Dark River wpot-2

by Erin Hunter

  How long had Brackenfur been watching her? She hoped he was impressed.

  Ferns rustled and Mousepaw exploded from the woods behind her.

  “I’ve caught my two mice,” the gray-and-white tom declared. “Now for that squirrel!”

  “Shh!” Hollypaw snapped. “You’ll scare the prey away!”

  “Sorry.” Mousepaw flicked his tail. “Are you still hunting?”

  “I think I’ve got enough,” Hollypaw conceded.

  “Any sign of Cinderpaw?” Mousepaw asked. “I hope she’s done okay.”

  “I’ve done fine!” Cinderpaw emerged from the ferns, four water voles dangling by their tails from her jaws. She dropped them next to Hollypaw. “Can I bury them with yours?”

  “Won’t they get mixed up?”

  “Cloudtail already knows what I caught.”

  “Have you spoken to him?” Hollypaw was surprised.

  Mentors weren’t meant to help in an assessment.

  “Of course not,” Cinderpaw assured her. “But I could see him watching the whole time. It’s hard to hide in anything but snow with a pelt as white as his.” She purred with amusement.

  “Mousepaw’s still determined to catch a squirrel,” Hollypaw told her.

  “Really?” Cinderpaw stared at the gray-and-white tom in surprise. “Didn’t you get enough mice?”

  “I got plenty,” Mousepaw mewed indignantly. “I just want to show Spiderleg I can catch squirrels, too.”

  “There are usually some upstream,” Hollypaw suggested.

  “I think I’ll climb the Sky Oak,” Mousepaw announced.

  “No way!” Cinderpaw looked amazed. “It’s the tallest tree in the forest!”

  “There’ll be squirrels in other trees,” Hollypaw cautioned.

  Mousepaw was Daisy’s kit, born outside the Clan, and keen to impress his Clanmates. But surely after the latest Clan meeting, he shouldn’t feel he had anything to prove.

  “I’m going to climb the Sky Oak!” Mousepaw insisted.

  “I’ve been practicing and I want Spiderleg to see how good I am now.”

  “Wow,” Cinderpaw breathed, “that’s brave!”

  “Come on.” Mousepaw darted among the trees. Cinderpaw, kicking up leaves, scooted after him. Hollypaw glanced once more at the beech to make sure she would remember where she had buried her catch, and raced after them.

  At the base of the Sky Oak, Hollypaw gazed up through the branches. The trunk seemed to stretch up forever, the blue sky glinting between the bright green leaves. Mousepaw was staring up too, and Hollypaw felt sure she saw his tail tremble.

  “You’re scared,” Cinderpaw teased.

  Hollypaw dug her claws into the earth. Don’t dare him into doing something he doesn’t want to do. “Why not just catch a few more mice instead?” she suggested. “There’ll be plenty around here.”

  The fur along Mousepaw’s spine was spiked like a hedgehog. “No. I’m going to catch a squirrel,” he muttered determinedly. He sprang up and stretched out his forelegs to grip the wide trunk with his claws. Dragging himself upward, he managed to clamber onto the lowest branch. “There!” he called. “Easy.” He looked up, searching for his next perch.

  Hollypaw suddenly heard paws pounding toward them.

  “Mousepaw!” Brackenfur hurtled out of the trees. He was panting and his eyes were wide with alarm. “Get down!”

  Spiderleg skidded after him. “Leave him alone!” he

  snapped at Brackenfur. “If he wants to do it, let him!”

  Cloudtail padded out from the trees. “I thought we weren’t meant to help—” He stopped when he spotted Mousepaw scrambling up to the next branch.

  “I really think you should tell him to come down,” Brackenfur advised.

  “Are you saying my apprentice isn’t good enough?” Spiderleg flattened his ears.

  “He’s still young,” Brackenfur argued. “I wouldn’t let Hollypaw climb it.”

  “Hollypaw’s not been training as long as Mousepaw,”

  Spiderleg pointed out.

  “Look, it’s easy!” Mousepaw called. The branches were close together now and he was leaping nimbly upward.

  “Not too high,” Spiderleg cautioned. Even he was beginning to look worried as Mousepaw hopped from branch to branch.

  Leaves rustled just above him. A squirrel was scrambling up the tree.

  “Look!” Cinderpaw called excitedly. “There’s one!”

  Mousepaw darted after it. Hollypaw’s neck began to ache from looking up. She could see leaves shivering far above as the squirrel kept climbing, staying just a few tail-lengths ahead of Mousepaw, almost as if it were enticing him upward.

