Ravenpaw's Farewell (11 page)

“What did she do?” Alderpaw asked, intrigued to think of his serious, businesslike mother as a difficult young apprentice. “Go on, tell us!”

Sandstorm sighed. “What
didn't
she do? Slipping out of camp to hunt on her own . . . getting stuck in bushes or falling into streams . . . I remember Dustpelt said to me once, ‘If that kit of yours doesn't shape up, I'm going to claw her pelt off and hang it on a bush to frighten the foxes!'”

Sparkpaw stared at Sandstorm with her mouth gaping. “He wouldn't!”

“No, of course he wouldn't,” Sandstorm responded, her green eyes alight with amusement. “But Dustpelt had to be tough with her. He saw how much she had to offer her Clan, but he knew she wouldn't live up to her potential unless she learned discipline.”

“She sure did that,” Alderpaw meowed.

“Hey!” Graystripe gave Alderpaw another prod. “What about my ticks, huh?”

“And ours,” Millie put in, with a glance at Sandstorm. “We've been waiting
moons
!”

“Sorry . . .”

Alderpaw began rapidly searching through Graystripe's fur, and almost at once came across a huge swollen tick.
That
must be making Graystripe really uncomfortable.

Picking up his stick with the bile-soaked moss, he dabbed at the tick. At the same moment, he happened to glance up, and spotted Leafpool and Jayfeather talking intently to each other just outside the medicine cats' den.

As Alderpaw wondered vaguely what was so important, both medicine cats turned toward him. Suddenly he felt trapped by Jayfeather's blind gaze and Leafpool's searching one.

A worm of uneasiness began to gnaw at Alderpaw's belly.
Great StarClan! Are they talking about
me
? Have I messed something up already?

ERIN HUNTER
is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich, mythical explanations for animal behavior. She is also the author of the bestselling Survivors and Seekers series.

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