“Good,” Hollyleaf mewed. “Now you, Dovewing.”
Hollyleaf led the way down a series of tunnels that twisted and branched so that Dovewing knew she would never have found the way out again without something to guide her.
“All right, this’ll do,” Hollyleaf told her as they reached a dead end. “Wait for as long as it takes to eat a mouse, and then follow me back.”
Dovewing waited much longer than that. Thanks to her special senses she could pick up the sounds of the cats in the cavern and knew exactly where she had to go. She didn’t want to give her powers away, so she tried to judge how long she should have taken before she rejoined them. From the moderate praise Hollyleaf gave her, Dovewing guessed her calculations had been right.
Toadstep was the last cat to go. Growing tired, the rest of the cats had stopped practicing and waited in the cave as the moments dragged out and he didn’t reappear.
“Hollyleaf, do you think—” Brightheart began.
A panic-stricken yowl interrupted her, seeming to come from right inside the walls of the cave. “I’m lost! I can’t get out!”
“It’s okay!” Hollyleaf called back. “We can hear you. You can’t be far away.”
“But I can’t find the right tunnel!”
“Just keep calm,” Hollyleaf instructed him. “Let your senses go still before you try again. Now taste the air for scent. Is it stronger in one direction?”
There was a pause before Toadstep answered, “I… I think so.”
“Okay, try that.”
A few heartbeats’ silence passed before Toadstep popped out of the tunnel entrance again. “Thank StarClan!” he exclaimed.
“If you get lost down here,” Hollyleaf addressed the whole group of cats, “it’s vital not to panic. There’s always something that will tell you the right way. Pay attention to the direction of the airflow. And if the air feels damp and heavy, that means the tunnel will go deeper.”
“And head for the light, right?” Ivypool added.
Hollyleaf hesitated. “Mostly… but don’t forget that some cracks reach far, far down into the rock. They don’t necessarily offer a way out. Like that one,” she added, gesturing with her tail toward the gap in the cave roof.
“What next?” Toadstep asked.
“Next we go back to camp,” Hollyleaf replied. “It’s been a really good session, but we’re all tired now.”
“We’ve learned a lot,” Dovewing meowed. “Thanks, Hollyleaf.”
Murmurs of agreement came from the other cats as Hollyleaf led them back through the tunnels. The sun was setting by the time they emerged, and shadows lay thick under the trees as they padded back through the twilit forest.
“Hollyleaf’s training will be really useful for night fighting, too,” Brackenfur remarked.
“Yeah, we could practice that,” Toadstep agreed eagerly. “I’ve got another idea, too. Down in the tunnels, we could think of ways of getting our enemies lost.”
Ivypool nodded. “Maybe work out a system of signs so that we know where we are but the WindClan cats don’t?”
“Or we could work on ways of luring them into an ambush,” Dovewing added, her pads tingling with excitement. “WindClan won’t know what hit them!”
As the entrance to the hollow came into sight, Toadstep halted and gazed through the shadowy trees toward the WindClan border. “Let them come!” he yowled, his neck fur bristling and his tail lashing. “We are ready!”
Chapter 22
“Hi, Dovewing, Ivypool!” Foxleap called as they emerged from the thorns at the rear of Hollyleaf’s training patrol.
The last streaks of scarlet were fading from the sky and half the stone hollow lay in deep shadow. Most of the other patrols seemed to have returned, too, and almost the whole Clan was settling down to eat. Ivypool looked across the camp to see Foxleap sitting beside Bumblestripe near the fresh-kill pile.
“Come and share our squirrel!” Foxleap added.
Ivypool raced across the clearing with Dovewing at her shoulder. She noticed the welcoming purr that Bumblestripe gave her sister, and how he made room for her to sit next to him and eat.
“How was the training?” Foxleap prompted.
Every muscle in Ivypool’s body was aching as she flopped down and bit into the prey. “We learned loads,” she mumbled around the mouthful of fresh-kill.
“Yes, all about how to fight underground,” Dovewing put in. “You have to keep your moves small, and not bang your paws against the walls.”
“And Hollyleaf taught us to push off the tunnel wall and leap over our enemies,” Ivypool mewed, swallowing the squirrel. “That’s so you don’t get trapped.”
“Wow, it sounds tough!” Foxleap commented.
“It is,” Dovewing admitted, “but it’s kind of logical, too. You’ll see, when it’s your turn.”
“This is a great squirrel,” Ivypool meowed, taking another huge bite. “Who caught it?”
“Actually, it was me,” Bumblestripe confessed, giving his shoulder an embarrassed lick. “I was lucky to get it.”
“No, it was a brilliant catch,” Foxleap insisted. “Especially since you were on your own. Cinderheart was supposed to be in our hunting patrol,” he explained, “but she said she wanted to stay here in the hollow and help Jayfeather.”
Dovewing’s whiskers twitched in surprise. “What did Brambleclaw say?”
Bumblestripe shrugged. “Not much. What could he say? He would never challenge a medicine cat, would he?”
“But is Cinderheart a medicine cat?” Foxleap asked.
Ivypool felt a pang of sympathy for Cinderheart; she knew very well what it was like to have a paw in two worlds. But when the gray she-cat emerged a moment later from Jayfeather’s den and padded over to eat with Hollyleaf, she seemed contented enough.
Maybe she’s found her destiny after all, Ivypool thought.
A few moments later, Jayfeather emerged from the den and bounded across to the fresh-kill pile, where he chose a mouse for himself.
Cinderheart looked up from the vole she was sharing with Hollyleaf. “Jayfeather, should I sleep in your den from now on?”
Ivypool realized that the gray she-cat wasn’t contented at all. She was trying to put a brave face on her situation, but underneath it she seemed confused and unhappy.
“We wanted to talk to you about that,” Brackenfur mewed, padding up to Jayfeather with Sorreltail beside him. “About everything, really.”
“Yes,” Sorreltail joined in. “What does it all mean, that Cinderheart used to be Cinderpelt? Why has StarClan done this to her?”
Jayfeather shook his head. “I don’t know. It was their decision.”
Sorreltail padded up to her daughter and pressed her muzzle comfortingly against Cinderheart’s shoulder. “I love you for who you are,” she murmured. “And that is Cinderheart.”
Cinderheart looked up at her with pain in her blue eyes. “But I don’t know if I am Cinderheart anymore. Jayfeather, should I sleep in your den or not?”
Jayfeather hesitated. “You don’t have to, but—”
Millie interrupted by springing to her paws and stalking forward, her tail-tip twitching. “What about Briarlight?” she demanded. “I don’t want her moved out of the den just to make room for Cinderheart. What if she stops breathing in the night?”
“I don’t think that’s likely,” Jayfeather responded. He raised his tail to stop Millie as she drew breath for another protest. “But I don’t want Briarlight moved either,” he added. “She’s really useful where she is.”
Briarlight, who was sharing a sparrow with Graystripe, blinked. “I’m fine,” she mewed. “I don’t mind where I am.”