Eclipse

Leaves sprayed Jaypaw as Mousewhisker answered. Jaypaw stifled a frustrated hiss and collected the dropped leaves in his mouth. Then he followed Mousewhisker onto the bank, where Graystripe and Sorreltail were waiting. From the smell of it they’d caught mice. Jaypaw’s belly grumbled, and he wished he’d eaten when he’d had the chance.

“Let’s get these back to camp,” Sorreltail meowed. “It sounds like someone’s hungry.” She turned and darted up the grassy hillside, back toward the forest.

As they topped the ridge and began to head home, Jaypaw halted.

“What is it?” Graystripe asked.

“A patrol, heading this way.” The air was filled with their scent.

A moment later Jaypaw heard Thornclaw and his apprentice, Poppypaw, crashing through the undergrowth. Brightheart and Birchfall were close behind. Excitement pulsed from them.

They burst out of the bushes onto the ridge.

“WindClan have crossed the border!” Brightheart burst out.

Graystripe dropped his mouse. “Are they in ThunderClan territory now?”

“No,” Thornclaw growled. “But the scents are fresh. It looks like they didn’t listen to Firestar’s last warning, and they’ve been hunting in our territory again.”

“Have you remarked the borders?” Graystripe asked.

“We did it straightaway.” Birchfall was pacing agitatedly around his Clanmates.

“Good.” Graystripe’s claws scraped the ground. “We must report this to Firestar at once.”

The camp was wrapped in the same greenleaf sleepiness as the forest, and hardly any cat stirred as the patrol rushed into the clearing.

“Brightheart?” Cloudtail’s dozy mew sounded from outside the warriors’ den. “Where are you going?”

“I’ll be right back,” Brightheart promised as she scrambled up to Highledge after Thornclaw.

Mousewhisker dropped his mouthful of mallow leaves beside Jaypaw. “Can you manage these?” he asked. “I want to go tell Berrynose and Hazeltail what’s happened.”

This was the first crisis since Mousewhisker had been made a warrior. Jaypaw didn’t begrudge him his excitement.

“No problem.”

As Mousewhisker hurried away, Jaypaw dropped his own mouthful of leaves onto the pile and began to bundle them together, ready to take to the medicine cat den.

“Can I help?” Hollypaw was padding toward him.

“Yes, please.” Jaypaw was sick of the taste of mallow.

“What’s all the fuss about?” Hollypaw pawed some leaves into a pile of her own.

“WindClan have crossed the border again.”

Hollypaw’s pelt bristled. “I would have thought after last time…”

Jaypaw shrugged. Clearly, rescuing WindClan kits wasn’t enough to appease their increasingly hostile neighbors. He braced himself for an indignant speech about how true warriors respected borders, and was surprised to find something else was on Hollypaw’s mind.

“Cinderpaw just told me her assessment’s tomorrow,” she mewed.

Jaypaw stiffened. So soon? “Has Cinderpaw ever complained about her leg hurting?” he asked quietly.

“What?” Hollypaw leaned in closer. “Why? What’s the matter? She’s better, isn’t she?”

Jaypaw nodded. “Leafpool says she is.”

“Well, there’s nothing to worry about then.” Hollypaw sighed. “I wish I could watch.”

“Cinderpaw’s assessment?” An idea sparked in Jaypaw’s mind.

“Of course!”

Jaypaw thought fast. He could keep an eye on her while she was tested. Check that everything was really all right. “Why don’t we?”

“Watch her assessment?” Hollypaw gasped. “But that’s not allowed, surely?”

“Is that part of the warrior code?”

“What are you two talking about?” Lionpaw padded up behind Hollypaw.

“We were thinking about watching Cinderpaw’s assessment tomorrow,” Hollypaw explained.

“Is that allowed?” Lionpaw echoed his sister.

“I doubt it,” Jaypaw mewed. “But we weren’t planning on announcing it from Highledge.”

“Let’s do it!” Lionpaw decided.

“If anyone catches us,” Hollypaw mewed, “we can say we were just trying to get some tips before our own assessment.

No warrior could object to that.”

Birds chittering in the trees above the hollow woke Jaypaw.

Dawn. He stretched and climbed out of his nest, shivering.

Early morning had brought a chill to the hollow, reminding him that leaf-fall would soon be here. He gave his paws and face a quick wash. The assessment would start early, and he had promised to meet Lionpaw and Hollypaw outside the camp.

“Where are you going?” Leafpool’s mew startled him as he headed for the den entrance.

“I left some leaves behind,” he lied.

“Will you be able to find them by yourself?”

“I was only there yesterday,” he snapped. “I know exactly where to find them. I’m not a mouse-brain.” He figured Leafpool would be too worried about offending him to ask him any more questions.

He padded out of the den and through the thorn tunnel.

Brightheart was guarding the entrance. “You’re out early.”

“I’m fetching herbs for Leafpool.”

“Do you need an escort?”

“No,” Jaypaw mewed quickly. “Thanks.”

“The dawn patrol’s out,” Brightheart informed him. “And the assessment’s going to start soon. So there’ll be plenty of your Clanmates around if you need help.”

“I won’t,” he assured her.