Warriors 04 - Rising Storm (9 page)

Fireheart held his breath as the
Twoleg door opened. He longed for Cloudpaw to turn and run away, but part of him knew that the apprentice had no intention of leaving. He leaned forward on his branch, willing the Twoleg to shout and chase Cloudpaw away. Forest cats were not usually welcomed in Twolegplace. But this Twoleg bent down and stroked Cloudpaw, who stretched up to press his head against its hand as the Twoleg murmured something to him. By the Twoleg's tone, it was clear they had greeted each other like this before. Disappointment as bitter as mouse bile pulsed through Fireheart's body as Cloudpaw trotted happily through the door and vanished into the Twoleg nest.

Fireheart stayed clinging to the slender branch of the birch long after the Twoleg door had shut. His apprentice was being tempted back into the life that Fireheart had turned his back on. Perhaps Fireheart had been completely wrong about him after all. Lost in thought, he stirred only when the sun began to dip behind the trees and sent a chill through his fur. He slid lightly down to the fence and dropped onto the ground outside.

Fireheart padded back through the forest, blindly following his own scent trail back the way he had come. Cloudpaw's actions felt like a terrible betrayal, yet it was hard to be angry with him. Fireheart had been so eager to prove to the Clan that kittypets were as good as forestborn cats, he hadn't even considered that Cloudpaw might prefer life with the Twolegs. Fireheart loved his life in the forest, but he had chosen it for himself. Only now did it occur to him that Cloudpaw had been given to the Clan by his mother, passed along as a kit before he was old enough to make his own decision.

Fireheart trekked onward, numb to the sights and scents of the forest, until he suddenly realized he had come to his sister's fence. He stared at it in surprise. Had his paws brought him here on purpose? He turned away, not yet ready to share his discovery with Princess. He didn't want to tell her what a mistake she'd made in giving Cloudpaw to the Clan. With paws as heavy as stone, he started padding toward Tallpines and the camp.

“Fireheart!” the soft voice of a she-cat cried out behind him.
Princess!

Fireheart froze, his heart sinking, but he couldn't walk away from his sister, not now that she had seen him. He turned back as Princess leaped down from her fence. Her tabby-and-white pelt rippled softly as she bounded toward him.

“I haven't seen you for ages!” she mewed, skidding to a halt. Her tone was sharp with worry. “Even Cloudpaw hasn't visited for a while. Is everything okay?”

“E-everything's fine,” Fireheart stammered. He felt his voice tighten and his shoulders tense with the effort of lying.

Princess blinked gratefully, instantly trusting his words, and touched her nose to Fireheart's in greeting. He nuzzled her, breathing in the familiar smell that reminded him of his kithood. “I'm glad,” she purred. “I was beginning to worry. Why hasn't Cloudpaw been to visit? I keep smelling his scent, but I haven't seen him for days.” Fireheart couldn't think of what to say, and felt relieved when Princess carried on chattering. “I suppose you're keeping him busy with his training,” she mewed. “Last time he visited he told me you were really impressed with his progress. He said he was way ahead of the other apprentices!” Princess sounded delighted and her eyes shone with pride.

She wants Cloudpaw to become a great warrior as much as I do,
thought Fireheart. Guiltily he mumbled, “He shows great promise, Princess.”

“He was my firstborn,” purred Princess. “I knew he'd be special. I still miss him, even though I know how happy he is.”

“I'm sure all your kits are special in their own way.” Fireheart longed to tell his sister the truth, but he didn't have the heart to tell her that her sacrifice had been wasted. “I must go,” he meowed instead.

“Already?” Princess exclaimed. “Well, come back and see me soon. And bring Cloudpaw next time!”

Fireheart nodded. He didn't want to return to the camp just yet, but this conversation was making him way too
uncomfortable, as if he were confronting the impossible chasm between the forest and kittypet life.

 

Fireheart traveled the long way back to camp, letting the familiar greenness of the forest calm him. As he emerged from the trees at the top of the ravine, he found himself thinking yet again how much he missed having Graystripe around to confide in.

“Hi!” Sandstorm's voice surprised him. She was climbing out of the ravine and must have smelled his scent. “How was training? Where's Cloudpaw?”

Fireheart looked at the she-cat's sharp orange face. Her green eyes shone, and suddenly he knew that he could confide in her. He glanced anxiously around. “Are you alone?”

