CHAPTER 5
The sun was going down, castinglong shadows across the clearing, by the time Fireheart went to look for Cinderpelt. He found the medicine cat in her den1, checking her supplies of healing herbs, and sat just outside the entrance to talk to her.
“Speckletail’s kit2?” she meowed when Fireheart had told her about Brackenfur’s suspicions. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully. “Yes, I can see what he means. I’ll take a look.”
“You’ll have to be careful of Speckletail,” Fireheart warned her. “When I suggested she might let you check Snowkit, she practically bit my nose off.”
“I’m not surprised,” remarked Cinderpelt. “No queen wants to believe her kits4 aren’t perfect. I’ll deal with it, Fireheart; don’t worry. But not right away,” she added, patting her store of juniper berries into a neater pile. “It’s too late to disturb them tonight, and tomorrow I have to go to Highstones.”
“So soon?” Fireheart was surprised; he hadn’t realized how quickly the days were slipping by.
“Tomorrow night is the new moon. All the other medicine cats will be there too. StarClan will give me my full powers.” Cinderpelt hesitated and then added, “Yellowfang should have come with me, to present me to StarClan as a fully3 trained medicine cat. Now I’ll have to go through the ceremony without her.” Her eyes grew wide and remote as she spoke6. Fireheart felt that she was moving far away from him, into a land of shadows and dreams where he could not follow her
“You’ll need to take a warrior7 with you,” he meowed. “Last time Bluestar tried to go to Highstones, WindClan wouldn’t let her pass through their territory.”
Cinderpelt looked at him calmly. “I’d like to see the patrol that would dare to stop a medicine cat. StarClan would never forgive that.” Her expression changed and her eyes glinted mischievously8. “You can come as far as Fourtrees if you like. Assuming you can spare the time from Sandstorm.”
Fireheart felt uncomfortable. “I don’t know what you mean,” he muttered. But he remembered leaving to go and eat with Sandstorm while Cinderpelt was telling him about her dream, and he guessed that the medicine cat had felt unfairly dismissed. “Sandstorm can lead the dawn patrol without me,” he mewed out loud. “I’ll come with you to Fourtrees.”
The next day dawned damp and misty9. Tendrils of fog curled between the trees as Fireheart and Cinderpelt made their way to Fourtrees. The clinging white clouds dampened the sound of their pawsteps and beaded their fur with tiny droplets10. In the silence Fireheart jumped at the sudden alarm call of a bird above his head. He felt half-afraid that theymight lose their way in this eerily11 unfamiliar-looking forest
But by the time they crossed the stream and began to climb the slope to Fourtrees, the mist had begun to clear, and at the top of the hollow they emerged into bright sunlight. The four massive oaks stood straight ahead of them, their leaves turning red-gold with the approach of leaf-fall.
Cinderpelt let out a noisy breath and shook the moisture from her fur. “That feels good! I was starting to think I’d have to scent12 my way to Highstones, and I’ve only been there once before, with Yellowfang.”
Fireheart too enjoyed the feeling of warm sun on his fur. He stretched luxuriously13 and opened his jaws14 to taste the air, hoping to pick up the scent of prey15.
Instead, the scent of other cats flooded over him. ShadowClan!he thought, his muscles tensing as his gaze flicked16 from side to side. A moment later he relaxed as he spotted18 Runningnose, the ShadowClan medicine cat, padding up to the hollow from ShadowClan territory with another cat beside him. This was no hostile warrior. StarClan raised medicine cats above the level of Clan5 rivalry19.
“It looks as if you won’t have to travel alone after all,” he meowed to Cinderpelt.
They waited until the ShadowClan cats came up to them. As they drew nearer, Fireheart recognized the other cat. It was Littlecloud, a small tabby tom who had almost died in his Clan’s recent sickness. He and another warrior, Whitethroat, had tried to seek refuge with ThunderClan. Bluestar had refused to take them in, but Cinderpelt had secretly sheltered them and cared for them until they were fit enough to travel back to their own territory.
