The Apprentice's Quest (12 page)

“Jayfeather will claw my ears off,” he muttered.

“Nonsense!” Sandstorm mewed briskly. “Alderpaw, you need to stop getting your tail in a twist and go tell the others.”

Alderpaw's paw steps dragged as he headed across the stone hollow to the medicine cats' den. By the time he reached it, Leafpool had returned and was bending over the sleeping Briarlight.

“I . . . uh . . . I need to talk to you about something important,” he began.

Jayfeather twitched his whiskers. “What now?”

Leafpool flicked his ear with her tail. “Of course you can talk to us, Alderpaw, but let's go outside. Briarlight just woke up and ate something, but she's sleeping again now, and I don't want her disturbed.”

“Make it quick,” Jayfeather meowed.

Outside the den, Alderpaw spoke in a low voice as he told his mentors about his vision at the Moonpool. “Sandstorm said she recognized those cats,” he finished.

To his amazement, Leafpool was gazing at him with glowing amber eyes, while Jayfeather clawed at the ground in his excitement.
They're
both
really pleased,
Alderpaw thought,
not just Leafpool.

“Do you think this might be my first vision?” he asked.

“No,” Jayfeather responded, “this wasn't your
first
vision. Remember when the medicine cats were given the prophecy from StarClan? Didn't I see you there?”

Alderpaw gazed at him in wonder. Maybe he really
had
seen Firestar before! “That was a
vision
?”

Jayfeather rolled his eyes. “StarClan give me strength!”

“Yes, it was a vision,” Leafpool replied. “And that's why it was clear to us that you should become a medicine-cat apprentice. Alderpaw, StarClan obviously has big plans for you!”

Alderpaw found that hard to take in. He felt so excited that he was tingling from nose to tail-tip, and his claws flexed in and out.
I wasn't chosen to be a medicine cat just because I was a terrible hunter—I was chosen because I have these special powers!

“We'll have to go and discuss this with Bramblestar,” Leafpool announced.

“Good,” Alderpaw meowed, turning toward his leader's den.
I can't wait to hear what Bramblestar thinks about this!

Leafpool shook her head, while Jayfeather raised a paw to halt Alderpaw. “No, we're going alone,” he rasped. “You may have had the vision, but you're too inexperienced to discuss what it means. We'll tell you what happens.”

Alderpaw's sensation of being special faded. “Oh,” he
muttered, feeling young and silly again. He stayed outside the den, watching Leafpool and Jayfeather as they headed toward the tumbled rocks that led up to the Highledge.

I guess whatever my vision was trying to tell me, the older cats will take care of it
.

Left alone in the den, Alderpaw
went back to the tasks of sorting dried herbs and putting away the fresh ones Leafpool and Jayfeather had brought back. Once his excitement had died down, he felt as if his pelt didn't quite fit him anymore. He wasn't sure that he wanted to be a cat who had important visions, and he wished he knew how Bramblestar would react to what Alderpaw's mentors were telling him.

He had almost finished the task when he heard limping paw steps approaching the den.
Oh no—that must be Cherryfall!

Alderpaw had no idea what he would say to her. He didn't know whether to apologize about treating her without asking advice, or to ask how she was doing, or just ignore the whole thing.

But when Cherryfall poked her head around the bramble screen, he had no chance to say anything. “Alderpaw!” she blurted out. “You have to come quickly—Sparkpaw's hurt!”

Terror tore through Alderpaw like a massive claw. Remembering what had happened when he treated Cherryfall, he wondered whether he should get the other medicine cats.

No—it's my sister! I have to help her
now
!

“Show me where,” he mewed to Cherryfall.

Racing out of the den, he followed the ginger she-cat toward the ShadowClan border. They pelted through the forest, dodging around bramble thickets and leaping over fallen branches. As they drew closer, Alderpaw could hear his sister's agonized yowling. The sound grew louder as they barreled through a clump of ferns and emerged near the greenleaf Twolegplace.

Sparkpaw was lying in a heap at the foot of a tree. Hollytuft was crouched beside her, gently stroking her shoulder, while Ivypool was encouraging her to lap from a bunch of soaked moss. Both warriors stood up and took a pace back as Alderpaw bounded up to his littermate.

“What happened?” he panted.

“She was climbing on a thin branch, trying to catch a bird,” Cherryfall explained. “She fell right out of the tree, and now her foreleg . . .” She winced, her voice dying away.

