bank. Before he could carry it off, Jayfeather erupted from the undergrowth, a bundle of herbs in his jaws.
“Hey, that’s mine!” he protested, spitting leaves everywhere. “Put it back!”
“Are you mouse-brained?” Thornclaw mumbled around the stick. “I need it. It’s only a stick.”
“It’s
“Okay, I’ll bring back your stupid stick,” Thornclaw snarled. “Keep your fur on.”
He raced back across the mud with the stick in his jaws. Dovepaw and Ivypaw followed more slowly behind their mentors. Dovepaw was trying to lift each paw almost as soon as it touched the scorching ground. Her pads would be shriveled by the time she reached the water.
“Do you think the heat is getting to Jayfeather?” Ivypaw whispered. “Thornclaw’s right. It’s only a stick.”
Dovepaw shrugged. “Maybe it’s medicine cat stuff.”
“Yes, but what happens to us if our medicine cat gets bees in his brain?”
Dovepaw didn’t reply. They were drawing closer to the edge of the lake, and she could see the glistening bodies of dead fish lying here and there; she almost choked as the smell rolled out to meet her. Suddenly the hard
