Bramblestar bent and touched Alderpaw’s head gently with his nose. “I’m sure you tried hard,” he told Alderpaw. “This is only the first day you’ve been out of camp. And I’m proud to hear that you’re paying attention to your mentor and doing your best to learn.”
Alderpaw still couldn’t manage to meet his father’s gaze. He’s just being nice. And I don’t want to look up and see pity in his eyes.
Bramblestar was silent for a few heartbeats. “Did I ever tell you much about my own apprentice days?” he meowed at last.
“I know Firestar was your mentor,” Alderpaw mumbled, still looking down at his paws. “He must have thought you were pretty great, to mentor you when he was Clan leader.”
Bramblestar sighed. “I think Firestar just wanted to keep a close eye on me. It took him a long time to trust me, because Tigerstar was my father.” His voice had grown tight, as if he didn’t want to think about the evil cat who had fathered him, the cat who had tried to murder his own Clan leader and make himself ruler of the whole forest. “Anyway,” he went on after a moment, sounding more relaxed, “the first time I went hunting with Firestar, I really wanted to impress him. I ran so hard after a squirrel that I slipped on some wet leaves, went nose over paws, and crashed into a tree. Great StarClan, it hurt! And what hurt even more was that I was pretty sure Firestar had to stop himself from laughing.”
“Really?” At last Alderpaw was able to look up without feeling ashamed or embarrassed. “Did that really happen?”
“It really did,” Bramblestar confirmed. “It was an awful first try at hunting, but I soon got much better, and I’m sure you will too.”
Gazing up into his father’s gentle eyes, Alderpaw felt as though a heavy weight were lifting off his back, and he began to look forward to going out with his mentor again. I will get better, he promised himself. And one day I will be a warrior and make my Clan proud of me!
CHAPTER 3
The sun had gone down, and the outlines of the forest trees above the stone hollow had begun to fade into the twilight. Alderpaw sat outside the apprentices’ den, giving himself a thorough grooming.
This is a special night. I have to look my best.
He and Sparkpaw had been apprentices for almost a half-moon. Looking back, Alderpaw felt that he hadn’t done too badly. Molewhisker had praised him for being responsible about helping the elders and doing his share of the chores, like collecting moss to make every cat’s nest comfortable, along with all the other tasks apprentices had to do. He had gone out on a border patrol, paid attention to the leader, and done everything he was supposed to.
Even though I haven’t caught any prey yet, I almost caught a bird yesterday, and Molewhisker told me birds are especially hard to catch.
But Alderpaw had to admit that even though he was doing well, Sparkpaw was doing better. She never came back from hunting empty-pawed, and she seemed to find it so easy to learn battle moves.
But just because she’s brilliant at everything doesn’t mean that I’m awful, Alderpaw told himself, trying hard to believe it. I wonder what it would be like if I weren’t an apprentice at the same time as Sparkpaw. Then I wouldn’t have to compare myself with her all the time. But the thought felt disloyal to his littermate, and he thrust it away, his pelt hot with guilt. She’s my sister! Of course I want to be with her!
At that moment Sparkpaw appeared out of the gloom. “Are you ready?” she asked, bouncing on her paws with excitement. “Bramblestar is gathering the Clan by the thorn tunnel.”
Alderpaw sprang up, pushing away his worries. Anticipation tingled through him from ears to tail-tip. “This is going to be so great!” he meowed. “Our first full-moon Gathering!”
“And we get to be introduced to the other Clans,” Sparkpaw added as she and her brother scampered across the clearing side by side. “I can’t wait!”
Joining the crowd of cats who clustered around the tunnel entrance, Alderpaw wondered what the other Clans would be like. Apart from glimpses across the border when he was on patrol, he’d only seen cats from another Clan once, when he was still a kit and two medicine cats from RiverClan had come to talk to Jayfeather and Leafpool. They had looked just like normal cats, except that their pelts were especially thick and sleek, and they had left a funny, fishy smell behind them. And while they were in the camp, all the ThunderClan cats had been tense, casting sidelong glances at them, with their neck fur bristling.
Anyway, medicine cats are different from real warriors, Alderpaw told himself. It was hard for him to imagine whole other Clans full of cats.
