ALDERPAW

By the following morning, a thin drizzle soaked the snowy treetops and dripped down into the camp.

Alderpaw woke up feeling damp. It had been an uncomfortable night.
He stood up and shook himself vigorously, fluffing out his fur.
Then he left the apprentices's den and trotted across the snowy clearing to Leafeye's nest.

Leafeye was just stirring. She lifted her head and squinted at Alderpaw as he approached. "My bones ache this morning. Has it been raining all night?"
"Since just after moonhigh," Alderpaw replied.

He reached out and prodded her mossy nest cautiously. "Your bedding is soaking wet. Why don't you move nearer to the nursery? It's more sheltered there."
"What? And be kept awake all night by those mewling kits! I'd rather get wet!" Leafeye growled.
Alderpaw watched her circle stiffly on her mossy bed. "Then at least let me fetch you some dry bedding," he offered, keen to drop the subject of kits if it upset the old she-cat so much.

"Thank you, Alderpaw," replied Leafeye quietly, settling down again.
Alderpaw felt stunned. He wondered if Leafeye was feeling all right. It was the first time she had thanked him for anything, and the first time she had not called him kittypet.
"Well, don't just stand there like a startled squirrel; go and fetch some moss!" she snapped.
Alderpaw's whiskers twitched with amusement. This was more like the Leafeye he was used to.
He nodded and sprinted off.

He almost crashed into Dawnstripe in the middle of the snowy clearing.
"Sorry, Dawnstripe," Alderpaw mewed. "Are you on your way to see Leafeye?"
"What would I want with that cat?" replied Dawnstripe crossly. "Actually it's you I was looking for. Poolstar wants to see you."
Alderpaw hurried towards the Highrock and Poolstar's den.

Poolstar was sitting outside, her head bobbing rhythmically as she licked the white fur below her throat. She paused when she noticed Alderpaw. "How is Leafeye today?" she meowed.
"Her bedding is wet, so I was going to fetch her more," Alderpaw replied.
"I'll ask one of the queens to see to that." Poolstar gave her chest another lick, and eyed Alderpaw carefully. "Is she fit enough to hunt for herself yet?" she asked.
"I don't think so," Alderpaw meowed, "but she can walk well enough now."

"I see," meowed Poolstar. She looked thoughtful for a moment. "It's time for you to return to your training, Alderpaw. But you'll need to work hard to make up for time you have lost."
"Great! I mean, thank you, Poolstar!" Alderpaw stammered.
"You will go out with Shadowfoot, Shinepaw and Icepaw this morning," Poolstar continued. "I've asked Shadowfoot to assess the warrior skills of all our apprentices. Don't worry about Leafeye; I'll make sure someone sees to her while you are gone."
Alderpaw nodded.
"Now, join your companions," Poolstar ordered. "I expect they're waiting for you."
"Thank you, Poolstar," Alderpaw mewed.
He turned with a flick of his tail and darted toward his den.

Poolstar was right; Shinepaw and Icepaw were both waiting for him by the cold hollow.
Shinepaw looked stiff.
Icepaw glanced around nervously.

Shinepaw smiled at Alderpaw as he approached.
Alderpaw was glad to be back. "Poolstar told me my punishment is finished and I can get back to warrior training."
"Good for you! Now you don't have to deal with a grumpy old cat!" She meowed.
"She's not THAT grumpy once you get to know her," he replied.

By the time Shadowfoot arrived, the sky had changed. The clouds looked less like thick gray fur, and more like soft white balls of down.
Blue skies couldn't be far behind, but the breeze that brought the softer clouds carried a fresh chill.

Shadowfoot dipped his head briskly and launched straight into the excersise details. "Thornwing and I have spent the last few weeks trying to teach you how to hunt decently," he meowed. "Today you'll have a chance to show me how much you have learned. Each of you will take a different route and hunt as much prey as possible. And whatever you catch will be added to the fresh-kill pile in camp."
"Icepaw, you will follow the trail beyond the Great Sycanmore as far as the Snakerocks." Shadowfoot continued. "You, Shinepaw, will take the route along the stream, as far as the Thunderpath."

"And finally you, Alderpaw. What a shame your great mentor couldn't be here today to witness your performance for himself. You shall take the route through the Tallpines, pass the Treecut place, to the woods beyond."
Alderpaw nodded, frantically tracing the route in his head.
"And remember," Shadowfoot finished, fixing them all with his amber-eyed stare. "I will be watching all of you."

Icepaw was the first to sprint away toward the Snakerocks.
Shadowfoot took a different track into the snowy woods.
Shinepaw raced off toward the stream.

Alderpaw paused to sniff the air, then bounded up the side of the hollow and began to head for Tallpines.

It felt strange to be going in this direction, toward the Twoleg place he had been raised in.
Cautiously Alderpaw crossed the route into the snowy forest.
He looked through the straight row of snow-filled trees, across the soft, freezing snow, alert for the sight and scent of prey.

A movement caught his eye.
It was a mouse, scrabbling through the snow.
Remembering his first lesson, Alderpaw dropped into the stalking position, keeping his weight into his haunches, his paws light on the snow.
The technique worked perfectly.
The mouse didn't detect Alderpaw until his final leap.
He caught it with one paw and killed it swiftly.
Then he buried it, so that he could pick it up on his return journey.

Alderpaw hurried onward through the snowy trees.
He moved onward until he found a puddle and lapped up a few mouthfuls of the fresh water.

Alderpaw's fur began to prickle with some extra awareness.
He recognized sounds and scents familiar from his old watching place on the fence post, and knew instantly where he was.
These were the snowy woods that bordered the Twolegplace.
He must be very close to his old home now.

