River, page 4
“Do you want to go hunting?” she asked.
“Sure,” Sunbeam replied, springing eagerly to her paws.
Blazefire stayed where he was. “No, I’ve just gotten back from the dawn patrol. You two go, and let me rest my legs.”
For a moment Sunbeam was tempted to change her mind and stay with him here on the sun-warmed rock, but after spending the whole morning lazing around, she thought hunting with Lightleap sounded fun.
Almost as soon as they left the camp, they spotted a starling pecking at the ground among fallen pinecones. With her tail, Lightleap gestured for Sunbeam to circle around and come upon the prey from the opposite direction.
Sunbeam obeyed, keeping well away from the starling as she crept along with her belly fur brushing the ground. Lightleap crouched down behind a tussock of longer grass. Once Sunbeam was in position, she rose to her paws and sprang at the bird, which let out a cry of alarm and fluttered upward. Lightleap leaped into the air with a yowl of triumph and snatched the starling out of the air as it tried to fly away.
“Great catch!” Sunbeam mewed as she ran up to inspect the prey.
“We’re a good team,” Lightleap responded, scratching a hole to bury the bird for collection later. “Let’s see what else we can find.”
“Did you hear Oakfur last night?” Sunbeam asked as they padded further into the trees. “Going on all about life in the old forest, and how much better ShadowClan’s territory was there.”
Lightleap let out a snort of amusement. “Yeah, for about the tenth time! But he’s an elder. That’s what elders do. Things were always better when they were young cats.”
“Things were better because they were young cats,” Sunbeam pointed out. “Wait until we’re elders, Lightleap. We’ll have some stories to tell!”
“There are some stories I don’t want to tell,” Lightleap meowed with a shiver.
Seeing the depth of fear in her friend’s eyes, Sunbeam could guess what stories she meant. Lightleap must have been remembering the terrible time when Ashfur had stolen Bramblestar’s body and trapped spirit cats in the Dark Forest to carry out his commands and invade the living world. Lightleap had volunteered to go into the Dark Forest to fight Ashfur, but at the last moment her courage had failed her. Now she not only had to wrestle with the memory of the danger all the Clans had shared, but her own failure, too.
“You shouldn’t—” Sunbeam began, then broke off as she heard the sound of scuffling coming from underneath a rotting log. She angled her ears in that direction. “Over there,” she whispered.
Lightleap headed for one end of the log while Sunbeam took the other. Then both of them crept toward the middle, where the sound was coming from. When there was barely a tail-length between them, several mice exploded from a nest of pine needles. Sunbeam leaped forward, trapping two, one beneath each forepaw. Lightleap caught a third; the rest of them escaped.
“Not bad,” Sunbeam mewed with satisfaction. She prodded a mouse with her nose. “Thank you, StarClan, for this prey.”
Lightleap was looking cheerful again as they buried the mice and continued on their way. “You heard what happened to Pouncestep, right?” she asked. “How she was chased by a dog near the greenleaf Twolegplace?”
“Some of it,” Sunbeam replied. She remembered how Lightleap’s sister had returned to camp, her fur ruffled but a look of triumph in her eyes. But she had only heard the bare outline of the story. “She must have been so scared!”
“She was clever,” Lightleap responded. “She fooled that stupid flea-brain: She climbed a tree, and then ran along a branch and leaped into another tree. She left the dog barking at the bottom of the wrong tree, and took her sweet time heading back to camp.”
“Great StarClan, that was brave!” Sunbeam commented, her belly lurching as she imagined the dog’s gaping jaws and sharp teeth. “I probably wouldn’t have been calm enough to think of that with a dog chasing me.”
Lightleap gave a disdainful sniff. “It’s not all that brave,” she mewed, her eyes gleaming. “Any warrior could have done it. I wouldn’t have run. I would have scratched that dog’s eyes until it ran away.”
Sunbeam felt as if her heart were sinking right down into her paws. Ever since Lightleap had lost her nerve and backed out of crossing into the Dark Forest, and the Sisters had sent Lightleap’s brother, Shadowsight, instead, she had been taking a lot of unnecessary risks to prove how brave she was. She had been in trouble with her father, Tigerstar, a half-moon before, for sneaking across the border with RiverClan because Hopwhisker had dared her. The scolding she’d gotten from Tigerstar had echoed all around the camp, and Lightleap had been punished by having to do all the apprentice duties by herself for a half-moon.
