Firestar's Quest

  “Well done,” Deerleap purred. “That was a perfect bit of stalking.”

  Yellowpaw felt warm all over; Deerleap’s praise had to be earned. “It’s a little scrawny,” she confessed after she had dropped the bird on the ground.

  “Never mind. Any piece of prey is welcome in weather like this.”

  The ground was too hard to dig a hole and bury the fresh-kill while they kept hunting, so Yellowpaw scraped leaves over it before starting to search the area for more prey, moving in widening circles around the ash tree. But it seemed as if nothing else was moving in all the frozen forest. Claws of frost dug deep into Yellowpaw’s pelt, and she was almost ready to ask if they could go back to camp when she spotted a flicker of movement between two stones. Swiftly she flashed out a paw and was startled to find that she had hooked a lizard on her claws. It wriggled for a heartbeat and then was still.

  “That was lucky,” Deerleap commented. “You don’t usually see those in weather as cold as this.”

  Yellowpaw swelled with pride as she carried her two pieces of prey into the camp. Nutpaw and Rowanpaw were standing by the fresh-kill pile with their mentors.

  “We’ve been on a hunting patrol!” Nutpaw mewed, scampering up to Yellowpaw. “I caught a mouse!”

  “And Rowanpaw caught a starling,” Finchflight added. “They’ve both done very well.”

  “Well, there’s no point in standing around watching our fur grow,” Deerleap meowed. “What about giving the apprentices a joint training session? They could all do with practicing their battle moves.”

  “She never stops, does she?” Rowanpaw muttered into Yellowpaw’s ear as the other two mentors murmured agreement and led the way to the thorn tunnel.

  “At least fighting will keep us warm,” Yellowpaw pointed out.

  She and her littermates followed their mentors to the shallow training scoop not far from the camp. Raggedpaw and Scorchpaw were already there with Brackenfoot and Crowtail.

  “Watch this,” Crowtail mewed. “They’re getting really good.”

  The two older apprentices were circling cautiously around each other. Raggedpaw flashed out a paw, but Scorchpaw leaped backward and the blow never connected. With a yowl Raggedpaw pushed off with his hind legs and thrust himself into the air. Yellowpaw winced, expecting him to land on Scorchpaw and knock him to the ground. But while Raggedpaw was still in the air, Scorchpaw twisted onto his back. He splayed out all four legs, claws extended. Raggedpaw landed on Scorchpaw’s belly, and immediately Scorchpaw fastened his four sets of claws in Raggedpaw’s shoulders and haunches. Then he rolled over, pinning Raggedpaw to the ground.

  “Enough,” Crowtail meowed, and the two apprentices broke apart. “Now try it again, and Scorchpaw, you leap this time.”

  “That’s a brilliant move!” Rowanpaw exclaimed.

  “It’s a good one to remember if a cat leaps on you in battle,” Brackenfoot explained as the older apprentices circled each other again. “Often the cat who’s underneath has the worst of the fight, but this way you can get back in control.”

  “Can we try?” Yellowpaw asked when she had seen the move demonstrated for the second time.

  “Of course,” Deerleap meowed. “That’s what we’re here for. Yellowpaw, you can work with Nutpaw. Scorchpaw, you practice with Rowanpaw.”

  Rowanpaw looked slightly disconcerted at the thought of working with an apprentice who already knew the move, and Scorchpaw was obviously not too happy about being paired with a younger cat. But they knew better than to argue.

  “Keep your claws sheathed,” Brackenfoot instructed. “We don’t want any shredded fur.”

  Each pair of cats began circling. Yellowpaw was leaping down onto Nutpaw, who had his paws extended ready for her, when she heard a startled yowl from Rowanpaw. At the same time a sharp pain sliced through her shoulder. She let out a screech and crumpled to the ground at Nutpaw’s paws.

  “For StarClan’s sake, what’s happening?” Finchflight exclaimed, bounding over to his apprentice. “Rowanpaw, are you okay?”

  As Yellowpaw rolled over, gasping with pain, she saw her sister sprawled on the ground on the far side of the training area. Blood was welling slowly from punctures in Rowanpaw’s shoulder.

  “Scorchpaw, we said sheathed claws!” Crowtail snapped.

  “Sorry,” Scorchpaw muttered. “I forgot.”

