Warriors Super Edition: Yellowfang’s Secret (43 page)

“Nightpelt, you are an intelligent and
dedicated warrior,” Cedarstar meowed. “I know that you will do your best to pass on these qualities to Brokenpaw.”

Nightpelt dipped his head to the Clan leader. “I’ll do my best, Cedarstar,” he promised, his eyes shining with pride. He had hardly coughed at all through the apprentice ceremony.

“Brokenpaw! Brokenpaw!”

Yellowfang’s heart swelled with pride as the Clan greeted her son by his new name. She felt a rush of relief, too, that Cedarstar had chosen Nightpelt as his mentor. Nightpelt was sensible and wise, and would teach Brokenpaw that there was more to the warrior code than fighting.

But she was disconcerted to see the shock in Brokenpaw’s face when Cedarstar named his mentor. He hesitated for a moment before padding over to Nightpelt to touch noses with him. She was even more worried when she heard him mutter to Deerpaw, “How come I got the sick cat? That’s so not fair!” Yellowfang was sure that Nightpelt must have heard him too, although he gave no sign of it.

Deerpaw had been apprenticed to Cloudpelt, and Tanglepaw to Wolfstep. Both of them looked ready to burst with pride and excitement, and even Lizardstripe looked pleased. In contrast Brokenpaw just stood glowering at his paws.

It will be all right,
Yellowfang tried to tell herself.
Once Brokenpaw starts training, he’ll realize how much Nightpelt has to teach him
.

She tried to put Brokenpaw out of her mind as Cedarstar raised his tail for silence once again.
I’ve got something important to do, too,
she thought, with a tingle of excitement in her paws. Runningkit looked excited as well, his eyes shining as he gazed at his Clan leader.

“Come forward,” Cedarstar called to Yellowfang, beckoning her with his tail. As she stepped toward him, he went on, “The last two moons have been hard without Sagewhisker, and I know that within ShadowClan our former medicine cat will be mourned forever.”

A murmur of agreement rose from the Clan, and Yellowfang felt a fresh pang of grief for the old cat who had taught her so much.

“But the line of ShadowClan medicine cats will continue,” Cedarstar announced, “with a new apprentice, Runningkit. Yellowfang, you have already proven yourself to be a skilled and loyal medicine cat. I know that you will pass on all your knowledge to Runningkit.”

“I will, Cedarstar,” Yellowfang promised.

“Runningkit,” the Clan leader meowed, “do you accept the post of apprentice to Yellowfang?”

“Yes, Cedarstar.” Runningkit’s voice went up in an excited squeak, and he scuffled his front paws in embarrassment.

“Then from this moment you shall be known as Runningpaw. And the good wishes of ShadowClan go with you,” the Clan leader finished.

“Runningpaw! Runningpaw!”

As his Clan greeted him, Runningpaw scampered over to Yellowfang, gave a huge sniff, then reached up to touch noses with her.

Yellowfang winced.
The first thing I’ll teach him will be to cure his own sniffles
.

“I’ll take you to the half-moon Gathering soon to meet the other medicine cats,” she whispered to Runningpaw, who danced on the spot.

As the cats separated—Lizardstripe rejoining the warriors with a huge sigh of relief—Yellowfang followed the other mentors and their apprentices out of the camp for their first tour of the territory. Runningpaw bounced by her side.

“Will we see cats from other Clans?” he panted. “What happens if we do?”

“We might spot a patrol on the other side of the Thunderpath,” Yellowfang admitted. “If we do, we greet them and go on our way.” She hesitated, then added, “Later I’ll teach you some fighting moves. You need to be able to defend yourself. But never forget that you’re a medicine cat, not a warrior. You don’t go looking for trouble, and you never—
never
—attack first.”

Runningpaw nodded seriously. “I’ll remember, Yellowfang.”