“Have we caught enough, do you think?” Sunbeam asked, hoping to distract Lightleap from the story of her sister’s bravery.
But Lightleap was watching two squirrels chase each other in the branches of a nearby tree. “Watch this!” she exclaimed, bolting up the trunk of the tree next to it. Sunbeam’s heart sank a little as Lightleap glanced down at her and she saw the look of reckless eagerness in her friend’s eyes.
As Lightleap ran out along a branch, looking as nimble as a squirrel herself, Sunbeam struggled between admiration and horror at the risks her friend was taking. She realized that Lightleap meant to jump into the next tree and catch one of the squirrels as it tried to escape. But it was a long jump, and the branches of the other tree weren’t very thick.
Will they even hold a cat’s weight? Lightleap is much heavier than a squirrel!
Her pelt bristling with anxiety, Sunbeam ran underneath the branch where Lightleap was balancing. She couldn’t believe how dangerous it looked now that she was closer.
Lightleap jumped, and for a heartbeat Sunbeam thought she was going to make it. Her body soared through the air and she landed with all four paws on the branch she was aiming for.
Great leap! Sunbeam thought, her legs quivering with relief as she bounded forward, tracking Lightleap from the ground.
But almost at once, Lightleap’s branch sagged under her weight. Lightleap dug her claws into it, dangling briefly, then let out a screech of terror as she fell.
Sunbeam felt as though horror had frozen her paws to the spot. She saw Lightleap plummeting toward her, and braced herself for the impact. With a painful jolt Lightleap landed on top of her, forcing her to the ground with a thump that drove all the breath out of her body. She lay on her side, struggling for air, while Lightleap scrambled to her paws, not seeming to be hurt at all.
“Oh, Sunbeam, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed. “Are you okay?”
Managing at last to get her breath, Sunbeam tried to get up; but as soon as she moved, she realized she had wrenched something in her back, and she couldn’t put one of her forepaws to the ground.
“No, I’m not okay,” she panted. “You’ll have to help me back to camp.”
“I’m so sorry!” Lightleap repeated. “But please, Sunbeam, don’t tell any cat what happened. I’ve only just stopped being in trouble.”
“Okay,” Sunbeam agreed, though she wasn’t sure she should. Why should she get away with being so stupid? Stifling a sigh, she added to herself, Because she’s my friend, I guess. “But you have to stop taking risks,” she told Lightleap.
Lightleap’s only response was to roll her eyes.
She could try being a bit grateful! Sunbeam thought.
Leaving their prey to be collected later, the two she-cats headed straight back to camp, Sunbeam leaning heavily on Lightleap’s shoulder. She was dizzy with pain by the time they thrust their way through the bushes that guarded the ShadowClan camp.
“Take me straight to Puddleshine,” she meowed through gritted teeth.
But before they reached the medicine cats’ den, more of their Clanmates began to gather around, letting out worried exclamations as they saw Sunbeam’s injuries.
“What happened to you?” Pouncestep asked anxiously.
“Was it foxes?” Slatefur demanded.
“No, nothing to worry about,” Lightleap told them. “Sunbeam fell and hurt her back, that’s all. Right, Sunbeam?”
Sunbeam stared at her friend. It pained her to lie, but she also didn’t want to get Lightleap in trouble. Still, it bothered her to be put in this position. “Yeah, I wasn’t looking where I was putting my paws,” Sunbeam responded, trying hard not to let her annoyance show.
“We caught some good prey, though,” Lightleap continued. “I just need to go back and collect it. And Sunbeam will be fine,” she added with a dismissive flick of her tail.
Maybe, but right now it really hurts. Sunbeam couldn’t see any sign that Lightleap really cared about her, or felt at all guilty about what she had done. Instead she just looked smug about their successful hunt. “Please can we go to the medicine cats’ den?” she begged.
The group of concerned cats parted to let Sunbeam and Lightleap through, and, leaning on her friend’s shoulder, Sunbeam was able to totter across the camp and into the den.
At least she’s helping, she thought, her irritation softening a little.
