Эрин Хантер - The Fourth Apprentice

Toadfoot and Tigerheart were fighting like a whole patrol, but these beavers were even bigger and stronger than the ones on the top of the dam. We can’t win , Lionblaze realized, bitter failure sweeping over him. Glancing back, he spotted Whitetail with Dovepaw crouched just behind her, looking terrified but determined. Both the beavers were advancing on them, letting out their threatening hisses.

“Get back!” Lionblaze yowled. “Get back to the bank—climb a tree! I’m going to help the others!”

“No!” Dovepaw screeched back. “We’re not leaving you!”

“I’ll be okay!” Lionblaze fixed his eyes on his apprentice, hoping she would remember that he couldn’t be killed in battle. “Now go!”

To his relief, Whitetail spun around and gave Dovepaw a push along the dam; both she-cats fled for the bank, scrambling over the logs, with Whitetail limping on three legs. There was still no sign of Sedgewhisker; Lionblaze assumed she was still lying stunned on the streambed.

Let’s hope she stays there .

Lionblaze turned back to head for the opposite side of the dam and found himself face-to-face with the beavers; their eyes gleamed as they crept up on him.

“You think you’re getting an easy victory?” Lionblaze taunted them, fluffing up his fur. “Think again!”

He hurled himself at the beavers, aiming for the narrow gap between them. As he slid through, helped on his way by their slimy pelts, he ducked his head to avoid their stabbing teeth and dodged from one side to another as they tried to claw him. He jumped over their tails as they swept around, trying to knock him off his feet, and then he was through. His sides felt battered, and as he landed he almost lost his balance and fell off the dam, but he managed to stay on his paws.

“See?” he yowled triumphantly. “Not a scratch on me!”

The words were scarcely out when he felt a heavy blow from behind, knocking his legs from under him. Another beaver had arrived, and it stood over him, its tiny front paws quivering as it lunged down to bite his neck.

Lionblaze rolled away, paws flailing as he slid down the side of the dam, ending up at the bottom, where Toadfoot and the others were still fighting.

“Retreat!” Lionblaze gasped. “It’s over!”

“Not while I’m on my paws!” Toadfoot snarled, aiming a blow at a beaver that was trying to thrust him off the dam.

“Or me!” Tigerheart asserted through gritted teeth.

Lionblaze could see that both ShadowClan warriors were injured: Toadfoot had blood trickling from above his eye, while deep claw marks were scored across Tigerheart’s pelt.

There was no time to argue. Lionblaze slid down to Petalfur, who was still trying to balance on the lowest logs, grabbed her by the scruff, and threw her onto the bank. He watched for a couple of heartbeats, until he saw her scrambling up the slope to safety. Then he glanced around for Rippletail. His heart slammed into his throat as he spotted the RiverClan warrior, who was cornered by the biggest beaver of all at the point where the dam met the bank. Rippletail was facing the creature defiantly, with teeth bared and claws extended, but Lionblaze could see that he didn’t have a chance.

Just as he hurled himself at the beaver, the creature lunged forward. It fastened its long, cruel teeth in Rippletail’s shoulder and tore a ragged wound; the RiverClan warrior let out a shriek of agony. Lionblaze flung himself at the beaver’s head, digging his claws into its ears. The beaver let out a bellow of pain and backed off, its tail flailing at Lionblaze. Rippletail was able to slip past them, slither over the log where they were struggling, and plunge into the water.

“Help him get out!” Lionblaze screeched, clinging desperately to the beaver’s head while it tried to slash his flank with its hind claws. He spotted Petalfur racing back down the slope.

“Rippletail! Rippletail!” she yowled.

Just then the beaver reared up and flicked Lionblaze off; he lay helplessly on the logs, struggling to catch his breath while the beaver bore down on him with glittering eyes and wicked teeth.

Then Toadfoot thrust himself between Lionblaze and the beaver; distracted, the creature turned to pursue the ShadowClan warrior. Toadfoot stood just out of range, snarling and batting at the beaver with his forepaws, until Lionblaze managed to scramble to his paws and flee.

Lionblaze and Toadfoot jumped off the dam and ran to the edge of the water, with Tigerheart hard on their paws.

Petalfur was crouched on the edge of the shore. “I’m going to help Rippletail,” she yowled, launching herself into the water and swimming out to where her Clanmate was flailing. Lionblaze couldn’t help remembering how happily the two RiverClan cats had played in the water the day before.

All five beavers were clustered together on top of the dam, watching the cats below. Lionblaze and Toadfoot turned to face them, ready to fight if they attacked again before Petalfur could rescue her Clanmate.

The RiverClan she-cat reached Rippletail, grabbed him by the scruff, and began towing him back to the bank. Meanwhile, Whitetail limped up to them from the streambed on the other side of the dam; her paw was bleeding heavily from where she had wrenched out her claw. Dovepaw and Sedgewhisker padded just behind her, with Sedgewhisker leaning on Dovepaw’s shoulder; she still looked half-stunned from her fall off the top of the dam.

As Petalfur swam into the shallows with Rippletail, Lionblaze and Toadfoot waded out into the pool and helped her drag him onto the bank. The RiverClan tom was barely conscious; his paws wouldn’t hold him up and his head drooped. Lionblaze and Toadfoot gripped his shoulders, while Dovepaw and Petalfur held up his hindquarters, and together they maneuvered him up the slope, back to the fern thicket where they had rested earlier. Whitetail and Sedgewhisker struggled up after them.

When they reached their makeshift shelter, Dovepaw tore up some bracken to make a nest, and the cats laid Rippletail down. The shoulder where the beaver had bitten him was bleeding heavily, the blood running down into his wet fur. Lionblaze felt his belly clench as he looked at the long, deep wound.

“We have to stop the bleeding,” Dovepaw mewed. “Does any cat know the proper herbs?”

Lionblaze tried to think. Surely Jayfeather must have said something, sometime, that would be useful now? But between fear and exhaustion, he couldn’t think.

“Rippletail was the cat who knew most about that.” Petalfur’s eyes were wide and frightened. “Mothwing gave him some training before we left.”

Lionblaze’s claws raked the ground in frustration. “Rippletail?” he hissed. “Rippletail, can you hear me?”

But the RiverClan warrior didn’t respond. His eyes were closed now, and his breathing was shallow.

“Cobwebs stop bleeding,” Whitetail meowed.

Dovepaw sprang to her paws. “I’ll go find some.” She plunged into the undergrowth.

Petalfur bent over her Clanmate, gently licking his wet fur as a mother would have cared for her kit. The rest of the cats watched in silence. Oh, StarClan! Lionblaze prayed. Don’t let him come to you yet .

He looked up as a clump of bracken waved wildly, expecting to see Dovepaw returning, but instead it was Woody who stepped into the open, a vole dangling from his jaws. He gaped, dropping his prey, as his gaze fell on Rippletail, and his eyes stretched wide with horror.

“What happened?” he croaked.

“The beavers happened,” Toadfoot replied tersely.

Woody padded up and gave Rippletail’s wound a cautious sniff. “I can’t believe you cats would put yourselves in such danger,” he meowed.

“It’s what we do.” Lionblaze had to restrain himself from snarling at the loner. “The warrior code says that you must fight for your Clan to the death.”