“Come on, Hollypaw,” Brambleclaw urged. He stood beside Brackenfur, his eyes shining.
Hollypaw could hear the excited murmuring of the Clan cats. She felt as though fish were wriggling in her belly, but she wasn’t going to show any cat she was nervous. She crouched opposite Heatherpaw, narrowing her eyes.
“Keep your claws sheathed,” Onestar ordered. He swept his tail over the grass, and Hollypaw tensed. The WindClan apprentice was small, but Hollypaw knew that Heatherpaw had two moons’ more experience than she did, and that her sleek pelt hid hard muscle.
“Begin!” Onestar called.
Heatherpaw leaped. She crashed into Hollypaw, bowling her over. Hollypaw felt teeth grip her scruff, not hard enough to break the skin, but firm enough to make her freeze with alarm. She couldn’t be beaten this easily! Heatherpaw had caught her like a rabbit.
Thinking quickly, Hollypaw tucked her head and kicked out with her hind legs. She somersaulted forward, taking Heatherpaw with her and sending the WindClan apprentice sprawling onto her back. Free of her grip, Hollypaw leaped up, spun around, and flew at Heatherpaw. But her rival had rolled out of the way. Seething, Hollypaw landed on bare grass.
She glanced sideways. Heatherpaw was darting toward her. Energy flashed in her paws, and she leaped high into the air. As Heatherpaw skidded wildly beneath her, Hollypaw crashed down onto the confused WindClan cat’s back. Wrapping her paws around her opponent, she rolled Heatherpaw over and began pummeling her with her hind paws.
Heatherpaw, slippery as a snake, wriggled free of her grasp. She reared onto her hind legs and faced Hollypaw with flailing forepaws. Hollypaw rose to meet her, and the two apprentices battled like dancing hares.
“Finish her, Heatherpaw!” Crowfeather called.
“Knock her off her paws!” Brackenfur yowled.
What do you think I’m trying to do?
Hollypaw’s muzzle was beginning to sting. Heatherpaw’s blows were strong and well aimed, and Hollypaw didn’t want this to go on for much longer. Taking a deep breath, she ducked, leaving Heatherpaw flapping her paws at thin air. She scooted between Heatherpaw’s hind legs, unbalancing the WindClan apprentice. Then she twisted and sank her teeth—careful not to draw blood—into Heatherpaw’s scruff, pressing her chin into the ground. Heatherpaw let out an angry wail, struggling furiously, but Hollypaw had dug her claws into the earth on either side of the WindClan apprentice. Heatherpaw could not get free.
“It’s all over!” Onestar meowed. “Hollypaw is the winner!”
The ThunderClan cats cheered, and Hollypaw let go.
Heatherpaw jumped up. “Well done,” she panted. “That was a great move at the end!”
“Thanks,” mewed Hollypaw. “You fought well, too.”
“Good work, Hollypaw!” Brambleclaw rushed over and swept his tail over his daughter’s flank.
“She wouldn’t have beaten me so easily,” hissed a voice close by.
Heatherpaw narrowed her eyes at Ivypaw, a ShadowClan apprentice.
Hollypaw spun around. “Want to bet on that?”
She felt a paw cuff her ear. “One win is enough.” Brackenfur was staring at her proudly.
Suddenly Hollypaw saw a distinctive gray shape flash across the top of the slope. “Jaypaw! You just missed me winning the contest!” But her brother didn’t seem to hear. He pelted away into the trees, heading for ShadowClan territory. What in the name of StarClan was he up to now?
Jaypaw dashed along the slope toward the ShadowClan border, remembering the stench of fox and badger from his vision. There was an old badger set near the border, dug out of a fox den. His mother had described it to him. She had helped chase a badger from it long ago, soon after the four Clans came to the lake.
He dug his claws harder into the grass and pushed himself on. Fresh scents rolled in from the lake, but he focused on the smell of badger, searching it out as he raced into the woods. His instincts and senses were not enough to guide him quickly through this strange territory. He skidded to a halt, sniffing desperately, and began to feel his way with his whiskers. StarClan, let me see now! Please! I have to find Lionpaw!
Suddenly he tasted the rank stench of badger. It was old and laced with the smell of fox. He gazed around blindly, wondering where Lionpaw was. Then he heard pawsteps speeding over the leaf-strewn forest floor ahead.