  Be careful, Mousepaw!

  Suddenly, the squirrel leaped out of the Sky Oak and landed in the tree next to it, sending twigs showering down.

  Mousepaw froze.

  He was so far away he looked the size of a mouse. But even from this distance, Hollypaw could see that his fur was bushed out from nose to tail-tip. The gray-and-white apprentice was terrified.

  “Good try. You may as well come down,” Spiderleg called encouragingly.

  “I can’t!” Mousepaw’s mew came out as a squeak. “I’m stuck!”

  Brackenfur sighed. “What are we going to do now?”

  “I could go up after him,” Cloudtail offered. Every cat knew he was one of the best climbers in the Clan.

  “He’s not going to get down by himself,” Spiderleg agreed.

  “I’ll fetch him!” mewed Cinderpaw.

  “Wait!” Hollypaw yelped as the gray apprentice began to scramble up the tree trunk.

  “Get down at once!” Brackenfur hissed at his daughter.

  Cinderpaw paused on the lowest branch. “But I can see an easy route to get him down,” she argued.

  Cloudtail exchanged worried glances with Brackenfur.

  “I’ll go slowly,” Cinderpaw promised when they didn’t say anything. “And if I feel like I’m getting too high, I’ll stop.”

  Brackenfur nodded. “Okay, but be careful.”

  Cautiously, Cinderpaw began to climb the tree, taking her time between jumps, making sure that she only reached up a little at a time. Hollypaw watched, her mouth dry. She’ll be all right, she told herself again and again.

  She felt Brackenfur trembling beside her. He was watching Cinderpaw with round, frightened eyes.

  “She’s nearly reached him,” Cloudtail reported.

  Cinderpaw was only a few branches from her denmate now. Mousepaw was watching her, his fur slowly flattening.

  “It’s okay, Mousepaw,” Cinderpaw called up to him.

  “There’s nothing to be frightened of.”

  Hollypaw held her breath as Cinderpaw began to guide Mousepaw down, one branch at a time.

  “That’s it,” Cinderpaw mewed. “The next branch is really close. Just make sure you grip with your claws and you’ll be fine.”

  The two cats were easier to see now, getting closer and closer to safety with every uneasy jump.

  They’re going to make it!

  Suddenly, a bird shrieked and flapped out of the tree just below them. Mousepaw squealed in shock and slipped from the branch.

  Quick as a flash, Cinderpaw lunged forward and reached for him. She caught him and hauled him back onto the branch, her hind legs scrabbling for a hold. Mousepaw grabbed at the branch and clung to the bark, his tail lashing in panic.

  Relief flooded Hollypaw.

  Then she saw Cinderpaw wobble. The gray tabby’s hind paws were slipping over the back of the branch. Her forepaws churned desperately at the air. With a yelp she slid over the edge and fell. Hollypaw stared in horror as Cinderpaw dropped through the leaves like a stone and landed with a sickening thud.

  “No!” Brackenfur’s mew cracked as he darted forward.

  “Cinderpaw? Cinderpaw!” He crouched over the limp body lying awkwardly on the ground.

  “Get Leafpool!” Spiderleg hissed in Hollypaw’s ear.

  Hol
lypaw glanced once more at her friend’s twisted body before hurtling away through the trees. Cinderpaw can’t be dead!

  She mustn’t be dead!

  Chapter 7

  “Ow!” Birchfall snatched his paw away from Jaypaw.

  Jaypaw sighed. “If I don’t get the thorn out it’s going to hurt a lot more!”

  Tentatively, Birchfall held out his paw again. Jaypaw leaned down and grasped the fat end of the thorn between his teeth.

  “It’s not that big,” he muttered out of the side of his mouth.

  “That’s because most of it is buried in my paw!” Birchfall complained. “It’s amazing I made it back to camp at all.”

  Jaypaw braced himself and gave a fierce tug.

  “Ow!” Birchfall leaped away, then hopped noisily around the medicine den.

  Jaypaw dropped the thorn, spitting to get rid of the taste of blood.

  “I told you it was huge!” Birchfall meowed triumphantly.

  Jaypaw touched it with his pad. The curved barb felt like a claw. “Not exactly deadly, though,” he mewed.

  Birchfall lapped at his wound. “You’re not very sympa-thetic for a medicine cat.”

