Sunset

by Erin Hunter

  “Come out, Leafpool,” she meowed. “We have been waiting for you.”

  Leafpool padded out of the ferns to stand in front of the blue-grey she-cat.

  “You took your time,” one of the other StarClan cats rasped; it was Yellowfang, a former ThunderClan medicine cat who had been Cinderpelt’s mentor. Her yellow eyes were narrowed in her broad, pale grey face, and she twitched her thick tail with annoyance.

  Leafpool didn’t recognise the third cat, a magnificent golden tabby. He dipped his head to her and introduced himself. “Greetings, Leafpool. My name is Lionheart. I was with Bluestar when your father first came to the forest.”

  “I’m honoured to meet you,” Leafpool replied. “But where am I? Why have you brought me here?” It wasn’t anywhere she had visited before in dreams, yet it obviously wasn’t the place where Tigerstar walked, because cats from StarClan were here.

  None of the cats replied. Bluestar just mewed, “Come,” and led the way further into the forest.

  Soon the path reached a clearing lit by a wash of moonlight. Overhead the moon floated in a clear sky. The forest that had seemed so ominous now looked beautiful, the shadowy places beneath the trees filled with mystery instead of danger.

  Just above the topmost branches of the trees, Leafpool spotted three tiny stars shining close together. Puzzled, she tried to remember if she had ever seen them before. As she gazed, they seemed to pulse brighter and brighter, until they threatened to rival the moon.

  “Bluestar, what’s that?” she asked.

  Bluestar didn’t answer. Instead, she led the way into the centre of the clearing and gestured with her tail for Leafpool to sit. The three StarClan warriors gathered around her. Leafpool cast a final glance over her shoulder, but now she couldn’t make out the three new stars at all. I must be imagining things, she decided.

  “Do you have a sign for me?” she asked, giving all her attention to the three StarClan warriors.

  “Not exactly,” meowed Bluestar. “But we wanted to tell you that the path of your life will twist in ways yet hidden to you.”

  “Yes.” Yellowfang’s voice was dry, with an edge to it that made Leafpool almost certain the old medicine cat knew something she wasn’t telling. “You will tread a path that few medicine cats have walked before you.”

  Fear stabbed at Leafpool; she dug her claws into the ground to keep herself steady. “What do you mean?”

  “There are cats you have yet to meet,” Bluestar told her. “Yet their paws will shape your future.”

  That’s no answer! Leafpool wanted to protest, but her respect for the StarClan cats kept her silent.

  Lionheart rested his tail on her shoulder and his scent drifted around her, brave and reassuring. “We have come to give you strength,” he meowed.

  “Whatever happens, remember that we are always with you,” Bluestar promised.

  Gazing at the compassion in her blue eyes, Leafpool tried to understand what Bluestar was saying. But it didn’t make sense. She knew where her life would lead from now on. She was ThunderClan’s medicine cat, nothing else, and would be until StarClan called her to walk with them in Silverpelt. She had given up all her dreams of life with Crowfeather.

  “I don’t understand,” she protested. “Can’t you tell me more?”

  Bluestar shook her head. “Even StarClan can’t see everything that will happen. The path ahead of you vanishes into shadow—but we will walk with you every paw step of the way, I promise.”

  Her words disturbed Leafpool, but they comforted her at the same time. She knew she was not alone. StarClan had not abandoned her, as she had feared when she was struggling with her love for Crowfeather. Perhaps that was why she couldn’t walk in Tigerstar’s dark forest any more—by following her heart, she had come back to StarClan.

  “Rest,” Lionheart purred, bending his head to give her a lick between the ears. “Rest and grow strong for what lies ahead.”

  “Rest so you can keep that Clan of yours in order,” Yellowfang added.

  The scent of the three cats wreathed around Leafpool. Her limbs felt heavy, and with a sigh she curled up in the lush grass of the clearing. A faint breeze ruffled her fur. Through the tangle of branches, she could see the three new stars shining even brighter than before. “Thank you,” she murmured, and closed her eyes.

  Less than a heartbeat later, it seemed, Leafpool’s eyes opened again. Sunlight was streaming through the cleft in the rock. Outside she could see Birchpaw sitting up in his nest near the mouth of her den.

