Night and Talon looked at their paws; Talon’s tail flicked uncomfortably. “Not exactly,” he mumbled, then added, “but I’m sure he’ll be glad when he knows you’ve come to help.”
“Great.” Stormfur’s voice was bitter. “I get to be told I’m dead all over again.”
Brook pressed her muzzle to her mate’s. “Please, Stormfur, we have to do this. Stoneteller won’t be the Healer forever, but the Tribe deserves to last beyond his lifespan.”
“From what Talon and Night say, we don’t have much time,” Firestar meowed. “Brambleclaw, you can leave for ShadowClan right away.”
“And you three can come out now.” Squirrelflight rose to her paws and stared straight at the holly bush.
“Fox dung,” Hollypaw muttered. “We’ll end up searching the elders for ticks instead of going to the mountains.”
“Come on,” Squirrelflight repeated. “If you don’t want to be seen, Lionpaw, don’t leave your tail sticking out.”
His fur hot with embarrassment, Lionpaw emerged from the bush and padded down the slope toward his mother.
“Mouse-brain!” Hollypaw hissed as she followed him with Jaypaw.
“You shouldn’t have been spying,” Squirrelflight mewed severely when the three apprentices were standing in front of her. “Cats who listen uninvited might hear things they don’t want to.”
“But we had to listen!” Lionpaw burst out. “We want to go with you!”
Squirrelflight’s green eyes stretched wide in astonishment, while Brambleclaw’s neck fur was fluffing up ominously. But to Lionpaw’s relief Firestar blinked in amusement.
“Don’t be angry with them,” he told Squirrelflight. “They remind me of a certain ginger apprentice who also insisted on going on a journey when she hadn’t been invited.”
Squirrelflight huffed, making her whiskers flutter, and gave a single lash of her tail.
“Why do you want to go?” Firestar prompted.
Lionpaw was opening his jaws to reply when Hollypaw gave him a nudge. “We want to help the Tribe cats, too,” she announced. “Lionpaw and I are good fighters, and Jaypaw…
well, Jaypaw can help heal cats who are injured.”
“Thanks a bunch,” Jaypaw muttered.
“Jaypaw can do more than that,” Leafpool meowed calmly.
Jaypaw jumped as if he was surprised to find the medicine cat on his side.
“For what it’s worth,” Leafpool went on, “I think they should be allowed to go. When we lived in the forest, all the apprentices made the journey to Mothermouth, to visit the Moonstone, before they became warriors. We seem to have left that tradition behind, but I think there’s value in apprentices making a long journey, to see what lies beyond their territories.”
Warmth spread through Lionpaw from whiskers to tail tip as he heard Leafpool putting words to the longing in his own mind. “Please can we go?” he begged.
“I agree with Leafpool,” Sandstorm mewed. “There’s nothing to be lost in meeting other cats and seeing how they live.” Her gaze held Firestar’s for a moment as if she and the Clan leader were sharing memories.
“Brambleclaw, what do you think?” Firestar asked. “They’ll be an extra responsibility, and it could be very tough for them. A long, hard journey, and fighting at the end of it.”
“I’m sure my kits can manage it.” There was a glow of approval in Brambleclaw’s amber eyes as his gaze swept over the three apprentices. “I’d be proud to take them to meet the Tribe of Rushing Water.”
“Even if we’re not sure of our reception?” Stormfur reminded him softly.
No cat answered him. Instead, Brambleclaw rose to his paws. “Are you ready?” he asked Lionpaw.
“For what?” Lionpaw meowed, his paws tingling with a mixture of excitement and nervousness.
“We must go to ShadowClan and see if Tawnypelt will come with us,” his father replied.
“Great!” Lionpaw couldn’t stop himself from bouncing eagerly, then froze, cross that he was behaving like a stupid kit. “I’m looking forward to seeing Tawnypelt’s kits. They’re my kin,” he added, trying to sound more dignified.
Squirrelflight glanced briefly at Leafpool. “Hollypaw, you can come with me to WindClan to find out if Crowfeather will come with us,” she meowed.
“What about me?” Jaypaw asked.
“Come back to the clearing with me,” Leafpool told him.
“We’ll need to prepare traveling herbs.”
“If the other cats agree to go,” Firestar mewed, “bring them back to the hollow. You can leave in the morning.”
“Fine. Let’s go, Hollypaw.” Squirrelflight waved her tail and set off through the trees toward the WindClan border.
Hollypaw darted after her, almost stumbling over her paws in her haste.
“All set, Lionpaw?” Brambleclaw asked.
Lionpaw nodded; his chest felt tight at the thought of crossing the border into another Clan’s territory.
“Good luck, all of you!” Firestar called.
Lionpaw waited until Hollypaw’s black pelt had vanished among the rustling bracken. Then he turned and plunged into the undergrowth, following his father.
Chapter 11
Wind whipped through Lionpaw’s pelt as he raced toward the ShadowClan border. He couldn’t think of anywhere he would rather be than running beside his father, with an important mission ahead and the chance to prove himself. He was proud of how he kept up with Brambleclaw; he wasn’t as big, but his legs were nearly as long.
“Watch out,” Brambleclaw warned. “Fallen tree ahead.”
Lionpaw had already spotted it, a beech with smooth gray bark, brought down in the storms of the previous leaf-bare. A few dead leaves still clung to its branches, rustling in the breeze. Brambleclaw skirted the roots, but Lionpaw sprang upward, scrabbling with his hind paws to drag himself on top of the trunk, and pushed his way through the branches until he could leap down on the other side.
He wanted to show Brambleclaw just how fast and powerful he could be, so when a small stream crossed their path he gathered his muscles for an enormous leap and launched himself across the water. His paws stretched for a smooth flat stone on the opposite side, but just before he landed a blackbird erupted from a hazel bush just ahead, giving a raucous alarm call.
Startled, Lionpaw landed awkwardly; his hind paws slipped and cold water surged over his haunches and his tail.
“Mouse dung!” he spat, his claws scoring the stone as he dragged himself out.
Brambleclaw was waiting for him on the bank, amusement glimmering in his amber eyes. “Steady on,” he purred. “You’re not a RiverClan cat, and we haven’t time for fishing.”
“Sorry,” Lionpaw muttered. Glittering drops of water spun away from his pelt as he tried to shake himself dry.
As they drew closer to ShadowClan territory, Brambleclaw’s pace slowed, until he came to a halt on the border not far from the dead tree.
“What are we waiting for?” Lionpaw mewed.
“A ShadowClan patrol,” his father replied. “They’ll escort us to their camp.”
“But you know where the camp is,” Lionpaw protested, flexing his claws in frustration. “It’s not as if we’re attacking them! Why can’t we just go?”
“Because Blackstar won’t see it like that.” Brambleclaw looked down at him, serious now. “We’re coming to take one of his warriors away on a long, dangerous journey, to help a completely different group of cats. He won’t like it, and I can’t say I blame him. Besides, the warrior code forbids us to trespass on another Clan’s territory, whether we’re friendly or not. We’ll wait.” He sat down just on the ThunderClan side of the border and wrapped his tail over his paws. “If you want something to do, you can groom that wet fur. I don’t want ShadowClan thinking that ThunderClan apprentices can’t look after themselves.”