  “I’m here to heal you. If you want sympathy, go to the nursery.” Jaypaw padded to the back of the den. Warriors! They

  might be brave in battle, but one thorn and they squealed like kits. He picked up a mouthful of marigold and began to chew the leaves into a pulp. A poultice would make sure Birchfall’s paw didn’t get infected.

  Suddenly, he stiffened. Paws were pounding toward the camp. He tasted the air. Hollypaw’s fear-scent hit the back of his throat.

  “Here, wash this into the cut!” He dropped the pulp at Birchfall’s paws and pushed through the trailing brambles that screened the den from the rest of the camp.

  Hollypaw exploded into the camp. “Cinderpaw’s fallen out of the Sky Oak!”

  Jaypaw gasped. “I’ll fetch Leafpool!” He pelted for the nursery where she was tending to Foxkit’s cold.

  But Leafpool was already racing out. “Cinderpaw?”

  Jaypaw skidded to a halt, narrowly avoiding her. She stopped, trembling, in the middle of the clearing. Horror pulsed from her like blood from a wound. No, not again! Her silent plea sliced into Jaypaw’s thoughts, as clear as if she’d cried out loud.

  “You have to come at once!” Hollypaw wailed.

  “What’s happened?” Firestar pounded across the clearing.

  Paw steps sounded on every side as the Clan came running to see what was wrong.

  “Cinderpaw was helping Mousepaw down the Sky Oak and she fell!” Hollypaw’s words came in great gulps.

  “Leafpool, go to her!” Firestar ordered.

  Come on! Jaypaw willed his mentor to move, but she seemed

  rooted to the spot, her terror blocking out every other thought. “What herbs will we need?” he prompted. He could feel Hollypaw trembling behind him.

  “Poppy seeds?” he pressed when Leafpool didn’t answer.

  Just as panic threatened to overwhelm him, Leafpool snapped out of her daze. He felt her mind clear, like rain lifting. “Poppy seeds, yes. Rushes and cobweb to bind any broken legs, and thyme for the shock.”

  “I’ll fetch them,” Jaypaw offered.

  “Please hurry!” Hollypaw begged.

  “Who’s with her?” Leafpool demanded.

  “Mousepaw, Ashfur, Cloudtail, and Brackenfur.”

  “Good. She’ll need carrying.”

  Jaypaw pushed past Millie and Graystripe and raced to the medicine den, his tail bristling. He barged past Birchfall standing, fur spiked, in the entrance and darted to the herb storeroom. Lapping up several poppy seeds, he tucked them safely under his tongue, then grabbed a sprig of thyme and quickly wrapped it up in a fat wad of cobweb along with a pawful of rushes. He picked the bundle up in his jaws and hurtled back into the clearing.

  “Got everything?” Leafpool asked.

  Jaypaw nodded.

  “Hurry!” Hollypaw called. She led them out of the camp at a run.

  The forest floor felt soft beneath Jaypaw’s pads. Hollypaw plunged up the slope, Leafpool on her heels. Jaypaw ran after them, every sense alert, dodging the trees only by a whisker.

  A bramble tugged at his paw and he stumbled forward, dropping his bundle.

  “Here, I’ll carry that!” Leafpool turned and swiftly picked up the rushes before speeding away again. Jaypaw hurried after her, keeping close, following her paw steps as she weaved through the forest.

  “I see the Sky Oak!” Hollypaw called. Her paws beat faster against the ground. “Watch out for the fallen tree!” she warned.

  Her paw steps fell silent as she leaped over the log and landed with a thump on the other side. Leafpool followed her. Jaypaw didn’t hesitate. Tensing, he leaped as high as he could, praying he had timed it right. He felt the rotting bark of the fallen tree brush his paws as he sailed over and landed lightly on the ground beyond.

  “Over here!” Hollypaw had reached the others. Jaypaw felt Brackenfur’s panic flash like lightning from his pelt. He could hear Ashfur pacing around the Sky Oak, could sense Mousepaw trembling.

  “She’s still breathing!” Cloudtail called.

  “Good!” Leafpool dropped the bundle. Jaypaw crouched beside her as she leaned over Cinderpaw. He could hear the injured apprentice’s breathing. It was quick and shallow. He touched her flank with his nose. She was as limp as a dead mouse. His belly tightened.

  “She’s in shock!” Leafpool pronounced. “Lick her chest while I give her the thyme.”

  Jaypaw spat out the poppy seeds and began to lick

  Cinderpaw. Her heart beat rapidly beneath his tongue. He smelled the herbs as Leafpool tore open the bundle and chewed the leaves into a pulp that she could drip into Cinderpaw’s mouth.

