Эрин Хантер - The Apprentice's Quest

But he was already waking, to find

Needlepaw shaking his shoulder. “It’s stopped raining,” she meowed. “I thought you’d want to know, since you’re so eager to get home.”

Groggily Alderpaw sat up. “Yes, let’s go home,” he murmured. But, he added silently to himself, we’ll need to follow a different path .

…

Alderpaw and Needlepaw were approaching the first Thunderpath they had crossed after they left their territories so many days ago.

Tired and sore-pawed, Alderpaw was struggling with mixed feelings at the thought of being so close to home.

“I can’t wait to get back to ShadowClan territory,” Needlepaw mewed as she trotted along at his side. “I’ve missed my den so much, and—”

“Won’t you be in trouble with your Clan?”

Alderpaw asked. “What’s your mentor going to say? Apprentices aren’t supposed to leave without permission.”

“I left in service of my Clan, remember?”

Needlepaw replied. “Because I knew you sneaky ThunderClan cats were going in search of what you find in the shadows . Besides,” she added airily, “no cat ever really gets in trouble in ShadowClan. Sure, the older cats will yowl and stomp a bit, but what can they…”

Her voice trailed off as they drew close to the Thunderpath and halted at the sight of glittering monsters flashing past in both directions.

Alderpaw wasn’t really listening to her anymore. He stood still, staring thoughtfully into the distance.

After a moment Needlepaw prodded him.

“What are you doing?”

“Thinking.”

Needlepaw gave an exasperated snort.

“Thinking about what ?”

“I’m not looking forward to getting home,” Alderpaw replied with a sigh. “Because that means the quest will be over. And I still don’t know what it was about.”

“It was about embracing what you find in the shadows, right? And we didn’t find it, but we found out a lot about it. You don’t have to stand here moping over it. Why can’t we just go?”

“Because I feel there’s more I should be doing.” Reluctantly Alderpaw admitted to himself that he would have to tell Needlepaw about Sandstorm visiting him when he was sleeping in the Twoleg barn. He had tried hard to work out what the starry warrior had meant by “a different path,” but with the last paw steps of their quest ahead of him he had still not found understanding. “I had a dream… ,” he began.

Needlepaw’s eyes widened as he revealed to her what Sandstorm had said. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier?” she asked.

Alderpaw shrugged awkwardly. “It was my vision. I wanted to figure it out by myself.”

“After all we’ve been through,” Needlepaw responded with an exaggerated sigh, “you should realize that you need me! Hmm… ,” she mused, glancing around her. “A different path…”

“I don’t think Sandstorm meant a literal different path,” Alderpaw meowed. “Just a different way of thinking. Like—”

But Needlepaw wasn’t paying attention.

“Look!” she cried, dodging away from the Thunderpath.

Alderpaw watched as she bounded down a dip in the grass beside the edge of the black surface. It led to a tunnel opening, its mouth covered by bars of hard Twoleg stuff that were set wide enough for a cat to slip between them.

A musty, damp scent flowed out of the opening.

“What are you doing?” Alderpaw demanded as he trailed after Needlepaw. “That looks dangerous.”

Needlepaw turned back to him, rolling her eyes. “Have you got bees in your brain, or what? Look, we came over the Thunderpath, and now here’s a ‘different path’ that leads under it. Plus it’s all in shadow! We can go this way!”

“You’re the one with bees in your brain!”

Alderpaw retorted. “I doubt StarClan just wanted us to go through a tunnel! It’s dark in there, and it smells weird. There could be anything lurking inside. And I can see water in the bottom of it.”

But there was no point in arguing.

Needlepaw was already wriggling through the bars. “You never listen to me!” Alderpaw groaned, but the she-cat took no notice.

Alderpaw sighed, glancing from the Thunderpath to the tunnel and back again. The Thunderpath wasn’t as crowded with monsters as when they had crossed it before. He could ignore Needlepaw, head over the Thunderpath, and let her fend for herself. After all, she’s not a part of my Clan. She’s not even supposed to be on this quest. But even while the arguments passed through his head, he knew there was no point to them. He was following Needlepaw into the tunnel.

The stench caught him in the throat as he squeezed through the bars, and it was hard to stop himself from retching. Alderpaw picked his way carefully through the water, then realized that there was a higher area to one side, where he could scramble up and keep his paws dry.

The tunnel was full of shadows, but once

Alderpaw’s eyes adjusted to it, he realized there was a little light filtering in from the entrance behind him, and the glow of the gap on the other side. He could see Needlepaw’s figure, dark against the distant outlet, bounding along ahead of him.

“I wonder where Sandstorm would want us to go next,” she meowed, her voice echoing strangely in the tunnel. “What’s most different ?

Maybe we shouldn’t even head back the way we came anymore. What if we went in another direction?” she continued, halting and half turning back toward Alderpaw. “We could loop all the way around Clan territory and come in through ShadowClan. Or maybe head the other way around the lake, through RiverClan. I’ve only been on RiverClan territory once,” she added reflectively, “and they caught me and sent me home with a scolding.”

Alderpaw shook his head. “You’re mouse-brained!” he responded.

Needlepaw turned to go on, and Alderpaw was about to follow, when he heard a soft cry coming from farther into the darkness, right against the wall of the tunnel. He froze, his ears pricked, and when the cry came again, he carefully padded toward it.

In the dim light Alderpaw could just make out a nest of moss and dry leaves, with something squirming inside it. At first he pulled back sharply; then he leaned forward again with a gasp of shock as his nose picked up the familiar milky scent of kits. A tiny black-and-white kit was lying in the nest, with a tiny gray one beside it, their colors hardly visible in the darkness.

The kits seemed to sense Alderpaw’s presence, and they craned toward him, their eyes tight shut, their pink mouths open to let out high-pitched mews.

“What’s the matter?” Needlepaw was bounding back down the tunnel toward Alderpaw. “Why are you—” She skidded to a halt as she spotted the nest.

“They’re—” Alderpaw began.

“They’re kits !” Needlepaw shook her head in disbelief. “Where’s their mother?” she asked, glancing around. “Their eyes aren’t even open yet. They can only be a few days old.”

“And they’re so thin,” Alderpaw added. “I can tell they haven’t eaten in a while.”

“I’ll go and look for their mother.”

Needlepaw bounded to the other end of the tunnel and wriggled out through the bars.

Alderpaw could hear her calling outside.

Alderpaw stooped over the nest and examined the kits more closely. Both of them were she-kits, and under their fur they seemed to be just skin and bone.