  “I don’t understand how two apprentices could be injured at the same time,” Amberleaf meowed, padding up to Nutpaw. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing!” Nutpaw’s eyes were wide with dismay. “I never touched Yellowpaw, honestly!”

  “Whatever. It still hurts,” Yellowpaw snapped, scrambling awkwardly to her paws.

  “I’m okay.” Rowanpaw sat up, turning her head to swipe her tongue over the spots of blood on her shoulder. “I want to try again.”

  “Okay,” Finchflight meowed. “But let’s all be more careful this time.”

  The pain in Yellowpaw’s shoulder was fading, but she was wary of being hurt for a second time. When they practiced the move again, she knew she wasn’t giving it her best effort.

  “Grab your opponent harder,” Deerleap advised. “Don’t think about what his paws are doing. Just concentrate on hanging on to him and pinning him down.”

  “I think that’s enough for today,” Finchflight decided, when the apprentices had practiced the move once more. “Rowanpaw, you’d better see Sagewhisker about those scratches.”

  Rowanpaw nodded, though Yellowpaw noticed that the claw marks weren’t bleeding anymore, and her sister hardly limped at all as they headed back toward camp. While Rowanpaw padded off to the medicine cat’s den, the rest of the apprentices and their mentors gathered around the fresh-kill pile.

  “Yellowpaw, do you think you should see Sagewhisker too?” Deerleap prompted.

  “No, I’m fine,” Yellowpaw mumbled through a mouthful of the squirrel she was sharing with Nutpaw.

  Deerleap looked doubtful. “You’d better take the rest of the day off,” she mewed, giving Yellowpaw’s shoulder a sniff. “I can’t see any injury, but you never know. Get some rest, and see Sagewhisker if the pain doesn’t clear up.” She turned away to choose some prey for herself.

  Yellowpaw didn’t want to rest. I feel okay now, she thought. Maybe I just landed badly.

  When she had finished her share of the squirrel, she decided she would go off by herself to practice the new move. She still wasn’t used to being able to leave the camp on her own and she felt a thrill of confidence as she strode out through the thorns. When she had found a secluded spot in a hollow screened by holly bushes, she tried the move again: first the leap, and then rolling over to splay out her paws, ready to grab her opponent.

  It doesn’t work so well with only one, she thought, disappointed.

  “Do you want any help?”

  The voice startled Yellowpaw; she looked up to see Raggedpaw standing at the top of the hollow. “No, I’m fine,” she mewed, scuffling her forepaws in the earth.

  Ignoring her refusal, Raggedpaw padded down to join her. “You really need a partner to do that move,” he meowed.

  Yellowpaw gave her fur a shake. I’d be mouse-brained not to let him help me. “Okay,” she agreed. Won’t Deerleap be surprised when she sees I can do the move perfectly!

  Raggedpaw gave her a brisk nod. “I’ll leap and you grab,” he told her. “That way, you get to practice the difficult part.”

  At first, Yellowpaw was afraid that she was going to be squashed into the forest floor by the heavier apprentice. “I can’t get my paws in place fast enough,” she complained, sitting up and shaking scraps of dead leaf off her fur.

  “You have to watch me more closely,” Raggedpaw replied. “You should know when the leap is coming, and be ready. Try again.”

  This time, Yellowpaw spotted the tensing of Raggedpaw’s muscles before he leaped. She rolled onto her back and spread her paws wide. “Got you!” she yowled as she wrapped her paws around him and flipped h
im over.

  Raggedpaw scrambled to his paws and gave her a cool nod. “Better.”

  Better? Yellowpaw thought indignantly. It was brilliant!

  “You’ll be able to do it next time you’re in a training session,” Raggedpaw went on. “Now I’ve got to go. I want to hunt before it gets dark.”

  “Thank you!” Yellowpaw called after him as he climbed back out of the hollow. “You really helped!”

  Raggedpaw didn’t respond. Yellowpaw stood blinking after him, surprised by her feelings of gratitude. Maybe he’s not so bad after all.

  CHAPTER 6

  The early morning sunlight sparkled on the dewy grass and on the cobwebs draped across bushes and clumps of bracken. Yellowpaw paused to taste the air. The scent of damp earth flooded her jaws, with a trace of fresh green growth.

  Newleaf will be here soon.

