Outcast (6 page)

Hollypaw felt a pang of envy. How much simpler it would be to have your life planned out! She wouldn't have made her earlier mistake of choosing to be a medicine cat when she was really best suited to be a warrior. Sometimes her head had ached with the effort of learning all the different herbs. Training to be a warrior was tough as well, but it didn't feel like such an impossible task. There were fighting moves and hunting moves and all the details of the warrior code that had to be memorized. And if she wanted to be Clan leader she would have to learn the intricate relations between Clan and
Clan, how to be diplomatic with her own warriors and the cats of other Clans, and how to react in a crisis.

She remembered watching Firestar on the border the day before. She had been impressed by how calm the ThunderClan leader had stayed, even when his own warriors were clearly at fault. That was the kind of leader Hollypaw wanted to be, one who relied on the warrior code to keep the peace instead of dragging her Clan into an unnecessary battle. A leader who wasn't selfish or greedy, who put the good of her own Clan above everything, but still remembered the rights of the other Clans in the forest.

“I think there's a mouse under the roots over there.” Stormfur broke into her thoughts, pointing with his ears to the bottom of a nearby beech tree. “Why don't you see if you can catch it?”

“Okay.”

The other apprentices scattered, keeping well away from the beech tree to give Hollypaw the best chance. Whiskers quivering, she tasted the air.
Vole, not mouse,
she decided. A heartbeat later she spotted it, a plump creature scuffling among the debris under the tree. She began to creep forward, sliding her paws over the moss in the way Brook had shown her. The vole seemed not to notice her at first, but as she dropped into a crouch, ready to pounce, it froze for a heartbeat, then darted away.

Hollypaw let out a yowl. Her first pounce brought her to the spot where the vole had been; instantly she leaped again and trapped it between her front paws just before it slipped
into the safety of a crack between two rocks. She killed it with one blow of her paw.

“Well done!” Brackenfur meowed.

A warm feeling of triumph flooded Hollypaw from ears to tail tip. She picked up her prey and turned back to her mentor.

“See what I said about your strong back legs?” Brook reminded her, touching Hollypaw's shoulder with the tip of her tail. “That was a great leap!”

“I think that's enough for one day,” Brackenfur added. “Let's carry the prey back to camp. The Clan will eat well tonight.”

As Hollypaw followed him back to the clearing, carrying her vole and the shrew, she kept casting sidelong glances at Brook. She must love Stormfur a lot to give up everything she knew and come with him to a strange place and a strange way of life.

Curiosity bit at her, sharp as a fox's fangs. She wanted to visit the Tribe and see how cats lived when they knew right from the start what kind of life they would have and what their responsibilities would be.

But they're so far away!
Hollypaw let out a sigh.
I don't suppose I'll ever travel as far as the mountains
.

Cool night air whispered through Jaypaw's
fur. Up above, he knew the half moon would be floating in a clear sky. His mentor, Leafpool, padded beside him, following the stream that divided WindClan's territory from ThunderClan's.

Jaypaw's belly was churning with anticipation. Would Rock speak to him at the Moonpool? The thought that he might encounter only the cats of StarClan made his tail twitch with impatience. StarClan wasn't important, after all. They were only Clan cats who had moved on to a different place. The prophecy had said he would have the power of the stars in his paws. That must mean that he would be more powerful than StarClan, so why should he waste time walking with them in his dreams?

He needed to go further back, to find the ancient cats who had once gathered at the Moonpool. They must be the truly powerful cats, who would help him find his destiny.

It's Lionpaw's and Hollypaw's destiny, too
. Jaypaw did his best to ignore the small voice niggling at the back of his mind. His brother and sister would have to find their own source of power. He had been chosen to be a medicine cat, so this must
be the right way for him alone.

“Leafpool, wait for us!”

The distant call came from WindClan territory. Leafpool halted, and Jaypaw waited by her side. Tasting the air, he picked up the scents of three cats: Barkface and Kestrelpaw, and Willowpaw, who must have met up with the WindClan cats on her way from RiverClan.

“Where's Mothwing?” Leafpool asked anxiously as the other medicine cats caught up. “She's not ill, is she?”

“No, she's fine,” Willowpaw replied. “But Beechfur has an infected beesting, so Mothwing thought she'd better stay in camp and look after him.”

Huh!
Jaypaw thought.
And hedgehogs fly!
He could guess why Mothwing wasn't with her apprentice. The infected warrior was just an excuse. Mothwing didn't have any connection with StarClan. She must have decided that she could get a good night's sleep in her own den instead of trekking all the way up to the Moonpool to have it there.

“Hello, Jaypaw,” Willowpaw mewed. Her voice was cool and polite.