“Oowwww!”
Sparkpaw mewled; her whole body was twisted with agony.

Alderpaw started to shake at the sight of his sister—bright, capable Sparkpaw—in such pain and distress.
I've never seen her like this! She's always so confident and in control.
Now that he was close enough, he could see her foreleg was pointing at an awkward angle, not natural at all.

His heart pounded as he remembered Purdy telling him a story about Cinderheart: how she had fallen from a tree and broken her leg, and how she had had to spend moons in the
medicine cats' den before she could use it again.

Please, StarClan, don't let that happen to Sparkpaw.

Steadying himself, Alderpaw crouched down beside his sister. “I have to examine your leg,” he meowed. “It might hurt.”

Sparkpaw nodded. “Just do it,” she mewed through clenched teeth.

Alderpaw ran his paws over Sparkpaw's leg and shoulder. At once relief washed over him like a warm tide.
It's not broken—only dislocated. And I know how to fix that!

Leafpool had taught him what to do, telling him of when the same thing had happened to Berrynose when he was out hunting and had fallen over the edge of a rocky bank. Suddenly Alderpaw felt much more confident.

“Don't worry,” he reassured Sparkpaw. He tried to sound sure of himself, even though his paws were shaking. “You're going to feel much better very quickly.”

As he spoke, he saw Ivypool lean closer to Hollytuft, and heard her whispering, “Does he
really
know what he's doing?”

Hollytuft just shook her head uncertainly.

Alderpaw hesitated for a moment.
Do I know?

Then Sparkpaw let out another yowl of pain, and he gave himself a mental shake. “Cherryfall,” he directed, “put your paw on her other shoulder, just there. Ivypool and Hollytuft, keep her hind legs still. Don't worry, Sparkpaw,” he added. “It'll all be over in the time it takes you to catch a mouse.”

Bending over Sparkpaw, Alderpaw took hold of her injured leg with one paw and her shoulder with the other.
You can't
overthink it,
he remembered Leafpool saying.
Just do it quickly, with a forceful push.

Just as his mentor had told him, Alderpaw forced his sister's leg back into its socket with a quick, sure motion. Sparkpaw convulsed under his paws and let out a shriek. But beneath her cry, Alderpaw heard the
pop
as her leg slipped back into position.

Did that do the trick?
he wondered. He had heard gasps of horror from Ivypool and Hollytuft, as if they thought he had made things worse.

“You can let her go now,” he told the warriors. “Sparkpaw, try standing up.”

Sparkpaw blinked at him, then slowly staggered to her paws and began to pad back and forth. Alderpaw watched her, hardly daring to breathe. She still looked shaky, and she was limping a little, but she could put weight on the leg.

“That's amazing!” Sparkpaw exclaimed, turning toward her brother. “It feels
so
much better. Thanks so much, Alderpaw. You're turning out to be a great medicine cat.”

“You sure are,” Cherryfall agreed.

Hollytuft and Ivypool were looking impressed, too. Alderpaw licked his chest fur in embarrassment as they congratulated him, though he reveled in their looks of approval.

“I'd better get back to my herbs,” he mewed shyly. “Sparkpaw, you need to have Leafpool or Jayfeather check you out when you get back to camp.”

Alderpaw felt like his paws were hardly touching the
ground as he padded back through the forest.
I treated Sparkpaw's injury! And she's okay!

Then, as he passed the old Twoleg path, he realized with a start that he had left without permission. His pelt prickled with anxiety, though as he drew close to the camp, he tried to throw off his worries.

Maybe I can sneak back in without any cat noticing.

But as he rounded an old tree stump and came within sight of the thorn barrier, he spotted Bramblestar waiting for him beside the entrance to the tunnel.

Oh, no!
Alderpaw thought.
Am I in trouble again? I shouldn't have left camp . . . and didn't Jayfeather
just
tell me that I shouldn't be doing anything without asking him or Leafpool?

“I'm sorry! I'm really sorry!” he burst out as he bounded up to Bramblestar. “I won't—”

“I don't know what you're apologizing for,” Bramblestar interrupted with a confused look. “I'm not here because you're in trouble. I need to talk to you because Jayfeather and Leafpool have told me about your vision.”

Startled, Alderpaw stretched his eyes wide. In all the stress of helping Sparkpaw, he had forgotten that his mentors were discussing that with Bramblestar.

