The Apprentice's Quest (26 page)

But he was already waking, to find Needlepaw shaking his shoulder. “It's stopped raining,” she meowed. “I thought you'd want to know, since you're so eager to get home.”

Groggily Alderpaw sat up. “Yes, let's go home,” he murmured.
But,
he added silently to himself,
we'll need to follow a different path
. . . .

Alderpaw and Needlepaw were approaching the
first Thunderpath they had crossed after they left their territories so many days ago. Tired and sore-pawed, Alderpaw was struggling with mixed feelings at the thought of being so close to home.

“I can't wait to get back to ShadowClan territory,” Needlepaw mewed as she trotted along at his side. “I've missed my den so much, and—”

“Won't you be in trouble with your Clan?” Alderpaw asked. “What's your mentor going to say? Apprentices aren't supposed to leave without permission.”

“I left
in service
of my Clan, remember?” Needlepaw replied. “Because I knew you sneaky ThunderClan cats were going in search of
what you find in the shadows
. Besides,” she added airily, “no cat ever
really
gets in trouble in ShadowClan. Sure, the older cats will yowl and stomp a bit, but what can they . . .”

Her voice trailed off as they drew close to the Thunderpath and halted at the sight of glittering monsters flashing past in both directions.

Alderpaw wasn't really listening to her anymore. He stood still, staring thoughtfully into the distance.

After a moment Needlepaw prodded him. “What are you doing?”

“Thinking.”

Needlepaw gave an exasperated snort. “Thinking about
what
?”

“I'm
not
looking forward to getting home,” Alderpaw replied with a sigh. “Because that means the quest will be over. And I still don't know what it was about.”

“It was about embracing what you find in the shadows, right? And we didn't find it, but we found out a lot about it. You don't have to stand here moping over it. Why can't we just go?”

“Because I feel there's more I should be doing.” Reluctantly Alderpaw admitted to himself that he would have to tell Needlepaw about Sandstorm visiting him when he was sleeping in the Twoleg barn. He had tried hard to work out what the starry warrior had meant by “a different path,” but with the last paw steps of their quest ahead of him he had still not found understanding. “I had a dream . . . ,” he began.

Needlepaw's eyes widened as he revealed to her what Sandstorm had said. “Why didn't you tell me earlier?” she asked.

Alderpaw shrugged awkwardly. “It was
my
vision. I wanted to figure it out by myself.”

“After all we've been through,” Needlepaw responded with an exaggerated sigh, “you should realize that you need me! Hmm . . . ,” she mused, glancing around her. “A different path . . .”

“I don't think Sandstorm meant a
literal
different path,”
Alderpaw meowed. “Just a different way of thinking. Like—”

But Needlepaw wasn't paying attention. “Look!” she cried, dodging away from the Thunderpath.

Alderpaw watched as she bounded down a dip in the grass beside the edge of the black surface. It led to a tunnel opening, its mouth covered by bars of hard Twoleg stuff that were set wide enough for a cat to slip between them. A musty, damp scent flowed out of the opening.

“What are you doing?” Alderpaw demanded as he trailed after Needlepaw. “That looks dangerous.”

Needlepaw turned back to him, rolling her eyes. “Have you got bees in your brain, or what? Look, we came
over
the Thunderpath, and now here's a ‘different path' that leads
under
it. Plus it's all in shadow! We can go this way!”

“You're the one with bees in your brain!” Alderpaw retorted. “I doubt StarClan just wanted us to go through a tunnel! It's dark in there, and it smells weird. There could be anything lurking inside.
And
I can see water in the bottom of it.”

But there was no point in arguing. Needlepaw was already wriggling through the bars. “You
never
listen to me!” Alderpaw groaned, but the she-cat took no notice.

Alderpaw sighed, glancing from the Thunderpath to the tunnel and back again. The Thunderpath wasn't as crowded with monsters as when they had crossed it before. He could ignore Needlepaw, head over the Thunderpath, and let her fend for herself.
After all, she's not a part of my Clan. She's not even supposed to
be
on this quest.
But even while the arguments passed through his head, he knew there was no point to them. He
was following Needlepaw into the tunnel.

The stench caught him in the throat as he squeezed through the bars, and it was hard to stop himself from retching. Alderpaw picked his way carefully through the water, then realized that there was a higher area to one side, where he could scramble up and keep his paws dry.

The tunnel was full of shadows, but once Alderpaw's eyes adjusted to it, he realized there was a little light filtering in from the entrance behind him, and the glow of the gap on the other side. He could see Needlepaw's figure, dark against the distant outlet, bounding along ahead of him.

