Warriors

by Erin Hunter

  “The water’s still rising.” Hawkwing hurried around the Clan, nudging them higher up the slope. At the top, a great elm rocked in the wind. The Clan had camped beneath it because it was the tallest tree as far as the eye could see. A maple grew nearby, but it was smaller and had promised less shelter. Saplings sprouted around its roots where they’d wanted to build nests. Violetshine stared at it now, wishing they’d made their camp there. The land where it grew sloped upward, beyond the reach of the flood, but there was no way to reach it. Water cut it off, and they were trapped on a rapidly shrinking island.

  Violetshine’s paws seemed to be rooted to the spot. She stared at the water. It washed over the grass. Currents churned the muddy torrent.

  “Get back.” Hawkwing steered her toward the elm as the flood lapped higher and the grass where Violetshine had stood disappeared.

  Leafstar stared across the drowned landscape. Her eyes were round with disbelief. “StarClan help us.”

  Bellaleaf swung her muzzle toward the stricken leader. “They tried to warn us, remember?”

  “We were meant to stay with the other Clans!” Sagenose hopped clear as the water lapped higher.

  Dewspring flattened his ears. “This is what happens when you ignore StarClan.”

  Leafstar blinked at him, fear showing in her eyes. Her voice was tight. “There was no place for us beside the lake.”

  “We should have fought harder to make one,” Bellaleaf snapped.

  “Instead we’re going to drown in the middle of nowhere!” Dewspring’s pelt bristled.

  Hawkwing glared at his Clanmates. “Don’t blame Leafstar! She has always done what she thought was best for the Clan. How could she know the future?”

  Sagenose grunted. “StarClan knew it.” He nodded toward the saplings. “Look!”

  Violetshine followed his gaze and counted five saplings growing in the shadow of the maple.

  “They warned us,” Plumwillow whispered.

  “They knew what would happen if we left.” Sandynose paced frantically.

  Frecklewish pushed her way to the front of her Clanmates. “The saplings are all healthy.” She flicked her tail toward them. “None have been broken by the storm.”

  Hawkwing lifted his muzzle. “She’s right. The saplings are surviving the storm, and so will we.”

  Quailpaw shrieked and leaped backward as water lapped his paws. “We’re going to drown!”

  Hawkwing glanced up at the elm. “We’re SkyClan,” he yowled. “We can climb!” He leaped up the trunk, scrambling easily onto the lowest branch.

  Leaning over, he called down. “There’s plenty of space up here.”

  Violetshine nudged Sunnypaw toward the trunk as her Clanmates hurried toward it and swarmed into the branches.

  Frecklewish waited at the bottom while Fidgetflake clawed his way up. Violetshine pressed beside her. “Do the saplings mean we’ll be okay?”

  Frecklewish looked at her, hollow-eyed. “For now.”

  Fear tightened Violetshine’s belly. She glanced back toward the maple as Frecklewish climbed into the tree. The stretch of water between the elm and the maple was as wide as a river. If only they could cross it, they could escape the flood.

  “Violetshine!” Hawkwing called down.

  Violetshine realized she was the last cat left on the ground. Water swirled higher around the hilltop. A wave washed over her paws. As the last trace of grass disappeared, she scrambled upward and heaved herself onto the branch beside Hawkwing.

  Harrybrook and Macgyver had leaped to higher branches. They helped haul the others up. Violetshine glanced at her Clanmates, dotted along the branches. They populated the tree like crows waiting out the night.

  Leafstar sat resolutely on the end of Hawkwing’s branch and gazed into the churning water. “Perhaps we should have stayed beside the lake,” she murmured.

  Sagenose leaned over the branch above her. “I wish you’d decided that earlier.”

  Violetshine glared at him. “Leafstar is our leader and she would die to protect us,” she growled. “If she brought us here, she did it with good reason. How can you be sure we wouldn’t have faced danger if we’d stayed?”

