"Well, Rowanclaw," Rushstar meows, "why don't you explain to us what Brokenheart's third and final task is?"
"Down that tunnel," Rowanclaw begins, waving his tail at a yawning gap that opens up among the pine roots, "there are a couple of rats nesting. Brokenheart must go down there and fight them off. Then he must catch three pieces of prey. And lastly, he must climb this tree and collect one egg from that pigeon's nest up there. If he can do all that, and bring the egg back unbroken, then he can be a Shadowclan cat."
Maplefall stares at her father, shocked, while gasps come from the rest of the assembled cats. Even for Rowanclaw, that is such a difficult task, with so many different parts. She knows her father wanted Gorse to fail, and now he had made it almost inevitable that he would.
"That's really three tasks, isn't it?" Rushstar asks, with a doubtful look at Rowanclaw.
Maplefall feels a sudden hope that her clan leader might insist on changing the challenge, or dropping one of the sections. But the hope dies almost at once as Rowanclaw responds.
"It's similar to Aphidroot's second task," he mews, with a dismissive wave of his tail.
"It feels awfully difficult, though," some cat objects from the crowd.
"Difficult is the point," Rowanclaw insists. "This is Brokenheart's last task before joining Shadowclan. How many more times do I have to say that it shouldn't be easy! He has to earn his place among us. Shadowclan cats are strong, and swift hunters, and good, agile climbers. If Brokenheart is meant to be one of us, he can do it."
I can't wait! Maplefall thinks, glancing at the golden tabby tom, surprised at how very important Gorse has become to her over such a short time.
"Okay, get ready," Rowanclaw meows to Gorse.
Turning to the crowd of watching cats, he adds, "For this first part, no cat must help him, even if he struggles with the rats. If you do"—he lets a hard gaze rest on Maplefall— "he will fail the task."
Maplefall returns her father's glare. The warning means nothing to her. If Gorse is in serious danger, she would jump in to help him, no matter the cost.
Gorse plunges into the gap among the pine roots, letting out a furious screech, as if he is daring the rats to come and fight him. The sound is followed by faint scrabbling and chittering, and after a few heartbeats a shriek of pain, abruptly cuts off.
Maplefall draws in a sharp breath. Was that a rat, or was it Gorse?
A moment later the golden tabby and white tom reappears, scrabbling backward into the open. He holds the limp body of a rat in his jaws and tosses it aside at Rowanclaw's paws.
Soon he is dragging the second rat out with him, its fangs fastened just behind his twists and struggles in an attempt to throw the rat off, but it still clings to him, raking its claws across his chest and shoulder. He lets out gasps of pain; blood is trickling from several wounds.
Gorse keeps swiping at the rat, but its position makes it hard for him to get full force behind his blows.
Finally, when Maplefall is already bracing herself to intervene, Gorse lets himself go limp and thumps down on top of the rat. Now that it is pinned beneath him, he slashes at its eyes; with a wail of pain the rat lets go and struggles out from underneath Gorse. He staggers to his paws, gasping for breath, and watches the creature as it limps off into the trees.
"Do I need to kill it?" he asks.
Rushstar replies before Rowanclaw has a chance to. "No, that looks like defeat to me."
Despair threatens to overwhelm Maplefall as she gazes at Gorse's pelt, glistening with blood. She wonders whether Rowanclaw had put the most dangerous part of the challenge first, so that Gorse would be weakened for the two remaining tasks. I wouldn't put it past him. . . .
"Okay, then, three pieces of prey." Gorse gives a nod, breathing heavily, then points with his tail at the dead rat.
Maplefall thinks he is deliberately trying to sound confident. "Can I count that one?"
Several mrrows of laughter came from the crowd of cats, though Maplefall's belly cramps; Rowanclaw wouldn't tolerate Gorse being disrespectful.
"Three more pieces of prey." Rowanclaw's voice is icy. "All different."
That wasn't what he said at first, Maplefall thinks. Oh, Gorse, don't annoy him any more. Do you want him to fail you?
"Okay, you got it." Gorse waves his tail and prowls off, deeper into the trees.
Maplefall feels as if several seasons passed before Gorse returns, dragging a squirrel. He lies it beside the rat, then disappears again to return almost immediately with a sparrow. When Gorse leaves for the third time, he bounds off in the direction of the lake.
Rowanclaw is shifting his paws impatiently, and Maplefall wonders how long her father would wait before he declared that Gorse had failed this part of the task.
But not many heartbeats slip by before Gorse returns. This time his prey is a frog.
"Will that do?" he asks as he drops it beside the rest of his catch.
He passes his tongue several times over his jaws, as if he is trying to get rid of an unpleasant taste; Maplefall had yet to persuade him to enjoy frogs.
Rowanclaw looks as if he had accidentally swallowed crow-food.
"It will," he meows.
Gorse dips his head and turns to the pine tree, gazing up into the branches at the pigeon's nest. It is lodged many fox-lengths above the ground, precariously balanced on a flimsy branch that would never bear a cat's weight. I'd bet a month of dawn patrols that's exactly why Rowanclaw chose it.
But Maplefall knows that Gorse had experienced this before, when she'd shown him the territory. He would find a stronger branch just above or below, and approach from there, as he had when they'd collected honey from the abandoned bees' nest.
Now Maplefall's nervousness changes to excitement. Her heart is thumping so hard that she thinks the whole clan must be able to hear it. Gorse has almost finished his tasks. He is almost a Shadowclan warrior.
For an instant Gorse's gaze met hers, and Maplefall can see the love for her glowing there. She feels warm from nose to tail-tip, thinking about the life they would have as soon as he finishes. We're finally going to be mates, and live together in Shadowclan forever!