The Fourth Apprentice

“I’m glad they won’t be sharing our den,” Dovepaw murmured to Ivypaw. “They’ll stink of mud and dead fish for a moon!”

Ivypaw nodded. “I bet they won’t be sharing any cat’s den until they get that stench off!” She wandered off to examine a dead fish lying a couple of fox-lengths away. Dovepaw stayed to watch as Thornclaw cautiously approached the mud hole, holding the stick at one end and stretching the rest of it out so that his Clanmates could grab it. Berrynose sank his claws into it and scrambled along it until he reached more solid ground, where Lionblaze and Cinderheart helped him to his paws.

“Filthy stuff!” he exclaimed, spitting out mud and shaking his pelt so that sticky drops flew everywhere.

Dovepaw leaped back to avoid being spattered. Meanwhile Spiderleg clambered along the stick and stood panting at the edge of the muddy hole.

“Thanks,” he meowed to Thornclaw. “I’ll be more careful where I put my paws next time.”

Thornclaw nodded. “You’re welcome. You’d better go back to camp and get yourselves cleaned up.”

Spiderleg and Berrynose plodded off, their heads and tails drooping, shedding mud from their pelts at every paw step.

“And now I suppose I’d better give the stick back to Jayfeather,” Thornclaw went on, “or he’ll be madder than a fox in a fit.”

He set off toward the shore, only to halt after a few paces as a furious caterwaul came from farther around the lake. Dovepaw looked up in alarm. A mottled blue-gray tom was racing toward them, his tail streaming out behind him. Twitching her whiskers, Dovepaw picked up another unfamiliar scent, similar to the fish lying on the mud.

That must be RiverClan.

Thornclaw dropped the stick again. “Hey, Rainstorm!” he called. “What do you want?”

The RiverClan warrior ignored him and the rest of the cats who were clustered together a few tail-lengths away from the mud hole. He was heading straight for Ivypaw, who was still sniffing curiously at the dead fish.

“Prey-stealer!” he yowled. “Leave that alone! The fish are ours!”

Ivypaw spun around, her fur fluffing up and her eyes wide with terror at the sight of a full-grown RiverClan warrior bearing down on her.

“Mouse dung!” Cinderheart spat, bounding off to intercept Rainstorm before he could attack her apprentice. Dovepaw and Lionblaze raced after her.

Suddenly Lionblaze let out a yowl. “Rainstorm, watch out!”

Dovepaw realized that the RiverClan cat was heading straight for the mud hole. Too intent on Ivypaw, he seemed not to hear Lionblaze’s warning. His flying paws slid into the deeper mud; he gave a screech of mingled fear and surprise as he rapidly sank up to his belly fur.

“Help!” he wailed. “Get me out of here!”

“Serves you right,” Cinderheart meowed indignantly, halting at the edge of the mud hole and looking down at the struggling warrior. “Can’t you see she’s only an apprentice? This is her first time out of camp.”

“I’m sorry.” Ivypaw trotted up, looking anxious. “I wasn’t going to eat the fish, honestly.”

“I don’t think any cat would want to eat it,” Dovepaw added, coming to stand beside her sister. “Yuck!”

Rainstorm didn’t reply. He had sunk into a deeper part of the hole than the two ThunderClan cats who had been trapped earlier; the mud was oozing around his shoulders, and his frantic efforts to climb out only made him sink farther.

“Keep still,” Lionblaze mewed. “We’ll get you out.”

Thornclaw trotted up with the stick and pushed it out across the mud until Rainstorm could sink his claws into it. But he couldn’t get a firm-enough hold to drag himself out, as if his struggles had already worn him out. Dovepaw pressed close against Ivypaw as she watched, her belly fluttering with anxiety. Even though the RiverClan warrior had been about to attack her sister, she didn’t want to see him drown.

“Help…me…” Rainstorm rasped, stretching his neck to keep his muzzle clear of the mud.

“Oh, for StarClan’s sake…” Lionblaze muttered. He crept up to the very edge of the hole, testing every paw step before he put his weight down, and leaned over so that he could sink his teeth into Rainstorm’s scruff. He gave an enormous heave, and with a loud sucking noise the RiverClan tom scrambled free of the clinging mud and collapsed on one side, his chest heaving as he gasped for air.

“Consider yourself lucky,” Thornclaw meowed unsympathetically. “Now take off. You shouldn’t have been on this side of the lake at all.”

Rainstorm’s paws scrabbled, but when he tried to stand up his legs gave way and he fell onto the mud again.

“Now what are we going to do with him?” Cinderheart meowed. “He’s never going to make it back to RiverClan in that state.”

Lionblaze sighed. “There’s no need for any of this, if RiverClan would just be reasonable. Are any of his Clanmates around?”