The Apprentice's Quest (2 page)

Jayfeather scrambled up the slope that
led to the Moonpool, his paws skidding on the damp stones. A chill breeze ruffled his fur, and he shivered as his mother, Leafpool, hauled herself up the rocks to stand at his side.

“Greenleaf is almost over,” she said. “We'll need to stock up on herbs while we still can. Catmint, especially.”

“Catmint!” Jayfeather's tail-tip twitched impatiently. “You're always meowing on about catmint. If you had your way, we'd fill our den with it and not leave room for anything else.”

Leafpool gave him a friendly shove. “We could do worse. You know how quickly whitecough can turn to greencough if it's not treated properly. The elders—”

“Sandstorm, Graystripe, Millie, and Purdy are perfectly healthy,” Jayfeather interrupted. “Honestly, Leafpool, you coddle them too much. Besides, we have plenty of catmint growing by the old Twoleg nest. Enough even for you! So don't expect me to go out gathering more.”

As he finished speaking, he heard the scuffling of paws farther down the slope. The powerful watery scent of RiverClan
swept over him as Mothwing and Willowshine, the RiverClan medicine cats, climbed up to join them.

“We have plenty of catmint,” Mothwing announced mildly. “Just let us know if ThunderClan runs into problems.”

“Thanks, Mothwing,” Leafpool meowed, while Jayfeather bit back a sharp retort.

Like ThunderClan needs to rely on RiverClan for herbs!

“Let's get moving,” he urged the other medicine cats. “Littlecloud and Kestrelflight are ahead of us. I can scent their trail.”

Taking the lead, Jayfeather bounded up the rest of the slope, sure-pawed in spite of his blindness, and pushed his way through the thick bushes that surrounded the hollow of the Moonpool. As he emerged, shaking his pelt, he could hear the splashing of the stream as it poured down the rocks, and he imagined the glitter of starshine on the surface of the water.

“Welcome!” Littlecloud, the ShadowClan medicine cat, called out from the water's edge below. “Kestrelflight and I thought you were never coming.”

“Well, we're here now,” Jayfeather responded.

He began to descend the spiral path that led to the pool, his paws slipping easily into the prints left by the cats who used to live by the lake countless seasons before.

“So long ago . . . ,” he whispered to himself, struggling with bittersweet memories of the time he had walked the same path with those ancient cats. The time he had set their paws on the journey that led them to the mountains.
The time I shared tongues with Half Moon . . .

Forcing himself back to the present, he joined Littlecloud and Kestrelflight beside the pool and waited for Leafpool, Mothwing, and Willowshine to pad down the path in turn. Then he settled himself at the water's edge. He could hear the other medicine cats doing the same, spaced out along the bank.

Even Mothwing,
he thought, wondering once again how she could be a medicine cat when she didn't believe in StarClan.
All
she's
going to get out of this is a nice, peaceful nap!

Gradually the sound of cats shifting around faded, leaving only the endless cascade of falling water. Beneath the torrent Jayfeather's acute hearing picked up the sound of Littlecloud's breathing. There was a faint rasp in it, and now and then a hitch that reminded Jayfeather uncomfortably of how old the ShadowClan medicine cat was getting.

He hasn't taken an apprentice since Flametail's death,
Jayfeather reminded himself with a frown.
ShadowClan is crawling with young cats. Surely one of them must be suitable?

Determinedly Jayfeather banished his worries. Whatever might happen in the future, life was good in the Clans now. There had been plenty of prey throughout greenleaf, and every cat was healthy. Contentment crept over him like the taste of succulent prey as he closed his eyes, stretched out his neck, and touched his nose to the water of the Moonpool.

Jayfeather became aware of sunlight beating down on his fur. His nose twitched at the scent of green, growing things, carried to him on a warm breeze. Stretching luxuriously, he opened his eyes.

What in the name of StarClan . . . ?

Springing to his paws, Jayfeather stared around him. He was standing in the middle of a stretch of lush grass, bordered by leaf-laden trees. Somewhere in the distance he could hear the gentle bubbling of a stream. And all around him, blinking at one another in confusion, were his fellow medicine cats.