“Let's sit over here.” Bramblestar pointed with his tail at a shady spot underneath an arching clump of ferns. When both cats were comfortably settled, he went on, “We think the vision means that you've been chosen for a very special quest.”

Alderpaw felt warm all over at the look of pride in his father's eyes, so that at first he didn't really take in what he was saying.

“So you must leave ThunderClan and go on this quest,” Bramblestar added.

Wait . . . a quest?

Every hair on Alderpaw's pelt rose in shock at what his Clan leader was telling him. “But . . . but I can't!” he gasped.

Bramblestar curled his tail around to rest it on Alderpaw's shoulder. “StarClan wouldn't have sent you the vision if you weren't ready,” he meowed. “We believe the vision you had was about the prophecy. As Sandstorm told you, the cats you saw are from another Clan, called SkyClan. Since the prophecy mentioned the sky clearing, we think they may be in trouble. Jayfeather, Leafpool, and I agree that you must go on a quest to find them.”

Alderpaw realized that he was gaping like a blackbird chick waiting for food. He tried hard to speak calmly, and to ask sensible questions that would help him understand.

“Sandstorm told me that the cats I saw belong to SkyClan,” he began. “But I don't see why they should need
my
help. And how am I ever going to find them?”

“It's a long story.” Bramblestar sat erect, with his tail curled around his paws, and looked down at Alderpaw. “It began many, many seasons ago, in the old forest. SkyClan lived there, too, along with the four Clans that you know.”

“So there were
five
Clans?” Alderpaw breathed out.

“Yes. But SkyClan lost their territory because Twolegs took it to build their own nests. And the other four Clans refused to share the territory that was left. They drove SkyClan out of the forest.”

“That's so unfair!” Alderpaw exclaimed indignantly.

Bramblestar bowed his head. “The remaining Clans were ashamed of what they had done, and afterward they never spoke of SkyClan. Eventually, all memory of them was lost.”

“And what happened to SkyClan?”

“They traveled a long way and finally came to the gorge where you saw them. Their Clan thrived there for a while, but at last they were driven out and scattered.”

“So what I saw was a vision from the past?” Alderpaw asked. His pelt was growing hot with anger at what SkyClan had suffered, and he dug his claws hard into the ground.

Bramblestar shook his head. “Back in the old forest—it was about the time that I became a warrior—Firestar was visited by the spirit of the SkyClan leader who had led his Clan out of the forest. He charged Firestar with a quest to find the remnants of SkyClan and restore it.”

“Wow! And Firestar really did that?”

“Sandstorm went with him, and she can tell you everything that happened,” Bramblestar replied. “But in the end, yes, they restored SkyClan and left the cats living by the warrior code in the gorge.”

“So that's how Sandstorm recognized the cats I saw!” Alderpaw meowed. “Their leader, Leafstar, and the deputy,
Sharpclaw, and . . . what was the medicine cat's name? Oh—Echosong!”

“That's right,” Bramblestar responded. “I believe that SkyClan may need our help again. But listen, Alderpaw. What happened to SkyClan is such a secret that only three living cats know about it: Sandstorm and me, and now you. That means we can't tell
any
cat what your quest is really about—not even Leafpool and Jayfeather.”

Alderpaw stared at him, so stunned for the moment that he couldn't get any words out. “You—you mean,” he stammered at last, “you mean there's a part of warrior history so secret that even the
medicine cats
don't know about it?”

Bramblestar nodded. “Only you and I and Sandstorm know the truth.”

Alderpaw took a moment to think about that. “Why does it need to be a secret?” he asked. “Isn't it sort of dishonest to lie about the quest?”

“You just need to have faith in me,” Bramblestar mewed gently. “Telling the truth now would do more harm than good. I know I'm trusting you with a huge responsibility,” he added. “But I wouldn't be doing it if I didn't think you were up to the task.”

Rising to his paws, he nuzzled the top of Alderpaw's head briefly, then padded back toward the camp. Alderpaw watched him go, a flood of emotions surging through him. The secrecy worried him, while at the same time he felt an intense curiosity to know what was going on, and whether SkyClan really needed ThunderClan's help. His anxiety that he might not
be good enough to be entrusted with the task warred with the pride he felt that Bramblestar believed in him.

Maybe Sparkpaw is right,
he thought.
She's always telling me that I overthink things. I'm just going to focus on my father's faith in me,
he decided at last,
and hope that all the rest will fall into place.