But Jayfeather was nodding. “You could be right. Sort it out, will you, as soon as we’ve taken these plants back to the hollow?”
Ivypool sighed. Great, she thought as she followed Jayfeather back down the trail. Why can’t I keep my big mouth shut?
Back in the stone hollow, Ivypool went with Jayfeather to the medicine cat’s den to deposit her bundle of marigold.
“You found some!” Briarlight exclaimed, pulling herself across the den to plunge her nose into the aromatic stems. “I’ll sort them out and store them right away.”
“Thanks, Ivypool.” Jayfeather gave her a curt nod. “You can get on with that fox dung now.”
Wrinkling her nose in disgust, Ivypool padded back into the clearing and glanced around. She knew she would have to find another warrior to go with her. Looking for fox dung meant she might encounter a fox, and she knew she would get a talking-to if she took the risk alone. The first cat she spotted was Blossomfall, emerging from the thorn tunnel and bounding across the camp to drop a vole on the fresh-kill pile.
“Hi, Blossomfall,” Ivypool meowed, heading up to her. “Will you come out with me to find some fox dung?”
Blossomfall stared at her as if she had sprouted a second head. And I can’t say I blame her, Ivypool thought wryly. “To scare rabbits away from Jayfeather’s marigold patch,” she explained.
“I… I’m sorry, Ivypool, I can’t,” Blossomfall replied after a moment’s hesitation. “I promised I’d help Purdy and Mousefur with their ticks.” She hurried off toward the elders’ den.
Huh! Ivypool thought. So why aren’t you collecting mouse bile from Jayfeather if you’re going to do ticks?
At first she thought that Blossomfall was just trying to get out of a messy and maybe dangerous task. But she’s not usually like that… no, she’s still uneasy with me because we met in the Dark Forest. Maybe she’s starting to realize how bad it is there, and that’s why she doesn’t want to talk to me.
She jumped, startled, as she heard the pawsteps of another cat approaching behind her. Glancing around, she saw her father, Birchfall, who padded up and dropped a squirrel onto the fresh-kill pile.
“You scared me out of my fur!” she gasped.
Birchfall twitched his ears. “I didn’t think anything scared you, Ivypool.”
Ivypool thought that was a weird thing to say, but she didn’t have time to think about it. “I need to collect some fox dung to protect Jayfeather’s plants against rabbits,” she mewed. “Will you come with me?”
“Sure.” Birchfall gave his chest fur a quick lick and bounded toward the thorn tunnel beside Ivypool.
Once in the forest, Ivypool took the lead and headed for the border between ThunderClan and the woods outside the Clan territories. “We’re not likely to find foxes living anywhere else,” she explained. “All the Clans are pretty good about driving them out.”
Birchfall nodded. “I saw you three nights ago,” he meowed after a moment. “Training with Hawkfrost in the Dark Forest.”
Ivypool halted, staring in shock at her father. She hoped he couldn’t hear how hard her heart was pounding. It was hard to think that any ThunderClan cats would join Tigerstar and the other dark warriors, and harder still when the cat was her own kin. Can I trust any of my Clanmates? she wondered. Except for Lionblaze, Dovewing, and Jayfeather, they could all be visiting the Dark Forest!
“It was my first visit,” Birchfall continued. “I spotted you through the trees.”
“I didn’t see you,” Ivypool replied, trying not to show him how disconcerted she was.
Birchfall’s eyes glimmered with amusement. “No, you looked a bit busy.”
“I’ve learned some useful stuff there,” Ivypool meowed carefully.
Her father nodded, the amusement in his eyes replaced by confidence. “The training they give us is good. It gives us a chance to make the Clan even stronger,” he meowed. “I thought I’d learned all I could, but now I see there are ways to be even more powerful in battle for my Clan.”
Ivypool didn’t want to go on talking about the Dark Forest. “It should help dealing with foxes,” she conceded. “Can you scent anything yet?”
For a moment Birchfall watched her intently; Ivypool’s pelt itched beneath his amber gaze. Then he raised his head and parted his jaws to taste the air. “No,” he mewed. “We need to get closer to the border.”
Ivypool felt even more uneasy as she and Birchfall crossed the ThunderClan scent marks and stepped into the unfamiliar forest. The ground here was uneven, the hollows filled with damp, decaying leaves; rocks poked up out of the tussocky grass. The trees grew close together, the branches arching overhead to cut out the light. Ivypool shivered, convinced that she was being watched, though when she spun around she couldn’t see any gleam of eyes peering out from the undergrowth or the branches above.
“Fox!” Birchfall exclaimed with satisfaction. “And not far off, I’d guess. This way.”
Ivypool followed him around a clump of bracken. She couldn’t shake off the sensation that some creature was watching her, and kept glancing over her shoulder, vainly peering into the shadows.
“Ouch!” She let out a startled yowl. Bramble tendrils surrounded her, thorns clawing into her pelt. For a couple of heartbeats she struggled wildly, imagining foxes waiting for her to give up and turn into easy prey.
“Keep still.” Birchfall’s voice came from beside her. “Honestly, Ivypool, you were staring around like a kit on its first trip outside the camp. Didn’t you see the bramble thicket in front of you?”
“Oh, sure,” Ivypool muttered. “I just walked into it for fun.” Raising her voice, she added, “Get me out, Birchfall. I don’t want to be stuck here if a fox comes by.”
Her father began pulling the prickly branches off her, and soon Ivypool was able to wriggle clear. Thorns were still stuck in her pelt, and several silver-white tufts were clinging to the tendrils.
“It looks as if it’s been snowing,” Birchfall meowed with a snort of amusement. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Then let’s keep going, and for StarClan’s sake, watch where you’re putting your paws this time.”
Ivypool followed him, simmering with resentment. He’s talking to me like I don’t know anything. He needs to remember I’m not just a kit anymore.
On the other side of the thicket Ivypool spotted a dark hole between a couple of rocks, almost hidden behind trailing ferns. The smell of fox was very strong.
“There’s the den,” Birchfall pointed out with a flick of his tail.
“But the smell is stale,” Ivypool added, eager to show off her scenting skills. “I don’t think the fox is there now.”
Birchfall nodded. “Right. So let’s find some dung and get out of here before it comes back.”
Gagging on the stench, Ivypool tracked down a pile of fox dung near the opening of the den. She picked up a stick and rolled one end in the dung until she had coated it thoroughly.
“Great StarClan, that stinks!” Birchfall exclaimed. “I can’t believe we’re doing this.”
“You’ll be glad to have the marigold if you’re wounded,” Ivypool told him through her teeth.
Birchfall rolled his eyes. “And there isn’t an easier way?”
Ignoring his question, Ivypool hefted the stick in her jaws and headed back toward the ThunderClan border. To her relief, the feeling of being watched faded as soon as she was safely back in her own territory.
I wonder if it was the fox, watching us. But then, why didn’t it attack?
The stick was awkward to carry, but taking it in turns Ivypool and Birchfall managed to transport it back to the clearing above the camp where the marigold plants grew. Ivypool traced a circle around the damaged clumps, daubing the dungy end in the grass.