He could smell Lionpaw.
Then Breezepaw.
Then squirrel.
Their excitement singed his pelt. With a jolt of terror, Jaypaw realized that the two apprentices were chasing the squirrel straight toward the badger stench. The place where the ground was not safe, where the earth would swallow them up…
“No!” His wail rang through the trees. He pelted forward, breathless with fear. Then shock pierced him and he skidded to a halt.
There was no sound of pawsteps. Only the squirrel’s claws skittering away up a tree. The forest was deadly silent.
“Lionpaw!” Jaypaw shot forward. He stumbled as the earth became rock beneath his paws. The sun was suddenly hot on his back. A clearing, ringed with trees. Boulders reared up before him.
His fur stood on end as muffled mews sounded from above.
“Help!”
“StarClan, save me!”
Feeling his way frantically, Jaypaw clambered up the rocks. Where had they fallen in? Was he near? The ground was still rock beneath his paws. It flattened, then sloped smoothly away in front of him. He began to slide forward. Blood roared in his ears. What if I fall in too? The vision played in his mind again—earth choking his ears, his eyes, his lungs screaming for air. He unsheathed his claws. They scraped over the stone as he half crept, half slithered downward.
Suddenly his front paws touched sand and sank. Jaypaw sprang backward, clinging to the rock with his hind paws. Then the sand moved; he felt it quivering beneath his forepaws as though something squirmed beneath it.
They’re down there!
Gripping with his hind claws, he squatted down and began to dig, scooping out earth as fast as he could.
“Help!” he wailed, hoping some cat would hear. “Over here!”
His hind claws lost their grip and he slid forward, his forepaws sinking into the sand. “StarClan help me!”
He reared backward, his muscles screaming with the effort. He couldn’t give up now. He slithered forward again and kept digging, his hind paws trembling with the effort of keeping him out of the sinking ground. Soil pressed up against his chest and chin. Terror gripped his whole body. The vision was so strong in his mind he could feel soil in his throat and see nothing but earth.
Suddenly his paws brushed against fur. With a rush of hope, he hooked his claws into it and heaved with all his strength. The fur wriggled and fought in his grip, struggling to push upward until Jaypaw could scrabble far enough back to drag the body out of the soil.
Spluttering and gasping, Lionpaw slithered away from the patch of soft earth and collapsed on the rock. Jaypaw plunged his paws back into the soil. Breezepaw was still down there.
“What’s going on?” Crowfeather’s shocked cry sounded behind him.
Without stopping Jaypaw screeched at the WindClan warrior, “The den collapsed. Lionpaw and Breezepaw fell in!”
Crowfeather was at his side in an instant, sending sandy soil flying in his desperation to save his son.
Claws scrabbled up the boulders behind them. “Crowfeather?” Heatherpaw’s mew sounded breathless.
“Breezepaw’s still buried!” Crowfeather panted.
“Breezepaw?” Nightcloud’s horrified gasp sounded close by. The WindClan she-cat must have leaped up the boulders with Heatherpaw. She pressed in beside Jaypaw and began digging. “Oh, my precious kit!”
Then Jaypaw felt another movement in the earth beneath his claws. “I can feel him!”
Crowfeather burrowed his paws toward Jaypaw’s and lunged down. A growl of effort rose in his throat as he heaved his son out from the suffocating earth. Jaypaw felt soil spray his face and st
ing his eyes as Breezepaw’s body was dragged free. He listened closely for the apprentice’s breathing. It had stopped.
“Fetch Leafpool!” he shrieked.
“I’m here!” Leafpool’s voice came as a rush of warm air to Jaypaw’s ears.
“Can you save them?” he begged. “I came here as fast as I could, but—”
“Lionpaw is breathing,” Leafpool told him. “I’ve cleared the soil from his throat.”
Jaypaw felt Breezepaw stir, and for a moment he thought the WindClan apprentice had recovered. Then he realized that Leafpool was wrenching open his jaws.
“Your paws are smallest,” she told Jaypaw. “Reach into his mouth and clear as much dirt as you can.”
Jaypaw sheathed his claws. Then, forcing himself to stop trembling, he reached delicately into Breezepaw’s mouth. He could hear Crowfeather’s heart pounding. Nightcloud was quivering in terror behind him. Leafpool’s concentration was the only calmness he felt around him, and he clung to it as he scooped the earth from the back of Breezepaw’s throat.