“I wonder where Sandstorm would want us to go next,” she meowed, her voice echoing strangely in the tunnel. “What's most
different
? Maybe we shouldn't even head back the way we came anymore. What if we went in another direction?” she continued, halting and half turning back toward Alderpaw. “We could loop all the way around Clan territory and come in through ShadowClan. Or maybe head the other way around the lake, through RiverClan. I've only been on RiverClan territory once,” she added reflectively, “and they caught me and sent me home with a scolding.”

Alderpaw shook his head. “You're mouse-brained!” he responded.

Needlepaw turned to go on, and Alderpaw was about to follow, when he heard a soft cry coming from farther into the darkness, right against the wall of the tunnel. He froze, his ears pricked, and when the cry came again, he carefully padded toward it.

In the dim light Alderpaw could just make out a nest of moss and dry leaves, with something squirming inside it. At first he pulled back sharply; then he leaned forward again with a gasp of shock as his nose picked up the familiar milky scent of kits. A tiny black-and-white kit was lying in the nest, with a tiny gray one beside it, their colors hardly visible in the darkness.

The kits seemed to sense Alderpaw's presence, and they craned toward him, their eyes tight shut, their pink mouths open to let out high-pitched mews.

“What's the matter?” Needlepaw was bounding back down the tunnel toward Alderpaw. “Why are you—” She skidded to a halt as she spotted the nest.

“They're—” Alderpaw began.

“They're
kits
!” Needlepaw shook her head in disbelief. “Where's their mother?” she asked, glancing around. “Their eyes aren't even open yet. They can only be a few days old.”

“And they're so thin,” Alderpaw added. “I can tell they haven't eaten in a while.”

“I'll go and look for their mother.” Needlepaw bounded to the other end of the tunnel and wriggled out through the bars. Alderpaw could hear her calling outside.

Alderpaw stooped over the nest and examined the kits more closely. Both of them were she-kits, and under their fur they seemed to be just skin and bone.

“Hey, Needlepaw!” he yowled. “Forget their mother for now. These kits need to eat. Catch something, right away!”

“Okay!” Needlepaw yowled back. A few heartbeats later
she slid through the bars again and bounded along the tunnel again to join Alderpaw. She was gripping a fat vole in her jaws.

“That was quick!” Alderpaw mewed admiringly. “Now we chew up the meat and feed it to the kits.”

When they had chewed some of the fresh-kill into a pulp, Alderpaw gently opened the gray kit's mouth and dropped the pulp in. The kit choked, spitting the meat out again.

“Oh, mouse dung!” Needlepaw sighed. “They're not used to eating this stuff yet. They need milk.”

“Well, unless you have any, we have to keep trying with the vole,” Alderpaw meowed determinedly.

He dropped more pulp into the kit's mouth, then massaged her throat so that she would swallow. The kit began choking again, but after a moment the chewed-up vole disappeared, and she began wailing for more.

“Thank StarClan!” Alderpaw exclaimed.

Needlepaw began to feed the black-and-white kit, and soon both tiny creatures were sucking eagerly at the pulp, desperate to fill their bellies.

“They would have starved without us,” Needlepaw murmured, sounding unusually gentle as she blinked affectionately at her kit.

Unexpected warmth spread through Alderpaw.
I might have failed in my quest, but at least we saved these kits.

“Now we need to get them warm,” he mewed, when finally the kits stopped eating, their little bellies distended. They were already cuddling up to him and Needlepaw, drawn by
the heat of their bodies. “Ow!” Alderpaw yelped as the gray kit batted him on the nose. “Your claws are sharp!”

He began to lick the gray kit, his tongue stroking backward from tail to head, to get her blood flowing. Needlepaw did the same for the black-and-white kit. Soon both kits were purring and sinking into sleep.

“It's a good thing we found them when we did,” Alderpaw told Needlepaw. “I don't think they would have survived out here much longer.”

Needlepaw murmured agreement. “I wonder what happened to their mother. Do you think a monster got her on the Thunderpath?”

Alderpaw shuddered at the idea. “I'm not sure. But I think we should bring these kits back to camp, where they can be cared for.”

“Great idea,” Needlepaw meowed. “And I think we should give them names. How about Violetkit for this little one?” she continued, stroking the black-and-white kit's head with the tip of her tail. “I'm picking up the scent of violets; I think their mother must have used some of the leaves for the nest.”

