Erin Hunter - The Fourth Apprentice

“Help…me…” Rainstorm rasped, stretching his neck to keep his muzzle clear of the mud.

“Oh, for StarClan’s sake…” Lionblaze muttered. He crept up to the very edge of the hole, testing every paw step before he put his weight down, and leaned over so that he could sink his teeth into Rainstorm’s scruff. He gave an enormous heave, and with a loud sucking noise the RiverClan tom scrambled free of the clinging mud and collapsed on one side, his chest heaving as he gasped for air.

“Consider yourself lucky,” Thornclaw meowed unsympathetically. “Now take off. You shouldn’t have been on this side of the lake at all.”

Rainstorm’s paws scrabbled, but when he tried to stand up his legs gave way and he fell onto the mud again.

“Now what are we going to do with him?” Cinderheart meowed. “He’s never going to make it back to RiverClan in that state.”

Lionblaze sighed. “There’s no need for any of this, if RiverClan would just be reasonable. Are any of his Clanmates around?”

“Over there.” Thornclaw pointed with his tail and Dovepaw spotted a group of RiverClan cats in the distance, close to ShadowClan territory. They were confronting the ShadowClan patrol she had seen heading to the waterside earlier. Her whiskers quivered and she sensed they were having an argument.

“I’m not getting involved in that debate,” Thornclaw decided. “If we go over there, we’ll find ourselves fighting with ShadowClan as well as RiverClan. Come on.” He prodded Rainstorm with one paw. “You can come back to our camp until you’re fit to travel. It’s not nearly as far as your own territory.”

“Thanks,” Rainstorm panted. He staggered to his paws, managing to stay upright this time; Lionblaze padded alongside him and gave him his shoulder to lean on. “Cinderheart, will you keep an eye on the apprentices while they collect the water?” he called. “I’ll help Thornclaw get Rainstorm back to camp.”

“Sure,” Cinderheart replied.

Dovepaw watched the two ThunderClan warriors set off across the mud, flanking Rainstorm, who was still unsteady on his paws. “Hey!” she called after them. “Don’t forget the stick!”

Thornclaw bounded back, his tail flicking irritably. “I don’t know what’s got into Jayfeather,” he growled, snatching up the stick and carrying it away with him.

“Are you okay, Ivypaw?” Cinderheart asked, looking down at her apprentice with concern in her blue eyes.

“Yes, I’m fine,” Ivypaw replied. “I’m sorry I was stupid about the fish. If I hadn’t gone near it, Rainstorm wouldn’t have fallen into the mud.”

“It wasn’t your fault!” Indignation surged through Dovepaw. “He was being horrible.”

“Dovepaw’s right,” Cinderheart mewed. “He had no need to come dashing over here like that. Now, pick up your moss, and we’ll go collect the water. I want to get back to the hollow and find out what Firestar does when he hears about this.”

Lionblaze halted in the center of the clearing and let Rainstorm sink to the ground, where he sprawled on his side with his legs folded untidily beneath him. The RiverClan warrior looked like a mess: With mud plastering his fur to his sides, it was obvious how scrawny he was, as if he hadn’t had a good meal in a moon. Lionblaze couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.

RiverClan must be in big trouble if they get that angry about a dead fish.

Thornclaw had bounded away up the tumbled rocks to find Firestar in his den. Lionblaze was left to wait with Rainstorm and Jayfeather, who had joined them when they reached the shore and accompanied them back to camp. Lionblaze’s shoulders ached from supporting Rainstorm on the long trek from the lake, and his mouth was parched with thirst. It was nearly sunhigh, and the air in the hollow was quivering with heat. The mud on Rainstorm’s pelt was already baked dry.

If we hadn’t run into all this trouble, we’d have been back with the water long ago , Lionblaze thought. We should be resting when it’s this hot .

More of the ThunderClan cats were appearing from their dens, gazing curiously at the RiverClan warrior.

“What’s he doing here?” Blossompaw emerged from the elders’ den with a huge ball of bedding, dropped it, and bounced across the clearing to get a closer look. “Is he a prisoner?”

“No, he had an accident,” Lionblaze explained. “He’ll go back to RiverClan once he’s rested.”

“I don’t see why he has to rest here.” Mousefur had followed the apprentice out, guiding Longtail with her tail on his shoulder, and Purdy just behind. She gave Rainstorm a suspicious sniff. “Ugh! He smells like a rotting fish!”

“And where’s our water?” Purdy added.

“Is Rainstorm hurt?” Brightheart asked more sympathetically. “Jayfeather, do you need me to get some herbs?”

“No, he’s just exhausted,” Jayfeather replied.

Lionblaze began to explain what had happened beside the lake. He left out the fact that Rainstorm had charged at Ivypaw; he hoped that the RiverClan warrior wouldn’t really have hurt such a young apprentice, and there was no point in arousing more hostility.

“Some cat will need to keep an eye on him,” Brambleclaw meowed when Lionblaze had finished telling the story. “We can’t have him wandering around the camp.”

“He doesn’t look as if he’ll be wandering anywhere for a while,” Sandstorm pointed out with a flick of her ears.

The comments died away as Firestar appeared with Thornclaw and shouldered his way through the gathering crowd of cats until he stood in front of the RiverClan warrior. Rainstorm struggled to sit up and face him, though Lionblaze could tell how much effort it took.

Firestar dipped his head to the RiverClan tom with cool politeness. “Greetings, Rainstorm,” he meowed. “Thornclaw told me what happened.”

“Yes, I…” Rainstorm hesitated as if the words were choking him, then added, “I’m grateful to your warriors for helping me.”

“We would help any cat in trouble,” Firestar replied. “You’d better stay here until sunset, and then go home when it’s cooler. Lionblaze will show you a quiet spot where you can sleep.”

“I’ll keep guard over him,” Brambleclaw added.

“Good idea,” Firestar meowed, while several of the other ThunderClan cats murmured agreement.

“Can he have some fresh-kill?” Ferncloud asked, her gentle gaze fixed sympathetically on Rainstorm.

“We don’t have enough for ourselves,” Thornclaw snapped, without waiting for the Clan leader to respond. “Firestar, I had an idea while we were bringing him back here. We saved his miserable life; why shouldn’t ThunderClan get something out of it?”

Firestar turned to look at him, a puzzled expression on his face. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we’ve got one of RiverClan’s warriors here. Why not send a message to Leopardstar that she can only have him back if she lets us have some fish?”

“What?” Rainstorm protested. “You can’t do that!”

“We can do what we like, mange-pelt,” Thornclaw retorted, unsheathing his claws. “Don’t you think we deserve a reward for helping you?”

“That’s right!” some cat exclaimed from the back of the crowd.

“Are you mouse-brained?” Jayfeather growled, whipping his head around to face the speaker. “What do we want with RiverClan’s fish? It smells disgusting.”

Glancing around, Lionblaze could see that several of the cats looked as if they agreed with Thornclaw, in spite of what Jayfeather had said. Why not? he thought. We’re hungry enough . But the thought of keeping a Clan warrior prisoner made his pelt prickle with uneasiness.