“Not a feather, not a whisker,” Spiderleg confirmed. “If you ask me, she’s far too easily distracted. If she’d kept her mind on what she was doing, she would have caught the squirrel and the blackbird.”
Lionblaze could see his own disappointment reflected in his Clan leader’s eyes. “In that case—” Firestar began.
“Hang on, Firestar, I haven’t finished,” Spiderleg interrupted. “Dovepaw made a mess of the hunting, true. But she ran to help a Clanmate in trouble when she had no idea what danger she would have to face on the other side of that bramble thicket. And when we couldn’t get Icecloud out of the hole, she was quick to volunteer to be lowered down to help her, even though no cat really knew what might have been down there.” He gave Dovepaw an approving glance. “These are the qualities ThunderClan needs most,” he went on. “Courage, loyalty, and the willingness to face danger for the good of a Clanmate. In my opinion, we’d be mouse-brained not to make her a warrior.”
Dovepaw was staring at him incredulously, as her Clanmates yowled their approval. Her eyes shone as it sunk in that she would become a warrior that day. Ivypaw skipped around her, as excited as a kit.
Firestar waved his tail for silence. “Thank you, Spiderleg,” he meowed when he could make himself heard. “ThunderClan will be all the stronger for the two new warriors I shall make today.” He bounded down the tumbled rocks and stood in front of his Clan, beckoning Ivypaw forward with a flick of his tail. The Clan quieted down to allow their leader to begin the ceremony.
Firestar raised his head and looked around at his Clanmates. His voice rang out clearly as he spoke the ancient words. “I, Firestar, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn.” Gazing down at Ivypaw, he continued, “Ivypaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?”
“I do.” Ivypaw’s voice shook.
Icy claws raked Lionblaze’s pelt as he realized how Ivypaw was already carrying out the oath she had just sworn. Few cats had ever taken the kind of risk she took every night when she walked in her dreams with the cats of the Dark Forest.
“Then by the powers of StarClan,” Firestar went on, “I give you your warrior name. Ivypaw, from this moment you will be known as Ivypool. StarClan honors your courage and your loyalty, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan.” Taking a pace forward, Firestar rested his muzzle on the top of Ivypool’s head. She licked his shoulder in response.
“Ivypool! Ivypool!” The Clan greeted the new warrior by calling her name. As the yowls died down, Ivypool stepped back between Dustpelt and Cinderheart. The gray warrior laid her tail briefly across her former apprentice’s shoulders, and Dustpelt gave her an approving nod.
Firestar raised his tail to beckon Dovepaw, and Lionblaze watched as his apprentice padded forward and halted in front of the flame-colored tom. She held Firestar’s gaze without blinking as her leader called upon StarClan to look down upon her. “Dovepaw,” he questioned her, “do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?”
“I do,” Dovepaw responded.
Lionblaze realized how much weight the oath carried for his apprentice. Dovepaw had much to offer her Clan, but becoming a warrior meant that even more demands would be laid on the shoulders of the young she-cat. Lionblaze wondered which of Dovepaw’s qualities Firestar would choose to single out. He can’t mention her special powers. Not in front of the whole Clan.
“Then by the powers of StarClan,” Firestar continued, “I give you your warrior name. Dovepaw, from this moment you will be known as Dovewing. StarClan honors your intelligence and your enterprise, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ThunderClan.”
Once again the Clan leader bent to rest his muzzle on the top of the new warrior’s head, and Dovewing licked his shoulder.
“Dovewing! Dovewing!” the Clan yowled their welcome enthusiastically.
Dovewing stepped back a pace, then turned and bounded over to stand beside Lionblaze.
“Well done!” he murmured. “If ever a cat deserved her warrior name, you do.”
Dovewing was purring too hard to reply, but her eyes sparkled.
As the noise died down, Firestar raised his tail. “I want to remind the Clan that now we have no apprentices,” he meowed. “The younger warriors will have to share the apprentice duties for the time being.”
“I knew it!” Bumblestripe sighed. “Back to picking ticks off the elders!”
“We’ll be apprentices!” Molekit called out. “We’ll work as hard as anything.”
“I’m sure you will,” Poppyfrost purred. “But you have to wait until you’re six moons old.”
“Why?” Cherrykit demanded.
“Because that’s the warrior code,” Firestar replied, amusement in his meow. “And you’ll be fine apprentices when the time comes. For now, every cat must be patient if the duties are carried out a bit later than usual. Patrols must still go out on time.”
“For that matter, we can do our own ticks,” Purdy offered, giving his rumpled tabby pelt a shake. “We may be elders, but we’re not helpless.”
“Thank you.” Firestar dipped his head to the Clan. “The meeting is at an end.”
As the cats began to drift apart, Lionblaze padded over to Cinderheart. “Congratulations,” he mewed. “Isn’t it great that both our apprentices are warriors now?”
Cinderheart dipped her head. “Congratulations to you, too, Lionblaze. I knew Dovewing would make it.”
Her tone was friendly, but as distant as if she was a cat from another Clan. Lionblaze’s heart ached as her sweet scent flooded over him.
You know what I want, Cinderheart. Why don’t you want it too?
But he knew very well why Cinderheart had turned away from him. He had told her about the prophecy. And now she thought that she wasn’t special enough to be his mate.
To me, you’re the most special cat in the Clan. Lionblaze hated knowing he could never say that aloud to the cat he loved. Cinderheart would be horrified to think she had distracted him from being one of the Three. I wish I could just be an ordinary Clan cat, and then I could be with you.
Chapter 3
“Can you feel that?” Jayfeather prodded Briarlight’s hindquarters with a claw.
“No,” Briarlight replied, with an impatient wriggle of her shoulders and forelegs. “I’m not getting any better, am I?”
“Of course you are.” Brightheart, who was helping Jayfeather in the medicine cat’s den, spoke warmly as she gave the injured cat’s ears a brisk lick. “You’re getting stronger every day.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Briarlight’s voice brightened. “Icecloud, I’ll teach you some of my exercises if you like.”
“Not yet,” Jayfeather told her. Sensing the young she-cat’s disappointment, he added, “Maybe later, if her leg and shoulder stiffen up. But for now she needs to rest.”
Crouching down beside Icecloud, who was curled up in a nest on the opposite side of the den, he ran one paw over her injured shoulder. “Feel this, Brightheart. There’s no sign of swelling or the heat from a fever. It’s coming along well,” he said with a nod of satisfaction. “You can have a poppy seed for the pain if you like.”
“No, I’m fine,” Icecloud insisted. “I just want to get back to my duties. I should be hunting, and instead I’m just an extra mouth to feed.”
“That’s quite enough of that,” Brightheart scolded her affectionately. “Did you mind hunting for Briarlight, or any of the cats who were sick with whitecough?”