The Fourth Apprentice

Petalfur was crouched on the edge of the shore. “I’m going to help Rippletail,” she yowled, launching herself into the water and swimming out to where her Clanmate was flailing. Lionblaze couldn’t help remembering how happily the two RiverClan cats had played in the water the day before.

All five beavers were clustered together on top of the dam, watching the cats below. Lionblaze and Toadfoot turned to face them, ready to fight if they attacked again before Petalfur could rescue her Clanmate.

The RiverClan she-cat reached Rippletail, grabbed him by the scruff, and began towing him back to the bank. Meanwhile, Whitetail limped up to them from the streambed on the other side of the dam; her paw was bleeding heavily from where she had wrenched out her claw. Dovepaw and Sedgewhisker padded just behind her, with Sedgewhisker leaning on Dovepaw’s shoulder; she still looked half-stunned from her fall off the top of the dam.

As Petalfur swam into the shallows with Rippletail, Lionblaze and Toadfoot waded out into the pool and helped her drag him onto the bank. The RiverClan tom was barely conscious; his paws wouldn’t hold him up and his head drooped. Lionblaze and Toadfoot gripped his shoulders, while Dovepaw and Petalfur held up his hindquarters, and together they maneuvered him up the slope, back to the fern thicket where they had rested earlier. Whitetail and Sedgewhisker struggled up after them.

When they reached their makeshift shelter, Dovepaw tore up some bracken to make a nest, and the cats laid Rippletail down. The shoulder where the beaver had bitten him was bleeding heavily, the blood running down into his wet fur. Lionblaze felt his belly clench as he looked at the long, deep wound.

“We have to stop the bleeding,” Dovepaw mewed. “Does any cat know the proper herbs?”

Lionblaze tried to think. Surely Jayfeather must have said something, sometime, that would be useful now? But between fear and exhaustion, he couldn’t think.

“Rippletail was the cat who knew most about that.” Petalfur’s eyes were wide and frightened. “Mothwing gave him some training before we left.”

Lionblaze’s claws raked the ground in frustration. “Rippletail?” he hissed. “Rippletail, can you hear me?”

But the RiverClan warrior didn’t respond. His eyes were closed now, and his breathing was shallow.

“Cobwebs stop bleeding,” Whitetail meowed.

Dovepaw sprang to her paws. “I’ll go find some.” She plunged into the undergrowth.

Petalfur bent over her Clanmate, gently licking his wet fur as a mother would have cared for her kit. The rest of the cats watched in silence. Oh, StarClan! Lionblaze prayed. Don’t let him come to you yet.

He looked up as a clump of bracken waved wildly, expecting to see Dovepaw returning, but instead it was Woody who stepped into the open, a vole dangling from his jaws. He gaped, dropping his prey, as his gaze fell on Rippletail, and his eyes stretched wide with horror.

“What happened?” he croaked.

“The beavers happened,” Toadfoot replied tersely.

Woody padded up and gave Rippletail’s wound a cautious sniff. “I can’t believe you cats would put yourselves in such danger,” he meowed.

“It’s what we do.” Lionblaze had to restrain himself from snarling at the loner. “The warrior code says that you must fight for your Clan to the death.”

“In that case, you’re fools,” Woody snorted.

Tigerheart let out a snarl of fury and lunged at the loner. “Can’t you see how brave this cat was?”

Woody whipped around to face him, sliding out his claws, but before Tigerheart could reach him Whitetail darted between them and thrust the young warrior back. “This won’t help Rippletail,” she pointed out.

As Tigerheart sat down, breathing hard and glaring at Woody, the bracken parted again and Dovepaw reappeared, hobbling along on three legs while she held up a pawful of cobweb.

“Thanks, Dovepaw.” Petalfur took the cobweb and packed it into Rippletail’s wound, but his blood quickly soaked it. His breathing had grown shallower still.

“His fur is burning,” Petalfur whispered.

Lionblaze realized that the moon had set and the sky was growing pale with the approach of dawn. All the cats, even Woody, sat in silence around Rippletail, listening as his breathing grew fainter and more ragged. At last, as a golden line appeared on the horizon, it stopped.

Lionblaze bowed his head. Rippletail had been a young warrior, with so much to offer his Clan. And in the time that they had traveled together, Lionblaze had begun to think of him as a friend. The beaver had ripped all that away.

“He hunts with StarClan now,” Toadfoot murmured; he reached out with his tail and touched Petalfur’s shoulder.

Petalfur crumpled to the ground with a choking sound of grief. Whitetail and Sedgewhisker pressed close to her, one on each side, and the three she-cats huddled together beside Rippletail’s body. Tigerheart looked on appalled, as if he couldn’t believe that a warrior’s life could end so quickly.

Dovepaw sprang to her paws and padded away, brushing blindly through the grass and ferns. Afraid that in her grief she wouldn’t watch out for danger, Lionblaze followed and caught up to her at the top of the slope, above the huge mound of the dam. The beavers had vanished. Apart from a few scattered logs, there was no sign of the battle that had taken place there such a short time before.

Staring down at the dam, Dovepaw whispered, “We never should have come!”

CHAPTER 20

What in the name of StarClan made her come all this way?

Jayfeather trudged up the rocky path toward the Moonpool, following the scents of Poppyfrost and Breezepelt. His fur prickled as he thought how unlikely it was that the two of them would be together willingly.

What could he possibly want with her?

The sun had gone down, and the wind was rising, bringing with it the damp scent of rain. At last the drought seemed as if it could be coming to an end. That’s one good thing, Jayfeather thought.

One last hard scramble brought him to the ring of thornbushes that surrounded the Moonpool. Pushing his way through, he padded down the spiral path, feeling once more the prints of the ancient Clan beneath his paws. Their whispers surrounded him, but Jayfeather was too intent on finding Poppyfrost to listen to them tonight.

With the endless gush of the waterfall in his ears, he reached the edge of the pool and picked up Poppyfrost’s scent. The she-cat was sitting at the waterside a little farther around. She was alone; there was no sign of Breezepelt. He’s here somewhere. But where?

“Poppyfrost?” Jayfeather whispered.

He heard her gasp of surprise. “Jayfeather! Did you follow me?”

“Yes.” But I won’t tell her another cat might have followed her as well. “Your Clanmates are worried about you,” he went on. “You shouldn’t have come up here alone.”

“My kits are fine,” Poppyfrost responded, her voice dull and listless. “Is Berrynose worried about me?”

Jayfeather hesitated. He hadn’t seen Berrynose before he left; for all he knew the cream-colored warrior was still unaware that his mate had disappeared.

“You don’t need to answer,” Poppyfrost went on bitterly. “Of course he isn’t! He doesn’t care about me. He’s still in love with Honeyfern.”

Jayfeather searched helplessly for the right words to say, but Poppyfrost went on at once, seeming to assume that he agreed with her.

“I wanted to see Honeyfern so much. I miss her more than I can say, and I don’t blame her that Berrynose doesn’t love me.” Poppyfrost let out a shuddering sigh. “I always loved him, even when he was with Honeyfern. But I would never have tried to take him away from her! Then when she died, I thought he might love me after all…but he doesn’t.”