Whitethroat had died soon after, when Tigerstar and his rogues20 had attacked a ThunderClan patrol. A monster had cut the young cat down on the Thunderpath as he was fleeing from the fight. Reliving the shock of that moment, Fireheart was glad to see that Littlecloud at least looked strong and healthy again.
“Hello, there!” Runningnose greeted the ThunderClan cats cheerfully. “Well met, Cinderpelt. It’s a good day to travel.”
Littlecloud nodded respectfully to Fireheart and went to touch noses with Cinderpelt.
“It’s good to see you on your paws again,” she meowed.
“All thanks to you,” Littlecloud replied. With a touch of pride he added, “I’m Runningnose’s apprentice21 now.”
“Congratulations!” Cinderpelt purred.
“And that’s because of you too,” Littlecloud went on enthusiastically. “When we were ill, you knew just what to do. And then you gave us healing herbs to take back to the Clan—and they worked! I want to do more stuff like that.”
“He has real talent,” Runningnose mewed. “And it took courage to come back to us with the herbs. I’m only sorry Whitethroat didn’t come back with him.”
“He didn’t?” Fireheart asked, seizing the chance to find out how much the ShadowClan cats knew about the young warrior’s fate.
Sadly, Littlecloud shook his head. “He wouldn’t come back with me to camp. He was scared of catching22 the sickness again, even though we had the healing herbs with us.” He blinked as if the memory caused him pain. “We found his body beside the Thunderpath a few days later.”
“I’m sorry,” Fireheart meowed. He wondered whether to tell him the truth about how Whitethroat had died, but decided23 it would be too harmful to reveal that Littlecloud’s new leader had been partly responsible for his friend’s death. It was clear that Whitethroat must have joined the rogues for a short time, and paid with his life.
Cinderpelt pressed her muzzle24 comfortingly against Littlecloud’s flank. Settling down on the warm grass, she beckoned25 with her tail for the apprentice to sit beside her and began to ask him about his training.
“Are things better now?” Fireheart carefully asked Runningnose. He would have liked to warn the medicine cat about Tigerstar, but there was so little he could say without revealing what had happened in ThunderClan.
“It seems so,” meowed Runningnose, sounding equally guarded. “The apprentices26 are getting a proper training for the first time in moons, and our bellies27 are always full.”
“That’s good news,” Fireheart mewed, forcing himself to add, “What about the rogues?”
Runningnose frowned. “Not every cat was happy about their coming into our Clan,” he admitted. “I wasn’t happy about them myself. But they haven’t caused any trouble—and they’re strong warriors28; no cat can deny that.”
The medicine cat met his gaze evenly. “It seems strange that ThunderClan got rid of a strong cat like that.”
Fireheart took a deep breath. Perhaps he should take this chance to tell Runningnose the truth about Tigerstar. “It’s a long story,” he began.
“No, Fireheart,” Runningnose interrupted. “I’m not asking you to betray your Clan’s secrets.” He edged closer to Fireheart, then scraped the ground with his paws and crouched29 down beside him. “Whatever happened in ThunderClan, I’m certain of one thing,” he mewed softly. “StarClan did send Tigerstar to us.”
“You mean the omen?”
“Actually, there’s something else.” Runningnose glanced sideways at Fireheart. “Our last leader was never accepted by StarClan,” he admitted. “When Nightstar became leader, StarClan did not grant him nine lives.”
“What?” Fireheart stared at the medicine cat in disbelief. If Nightstar had had only one life, it explained why the sickness had claimed him so quickly. Fireheart found his voice again. “Why didn’t he get nine lives?”
“StarClan have not explained that to me,” meowed Runningnose. “I wondered if it was because Brokentail was still alive, and StarClan still recognized him as Clan leader. By the time we learned that Brokentail had died, Nightstar was too weak to make the journey to the Moonstone to receive his nine lives. And since Tigerstar came, I think maybe he was StarClan’s choice of leader for us all along. Nightstar was not the right cat.”
“Yet the Clan still accepted him as leader?” Fireheart asked.
“The Clan never knew that he had not been given his nine lives,” Runningnose confessed. “Nightstar was a noble cat, and loyal to his Clan. We decided to keep StarClan’s rejection30 a secret. What else could we do? There was no other cat fit to be leader. If we had told the truth, the Clan would have panicked.”