  Yellowpaw and her littermates were following Deerleap, on their way out of camp for a training session. As she leaped over a broken branch, she spotted a hint of green. She turned back, pushing the branch aside, and discovered a few delicate shoots poking up through the covering of rotting leaves. Very gently Yellowpaw scraped away the debris, giving the shoots a chance to reach the sun. Bending down to give them a good sniff, she thought, I’m sure I’ve smelled this in Sagewhisker’s den before. It must be an herb.

  As she straightened up, she heard yowls of excitement, and the two newest apprentices, Foxpaw and Wolfpaw, hurled themselves over the branch. Yellowpaw leaped backward to avoid being knocked over. Two sets of flying paws stomped down hard on the tiny shoots, crushing them into the earth.

  “Mouse-brains!” Yellowpaw called after them, her fur bristling in fury. “Watch where you’re going!”

  Brightflower, Foxpaw’s mentor, and Blizzardwing, who was mentoring Wolfpaw, followed their apprentices more slowly. Brightflower gave Yellowpaw an inquiring look as she passed, but Yellowpaw just shrugged and brought up the rear.

  The rest of the apprentices and their mentors had gathered in a clearing not far from the marshes. Wolfpaw and Foxpaw were charging around the edge, shouldering aside Nutpaw and Rowanpaw if they happened to get in the way.

  Rowanpaw padded over to Yellowpaw. “They’re even more annoying than Raggedpaw and Scorchpaw.”

  Still angry over the damaged shoots, Yellowpaw nodded. “They’re acting like kits.”

  Deerleap called the cats together. “Today we’re going to do a hunting exercise,” she announced.

  “Aww, do we have to?” Wolfpaw interrupted. “That’s so boring! I want to fight!”

  Deerleap gave him a freezing glare. “If you like, Wolfpaw, you can go back to camp and search the elders for ticks.”

  “Uh … no.” Wolfpaw’s tail drooped. “I guess hunting is okay.”

  “Thank you so much,” Deerleap went on, an edge of sarcasm in her tone. “This morning you’re going to work in pairs. Nutpaw and Rowanpaw, you can work together. Yellowpaw, you go with Foxpaw.” Her tail-tip twitched. “Wolfpaw, seeing as there isn’t another apprentice to partner with, you’ll have to work with me.”

  Yellowpaw was torn between enjoying Wolfpaw’s appalled expression, and dismay that she had to work with Foxpaw. She glanced at the younger apprentice, and saw that Foxpaw was giving her a dubious glance in reply.

  Okay, you don’t like this any more than I do, Yellowpaw thought. But we have to put up with it for the sake of the Clan.

  Deerleap directed Yellowpaw and Foxpaw to head through the marshes and toward the Thunderpath. “Come back here when you’ve each caught one piece of prey,” she directed. “And remember, you’re working together.”

  Yellowpaw padded carefully across the swampy ground, practicing her mentor’s instructions to look, listen, and scent. Meanwhile Foxpaw leaped from grassy clump to grassy clump, often landing instead in the shallow pools and splashing muddy water over her bright ginger pelt.

  Yellowpaw rolled her eyes. I suppose it’s one way of disguising your scent from the prey. She could hear the distant roar of the Thunderpath when Foxpaw gave an excited little bounce. “I can smell a pigeon! This way!” She dashed off.

  “She won’t catch a pigeon or anything else racing about like that,” Yellowpaw muttered. She had picked up the pigeon scent at the same moment, but she had also scented something else.

  “Cats—and not ShadowClan cats,” she mewed softly as she followed Foxpaw. “This could mean trouble.”

  She caught up to Foxpaw within sight of the Thunderpath. The young ginger she-cat was standing in the middle of a puddle of feathers, gazing down at them with a look of dismay.

  “Some other cat got here before us,” she told Yellowpaw.

  “I can see that.” The scent of strange cats was stronger than ever. “And not a ShadowClan patrol.”

  “How do you know?” Foxpaw asked.

  Yellowpaw ignored the question. If she can’t smell that … She cast around the pool of feathers, her nose to the ground, until she spotted cat paw prints leading away in the direction of the Thunderpath.

  “Look at this,” she meowed, beckoning Foxpaw with her tail. “See how small and light those paw prints are?” she pointed out when Foxpaw reached her side. “I’ll bet a moon of dawn patrols that they were made by WindClan cats.”

  “WindClan!” Foxpaw exclaimed. “Stealing our prey! They can’t do that. Let’s get them!”

