The Fourth Apprentice

“Thanks, Jayfeather,” the blind elder meowed.

Outside in the clearing, Jayfeather faced the two queens. “Right, tell me from the beginning.”

“When I woke up, Poppyfrost wasn’t in the nursery,” Daisy mewed. “Ferncloud didn’t know where she’d gone. We weren’t worried at first, but when she didn’t come back we started to look for her.”

“She’s not in the camp,” Ferncloud added.

Jayfeather wasn’t sure how worried he ought to be. Poppyfrost was at least a moon away from having her kits, so she wouldn’t do herself any harm if she had just gone for a walk.

“We ought to tell some cat,” Daisy suggested.

“But who?” Ferncloud asked reasonably. “Firestar has taken a patrol to fetch water; Brackenfur and Sorreltail are out hunting with Brambleclaw-”

“Cinderheart is training her apprentice,” Jayfeather added. And it won’t do any good to tell Berrynose, he thought, remembering how brusquely the cream-colored warrior had treated his mate when they met by the lake. “I don’t think you ought to worry,” he went on. “Poppyfrost has probably gone to stretch her legs, or maybe to get a drink of water.”

“You’re probably right,” Ferncloud meowed, sounding relieved.

Waves of anxiety were still coming from Daisy’s pelt, but she didn’t protest when Ferncloud urged her gently back to the nursery.

Jayfeather padded back to his den and headed for the storage cleft to sort out some herbs for Dustpelt. He hadn’t exactly been telling the truth when he told the tabby warrior he had plenty of what he needed to ease the stiffness in his back. He hadn’t wanted to admit that the stocks of tansy were getting dangerously low, in case Dustpelt refused to take any more.

His head deep in the storage cleft, Jayfeather sensed rather than heard movement outside the den. As he backed out, he picked up Daisy’s scent. “Come in, Daisy,” he mewed, stifling a sigh. He wasn’t surprised that she had come to see him; he knew she was making herself frantic over the absent queen.

The she-cat brushed past the bramble screen and halted in front of Jayfeather, her claws working in the dry ground. “I’m so worried about Poppyfrost! She’s been really down lately.”

“Why do you think that is?” Jayfeather asked, remembering what Cinderheart had told him. “There’s nothing the matter with her kits. They’re fine inside her; I’ve heard them squirming around. And the warriors are making sure she gets plenty of water and fresh-kill.”

“It’s not that,” Daisy meowed with an impatient flick of her tail. “It’s Berrynose. Poppyfrost thinks he doesn’t love her.”

Jayfeather stifled a groan. I really don’t have time for this! “Well, Berrynose did love Honeyfern first.”

Daisy let out a shocked gasp. “I can’t believe you said that, Jayfeather! It shouldn’t matter who Berrynose loved before, now that he’s with Poppyfrost.”

Jayfeather shrugged. “Maybe it does.” It seems logical to me. Every cat knows that Berrynose wanted Honeyfern for his mate, andthen she was killed by the snake.

“Poppyfrost is afraid that Berrynose doesn’t want her or the kits,” Daisy went on. “She thinks he wants Honeyfern back.”

“Well, that’s not going to happen,” Jayfeather pointed out.

“I know that!” Daisy snapped. “But Poppyfrost isn’t being logical.”

You can say that again! Jayfeather sighed inwardly.

Daisy scraped the packed earth with her claws. “What if she’s decided to leave the Clan forever?”

“She wouldn’t do that,” Jayfeather reassured her. StarClan save me from fussing she-cats! “But I’ll have a word with Firestar when he gets back from his water patrol. Maybe some cats can go looking for her.” Though I’m not sure which cats we can spare, with so many needed for hunting and training and water patrols.

Gently he guided Daisy out of his den and across the clearing to the nursery. He could sense that she still wasn’t happy, but he didn’t see what more he could do.

Once she was back inside, Jayfeather headed for the rock wall to check the holes for any sign that the snake might have paid another visit. Sunhigh was just past, and the ground was scorching hot, burning his pads; the basking rock was far too hot for the elders to be sunning themselves there.

At least I don’t have to deal with Purdy this time!

As he pulled out the stones that were blocking the holes so that he could get a good sniff, Jayfeather pictured the day when Honeyfern died. Wincing, he let Berrynose’s horror flood over him as he watched the young she-cat writhing in agony from the poison. The warrior’s grief lingered at the foot of the cliff like a memory, soaking into the stones themselves.

It was enough to make Berrynose wish that he had been bitten by the snake instead of Honeyfern. If Poppyfrost knows that, she has good reason to run away.

Jayfeather paused halfway through rolling the last stone back into its hole. He suddenly had an awful suspicion about where Poppyfrost might be.

Leaving the hollow, he slipped under the forest trees, thankful for the cool shade and the air that felt so damp he could almost drink it. Poking out his parched tongue, he tried to lap it, but that only made him feel thirstier than ever.

Mouse-brain! What are you, a kit?

Giving himself a shake, Jayfeather headed through the trees up to the ridge that overlooked the lake. The air was hot and dry, sweeping across him in a scorching wind that carried the scents and sounds of cats up from the waterside. He knew what the lake looked like from his dreams; now he tried to picture it as much smaller, surrounded by dried mud and stones.

Even the underground tunnels will be dry by now.

Padding along the ridge, Jayfeather stopped every few paces to taste the air. Finally he picked up Poppyfrost’s scent on a clump of long grass. Yes! I was right. He followed the traces along the spine of the hill until he reached the WindClan border. Poppyfrost’s scent was just discernible beneath the WindClan scent markers.

Jayfeather’s heart sank as he confirmed what he had suspected all along. Poppyfrost was trying to retrace the path she had followed in her dreams, all the way to the Moonpool.

Mouse-brained cat!

Following his Clanmate’s scent, Jayfeather set off along the path to the Moonpool. But before he had taken many paw steps, he picked up another scent, slightly fresher than Poppyfrost’s and overlying it, as if the cat it belonged to was following her.

Breezepelt! What’s he doing here?

CHAPTER 18

Dovepaw felt her pelt stand on end with excitement as she looked at her mentor, his eyes glimmering in the moonlight that shone through the cleft in the hollow tree.

“What can you sense?” he asked in a murmur low enough not to wake the sleeping cats, or to reach Petalfur on watch outside.

Dovepaw closed her eyes. “Scraping sounds through the ground,” she whispered. “The sound of teeth gnawing wood…and the crash of trees falling! The brown animals are dragging the trees to the stream and setting them in place, lodged tightly together like a wall.” She took a deep breath. “Oh-I can sense the water! It’s trapped behind the trees… What are these creatures?”

She opened her eyes again to see Lionblaze looking alarmed, though his expression quickly changed to a look of determination when he saw she was watching him. “How many animals are there?” he meowed.

“I’m not sure…” Dovepaw tried to concentrate on the brown animals as they moved among the fallen trees,