Hollyleaf looked up from her plan, her neck fur bristling and her green eyes sparking with annoyance. “You think I didn’t have to catch my own food while I was away?” she hissed. “Or fight off rogues and foxes without help? I promise you, Spiderleg, my skills are as sharp as they ever were.”
“Just like your tongue,” Berrynose muttered.
There were no more interruptions while Brambleclaw organized the hunting patrols, and named warriors for battle training sessions with Hollyleaf and to help Dustpelt and Brackenfur block up the farthest tunnels. He paused when he came to Dovewing and Ivypool, looking them up and down as he flicked the tip of his tail.
“Since you’ve already been underground,” he mewed, “you’d better learn to look after yourselves properly. You can go into Hollyleaf’s training group.”
Dovewing and Ivypool crossed the clearing to where Hollyleaf was waiting. Brackenfur, Brightheart, Thornclaw, and Toadstep were clustered around her.
“Okay, let’s go,” she meowed. “Listen to everything I tell you, because it could save your life.”
Chapter 21
Hollyleaf led the way out of the camp and up the steep path that brought the group to the top of the hollow. Pushing through the undergrowth, she halted beside an outcrop of stones.
“This is near the place where I found those marigold plants in water up a tree,” Ivypool told Dovewing. With a gasp she swung around and faced Hollyleaf. “Wait—was that you?”
Hollyleaf nodded.
“And the yarrow?” Brightheart asked.
Dovewing could tell that Hollyleaf was uncomfortable with the attention of all the cats fixed on her. “I trained as a medicine cat first, remember,” she muttered. “I knew that I could help, so I did.”
“So you were watching us all the time?” Brightheart murmured.
Hollyleaf stiffened. “It wasn’t like that! I wasn’t spying!”
“I wasn’t accusing you of spying.” Brightheart reached out with her tail to rest it on Hollyleaf’s shoulder. “It’s just good to know that you didn’t forget about us.”
“I would never do that,” Hollyleaf mewed. Giving her pelt a shake, she ducked behind the stones. Following her, Dovewing saw the gaping hole in the ground where she and Ivypool had ventured before, following Sol into the tunnels.
“You mean we’re going down there?” Thornclaw asked, his whiskers twitching nervously. “It’s not natural. We’re not moles or foxes! Cats shouldn’t be trapped down a hole!”
Toadstep shoved him to one side. “We won’t be trapped, mouse-brain! Let’s go!”
Before he could plunge into the darkness, Brackenfur stopped him with his tail across the entrance. “Hold on a moment. You can’t just go rushing into danger.” He sniffed warily at the stones that surrounded the hole. “These might fall and block us in.”
“You’re right, Brackenfur,” Hollyleaf agreed, “but if they did, it wouldn’t be a disaster. There are plenty of other ways out. Don’t forget that I know these tunnels.” Stepping back, she gestured with her tail. “All of you, have a good sniff. We’re not going anywhere until every cat is ready.”
While the other cats crowded around the hole, Toadstep glanced at Dovewing and Ivypool. “You two aren’t saying much,” he remarked.
He doesn’t know we’ve already been down there, Dovewing thought. And he’d better not find out. If Firestar knew we entered the tunnels on our own, we would be back on apprentice duties before you could say mouse.
Aloud she mewed, “We’re just looking forward to learning how to move through the tunnels.”
Ivypool nodded. “Right.”
“Right,” Hollyleaf went on when every cat had taken a good look at the entrance. “We’ll go in now. Follow me, and don’t even think about trying to explore on your own.” She gave Toadstep a hard look.
“Okay,” he muttered.
Hollyleaf led the way into the tunnels followed by Brackenfur and then Brightheart. Dovewing hung back to take the last place, guessing that she might be able to use her senses to guard their rear, in case any WindClan warriors were lurking in the tunnels. Thornclaw was hanging back, too; Dovewing could see how reluctant he was to go down into the darkness.
“It’ll be fine,” she mewed as he hesitated at the entrance.
Thornclaw shot her a glare and plunged into the tunnel; Dovewing could guess how much he must hate being reassured by a much younger Clanmate, especially when he didn’t know that she had experience of being underground.
The light from the tunnel entrance soon died away behind them. Dovewing padded along in darkness, adjusting her senses to the unfamiliar surroundings and remembering how freaked out she had been when she first followed this path with Ivypool. Now the damp earth beneath her paws and the sensation of her fur brushing the walls of the tunnel didn’t bother her nearly so much. It was better because they had a confident leader in Hollyleaf. Now and again her voice would echo back along the tunnel.
“Watch your paws here; the ground is uneven.”
“It’s a tight squeeze just here, but it doesn’t last long.”
As the floor began to slant more steeply downward, Dovewing became aware of Thornclaw in front of her; he was breathing hard and once or twice his tail lashed across her face.
He’s getting scared. I know how he feels.
In the next heartbeat she collided with Thornclaw’s hindquarters and realized he was trying to back away. “I’ve got to get out of here,” he muttered.
“No—you can’t!”
The tunnel was so narrow that Dovewing was blocking Thornclaw’s retreat. Panting, he started to claw at her. “Let me out!” he gasped.
“Hollyleaf!” Dovewing called. “Thornclaw needs help.”
“Okay, I’m coming!”
In the blackness Dovewing couldn’t see a thing, but she could hear grunts and hisses from the other cats as Hollyleaf squeezed her way past them until she reached Thornclaw.
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” she told Thornclaw calmly. “The dark can’t hurt you, just because you can’t see. And you have other senses, remember?”
Her words seemed to soothe Thornclaw; at least, he stopped struggling, though Dovewing was close enough to feel him trembling. “I’ll walk with you,” Hollyleaf went on. “I’ve lived for moons down here, and nothing bad has happened to me.”
Thornclaw took a deep breath. “Okay,” he whispered. “Sorry.”
“Brackenfur!” Hollyleaf raised her voice. “Will you take the lead? Just keep on going straight, and ignore any side turns.”
“Right.” Brackenfur’s voice echoed back.
Thornclaw’s brief panic had unsettled Dovewing, and she began to feel uncomfortable, acutely aware of the contrast between bright, warm daylight and this cold blackness. She managed to slide forward past the others until she could pad between Brackenfur and Ivypool, feeling reassured by their closeness. Brackenfur especially was a solid and calm presence, apparently too curious about the tunnels to feel any fear.
“What keeps the roof up?” he asked, sounding impressed. “And what made the tunnels in the first place?”
“Water,” Hollyleaf replied from farther back. “There’s a river, and when it floods the tunnels fill.”
“Will they fill now?” Thornclaw fretted.
“Not a chance,” Hollyleaf told him. “There has to be really heavy rain for a long time before that happens. Run your paw along the stone,” she added, “and you can feel ridges like ripples in a windblown lake. That’s from when the tunnels were first worn away by water.”
Reaching out to feel the tiny furrows, Dovewing felt strangely comforted. Hollyleaf is really at home down here, she thought. She knows every mouse-length of these tunnels!