Suddenly Breezepaw coughed and his body writhed as he spat up earth from his stomach and lungs.
“Will he be all right?” Nightcloud whispered.
“Yes, he will,” Leafpool promised.
“Thank you, Leafpool,” Crowfeather murmured.
“I would give my last drop of blood to save your kit,” Leafpool meowed softly to Crowfeather. “You know that.”
Jaypaw flinched at the tension between them, pricking the air like rain.
“Our kit was lucky that Jaypaw was here.” Nightcloud’s comment was edged with sharpness.
“Jaypaw?” Lionpaw croaked.
Jaypaw spun around and crouched beside his brother. “That was close, even for you,” he mewed.
Lionpaw’s breathing was labored but steady. “I thought I was going to join StarClan.”
Leafpool’s whiskers brushed Jaypaw’s cheek. “They were lucky you were here.”
“I nearly wasn’t fast enough,” he replied.
“But you made it to them in time,” she pointed out. “You were brave to try to get them out on your own.” She flicked his shoulder with her tail. “Come on, let’s get them back to the hollow.”
Jaypaw held out his paw so that Lionpaw could lick the poppy seeds from his pad. Lionpaw lapped them up gratefully. He was still trembling, even though he was safely in Jaypaw’s nest, curled beside Breezepaw.
Lionpaw had managed to stagger back to the ThunderClan camp on his own paws. Hollypaw and Squirrelflight had pressed against either side of him to take some of his weight, while Brambleclaw had rushed to fetch Firestar.
Nightcloud had carried Breezepaw like a kit. His hind legs had dragged over the forest floor, but he was too exhausted by shock to complain. Crowfeather had padded beside his mate the whole way, offering to help, but Nightcloud kept hold of her kit as though she might lose him again at any moment. Now she lay curled around him, warming his quivering body, her breath falling and rising in time with his.
“Try to persuade them to sleep,” Leafpool told Jaypaw. “I’ll go and tell the others they’re all right.” Firestar, Crowfeather, Heatherpaw, Brambleclaw, and Squirrelflight were waiting anxiously outside. The brambles swished as the medicine cat padded out of the den.
“I’ll make sure they sleep,” Nightcloud meowed. Jaypaw heard the swish of her tail as she swept it rhythmically over the earth-powdered pelts of the two apprentices.
“You were so brilliant.” Hollypaw’s breath tickled his ear.
Her comment made his ears hot with embarrassment. Why did she have to treat him like a hero? Crowfeather had acted the same way as they’d padded home through the forest.
“You behaved like a warrior,” the WindClan cat had told him.
But Jaypaw did not feel like a warrior. If he had run faster he would have been able to warn Lionpaw. If only his blindness had not slowed him down.
“Lionpaw and Breezepaw wouldn’t have been hurt if I’d gotten there sooner,” he mewed to Hollypaw.
“But how did you find them at all?” He felt her stare burning his pelt. “They were chasing a squirrel—it could have run anywhere.”
Jaypaw hesitated. “I had a vision,” he confessed. “I saw what was going to happen.” Panic swept through him as he remembered the sensation of choking, the taste of soil in his mouth, and the sight of paws churning desperately in front of his muzzle. “When I saw the color of the paws, I realized they weren’t mine, but Lionpaw’s.”
“Saw?” Hollypaw’s gasp made Jaypaw jump. “You saw his paws?”
“Shhh!” Suddenly he wished he hadn’t told her anything. If StarClan thought he was trying to show off, they might take his one chance at sight away. Jaypaw tried to make his sister understand. “Sometimes I can see in dreams and visions,” he whispered. “It’s hard to explain how. It’s…” He paused, groping for words. “It’s just different.”
He felt her mind teeming with questions. Then it cleared and a purr rumbled in her throat. “StarClan must have given you this gift for a reason. I knew you’d make a great medicine cat.” She brushed her cheek along his, then padded out through the brambles.
Jaypaw sighed. He was glad Hollypaw hadn’t asked any difficult questions, but was this how it was going to be from now on? A separate life, beyond the understanding of his Clanmates? With their every heartbeat depending on him?
“Jaypaw!” Brambleclaw called through the brambles. “Come down to the lake for the end of the Gathering.”
“Firestar’s going to be announcing the winners!” Heatherpaw added excitedly.
