The Apprentice's Quest

Alderpaw crept across the grassland, trying to pick out prey-scent over the stink of farm animals that the breeze was carrying toward them. Just ahead of him, Needlepaw padded forward, slowly but decisively.

She must have found a scent, but I can’t smell anything except those weird creatures back there.

Suddenly Needlepaw halted, raising her tail to signal that she had spotted prey. Half turning toward Alderpaw, she jerked her head to one side, telling him to go that way.

Alderpaw obeyed, putting on speed as he wove his way through the long grass. I hope I’m not getting this totally wrong! Finally he caught the scent that Needlepaw must have picked up long before. Rabbit! At the same moment he spotted the creature a couple of fox-lengths in front of him, nibbling at some low-growing plant. Its ears shot up as Alderpaw tried to slide soundlessly around it, and it took off, its white tail bobbing as it raced away. With rising excitement Alderpaw gave chase.

Needlepaw appeared from nowhere, right in the rabbit’s path. She lashed out with one paw, and the rabbit’s shriek was cut off abruptly as it fell limply to the ground. “Thank you, StarClan, for this prey,” she meowed.

Then Needlepaw looked up, her eyes alight with the thrill of the hunt. “Wow, you’re fast!” she exclaimed. “You drove it right toward me.

That’s pretty impressive.”

Alderpaw turned away, embarrassed, though his chest was swelling with happiness. I was useful on a hunt! I wish Sparkpaw had been here to see that!

Padding over to Needlepaw, he nuzzled her head with his nose. “Thanks for your help,” he mewed. “We may be from different Clans, but I’m glad you stayed with us.”

When he and Needlepaw returned to the elder bushes with the rabbit, Alderpaw found his three companions cleaning earth from their paws. They sounded more cheerful as they greeted him and settled down to feast on the rabbit.

When they had finished eating, Alderpaw rose to his paws, clearing his throat nervously.

“I have something to tell you,” he began.

He paused, looking for the right words, and Molewhisker twitched one ear impatiently.

“Spit it out, then,” he meowed.

“It’s about the vision that sent us on this journey,” Alderpaw responded. “It’s more complicated than you know. I saw a group of cats—the cats of SkyClan—and I believe they need help.”

“SkyClan? Who are they?” Sparkpaw asked.

“I’ve never heard of them,” mewed Cherryfall.

“I don’t know much about them,” Alderpaw explained. “Only what Bramblestar and Sandstorm told me. Long ago, back in the old forest, there were five Clans, not four. But Twolegs took SkyClan’s territory, and the other four Clans drove them out. They made camp in a gorge, beside a river, but eventually their Clan withered and died.”

“And that could happen to us, if we don’t find what lies in the shadows,” Sparkpaw pointed out. “Firestar said a time of great change is coming. It doesn’t sound like good change.”

“That’s true,” Alderpaw meowed, struck by the balance. I wonder if SkyClan is what lies in the shadows, he mused.

“If SkyClan died out, who were the cats you saw?” Molewhisker asked.

“Firestar restored their Clan. He and Sandstorm went on a quest, long ago, and they brought cats together—descendants of the old

SkyClan—and established the Clan again. When I told Sandstorm what I saw in my vision, she recognized some of the cats.”

“So that’s how Sandstorm knew the way!”

Cherryfall exclaimed. “But how can we get to SkyClan, now that she’s dead?”

“Because she told me where to go,” Alderpaw replied. “If we head toward the rising sun, eventually we’ll come to a river, and if we travel upstream, we’ll find SkyClan’s camp in the gorge.”

His Clanmates exchanged uncertain glances; Alderpaw wasn’t sure that they believed him.

“Why did the other Clans drive SkyClan away and let them die out?” Molewhisker asked eventually.

“It’s a very shameful part of warrior history,” Alderpaw replied. “No cat knows the whole story, and the only living cat—apart from us—who knows anything is Bramblestar. I shouldn’t even be telling you, but I thought it was important for you to know the truth.”

After a few moments’ silence, while the cats were clearly thinking over what they had heard, Cherryfall got up and rubbed her cheek against Alderpaw’s. “That was brave of you,” she meowed. “Your first act as our leader.”

Alderpaw was touched, especially by her admission that they would follow him now.

“It will take us a few days to get used to all this,” Cherryfall went on, “but I’m glad you told us the truth.”

“So am I,” Needlepaw agreed.

Molewhisker rose to his paws and glanced around at his Clanmates. “I think I speak for all of us,” he mewed, “when I tell you that we pledge ourselves to do whatever it takes to find

SkyClan and complete the quest.”