Yellowpaw looked sadly after him, her pelt pricking with feelings of guilt. I was only trying to help! Giving her fur a shake, she padded on, trying to put the encounter with the Twolegplace cats out of her mind. I’m a ShadowClan apprentice, and right now my job is to catch prey!
The breeze carried the scents of rat and crow-food to the patrols long before the Carrionplace came into sight. Yellowpaw hadn’t been this close since her first day as an apprentice, when Deerleap had shown her the territory. The heaps of Twoleg rubbish looked even more disgusting in daylight. Bulging black pelts were piled up, some of them with gaping holes that let the foul stuff inside spill out onto the ground. Mixed in with them were unfamiliar things made of wood, soft pelts in strange Twoleg colors, and more sharp-edged objects made of the shiny fence-stuff, all held together by the rotting crow-food. Beyond the fence the mounds stretched into the distance, more and more of them, as far as Yellowpaw could see.
Stonetooth reached the fence and turned to pad alongside it. A few fox-lengths farther on he halted, and Yellowpaw saw that the ground had been scraped away so that there was room for a cat to wriggle underneath.
“I’ll go first,” Cedarstar meowed. “Once inside, we’ll split up. Stonetooth, take your patrol that way”—he flicked his tail—“and we’ll go this way. Let’s see who can catch the most!”
Yellowpaw watched as Cedarstar squeezed his muscular body under the fence and rose to his paws on the far side. Brightflower followed with Rowanpaw close behind. Then Stonetooth began to lead his patrol through. When her turn came, Yellowpaw dived under the fence as quickly as she could, feeling it scrape along her back, then scrambled to her paws with claws extended in case a rat leaped out at her from the mounds.
When all the cats were in place, Stonetooth gathered his patrol around him; a few fox-lengths away Cedarstar was doing the same. Yellowpaw stood beside her mentor, her paws sinking into the soggy debris on the ground.
“Listen carefully,” the deputy meowed. “Especially you, apprentices—and Ashheart, this is your first rat raid, isn’t it?” The gray she-cat nodded, her blue eyes gleaming with anticipation. “Never tackle a rat alone,” the deputy warned. “Work in pairs and do not lose sight of your partner for a single heartbeat. Rats are vicious and cunning, and a rat bite can be very nasty, so do your best not to get bitten, and try to see to it that your partner doesn’t get bitten, either.”
Like he needs to tell us that! Yellowpaw thought.
Her heart began to beat faster, wondering if she would be partnered with Raggedpelt, but Stonetooth put the tabby tom with Nutpaw, and partnered Yellowpaw with Archeye.
“Hollyflower and I will keep watch,” Stonetooth finished. “If any cat is in trouble, we’ll be there to help.”
“Let’s show them!” Nutpaw whispered to Raggedpelt. “Let’s catch the biggest rat in the Carrionplace!”
Not if I can help it! Yellowpaw thought.
She and Archeye padded cautiously alongside the nearest of the heaps. At first everything was quiet and still. A flicker of movement caught Yellowpaw’s eye, but it was only Raggedpelt and Nutpaw slipping between two of the other mounds.
Archeye tapped Yellowpaw’s shoulder with his tail and angled his ears to a spot deeper within the Carrionplace, where a huge yellow Twoleg monster was crouching. “I think it’s asleep,” he murmured.
Yellowpaw nodded. The monsters on the Thunderpath made such a racket that there would be plenty of time to get out of its way if it decided to wake up. Her whiskers twitched with impatience as she padded on. Come on, rats! Show yourselves! She caught a glimpse of a wedge-shaped head poking out of one of the bulging black pelts, but as she turned to face it, it was gone.
“I think I saw one,” she told Archeye softly.
Before she finished speaking, the head appeared again, lower down the mound—or perhaps it was a different rat. Yellowpaw’s belly clenched as she looked at its long nose and quivering whiskers, and the hostility in its bright, birdlike eyes. She began to distinguish sounds, too: rustling and squeaking that came from deep within the mound.
This whole place is alive with rats!
Yellowpaw bounded toward the rat, but it drew its head back into the pile, and her claws sank instead into something wet and squishy inside the black pelt.
Oh, yuck!
Then she spun around at the sound of louder squeaking behind her. A rat was poking its nose out from a gap in the mound; Yellowpaw froze as it ventured farther into the open. Its whiskers twitched as it sniffed the air, and its tiny eyes glittered with malice.
“Get it!” Yellowpaw yowled to Archeye.
She landed on the rat with one huge leap, but slightly mistimed her attack, so that her claws fastened near its tail. The rat let out a high-pitched squeal and twisted around, sharp teeth snapping at Yellowpaw’s neck. Yellowpaw reared back, but refused to loosen her grip.
Before the rat could bite, Archeye flung himself on its shoulders, jaws parted to sink his teeth into its neck. The rat heaved up on its hind paws; Yellowpaw lost her hold as she staggered and fell to one side. Archeye was flung backward, and for a heartbeat the rat was free, diving for the shelter of the rubbish.
“No!” Yellowpaw screeched.
Leaping in pursuit, her paws slipped on slimy debris and she almost fell, but she scrambled after the rat and sank her claws into it again. This time she got a better grip on the back of its neck, and though it struggled it couldn’t shake her off. Archeye joined her, panting, and flung himself across the rat’s scrabbling back legs. As the rat twisted its head, vainly trying to bite Yellowpaw, she slashed her claws across its throat. Blood gushed out and the rat went limp.
Shakily Yellowpaw rose to her paws. “Thank you, StarClan, for this prey,” she mewed. “And thank you that neither of us got bitten.”
“You did well there,” Archeye panted. “I thought we’d lost it for sure.”
Yellowpaw looked down at the dead rat. She hadn’t quite realized until now how massive it was; maybe they had killed the biggest rat in Carrionplace, just like Nutpaw had hoped. “We both did it,” she meowed.
Paw steps sounded behind her, and Yellowpaw spun around, expecting to see another rat. She let out a sigh of relief when she saw it was Poolcloud and Ashheart, each of them carrying a rat.
But they’re not as big as ours! she thought proudly.
The rest of the patrol was gathering. Yellowpaw picked up her rat and went to join them, with Archeye at her side.
“Great StarClan, look at that!” Nutpaw exclaimed, his voice slightly envious. “I didn’t think there could be a rat as big as that.” He and Raggedpelt had caught a rat too, but Yellowpaw noticed that it was quite a lot smaller than hers.
“It’s an amazing catch,” Deerleap agreed; her gaze was warm as it rested on her apprentice. “Are you both okay?”
“Not a scratch on either of us,” Archeye meowed. “And it’s Yellowpaw’s rat, really. I didn’t do much.”
All the cats clustered around Yellowpaw, congratulating her.
“I’d have thought twice about tackling a rat that size,” Stonetooth purred. “You’re showing real warrior skills, Yellowpaw.”
Yellowpaw felt hot with pride and embarrassment. The Clan deputy thinks I did well! “Archeye helped,” she insisted.
Then she noticed that Raggedpelt was hanging back. She felt as though a cloud had passed over the sun. He was the only cat who hadn’t said anything to her; he wasn’t even looking at her.