Warriors Super Edition: Yellowfang’s Secret (10 page)

Deerleap gave him a freezing glare. “If you like, Wolfpaw, you can go back to camp and search the elders for ticks.”

“Uh … no.” Wolfpaw’s tail drooped. “I guess hunting is okay.”

“Thank you so much,” Deerleap went on, an edge of sarcasm in her tone. “This morning you’re going to work in pairs. Nutpaw and Rowanpaw, you can work together. Yellowpaw, you go with Foxpaw.” Her tail-tip twitched. “Wolfpaw, seeing as there isn’t another apprentice to partner with, you’ll have to work with me.”

Yellowpaw was torn between enjoying Wolfpaw’s appalled expression, and dismay that she had to work with Foxpaw. She glanced at the younger apprentice, and saw that Foxpaw was giving her a dubious glance in reply.

Okay, you don’t like this any more than I do,
Yellowpaw thought.
But we have to put up with it for the sake of the Clan
.

Deerleap directed Yellowpaw and Foxpaw to head through the marshes and toward the Thunderpath. “Come back here when you’ve each caught one piece of prey,” she directed. “And remember, you’re working
together
.”

Yellowpaw padded carefully across the swampy ground, practicing her mentor’s instructions to
look, listen, and scent
. Meanwhile Foxpaw leaped from grassy clump to grassy clump, often landing instead in the shallow pools and splashing muddy water over her bright ginger pelt.

Yellowpaw rolled her eyes.
I suppose it’s one way of disguising your scent from the prey
. She could hear the distant roar of the Thunderpath when Foxpaw gave an excited little bounce. “I can smell a pigeon! This way!” She dashed off.

“She won’t catch a pigeon or anything else racing about like that,” Yellowpaw muttered. She had picked up the pigeon scent at the same moment, but she had also scented something else.

“Cats—and not ShadowClan cats,” she mewed softly as she followed Foxpaw. “This could mean trouble.”

She caught up to Foxpaw within sight of the Thunderpath. The young ginger she-cat was standing in the middle of a puddle of feathers, gazing down at them with a look of dismay.

“Some other cat got here before us,” she told Yellowpaw.

“I can see that.” The scent of strange cats was stronger than ever. “And not a ShadowClan patrol.”

“How do you know?” Foxpaw asked.

Yellowpaw ignored the question.
If she can’t smell that
… She cast around the pool of feathers, her nose to the ground, until she spotted cat paw prints leading away in the direction of the Thunderpath.

“Look at this,” she meowed, beckoning Foxpaw with her tail. “See how small and light those paw prints are?” she pointed out when Foxpaw reached her side. “I’ll bet a moon of dawn patrols that they were made by WindClan cats.”

“WindClan!” Foxpaw exclaimed. “Stealing our prey! They can’t do that. Let’s get them!”

She was ready to charge off, but Yellowpaw stood in front of her. “Wait!” she snapped. “Are you mouse-brained?”

“Are you scared?” Foxpaw retorted.

“Never!” Yellowpaw’s voice was low and furious. “I just have some sense, that’s all. What do you suppose two apprentices are going to do, alone on WindClan territory? What we have to do is go and find our mentors.”

She raced back across the marsh. Foxpaw pelted alongside her, looking mutinous. When they reached the training area, only Brightflower and Blizzardwing were there.

“WindClan!” Yellowpaw gasped.

“Stealing our prey!” Foxpaw added, bouncing on her paws. “Are we going to attack?”

“Hold on!” Brightflower raised her tail. “Settle down and tell us what happened.”

Yellowpaw began to explain what they had seen, trying to ignore Foxpaw’s attempts to interrupt. While she was speaking, Deerleap and Wolfpaw returned, closely followed by Nutpaw and Rowanpaw.

“We can’t let this pass,” Brightflower meowed when Yellowpaw had finished. “We need to take a look. Yellowpaw, lead the way.”

Yellowpaw was proud to pad at the head of the patrol as she took them through the marshes to where the pigeon feathers lay. Brightflower dipped her head to sniff at the cat paw prints.

“Fresh,” she murmured. “And definitely WindClan. Two of them, I’d guess. Well scented, Yellowpaw.”

“You have the best sense of smell,” Deerleap meowed to Brightflower. “Why don’t you follow these tracks and see where they lead? Take Blizzardwing with you in case the WindClan cats are still lurking around. We’ll wait for you here.”

