The Apprentice's Quest

Joining the crowd of cats who clustered around the tunnel entrance, Alderpaw wondered what the other Clans would be like. Apart from glimpses across the border when he was on patrol, he’d only seen cats from another Clan once, when he was still a kit and two medicine cats from RiverClan had come to talk to Jayfeather and Leafpool. They had looked just like normal cats, except that their pelts were especially thick and sleek, and they had left a funny, fishy smell behind them. And while they were in the camp, all the ThunderClan cats had been tense, casting sidelong glances at them, with their neck fur bristling.

Anyway, medicine cats are different from real warriors, Alderpaw told himself. It was hard for him to imagine whole other Clans full of cats.

At last Bramblestar raised his tail to lead the cats who had been chosen to go to the Gathering. As Alderpaw padded through the tunnel near the back of the group, his excitement began to ebb. I hope I don’t do something stupid in front of all those strange cats.

By now Alderpaw was becoming used to the forest in daylight, but he realized when he slid out through the thorn tunnel that it looked quite different in twilight. The trees seemed thicker and more mysterious; the air was cooler and carried different scents. The darkness was full of new sounds, and it was hard to work out where they were coming from.

By the time he and his Clanmates emerged onto the lakeshore, Alderpaw’s heart was pounding. He had barely left the shelter of the trees when he heard a hooting sound above his head. Flinching, he whipped around to stare up into the darkness. A pale wing swept across his vision, and then the owl was gone.

Suppressing a shiver, Alderpaw turned to Squirrelflight, who was padding along beside him. “I’ve heard stories about huge owls,” he began nervously, “big enough to snatch up a cat.

Is it true?”

Squirrelflight’s green eyes glinted in the dusk with a mixture of kindness and amusement. “The owls in these woods aren’t big enough to attack a cat,” she replied.

Alderpaw mulled over her answer. He was only partly comforted: Did his mother mean that somewhere else there were owls big enough to take cats as their prey? And if there were, couldn’t they come to the forest one day?

Molewhisker, who was walking on Alderpaw’s other side, flicked his apprentice’s ear with his tail. “Someday Cherryfall and I will take you and Sparkpaw hunting at night,” he meowed. “There’s a lot of prey that’s out of its nest at night instead of during the day.”

“That’s… er… great,” Alderpaw responded weakly.

Just then he heard a shocked, excited sound from Sparkpaw, who was just behind him along with Cherryfall. Glancing back, Alderpaw spotted little lights flickering on and off in the darkness, as if little scraps of sunlight were dancing in the air.

“What are those?” Sparkpaw asked, staring at the lights as if she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

“They’re called fireflies,” Cherryfall explained. “Insects that light up just like the stars. Isn’t that cool?”

“It’s fantastic!” Alderpaw mewed.

Sparkpaw shot off toward the lights, and Alderpaw hesitated less than a moment before he followed her. Excitement filled him as he leaped up, batting at the fireflies with his paws as if he could catch the little sparks of sunlight.

Beside him his sister was leaping up too, twisting in the air, but the tiny glints of light were always just out of reach.

“Sparkpaw!

Alderpaw!”

Squirrelflight’s stern voice rang out after a few heartbeats.

“Come back here right now.”

Alderpaw and Sparkpaw dropped to their paws and padded back to the group of cats, panting and disheveled.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

Squirrelflight asked as they rejoined her.

“When you’re on your way to a full-moon Gathering, you’re representing ThunderClan, and when you meet the other Clans you had better behave perfectly.”

Alderpaw dipped his head. “We will. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry,” Sparkpaw echoed.

“I should think so!” Squirrelflight stalked on ahead.

The two apprentices followed, but as soon as Squirrelflight was out of earshot, Sparkpaw leaned closer to Alderpaw. “Wasn’t that amazing?” she whispered. “We never saw stuff like that when we were stuck in camp all the time!”

The ThunderClan cats skirted the lake, keeping close to the edge as they passed through WindClan territory. On the way, they watched the moon emerge from behind thick clouds, shedding a cold silver light over the surface of the water.

“Good,” Molewhisker meowed. “If StarClan is angry, they cover the moon. This means the Gathering can go ahead.”

At the far side of WindClan territory, Alderpaw spotted a cluster of Twoleg dens in the frosty moonlight. “That must be the horseplace,” he murmured to Sparkpaw.

“Remember Daisy telling us about it in the nursery?”