Outcast (4 page)

Hollypaw pushed through the brambles into
the nursery and set down a blackbird in front of Daisy. Rosekit and Toadkit lay in the curve of their mother's belly, suckling with their tiny tails stretched out behind them.

“Thank you,” Daisy mewed, reaching out one paw to drag the blackbird closer. “That feels like a good plump one.”

“Can we have some?” Foxkit sat up from where he was wrestling with his sister. “I'm starving!”

“Certainly not,” their mother, Ferncloud, replied. “You're old enough to fetch your own fresh-kill.”

“Can we?” Icekit's head popped up out of the bracken. “I could eat a whole rabbit.”

“All right,” Ferncloud meowed. “Fetch some for Millie, too!” she called after them as the two kits shot out through the opening in the brambles.

Millie blinked sleepily from where she lay in a mossy nest. Her belly looked huge; Hollypaw guessed that it wouldn't be long before her kits were born.

“Thank you,” Millie purred to Ferncloud.

Ferncloud sighed. “It's time those two were apprenticed.
They need mentors to keep an eye on them.”

Hollypaw silently agreed as she left the nursery and padded across to the fresh-kill pile to fetch prey for the elders. Foxkit and Icekit were already there, play fighting over a chaffinch.

“What about some prey for Millie?” Hollypaw reminded them.

“Oh, sorry.” Foxkit scrambled up, grabbed a couple of mice by their tails, and scampered off across the clearing with the prey swinging from his jaws.

Icekit let out a little purr of triumph and settled down to eat the chaffinch.

Hollypaw began nosing through the fresh-kill pile to find something for the elders. The scents of the nursery still clung to her fur. She felt as if the whole camp was full of kits and mothers expecting kits.

Will the Clan expect me to have kits?
she wondered. She knew that kits were the future of the Clan, but when she thought about becoming a mother herself, she felt as if she were carrying the weight of the whole forest on her shoulders.

She was beginning to drag a rabbit out of the pile when Honeypaw came bounding up to her. “Who's that for?” Honeypaw asked.

“The elders.”

“I just took them a squirrel,” Honeypaw told her. “If they're okay in the nursery, then we're done.”

Hollypaw let the rabbit drop back onto the pile. “There's not much fresh-kill left,” she meowed. “I'm going to ask
Brackenfur if we can go hunting.”

Though there had been a heavy shower at dawn, the clouds had cleared away and the sun was shining. Every leaf and blade of grass sparkled. A stiff breeze carried prey-scent from the forest; Hollypaw's paws itched with longing to get out of the camp.

“There's a hunting patrol just coming back,” Honeypaw pointed out, flicking her tail toward the camp entrance.

Graystripe emerged, carrying a squirrel and two mice in his jaws, followed by Brightheart with a couple of voles and Berrynose with a rabbit.

“Oh, look!” Honeypaw's eyes stretched wide. “Berrynose has caught a
huge
rabbit. He's amazing!”

“Berrynose?” Hollypaw couldn't stop her voice from squeaking in surprise. Ever since he had become a warrior five days earlier, the cream-colored tom had been the bossiest cat in the Clan.

Honeypaw blinked in embarrassment and scuffled at the sandy floor of the clearing with her forepaws. “I really like him,” she confessed. “But I don't suppose he'll look at me, not now that he's a warrior.”

Hollypaw privately thought Berrynose's nose was so high in the air he wouldn't be able to look at any cat. And if he knew that Honeypaw liked him, he would become even more unbearable.

“You're good enough for—” she began, only to break off as Honeypaw dashed away to meet Berrynose in the middle of the clearing.

Hollypaw sighed. They were only apprentices; surely it was too early to think about taking a mate? She wanted to prove herself as a warrior first, to show courage in defending her Clan and skill in hunting to feed her Clanmates. She wanted to take responsibility for how her Clan was run, to make ThunderClan great for season after season….

Hollypaw stood rigid, paws frozen to the ground.
Yes!
she thought.
I'd much rather be Clan leader than a nursing queen
.

For a heartbeat the strength of her ambition frightened her. Then she calmed down. There was nothing wrong with wanting to be Clan leader, if it meant she would serve her Clan with every muscle in her body and every hair on her pelt. Turning away from the fresh-kill pile, fed up with the sight of Honeypaw hanging adoringly around Berrynose, she saw her mother, Squirrelflight, emerging from the warriors' den.