Brightflower nodded and headed toward the Thunderpath, with Blizzardwing hard on her paws. Yellowpaw waited impatiently until she saw both warriors racing back.

“The paw prints lead to that new tunnel the Twolegs made under the Thunderpath,” Blizzardwing reported. “And we know where that leads: WindClan territory!”

“What are we going to do?” Rowanpaw demanded.

Brightflower and Blizzardwing both looked at Deerleap, as senior warrior. She thought for a moment. “Blizzardwing, you should go back to camp and fetch reinforcements,” she replied at last. “Foxpaw and Wolfpaw, go with him, and stay in the camp.”

“What?” Wolfpaw exclaimed, dismayed. “We want to fight!”

“Yeah, we know some awesome moves,” Foxpaw added.

“Certainly not,” Deerleap meowed. “You’re both too young for battle.” Turning to Yellowpaw and her littermates, she added, “Do you feel ready for your first attack on an enemy?”

Yellowpaw’s belly flipped over. “Yes!” she choked out.

Her littermates’ eyes were wide with shock; they glanced at each other, then nodded.

“Not fair,” Wolfpaw muttered. “We can fight as well as them.”

Deerleap ignored his comment. “We’ll wait for you near the tunnel entrance,” she told Blizzardwing.

The white tom rounded up the younger apprentices and set off back to camp. When they had gone, Deerleap led the way along the line of the tracks until they came in sight of the narrow tunnel that led to WindClan. Yellowpaw could smell the WindClan scent even more strongly here.

“We’ll stop here,” Deerleap announced, halting beside a clump of long, marshy grass. “Settle down so you can’t be seen. And if any WindClan cats come out of the tunnel, don’t even twitch a whisker until I give the word.”

Yellowpaw obeyed, crouching down in the grass between Rowanpaw and Nutpaw. Her claws were extended and her muscles tensed to leap on any trespassers, but no cats had appeared by the time that Yellowpaw picked up a stronger ShadowClan scent and heard an approaching patrol brushing through the grass.

Deerleap rose to meet them, signaling to the apprentices to do the same. Stonetooth, the Clan deputy, was in the lead, with Brackenfoot and Crowtail close behind. Yellowpaw was surprised and a bit disappointed to see that Raggedpaw and Scorchpaw were with their mentors. She’d wanted herself and her littermates to be the only apprentices to face down WindClan this time.

“Where’s Blizzardwing?” Deerleap asked.

“He stayed to help guard the camp,” Stonetooth meowed. “Just in case WindClan thinks it can bring the battle to us.”

Deerleap sniffed. “I’d like to see them try.”

Excitement bubbled up inside Yellowpaw as the patrol prepared to leave. “We’ll make WindClan sorry they ever touched our prey.”

“Calm down,” Raggedpaw mewed. “This is what warriors do.”

“Yeah,” Scorchpaw added. “It’s just part of living in a Clan.”

“It’s your first time in battle too,” Nutpaw snorted, “so don’t pretend you’re not excited.”

Yellowpaw could see that her littermate was right. Scorchpaw was working his claws in the grass, and Raggedpaw’s amber eyes gleamed.

Stonetooth gathered the patrol with a wave of his tail. “I’ll lead,” he announced. “Brackenfoot, you bring up the rear, and keep an eye out for trouble behind.” The pale ginger tom nodded. Turning to the apprentices, Stonetooth went on. “Listen to everything I say. We won’t attack right away. We’ll give WindClan a chance to explain themselves first.”

“Like they’ll be able to explain WindClan scent and pigeon feathers inside our borders,” Deerleap snarled.

The patrol set off in single file. Yellowpaw was close to the rear, just ahead of Raggedpaw and her father. The tunnel under the Thunderpath was narrower than she had realized—much smaller than the one Deerleap had shown her on their first tour of the territory—and dark. Yellowpaw jumped, her heart beginning to pound, at a roaring noise that seemed to fill the whole of it.

“It’s okay,” Brackenfoot meowed from behind her. “It’s only monsters going past on the Thunderpath.”