Sandstorm stared back at him curiously. “Yes. I thought I'd do a bit of hunting before mealtime.”

Fireheart padded to the edge of the slope and stared down at the treetops that sheltered the camp below. Sandstorm sat beside him. She didn't speak, but pressed her flank to his sympathetically. Fireheart knew that he could even walk away now and she wouldn't ask any more questions.

“Sandstorm,” he began hesitantly.

“Yes?”

“Do you think I made the wrong decision bringing Cloudpaw into the Clan?”

Sandstorm was silent for a few moments, and when she spoke, her words were careful and honest. “When I looked at him today, lying outside his den, I thought he looked more
like a kittypet than a warrior. And then I remembered the day he caught his first prey. He was just a tiny kit, but he went out into a blizzard to catch that vole. He looked so unafraid, so proud of what he had done. He seemed like a Clan cat then, born and bred.”

“So I made the right decision?” Fireheart meowed hopefully.

There was another heavy pause. “I think only time will tell,” Sandstorm replied at last.

Fireheart didn't say anything. This wasn't the reassurance he'd been hoping for, but he knew she was right.

“Has something happened to him?” asked Sandstorm, her eyes narrowed with concern.

“I saw him go into a Twoleg nest this afternoon,” Fireheart confessed flatly. “I think he's been allowing them to feed him for a while now.”

Sandstorm frowned. “Does he know you saw him?”

“No.”

“You should tell him,” advised Sandstorm. “Cloudpaw needs to decide where he belongs.”

“But what if he decides to return to a kittypet life?” Fireheart protested. Today had made him realize how much he wanted Cloudpaw to stay in the Clan. Not just for his own sake, or to show the other cats that warriors didn't have to be forestborn, but for Cloudpaw's sake too. He had so much to give to the Clan, and would be repaid more than enough by their loyalty. Fireheart felt his heart begin to pound at the thought of what Cloudpaw might be about to throw away.

“It's his decision,” meowed Sandstorm gently.

“If only I'd been a better mentor—”

“It's not your fault,” Sandstorm interrupted him. “You can't change what's in his heart.”

Fireheart shrugged hopelessly.

“Just talk to him,” urged Sandstorm. “Find out what he wants. Let him decide for himself.” Her eyes were round with sympathy, but Fireheart still felt miserable. “Go and find him,” she meowed. Fireheart nodded as Sandstorm stood up and padded away into the trees.

With a heavy heart he began to scramble down into the ravine, heading for the training hollow in the hope that Cloudpaw would return to camp the same way he'd left. He didn't want to confront his apprentice like this; he was afraid of pushing Cloudpaw away for good. But he also knew that Sandstorm was right. Cloudpaw could not stay in ThunderClan and keep one paw in the life of a kittypet.

Fireheart sat in the hollow as the sun dropped behind the trees. The air was still warm even though long shadows stretched across the sand. It would be time for the evening meal soon. Fireheart began to wonder if Cloudpaw would return at all. Then he heard the rustle of bushes and the padding of small paws and knew Cloudpaw was approaching even before he smelled his scent.

The apprentice trotted into the clearing with his tail high and his ears pricked. He was carrying a tiny shrew in his jaws, which he dropped as soon as he saw Fireheart. “What are you doing here?” Fireheart heard reproach in the
young cat's voice. “I told you I'd be back by mealtime. Don't you trust me?”

Fireheart shook his head. “No.”

Cloudpaw tipped his head to one side and looked hurt. “Well, I said I'd be back, and I am,” he protested.

“I saw you,” Fireheart meowed simply.

“Saw me where?”

“I saw you go into that Twoleg nest.” He paused.

“So?”

Fireheart was shocked almost to speechlessness by Cloudpaw's lack of concern. Didn't he realize what he'd done? “You were supposed to be hunting for the Clan,” he hissed, anger burning in his belly.

“I did hunt,” answered Cloudpaw.

Fireheart looked scornfully at the shrew that Cloudpaw had dropped on the ground. “And how many cats do you think that will feed?”

“Well, I won't take anything for myself,” mewed Cloudpaw.

“Only because you're stuffed with kittypet slop!” Fireheart spat. “Why did you come back at all?”