Hollypaw bounded over to her. “Squirrelflight, can I ask you something?”

Her mother's ears twitched. “Sure.”

“You had kits,” Hollypaw meowed, “but you manage to be a warrior as well. How do you do it?”

Squirrelflight narrowed her eyes, and for a moment Hollypaw thought she saw something flash in their green depths, some emotion she couldn't understand. But her mother's voice was even as she asked, “Why do you want to know that?”

“I was just wondering….” Hollypaw felt awkward. “I just feel like every cat expects she-cats to have kits, and I'm not
sure I want that. I want to be a warrior.”

To her annoyance, Squirrelflight's tail curled up in amusement. “Don't try to plan so far ahead!” her mother meowed. “StarClan already has your path marked out, and there'll be twists and turns in it that you can't possibly expect.”

“But—”

“Look around you,” Squirrelflight went on. “Plenty of she-cats have kits and then return to the warriors' den.”

But do they become Clan leader?

“Don't worry about it,” Squirrelflight finished, resting her tail tip on her daughter's shoulder. “Just concentrate on your training.”

That doesn't help,
Hollypaw thought frustratedly.
That doesn't help me at all.

 

Hollypaw returned from hunting to find the Clan beginning to gather in the middle of the clearing. Firestar was standing on the Highledge, his flame-colored pelt blazing in a ray of sunlight.

Hollypaw carried her prey across to the fresh-kill pile. “What's going on?” she asked Cloudtail, who was sharing a thrush with his mate, Brightheart.

“Icekit and Foxkit are going to be apprenticed,” Brightheart replied.

“And about time, too,” Cloudtail muttered. “They frightened my fur off the other day, yowling that ShadowClan was attacking us.”

His mate gave him a gentle prod with one forepaw. “Kits
are kits, Cloudtail. You know they'll be good warriors one day.”

His only reply was a snort.

Hollypaw looked around for the other apprentices. Honeypaw was sitting close to Berrynose, who was ignoring her and talking to Birchfall instead. Jaypaw appeared from behind the bramble screen at the entrance to the medicine cats' den, and a heartbeat later Leafpool joined him. Hollypaw took a paw step toward them, but she felt awkward about joining them in case they were discussing medicine cat business.

Poppypaw and Cinderpaw were sitting near Sandstorm and Graystripe, and as Hollypaw glanced around she spotted Lionpaw emerging from the apprentices' den to find a place next to them. Hollypaw bounded across.

Ferncloud emerged from the nursery with Foxkit and Icekit. Dustpelt followed; the brown tabby warrior looked ready to burst with pride.

The kits' eyes were bright with excitement, and their glossy pelts shone in the sunlight. Both of them were trying hard to be dignified, but halfway across the clearing Icekit gave a little bounce; her father caught up to her and flicked her over the ear with his tail. After that she managed to walk calmly until she and her brother reached the front.

Firestar bounded down the tumbled rocks from the Highledge and called both kits to stand in front of him. “Squirrelflight,” he began, “your time for an apprentice is long overdue. You will be mentor to Foxpaw.”

Squirrelflight stepped out of the crowd, her head and tail held high. As she padded toward Firestar, Foxkit ran up to meet her.

“Squirrelflight, the whole Clan knows your courage and loyalty,” Firestar continued. “Do your best to pass these qualities on to Foxpaw.”

Foxpaw reached up to touch noses with Squirrelflight, and the two cats withdrew to the side of the hollow.

Squirrelflight's a mentor now,
Hollypaw told herself.
And she had kits. It is possible to do both.

Firestar's gaze rested on a young white she-cat. “Whitewing, you too are ready for your first apprentice. You will be mentor to Icepaw.”

Eyes glowing with happiness, Whitewing padded over to her apprentice. They touched noses and followed the other new apprentice and his mentor to the side of the clearing. The rest of the Clan began to crowd around, congratulating them and calling the apprentices by their new names.

Hollypaw noticed that Berrynose and Birchfall stayed where they were.

“Huh!” Birchfall exclaimed, loud enough for the cats around him to hear. “I don't know why Firestar picked Whitewing. I'd be just as good as her at mentoring.”