Forcing herself to relax, Yellowpaw followed the scent of Crowtail, who was walking in front of her.
I wonder what would happen if we met WindClan cats coming the other way
. She tried to work out how she could use her battle moves in such a tight space. Soon she could scent fresh air coming from somewhere ahead. A few heartbeats later Crowtail scrambled upward, showering scraps of earth and debris down on Yellowpaw. Blinking, Yellowpaw followed, and broke out into the open. As Raggedpaw and Brackenfoot emerged after her, she took a huge breath and looked around.

I’m on WindClan territory now!

Yellowpaw felt as if every hair on her pelt was standing on end with the thrill of being across enemy borders. Behind her, monsters roared up and down the Thunderpath. In front, a wide stretch of grass swelled to the horizon in an unbroken sweep. Wind blew from the hilltop toward the ShadowClan cats, ruffling their fur and bringing with it the scents of cats and rabbits.

Stonetooth waved his tail. “This way. Stay together.”

“I’m surprised the WindClan cats can catch anything in these open spaces,” Yellowpaw mewed to Nutpaw as they followed the Clan deputy toward the top of the moor.

“I know,” Nutpaw agreed. “I can hardly hear myself speak, with the wind in my ear fur.”

“Look!” Rowanpaw flicked her tail over Yellowpaw’s shoulder.

Gazing upward, Yellowpaw spotted a scrawny WindClan warrior outlined against the sky. The cat stood motionless for a heartbeat, then turned tail and vanished down the other side of the hill.

“Gone to warn his Clanmates,” Nutpaw muttered.

“I still can’t believe how skinny they are!” Yellowpaw mewed. “And their smell is weird, like rabbits and windblown grass.”

She remembered the first time she had seen WindClan cats, at her first Gathering almost a moon ago, but the memory was blurred.
There were so many cats … so much noise
… She had looked forward to her first Gathering for as long as she could remember, but it had been overwhelming, busy and full of chatter and conflicting scents. Yellowpaw had felt too timid to go and talk to any cats from the rival Clans, instead staying among the ShadowClan apprentices. Afterward she had felt stupid and embarrassed for being so shy, but Deerleap told her lots of apprentices felt that way, and sometimes even senior warriors. The next Gathering would be easier, she promised.

Now Yellowpaw felt strong and confident as she strode out across the moor.
I’m part of a ShadowClan patrol. I’m going to fight for my Clan!

When the ShadowClan cats reached the brow of the hill, they spotted a patrol of WindClan cats heading across the moor toward them. Stonetooth halted, signaling with his tail for the rest to do the same. “We’ll let them come to us,” he meowed.

Leading the WindClan patrol was a light brown tabby tom. Yellowpaw remembered Deerleap pointing him out to her at the Gathering; he was Reedfeather, the WindClan deputy. Stonetooth stepped forward to face Reedfeather as the WindClan cats approached.

“What are you doing on our territory?” Reedfeather demanded.

“Don’t you know?” Stonetooth challenged. “We found pigeon feathers on our side of the Thunderpath, with WindClan scent and paw marks. You’ve been stealing our prey!”

“We’ve done nothing of the sort,” Reedfeather retorted. “We chased that pigeon from our own territory, and that makes it WindClan prey.”

“That’s not true, and you know it,” Stonetooth growled, sliding out his claws.

Reedfeather tensed his muscles, his neck fur bristling. Yellowpaw could smell his fear. The WindClan patrol was smaller, and the cats looked too weak and skinny to fight well. For a moment Yellowpaw felt a pang of sympathy.
These cats look as if they haven’t had a good meal in moons. Maybe they deserved that pigeon
. Then she gave herself a shake.
That’s mouse-brained! I’m a ShadowClan warrior—or I will be soon—and these are my enemies!

“You need to leave,” Reedfeather hissed. “You’re not welcome on our territory.”

“We’re not going anywhere until you’ve been taught a lesson,” Stonetooth responded.

Yellowpaw saw Reedfeather’s gaze flicker. “All right,” he mewed wearily. “You’ve made your point. We’ll stay on our own side of the border from now on.”

Stonetooth didn’t reply with words. Instead, he leaped onto the WindClan deputy, bearing him to the ground. A heartbeat later, fighting exploded all around Yellowpaw. For a moment she stood frozen; the whole world seemed to be filled with screeching, clawing cats, and she didn’t know which paw to use first.

Then she pulled herself together and lunged at a WindClan cat who was on top of Nutpaw, pummeling him with strong paws. The WindClan cat lashed out at her with a wild blow that only riffled her whiskers, then scrambled away.