“Hi, Willowpaw.”
Okay, I know you don't like me. I'm not all that besotted with you, either
.

“Hi, Jaypaw.” Kestrelpaw sounded more friendly. “How's the prey running in ThunderClan?”

“Fine, thanks,” Jaypaw replied.

Before he had to think of anything else to say, he caught the strong ShadowClan scent of another cat bounding up behind them.

“I thought I'd missed you,” Littlecloud panted.

“We would have waited for you,” Leafpool mewed.

The cats set off for the Moonpool. Jaypaw felt Kestrelpaw padding along at his side. “Hey, Jaypaw,” he began, “what's it like, being blind?”

Well, you can't see, mouse-brain!
Jaypaw felt his neck fur bristling at the stupid question. “Everything's dark. But I can hear and scent okay, so that's how I find my way around.”

“That's really tough.”

The other apprentice's sympathy made Jaypaw flex his claws. From the sound of his voice and the whisper of his paws on the moorland turf, he had a pretty good idea where Kestrelpaw's ear was.
How would you like it slashed, huh?

“I manage,” he retorted.

Quickening his pace, he caught up to Littlecloud; his paws itched to run on ahead but that would draw too much attention to the fact that he walked here in his dreams—when he could see. He couldn't wait to get to the Moonpool.

 

But after he had paced down the spiral track, feeling his paws slip into the paw prints of those long-ago cats, after he had touched his nose to the water and settled himself comfortably, Jaypaw found it hard to sleep. All around the pool he could hear the other cats' breathing sink into the rhythmic patterns of dream-sleep, while he stayed obstinately awake.

“Come
on
,” he muttered. “What's the matter with you?” For once he didn't want to enter the others' dreams. He
wanted a dream of his own: to wake underneath the hill, in the tunnels where he had met Rock and Fallen Leaves. If he didn't manage it now, it would be a whole moon before he had another chance to visit the Moonpool.

He closed his eyes, willing sleep to come, but he could still feel the damp rock under his paws and hear the sound of the waterfall and the breathing of the cats around him. Stretching his jaws in a yawn, he opened his eyes again. His fur prickled with excitement as he realized that he could see.

Instantly his ears twitched in frustration. He wasn't in the underground cave. Instead, he had never left the Moonpool. He could see the curled-up bodies of his companions and reflected starlight glimmering in the water.

“Now what?” he demanded.

A quiet voice spoke behind him. “You wanted to speak with me?”

Jaypaw spun around, almost tripping over his own paws. Rock stood in front of him. His long, twisted claws scraped on the bare rock. Here in the open, out of the shadows of his cave, his bare skin looked raw and painful, and his bulging eyes glowed silver in his disfigured face. With an unexpected quiver of fear, Jaypaw wondered if Rock could see him or if he only sensed his presence.

“Why did you stop talking to me?” Jaypaw asked. “I tried and tried, but you wouldn't answer.”

Rock dismissed the question with a flick of his ratlike tail. “I'm here now,” he rasped. “Say what you have to say.”

“Are you part of StarClan?”

Rock blinked. “No. I share tongues with the ones who came before.”

“You mean the cats like Fallen Leaves, who went into the tunnels to prove themselves?”

“No.” Rock's voice grated like shifting stones. “More ancient even than those.”

“Then where did they come from?” Jaypaw meowed, exasperated. “Is there a set of ancestors who are older than all the others? Did we all come from them—Fallen Leaves's cats, and the Tribe cats, and the Clans?”

Rock turned his silver gaze on Jaypaw. “There will always be stories older than any cat remembers,” he rumbled.

That's not an answer!
“Then where did
you
come from?”

The old cat stood silent for many heartbeats, staring out across the Moonpool as if he could look back across the abyss of time that separated Jaypaw from those ancient cats.

“You will find your answers in the mountains,” he murmured at last. “Though they may not be the ones you most want to hear.”

“What do you mean? Tell me now!” Jaypaw insisted.

But Rock was beginning to fade. The patches of reflected moonlight on his skin, the silver gleam of his bulging eyes, thinned out like mist until Jaypaw could see nothing but the shimmer of starlight on rock and water. He shivered in a sudden cold breeze.

“Come back!” he yowled.

There was no reply. The starshine faded, and scents of tree and bracken filled his mouth. He was standing in a
dusky forest, in the midst of fern and grasses. Moonlight dappled the ground as it shone through gaps in the branches above his head. The air was warm, full of the tempting scents of prey.

Just ahead of him, Leafpool was following a narrow path that wound between clumps of bracken. She paused and glanced back over her shoulder. “I wondered if you'd join me,” she mewed.

