“Thanks, Jayfeather,” she mewed. “And you, Alderpaw. I’m sorry to be such a nuisance.”
“Just remember that the next time you want to do something mouse-brained,” Jayfeather muttered. “Now, Alderpaw, unwrap the cobwebs. I want to get a better idea of the wound.”
“What if the bleeding starts again?” Alderpaw asked nervously.
“Then we put more cobweb on, bee-brain!”
As carefully as he could, snagging his claws delicately into the cobweb wrapping, Alderpaw laid the wound bare. He hardly dared to breathe as he tore away the last of the cobwebs, but to his relief there was no more bleeding.
Meanwhile Jayfeather had gone to the herb store, and he came back carrying a piece of comfrey root. “We’ll put a poultice of this on the wound,” he meowed, dropping it at Alderpaw’s paws. “You can chew it up, and Cherryfall, give that wound a good lick.”
Alderpaw began chewing the root, blinking at its tangy taste. When he thought it was fine enough, he spat it out again. Jayfeather bent his head to sniff at it.
“It’ll do,” he commented. “Now spread it on Cherryfall’s paw.”
Alderpaw noticed how Cherryfall began to relax as he patted the poultice into place and the comfrey juices sank into her wound. “That feels so good . . . ,” she murmured.
“You should get some sleep,” Jayfeather told her when the poultice was in place. Turning to Alderpaw, he added, “And you’re done for the day. Go and get something to eat.”
“Thanks, Jayfeather.”
Alderpaw slipped out of the den, his legs shaky with exhaustion. Spotting his sister over by the fresh-kill pile, he padded across to join her.
“Come and share this vole,” Sparkpaw invited him as he drew near. “I caught it when I went hunting with Cherryfall earlier today. Doesn’t it look good?”
Alderpaw felt his jaws watering as he looked at the plump piece of prey, and he realized that his belly was bawling with hunger. At the same time a hot wave of embarrassment flooded through his pelt.
“I really freaked out when I saw Cherryfall’s wound,” he confessed. “I couldn’t do a simple thing like finding cobwebs.” He let out a long sigh. “How am I going to be a good medicine cat if I freeze up at the sight of blood?”
“Oh, mouse dung!” Sparkpaw mewed cheerfully. “I don’t know why any cat would want to be a medicine cat, but I was really impressed with the way you stopped Cherryfall’s wound bleeding. You just need to trust yourself,” she went on, brushing her tail against Alderpaw’s side. “The way I do when I’m hunting. It’s when you stop to worry that you miss your prey, and it was the same thing with the cobweb. But then you did the right thing. So I think in the end you’ll be a pretty good medicine cat.”
“Do you really believe that?” Alderpaw asked.
Sparkpaw gave him a nudge. “Of course I do, you daft furball!”
Taking a bite of the succulent vole, Alderpaw realized that he was beginning to feel better.
CHAPTER 6
When Alderpaw arrived at the medicine cats’ den the following morning, he saw that Leafpool had returned and was giving Cherryfall’s wound a good sniff. “That looks fine,” she told the ginger she-cat. “But you can tell Squirrelflight you’re off warrior duties for today. Go to your den and rest.”
Cherryfall dipped her head in thanks and brushed past Alderpaw on her way out of the den.
“Hi, Leafpool,” Alderpaw meowed. “How is Littlecloud?”
Leafpool straightened up. “Better,” she replied. “He just had a touch of whitecough. I’m still worried about him, though. He’s getting older, and there’s no cat in ShadowClan to help him.”
“Surely StarClan must have sent a sign to some cat,” Alderpaw murmured.
“Huh!” Jayfeather turned from where he was sorting herbs at the back of the den. “ShadowClan cats are all so keen to be warriors that they might not pay any attention to signs.”
I know how they feel, Alderpaw told himself, even though he was becoming more comfortable in his new life.
“Anyway,” Leafpool mewed, “you’ll meet Littlecloud and the other medicine cats tonight. It’s time for the half-moon meeting at the Moonpool.”
Alderpaw stiffened. The medicine cats had all seemed so important when he had seen them at the Gathering, giving the prophecy to the Clans. What will I say to them? I don’t feel like I really belong with them.
