Crowfeather's Trial

“Sure we are,” Harespring responded. “Why don’t we see what we can find around here? If the scent is stale, the prey might be coming back.”

“Good luck with that,” Nightcloud muttered. “It’s been scarce on this side of the territory since just after the Great Battle.”

Harespring shrugged. “We can still give it a try. And we may find out something useful.”

The three warriors split up, each taking their own apprentice. Crowfeather caught no prey-scents on the ground, and only faint traces in the air, but eventually he spotted a sparrow perched on a jutting spike of rock. Perfect for an apprentice’s practice.

Just as he was beginning to advise Featherpaw on how to pounce on it, a loud yowl split the air from farther along the bank.

“Great StarClan!” he exclaimed. “What’s that?”

He whipped around and raced alongside the bank toward Hootpaw, who was standing rigid, his gaze fixed on another of the dark tunnel entrances. His fur was so bushed up, he looked twice his size.

Crowfeather’s pelt prickled with apprehension as he wondered what could have spooked the apprentice like that. Hootpaw wasn’t easily frightened; he was usually a bold and adventurous young cat.

“Hang on, I’m coming!” Crowfeather called out as he charged up, half expecting to see a fox or a badger emerging from the tunnel. Except that wasn’t fox or badger scent.

As Crowfeather halted beside Hootpaw, he thought that he spotted something white and shining at the mouth of the tunnel, whisking out of sight into the blackness.

That looked like a tail…, he thought. Or am I seeing things?

Featherpaw joined him, panting, while Nightcloud hurried up with a vole in her jaws. Harespring and Slightpaw ran up shortly after.

“What happened?” Nightcloud asked, dropping her prey. “Hootpaw, tell me you didn’t go into the tunnel, after what I told you!”

“I didn’t!” Hootpaw protested. “But I… I saw something in there. An animal I’ve never seen before, like a glowing, pure white cat! It looked right at me, like it wanted to tell me something.”

“Oh, for StarClan’s sake, don’t be so mouse-brained,” Nightcloud snapped. “There’s no such thing as glowing white cats — only StarClan, and they glitter like stars. Honestly, you made such a noise, I thought a badger must be ripping your fur off!”

“I know what I saw,” Hootpaw mewed stubbornly. “I’ve never seen anything like it. It was scary!”

Harespring looked thoughtful. “Smoky from the horseplace told me once that kittypets sometimes came back after they died, all shining white, to visit their Twolegs. He said he’d seen ghosts with his own eyes.”

“That’s the most flea-brained thing I’ve ever heard!” Crowfeather exclaimed, glaring at Harespring. It was bad enough that Hootpaw was scared out of his fur. They didn’t need Harespring encouraging him. “Maybe kittypets believe that, but they don’t even commune with StarClan.” Harespring returned his glare for a moment but finally looked away as if he was embarrassed. He should be, Crowfeather thought, annoyed. This is who Onestar chose over me? A warrior who can barely catch a rabbit and now believes in ghosts? Some deputy.

“I saw a glowing white cat,” Hootpaw insisted. His fur was lying flat again, but his eyes were still wide and frightened, and Crowfeather could see that Featherpaw and Slightpaw were beginning to look apprehensive as well, casting nervous glances at the tunnel entrance as if, at any moment, whatever the apprentice had seen was going to come charging out of the shadows.

Crowfeather knew it was nonsense, but all the same, something was niggling at the back of his mind. If there were ghost cats, he thought, this would be the right time for them to show up. We lost so many of our Clanmates in the Great Battle. But he quickly dismissed the thought. Clearly, he was letting the apprentices — and their mouse-brained deputy — get to him. There had to be a perfectly reasonable explanation for whatever Hootpaw had seen, but now wasn’t the time to find it.

“I think we’ve done enough hunting for one day,” he meowed decisively. “Let’s carry our prey back to camp.”

Harespring opened his mouth as if to argue, but he quickly snapped it shut and nodded his head. Crowfeather knew the deputy was probably irritated that he was calling the shots, but since he was eager to leave the area, he went along with him. Without any further discussion, the patrol set off, collecting their prey as they went. The deputy loaded up the apprentices and sent them on ahead, while he padded along behind with Crowfeather and Nightcloud. Crowfeather couldn’t help noticing how subdued the apprentices seemed now, so different from their earlier playfulness.