Chapter Eleven
Alderpaw couldn’t believe how fast the fox was. He watched, stunned, as its wiry body leaped through the air and landed on Sandstorm, its pointed snout burying itself in her as its gnashing teeth sank into her shoulder. Sandstorm let out a shrill yowl of pain before unsheathing her claw and swiping at its nose, making it yelp.
Shaking off his shock, Alderpaw raced forward and flung himself on top of the fox. Snarling, it turned and reared up, throwing Alderpaw off its back. Free of its jaws, Sandstorm rolled away, looking dazed, but ready to kick the fox’s tail. Blood was pouring from the wound in her shoulder.
“Get out of this!” Alderpaw called to her. “It’s too dangerous—you’re hurt!”
Sandstorm hissed, glaring at the fox in front of her. “Never!” she yowled. “I’d rather die than not fight for my kin.” She threw herself at the fox’s shoulder, digging her teeth into its shoulder.
Alderpaw stared at her, amazed by her fighting skill. For a split second, he thought he saw the starry pelt of her mate, Firestar, fighting beside her. He darted toward the fox again, scoring his claws down its side, then leaping back out of range as it snapped at him. Where are the others? he thought. Sandstorm was the only one helping him with this fox. He gazed around, and his heart pounded even harder as he saw a second fox attacking his other Clanmates, who were defending themselves desperately. Rain was on top of the other fox’s back, digging her teeth into its neck. Jayflight and Lionblaze were fighting side by side, aiming at the fox’s snout before it let out a loud snarl and struck Lionblaze away. They won’t be able to help us, Alderpaw realized, his terror mounting. The night air was full of snarls and yowling and the reek of blood.
Alderpaw’s fox swiped at his face, and he barely managed to duck in time to avoid the blow. The fox lunged at him again; leaping backward, Alderpaw crashed into something hard, and he realized that he was trapped against the trunk of a tree. Sandstorm was panting across the way, covered in fresh wounds besides her bleeding shoulder.
The fox growled, claws raking at the ground in front of it. Alderpaw tried to hiss at it in defiance, but the sound came out weak and unthreatening. I wouldn’t even frighten a kit!
Alderpaw braced himself as the fox crouched to spring. But before it could move, a high-pitched cry rang out. In the moonlight, Alderpaw saw a whirlwind of fur fly out of the bushes and land right on the fox’s back.
The fox let out a fearsome screech and thrashed back and forth, trying to dislodge the ball of fur from its back. But the furball had dug its claws in and managed to cling on.
Another cat! Alderpaw realized. Great StarClan, they’re brave! But they’re no match for a fox.
There was no time to wonder who the strange cat was. Throwing himself back into the fray, Alderpaw tried to get his claws into the fox’s throat, but his grip gave way as it shook its head violently. Then he realized that Sparkpaw and Sandstorm had joined him, fighting fiercely by his side, slashing at the fox, then darting back out of range.
“Swipe at its eye!” the cat on the fox’s back called out. “Go for its hind leg!”
The strange cat’s voice sounded oddly familiar to Alderpaw, but he had no time to think about that, and in the fitful moonlight he couldn’t see clearly.
“Whatever you do, don’t let go!” Sparkpaw gasped to them.
“I wasn’t planning to!” The strange cat raked their claws along the fox’s back, while Alderpaw and Sparkpaw kept on attacking from the side, trying to throw the fox off balance.
At last the creature screeched and, with a massive shake, hurled the strange cat off; they went sprawling in a patch of fern. Alderpaw watched Sparkpaw dash between them and the fox, ready to defend them, but the fox clearly had enough. It turned tail and ran, while Rosepetal and Lionblaze drove the second fox after it.
For a few heartbeats all the cats stood still, their chests heaving as they fought for breath. Sandstorm was the first to speak. “Is every cat okay?”
“I’m find,” Alderpaw responded.
“I banged my shoulder on the ground,” Toadstep mewed. “I think it’ll be stiff tomorrow, but it’s not serious.”
“I’ve got a scratch and I lost a bit of fur,” Rosepetal added.
“The fox got me pretty good,” Lionblaze spoke up. Alderpaw saw blood running down his nose and a bleeding wound on his cheek.
“Mouse-brain!” Jayflight hissed. “You’re not invincible anymore, you idiot.”
Alderpaw began sniffing Sparkpaw all over to make sure she was unhurt, though she wriggled under his questing nose. “Honestly, Alderpaw, I’m fine.”
