Эрин Хантер - The Apprentice's Quest

“Molewhisker!”

His former mentor was bounding up the slope, with three other ThunderClan cats close behind him: Birchfall, Poppyfrost, and Berrynose. Alderpaw dashed down to meet them beside the horseplace fence.

Molewhisker’s eyes were wide with shock and delight. “Oh, thank StarClan you’re alive!” he exclaimed.

“So are you!” Alderpaw felt so light with relief that he could almost imagine floating away. “Are Cherryfall and Sparkpaw okay?”

“Yes, everyone’s fine,” Molewhisker assured him. “We got back to camp yesterday and told the others what happened. Every cat was devastated to think that you had drowned.

We looked for you and Needlepaw back beside the river, but we couldn’t find you.”

“So this morning,” Birchfall meowed, coming to stand beside Alderpaw, “Bramblestar sent us out as a search party, with Molewhisker to guide us back to the place where you went missing.”

“However did you survive?” Poppyfrost asked, gazing at Alderpaw as if she couldn’t quite believe he was there.

“Needlepaw helped me out of the river,” Alderpaw replied. “She’s here too, just a bit farther up the hill.”

He began to retrace his paw steps, leading the other cats back to the ridge where he had left Needlepaw.

“Hi,” the ShadowClan she-cat mewed as the ThunderClan patrol came up to her. “As you see, we’ve brought company.” With one paw she swept the grasses aside to reveal the two kits, now dozing in a mound of fur.

Molewhisker and the others, murmuring in surprise, surrounded the kits and gazed down at them.

“They’re adorable!” Poppyfrost exclaimed.

“Who are they?” Berrynose asked, giving them a suspicious sniff. “Where did you find them?”

“I can tell you all that later,” Alderpaw replied, “but right now the kits need care.

They’re not well, so we were going to take them back to the ThunderClan camp to nurse them back to health.”

Needlepaw glared at him. “Actually—”

“That’s a good idea.” Birchfall spoke with authority; clearly he was the leader of the search party. “Alderpaw, you’re a medicine cat yourself, so you can help watch over them.”

“But I found the kits too,” Needlepaw objected, her shoulder fur beginning to rise again. “That is, we found them together. We think maybe the kits are… well, they’re what StarClan wanted us to find.”

The ThunderClan patrol exchanged surprised glances. “Do you believe that?”

Birchfall asked Alderpaw.

“I think they could be,” Alderpaw replied, “but I’m not sure yet.”

“Then this is what we’ll do,” Birchfall decided. “We’ll take the kits back to ThunderClan now, so that they can be cared for, and then—”

“They can be cared for just as well in ShadowClan,” Needlepaw interrupted.

Can they?

Alderpaw wondered.

ThunderClan has two medicine cats—three if you count me—while ShadowClan only has Littlecloud, and he’s growing old.

Birchfall gave Needlepaw a quelling look, as if he wasn’t used to apprentices who argued all the time. “Let me finish,” he meowed. “The next Gathering is in a few days, and we can bring the kits there to decide what will be done with them. Is that okay, Needlepaw? After all, we can all agree that what’s most important is to get the kits well again.”

Needlepaw ducked her head. “Okay,” she muttered.

Alderpaw noticed that she looked almost chastened by Birchfall’s decisive tones. Well, I’ve never seen that before!

“Are you okay getting back to the ShadowClan camp?” Birchfall continued to Needlepaw. “Should you even be out on your own?”

“I’ll be fine, thanks,” Needlepaw responded with a roll of her eyes. Clearly she was fed up with that question, and her respectful demeanor hadn’t lasted long. Turning to Alderpaw, she added, “I guess I’ll see you around, then.”

Alderpaw stared at her, wondering if she had even taken in what he said about keeping SkyClan a secret. “I’ll look out for you at the Gathering,” he meowed.

As Needlepaw turned away, Alderpaw felt a claw-scratch of pain at his heart. After all we’ve been through together, there should be… I dunno, more…

He thought that Needlepaw looked sad, too, as she gave him a last look before bounding away down the slope in the direction of RiverClan.

Then, as he watched her, Poppyfrost brushed her pelt against his, her eyes glowing with admiration. “You’ve done so well, Alderpaw!”

“Yes, ThunderClan will be proud of you,” Molewhisker told him. “And I can’t wait to hear what Cherryfall says when she sees the kits!”

While Birchfall and Berrynose congratulated him, too, Alderpaw felt his chest swell with pride. I feel like a hero! Oh, StarClan, it’s so good to be home!

Alderpaw poked his head through the entrance to the nursery. “Is it okay to come in?” he called softly.

“Sure!” Lilyheart called back. “But watch where you’re putting your paws.”

As Alderpaw became used to the dim light of the nursery, he could see why Lilyheart had told him to be careful. Her own three kits, Leafkit, Larkkit, and Honeykit, were rolling around, play fighting on the thick moss and bracken that covered the nursery floor.

Violetkit and Twigkit, their eyes open now, sat watching them.

“That’s how you learn to fight when you’re an apprentice,” Leafkit told the younger kits, sitting up and shaking scraps of moss from her tortoiseshell pelt.

“What’s an apprentice?” Twigkit asked.

“It’s when you’re six moons old and have a mentor, and learn how to become a warrior,” Larkkit replied.

“And then you get to fight foxes and badgers and rival cats,” Honeykit added. She leaped on top of her brother, growling fiercely.

“Get out of our camp, stinky badger!”

“Stinky yourself!”

Larkkit retorted, battering his sister with his hind paws.

Alderpaw skirted the battling kits and settled down in the moss beside Lilyheart.

“You’ve got your paws full here,” he mewed.

“I know, but I like it,” Lilyheart purred. “I have Daisy to help. She’s out hunting fresh-kill for us right now.”

“That’s great,” Alderpaw mewed. “So how are you two doing?” he asked, stretching out his neck to touch noses with Violetkit and then Twigkit.

“We’re fine, thank you,” Violetkit replied.

Alderpaw could see that she was right.

There was no need to worry about the kits’ health anymore. In the few days they had been in camp, their little bodies had begun to plump up, and their fur was glossy. Their eyes were open now, wide and bright.

“It’s so nice here with our mother,” Twigkit added, leaning closer to Lilyheart.

“She’s not your mother!” Leafkit piped up before Alderpaw or Lilyheart could respond.

“She’s our mother. You came from a long way away—beyond the lake, even.”

The two younger kits glanced at each other, confused and a little hurt.

“Don’t worry, little ones,” Lilyheart mewed, bending her head to lick each kit around the ears. “I love you just as much as if I were your real mother.”

“That’s right,” Alderpaw agreed, nuzzling the kits affectionately. “All you need to know is that you’re very special.”

Reassured, the two kits began to purr contentedly. For a moment Alderpaw gave himself up to the satisfaction of having saved them, whatever that might mean.

“They’re lovely,” Lilyheart meowed. “I’d be happy to keep them as part of my family. And my kits love them, too!”