  “Is she going to die?” Brackenfur’s mew trembled.

  “I won’t let her,” Leafpool snapped.

  The medicine cat moved around to Cinderpaw’s other side. “Lick more gently now,” she ordered. Jaypaw began to lap Cinderpaw delicately, relieved to feel her heart slowing.

  He could hear Leafpool sniffing Cinderpaw’s body, examin-ing her. Suddenly, the medicine cat stiffened.

  “What’s wrong?” Jaypaw whispered.

  Leafpool backed away as though stung by a wasp.

  “What’s the matter?” Brackenfur surged forward, nearly knocking Jaypaw over.

  What had frightened Leafpool so much? Jaypaw stopped licking, and searched her mind. He felt dread there like darkness, threatening to overwhelm her. What could be so bad?

  “Sh-she’s broken a hind leg,” Leafpool gulped.

  “We can bind it with the rushes,” Jaypaw suggested.

  Leafpool didn’t reply. Not again!

  Fear and bewilderment sparked from Brackenfur. “She won’t die of a broken leg, will she?”

  Leafpool didn’t move. Jaypaw focused on her mind, saw an image of a gray cat limping, felt grief sear Leafpool’s heart.

  “Here!” Jaypaw tugged one of the rushes free. He jabbed it at Leafpool. She jerked and then took it. Jaypaw felt a wave

  of relief as she laid it beside Cinderpaw’s broken leg and took another. He passed her the cobweb, and she carefully began to bind the rushes to Cinderpaw’s leg. “We need to secure it until we can get her back to camp,” Leafpool muttered.

  “Then I can set the break properly.”

  When she had finished, Leafpool sat up. “Ashfur, Cloudtail, you help Brackenfur carry her back to camp. Make sure her leg moves as little as possible.”

  Cinderpaw let out a soft moan as Brackenfur, Cloudtail, and Ashfur lifted her.

  “Careful!” Leafpool gasped.

  Jaypaw could hear her paw steps dancing around the warriors, pushing aside brambles, fear sparking from her pelt.

  “Watch those roots! Take her around the fallen tree! Avoid that dip! Hold her more steadily!”

  Hollypaw pressed against him. She was trembling. “I thought sh
e was dead,” she murmured.

  “She’s going to be okay,” Jaypaw reassured her. “She’s got a strong heart. And it’s only her leg that’s broken.”

  “Only her leg!” Leafpool’s sharp mew took him by surprise.

  “A warrior needs four good legs!”

  Hollypaw pressed her muzzle to Jaypaw’s ear. “I’ve never seen her so upset,” she whispered.

  Jaypaw shook his head. “Me neither.” He leaned against Hollypaw, letting her guide him through the undergrowth.

  He wanted to focus his attention on Leafpool. He could feel panic, anger, and regret seething in the medicine cat’s mind. Why? She hadn’t pushed Cinderpaw out of the tree.

  It was just an accident.

  Why did Leafpool feel so responsible?

  Cinderpaw’s fur swished against the sandy floor as the three warriors laid her gently down in the medicine den.

  Sorreltail was in the den already, plucking at the ground with trembling paws. Grief and fear crackled from her pelt.

  Poppypaw and Honeypaw fidgeted beside Hollypaw, breathing in frightened gulps.

  “Thank you,” Leafpool mewed briskly to Brackenfur, Cloudtail, and Ashfur. “Leave us now.”

  “But—” Brackenfur began to protest, but Sorreltail interrupted him softly.

  “I’ll stay with her.”

  The brambles rustled as the tom followed Ashfur and Cloudtail out.

  Jaypaw bent down and licked Cinderpaw between her ears. She was unconscious again. “We’ll take care of you,” he promised. He felt Hollypaw’s gaze on his pelt.

  “You’d better go too,” he advised her. “Firestar’s waiting.”

  He could sense the ThunderClan leader’s heavy presence outside the den. “He’ll want to know what happened.”

  “You will make her better?” Hollypaw mewed.

  “We’ll try.”

  As Hollypaw padded from the den, Leafpool murmured to Sorreltail, “I’ll do everything in my power to make her well.”

  “I know you will.” Sorreltail’s voice cracked with grief, but Jaypaw could still hear affection in her mew. She had been

  Leafpool’s best friend since before he was born.

  Sorreltail’s breath ruffled Cinderpaw’s pelt. “May StarClan protect you,” she whispered.