At last Bramblestar raised his tail to lead the cats who had been chosen to go to the Gathering. As Alderpaw padded through the tunnel near the back of the group, his excitement began to ebb. I hope I don’t do something stupid in front of all those strange cats.
By now Alderpaw was becoming used to the forest in daylight, but he realized when he slid out through the thorn tunnel that it looked quite different in twilight. The trees seemed thicker and more mysterious; the air was cooler and carried different scents. The darkness was full of new sounds, and it was hard to work out where they were coming from.
By the time he and his Clanmates emerged onto the lakeshore, Alderpaw’s heart was pounding. He had barely left the shelter of the trees when he heard a hooting sound above his head. Flinching, he whipped around to stare up into the darkness. A pale wing swept across his vision, and then the owl was gone.
Suppressing a shiver, Alderpaw turned to Squirrelflight, who was padding along beside him. “I’ve heard stories about huge owls,” he began nervously, “big enough to snatch up a cat. Is it true?”
Squirrelflight’s green eyes glinted in the dusk with a mixture of kindness and amusement. “The owls in these woods aren’t big enough to attack a cat,” she replied.
Alderpaw mulled over her answer. He was only partly comforted: Did his mother mean that somewhere else there were owls big enough to take cats as their prey? And if there were, couldn’t they come to the forest one day?
Molewhisker, who was walking on Alderpaw’s other side, flicked his apprentice’s ear with his tail. “Someday Cherryfall and I will take you and Sparkpaw hunting at night,” he meowed. “There’s a lot of prey that’s out of its nest at night instead of during the day.”
“That’s . . . er . . . great,” Alderpaw responded weakly.
Just then he heard a shocked, excited sound from Sparkpaw, who was just behind him along with Cherryfall. Glancing back, Alderpaw spotted little lights flickering on and off in the darkness, as if little scraps of sunlight were dancing in the air.
“What are those?” Sparkpaw asked, staring at the lights as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“They’re called fireflies,” Cherryfall explained. “Insects that light up just like the stars. Isn’t that cool?”
“It’s fantastic!” Alderpaw mewed.
Sparkpaw shot off toward the lights, and Alderpaw hesitated less than a moment before he followed her. Excitement filled him as he leaped up, batting at the fireflies with his paws as if he could catch the little sparks of sunlight. Beside him his sister was leaping up too, twisting in the air, but the tiny glints of light were always just out of reach.
“Sparkpaw! Alderpaw!” Squirrelflight’s stern voice rang out after a few heartbeats. “Come back here right now.”
Alderpaw and Sparkpaw dropped to their paws and padded back to the group of cats, panting and disheveled.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Squirrelflight asked as they rejoined her. “When you’re on your way to a full-moon Gathering, you’re representing ThunderClan, and when you meet the other Clans you had better behave perfectly.”
Alderpaw dipped his head. “We will. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry,” Sparkpaw echoed.
“I should think so!” Squirrelflight stalked on ahead.
The two apprentices followed, but as soon as Squirrelflight was out of earshot, Sparkpaw leaned closer to Alderpaw. ??
?Wasn’t that amazing?” she whispered. “We never saw stuff like that when we were stuck in camp all the time!”
The ThunderClan cats skirted the lake, keeping close to the edge as they passed through WindClan territory. On the way, they watched the moon emerge from behind thick clouds, shedding a cold silver light over the surface of the water.
“Good,” Molewhisker meowed. “If StarClan is angry, they cover the moon. This means the Gathering can go ahead.”
At the far side of WindClan territory, Alderpaw spotted a cluster of Twoleg dens in the frosty moonlight. “That must be the horseplace,” he murmured to Sparkpaw. “Remember Daisy telling us about it in the nursery?”
Sparkpaw paused a moment, scanning the ground beyond the Twoleg fence. “I can’t see any horses,” she mewed, sounding disappointed. “Maybe they go into their dens when—”
She broke off as Squirrelflight gave her a prod. “Keep moving. We’re almost there.”
Alderpaw’s excitement mounted as they crossed a stretch of marshy ground and the tree-bridge leading to the Gathering island came into view. Another group of cats was milling around the shore near the end of the fallen tree.