Shadowsight was the only cat there; he looked up from sniffing at a bunch of wilting leaves as the two she-cats appeared. “Now what happened?” he asked.
Lightleap explained once again that Sunbeam had fallen and hurt herself. “You’ll be okay now,” she meowed, turning back to Sunbeam. “If you have to stay here, I’ll bring you some fresh-kill later.” She whisked out of the den without waiting for Sunbeam’s reply.
Yeah, sure, I’m perfectly fine, Sunbeam thought, her annoyance rising again. No need for you to stick around, not at all!
Meanwhile, Shadowsight had disappeared into the herb store at the back of the den, and now he came back with something folded into a leaf. When he set it on the ground in front of Sunbeam, he pulled the wrapping back to reveal two poppy seeds. “Lick those up,” he told her. “They’ll help with the pain.”
Gratefully, Sunbeam obeyed him. At least some cat cares that I’m hurting!
She lay still while Shadowsight examined her, feeling her back with a gentle paw and giving her a good sniff from neck to tail. “Well, you’ve wrenched your back,” he mewed, “and your shoulder is dislocated. I can fix that, but it will hurt.”
Sunbeam clenched her teeth. “Okay, go ahead.” She lay still, closing her eyes and trying to imagine how good it would be when all this was over and she could share tongues with Blazefire again as they sunned themselves at the edge of the camp.
Shadowsight lay half across her, clamping her uninjured foreleg to the ground with one paw, while with his teeth and his other forepaw he wrenched at her injured shoulder. Sunbeam let out a screech of agony; for a heartbeat, it felt as if burning claws were ripping through her. She sagged against the ground, trembling. But as the pain ebbed, she realized that she felt much better.
“Thanks, Shadowsight,” she gasped.
“Your back should heal by itself, with rest,” Shadowsight mewed. “I’d like you to stay here for a day or two, so we can keep an eye on you.” Gazing down at her with narrowed eyes, he added, “What really happened?”
“Oh, I . . . I guess I tripped,” Sunbeam replied.
“Yeah, and hedgehogs fly,” Shadowsight retorted, glancing toward the entrance to the den where Lightleap had vanished. “Come on, a healthy she-cat like you doesn’t get injuries like these just from tripping.” He paused, then added, “Are you sure Lightleap didn’t have anything to do with this?”
Sunbeam hesitated. She had agreed not to tell their Clanmates anything that would get Lightleap into trouble, but it was obvious that Shadowsight already suspected part of the truth. Besides, I’m so worried about the way Lightleap is behaving. I tried to talk to her about how reckless she’s being, but she didn’t listen.
I can tell Shadowsight, she decided. It’s not like I’m betraying her to Tigerstar or Cloverfoot. Shadowsight was Lightleap’s brother; maybe he’d be able to talk to her and get her to calm down.
Her mind made up, Sunbeam launched into the story of how Lightleap had fallen from a tree when she was trying to chase squirrels. Shadowsight listened quietly, concern in his eyes.
“She never used to be like this,” Sunbeam finished, massively relieved to be sharing her worries. “It’s like she doesn’t care whether she gets hurt or not.”
“You’re right—she has seemed reckless and unhappy lately,” Shadowsight mewed thoughtfully. “I think she feels like she failed because she couldn’t make herself go into the Dark Forest.” He heaved a deep sigh. “There’s no need for her to feel that way; she was brave even to have tried.”
Sunbeam murmured agreement. The poppy seeds were starting to take effect, and she felt as if she were sinking into a comforting dark pelt. Shadowsight’s final words seemed to come from a great distance.
“Don’t worry. I’ll try to figure out what to do.”
Chapter 4
Padding along the lakeshore on the way to the Gathering, Flamepaw couldn’t take any pleasure in the clear, moonlit night, or in the excited chatter of his Clanmates.
“I can’t wait to hear what the leaders have decided,” Thriftear mewed eagerly. “Changes to the warrior code . . . Things will be so different!”
“Yeah,” her brother, Flipclaw, agreed. “We’ll be able to make up our own minds about what we want to do.”
Birchfall, who was walking just ahead of the younger cats, glanced back over his shoulder. “Have you got bees in your brain?” he asked. “For seasons, the Clans have gotten along very well with the warrior code, until Ashfur turned it against us. We need to follow the code, not start meddling with it. Not all changes are for the better.”
