Spottedpaw followed more slowly, wincing as the stony path up the side of the ravine stung her paws. How far had she run last night? She felt as sore and exhausted as if she’d circled ThunderClan’s territory three times. As she reached the top, she heard a patrol approaching and ducked under some ferns to let them pass. The cats were laden with fresh-kill and Spottedpaw’s belly rumbled, reminding her that she needed to eat. The last cat in the patrol was Thistleclaw. Spottedpaw held her breath, hoping he wouldn’t notice her.
Too late. The gray-and-white warrior paused, sniffed, then put down his catch—a young squirrel—and padded back to Spottedpaw’s ferns. “Hey!” he whispered. “I know you’re in there.”
Spottedpaw stuck her head out. “I’m going to clean up,” she mewed. “My fur is still covered in mud.”
Thistleclaw nodded. “You’ll learn to wipe yourself off before you come back next time.” He glanced around. “Where’s Thrushpelt?”
“On patrol with Adderfang.” Spottedpaw’s heart beat faster, as it always did when she was close to Thistleclaw. But she couldn’t forget what she had seen last night. Why was he learning to fight from evil cats?
“So you’re on your own?” Thistleclaw meowed. “Great! That means you can come training with me!” The warrior’s eyes shone and Spottedpaw felt the whirl of questions fade inside her. I trust him, don’t I?
Thistleclaw started to pad back to his squirrel. “I promised I’d take Tigerpaw and Whitepaw for some training. Patchpelt has a bellyache after eating a mouse that had maggots in it.” He hissed. “What a bee-brain.”
“I… er… yes, I’ll come with you.” Spottedpaw felt dazed. Perhaps concentrating on training would clear her head.
After retrieving his catch, Thistleclaw bounded down to the camp to fetch Tigerpaw and Whitepaw. Spottedpaw stayed among the dewy ferns, wiping her flanks against the fronds and scraping her muddy paws on the grass. Even if her pelt wasn’t completely clean, she smelled green and forest-like instead of moldy and damp.
Tigerpaw scowled when she finally joined Thistleclaw and the apprentices at the top of the ravine. “What’s she doing with us? She’s only just become an apprentice!”
“It’ll do you good to have a different training partner,” Thistleclaw meowed. He blinked warmly at Spottedpaw over Tigerpaw’s head. “Off you go! Last one to the sandy hollow has to do Weedwhisker’s ticks!”
Spottedpaw lunged forward with Tigerpaw and Whitepaw, feeling their flanks press against hers as they raced down the narrow path. Tigerpaw pulled ahead, his long legs and broad shoulders eating up the ground. Spottedpaw and Whitepaw hurtled neck and neck toward the golden patch of sand, until Spottedpaw stumbled on a bramble and Whitepaw leaped into the hollow with a yowl of delight.
“Ha! You’re on tick duty!” the white apprentice declared.
Panting, Spottedpaw trotted onto the sand. She was too winded to speak. Thistleclaw bounded up a moment later. “You all did well,” he meowed. “Especially Spottedpaw, since she’s younger than you two!”
Whitepaw rested his tail on Spottedpaw’s shoulder. “Yes, you were much faster than I expected. Well done!”
Tigerpaw just glowered. “I told you she shouldn’t be training with us.”
Thistleclaw ignored him. “I want some one-on-one battle practice today, using everything I’ve taught you. Whitepaw, I’m sure Patchpelt has shown you the same moves. Spottedpaw, you can fight whoever wins this bout.”
“This is going to be so easy,” Tigerpaw gloated, striding into the center of the hollow.
“Don’t be so sure,” growled Whitepaw. He bunched his hindquarters under him and leaped at the dark brown apprentice. Tigerpaw lost his grip on the slippery sand and Whitepaw managed to force him onto his side.
“Come on, Tigerpaw, you can’t let him win that quickly!” Thistleclaw urged.
Tigerpaw responded by shoving Whitepaw backward and pummeling him with his front paws. As Whitepaw scrabbled to find his footing, sand flew up and hit Tigerpaw.
“Ow! My eye!” he screeched, stepping away from Whitepaw and rubbing his face with one paw. “I can’t see!”
“Don’t scratch it, you’ll make it worse,” Thistleclaw told him. “Try blinking it out.”
“Does that mean I won?” asked Whitepaw. His coat was dusted with sand all the way to the ends of his whiskers, and his tail was fluffed out like a hedgehog.
Thistleclaw nodded. “All right, Spottedpaw. Show us what you can do.”
Tigerpaw groused his way to the edge of the hollow and sat down, dramatically holding one paw over his closed eye. Spottedpaw faced Whitepaw, feeling the fur bristle along her spine. She had fought her littermates in mock battles before, but never an apprentice so close to becoming a warrior!
Whitepaw gave a tiny nod to reassure her, and Thistleclaw hissed, “Don’t make it easy for her! Treat her as you would any opponent!”
In a spatter of sand, Whitepaw launched himself at Spottedpaw, and she felt her paws sink deeper under the weight of him. She tried to wriggle free but she just became more stuck. Instead, she dropped to her belly, sending Whitepaw rolling away with an oof of surprise. As soon as the weight lifted from her shoulders, Spottedpaw pulled her legs free from the sand and spun around to leap onto the white apprentice. She took him by surprise and felt a thrill as he blinked in alarm and tried to scrabble away.
In a flash Thistleclaw was beside her, whispering encouragement. “Come on, Spottedpaw! You’ve got him now! Aim for his eyes, remember?”
Spottedpaw froze. She pictured Thistleclaw slashing at Houndleap’s face, forcing the black cat to cower down in submission. I could never fight like that! Spottedpaw lunged sideways and let her front paws fall onto the sand with a thud.
“What are you doing?” screeched Thistleclaw. “Why have you stopped? You were about to win!”
Spottedpaw spun around and ran out of the hollow. Ferns lashed her muzzle and thorns clawed at her sides but she didn’t stop running until she burst out on the bank of the river. The only sounds were the buzz of flies and the ragged sound of her breathing. She crunched down the stony shore and stared into the swift-flowing water. A dark tortoiseshell face stared back at her, with white-tipped ears and huge, startled eyes.
She was going to be a warrior: that meant she would always be ready to fight for her Clan. But that didn’t mean she had to relish the feeling of claw against flesh, or try to prove her strength against her own Clanmates, or enjoy the thrill of battle the way that Tigerpaw and Thistleclaw seemed to. What I have to do is talk to Thistleclaw about the Dark Forest.
After rinsing her paws in the shallowest part of the river to clean away the last trace of Dark Forest scent, Spottedpaw pushed her way back into the undergrowth. She trotted down the ravine and marched over to Thistleclaw, who was talking to some warriors below Highrock.
He blinked at her in surprise when she appeared. “Spottedpaw, are you okay? I thought you might be hurt, the way you rushed off like that.”
Thrushpelt narrowed his eyes. “What do you mean? You told me you’d taken her for a training session with Whitepaw and Tigerpaw. I trusted you to watch out for her.”
Spottedpaw ignored him. “We need to talk, Thistleclaw.”
“That sounds like an order!” Thistleclaw joked, glancing at the other warriors, who purred with amusement.
Spottedpaw didn’t say a word, just trotted back across the clearing and headed up the ravine.