Эрин Хантер - The Apprentice's Quest

“That’s amazing!” Sparkpaw exclaimed, turning toward her brother. “It feels so much better. Thanks so much, Alderpaw. You’re turning out to be a great medicine cat.”

“You sure are,” Cherryfall agreed.

Hollytuft and Ivypool were looking impressed, too. Alderpaw licked his chest fur in embarrassment as they congratulated him, though he reveled in their looks of approval.

“I’d better get back to my herbs,” he mewed shyly. “Sparkpaw, you need to have Leafpool or Jayfeather check you out when you get back to camp.”

Alderpaw felt like his paws were hardly touching the ground as he padded back through the forest. I treated Sparkpaw’s injury! And she’s okay!

Then, as he passed the old Twoleg path, he realized with a start that he had left without permission. His pelt prickled with anxiety, though as he drew close to the camp, he tried to throw off his worries.

Maybe I can sneak back in without any cat noticing.

But as he rounded an old tree stump and came within sight of the thorn barrier, he spotted Bramblestar waiting for him beside the entrance to the tunnel.

Oh, no! Alderpaw thought. Am I in trouble again? I shouldn’t have left camp… and didn’t Jayfeather just tell me that I shouldn’t be doing anything without asking him or Leafpool?

“I’m sorry! I’m really sorry!” he burst out as he bounded up to Bramblestar. “I won’t—”

“I don’t know what you’re apologizing for,” Bramblestar interrupted with a confused look.

“I’m not here because you’re in trouble. I need to talk to you because Jayfeather and Leafpool have told me about your vision.”

Startled, Alderpaw stretched his eyes wide.

In all the stress of helping Sparkpaw, he had forgotten that his mentors were discussing that with Bramblestar.

“Let’s sit over here.” Bramblestar pointed with his tail at a shady spot underneath an arching clump of ferns. When both cats were comfortably settled, he went on, “We think the vision means that you’ve been chosen for a very special quest.”

Alderpaw felt warm all over at the look of pride in his father’s eyes, so that at first he didn’t really take in what he was saying.

“So you must leave ThunderClan and go on this quest,” Bramblestar added.

Wait… a quest?

Every hair on Alderpaw’s pelt rose in shock at what his Clan leader was telling him. “But…

but I can’t!” he gasped.

Bramblestar curled his tail around to rest it on Alderpaw’s shoulder. “StarClan wouldn’t have sent you the vision if you weren’t ready,” he meowed. “We believe the vision you had was about the prophecy. As Sandstorm told you, the cats you saw are from another Clan, called SkyClan. Since the prophecy mentioned the sky clearing, we think they may be in trouble.

Jayfeather, Leafpool, and I agree that you must go on a quest to find them.”

Alderpaw realized that he was gaping like a blackbird chick waiting for food. He tried hard to speak calmly, and to ask sensible questions that would help him understand.

“Sandstorm told me that the cats I saw belong to SkyClan,” he began. “But I don’t see why they should need my help. And how am I ever going to find them?”

“It’s a long story.” Bramblestar sat erect, with his tail curled around his paws, and looked down at Alderpaw. “It began many, many seasons ago, in the old forest. SkyClan lived there, too, along with the four Clans that you know.”

“So there were five Clans?” Alderpaw breathed out.

“Yes. But SkyClan lost their territory because Twolegs took it to build their own nests. And the other four Clans refused to share the territory that was left. They drove SkyClan out of the forest.”

“That’s so unfair!” Alderpaw exclaimed indignantly.

Bramblestar bowed his head.

“The remaining Clans were ashamed of what they had done, and afterward they never spoke of SkyClan. Eventually, all memory of them was lost.”

“And what happened to SkyClan?”

“They traveled a long way and finally came to the gorge where you saw them. Their Clan thrived there for a while, but at last they were driven out and scattered.”

“So what I saw was a vision from the past?”

Alderpaw asked. His pelt was growing hot with anger at what SkyClan had suffered, and he dug his claws hard into the ground.

Bramblestar shook his head. “Back in the old forest—it was about the time that I became a warrior—Firestar was visited by the spirit of the SkyClan leader who had led his Clan out of the forest. He charged Firestar with a quest to find the remnants of SkyClan and restore it.”

“Wow! And Firestar really did that?”

“Sandstorm went with him, and she can tell you everything that happened,” Bramblestar replied. “But in the end, yes, they restored SkyClan and left the cats living by the warrior code in the gorge.”

“So that’s how Sandstorm recognized the cats I saw!” Alderpaw meowed. “Their leader, Leafstar, and the deputy, Sharpclaw, and… what was the medicine cat’s name? Oh—Echosong!”

“That’s right,” Bramblestar responded. “I believe that SkyClan may need our help again.

But listen, Alderpaw. What happened to SkyClan is such a secret that only three living cats know about it: Sandstorm and me, and now you. That means we can’t tell any cat what your quest is really about—not even Leafpool and Jayfeather.”

Alderpaw stared at him, so stunned for the moment that he couldn’t get any words out.

“You—you mean,” he stammered at last, “you mean there’s a part of warrior history so secret that even the medicine cats don’t know about it?”

Bramblestar nodded. “Only you and I and Sandstorm know the truth.”

Alderpaw took a moment to think about that. “Why does it need to be a secret?” he asked. “Isn’t it sort of dishonest to lie about the quest?”

“You just need to have faith in me,” Bramblestar mewed gently. “Telling the truth now would do more harm than good. I know I’m trusting you with a huge responsibility,” he added. “But I wouldn’t be doing it if I didn’t think you were up to the task.”

Rising to his paws, he nuzzled the top of Alderpaw’s head briefly, then padded back toward the camp. Alderpaw watched him go, a flood of emotions surging through him. The secrecy worried him, while at the same time he felt an intense curiosity to know what was going on, and whether SkyClan really needed ThunderClan’s help. His anxiety that he might not be good enough to be entrusted with the task warred with the pride he felt that Bramblestar believed in him.

Maybe Sparkpaw is right, he thought.

She’s always telling me that I overthink things. I’m just going to focus on my father’s faith in me, he decided at last, and hope that all the rest will fall into place.

“I don’t care what you say!” Sandstorm hissed. “I’m going on this quest, and that’s final!”

“It’s out of the question!” Bramblestar snapped back at her. “I asked you here to tell

Alderpaw all you know about SkyClan. I never intended for you to go with him.”

Alderpaw shifted nervously from paw to paw on the sandy floor of Bramblestar’s den. It was the day after his father had told him that he must go on the quest, but so far no decisions had been made about which cats would accompany him.

And it doesn’t look like I’ll be leaving anytime soon, not if Bramblestar and Sandstorm keep on arguing. He had always believed that the two cats got along well together. Now they looked furious enough to claw each other’s pelts off.