This can't be right,
Jayfeather told himself, every hair on his pelt rising in apprehension. Once he had been able to walk in the dreams of other cats, but he had lost that power after the battle against the cats of the Dark Forest, almost eighteen moons ago.
And now we're walking in one another's dreams.
The medicine cats of all four Clans stood together on the sunny grass of StarClan's hunting grounds.
Does that mean StarClan has an important message for
all
of us?

“What's happening?” Kestrelflight asked, his eyes wide and scared.

Littlecloud shook his head in bewilderment. “It's very odd . . . ,” he mewed.

Leafpool and Willowshine had their heads together and were talking in quick, anxious murmurs. Jayfeather padded toward them, only to halt as he spotted a group of cats approaching from beyond the trees. They moved in a haze of starshine, with a frosty glitter at their paws and around their ears. A noble tom with a flame-colored pelt paced in the lead. A shiver ran through Jayfeather's pelt as he recognized the former ThunderClan leader.

Leafpool let out a cry of joy. “Firestar!”

A wave of affection flooded over Jayfeather as he watched
her race across the grass to touch noses with her father.

Kestrelflight bounded after her to meet Barkface, who had been his mentor in WindClan; the two medicine cats immediately fell into deep conversation. Willowshine padded up to Leopardstar and dipped her head respectfully as she greeted the previous RiverClan leader. Littlecloud and Flametail settled down together on the grass, sharing tongues and purring with delight, while ShadowClan's former leader Blackstar looked on approvingly.

Jayfeather set off more slowly to greet the StarClan cats. Though he was pleased to see them, his paws still prickled with uneasiness.
I want to know what all this is about.

He noticed more cats standing in the shade of the trees, barely visible except as glimmers of starlight. Scanning them closely, Jayfeather realized that he didn't recognize any of them. Parting his jaws, he inhaled deeply to draw their scent into his mouth, and he tasted something he had never encountered before.

Narrowing his eyes, Jayfeather strode up to Firestar. “What's going on?” he demanded. “Who are those strange cats?”

“Greetings to you too, Jayfeather,” Firestar responded.

Jayfeather's tail-tip twitched impatiently. “Well?”

Firestar cleared his throat and glanced at the other StarClan cats, who broke off their conversations to cluster around him.

“I suppose you can go ahead and speak for us all this time,” Leopardstar remarked drily to the flame-colored tom. “You're obviously planning to anyway.”

The other medicine cats had drawn closer to Jayfeather, who saw Kestrelflight shifting his paws uneasily, as if he wanted to speak but was uncomfortable with this shared vision.

Jayfeather gave him a prod. “Spit it out,” he growled.

“Maybe each of us medicine cats should speak privately with our own Clanmates,” Kestrelflight suggested diffidently. “There might be things to discuss that are private to our Clans.”

“No,” Barkface meowed gently, touching his nose to Kestrelflight's shoulder. “We have a prophecy for all of you—one that concerns all the Clans.”

Jayfeather felt his heart start to beat faster.
Not
another
prophecy!
he groaned inwardly.
Does this mean our seasons of peace are coming to an end?

“A prophecy, and a promise too,” Firestar meowed. He was staring directly into Jayfeather's eyes, as if he knew the words Jayfeather hadn't spoken aloud. “A time of great change is coming for all the Clans.
Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky.
”

He stopped speaking, while the StarClan ancestors gazed impressively at the medicine cats.

When the silence had stretched out for several heartbeats, Jayfeather lashed his tail in frustration. “What does
that
mean?” he demanded, glaring at Firestar. Sarcasm filled his voice like a scratching claw as he added, “If you try really hard, do you think you could be a bit more obscure?”

Firestar gazed at Jayfeather with a mixture of affection and
irritation. But the vision was already beginning to fade. The shapes of the StarClan cats shone out in a blaze of starlight, dazzling Jayfeather and the other medicine cats. The sky darkened as if clouds were racing to cover the sun.

But before his vision left him, Jayfeather spotted from the corner of his eye another cat he did not immediately recognize: a very young tom standing a pace or two back from the circle of medicine cats. As Jayfeather turned to face him, he bounded away, so that all Jayfeather saw clearly was the flick of a white-tipped tail.

Jayfeather took a breath to catch his scent.
That's a living cat!
he realized.
And he smells strongly of ThunderClan.