At the same time, a tingle of excitement ran through his pelt. No cat besides the medicine cats knows what happens at their meetings. “What will we do there?” he asked.
“You’ll find out,” Jayfeather told him. “Now, what about doing some work? We’re almost out of catmint, since you took some over to ShadowClan,” he added, narrowing his eyes at Leafpool.
“Do you want me to collect some from the old Twoleg nest?” Alderpaw offered.
“No,” Jayfeather growled with a lash of his tail. “Moles have been digging through our herb patch. I bet they’ve made a real mess of it. Moles!” he spat, digging his claws into the ground. “I’d strip the pelt off every last one of them.”
“Don’t get so worked up.” Leafpool brushed her tail along Jayfeather’s side. “We can replant the herbs.”
Jayfeather gave an ill-tempered grunt. “And meanwhile we’re short of catmint just when leaf-fall is coming and we’re likely to get more greencough. We’ll have to cross ShadowClan territory to get catmint from that Twoleg garden beside RiverClan.”
Alderpaw was surprised and a little disconcerted. “But you scolded Sparkpaw because she and Cherryfall and Sorrelstripe were going to those Twoleg nests,” he reminded Jayfeather.
It was Leafpool who replied. “Rules are different for medicine cats. Besides, any cat can cross territory if they stay within three fox-lengths of the lake.”
So Jayfeather just likes to be cranky, Alderpaw thought. I guess I knew that already.
“Anyway,” Leafpool went on briskly, “I’ve just spent time with ShadowClan, helping Littlecloud. They’re not going to bother me, are they? Alderpaw, you and I will go together.”
When Leafpool and Alderpaw crossed the stream at the ShadowClan border, there was a strong, fresh scent of ShadowClan cats. Before they had taken many paw steps along the lakeshore, a ShadowClan patrol emerged from the bushes above the beach.
“Tigerheart,” Leafpool mewed politely, dipping her head to the dark tabby tom who was in the lead. “How’s the prey running in ShadowClan?”
“Why do you want to know?” the tabby warrior challenged her. “You’re not hoping to steal some of it, are you?”
Alderpaw felt his neck fur bristling at the hostile tone, but Leafpool was unmoved. “You know better than that, Tigerheart,” she responded.
Tigerheart’s tail-tip twitched to and fro. “I know you’re always meddling in ShadowClan business,” he meowed. “Just like a ThunderClan cat.”
“Yeah, especially one related to Firestar,” one of the other ShadowClan cats put in: a hefty brown tom with a tuft of fur on the top of his head.
“Spikefur, I’m proud that Firestar was my father.” Leafpool’s tone was still calm.
Alderpaw was so riveted by this exchange, wondering if it was going to end in a fight, that he hadn’t paid much attention to the rest of the ShadowClan patrol. He jumped, startled, as one of them came up and nudged him. Turning, he recognized Needlepaw.
“Oh, it’s you,” he mewed, not sure if he was pleased to see her.
“Hi, Alderpaw.” Needlepaw gave him a friendly nod. “I thought I might be seeing you again soon. You’ve met Sleekpaw, and this other furball is Yarrowpaw.”
“Furball yourself!” the third apprentice growled.
“Okay, Leafpool.” Tigerheart took a pace back. Alderpaw had missed the next part of the conversation, but he was relieved that the ShadowClan tom sounded less hostile. “You can pass,” he went on. “But we’ll escort you to the edge of our territory.”
Leafpool dipped her head in acknowledgment. “Thank y
ou.”
The whole patrol set off along the edge of the lake, with Leafpool and Tigerheart in the lead. The apprentices brought up the rear; Needlepaw padded along beside Alderpaw.
“Toms!” she muttered. “Always making trouble. Spikefur’s a real pain in the tail.” She hopped along on three paws while she used the fourth to ruffle up the fur on her head, and spoke in Spikefur’s lower tone. “‘Go and fetch me more moss, lowly apprentice! And catch me a blackbird while you’re at it.’”
Alderpaw stifled a snort of laughter. “You shouldn’t talk like that about your mentor.”
“He’s not my mentor, thank StarClan!” Needlepaw meowed. “I’m Tawnypelt’s apprentice, but she’s helping reinforce the camp walls today, so I get to go out with Spikefur.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m so lucky! Anyway,” she went on, “what are you doing here with Leafpool?”