Ahead Alderpaw could smell Twolegs and hear their voices, loud and raucous like crows.
It was a group of young Twolegs, playing in the woods.
Alderpaw crouched and peered ahead through the frozen ferns.
The sounds were distant enough to be safe.
He changed direction, skirting the noises, making sure he was not seen.

Alderpaw stayed alert and watchful, but not just for Twolegs—Shadowfoot might be somewhere nearby.
He thought he heard a twig snap in the snow-filled bushes behind him.
He sniffed the air, but smelled nothing new.
Was he being watched now? he wondered.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alderpaw sensed movement.
At first he thought it was Shadowfoot's white fur, but then he saw a flash of black.
He stopped, crouched, and inhaled deeply.
The smell was unfamiliar, it was a cat, but not a IceClan cat.
Alderpaw felt his fur bristle with the instincts of a Clan warrior.
He would have to chase the intruder out of IceClan territory!

Alderpaw watched the cat moving through the frozen undergrowth.
He could see its outline clearly as it skittered between the frozen ferns.
Alderpaw waited for it to wander nearer.
He crouched lower, his tail waving back and forth in slow rhythm.
As the black cat neared, Alderpaw rocked his haunches from side to side as he prepared to spring.
One more heartbeat, then he leaped.

The black cat jumped into the air, terrified, and raced away through the snowy trees.
Alderpaw gave chase.

It's a kittypet! he thought as he raced through the frozen undergrowth, smelling it's fear-scent.
He was closing in rapidly on the fleeing cat.
It had slowed its headlong rush, preparing to scramble up the wide, snow-fallen trunk of a fallen tree.
With the blood roaring in his ears, Alderpaw leaped onto its back with a single bound.

Alderpaw could feel the cat struggling beneath him as he gripped on with all his claws.
It let out a desperate and terrified yowl.

Alderpaw released his grip and backed away.
The black cat cringed at the foot of the fallen tree, trembling, and looked up at him.

This soft cat, with its round eyes and narrow face, looked very different from the lean, broad-headed cats Alderpaw lived with now.
And yet something about this cat seemed familiar.
Alderpaw stared harder.
He sniffed, drawing in the other cat's scent.
I don't recognize the smell, he thought, searching his memory.
Then it came to him.
"Vince!" he mewed out loud.

"H-ho-how d-d-do you know my n-name?" stammered Vince, still crouching.
"It's me!" Alderpaw meowed.
The house cat looked confused.
"We were kittens together. I lived in the garden next to you!" Alderpaw insisted.
"Alder?" mewed Vince in disbelief. "Is that you? Did you find the wildcats again? Or are you living with new housefolk? You must be, if you're still alive!"

"I'm called Alderpaw now," Alderpaw meowed. He relaxed his shoulders and let his fur fall flat.
Vince relaxed too. His ears pricked up. "Alderpaw?" he echoed, amused. "Well, Alderpaw, it looks like your new housefolk don't feed you enough! You certainly weren't this scrawny last time we met!"

"I don't need Twolegs to feed me," Alderpaw replied. "I've got a whole forest of food to eat."
"Twolegs?"
"Housefolk. That's what the Clans call them."

Vince looked bewildered for a second; then his expression changed to one of complete astonishment. "You mean you're really living with the wildcats?"

"Yes!" Alderpaw paused. "You know, you smell... different. Unfamiliar."
"Unfamiliar?" Vince echoed.
He sniffed. "I suppose you're used to the smell of those wildcats now."

Alderpaw shook his head, as if to clear his mind. "But we were kittens together. I should know your smell like I'd know the smell of my birth mother."

Then Alderpaw remembered.
Vince had passed six moons.
No wonder he looked so soft and smelled so strange. "You've been to the Cutter!" he gasped. "I mean, the vet!"
Vince shrugged his shoulders. "So?" he mewed.
Alderpaw was speechless. So Poolstar was right.

"Come on, then! What's it like, living wild?" Vince demanded. "Is it as good as you thought it'd be?"

Alderpaw thought for a moment: about last night, sleeping in a damp den.
He thought about mouse bile and clearing away Leafeye's dirt, and trying to please both Thornwing and Shadowfoot at once during training.
He remembered the teasing he suffered about his kittypet blood.
Then he remembered the thrill of his first catch, of charging through the snowy forest in pursuit of a squirrel, and of cold evenings beneath the stars sharing tongues with his friends.
"I know who I am now," he meowed simply.

Vince tipped his head to one side and stared at Alderpaw, clearly confused. "I should be getting home," he mewed. "Mealtime soon."

"Go carefully, Vince." Alderpaw leaned and gave his old friend an affectionate lick between the ears. Vince nuzzled him
in return. "And stay alert. There may be another cat in the area who is not as fond of kittypets—I mean, house cats—as I am."
Vince's ears flicked nervously at these words.
He looked around cautiously and leaped onto the trunk of the fallen tree.

"Goodbye, Alder," he mewed. "I'll tell everyone at home that you're okay!"
"Bye, Vince," meowed Alderpaw. "Enjoy your meal!"

He watched the tip of Vince's tail disappear over the edges of the snowy tree.
In the distance he could hear the rattle of dried food being shaken, and a Twoleg voice calling.

Alderpaw turned, his tail high, and started back toward his own home, sniffing the air as he went.
I'll find a finch or two here, he decided. Then I'll catch something else on the way back through the snowy trees.
He felt bursting with energy after meeting Vince and realizing just how lucky he was to live in the Clan.

He looked up at the snow-filled branches above him and began to stalk silently across the snowy floor, every sense alert.

Now he just needed to impress Poolstar and Shadowfoot, and the day would be perfect.