“That’s WindClan,” Cherryfall told the two apprentices. “Take a good sniff so you can learn their scent.”
Alderpaw had encountered the WindClan scent on their border with ThunderClan, but it was much stronger here: a scent that suggested cool air and tough, scraggly plants. There was a hint of rabbit, too, he decided. The WindClan cats looked fairly ordinary, though they were thinner than most of his Clanmates, with long legs and wiry, muscular bodies.
Bramblestar paced forward through the crowd of cats and dipped his head politely to a brown tabby tom whose graying muzzle told of his age.
“Greetings, Onestar,” Bramblestar meowed. “How’s the prey running in WindClan?”
“Well enough, I suppose,” the WindClan leader replied gruffly. “I hope your warriors kept close to the lake when you passed through our territory.”
“Of course.” Bramblestar’s tone was calm. “ThunderClan would never dream of trespassing.”
Onestar’s only response was a grunt.
Bramblestar signaled to his cats to stay back while the WindClan cats crossed the tree-bridge to the island. Alderpaw’s paws prickled with nervousness as he watched them balancing along the trunk and leaping to the ground at the far end.
I wonder if any cat has ever fallen into the lake, he thought. That would be so embarrassing!
As Bramblestar began to lead the ThunderClan cats across, Alderpaw kept his head high. When it came to Sparkpaw’s turn she raced across and hurled herself onto the shore of the island with a yowl of triumph.
Cherryfall, who was next, rolled her eyes. “I’ll have to say something to her about taking risks,” she muttered.
Alderpaw clambered onto the tree trunk and was relieved to find that it was much wider and steadier than he expected. He didn’t like the sight of the dark water just below him, or the sucking sound it made as it lapped against the tree, but he kept his gaze fixed on the island ahead of him and was massively relieved when he reached the tree roots. He jumped down beside Sparkpaw, who had waited for him.
“Come on, slow mole!” she urged him. “We’re missing all the fun!”
Alderpaw saw that the ThunderClan warriors were pushing their way through a thick line of bushes at the top of a slope that led up from the beach. With Sparkpaw beside him, he raced up the slope and thrust himself into the bushes after his Clanmates. As the thorns raked through his pelt he reflected that he hadn’t needed to spend so much time grooming himself.
On the other side of the bushes Alderpaw found himself at the edge of a wide circle of grass. A huge, gnarled oak tree stood in the center, its roots as thick as a cat’s body. All around it cats were milling around; some were talking together in clusters, while others found comfortable spots and settled down facing the oak tree. Their mingled scents caught Alderpaw in the throat so that he almost choked.
“It looks like all the other Clans are already here,” Sparkpaw murmured into his ear. “I’ve never seen so many cats!”
Alderpaw nodded in agreement. He was especially astonished to see a crowd of young cats—probably apprentices like us, he thought—yowling and tussling together in the shelter of the bushes. I thought you were supposed to behave perfectly at a Gathering, he thought, remembering what Squirrelflight had told him. But maybe other Clans have different rules.
“Well, what do you think?” Molewhisker asked; he had padded up unnoticed while Alderpaw was staring at the rowdy young cats.
“It’s amazing!” Alderpaw breathed out.
“It sure is,” Cherryfall agreed, emerging from the bushes and giving her pelt a shake. “Especially your first time.”
“Look,” Molewhisker meowed, pointing with his tail. “That’s Rowanstar, the ShadowClan leader, climbing into the Great Oak.”
Alderpaw blinked as he looked up at the powerful ginger tom who settled himself in the fork between two branches and gazed around commandingly. He looks like a cat I wouldn’t want to cross.
“You’ve already seen Onestar, there on the branch just above Rowanstar,” Molewhisker went on, indicating the brown tabby tom. “And here comes Mistystar, the RiverClan leader.”
Alderpaw saw a gray-blue she-cat leap gracefully into the tree; several leaves fluttered down as she found a spot on a lower branch. He noticed that Bramblestar too was heading for the tree, and felt a thrill of pride to see his father ready to take his place with the other leaders. He’s so important!