There was a kind of relief in Runningnose’s voice as he told the story. Fireheart guessed how relieved the medicine cat must have felt to be able to share the secret at last.
“The Clan cats thought the sickness was so bad it took all of Nightstar’s lives at once,” Runningnose continued. “They were scared—very scared. They had never been in greater need of a strong leader.”
So they accepted Tigerstar without question.Fireheart added what the medicine cat had not said. But there was no need for Runningnose to voice his doubts about his new leader. “Has Tigerstar said anything about attacking ThunderClan?” Fireheart asked hesitantly.
Runningnose let out a purr of amusement. “Do you really expect me to answer that? If he wasplanning anything, I’d be betraying my Clan if I told you. As far as I know, you haven’t anything to worry about, but whether you believe me or not is up to you.”
Fireheart discovered that he believed him—at least, he believed that Runningnose knew nothing about any plans that Tigerstar might be making. Whether the medicine cat was right was another question altogether.
“Fireheart!” The voice was Cinderpelt’s. She had risen to her paws and was gazing across the hollow to the swell31 of moorland beyond. This was the WindClan territory that the medicine cats would have to cross to reach Highstones for the ceremony. “Are you and Runningnose going to sit there gossiping all day like a couple of elders?”
Her paws worked impatiently in the grass. Littlecloud was standing33 beside her, his head raised and his eyes shining eagerly.
“All right,” Runningnose meowed, getting up and going to join them. “We’ve got all day, you know. Highstones isn’t going anywhere.”
The four cats padded around the top of the hollow until they reached the edge of the windswept moor32. Cinderpelt paused and touched noses with Fireheart. “I’ll be fine from here,” she meowed. “Thanks for coming this far. I’ll be back tomorrow night.”
“Take care,” Fireheart replied.
He had stood here once before and said good-bye to Cinderpelt when she first went to face the mysteries of the Moonstone. A shiver ran through his fur as he thought of her plunging34 down through the underground tunnels to the glittering crystal for her silent communion with StarClan. He said nothing more, only gave the gray she-cat’s ear a swift lick in farewell, and stood watching as she limped across the moorland turf with the two ShadowClan cats.
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den
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| n.兽穴；秘密地方；安静的小房间，私室 | |
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kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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fully
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| adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地 | |
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kits
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| 衣物和装备( kit的名词复数 )； 成套用品； 配套元件 | |
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clan
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| n.氏族，部落，宗族，家族，宗派 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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warrior
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| n.勇士，武士，斗士 | |
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mischievously
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| adv.有害地；淘气地 | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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droplets
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| n.小滴( droplet的名词复数 ) | |
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eerily
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| adv.引起神秘感或害怕地 | |
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scent
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| n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉 | |
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luxuriously
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| adv.奢侈地，豪华地 | |
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jaws
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| n.口部；嘴 | |
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prey
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| n.被掠食者，牺牲者，掠食；v.捕食，掠夺，折磨 | |
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flicked
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| （尤指用手指或手快速地）轻击( flick的过去式和过去分词 )； （用…）轻挥； （快速地）按开关； 向…笑了一下（或瞥了一眼等） | |
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omen
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| n.征兆，预兆；vt.预示 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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rivalry
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| n.竞争，竞赛，对抗 | |
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rogues
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| n.流氓( rogue的名词复数 )；无赖；调皮捣蛋的人；离群的野兽 | |
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apprentice
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| n.学徒，徒弟 | |
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catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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muzzle
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| n.鼻口部；口套；枪(炮)口；vt.使缄默 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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apprentices
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| 学徒，徒弟( apprentice的名词复数 ) | |
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bellies
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| n.肚子( belly的名词复数 )；腹部；（物体的）圆形或凸起部份；腹部…形的 | |
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warriors
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| 武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 ) | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rejection
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| n.拒绝，被拒，抛弃，被弃 | |
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swell
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| vi.膨胀，肿胀；增长，增强 | |
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moor
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| n.荒野，沼泽；vt.(使)停泊；vi.停泊 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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plunging
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| adj.跳进的，突进的v.颠簸( plunge的现在分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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