Jaypaw was about to reply when the bushes just ahead of Leafpool rustled and a group of StarClan cats burst out into the open. Jaypaw spotted prey scurrying away from their claws.

A blue-furred she-cat halted briefly to mew, “Greetings, Leafpool.” Leafpool dipped her head, but the she-cat bounded onward before she could speak. Another cat, a powerful white tom, gave Jaypaw a friendly flick over the ear with his tail as he sped past.

Most of the StarClan warriors were intent on their prey. Their eyes were bright with delight in the hunt; their pelts gleamed and their muscles rippled in the moonlight. Jaypaw watched as each cat pounced on its prey and turned to race away with the limp body dangling from its jaws. He supposed they were taking it to some starry fresh-kill pile.

Leafpool padded up to him and touched her nose to his shoulder. “You see the silver tabby over there?” She pointed with her tail to where a beautiful she-cat was leaping to catch a plump vole. “That's Feathertail. She was Stormfur's sister. She died in the mountains.”

Jaypaw gazed curiously at the cat, wondering if she knew anything about the mountain cats' ancestors.

“Can we talk to her?”

“She might not wait for us,” Leafpool replied. “She'll want to take her prey back to the StarClan camp.”

“I want to ask her—” Jaypaw broke off as Feathertail bounded away. But she didn't follow the other StarClan cats; she headed in a different direction, where the trees and bushes were thicker. “Where is she going?”

“I don't know.” Leafpool looked troubled. “Feathertail, wait!”

She set off after the silver tabby, and Jaypaw raced along at her side. They plunged through dense undergrowth and came out into a clearing. A stream ran through it, and on the other side the trees gave way to rocky slopes covered in stunted bushes.

“Feathertail!” Leafpool called again.

The she-cat paused on the bank of the stream and looked over her shoulder at them.

“Where are you going?” Leafpool panted, dashing up to her.

Feathertail set down her vole. “This fresh-kill is not for StarClan,” she explained. “I bear a responsibility to other cats, ones who still need the help of the Clans, even though many moons have passed.”

Other cats?

Leafpool touched her nose to Feathertail's ear. “Are you talking about the Tribe of Rushing Water? Haven't you done
enough for them? You gave your life to save them from Sharptooth!”

“A shared past counts for a lot,” Feathertail replied, her blue eyes glowing with emotion. “Even if it was brief.”

She pressed her muzzle against Leafpool's, then picked up her prey, leaped lightly across the stream, and was swallowed up in the shadows under the bushes.

Mouse dung!
Jaypaw thought.
I never got to ask her anything.

Letting out a faint sigh, Leafpool headed back into the trees. As Jaypaw followed her, he picked up a silver glimmer in the corner of his eye. Glancing around, he spotted Rock, crouched under a bush. The ancient cat's sightless eyes gazed straight at him; then he heaved himself to his paws and padded off in the direction Feathertail had taken.

Jaypaw shivered. Somehow, StarClan, the ancient cats, and the Tribe of Rushing Water all seemed to be merging to shape the destiny of the cats by the lake. It made sense to Jaypaw. To have the power of the stars in his paws, he would need to have power over all the ancestors, past and present. Shadows pressed around him as he plunged into the undergrowth again. The lush forest scents faded away, and he felt rock beneath his paws. He could hear the gentle splash of the waterfall and knew he was crouching once again beside the Moonpool. He opened his eyes on darkness.

Around him he could hear the other cats waking from their dreams. They said little, and Leafpool didn't speak to him at all as they climbed the spiral path and set off across the moorland, back toward the lake. Jaypaw could feel her
anxiety like a swarm of stinging insects.

He waited impatiently for the other cats to say their good-byes and head off toward their own territories. As soon as he and Leafpool were alone, he demanded, “What do you think your dream meant? Are you going to tell Firestar?”

Leafpool hesitated, and when she spoke her voice was troubled. “It sounds as if the Tribe of Rushing Water is in some sort of trouble,” she replied. “I'm not sure whether I should tell Firestar. Whatever's happening, it doesn't seem as if ThunderClan cats will be affected.”

Jaypaw twitched his tail in frustration. How could he discover his destiny if his mentor was going to pretend she never had the dream? “What about Stormfur and Brook? If there's something wrong in the mountains, they should be told.”

“I don't know.” Her mew was soft and uncertain. “You could be right. Yes, perhaps I should tell Firestar. But ThunderClan isn't involved, so I don't think he'll do anything.”

ThunderClan might be more involved than Leafpool realized, Jaypaw thought, as he followed his mentor along the border stream toward the camp.

At least
I'm
involved!

He bared his teeth as if he were about to snap up a juicy piece of prey. There was only one way to discover the truth about his power. Somehow, he would have to find a way to go to the mountains.