The Fourth Apprentice Spoilers!

As many of you know, Omen of the Stars #1, The Fourth Apprentice was released on the 24th of November. This book revealed to us the identity and ability of the final Prophecy cat.

Warning, Spoilers for The Fourth Apprentice!

"After the sharp-eyed jay and the roaring lion, peace will come on dove's gentle wing." Is the prophecy that Yellowfang sends to the last remaining cat of the prophecy. As many of you know, that cat is Dovepaw. Daughter of Whitewing and Birchfall, sibling to Ivypaw.

Dovekit and Ivykit become apprentices early in the book. Dovepaw's mentor being Lionblaze, and Ivypaw's being Cinderheart.

The book is set during a terrible drought that has plagued the cats of the Clans. The lake has dried up, becoming little more then a puddle that cats must soak moss in to bring water back to their Clan. Of all the Clans, RiverClan is doing the worst. Their main source of food, the fish, have died due to the drought. RiverClan is starving. 

At a Gathering, Leopardstar announces that RiverClan is laying claim to what remains of the lake, stating that prey is hard to come by for them. Leopardstar later sends out patrols to guard the little remaining water. No cat may fish, but the patrols grudgingly allow cats to bring back water for queens, kits and elders. When Rainstorm, a RiverClan tom, becomes stuck in the mud when confronting a ThunderClan patrol, the ThunderClan cats save him and take him to their camp for him to rest. A ThunderClan patrol is then selected to return Rainstorm home after he has rested. Without entering the camp, Dovepaw detects the presence of a severely sick cat in the camp.  She asks Lionblaze about this, to which he stares at her. The golden tom begins to have suspicions about Dovepaw being The One. His suspicions are confirmed when Dovepaw identifies the source of the drought - large brown animals (beavers) who are blocking one of the lake's main streams.

Her ability is super-enhanced scenes. She can smell, hear, feel and see things better then any other cat. This allows her to detect the presence of the beavers, who where a two day trek upstream from the Clans.

Lionblaze and Jayfeather then inform Dovepaw of the prophecy. Dovepaw is horrified, thinking her abilities are natural and that every-cat is like her. 

Lionblaze tells Firestar that the river could be blocked, thus keeping water from flowing into the lake. He does not tell Firestar of Dovepaw's abilities, however. Firestar agreed to the possibility and proposed an idea to the Clans at the next Gathering: Each Clan could send two members to down the dried up streambed to see if there was a blockage and to remove the possible blockage. Onestar and Blackstar hastily agree. Leopardstar was convinced it was a conspiracy to rid RiverClan of two strong warriors so the other Clans could swarm in and steal RiverClan's fish. Mistyfoot steps up and changes Leopardstar's answer to a yes. 

Two sunrises later, Lionblaze and Dovepaw of ThunderClan, Rippletail and Petalfur of RiverClan, Tigerheart and Toadfoot of ShadowClan, and Whitetail and Sedgewhisker of WindClan are selected to go. They head off on their journey to locate the blockage. After stumbling across three kittypets, Jigsaw, Seville and Snowdrop, the journeying Clan cats manage to locate the blockage... a huge dam built by the "big brown animals" (beavers) that Dovepaw detected. They come across a loner, Woody who warns them to stay away from the beavers. Without heeding his warning, the Clan cats attack the dam in an attempt to dismantle it to let the water through.

They are attacked by angry beavers who wound Rippletail fatally. The cats retreat and Rippletail dies hours later. The journeying cats come to a conclusion that they cannot destroy the dam by themselves. Lionblaze and Dovepaw seek out help from the three kittypets they encountered before, Jigsaw, Seville and Snowdrop. The three agree to help the Clan cats. Whitetail, Sedgewhisker and Woody create a distraction and white the remaining cats work on destroying the dam. Petalfur came up with the idea to destroy the dam by moving a log from the bottom of the structure. Together, the kittypets and Clan cats manage to shift the log. The dam fell to pieces and a massive wave swept the Clan cats away. Dovepaw saved Tigerheart from drowning before the group found dry land once more. While minor injuries where received, everyone was still alive. The cats returned to their territories, their mission accomplished. The stream was freed and water had slowly begun to fill the lake. 

Meanwhile, Jayfeather had problems of his own. Towards the end of the book, Poppyfrost, who was heavy with Berrynose's kits, snuck away to Moonpool in hopes of contacting Honeyfern. Poppyfrost had become depressed, thinking Berrynose still loved Honeyfern. Jayfeather tracked her down, but Breezepelt appeared and attacked the both of them. Another unknown non-Clan tom joins the fight, aiding Breezepelt. Honeyfern eventually entered the fight as well, and with her help Jayfeather was able to beat the unknown tom and Breezepelt. Honeyfern gives Jayfeather a message for Poppyfrost: Berrynose loved her and Honeyfern would watch over the two of them and their kits. Honeyfern also mentions a war approaching, one between StarClan and the Dark Forest. 

Later Poppyfrost gives birth to two kits, a tom and a she-cat. Jayfeather and Lionblaze see Tigerstar, Hawkfrost and Brokentail. (who was the unknown tom that aided Breezepelt in attacking Jayfeather.) The three Dark Forest cats where hungrily looking at Poppyfrost's kits. Heartbeats later they are gone.

Lionblaze then confesses to Jayfeather that Tigerstar once walked in his dreams. Jayfeather revealed to his brother about the war Honeyfern spoke of and the book is brought to a close.

I loved that book! It was worth the wait! Theories will be posted soon! What did you think of The Fourth Apprentice?

-Sorrelpaw