The Fourth Apprentice

“How do you know?” Rippletail asked, genuine curiosity in his voice.

“There isn’t time for this.” Lionblaze forced his voice to carry above the babble. “Just climb a tree, okay?”

To his relief, Toadfoot and Tigerheart spun around and scrambled up the far bank of the stream, shooting up a nearby tree and peering down from a high branch. At least they’re safe.

But the WindClan and RiverClan cats hadn’t moved; they just shuffled their paws and cast awkward glances at one another.

“We don’t climb trees,” Whitetail pointed out.

“Oh, for StarClan’s sake!” Without waiting to argue, Lionblaze, with Dovepaw helping him, bundled the four cats out of the streambed and nudged them toward the nearest tree. “Now climb!”

Sedgewhisker veered away, heading for a low-growing tree with twisted branches that made it easier to climb. “I think I can get up here,” she meowed.

“No—come back!” Lionblaze called to her. “The dogs would follow you up there in no time. Look, you just dig your claws in,” he explained as the she-cat bounded back. “Then use your hind paws to push you up the trunk. It’s easy.”

The cats looked scared and baffled. “I’ll never do it.” Sedgewhisker was shaking. “You go. I’ll take my chances down here.”

“We’re not leaving you!” Dovepaw meowed fiercely.

Lionblaze struggled with fear and exasperation. He could hear the dogs now, their barking still faint in the distance, but growing louder with every heartbeat.

“Try this.” Dovepaw bounded over to the nearest tree and leaped up the trunk until she could balance on the lowest branch. Scrambling down again, she added, “Come on, you can do it.”

To Lionblaze’s relief, Toadfoot and Tigerheart reappeared at his side. “We’ll take one each,” Toadfoot meowed, heading for Petalfur.

“Great, thanks.” Lionblaze beckoned Sedgewhisker with a flick of his tail. “Tigerheart, you take Rippletail; Dovepaw, go with Whitetail.”

The older WindClan warrior would be more confident, he guessed, and easier for an apprentice to cope with; besides, he suspected that Whitetail might have climbed a tree or two in the wooded area near the border with ThunderClan. Free to concentrate on the terrified Sedgewhisker, he shoved her over to the nearest tree. “Put your front claws here,” he instructed, “and use that knot-hole there to give one hind paw leverage. Now, up you go.”

Sedgewhisker did as he said, then froze, splayed out against the tree trunk with all four sets of claws digging into the bark. “I can’t move,” she choked out.

“Yes, you can,” Lionblaze encouraged her. “And if you fall, you’ll fall on your paws. Now bring one hind paw up to that hollow there…”

Gradually, paw step by paw step, the WindClan cat edged up the tree with Lionblaze beside her. The dogs had almost reached them, noisily barking and plunging about in the sparse undergrowth. Their scent drifted thickly on the air, and Lionblaze took quick, shallow breaths as he tried not to taste it.

The trees they had chosen were hard to climb, to make sure that the dogs couldn’t follow them, but it was slow going for the inexperienced cats. Glancing around, Lionblaze could see that Dovepaw and Whitetail had reached the safety of a high branch, while Tigerheart was shoving Rippletail into the fork between two branches. Toadfoot was still coaxing Petalfur up the trunk of the tree next to Lionblaze’s.

“You’re doing fine,” the ShadowClan warrior growled, “but for StarClan’s sake, don’t look down.”

Just as Sedgewhisker managed to claw her way onto a branch, the dogs erupted into view. There were two of them, with smooth, shiny pelts, one yellow and one black. They gamboled about, leaping into the stream and out again, and sniffing around the roots of the trees.

“At least they’re not hunting us,” Lionblaze meowed, crouching on the branch beside Sedgewhisker. “Stupid creatures; they have no idea we’re here.”

Just then, one of the dogs scented him and Sedgewhisker. It burst into a flurry of excited barking as it bounded over to their tree and jumped, reaching up the trunk with its front paws. Its jaws gaped and its long pink tongue lolled out.

Sedgewhisker let out a terrified squeal and slipped off the branch, her paws flailing uselessly as she fell. Lionblaze flung himself forward, digging his hind claws into the branch while he grabbed at Sedgewhisker with his front paws. But he was a heartbeat too slow to get a firm hold. He could feel Sedgewhisker slipping through his grip, while the dog below leaped and barked in a frenzy of excitement. Sedgewhisker’s eyes were stretched wide with terror, and her jaws gaped in a soundless wail for help.

Just as Lionblaze thought she was bound to fall, he saw Toadfoot hurtle through the air from the neighboring tree, leaving a panic-stricken Petalfur with both front legs wrapped around a branch.