  “I’m starving!” he complained. “Can I go and get some fresh-kill?”

  Leafpool got up and checked the apprentice’s wounds. The scars on his haunches were healing well, though it would be some time before the fur grew back. The swelling around his eye was almost gone, and the clawmarks there were healing too. There was no sign of infection.

  “I think you can go back to the apprentices’ den today,” she announced.

  “Great!” Birchpaw’s eyes sparkled and his paws kneaded his mossy nest impatiently. “Can I start training again too? It’s so boring, sitting around here all day.”

  Leafpool was relieved that he felt well enough to be bored. “OK,” she told him. “But light duties only. No combat training. Anyway, Ashfur was pretty badly hurt. He won’t be able to do much for a while yet.”

  “I’ll go and see if there’s anything I can do for him,” Birchpaw promised, vanishing before Leafpool could change her mind.

  “I want to check your injuries every day!” she called after him.

  Her dream had comforted and strengthened her, but her worries about Brambleclaw remained. She was sure he was still meeting Hawkfrost and Tigerstar, and she found herself watching him closely for any sign that the dreams were affecting his behaviour in the waking world. As the Clan recovered from the badger attack, Brambleclaw seemed nothing less than a loyal and dedicated warrior. But could any cat stay truly loyal under Tigerstar’s treacherous influence?

  Two nights later, Leafpool returned late to camp with catmint gathered near the abandoned Twoleg nest. The moon was already shining and most cats had withdrawn to their dens. Spiderleg, who was on guard duty near the entrance, nodded to her as she squeezed through the barrier of thorns. Leafpool took the herbs to her den, then slipped over to the fresh-kill pile for something to eat before she slept.

  As she crouched to eat a blackbird, she heard a rustling sound from the warriors’ den. The branches parted and Brambleclaw’s strong tabby body emerged. Without noticing Leafpool, he padded across the clearing, paused for a quick word with Spiderleg, then vanished into the thorn tunnel.

  What is he up to? He had left the camp openly, as if he didn’t mind who saw him. But why was he going out alone, when all the other warriors were sleeping? Was he going to meet Hawkfrost?

  Swiftly gulping down the rest of her blackbird, Leafpool rose to her paws and followed.

  “You’re working late tonight,” Spiderleg remarked as she passed him again.

  “Some herbs are best gathered by moonlight,” Leafpool replied; it wasn’t exactly a lie, but collecting herbs was the last thing on her mind right now.

  By the time she emerged from the thorns, Brambleclaw had disappeared, but Leafpool could easily track him by his scent. Her pelt tingled when she realised he was following the same rocky path that she had used when she went to meet Crowfeather on the WindClan border.

  But Brambleclaw wasn’t heading for WindClan. Leafpool could already hear the faint chuckle of the stream when the tabby warrior’s scent trail veered away from the path and into the trees, towards the lake. Leafpool followed, keeping her jaws wide to distinguish his scent from the prey-scents that mingled with it.

  Ferns brushed her pelt as she scrambled up to the top of a steep slope and emerged from the trees. Brambleclaw was sitting with his back to her only a couple of tail-lengths away, gazing out over the lake. Leafpool froze, terrified that her clumsy approach had given her away. But Brambleclaw didn’t m
ove.

  Leafpool retreated a few paw steps into the shelter of a twisted tree root. Could this be Brambleclaw’s meeting place with Hawkfrost? It was a long way for the RiverClan cat to travel.

  The moon drifted across the sky while Leafpool waited, watching. But there was no sign of Hawkfrost or any other cat. Brambleclaw sat motionless, his gaze fixed on the star-flecked water. Leafpool wished she knew what was going through his mind.

  He and the rest of the Clan, including Firestar, seemed to believe that their troubles were over. It was hard to imagine anything worse than the badger attack; they had survived that, with the help of WindClan, and the scars were healing. But Leafpool couldn’t stifle her sense of disquiet, even stronger now that she was alone with Brambleclaw. Bluestar, Lionheart, and Yellowfang had warned her of a dark future beyond their control. What trouble was still to come? And was the dark-furred cat in front of her involved?