“She’s my mentor now,” Alderpaw replied. “We’re going to—”
“You’re a medicine-cat apprentice?” Needlepaw’s eyes stretched wide with amazement. “You didn’t say that when we met before.”
“I wasn’t, then,” Alderpaw explained.
“Wow, that’s really cool!” Needlepaw sounded impressed. “You must get to learn lots of stuff.”
“Oh, yes, lots. Different kinds of herbs and what they’re used for, and how to stop wounds from bleeding . . .” For the first time Alderpaw found himself boasting, proud of his position as a medicine-cat apprentice. “Tonight Leafpool is taking me to the Moonpool to meet with StarClan,” he finished.
“That’s awesome,” Needlepaw breathed out. “Do you have visions? Do you know anything special about the prophecy?”
Alderpaw shook his head. “I did have a sort of weird dream . . . ,” he began.
“Alderpaw!” Leafpool glanced back, and gestured with her tail for Alderpaw to come and walk beside her.
Embarrassed, Alderpaw realized he had almost gotten carried away and told Needlepaw stuff he wasn’t supposed to mention. For the rest of their journey across ShadowClan territory, he padded in silence beside his mentor.
At the far border, Tigerheart waved his tail toward Leafpool and Alderpaw. “You have permission to cross back to your own Clan,” he mewed loftily. “But don’t take too long about it.”
Like we’d want to hang around in your territory, Alderpaw thought.
“Good-bye, Alderpaw.” Needlepaw gave him a friendly swipe around the ear with her tail. “I’ll be seeing you.”
Alderpaw wasn’t sure if he was looking forward to that or not.
The half-moon shed a bright light over the forest as Jayfeather, Leafpool, and Alderpaw trekked alongside the stream that separated ThunderClan from WindClan. Alderpaw felt every hair in his pelt rise as they crossed a set of ThunderClan scent markers, and he realized that they were leaving behind not just their own territory, but the territories of all the Clans, and setting off into the unexplored hills.
“Is it much farther?” he panted.
“Oh, yes, we’ve a long way to go yet,” Jayfeather told him.
Alderpaw sighed, half excited and half afraid. They had left the sheltering trees behind, and now rolling moorland stretched away in all directions, bare except for clumps of gorse, or reeds growing around a pool.
“How did the medicine cats know to come up here to the Moonpool?” Alderpaw asked.
“Actually, I was the cat who found it.” Leafpool sounded slightly embarrassed. “Spottedleaf—she was a ThunderClan medicine cat many seasons ago, when Firestar first came to the forest—came from StarClan to show me the way.”
“Wow, that means you’re really special!” Alderpaw mewed admiringly.
Leafpool ducked her head. “Not at all. Just the right cat in the right place. Besides, lots of cats gathered at the Moonpool before the Clans ever came to the lake.”
“Will we meet them?” Alderpaw blinked nervously.
“You may meet them in StarClan,” Leafpool replied. “But they left this place many, many seasons ago.”
Alderpaw shivered. “That’s weird.”
The journey to the Moonpool seemed to take forever. Then, scrambling up a steep slope, Alderpaw began to realize that he could hear the sound of falling water from somewhere up ahead.
“We’re almost there,” Leafpool told him.
Leafpool kept climbing upward, and Alderpaw padded after her. Jayfeather brought up the rear; glancing back to make sure he was okay, Alderpaw was impressed to notice how he set down his paws instinctively in the right places. It was as though he knew this path so well that he didn’t need to see it.
Before they reached the top of the slope, Alderpaw heard a yowling cry coming from some way behind them. He paused and looked back to see all the other medicine cats, tiny in the distance, making their way along the path.
“We’ll wait for them,” Leafpool mewed, standing at Alderpaw’s shoulder.
As the other cats drew closer, Alderpaw could pick out each one and recognize them. Kestrelflight, the mottled gray tom from WindClan, was in the lead. Mothwing followed him, with her apprentice, Willowshine, beside her. Last of all came Littlecloud; the old tom was obviously finding the climb strenuous, and he stood panting when he reached the place where Alderpaw and the others were waiting.
“Greetings,” Mothwing meowed, dipping her head politely, then giving Alderpaw a curious glance. “Who is this, Leafpool?”