As they toured the territory, Yellowfang enjoyed seeing her apprentice’s astonishment when he realized how big the forest was, which made her recall her own first exploration with Deerleap. The sight of the Carrionplace shocked him and he shivered when Yellowfang told him about the battle with the rats.

“But never forget,” Yellowfang warned as they padded past at a safe distance, “rats are dangerous, but warriors are more dangerous! And medicine cats know just what to do for rat bites.”

“Cobwebs for bleeding, right?” Runningpaw mewed.

“Right, but some wounds get infected. Marigold and horsetail are good for that, but best of all for rat bites is wild garlic or burdock root.”

“Marigold … horsetail … wild garlic … burdock root …” Runningpaw muttered under his breath. “Great StarClan, there’s a lot to learn!”

He halted, shocked, when they reached the Thunderpath with monsters roaring past. “Mudclaw told us about it,” he gasped, “but I never thought it would be like this! Are those monsters dangerous?”

“Only if you try to cross the Thunderpath,” Yellowfang told him. “I don’t know why, but they never leave it.”

“But we have to cross it to get to Fourtrees, don’t we?”

Yellowfang shook her head. “There’s a tunnel that goes underneath it, leading to a little bit of ShadowClan territory that borders ThunderClan and WindClan.”

Runningpaw’s eyes sparkled. “So we could visit ThunderClan territory? Great!”

“We could,” Yellowfang replied severely, “but we’re not going to because we’re too courteous and honorable to go wandering over another Clan’s borders without good reason. There’s another tunnel, too, that leads directly onto WindClan territory, over there.” She waved her tail at the swell of moorland beyond the Thunderpath. “And before you ask, no, WindClan warriors aren’t just rabbit-eating nuisances, even if that’s what you’ve heard. But you don’t need to be afraid of them, either.” She felt a warm glow of pride as she added, “ShadowClan is a match for any Clan.”

Yellowfang started to look for herbs as they continued, to teach her apprentice what they looked like and what they were used for. But she hurried more quickly past the border with the Twolegplace, even though Runningpaw wanted to linger.

“Do we ever go there?” he asked, staring curiously at the sharp red Twoleg dens. “I think it’d be cool to meet a kittypet!”

Yellowfang felt her fur bristle as she thought of Hal and the other kittypets who had attacked the camp. “No, it wouldn’t be cool,” she snapped. “We don’t go there and they don’t come here. We don’t bother one another, and that’s best for all of us.”

“Okay.” Runningpaw blinked, looking slightly disappointed. Then he brightened up and pattered along beside Yellowfang as she headed back to the camp.

As they approached the camp entrance, Yellowfang heard a voice raised angrily, and flinched as she recognized that it was Brokenpaw’s.

“But I
want
to!
Why
can’t I?”

Rounding a bramble thicket, Yellowfang came upon Brokenpaw and Nightpelt glaring at each other. Brokenpaw’s fur was bushed out to twice his size, and his yellow eyes shone.

“Because we’ve done enough for one day, touring the whole territory,” Nightpelt explained. “We—” He had to break off to cough, the only sign that he was under stress, for his tone was calm and patient.

“But I want to learn battle moves!” his apprentice insisted.

“Training will begin tomorrow. We’ll start with hunting practice. Don’t you want to catch your own prey?”

“I want to fight,” Brokenpaw growled, tearing at a clump of ferns with unsheathed claws. “Look how strong I am! I’m bigger than the other apprentices. They can do the hunting and the boring stuff around the camp. Let me do battle with the other warriors!”

Nightpelt’s tail-tip twitched. “There are no battles to fight at the moment, Brokenpaw. You’ll have a chance to learn everything, but you need to go at the right pace. Don’t be impatient!”

Brokenpaw glared at his mentor for a heartbeat longer, then spun around and stalked away. “Coughing old fool!” he muttered under his breath.

“Off you go back to camp,” Yellowfang told Runningpaw. “You can choose a piece of prey from the fresh-kill pile.”

“Thanks, Yellowfang!” her apprentice exclaimed. “And thanks for today. It was awesome!”

