Erin Hunter - The Fourth Apprentice

“No, WindClan cats like open spaces, so their territory’s perfect for them,” Cinderheart told her. “ShadowClan cats like pine trees, so they chose the territory over on that side.”

Dovepaw and Ivypaw both examined the dark line of trees that bordered the lake on the other side of ThunderClan. “I’m glad I’m not a ShadowClan cat,” Ivypaw mewed.

Dovepaw concentrated for a moment, trying to memorize everything that the scene in front of her could tell her. She could see a group of cats on the ShadowClan side, trekking across the barren ground toward the distant lake, and she drew in a long breath to taste their scent. On the WindClan side, cats were returning to the shore, and Dovepaw breathed in their scent, too.

“Ivypaw,” she whispered, flicking her sister over one ear with her tail, “you should be picking up the scents of those cats over there. It’s all stuff we need to know.”

“What?” Ivypaw gave her a puzzled look, but before Dovepaw could say any more, she was interrupted by a loud exclamation from Lionblaze.

“Now what’s happening?”

Dovepaw looked across the brittle brown mud and spotted a patrol of ThunderClan cats close to the water’s edge. They seemed to be struggling, their backs arched and tails thrashing in the air. A couple of heartbeats later one of the warriors began racing back to the shore; as he drew closer she recognized Thornclaw.

“Trouble?” Lionblaze called.

“Berrynose and Spiderleg are stuck in the mud,” Thornclaw panted, pausing briefly. “I need a branch or something to get them out.”

“We’ll come and help,” Cinderheart told him, with a whisk of her tail to beckon the two apprentices. “Come on, you two. Bring your moss, and watch where you’re putting your paws.”

As she led them out onto the mud, Dovepaw glanced back to see Thornclaw pull a long stick out from under the roots of an elder bush at the edge of the bank. Before he could carry it off, Jayfeather erupted from the undergrowth, a bundle of herbs in his jaws.

“Hey, that’s mine!” he protested, spitting leaves everywhere. “Put it back!”

“Are you mouse-brained?” Thornclaw mumbled around the stick. “I need it. It’s only a stick.”

“It’s my stick.” Dovepaw was startled to see how worked up Jayfeather was, his eyes blazing and his neck fur bristling as if he was facing an enemy. “If you don’t bring it back in one piece, I’ll…I’ll…”

“Okay, I’ll bring back your stupid stick,” Thornclaw snarled. “Keep your fur on.”

He raced back across the mud with the stick in his jaws. Dovepaw and Ivypaw followed more slowly behind their mentors. Dovepaw was trying to lift each paw almost as soon as it touched the scorching ground. Her pads would be shriveled by the time she reached the water.

“Do you think the heat is getting to Jayfeather?” Ivypaw whispered. “Thornclaw’s right. It’s only a stick.”

Dovepaw shrugged. “Maybe it’s medicine cat stuff.”

“Yes, but what happens to us if our medicine cat gets bees in his brain?”

Dovepaw didn’t reply. They were drawing closer to the edge of the lake, and she could see the glistening bodies of dead fish lying here and there; she almost choked as the smell rolled out to meet her. Suddenly the hard ground vanished, replaced with glossy warm mud that sucked at her paws. Her feet sank deeper with every step, and the surface shivered, as if it were waiting hungrily for her next paw step.

“Stay there,” Lionblaze warned over his shoulder. Brownish-gray sludge flecked his pelt and clotted his belly fur. Just beyond him, Berrynose and Spiderleg were up to their haunches in mud.

The two warriors were thrashing helplessly, their pelts plastered to their sides by the brown slime. They didn’t seem to be sinking past their belly fur, but they couldn’t get a paw hold to drag themselves out.

“I’m glad they won’t be sharing our den,” Dovepaw murmured to Ivypaw. “They’ll stink of mud and dead fish for a moon!”

Ivypaw nodded. “I bet they won’t be sharing any cat’s den until they get that stench off!” She wandered off to examine a dead fish lying a couple of fox-lengths away. Dovepaw stayed to watch as Thornclaw cautiously approached the mud hole, holding the stick at one end and stretching the rest of it out so that his Clanmates could grab it. Berrynose sank his claws into it and scrambled along it until he reached more solid ground, where Lionblaze and Cinderheart helped him to his paws.

“Filthy stuff!” he exclaimed, spitting out mud and shaking his pelt so that sticky drops flew everywhere.

Dovepaw leaped back to avoid being spattered. Meanwhile Spiderleg clambered along the stick and stood panting at the edge of the muddy hole.

“Thanks,” he meowed to Thornclaw. “I’ll be more careful where I put my paws next time.”

Thornclaw nodded. “You’re welcome. You’d better go back to camp and get yourselves cleaned up.”

Spiderleg and Berrynose plodded off, their heads and tails drooping, shedding mud from their pelts at every paw step.

“And now I suppose I’d better give the stick back to Jayfeather,” Thornclaw went on, “or he’ll be madder than a fox in a fit.”

He set off toward the shore, only to halt after a few paces as a furious caterwaul came from farther around the lake. Dovepaw looked up in alarm. A mottled blue-gray tom was racing toward them, his tail streaming out behind him. Twitching her whiskers, Dovepaw picked up another unfamiliar scent, similar to the fish lying on the mud.

That must be RiverClan .

Thornclaw dropped the stick again. “Hey, Rainstorm!” he called. “What do you want?”

The RiverClan warrior ignored him and the rest of the cats who were clustered together a few tail-lengths away from the mud hole. He was heading straight for Ivypaw, who was still sniffing curiously at the dead fish.

“Prey-stealer!” he yowled. “Leave that alone! The fish are ours!”

Ivypaw spun around, her fur fluffing up and her eyes wide with terror at the sight of a full-grown RiverClan warrior bearing down on her.

“Mouse dung!” Cinderheart spat, bounding off to intercept Rainstorm before he could attack her apprentice. Dovepaw and Lionblaze raced after her.

Suddenly Lionblaze let out a yowl. “Rainstorm, watch out!”

Dovepaw realized that the RiverClan cat was heading straight for the mud hole. Too intent on Ivypaw, he seemed not to hear Lionblaze’s warning. His flying paws slid into the deeper mud; he gave a screech of mingled fear and surprise as he rapidly sank up to his belly fur.

“Help!” he wailed. “Get me out of here!”

“Serves you right,” Cinderheart meowed indignantly, halting at the edge of the mud hole and looking down at the struggling warrior. “Can’t you see she’s only an apprentice? This is her first time out of camp.”

“I’m sorry.” Ivypaw trotted up, looking anxious. “I wasn’t going to eat the fish, honestly.”

“I don’t think any cat would want to eat it,” Dovepaw added, coming to stand beside her sister. “Yuck!”

Rainstorm didn’t reply. He had sunk into a deeper part of the hole than the two ThunderClan cats who had been trapped earlier; the mud was oozing around his shoulders, and his frantic efforts to climb out only made him sink farther.

“Keep still,” Lionblaze mewed. “We’ll get you out.”

Thornclaw trotted up with the stick and pushed it out across the mud until Rainstorm could sink his claws into it. But he couldn’t get a firm-enough hold to drag himself out, as if his struggles had already worn him out. Dovepaw pressed close against Ivypaw as she watched, her belly fluttering with anxiety. Even though the RiverClan warrior had been about to attack her sister, she didn’t want to see him drown.