The Apprentice's Quest (17 page)

Needlepaw raised one paw and examined her claws. “Well, of course you have,” she mewed coolly. “It's not like you could stop me, anyway.”

Alderpaw's pelt prickled with irritation at her rudeness, and yet he sensed that Needlepaw was much happier than she was prepared to admit.
There's something sort of . . . lonely about her,
he thought.

As the sky began to flush red where the sun would rise, Alderpaw saw Needlepaw's face more clearly. And he thought he could see in her eyes how pleased she was to be included.

“Sandstorm,” Alderpaw meowed, “now that the
sun is up, I want to have a better look at your shoulder.”

The old she-cat sighed. “I was expecting you to say that.”

She stayed still while Alderpaw peeled off the cobweb he had applied the night before. A small amount of blood was still oozing from the wound.

“What can we do to help?” Sparkpaw asked, peering anxiously over his shoulder.

Alderpaw was pleased and relieved that he knew exactly what was needed.
Leafpool and Jayfeather would be proud of me.

“Comfrey root,” he replied. “Cherryfall, Molewhisker, could you go and find some? It has large, long leaves. The root is black, and it has a tangy smell.”

“The stuff you put on my pad, right?” Cherryfall asked. “I know exactly what to look for. Come on, Molewhisker.”

“Honestly, it's not that serious,” Sandstorm protested as the two warriors disappeared into the undergrowth. “I'll be fine.”

“You still need to let me treat the wound,” Alderpaw responded. “It's important.”

It felt weird to be telling an elder what to do, and he was
glad when Sandstorm gave a reluctant nod. “Meanwhile, give it another good lick,” Alderpaw added. “Then it'll be ready for the poultice.”

The sun had not risen much farther up the sky by the time Cherryfall and Molewhisker returned, carrying plenty of comfrey. Alderpaw set to work at once, chewing up the root, and once it was a fine enough paste he applied it to Sandstorm's wound. Sandstorm relaxed, letting out a long sigh, as the juices sank in.

“That feels so much better,” she murmured.

“Now the rest of you,” Alderpaw meowed.

“We're fine, honestly,” Sparkpaw protested.

“You're fine when I say you are,” Alderpaw retorted, remembering what Jayfeather liked to say to cats who didn't want to be fussed over.

Sparkpaw twitched her whiskers but stood still while Alderpaw examined her. In the clear light of morning he spotted a scratch on her foreleg that he had missed the night before, and he patted some of the comfrey poultice onto it.

“Thanks, that's great,” Sparkpaw mewed. “Hey, do you know your ear's been bleeding?”

Alderpaw hadn't realized his ear was stinging, distracted first by the stress of the fight and then by the discussion about Needlepaw and the need to treat his Clanmates.

“Daft furball!” Sparkpaw gave him a nudge. “Hold still, and I'll give it a lick.” Her tongue rasped swiftly over his ear. “Now I'll dab a bit of that root on it,” she continued. “There! All done. Do you think I'd make a good medicine cat?”

“No way!” Alderpaw gave a purr of amusement. “But you're going to be a sensational warrior!”

When he checked his other Clanmates, Alderpaw was pleased to find that although the fox had clawed out some of Cherryfall's fur, she wasn't actually injured.

“My shoulder still aches a bit,” Molewhisker told him, “but it's not so bad. I think it'll be fine once we get moving.”

“I can see a scratch on your back,” Alderpaw meowed, turning to Needlepaw. He felt slightly shy at offering help to a cat from another Clan. “Do you want me to look at it?”

“Please,” Needlepaw replied with an uncomfortable wriggle. “That mange-pelted fox threw me into a gorse bush, and it
hurts
.”

Examining her more closely, Alderpaw saw that a couple of thorns were sticking into Needlepaw's back, and she had a nasty scrape clotted with dried blood.

“You've picked up some thorns,” Alderpaw mewed. “Crouch down and I'll get them out.”

Needlepaw flattened herself, and Alderpaw managed to get his teeth into the shanks of the thorns and yank them out, then spit them onto the ground. A trace of blood welled up where they had been.

“Now comfrey root,” Alderpaw continued. “This will take the pain away.”

She stretched and relaxed as the comfrey juices soaked into her back. “Thanks, Alderpaw. You must be a really good medicine cat, because I feel better already. And
hungry
!”

Alderpaw's pelt grew hot with embarrassment at
Needlepaw's praise, and he was glad to step back as Cherryfall organized a hunting patrol. She and Molewhisker, Sparkpaw, and Needlepaw headed off into the trees, while Alderpaw stayed with Sandstorm.

“You're doing a good job, Alderpaw,” Sandstorm murmured when the others had gone.

Alderpaw ducked his head. “Thanks, Sandstorm.” He wasn't sure he deserved the compliment, but he felt himself filling up with happiness like a hollow filling up with rain.

Sunhigh was still some way off when the hunting patrol returned. Molewhisker and Sparkpaw were each carrying mice, while Cherryfall had a vole. Alderpaw's eyes stretched wide with amazement when he spotted Needlepaw with her prey. She was dragging along a pigeon and a squirrel, both of them so big that she could hardly manage them. She picked up her pace to stride ahead to the bottom of the hollow, where Alderpaw and Sandstorm were sunning themselves beside the pool, and dropped her catch at their paws.

Alderpaw tried hard to hide how impressed he was, but he was sure that Needlepaw could tell.

“Not bad, huh?” she meowed. “You don't regret having me around now, do you? And I got even more than that!”

Sparkpaw and the others caught up and put down their own prey. Alderpaw could see that his sister looked a bit annoyed to be outdone by Needlepaw, and kept casting sidelong glances at her.