  As the night wore on, weariness crept over Leafpool. She nodded, jerked awake, then let her eyes close, curling up in a mossy spot between two tree roots. In her dreams she woke again, scrambling up to see that Brambleclaw had vanished. And beyond the place where he had been sitting, the lake was thick and scarlet, as if waves of blood were rolling onto the shore.

  Before all is peaceful, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red.

  With a gasp of horror, Leafpool turned to run. She slammed into something solid; her claws scraped against the bark of a tree. She was trapped! Struggling back to wakefulness, she realised that she had stumbled over a tree root and collided with the trunk beside her. Above her, early-morning light was filtering through the branches, dappling the grass.

  “Who’s there?” demanded a sharp voice.

  Before Leafpool could reply, Brambleclaw sprang up onto the root and stood staring down at her. His eyes were dark with anger. “What are you doing here? Are you spying on me?”

  “No!” Leafpool retorted indignantly, with a stab of guilt that she had done exactly that. “I was out late last night, gathering herbs. I must have fallen asleep, that’s all.”

  Fear churned in her belly. He won’t hurt me, she told herself. He’s my Clanmate, for StarClan’s sake! Squirrelflight trusts him. Brambleclaw couldn’t possibly be following a path that led to blood and shadow if StarClan had such faith in him and Squirrelflight being together.

  But she was still uneasy as Brambleclaw went on glaring at her, not speaking. Clutching at her dignity, she rose and stalked away. Though her paws itched to flee, she forced herself to walk slowly across the open ground, towards the sheltering ferns.

  Beyond the trees the lake reflected the pale dawn light. Yet at that moment, the choking scarlet tide that had lapped stickily at the shore seemed far more real to Leafpool than the dove-grey water below her, barely rippled by the breeze.

  Before all is peaceful, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red.

  What horror still lay in wait for ThunderClan?

  Chapter 8

  Sighing, Brambleclaw tucked his paws beneath his chest and gazed out over the lake again. Ever since he had returned to Tigerstar’s forest in his dreams, his sleep had been uneasy. His restless thrashing had disturbed Squirrelflight and the rest of the warriors, crowded together in what had been salvaged of their den. So he had taken to slipping out at night to keep watch by the lake, to give his Clanmates a bit of peace.

  It had been a shock when Leafpool disturbed him. However much the young medicine cat denied it, he was convinced that she had followed him. Did that mean she knew where he went in his dreams? Like her sister, she wouldn’t understand that he could visit Tigerstar and still be loyal to his Clan. He tried to tell himself that his meetings with Tigerstar did no harm to any cat, but he was beginning to wonder whether he should go on visiting the shadowy forest. He was afraid of what Leafpool might know and more afraid still that she would tell Squirrelflight. The sisters were so close, it was hard to believe that Leafpool would keep any secrets from her.

  Narrowing his eyes, Brambleclaw peered across the lake. In the dawn light he could just make out the Twoleg boats clustered around the half bridge on the opposite side, on the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan. Just as Daisy had said, the Twolegs had stayed there so far, but Brambleclaw couldn’t stop worrying that sooner or later they would invade ThunderClan territory.

  The growing daylight glimmered on the surface of the water. He remembered what Squirrelflight had told him about Leafpool’s vision of their entwined paw prints, and his fur prickled. He wished he had the power of a medicine cat, to read the future in the lake, but to him the reflections of the stars were nothing more than meaningless sparkles on the indigo water: beautiful, but telling him nothing. Does my future really lie in the paws of StarClan? he wondered. No starry warriors walked the paths of Tigerstar’s forest. Was he turning his back on them by visiting his father? Did they know?

  At last he slipped into a doze again and woke to the sound of birdsong. The sun was rising over the hills behind WindClan. Brambleclaw sprang to his paws. He hadn’t meant to stay out so long. A cat who wanted to be deputy didn’t wander out of the hollow in the night!

  He headed back to camp, pausing to hunt on the way so that by the time he approached the thorn barrier his jaws were filled with prey. He was about to enter the tunnel when an eerie wailing rose up from inside the camp, freezing Brambleclaw’s paws to the spot. Had the badgers come back?

  A heartbeat’s thought told him that wasn’t possible. The patrols hadn’t found any sign of badgers in the territory since the attack, and the thorns in front of him were undamaged. Then the cry came again, more clearly.

  “My kit! Where’s my kit?”