“That's a good name,” Alderpaw purred. “And I'm going to call this little one . . . Twigkit. She's as tiny as a twig!”

Needlepaw let out a
mrrow
of laughter. “Twigkit it is!”

As they rose, preparing to pick up the sleeping kits by their scruff, Needlepaw turned to Alderpaw with a smirk on her face. “When are you going to thank me for leading you into the tunnel?” she asked.

Alderpaw, still concentrating on the kits, gave her a confused stare. “What are you talking about?”

“Isn't it obvious?” Needlepaw looked even more smug. “These kits are
what you find in the shadows
!”

Alderpaw stood on the ridge, a
stiff breeze ruffling his fur, and looked down the slope to where the lake lay glittering in the morning sunshine. He was gripping Twigkit's scruff in his mouth; the tiny kit was waving her paws around and letting out high-pitched squeaks. Alderpaw gently set her down in the rough grass.

“We're almost home!” he breathed out.

After they'd left the tunnel, he and Needlepaw had journeyed on until night fell, when they'd made a temporary den near the place where they had seen the Twolegs and eaten their food. Needlepaw had caught a couple of mice, and they had fed the kits again. Now the woods and moorland around the lake stretched in front of them, and before sunhigh they would be back in their own camps.

Needlepaw toiled up to the ridge and stood beside him, letting Violetkit down into the grass next to her sister. “Made it!” she panted.

“I guess we ought to say good-bye,” Alderpaw began, feeling slightly awkward. “You'll want to go through RiverClan to get back to your territory—it's the quickest way.”

“Yeah, I suppose so,” Needlepaw agreed.

“Uh . . . Needlepaw . . .” Feeling even more awkward, Alderpaw turned to face her. “Maybe you could keep quiet about what happened in the gorge, at least until I've had the chance to talk to Bramblestar. I told you, the whole SkyClan thing is kind of a secret.”

He cringed inwardly as he spoke, knowing how unlikely it was that Needlepaw would keep a secret to oblige a ThunderClan cat. He expected her to hiss at him in anger, but she simply stared at him, her mouth clamped shut.

“Okay, then.” Alderpaw realized the best he could hope for was a quick getaway. “If you could just help me get Violetkit onto my back . . .”

Needlepaw's jaws gaped open at that. “What are you talking about?” she demanded. “I'm not leaving the shadow kits here. I helped find them! And which cat says that they're going to ThunderClan?”

Alderpaw could hardly believe what he was hearing.
She has got bees in her brain!
“If it weren't for my dream, and what Sandstorm told me, we never would have found the kits!”

Needlepaw's neck fur began to rise and she flattened her ears. “If it weren't for me,” she pointed out, “and my idea to go through the tunnel, you would still be standing in front of that stupid Thunderpath trying to figure out what different
way of thinking
Sandstorm was meowing about. Are you kidding me?”

Alderpaw felt his own pelt bristling as anger swelled up inside him. “Are you kidding
me
?” he hissed. Part of him knew
that he was wrong to let his fury out on Needlepaw, but he felt so frustrated that he couldn't help it. “This was my quest in the first place! Besides, do you really think I'd let you take the kits back to ShadowClan, where there aren't any rules, and apprentices run around thinking up new ways to break the warrior code? I might as well just take them back to the rogues in the gorge.”

“Coward!” Needlepaw spat, her face full of disgust. “We never would have made it back here if we hadn't broken the warrior code a few times at least. Alderpaw, you're so blinded by rules that you can't see what's in front of your own nose!”

Alderpaw couldn't reply; the mewling of the kits was all that broke the silence. He and Needlepaw looked down at the squirming bundles of fur, and Alderpaw found his concern for them overpowering his anger at Needlepaw. He could see the same feeling in her green eyes.

“There's one fair way to resolve this,” she mewed after a few moments. “We divide the kits up, and each take one back to our own Clan.”

Alderpaw looked down at the kits, snuggled up together and mewling. An ache tugged at his heart. “We can't do that,” he responded. “It would be wrong. Don't you see, Needlepaw? These kits only have each other now. It's like me and Sparkpaw: I don't always agree with her, but I can't imagine life without her.”

Needlepaw was silent, gazing down at the kits.
I wonder if she has any cat she cares about as much as Sparkpaw and I care for each other,
Alderpaw thought.

Then, as Alderpaw kept watching Needlepaw and the kits, he was distracted by the yowling of a cat from farther down the slope. Instinctively he and Needlepaw moved in front of the kits to guard them. But when Alderpaw looked down and spotted the cat, he let out a yelp of delight.