When he had scampered off, Yellowfang padded over to Nightpelt. “Couldn’t you have shown Brokenpaw a couple of moves?” she meowed. “He’s right about being bigger than the other apprentices, and he seems to be getting bored. There’s no reason he can’t learn more quickly, is there?”

Nightpelt’s eyes narrowed, and Yellowfang realized she might have gone too far. “I’m his mentor, and I’ll decide when he learns to fight!” the warrior retorted. Another coughing fit seized him; when it was over he dipped his head to Yellowfang. “I’m sorry I snapped at you,” he rasped. “The tour of the territory wore me out. I’m going to rest.”

As he limped off, Yellowfang stared after him with concern.
He’s looking old before his time—and if his cough interferes with training, that won’t be fair to Brokenpaw
.

Emerging from the tunnel, Yellowfang spotted Cedarstar lying with his back against the warm Clanrock, watching his Clanmates feed. Yellowfang marched over to him. But as she approached, she passed a group of elders, stretched out in a sunny spot as they shared tongues and fresh-kill.

“You don’t get squirrels like you did when I was a warrior,” Deerleap meowed; she had recently moved to the elders’ den with Crowtail and Archeye. “I could climb the highest tree in the forest after a squirrel, no trouble.”

“Ah, but could you climb down again?” Archeye asked with a
mrrow
of amusement.

“I’m not still up there, am I?” Deerleap snapped, slapping at him with her tail.

Yellowfang noticed that Littlebird was listening with a look of fond indulgence, while Lizardfang shifted restlessly, pushing away his share of the squirrel.

“I’m too old to need feeding,” he sighed. “I’ll be heading for StarClan soon.”

“Nonsense!” Littlebird meowed. “You’ve seasons in you yet, Lizardfang.” She clawed at a piece of squirrel and set it in front of him. “Here, try this. It’s lovely and fresh. Rowanberry caught it just for us.”

Affection for Littlebird surged over Yellowfang, seeing the elder choosing the softest parts of the squirrel for her denmate to eat. She realized that Cedarstar was watching too.

“The Clan is growing older,” the leader commented softly to her. “Myself included. It’s time to prepare new cats to take over the responsibilities of running the Clan.” Looking Yellowfang up and down, he added, “Sagewhisker chose well in you, Yellowfang. I admit that I had some doubts at first …”

Oh, no!
Yellowfang thought.
Does he know about Raggedpelt?

“But you have more than proven your loyalty and skill,” Cedarstar went on. “Runningpaw is lucky to have you as a mentor.”

“It was mentoring that I wanted to talk to you about,” Yellowfang meowed, taking the chance Cedarstar offered her. “It’s Nightpelt. His cough is still really bad, and I think it will hinder him being a mentor. Brokenpaw is so strong and fit; he needs a mentor who can keep up with him, and I don’t think Nightpelt can do that.”

Cedarstar gazed keenly at Yellowfang from narrowed eyes. “I chose Nightpelt deliberately,” he explained, “because I think Brokenpaw has lessons to learn in patience and selflessness. He is a cat who needs to choose between two paths: one that will serve his Clan loyally and one that … will be less helpful.”

His words chilled Yellowfang.
Does he know about Molepelt’s prophecy?

Cedarstar rose to his paws, dipping his head slightly to show that the conversation was at an end. “I will watch all of the apprentices to make sure they are progressing well,” he meowed. There was a hint of warning in his voice as he added, “Brokenpaw is not to be singled out, at any cost.”

Reluctantly, Yellowfang nodded.

“Tell me about the other medicine cats!” Runningpaw begged, bouncing around the medicine cats’ den and getting under Yellowfang’s paws.

“What for? You’ll meet them soon,” Yellowfang responded.

Runningpaw had been her apprentice for a quarter moon, and tonight he would go with her to his first full-moon Gathering.

“But I’m nervous! I won’t know what to say.
Please,
Yellowfang!”