The Fourth Apprentice

CHAPTER 11

Dovepaw stood on the rocks at the mouth of the stream that marked the border with ShadowClan. Even though the sun had only just cleared the horizon, the stones were hot under her pads, and the island at the far side of the lake was veiled in a shimmering haze of heat. The journey was about to begin-the quest that she had set in motion when she heard the animals that were blocking the stream-but Dovepaw couldn’t push down her misery at leaving her sister behind. Before dawn, when Lionblaze had come to rouse her in the apprentices’ den, Ivypaw had curled up and pretended to be asleep so that she didn’t have to say good-bye.

Beside Dovepaw, Brambleclaw and Lionblaze were mewing quietly together. Not wanting to listen in on their conversation, Dovepaw let her senses range farther. She spotted a patrol of RiverClan warriors circling the pool of brackish water in the middle of the lake; they looked hungry and scared. Listening briefly to their complaints about the heat, she pushed her awareness farther still, and focused on the cats in the RiverClan camp. Soon she managed to identify Mistyfoot, Reedwhisker, and the golden-furred medicine cat, Mothwing, whom she had seen at the Gathering.

“I’ve done everything I can for Leopardstar,” Mothwing was meowing anxiously. “But she still hasn’t recovered from losing her last life.”

Mistyfoot shook her head. “She hasn’t had the chance to get her strength back. But there must be some herbs you can use to help her, Mothwing?”

“The herbs are all dried up.” The medicine cat’s mew was quiet. “I’m afraid Leopardstar is going to lose this life as well.”

There was a stunned silence. How many lives does Leopardstar have left? Dovepaw wondered. At last the quiet was broken by Reedwhisker. “Then we have to hope that Firestar’s plan works, and the cats we send find out what has happened to the water.”

The sound of paw steps on the other side of the stream jerked Dovepaw back to her surroundings. Three cats had emerged from the dried-up grass on the opposite side of the stream and were padding down the stretch of pebbles to join her and her Clanmates.

Brambleclaw stepped forward to meet them. “Greetings, Russetfur,” he meowed.

The dark ginger she-cat just grunted in response.

“She’s the ShadowClan deputy, isn’t she?” Dovepaw whispered to Lionblaze. “She looks really old!”

“She was one of the cats who made the Great Journey,” Lionblaze murmured in reply. “But she’s still a formidable warrior. Don’t let her hear you calling her old!”

“These are ShadowClan’s chosen cats,” Russetfur meowed, waving her tail toward the younger warriors who had followed her down to the stream.

The two cats stepped forward and nodded to the ThunderClan patrol. Dovepaw recognized the golden tabby pelt of Tigerheart, Tawnypelt’s son, from the Gathering, but the other warrior, an older dark brown tom, was a stranger to her.

“Who’s that?” she whispered to Lionblaze.

“Toadfoot,” her mentor told her. “He made the Great Journey, too, but he was a kit then.”

“Wow! Kits made the Great Journey?”

Lionblaze nodded, but he motioned with his tail for Dovepaw to be quiet as Russetfur spoke again.

“Don’t forget you’ll be traveling through our territory to begin with,” she growled. “Don’t even think about stealing prey, because my warriors will be watching you.”

Lionblaze let his gaze sweep across the burnt grass on either side of the stream. “What prey would that be?” he asked pointedly.

Russetfur bared her teeth in the beginning of a snarl. “Don’t get clever with me, Lionblaze. And just because this quest was Firestar’s idea, don’t start thinking that ThunderClan cats are in charge.”

“No cat thinks that,” Brambleclaw mewed soothingly. “That wasn’t how it worked on the first journey. They’ll figure things out for themselves on the way.”

Russetfur let out a snort. “What was Firestar thinking, choosing an apprentice?” she demanded, with a glare at Dovepaw. “What use will she be?”

Dovepaw bristled. I’m the one who knows about the animals blocking the stream!

A moment later her eyes flew wide with shock as Lionblaze meowed defensively, “She has to come. She’s the one who knows why the stream is blocked.”

Brambleclaw took a step forward, his eyes narrowed as he gazed at Lionblaze. His jaws opened, but he didn’t speak. Dovepaw guessed that he wanted to say, “Mouse-brain!” but couldn’t in front of the other Clan cats.

“She knows?” Toadfoot looked disbelieving. “How does she know?”

Lionblaze gulped, seeming to realize his mistake. “Oh, she…uh…yeah, she had a dream from StarClan,” he explained awkwardly. “They told her all about it.”

“Yeah, and hedgehogs fly,” Toadfoot muttered.

Dovepaw stood up straighter and tried to look strong and capable, only to cringe when her belly let out a huge rumble. Oh, no!

Russetfur rolled her eyes, and Toadfoot flicked his ears contemptuously, but Dovepaw picked up a sympathetic glance from Tigerheart, and she started to feel a little better. Maybe at least one of the ShadowClan cats was friendly.

Lionblaze touched her shoulder with his tail-tip and angled his ears across the lake to point out three more cats approaching from the direction of RiverClan. As they drew closer, Dovepaw recognized Mistyfoot, along with a young gray-and-white she-cat and a dark gray tabby tom.

“Petalfur and Rippletail,” Lionblaze whispered in her ear.

Mistyfoot dipped her head toward the other deputies, but she didn’t approach. The three RiverClan cats stopped a little way off, waiting with a wary, reserved look on their faces. Dovepaw guessed that even though Leopardstar had been persuaded to let her warriors join in the quest, none of the RiverClan cats were happy about it.

Toadfoot let out a disdainful sniff and leaned over to murmur something to Tigerheart. Dovepaw picked up his soft words. “What a scrawny lot! Leopardstar must be saving her strongest warriors to guard the lake.”

Dovepaw wasn’t sure he was right. True, Petalfur and Rippletail looked hollow and ungroomed, but that seemed to be true of every cat in RiverClan. She wished the ShadowClan cats weren’t so unfriendly. This journey won’t be much fun if we can’t even greet one another!

Russetfur raked her claws through the dried mud of the riverbed. “Where is WindClan?” she meowed impatiently. “I’ve got better things to do than stand here all day.”

Looking past the ShadowClan deputy, Dovepaw spotted three cats racing down the hillside in WindClan territory and heading out across the dried-up lake. Ashfoot, the WindClan deputy, was in the lead, with two she- cats behind her: a small white one and a younger light brown tabby.

“Who are they?” Dovepaw asked her mentor. “I saw them at the Gathering, but no cat told me their names.”

“Whitetail and Sedgewhisker,” Lionblaze replied, peering across the empty lake. “Good choice-Whitetail especially. She’s an experienced warrior.”

Dovepaw was pleased to see that the WindClan cats looked a lot friendlier. They raced up to the waiting cats with excitement shining in their eyes.

“Greetings,” Ashfoot mewed as they skidded to a stop at the edge of the stream. “It’s good to see you.”

“And you, Ashfoot,” Brambleclaw responded, dipping his head.

Russetfur’s only reply was a grunt, and Mistyfoot didn’t say anything at all.

“You know what you have to do,” Brambleclaw went on.

“Find what’s blocking the stream, and get rid of it,” Lionblaze replied promptly, his tail flicking as if he couldn’t