Эрин Хантер - The Apprentice's Quest

Alderpaw let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you.”

I hope StarClan sends me another vision soon, he added to himself. Because I really don’t know what we’re doing here.

When the last scraps of prey had been picked over, the rest of the SkyClan cats drifted away.

Only one of them—a young orange she-cat—stayed close to their leader; she was coughing so hard she could barely stay on her paws.

Alderpaw watched in shock as Darktail swung one huge paw and thumped the young she-cat hard on her back.

“Stop that racket now !” he growled.

The she-cat gave him a scared look. She wasn’t coughing anymore, though Alderpaw didn’t think that the swat on her back had done her any good. She was obviously struggling to suppress her coughs.

Alderpaw padded up and dipped his head politely to Darktail. “It sounds as though she’s suffering from whitecough,” he mewed, indicating the she-cat with a wave of his tail.

“She should see your medicine cat.”

Both SkyClan cats gave him a blank look.

Alderpaw felt as though he had missed his footing and plunged down into dark, icy water.

They don’t have a medicine cat?

Struggling to control his shock, he continued, “Whitecough isn’t a big deal. Some tansy should help.”

Darktail still looked blank, as if he wanted to ask what tansy was. Alderpaw’s confusion deepened.

Sandstorm mentioned that Echosong was SkyClan’s medicine cat. So what happened to her? And why has their leader never heard of a basic herb like tansy?

Meanwhile the young she-cat had started coughing again, backing away from Darktail as if she was afraid of making him angry again.

“I’ll be back soon,” Alderpaw mewed. “I’m going to find some tansy.”

He headed for the path that would take him to the cliff top, meaning to search for herbs among the rough grass and bushes there. But before he reached it, he spotted a den low down in the cliff wall. Because of the jutting line of the rocks, it was very close to the water, and a few wilting plants grew close beside it.

Alderpaw bounded up to the den and gave the plants a sniff. At once he recognized tansy, along with sorrel, yarrow, and chervil. Some cat had planted them, he realized, just as Leafpool and Jayfeather planted herbs near the old

Twoleg nest, but clearly no cat was taking care of them now.

This has to be where the medicine cat stayed, Alderpaw thought. But why would they have such a perfect medicine cat’s den and no medicine cat? Maybe Echosong died without training an apprentice.

The tansy leaves were limp, and the scent wasn’t as strong as Alderpaw was used to in the forest, but he knew it was better than nothing.

Tearing off a few stems, he padded back toward the rock pile.

When he returned, he discovered the orange she-cat lying on her side, revealing a shock of white belly fur. The other SkyClan cats were keeping their distance, going about their business without even looking at their sick

Clanmate, who was rasping and spluttering. Her cough is even worse than I thought at first, Alderpaw realized with a stab of anxiety.

Alderpaw dropped the tansy in front of the orange cat. “Eat that,” he told her.

The she-cat looked up at him, her green eyes widening in confusion and a trace of fear.

“I will get better, won’t I?” she wheezed. “I don’t want to be exiled.”

Horror touched Alderpaw like a frozen claw. Gently he laid one forepaw on the she-cat’s flank. “What’s your name?” he asked.

“Flame,” the she-cat choked out, before giving way to another spasm of coughing.

“I’m Alderpaw. I’m learning to be a medicine cat in my own Clan. I promise you, the tansy will help.”

As Flame began to chew the tansy leaves, Alderpaw stepped back to give her a little breathing space.

“Will that work?” a rough voice rasped into his ear.

Startled, Alderpaw turned to see Darktail, glaring sternly at him. “Tansy usually clears up whitecough quite quickly,” he replied, trying to sound reassuring. “But if whitecough is left too long, it can turn into greencough—and then Flame would have been in real trouble.”

Darktail began to look interested; Alderpaw guessed he had never heard the names of these sicknesses before. Maybe in SkyClan they’re called something different.

“So what cures greencough?” the white-and-black tom asked, not sounding as if he was much concerned about Flame.

“You can still use tansy,” Alderpaw told him, “but catmint is much better, if you can get it.”

“Hmm…” Darktail riffled his whiskers.

“And what about wounds? Will catmint cure those as well?”

“No.” Doesn’t this cat know anything?

“For wounds you would use cobweb to stop the bleeding, and comfrey root for the pain.

Marigold or horsetail if the wound gets infected.”

Darktail nodded. “And for fever?”

“Er…” For a moment Alderpaw couldn’t remember. This is worse than being tested by Jayfeather. I wish he were here! “Borage leaves,” he mewed at last. “And dandelion to help the feverish cat sleep. But Darktail…” He couldn’t resist asking the question. “Don’t you treat your sick cats?”

For a heartbeat Darktail looked confused.

“Of course we do,” he replied with a flick of his tail. “We just do it… differently. Why should all Clans behave the same?”

Because we all came from the same place, Alderpaw thought, but he couldn’t bring himself to say the words aloud. He hadn’t mentioned anything to Darktail about how the SkyClan cats had been driven from the forest, and he was reluctant to say anything now.

Bramblestar told me how terrible it was for SkyClan. The other Clans were wrong not to share their territory. SkyClan might blame us for it, even though it was so long ago.

But Alderpaw still couldn’t understand why

Darktail seemed so unfamiliar with the way the Clans lived. Have they really wandered so far away from the warrior code?

Then understanding started to grow inside

Alderpaw, like a flower unfolding from a bud.

Perhaps the prophecy meant something different from what he had thought at first.

Maybe SkyClan was “in shadow” not just because they lived in a distant and forgotten place, but because they had lost their connection to the warrior code, and everything that made Clan cats different from rogues.

So it must be my task to guide them back again, and clear the sky!

Alderpaw’s whiskers twitched happily. “If you like,” he meowed to Darktail, “I’ll take some of your cats on a tour of your territory to see what herbs we can find, and show them what they’re used for. Of course,” he added modestly, “I’m only an apprentice.”

Darktail seemed unconcerned by Alderpaw’s inexperience. He gave an approving nod. “Hey, Rain!” he yowled.

The long-furred gray tom sprang up from where he sat at the edge of the river, talking to Needlepaw, and bounded over to his leader.

“What do you want, Darktail?” he asked, with a respectful dip of his head to his leader.

“Go with this cat,” Darktail ordered, indicating Alderpaw with a flick of his tail.

“He’s going to look for herbs and tell you what to do with them. Listen to him—he’s an apprentice.”

“Okay,” Rain responded, though he looked as confused as Alderpaw felt. Darktail said apprentice like it was… important.