Flipclaw rolled his eyes at his sister, but didn’t respond.
Flamepaw couldn’t take any interest in the argument. He had a feeling that he had only been chosen to go to the Gathering because Lilyheart had suggested it to Bramblestar. He knew she felt bad for him; more than once he had caught her giving him a hopeful look as they traveled together beside the lake.
She wants me to cheer up, even though I failed my assessment, he thought. All my kin want me to be happy in ThunderClan, too. But I don’t feel that, and I can’t make myself feel it!
Ever since the impostor Ashfur had been defeated, his Clanmates had congratulated themselves on living in the most amazing Clan in the whole forest. But that wasn’t how Flamepaw saw it at all.
No cat understands.
When Flamepaw pushed his way through the bushes that surrounded the clearing on the island, he found that the other Clans had already arrived, and were clustered around the Great Oak, where the leaders sat in the branches. The air was filled with their mingled scents; moonlight glimmered on their pelts and reflected in their eyes.
Flamepaw spotted a group of apprentices from different Clans, and padded across to join them, mumbling, “Greetings,” before finding a spot to sit on the outer edge. The new ThunderClan warriors and a few ShadowClan cats were sitting nearby; Flamepaw didn’t want to join them and have to listen to his Clanmates describing how they had passed their assessments.
A few tail-lengths away, a cat was slowly making his way over to Ivypool; Flamepaw recognized Rootspring, the weird cat from SkyClan. He dipped his head in greeting to Ivypool, who nuzzled him warmly as he sat beside her.
Rootspring, Flamepaw remembered, was one of the cats who had traveled to the Dark Forest with Bristlefrost. They and other living cats had ventured there to save the real Bramblestar and recover the connection between the forest Clans and StarClan.
If you ask me, it all sounds very strange.
It wasn’t that Flamepaw didn’t believe the stories, exactly; just from watching Rootspring—his withdrawn demeanor and his tension as he spoke to Ivypool—he could see that the SkyClan tom had been through something horrible And Bristlefrost had never returned, lost to the living Clans and to StarClan through her death in the Dark Forest. But Flamepaw found it all really hard to understand.
Why would the fate of all the Clans be placed in just a few cats’ paws?
He had been so young when Bramblestar had begun to act strangely: too young to remember what the Clan leader had been like before. But had he really been possessed by a totally different cat?
Part of Flamepaw wondered if ThunderClan had just needed some cat to blame for the way everything had gone wrong. But he would never dare to say that out loud. My kin would kill me if I let out a single squeak!
He tried to push away these dark thoughts as Tigerstar let out a loud yowl, standing tall on a branch of the Great Oak. “Cats of all Clans,” he meowed as the sound of chatter died away. “Welcome to the Gathering.”
Every cat settled down quietly, though Flamepaw could still feel the excitement in the air. The ShadowClan leader purred as he announced, “ShadowClan has four brand-new kits, born to Cinnamontail just days ago: Firkit, Streamkit, Bloomkit, and Whisperkit. They join my young kits, Birchkit and Rowankit, in the nursery. Puddleshine and Shadowsight have been very busy!”
Flamepaw glanced over at Birchfall, whose eyes shone with pride. Every cat assumed that Birchkit had been named in honor of the senior warrior. As the gathered cats purred their amusement, Tigerstar waved his tail to give up his place to Bramblestar; Flamepaw wondered if this was the moment when the changes to the warrior code would be announced.
When Bramblestar began, however, it was only to pass on the usual Clan news. “ThunderClan has three new warriors,” he meowed proudly. “Myrtlebloom, Bayshine, and Finchlight. We wish them well as they take up their new duties in their Clan.”
Flamepaw’s sister and his foster kin stood up, their eyes shining with a mixture of pride and embarrassment. “Myrtlebloom! Bayshine! Finchlight!” their Clanmates yowled, and after a moment Flamepaw joined in, along with the cats from the other Clans.
But even while he cheered for his Clanmates, he felt as if every cat were staring at him, and he wished he could crawl away into a hole. Sudden anger with Lilyheart stabbed at him. Why had she made him come and witness the triumph of the cats who had been his fellow apprentices?