“It's true,” she meowed to Sandstorm. “Needlepaw did
catch more than the squirrel and the pigeon. She caught a big, fat rat.”

“So where is it?” Sandstorm asked.

“Needlepaw already ate it!” Sparkpaw sounded outraged. “She ate it herself! That's against the warrior code.”

Alderpaw would never have said so out loud, but he felt that it wasn't their place to teach Needlepaw about the warrior code.
She's not part of our Clan, and even if she did eat the rat, she still brought back more prey than the other three put together!

“Let's all just eat and relax a bit,” Sandstorm responded to Sparkpaw; her voice sounded weary. “We've had an exhausting time, and we could all do with a good meal and some rest.”

Sparkpaw said no more, though she ruffled up her fur indignantly and glared at Needlepaw, who seemed quite untroubled by her complaints.

“Let's eat,” Needlepaw mewed. “Come on, Alderpaw, you can share my squirrel.”

Sharp pangs of hunger were clawing through Alderpaw's belly, and every mouthful of the squirrel seemed like the best prey he had ever tasted. But as he sat up again and used one paw to clean his whiskers, he noticed that his sister had disappeared.

“Where's Sparkpaw?” he asked, an uneasy feeling prickling his pads.
Suppose those foxes came back . . . but then there would have been a fight. She wouldn't just vanish!

The ThunderClan cats scattered around the hollow, looking for Sparkpaw, crying out her name. There was no response,
but then Sandstorm called to them from the bush where she and Alderpaw had made the nest the night before.

“She's here!”

Alderpaw bounded up to see his sister cozily curled up among the ferns, her tail wrapped over her nose. She was snoring softly.

“Should we wake her up?” Cherryfall asked, as his Clanmates clustered around.

“I think she's got the right idea,” Molewhisker commented, stretching his jaws into an enormous yawn.

“Yes, let's let her sleep,” Sandstorm agreed. “In fact, I think we should all sleep for a while.”

Alderpaw thought that Sandstorm looked particularly exhausted. Though he said nothing, he was beginning to realize that this journey, especially with her injury, was taking more out of her than she was willing to admit.

“Who will keep watch?” he asked as the others were settling down in the nest. “We know there are foxes around.”

I should volunteer,
he thought, trying to ignore the weariness weighing down his limbs.
This is my quest, after all. We wouldn't
be
on this trip if it weren't for my vision, and even though I didn't ask for it, I'm responsible for them all.

“I'll do it.” Needlepaw, who had taken no part in the search, strolled up from the pool, flicking drops of water off her whiskers. “I don't need much sleep anyway, and now that my belly's full, I could go on for days.”

Thanking Needlepaw, Alderpaw curled up in the nest and
closed his eyes with a sigh of relief.

But instead of sinking into a refreshing sleep, he found himself standing on a bleak moorland hillside with tendrils of white mist wreathing around him. The sky glittered with stars, and somewhere in the distance shrieks of distress split the silence of the night.

His pelt tingling with fear, Alderpaw padded in the direction of the cries. Dark shapes began to appear through the mist, and as he drew closer, he realized that they were cats, standing in a circle and crying out their anguish to the stars.

“Help us! Oh, help us!”

Alderpaw's chest heaved and his breath came faster; he felt the cats' suffering as if it were his own.
I know these cats!
He recognized Leafstar, the SkyClan leader from his previous vision, and the big ginger tom, her deputy, Sharpclaw. Farther around the circle was the small silver tabby Echosong, the Clan medicine cat, and beside her was the young black-and-white cat he had seen made into a warrior. And there were many, many more, all raising their voices in fear and pain.

“Help us! Help us!”

“I'm here!” Alderpaw gasped out, bounding forward until he stood just outside the circle. “I'll help you! Tell me what to do.”

But the cats seemed not to hear him. Not even Echosong turned in his direction. Their terrible wailing continued as if they had no idea he was there.

“I'm doing my best!” Alderpaw tried to draw closer still,
but something held him back from touching any cat or entering their circle. “Look, I'm here! I'll do anything you need me to do.”

Still the cats couldn't hear him. Their cries grew more and more frantic until, with a jolt, Alderpaw woke.

For a couple of heartbeats he lay trembling among the moss and ferns.
Another vision . . . what did it mean?
he wondered.
Those cats must really be in trouble!

As he sat up, Alderpaw realized that his Clanmates had vanished. Scrambling out of the nest, he spotted them lounging by the pool, nibbling on the leftover fresh-kill. The sun had dipped low over the trees, filling the hollow with golden light.

Alderpaw dashed down to join them. “We need to get moving as soon as we can!” he exclaimed.

Cherryfall blinked lazily at him. “What's the rush?” she asked. “It's not like the place you saw is going to disappear.”

Alderpaw couldn't explain his sense of urgency.
Only Sandstorm will understand. I've got to talk to her.
“Sandstorm,” he meowed, “come over here and let me check your wound again before we move off.”

With a twitch of her ears Sandstorm got up and padded beside Alderpaw to where he had left the remains of the comfrey root. He glanced back swiftly to make sure that they were out of earshot of the other cats.

“What's the matter?” she asked, her brief irritation vanishing. “I can see this isn't just about my wound.”

“I had another vision,” Alderpaw told her. “I saw the
SkyClan cats in a circle, wailing and wailing as if they were in terrible pain. They sounded so frightened! And they didn't hear me when I spoke to them and offered to help.”

Sandstorm nodded understandingly. “Now I see why you're so keen to get going,” she meowed. “That's all we can do, Alderpaw. Just get to the place you saw as soon as we can.”

Thank StarClan some cat gets it!
Alderpaw thought. But in spite of his urgency, he reached out a paw to stop Sandstorm as she turned to rejoin the others. “I meant it about looking at your wound.”