  Brambleclaw squeezed through the tunnel and into the camp. Daisy was standing outside the nursery, her fur bristling. Cloudtail was with her and two of her kits were peering out of the entrance, their eyes wide with alarm. Leafpool was hurrying across the clearing from her den, with Brightheart hard on her paws. Brambleclaw dropped his fresh-kill on the pile and bounded across.

  “I’ve looked everywhere!” Daisy wailed. “He’s not here. Oh, Berrykit, where are you?”

  Anxiety stabbed at Brambleclaw. Berrykit had always been the liveliest kit of the litter, and the most likely to get into mischief. It was all too easy to imagine him sneaking out of camp in search of an adventure.

  “When did you last see him?” Cloudtail asked Daisy.

  “Last night. When I woke up this morning, he had vanished. I’ve searched and searched, but he isn’t anywhere in the camp!”

  “Calm down,” Brightheart meowed. “Wailing like that won’t help, and you’ll upset Sorreltail. We’ll find Berrykit.”

  Daisy ignored her. “A badger’s eaten him! I know it has.”

  Brightheart rolled her eyes, and even Leafpool twitched her whiskers impatiently. “Daisy, you know there hasn’t been any trace of badgers around here for days. Berrykit has wandered off somewhere, but we’ll track him and bring him back.”

  By now more cats had begun to emerge, drawn from their dens by Daisy’s yowling. Firestar leaped down the tumbled rocks from the Highledge, and padded over to Brambleclaw.

  “What’s going on?”

  Brambleclaw explained rapidly.

  “We’ll send a patrol out,” Firestar decided. “Cloudtail, you can lead it. Pick two or three other cats and go at once.”

  “Oh, no, no!” Daisy wound her tail around Cloudtail’s neck. “I need you to stay with me. What if my other kits go missing too?”

  Brightheart let out a hiss of annoyance and turned away. Brambleclaw couldn’t blame her. Hazelkit and Mousekit looked too scared to set a paw outside the nursery, let alone the camp. He could understand how upset Daisy must feel, but she didn’t have to make this amount of fuss. Cloudtail was looking embarrassed, but he didn’t try to tell Daisy that no cat countermanded the Clan leader’s orders.

  “Hazelkit and Mousekit aren’t going anywhere,” Leafpool mewed calmly. “Cloudtail, t
ake Daisy into the nursery. I’ll fetch her some poppy seed to calm her down.”

  “And I’ll lead the patrol,” Brambleclaw offered.

  Firestar nodded and watched as Cloudtail disengaged himself from Daisy’s tail and nudged her back to the nursery. Brambleclaw signalled to Squirrelflight, who was standing a tail-length away with Stormfur and Brook.

  “Let’s go,” he meowed. “I’ll skin the little wretch when we find him, upsetting the camp like this.”

  “No, you won’t.” Squirrelflight flicked his shoulder with her tail. “You’re as worried as the rest of us that he might be frightened or hurt.”

  Brambleclaw grunted. For all his fierce words, he couldn’t deny a sneaking admiration for Berrykit’s latest escapade. It took a lot of courage for a kit to venture out alone into the forest, especially after seeing the badger attack. “The sooner he’s apprenticed, the better,” he muttered, adding silently, And I’d be more than happy to be his mentor.

  Squirrelflight was the first to pick up the kit’s scent a couple of tail-lengths from the end of the tunnel. “He’s gone that way,” she reported, pointing with her tail in the direction of the ShadowClan border.

  “Then we’d better find him fast,” Stormfur meowed. “I don’t suppose ShadowClan will be too pleased to find a strange kit in their territory.”

  Berrykit’s trail led almost directly towards the border, though occasionally the kit had made a detour to investigate the roots of a tree or a sandy hollow beneath a rock. Brook spotted tiny paw prints in the soft mud beside a pool, as if the kit had stopped to lap the water. A little further on, there were a few shallow scrapes in the ground.

  “The mighty hunter!” Squirrelflight mewed, her tail curling up in amusement. “He must have been pretending to bury his fresh-kill.”

  “Like that, you mean?” Stormfur pointed with his tail towards a beetle climbing slowly up a frond of fern. If it had been Berrykit’s chosen prey, it had survived the experience.