“This is Alderpaw,” Leafpool replied. “He’s our new apprentice.”
A murmur of surprise came from the other medicine cats. “Really?” Kestrelflight responded. “I should have thought the last thing ThunderClan needed was another medicine cat!”
“We don’t question the will of StarClan,” Leafpool replied levelly, while Jayfeather flicked his whiskers irritably.
Alderpaw tried not to feel intimidated. It helped when Willowshine gave him a kind look and mewed, “I’m sure there can never be too many cats taking care of their Clan.”
Littlecloud said nothing, though Alderpaw thought he was looking slightly envious. I hope StarClan sends him an apprentice soon.
“Are we doing this, or are we just going to stand here all night?” Jayfeather asked testily. He moved into the lead, springing confidently up the last part of the slope.
At the top a thick line of bushes barred their path. Jayfeather and Leafpool pushed their way through without hesitating. Alderpaw paused for a moment, then struggled through the stiff branches, pausing to shake his pelt when he emerged on the other side. Then he looked up, and he drew in his breath in a soundless gasp of astonishment.
In front of the line of bushes the ground dropped away into a deep hollow. A spring of water gushed from the rocks opposite, plunging down through moss and fern into a pool. The surface of the water glittered with the broken reflections of moon and stars. Alderpaw thought he had never seen anything so beautiful.
“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Willowshine murmured, emerging from the bushes at his side. “I’ll never forget the first time I saw it. And it still takes my breath away.”
Leafpool and Jayfeather had already begun to pad down the spiraling path that led to the pool. Alderpaw followed them, awestruck as his paws slid into the impressions made by those ancient cats so long ago. His pelt tingled. The ancient cats, who had left . . . many, many seasons ago . . .
The other medicine cats followed him down the path and gathered at the edge of the pool. Leafpool beckoned Alderpaw to come and stand beside her. “Alderpaw,” she meowed, “is it your wish to share the deepest knowledge of StarClan as a ThunderClan medicine cat?”
This is it, Alderpaw thought. “It is,” he replied, his voice sounding as if a claw were scratching his throat.
Leafpool gazed up at the stars, her amber eyes glowing like small fires in the night. “Warriors of StarClan,” she began, “I present to you this apprentice. He has chosen the path of a medicine cat. Grant him your wisdom and insight so that he may understand your ways and heal his Clan in accordance with y
our will.”
Alderpaw stood there blinking, aware that something tremendous was happening. He almost thought he could see the assembly of starry warriors, seated around him on the slopes of the hollow. Then Leafpool touched his shoulder with her tail.
“Crouch down beside the water, lap a few drops, and then touch the surface with your nose,” she instructed.
As Alderpaw obeyed, he could see the other medicine cats around the Moonpool, their noses lowering to the water. It felt icy cold when he lapped it, and when he touched his nose to it, he thought that an icicle was stabbing him to the heart. Biting back a yowl, he closed his eyes and waited.
Alderpaw wasn’t aware of the passing of time, but he found himself walking alongside a shallow, sparkling stream with no clear idea of how he had gotten there. Lush vegetation grew on the banks, and the air was full of rich scents. Alderpaw wondered if he should be afraid, but he felt too peaceful, and he wandered on, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his pelt.
After a little while, he saw that a large tom with a flame-colored pelt was walking along beside him. “Greetings,” the tom said. “I’m so happy to finally meet one of Squirrelflight’s kits.”
Alderpaw’s belly lurched as he realized that this must be Firestar, his mother’s famous father, who died in the Great Battle before he and his sister were born. Alderpaw would have expected to be overcome with shyness in the presence of such an awesome cat, but instead he felt at ease with him right away. There was something about Firestar that seemed oddly familiar.
Is this the same cat that I had that weird dream about?
“Come,” Firestar meowed, leading Alderpaw farther along the stream until they reached a place where the water spread out into a pool. Firestar motioned to Alderpaw to stand right on the edge. “Look into the water,” he instructed.
At first all Alderpaw could see was the pebbly bottom of the pool, and a few tiny fish darting here and there. Then the water and the pebbles seem to dissolve, and he found himself staring down into a deep gorge, with a river edged by bare, sandy rocks. Cats were moving here and there among the rocks, gathering into a ragged circle with one cat in the middle.