“Why wouldn't I? I'm just visiting the Twolegs for food.” Cloudpaw sounded genuinely puzzled. “What's the problem?”

Seething with frustration, Fireheart growled, “I can't help wondering if your mother did the right thing in giving up her firstborn kit to be a Clan cat.”

“Well, she's done it now,” Cloudpaw hissed back. “So you're stuck with me!”

“I may be stuck with you as an apprentice, but I can keep you from becoming a warrior!” threatened Fireheart.

Cloudpaw's eyes widened in surprise. “You wouldn't! You couldn't! I'm going to become such a great fighter that you won't be able to stop me.” He glared defiantly at Fireheart.

“How many times do I have to tell you, there's more to being a warrior than hunting and fighting. You have to know what you're hunting and fighting
for
!” Fireheart fought back the fury that rose in his chest.

“I know what I'm fighting for. The same as you—survival!”

Fireheart stared at Cloudpaw in disbelief. “I fight for the Clan, not myself,” he growled.

Cloudpaw gazed steadily back at him. “Okay,” he mewed. “I'll fight for the Clan, if that's what it takes to become a warrior. It's all the same in the end.”

Fireheart felt like clawing some sense into the mouse-brained young cat, but he took a deep breath and meowed as calmly as he could, “You can't live with a paw in two worlds, Cloudpaw. You're going to have to decide. You must choose whether you want to live by the warrior code as a Clan cat, or whether you want the life of a kittypet.” As he spoke, he recalled Bluestar saying exactly the same thing when Tigerclaw had spotted him talking to his old kittypet friend, Smudge, at the edge of the forest. The difference was that Fireheart had had no trouble recognizing where his loyalties lay. He had been a Clan cat from the moment he had stepped into the forest, in his own mind at least.

Cloudpaw looked taken aback. “Why must I choose? I like
my life the way it is, and I'm not going to change it just to make you feel better!”

“It's not just to make
me
feel better,” Fireheart spat. “It's for the good of the Clan! The life of a kittypet goes against everything in the warrior code.” He watched incredulously as Cloudpaw ignored him and picked up his shrew, then marched past him toward the camp. Fireheart took a long breath, resisting the urge to chase Cloudpaw out of ThunderClan territory once and for all.
Let him decide for himself
. He repeated Sandstorm's words under his breath as he followed his apprentice back to the camp. After all, he told himself desperately, Cloudpaw wasn't doing any harm by eating kittypet food. He just hoped none of the other cats found out.

As they neared the gorse tunnel, Fireheart heard the clatter of dirt cascading down the ravine. He stopped and waited, hoping it was Sandstorm returning from her hunt, but a warm scent on the early evening air told him it was Cinderpelt.

The small gray cat jumped awkwardly down from the last rock. Her jaws were full of herbs and she was limping heavily.

“Are you okay?” Fireheart asked.

Cinderpelt dropped the herbs. “I'm fine, honestly,” she puffed. “My leg is playing up, that's all, and it took me longer than I thought to find the herbs.”

“You should tell Yellowfang,” Fireheart meowed. “She wouldn't want you overdoing it.”

“No!” mewed Cinderpelt, shaking her head.

“Okay, okay,” Fireheart agreed, surprised by the strength of
her refusal. “At least let me carry these herbs for you.”

Cinderpelt blinked gratefully at him. “May StarClan banish all the fleas from your nest,” she purred, her eyes twinkling. “I didn't mean to snap. It's just that Yellowfang is very busy. Willowpelt began her kitting this afternoon.”

Fireheart felt a flicker of anxiety. The last kitting he had seen had been Silverstream's. “Is she okay?”

Cinderpelt glanced away. “I don't know,” she mumbled. “I offered to collect herbs instead of helping.” A shadow crossed her face. “I…I didn't want to be there….”

Fireheart guessed that she too was thinking of Silverstream. “Come on then,” he meowed. “The sooner we find out how she's doing, the sooner we can stop worrying.” He quickened his pace.

“Hold on!” winced Cinderpelt, limping after him. “You'll be the first to know if I make a miraculous recovery. But for now you'll have to slow down!”

As they entered the camp Fireheart knew instantly that Willowpelt's kitting had been a success. One-Eye and Dappletail were padding away from the nursery, their eyes soft with affection and their purrs audible even from this side of the clearing.