The Fourth Apprentice

medicine cat did, that Jayfeather had sent him outside. But it annoyed Jayfeather almost as much to hear him pacing up and down, and sticking his head in every few heartbeats to ask stupid questions.

Any cat would think no queen had ever kitted before!

Berrynose withdrew, and Jayfeather could hear his nervous pacing start up again. Outside the nursery, night lay over the stone hollow, with a gentle breeze stirring the trees and the scent of leaf-fall in the air. Two nights before, Jayfeather had traveled to the Moonpool to meet with the other medicine cats. He had hoped to learn more about Yellowfang’s warning, but none of the other medicine cats spoke about messages from StarClan, or dreams of the Dark Forest. When Jayfeather settled down to sleep by the lake, he had found himself padding through the sunlit territory of the Clans’ ancestors, but no starry warriors had answered his calls.

A grunt of pain from Poppyfrost distracted Jayfeather, and another powerful ripple passed through her belly.

“It won’t be long now,” he promised.

Daisy stopped licking to give Poppyfrost a drink from a clump of soaked moss, and the she-cat relaxed with a long sigh. “No cat told me it would be such hard work,” she murmured.

“What happened? I heard something! Are they here yet?” It was Berrynose again, thrusting his head and shoulders into the nursery.

“Berrynose, you’re blocking all the light,” Ferncloud pointed out gently. “It really isn’t helping.”

“These are my kits, you know,” Berrynose protested.

“Yes, and I’m the one having them!” Poppyfrost meowed sharply. “Honestly, Berrynose, I’m fine.”

At that moment, Jayfeather heard his brother’s voice calling from outside the nursery. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Yes,” Jayfeather called back. “Keep Berrynose out of my fur!”

Berrynose drew back with an offended snort, and Jayfeather heard Lionblaze talking quietly to him. The paw steps started up again, but this time there were two sets, drawing a little farther away from the nursery.

“Right,” Jayfeather mewed. “Now we can get on with it.”

Poppyfrost grunted as she strained to bring her kits into the world. “I don’t think they’re ever coming,” she panted as the spasm passed.

“They will,” Jayfeather told her calmly. “This first kit is a big one; that’s why it’s taking longer. But it’ll be here soon.”

The she-cat gasped for breath; Jayfeather felt her belly convulse, and a kit slithered out onto the moss.

“Oh, look!” Ferncloud exclaimed in a delighted purr. “A tom-and he’s beautiful, Poppyfrost.”

Poppyfrost gave a grunt of acknowledgment as another spasm passed through her. Jayfeather carefully felt her belly. “Just one more to come,” he told her.

She’s getting tired, he thought. Come on, kit, get a move on. Your mother needs to rest.

Daisy gave Poppyfrost another drink, while Ferncloud bent over her, murmuring encouragingly. But Poppyfrost was barely conscious by the time the second kit, a little she-cat, slipped out to join her brother.

“Oh, they’re just beautiful!” Daisy whispered; she and Ferncloud bent their heads to lick the kits into wakefulness. “Look, Poppyfrost. Aren’t they lovely?”

Poppyfrost let out an exhausted murmur and gathered the two kits toward her belly. Jayfeather could hear their tiny squeaks that faded into silence as they began to suckle.

“All done,” he stated with satisfaction. “Here, Poppyfrost, eat these borage leaves. They’ll help your milk to come.”

Listening to the new mother licking up the herbs, Jayfeather suddenly had the sensation that the nursery had grown more crowded. “Okay, Berrynose, you can come and meet your kits,” he meowed.

He turned, expecting to pick up Berrynose’s scent. Instead he realized that he could see the branches of the nursery, intertwined with bramble tendrils to keep out the drafts.

Am I dreaming?

There was no sign of Berrynose, but three other cats were sitting beside the nursery wall. Horror stiffened every hair on Jayfeather’s pelt when he saw the muscular tabby shapes of Tigerstar and Hawkfrost, one with gleaming amber eyes, the other with ice blue. The third cat was a big brown tom with a crooked tail. Jayfeather had never seen him before, but he recognized the scent of the cat who had attacked him at the Moonpool during his fight with Breezepelt.

There was hunger in the eyes of the three spirit cats as they stared at the newborn kits.

Jayfeather was still frozen with shock when Lionblaze pushed his head into the den. “Can Berrynose come in yet?” he asked.

Then his eyes narrowed and he turned his head toward the three cats from the Dark Forest. “You will not have these kits!” he hissed.

Jayfeather’s heart began to pound. “You can see them?”

Lionblaze nodded. “Yes. I can see them.” He let out a snarl, baring his teeth.

“Lionblaze, what in the name of StarClan are you doing?” Daisy asked. “Go get Berrynose.”

At the sound of the she-cat’s voice the three cats vanished, and Jayfeather’s sight went dark once more. He crouched down, trembling, as Lionblaze withdrew, and forced himself to turn back to the kits. The sound of healthy suckling calmed him, and he managed to pull himself together as Berrynose came into the nursery.

The young warrior was quivering with excitement. “Oh, wow! A son and a daughter!” he exclaimed. He pressed himself close to Poppyfrost, covering her face with licks. “You’re so clever, so beautiful,” he kept repeating. “Our kits are going to be the best in the Clan!”

As Jayfeather listened, he became aware of Honeyfern’s scent wreathing around him, and a faint murmur reached his ears.

Thank you.

His head still spinning, Jayfeather slipped into the clearing. Lionblaze was waiting for him. “Do you know who that third cat is?” he demanded.

Jayfeather shook his head. “I don’t know his name, but I’ve met him before. He attacked me at the Moonpool when I was fighting against Breezepelt.”

“What?” Lionblaze sounded horrified, and his claws scraped against the earth of the clearing.

Quickly Jayfeather told him what had happened when he had followed Poppyfrost to the Moonpool. “Breezepelt seems to want vengeance on every cat in ThunderClan,” he finished, “because of what Leafpool and Crowfeather did.”

“I can understand that…in a way,” Lionblaze meowed. “But where did the other cat come from?”

“Yellowfang spoke to me in a dream,” Jayfeather told his brother. “She seems to know this cat-he comes from the Dark Forest, like Tigerstar and Hawkfrost-but she didn’t tell me his name.” He let out a frustrated sigh. “I don’t understand why cats from the Dark Forest are suddenly appearing among the Clans. Do they really want to get involved in new quarrels?”

But that’s what Rock told me, he suddenly remembered. He spoke about ancient grievances that will be answered. Is this what he meant?

“Jayfeather, there’s something I need to tell you.” Lionblaze led his brother out through the thorn barrier and into the forest, halting to face him on the mossy ground beneath an oak tree. The branches creaked peacefully above them in the breeze.

“I have a confession to make,” Lionblaze began.

Jayfeather listened, his mouth dropping open with horror, as Lionblaze told him how Tigerstar used to visit him at night, and how the vengeful cat had trained him to fight better and more strongly than his Clanmates. Not for the sake of his Clan-but to satisfy Tigerstar’s own hunger for power.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Jayfeather croaked when Lionblaze had finished.

“Because I thought it was my destiny,” Lionblaze replied. “Tigerstar told me he was my kin, but he knew all along that he wasn’t. So he lied, he lied to get me on his side, as one of his warriors for a battle among the Clans.”

“It’s coming,” Jayfeather whispered. “A battle between StarClan and the Dark Forest, and every warrior will be called upon to fight.” Ice-cold fear raised every hair on his pelt. “Did the three cats come tonight in case one of