“Firestar picks the best cat for the job,” Sandstorm told him as she walked past. “Whitewing is older than you. And don't forget she could have been made a warrior much sooner, but she asked to put it off so
you
wouldn't be the only apprentice.”

Birchfall muttered something Hollypaw didn't catch.

“You'll have an apprentice soon,” Sandstorm assured him. “For once the Clan has plenty of kits.”

Birchfall didn't dare complain any more, but he still looked discontented. Berrynose whispered something in his ear, and the two young toms moved away with their heads close together.

Hollypaw sighed. She didn't know what had gotten into Birchfall lately. He used to be good fun; he had been made a warrior so recently that he still remembered what it was like to be an apprentice.
Now he's being as much of a pain in the tail as Berrynose,
she thought.

By the time Hollypaw got close enough to congratulate the apprentices, the cats were drifting away to get on with their duties. Hollypaw felt a touch on her shoulder and turned to see her mentor, Brackenfur.

“Firestar wants us to do the evening patrol with him,” the golden tabby tom mewed. “Are you ready?”

“Sure.”

Hollypaw's heart began to race and she felt every hair on her pelt rise with excitement. Apprentices didn't often go on patrol with the Clan leader. This was her chance to show Firestar what she had learned! Twisting her neck, she gave her shoulders a few swift licks. She would have liked to give herself a thorough grooming, but there wasn't enough time. As Firestar padded over to join her and Brackenfur, she just hoped her fur wasn't sticking up and she hadn't collected any burrs in her pelt.

“Let's go,” the Clan leader meowed. “We need to renew the scent markers along the ShadowClan border.”

The sun was going down as Hollypaw followed the two toms through the thorn tunnel and into the forest. Scarlet light washed over the ground, barred with the long shadows of trees. Only the wind rustling in the branches broke the silence, along with the faint scuffling of prey in the undergrowth.

Hollypaw ignored the enticing prey-scents; this wasn't a hunting patrol. She concentrated on looking and listening, and when she tasted the air it was to make sure that there were no unusual scents—especially not the scent of ShadowClan warriors on ThunderClan territory.

Firestar halted. “Listen!”

Hollypaw froze, ears straining. Her neck fur bristled when she heard, faint in the distance, the yowls and shrieks of fighting cats.

“That way!” Firestar mewed, sweeping his tail around to point. “Come on!”

He bounded off through the ferns with Brackenfur hard on his paws. Hollypaw raced after them. Grass brushed her belly fur and brambles clawed at her pelt as she sped past. The noise of squalling and spitting grew louder.

For a heartbeat she lost sight of her leader as the cats rounded a hazel thicket. She heard Firestar yowl, “Stop!” Bursting into the open, she halted at the top of a bank. Below, in a hollow lined with bracken, five cats writhed viciously. Powerful scents of ShadowClan and ThunderClan flooded
over her. Horrified, Hollypaw spotted Berrynose's cream-colored pelt and Birchfall's tabby one. The two ThunderClan warriors were clearly outmatched by the three hefty ShadowClan cats.

Hollypaw sprang forward, eager to help her Clanmates, only to find Firestar's tail barring her way.

“No,” he mewed. “That's ShadowClan territory.”

Hollypaw dug her claws into the ground as she stared down at her Clanmates. What were Berrynose and Birchfall doing in another Clan's territory? Opening her jaws to draw in air, she picked out both ThunderClan and ShadowClan scent markings, faint and mingled together. She realized she was standing right on the border.

Raising his voice again, Firestar repeated, “Stop!”

To Hollypaw's relief, the cats sprang apart. She recognized Russetfur, the ShadowClan deputy, with warriors Oakfur and Rowanclaw, who gave Birchfall a last cuff around the ear before facing Firestar.

“What's going on here?” Firestar demanded.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Russetfur retorted. “Why are your warriors trespassing on our territory?”

“We
know
why,” Oakfur added, with a lash of his tail. “ThunderClan never cared about boundaries.”

“That's not—” Hollypaw began to protest, but Brackenfur slapped his tail across her mouth to keep her quiet.

Firestar's gaze raked over Berrynose and Birchfall. Though his voice was quiet, it was cold as the lake in leaf-bare, and Hollypaw realized that he was furious. “Well?” he asked.