Jaypaw curled his lip. The last thing he wanted to do was to watch the other apprentices celebrate their warrior skills. He pricked his ears toward Lionpaw and Breezepaw. Nightcloud had done as she promised, and both apprentices were sleeping deeply. He pushed his way out of the den. “Who’s going to watch Lionpaw and Breezepaw?” he asked, looking for an excuse to stay in the camp.
“I will,” Leafpool told him.
“Come on, Jaypaw,” Hollypaw begged. “It’ll be fun.”
“You should meet some of the apprentices from the other Clans,” Firestar meowed. “You haven’t had the chance yet.”
Reluctantly, Jaypaw followed his Clanmates as they trekked down to the slopes beside the lake. Crowfeather and Heatherpaw went to join WindClan, and Firestar headed off to speak with the other leaders by the lakeshore. Brambleclaw sat down to wait on the hillside, and Jaypaw sat beside him with Squirrelflight and Hollypaw.
“I’ve not seen the Clans so relaxed since the Great Journey,” Brambleclaw observed.
Squirrelflight’s happiness warmed the air around her. “Even ShadowClan seem content.”
“But Blackstar is staring at everyone, proud as a blackbird, as if his apprentices won every contest,” Hollypaw chipped in.
“Clans of trees, hills, and streams!”
Jaypaw heard his leader’s call. The cats fell silent, and Jaypaw sensed their gazes turn toward the ThunderClan leader like the sun shifting in the sky.
“All our apprentices did well today,” Firestar declared. “They hunted and fought like true warriors!”
Jubilant mews rose from all the Clans.
“I have talked with Leopardstar, Blackstar, and Onestar, and we have decided that the contest is a draw,” Firestar went on. “Every Clan showed itself to be worthy of StarClan’s approval.”
“That’s not fair!” Owlpaw snarled, the ShadowClan apprentices bunched around him muttering in agreement. “I was the best hunter! Lionpaw and Breezepaw didn’t even come back!”
“Hush!” A ShadowClan she-cat silenced him. “They almost died!”
Blackstar told Owlpaw, “It’s all right; we all know who really won, even if we have to share the victory. You shall have first pick of the prey when we get home.”
Leopardstar lifted her voice. “Out of RiverClan’s apprentices, Pouncepaw will eat the best fish tonight as a reward for her excellent hunting skills.” r />
“Heatherpaw shall have the fattest rabbit,” Onestar called. “She climbed to the top of the Sky Oak!”
Jaypaw’s muzzle sank to his chest. He didn’t want to hear how well every other apprentice had done.
“And from ThunderClan,” Firestar announced, “Hollypaw may choose first prey from the pile. She fought excellently for such a new apprentice.”
Jaypaw felt pride surge in his sister’s pelt, and hated the jealousy that throbbed in his paws. “Well done,” he mumbled. “I’d better get back and see if Leafpool needs help.”
“Please stay,” Hollypaw mewed.
Jaypaw shook his head and turned away. He began to climb the slope toward the tree line. Then Onestar’s voice sounded from below.
“There is one apprentice who deserves a special mention above all the others today.”
Jaypaw kept on walking.
“Jaypaw.”
Jaypaw stopped.
“This young ThunderClan apprentice has earned the gratitude of every cat for his courage and quick thinking today.”
Jaypaw felt the curious gaze of all the Clans ruffle his pelt. He turned self-consciously to face them.
Firestar joined in. “He saved two apprentices. They nearly suffocated when an old badger set collapsed beneath them. Jaypaw found them in time and dug them out.”
Shocked mews turned into cheers. They were cheering for him! Hollypaw’s and Squirrelflight’s pelts suddenly brushed against his flanks.
Hollypaw pressed her nose against his cheek. “You’re a hero.”
Could blind cats be heroes? Jaypaw wondered. Perhaps…
“This has been a good Gathering,” Firestar meowed as the cheering died down. “It has reminded me of the Great Journey, and I think it marks a successful start to the second newleaf in our new home. A lot has changed, but we are still true warriors!”
True warriors! Like plunging into freezing water, Jaypaw remembered how lost he had felt in the fight against ShadowClan—how desperately he had longed to see, how he knew he would never be able to defend himself properly, let alone his Clanmates. StarClan had seen this too, which was why they’d decided he should be a medicine cat.