“Molewhisker!”

His former mentor was bounding up the slope, with three other ThunderClan cats close behind him: Birchfall, Poppyfrost, and Berrynose. Alderpaw dashed down to meet them beside the horseplace fence.

Molewhisker's eyes were wide with shock and delight. “Oh, thank StarClan you're alive!” he exclaimed.

“So are you!” Alderpaw felt so light with relief that he could almost imagine floating away. “Are Cherryfall and Sparkpaw okay?”

“Yes, everyone's fine,” Molewhisker assured him. “We got back to camp yesterday and told the others what happened. Every cat was devastated to think that you had drowned. We looked for you and Needlepaw back beside the river, but we couldn't find you.”

“So this morning,” Birchfall meowed, coming to stand beside Alderpaw, “Bramblestar sent us out as a search party, with Molewhisker to guide us back to the place where you went missing.”

“However did you survive?” Poppyfrost asked, gazing at Alderpaw as if she couldn't quite believe he was there.

“Needlepaw helped me out of the river,” Alderpaw replied. “She's here too, just a bit farther up the hill.”

He began to retrace his paw steps, leading the other cats back to the ridge where he had left Needlepaw.

“Hi,” the ShadowClan she-cat mewed as the ThunderClan patrol came up to her. “As you see, we've brought company.” With one paw she swept the grasses aside to reveal the two kits, now dozing in a mound of fur.

Molewhisker and the others, murmuring in surprise, surrounded the kits and gazed down at them.

“They're adorable!” Poppyfrost exclaimed.

“Who are they?” Berrynose asked, giving them a suspicious sniff. “Where did you find them?”

“I can tell you all that later,” Alderpaw replied, “but right now the kits need care. They're not well, so we were going to take them back to the ThunderClan camp to nurse them back to health.”

Needlepaw glared at him. “Actually—”

“That's a good idea.” Birchfall spoke with authority; clearly he was the leader of the search party. “Alderpaw, you're a medicine cat yourself, so you can help watch over them.”

“But I found the kits too,” Needlepaw objected, her shoulder fur beginning to rise again. “That is, we found them together. We think maybe the kits are . . . well, they're what StarClan wanted us to find.”

The ThunderClan patrol exchanged surprised glances. “Do you believe that?” Birchfall asked Alderpaw.

“I think they
could
be,” Alderpaw replied, “but I'm not sure yet.”

“Then this is what we'll do,” Birchfall decided. “We'll take
the kits back to ThunderClan now, so that they can be cared for, and then—”

“They can be cared for just as well in ShadowClan,” Needlepaw interrupted.

Can they?
Alderpaw wondered.
ThunderClan has two medicine cats—three if you count me—while ShadowClan only has Littlecloud, and he's growing old.

Birchfall gave Needlepaw a quelling look, as if he wasn't used to apprentices who argued all the time. “Let me finish,” he meowed. “The next Gathering is in a few days, and we can bring the kits there to decide what will be done with them. Is that okay, Needlepaw? After all, we can all agree that what's most important is to get the kits well again.”

Needlepaw ducked her head. “Okay,” she muttered.

Alderpaw noticed that she looked almost chastened by Birchfall's decisive tones.
Well, I've never seen
that
before!

“Are you okay getting back to the ShadowClan camp?” Birchfall continued to Needlepaw. “Should you even be out on your own?”

“I'll be fine, thanks,” Needlepaw responded with a roll of her eyes. Clearly she was fed up with that question, and her respectful demeanor hadn't lasted long. Turning to Alderpaw, she added, “I guess I'll see you around, then.”

Alderpaw stared at her, wondering if she had even taken in what he said about keeping SkyClan a secret. “I'll look out for you at the Gathering,” he meowed.

As Needlepaw turned away, Alderpaw felt a claw-scratch of pain at his heart.
After all we've been through together, there
should be . . . I dunno, more . . .

He thought that Needlepaw looked sad, too, as she gave him a last look before bounding away down the slope in the direction of RiverClan.

Then, as he watched her, Poppyfrost brushed her pelt against his, her eyes glowing with admiration. “You've done so well, Alderpaw!”

“Yes, ThunderClan will be proud of you,” Molewhisker told him. “And I can't wait to hear what Cherryfall says when she sees the kits!”

While Birchfall and Berrynose congratulated him, too, Alderpaw felt his chest swell with pride.
I feel like a hero! Oh, StarClan, it's so good to be home!