“The deputies sit on the roots,” Cherryfall told the apprentices. “The brown-and-white tom is WindClan’s deputy, Harespring, and the black tom next to him is Reedwhisker from RiverClan. The cat just joining them is Crowfrost from ShadowClan.”
“And I’d better get my tail over there, too,” Squirrelflight meowed as she padded past. Pausing briefly, she added to the apprentices, “This is your chance to get to know cats in other Clans. Go and introduce yourselves.”
Alderpaw saw that the older ThunderClan cats were mixing with the other Clans already, settling down with their friends and eagerly exchanging gossip. Squirrelflight joined the other deputies, while Bramblestar swarmed up the tree and sat on a branch near Mistystar.
Alderpaw looked around nervously, not knowing which of this milling crowd of cats he dared approach. I’d rather just stick with Sparkpaw, he told himself.
“I’ll introduce you to a few cats, if you like,” Cherryfall offered.
Alderpaw was about to accept gratefully when Sparkpaw’s ears twitched. “We don’t need help, thanks,” she mewed. “We’ll manage just fine on our own.”
“Okay.” Cherryfall dipped her head. “See you later.” She padded off and plopped herself down beside a rangy tabby she-cat who looked as if she belonged to WindClan.
Alderpaw turned to glare at his littermate. “Why did you say that?” he demanded. “I’d much rather be introduced by Cherryfall than walk up to a strange cat and have to introduce myself.”
Sparkpaw returned his glare. “I’m not going to hide behind an older cat like I’m some kind of kit,” she hissed. “What would the cats from the other Clans think of me then?”
“Fine,” Alderpaw retorted. “But who are we going to talk to?”
Sparkpaw let her head and tail droop a little, as if she was only just now thinking that through. Then she raised her chin high again and looked around.
Almost at once Alderpaw spotted another cat gesturing to them with her tail. She seemed to be an apprentice by her size, a sleek silver-gray she-cat with white chest fur. Her bold green eyes sparkled as she called out, “Hey! Over here!”
Relieved that another cat had made the first move, Alderpaw trotted over with Sparkpaw by his side. He picked up the weird reek that was familiar from the ShadowClan border, but was too polite to wrinkle his nose.
“I’m Needlepaw,” the silver she-cat announced. “This is Sleekpaw,
and that’s Beepaw.”
The two apprentices she was with nodded in greeting. Sleekpaw was a yellow she-cat, and Beepaw a plump white she-cat with black ears.
“Hi,” Beepaw meowed, shifting to make room for the two ThunderClan apprentices under the bush where they were crouching. “We’re from ShadowClan.”
“Is this your first Gathering?” Needlepaw asked. “It’s my second—I’ve been an apprentice for three moons.”
“Yes, it’s our first,” Alderpaw responded. “I’m Alderpaw, and this is Sparkpaw.”
“We’re from ThunderClan,” Sparkpaw added.
“Are you really?” Needlepaw’s brilliant green eyes widened. “Does that mean you want to boss all the other cats in the forest around?”
“No, it does not!” Sparkpaw exclaimed with a lash of her tail, while Alderpaw’s neck fur bristled. “What are you even talking about?” Sparkpaw went on. “Why would you insult us like that?”
“All right, keep your fur on,” Needlepaw meowed, with an amused glance at her Clanmates. “I was only teasing. All the Clans have reputations with the others. ThunderClan cats are bossy, WindClan cats get scared and run away, and RiverClan cats are too fat and lazy to hunt properly.”
Alderpaw narrowly stopped himself from gaping, exchanging a scandalized glance with Sparkpaw. Who does she think she is, talking about other Clans like that?
“Well, I think it’s stupid,” Sleekpaw added, licking one paw and drawing it over her ear. “What Clan you’re in doesn’t decide what you’re like. It’s just where you’re born. Some of the cats in ShadowClan are every bit as bossy as ThunderClan cats.”
Sparkpaw’s ears pricked forward in shock at Sleekpaw’s idea, though Alderpaw had the feeling that she might be right.
Before Sparkpaw could argue, a cat’s voice rang out across the clearing. “Cats of all Clans!” It was Rowanstar, standing tall and proud on his branch. “Welcome to the Gathering. Mistystar, would you like to speak first?”