  She was ready to charge off, but Yellowpaw stood in front of her. “Wait!” she snapped. “Are you mouse-brained?”

  “Are you scared?” Foxpaw retorted.

  “Never!” Yellowpaw’s voice was low and furious. “I just have some sense, that’s all. What do you suppose two apprentices are going to do, alone on WindClan territory? What we have to do is go and find our mentors.”

  She raced back across the marsh. Foxpaw pelted alongside her, looking mutinous. When they reached the training area, only Brightflower and Blizzardwing were there.

  “WindClan!” Yellowpaw gasped.

  “Stealing our prey!” Foxpaw added, bouncing on her paws. “Are we going to attack?”

  “Hold on!” Brightflower raised her tail. “Settle down and tell us what happened.”

  Yellowpaw began to explain what they had seen, trying to ignore Foxpaw’s attempts to interrupt. While she was speaking, Deerleap and Wolfpaw returned, closely followed by Nutpaw and Rowanpaw.

  “We can’t let this pass,” Brightflower meowed when Yellowpaw had finished. “We need to take a look. Yellowpaw, lead the way.”

  Yellowpaw was proud to pad at the head of the patrol as she took them through the marshes to where the pigeon feathers lay. Brightflower dipped her head to sniff at the cat paw prints.

  “Fresh,” she murmured. “And definitely WindClan. Two of them, I’d guess. Well scented, Yellowpaw.”

  “You have the best sense of smell,” Deerleap meowed to Brightflower. “Why don’t you follow these tracks and see where they lead? Take Blizzardwing with you in case the WindClan cats are still lurking around. We’ll wait for you here.”

  Brightflower nodded and headed toward the Thunderpath, with Blizzardwing hard on her paws. Yellowpaw waited impatiently until she saw both warriors racing back.

  “The paw prints lead to that new tunnel the Twolegs made under the Thunderpath,” Blizzardwing reported. “And we know where that leads: WindClan territory!”

  “What are we going to do?” Rowanpaw demanded.

  Brightflower and Blizzardwing both looked at Deerleap, as senior warrior. She thought for a moment. “Blizzardwing, you should go back to camp and fetch reinforcements,” she replied at last. “Foxpaw and Wolfpaw, go with him, and stay in the camp.”

  “What?” Wolfpaw exclaimed, dismayed. “We want to fight!”

  “Yeah, we know some awesome moves,” Foxpaw added.

  “Certainly not,” Deerleap meowed. “You’re both too young for battle.” Turning to Yellowpaw and her littermates, she added, “Do you feel ready for your first attack on an enemy?”

 
Yellowpaw’s belly flipped over. “Yes!” she choked out.

  Her littermates’ eyes were wide with shock; they glanced at each other, then nodded.

  “Not fair,” Wolfpaw muttered. “We can fight as well as them.”

  Deerleap ignored his comment. “We’ll wait for you near the tunnel entrance,” she told Blizzardwing.

  The white tom rounded up the younger apprentices and set off back to camp. When they had gone, Deerleap led the way along the line of the tracks until they came in sight of the narrow tunnel that led to WindClan. Yellowpaw could smell the WindClan scent even more strongly here.

  “We’ll stop here,” Deerleap announced, halting beside a clump of long, marshy grass. “Settle down so you can’t be seen. And if any WindClan cats come out of the tunnel, don’t even twitch a whisker until I give the word.”

  Yellowpaw obeyed, crouching down in the grass between Rowanpaw and Nutpaw. Her claws were extended and her muscles tensed to leap on any trespassers, but no cats had appeared by the time that Yellowpaw picked up a stronger ShadowClan scent and heard an approaching patrol brushing through the grass.

  Deerleap rose to meet them, signaling to the apprentices to do the same. Stonetooth, the Clan deputy, was in the lead, with Brackenfoot and Crowtail close behind. Yellowpaw was surprised and a bit disappointed to see that Raggedpaw and Scorchpaw were with their mentors. She’d wanted herself and her littermates to be the only apprentices to face down WindClan this time.

  “Where’s Blizzardwing?” Deerleap asked.

  “He stayed to help guard the camp,” Stonetooth meowed. “Just in case WindClan thinks it can bring the battle to us.”

  Deerleap sniffed. “I’d like to see them try.”

  Excitement bubbled up inside Yellowpaw as the patrol prepared to leave. “We’ll make WindClan sorry they ever touched our prey.”