“So am I.” The voice of the strange cat came form behind Alderpaw, and he turned to see them emerging from the clump of ferns where they had fallen.
“Thanks for your help,” he meowed, and the other cats joined in a chorus of agreement.
“You were really brave!” Sparkpaw piped up, padding over to the cat.
“I think the fox would have gotten me if it weren’t for—” Just then the moon came out from behind a cloud, and Alderpaw got a good look at the strange cat for the first time. “Needlepaw!” he gasped. “What are you doing here?”
Needlepaw strolled into the midst of the group of the cats and gazed around at them calmly. “Saving you from foxes,” she replied.
“But . . . aren’t you a ShadowClan apprentice?” Toadstep asked. “Where’s your mentor? What are you doing so far away from far.”
Clearly annoyed at being questioned, Needlepaw gave a defiant flick of her tail. “I was exploring on WindClan territory when I saw you all heading out,” she replied. “I was sure it had something to do with the prophecy, so I followed you.”
“You’re not supposed to be wandering around without your mentor,” Sandstorm scolded her. Her voice was tight with pain from her wound, and Alderpaw knew she needed rest and treatment, not an argument with ShadowClan apprentice. “And not supposed to be exploring on WindClan territory.”
“I wasn’t hunting!” Needlepaw retorted. “And I . . .”
Her voice faded to silence at Sandstorm’s green glare. “You’re certainly not supposed to leave Clan territory by yourself, without permission from your Clan leader,” Sandstorm went on. “Don’t you realize how dangerous it is, being out here alone? You’re going to be in a lot of trouble with Russetstar when you get back.”
Needlepaw returned her glare, bold defiance gleaming in them, but kept her jaws clamped shut.
“Did you really follow us across the Thunderpath?” Sparkpaw asked with curious eyes. She was sitting close to the silver she-cat. “We almost became crowfood crossing it ourselves.”
“Of course I did.” Needlepaw puffed out her chest, her voice sounding pompous. “Thunderpaths are no big deal. I’m not afraid of monsters!”
Alderpaw wondered if she really meant that, or if she was just saying it to make herself sound tough. Thunderpaths are terrifying!
“Then you’re a mouse-brain,” Sandstorm told her in a cold voice
“I can take care of myself,” Needlepaw retorted. “Which is more than I can say for the rest of you. Obviously you need my help. I just saved Alderpaw and Sparkpaw!”
Sparkpaw blinked next to Needlepaw. “You helped save us,” she pointed out, nudging the ShadowClan she-cat, giving her a soft, friendly glare. “You only helped.”
Needlepaw eyed her, her green eyes sparkling. “I’m coming with you now,” she announced.
Rosepetal and Toadstep exchanged an incredulous glance. “No way!” Jayflight snarled, glaring hard at the silver apprentice. Alderpaw saw how unnerved she looked when Jayflight looked straight at her.
“Exactly,” Sandstorm’s voice was brusque. “You should go back to your own territory.”
“I’m staying, and you can’t stop me,” Needlepaw meowed, quite undeterred. She challenged Sandstorm with a sharp glare. “I know you’re going to look for the thing in the shadows that the prophecy spoke about. And there’s no way I’m going to let you find it just for ThunderClan. Who’s to say ShadowClan can’t have some of that destiny, too?” Her gaze traveled around the group of cats, and her voice grew urgent. Alderpaw sensed that her desperation was about more than seeking what lies in the shadows. “If I can do anything to help clear the sky for my Clan, then I have to do it.”
Alderpaw felt a pang of sympathy for Needlepaw. If I were in her place, I’d want to make sure the sky cleared for ThunderClan, too. But he was taken aback when Needlepaw swung around and spoke to him directly.
“Alderpaw, you’re a medicine cat. You know about this stuff. What do you think?” Her voice turned into a persuasive purr. “Please let me come.”
Alderpaw felt good to be asked, to know he had this cat’s respect. He knew he shouldn’t enjoy Needlepaw’s company as much as she did. She’s from another Clan, and she breaks rules all the time, and she’s super rude to senior warriors and leaders and elders . . . but she’s fun, and different, and she’s really good at hunting and fighting. And she always says exactly what she thinks. He suddenly realized he wished he acted more like Needlepaw.
“I . . . uh . . . I don’t know,” he stammered as he shuffled his paws in an uncomfortable way. “I’m not sure I—”
“This is Alderpaw’s quest,” Jayflight broke in, to Alderpaw’s relief. “But I know about this stuff too, and we need to discuss this alone.”
