“What’s going on?” Stonetooth glanced from Yellowpaw to Raggedpelt and back again. “Raggedpelt, it’s ungenerous not to praise Yellowpaw. That’s not how we do things in ShadowClan.”
Raggedpelt looked at his paws. “Yeah, great catch, Yellowpaw,” he muttered.
Stonetooth’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing more to Raggedpelt. “It’s time we went back to camp,” he announced. “We’ve caught as much prey as we can carry. Let’s see if we can get there before Cedarstar’s patrol.”
Picking up her rat by its scruff, Yellowpaw set off full of pride, but before she had gone many paw steps she began to wonder if she could make it back to camp. The rat weighed more than any piece of prey she had carried before. Soon she was staggering with fatigue, her neck aching, but the sense of achievement buzzed through her like a whole colony of bees, and kept her going.
When she entered the camp she was aware of comments from the cats who had stayed behind, padding up to look as she and the rest of the patrol dropped their prey on the fresh-kill pile. For the first time she realized that Cedarstar’s patrol had followed them in; the Clan leader examined her rat, then turned to her, his eyes shining with approval.
“Yellowpaw,” he mewed, “you’re turning into an excellent ShadowClan warrior.”
“Th-thank you!” Yellowpaw stammered.
The Clan leader dipped his head to her and padded off to his den. Yellowpaw followed him with her gaze. I can’t believe the Clan leader said that to me!
Then she noticed that Sagewhisker was standing a couple of fox-lengths away. She was looking thoughtful. Yellowpaw wondered what was on her mind, but after a moment the medicine cat turned away without speaking.
Thank StarClan! Yellowpaw thought. She had been avoiding the medicine cat ever since Silverflame died; she still felt that Sagewhisker could have done more to help the sick elder. And the depth of Sagewhisker’s gaze made her feel uncomfortable.
“Yellowpaw!” Her mother’s voice distracted Yellowpaw from thinking about the medicine cat. “Stonetooth says you made a great catch.”
Yellowpaw ducked her head. “That’s my rat,” she mewed, pointing to it with her tail.
Brackenfoot dropped his own prey onto the pile. Yellowpaw noticed that her father’s rat was almost as big as hers, but not quite.
“Keep going like this, and you’ll be the best hunter in ShadowClan,” he praised her, his eyes warm.
Brightflower gave her a lick around the ears. “You’ve made us so proud.”
Yellowpaw gazed from one of her parents to the other, and felt as if her heart would burst with happiness.
“Are we joining a patrol today?” Yellowpaw asked Deerleap.
Two moons had passed since the raid on the Carrionplace, and the air was soft and mild, full of the scents of newleaf. Spikes of fresh green showed at the tips of the pine branches, ferns were uncoiling in the midst of clumps of dead bracken, and birdsong promised prey in the moons to come. Yellowpaw heaved a happy sigh. The forest is so beautiful!
“Not today,” Deerleap replied.
In the last moon she hadn’t been calling Yellowpaw quite so early in the morning; today the rays of the morning sun were already slanting into the camp, driving off the dawn chill. She seems to be slowing down, Yellowpaw thought, realizing with a pang that her mentor was growing old.
“So what are we going to do?” she asked.
“There’s one more task before you can begin your final warrior assessments,” Deerleap told her. “You have to travel to the Moonstone.”
“Yes!” Yellowpaw was so excited that she pushed off with all four paws and gave an enormous leap into the air. Rowanpaw and Nutpaw had already made their apprentice journeys to the Moonstone, and Yellowpaw had begun to fear that her turn would never come. She landed awkwardly from her leap, feeling a hot flush of embarrassment. Deerleap will think I’m behaving like a kit. “When do we leave?” she mewed.
“Right away,” her mentor announced. “Come with me. We need to visit Sagewhisker for traveling herbs.”
“What are they?” Yellowpaw asked as they padded toward the medicine cat’s den.
“Sorrel, daisy, chamomile, and burnet.” Deerleap listed each herb with a twitch of her tail. “They’ll give you strength and stop you from feeling hungry on the way. There won’t be time to hunt.”
When they slipped between the boulders into Sagewhisker’s den, the medicine cat was mixing herbs together with delicate motions of one forepaw. “Here you are,” she meowed, dividing the mixture into two small heaps. “Yellowpaw, the taste is bitter, but it won’t last long.”
Copying Deerleap, Yellowpaw licked up the herbs, chewed, and swallowed. The taste was just as bitter as Sagewhisker had warned her it would be, and she couldn’t help making a face.
“Listen carefully to what StarClan tells you in your dreams,” Sagewhisker prompted. “This could be the moment when you find out your destiny.”
“I already know my destiny,” Yellowpaw mewed. “It’s to be a great ShadowClan warrior!”
Sagewhisker made no comment, just looked at Yellowpaw for a moment longer before she nodded. “Have a safe journey, both of you. May StarClan light your path.”
Deerleap walked through the forest as far as the Thunderpath, then turned to follow it toward the edge of the territory. Yellowpaw wrinkled her nose as the acrid stink of monsters swamped the fresh smells of the forest. The scent of WindClan cats wafted across the Thunderpath from their territory on the far side.
I wonder what those prey-stealers are up to now? At least they haven’t dared to bother us again.
Yellowpaw trotted beside Deerleap as they crossed the ShadowClan border. They soon came to a smaller Thunderpath branching off the main one.
“Do we have to cross this?” she asked her mentor, trying to hide her nervousness. There didn’t seem to be a tunnel underneath like the one they used to get to Gatherings.
Deerleap nodded. “It seems scary when it’s your first time, but you’ll be fine as long as you remember—”
“Look, listen, and scent!” Yellowpaw interrupted, curling her tail up.
“Right.” Deerleap let out a small mrrow of amusement. “You can look for monsters just like you look for prey.”
A distant buzzing sound began as she spoke, growing quickly to a roar, and a glittering red monster swept past them and joined the main Thunderpath. Yellowpaw gagged at the stench that rolled off it in waves.
“Now,” Deerleap mewed when it had gone, “these are the rules for crossing a Thunderpath. Look both ways. Can you see a monster? Listen. Can you hear one? Scent. Is the smell stronger than usual? If the answer to all those questions is no, then it’s safe to cross.”
“I see,” Yellowpaw murmured, still feeling nervous.
“Right. So tell us when to go.”
Yellowpaw stared at her. Me? What if I get us both killed? But Deerleap just angled her ears toward the Thunderpath, clearly waiting.
Standing near the edge of the hard black surface, Yellowpaw worked her claws into the grassy verge. She looked carefully in both directions, noting that the black strip was empty. The only sounds she could hear were the breeze in the branches and the twittering of birds. The tang of the red monster had died away.
“Okay… I think,” she mewed.
“Then go!”
Yellowpaw bounded forward with Deerleap at her side, wincing as her paws landed on the harsh surface of the Thunderpath. Heartbeats later they had reached the safety of a clump of bushes on the other side. Another monster growled its way past as she stood there quivering and trying to get her breath.