Erin Hunter - The Fourth Apprentice

Dovepaw scampered off happily, while Lionblaze stood for a moment tasting the air until he detected a squirrel near the top of a nearby tree. Swarming up the trunk, he had reached the branch underneath his quarry when a loud meow rang out from the ground below.

“Hello again!”

The squirrel sat straight up, startled, then bolted, hurling itself into the air and vanishing into the foliage of the next tree. Lionblaze let out an exasperated snort. Looking down, he spotted the white she-cat from the Twoleg nest with rabbits; she stood at the foot of his tree, gazing up at him with friendly green eyes.

“You just scared off my next meal,” Lionblaze complained, scrambling down to join her.

“Sorry.” The white kittypet blinked at him. “I just wanted to watch you hunting. I figured you’d stop here, since you tried to get those rabbits. Do you really have to feed yourselves? We sometimes catch mice, but it’s not like we have to. I mean, who’d want to eat fur and bones?”

Plenty of cats , Lionblaze thought when the kittypet paused for breath. Could she truly be that clueless? Spotting another squirrel at the edge of a bramble thicket, he gave her a quick nod of farewell and stalked off after it.

But the white she-cat followed him. “Are you hunting that squirrel?” she asked. “Can I watch? I’ll be quiet.”

Too late! Lionblaze groaned as the squirrel’s ears pricked; it leaped up the nearest tree to sit and chatter angrily at them from a low branch before disappearing.

“My name’s Snowdrop,” the white cat gabbled on, oblivious of what she had done. “The orange tom is called Seville, and the black-and-brown tabby is Jigsaw. Thanks for leaving the rabbits alone. It’s true about what happened to that other cat, the one who ate his housefolk’s rabbit.”

Lionblaze took a deep breath and turned to face her. “It’s nice to chat and all,” he mewed through gritted teeth, “but I’m kind of busy.”

He could have saved his breath; he could see Snowdrop wouldn’t have recognized a hint if it hit her over the head.

“What are you all doing here?” she meowed, peering through the trees at the other cats who were stalking their prey in peace. “Have you run away from your housefolk? Did you get lost? Are you looking for the way home?”

Lionblaze raised his tail in an effort to stem the flood of questions. “No, we’re not kittypets,” he meowed, trying not to feel offended. “We live in Clans, by a lake downstream from here.”

“Clans?” Snowdrop sounded bewildered.

“A whole bunch of cats who live together,” Lionblaze explained. “We have a leader-”

“What’s all this racket about?” Fronds of bracken parted to reveal Toadfoot, his fur bristling in annoyance. He dropped the mouse he was carrying. “For StarClan’s sake, you’re making enough noise to scare away all the prey between here and the lake.”

“Hello.” Snowdrop seemed quite unworried by the ShadowClan cat’s bad temper. “My name’s Snowdrop. What’s yours?”

Toadfoot exchanged a surprised glance with Lionblaze. “Never mind that,” he mewed briskly to Snowdrop. “We’re on a mission, and you can’t help us, so please leave us alone.”

Snowdrop’s eyes stretched wide. “Oh, wow, a mission!”

“We’re looking for the water,” Lionblaze explained as the rest of his patrol padded up to find out what was going on. Dovepaw brought her thrush, and Rippletail proudly deposited a vole beside it. “We think there are some brown animals blocking the stream.”

“Oh, really? I’ve often wondered what happened,” Snowdrop chirped. “I used to like the stream. It was good to lie on the grass and watch the insects buzzing over the water.”

Toadfoot rolled his eyes.

“Can I come with you?” Snowdrop mewed suddenly. “It would be fun! Maybe the brown animals are dogs-do you think so? Or giant rabbits!”

“No, sorry, you can’t come,” Rippletail meowed. “You wouldn’t be able to look after yourself.”

Snowdrop’s gaze fell on the few pieces of fresh-kill the Clan cats had managed to catch. “You don’t seem to be too good at that yourselves,” she commented.

“We’re fine,” Rippletail replied. “Now run back to your housefolk.”

Toadfoot waved his tail for the patrol to move off. “We’ll eat later,” he growled.

Whitetail grabbed Dovepaw’s thrush while Petalfur picked up the mouse and Lionblaze took the vole. Before jumping into the stream again, he glanced back to see Snowdrop sitting where they had left her, watching them go. Her head was drooping unhappily.

Feeling guilty for abandoning her, Lionblaze darted back. “Here, would you like a bite of vole?” he offered, dropping it at her paws.

Snowdrop’s gaze filled with horror. “With fur and everything? No way!”

Lionblaze heard snorts of amusement coming from his companions. “Okay, bye then,” he mewed hurriedly and ran off to join them, remembering at the last moment to take the vole with him.

The sun had gone down by the time the patrol set out again. In the twilight they came to a steep-sided valley where the trees were much older, with spreading trunks and gnarled branches. Whitetail, scouting ahead, found a split in a huge hollow tree, the floor covered in a thick layer of dead leaves, where there was room for all of them to curl up and sleep.

“Well done!” Lionblaze yawned. “We’ll be safe in here from anything.”

He still thought it best to set up a lookout; exhausted from the night before, when he had taken Dovepaw’s shift as well as his own, he didn’t argue when Rippletail volunteered to take the first watch. He crawled inside the tree, noticing that no cat seemed to be particularly bothered now about whose pelt they brushed against as they lay down, and curled up gratefully beside Dovepaw. He was asleep within moments.

After what felt like just a heartbeat, Lionblaze was awakened by a prodding in his ribs. Moonlight trickling through the split in the trunk revealed Dovepaw looking down at him, her eyes shining.

“What’s the matter?” he muttered.

“I can hear the brown animals!” Dovepaw told him, twitching her tail with excitement. “We’re nearly there!”

Jayfeather lifted his head and tasted the air, which had cooled a little as evening approached. A faint breeze rustled the branches of the trees above the stone hollow and stirred the dust on the floor of his den. A few cats were gathered around the meager fresh-kill pile; their soft voices drifted through the bramble screen, reaching Jayfeather in a blur of sound.

Sighing, he wished that he had Dovepaw’s far-reaching senses, so that he could track her and Lionblaze and the rest of the patrol. They had been gone two days now, and Jayfeather had no idea whether they were still searching, or whether they had found the brown animals and the trapped water. The night before, he had tried to walk in Lionblaze’s dreams and had found himself padding up the dry bed of the stream, with unfamiliar trees arching their branches overhead. He had picked up his brother’s scent, and once he thought he spotted the tip of a golden tail whisking away around a boulder just ahead of him. But however fast he ran he couldn’t catch up, and Lionblaze didn’t respond when he called out.

He’s too far away , Jayfeather thought regretfully as he woke, his legs aching as if he really had tried to pursue his littermate. There’s no way you can catch him now .

His pelt itched with the longing to tell Lionblaze about his encounter with Breezepelt on the lake the day before. He was still shaken by the hatred that had emanated from the WindClan cat, and he seemed to hear the voices of the Ancient Clan, whispering warnings that he couldn’t quite make out.