“Sure,” Needlepaw mewed, pausing before she gave one paw a nonchalant lick.
She’s not really casual about this, Alderpaw realized. She’d never admit it, but she’s worried about what we’ll decide.
The ThunderClan cats padded into the shelter of a clump of trees at the edge of the hollow. Alderpaw noticed Sandstorm was limping, and the wound in her shoulder was still bleeding.
“Are you okay, Sandstorm?” he asked. “I ought to take a look at that wound.”
“I’ll be fine,” Sandstorm responded with a dismissive twitch of her whiskers.
But Alderpaw wasn’t satisfied. “Give the wound a good lick to clean it,” he told Sandstorm in a firm voice as soon as they were settled under the trees. “Sparkpaw, find me some cobweb.”
“Ooh, bossy medicine cat!” Sparkpaw meowed, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Have you been taking politeness lessons from Jayflight?” Jayflight gave her a soft cuff over her head and she laughed as she started sniffing around in the undergrowth and soon came back with a pawful of cobweb.
By the time Sandstorm had finished cleaning her wound. Alderpaw examined it thoroughly, glad to see that the bleeding had slowed to a trickle.
“This is all very well,” Sandstorm meowed as Alderpaw fixed the cobweb in place, “but what are we going to do about Needlepaw?”
Jayflight spoke up. “I don’t like the thought of her tagging along with us,” he sniffed. “She’s nosy and cocky. It’d drive me insane.”
“But she’s young,” Lionblaze pointed out. “It wouldn’t be safe for her to go back alone.”
“More cats means more mouths to feed,” Jayflight pointed out.
“More cats means more cats to hunt,” Lionblaze countered, making his brother grumble.
Rain stepped forward, her eyes narrow. “The nosy little cat got herself into this mess,” she meowed, “maybe she should get herself out of it.”
“Well,” Alderpaw began, feeling shy about contradicting the SkyClan warrior, “her nosiness did come in handy when the foxes attacked us.”
“He’s right,” Toadstep spoke up.
“I think we should send her back,” Rain meowed.
“What, do you want to lead her back?” Sparkpaw asked, glaring at the older cat.
Alderpaw saw a flash of something in the gray she-cat’s eyes, but he couldn’t identify it. She stepped back, not saying another word. Her cold glare sent shivers up Alderpaw’s spine
“This is getting us nowhere,” Sandstorm sighed. “Alderpaw, Needlepaw was right about one thing: you’re the medicine cat. What do you think?”
“I don’t agree with Rain and Jayflight,” Alderpaw admitted, even though he was reluctant to go against the SkyClan warrior and his cousin. “I think Needlepaw should come with us. If we try to send her back,” he added, “she’s going to ignore us and she might as well follow us anyway.”
“Maybe,” Rosepetal snorted, “but that’s no reason to welcome her.”
“Okay,” Sandstorm mewed, “since we can’t agree, I’ll make the final decision. Needlepaw comes with us.”
Rain and Rosepetal exchanged a disappointed look and Jayflight snorted.
“But there’s no way we’re telling her what this quest is really about, right?” Rain asked, eyeing Alderpaw. Alderpaw turned away from her, uncomfortable in her intense gaze.
Sandstorm caught her eye. “No, we won’t tell her that,” she murmured.
Rising to her paws, the cats padded back into the hollow to tell Needlepaw their decision. On the way, Alderpaw could hear Rosepetal and Toadstep muttering just behind him.
“She is going to be in a lot of trouble once she gets back to her own territory,” Rosepetal mumbled.
“But that’s not our problem,” Toadstep responded, matching his sisters quiet tone. “It’s hers.”
While they were away, Needlepaw had obviously been grooming herself, and her sleek silver pelt shone in the growing light of dawn. Alderpaw, still covered in dust and bits of debris from the fox fight, felt very scruffy in contrast.
“We’ve decided to let you join us,” Sandstorm announced.
Needlepaw raised one paw and examined her claws. “Well, of course you have,” she mewed, her voice cool. “It’s not like you could stop me, anyway.”
Alderpaw’s pelt prickled with irritation at her rudeness, and yet he sensed that Needlepaw was much happier than she was prepared to admit. There’s something sort of . . . lonely about her, he thought.
As the sky began to flush red where the sun would rise, Alderpaw saw Needlepaw’s face more clearly. And he thought he could see in her eyes how pleased she was to be included.