  Harrybrook peered down through the leaves. “We’re safe for now,” he called. “We should be grateful for that.”

  Violetshine looked at her father. “How long until the water goes down?”

  His gaze was dark. “Not until the rain has stopped.”

  Plumwillow called from a branch overhead. “That’s not going to be anytime soon!” She jerked her muzzle toward the sky. “Look at the clouds.”

  They darkened toward the horizon. The rain swept down in great shadows, obscuring the distant hills.

  Nettlesplash curled his tail over his paws as he hunched against the storm. “If we don’t drown, we’ll starve.”

  Violetshine’s belly was hollow with hunger. Nettlesplash’s words frightened her. She shifted closer to her father. “We’ll find a way to escape, won’t we?”

  He touched his muzzle to her head. “StarClan won’t let us die here.”

  She wanted to believe him, but StarClan had warned them not to leave the lake. Had StarClan known that this flood would be waiting for them? In the medicine cats’ vision, a storm had ripped the saplings from the earth. Would it destroy SkyClan just as easily?

  Has sunhigh passed? Violetshine couldn’t be sure. The clouds were unreadable. She only knew that her claws ached from gripping the bark as rain battered her face and wind tugged her pelt. She fought to stop her teeth from chattering.

  The Clan had fallen silent around her as they waited out the storm. Even Hawkwing’s shoulders sagged.

  She pressed closer to him. “We’ll be okay,” she whispered, hardly able to believe it.

  He looked at her, his eyes round with pity. “I’m just glad I had a chance to know you and Twigbranch.”

  Her heart lurched. He thinks we’re going to die! “We’ll see Twigbranch again,” she mewed desperately. “This isn’t the end.”

  Farther along the branch, Leafstar’s ears twitched. She looked at Violetshine. “You’re right,” she mewed firmly. “This isn’t the end.” She sat up and raised her voice. “SkyClan will not die here.” Faces peered from the branches above as she went on. “We have come too far and survived too much to die here.” Leafstar got to her paws. “I may have been wrong to lead you here, but I won’t let anyone die because of my mistake. We are SkyClan. We have relied on our courage, strength, and intelligence since the Clans began, and we can rely on them now. If we work together, we can find a way to safety!” She looked up at her Clan, her eyes shining with determination.

  Macgyver hopped onto the next branch down. “Why don’t we swim for it?”

  “Too dangerous.” Leafstar flicked her tail. “SkyClan cats aren’t swimmers, and the currents look strong.”

  The floodwater had stopped rising, but it swirled menacingly around the trunk of the elm. Broken branches floated past.

  “We could leap onto one of those.” Violetshine nodded toward one as it sailed beneath them.

  “How do we know it will ever reach land?” Hawkwing cautioned.

  “I’d rather be stranded in a tree than on a log,” Sagenose called.

  I wish Tree were here. Violetshine longed for his reassuring presence. He’d be able to come up with a good idea.

  “Perhaps we could jump from here.” Plumwillow slithered down the trunk and landed on a long thick branch that jutted toward the maple. She padded along it. “It almost reaches the far bank.”

  Leafstar slid past Violetshine and jumped nimbly onto Plumwillow’s branch. She padded past the gray she-cat and picked her way to the end.

  Violetshine held her breath. Had Plumwillow found an escape route?

  Leafstar stopped as the branch began to dip under her weight. She peered through the leaves. “It’s not long enough.”

  Plumwillow hurried to her side. “It’s only a short jump.”

  “A fo
x-length,” Leafstar countered. “That may be too far for some cats. And we’d need a firmer jumping-off place to be sure of covering a gap that wide.” The branch quivered as she moved.

  Plumwillow looked into the maple, which stretched tantalizingly close. “If only its branches reached a little lower. They’d bridge the gap.”

  Hawkwing padded to her side. As Violetshine followed, her paws pricked with agonizing hope. The far bank suddenly seemed closer, and yet it was still too far away. “The maple branches are young,” Hawkwing commented as he peered among the leaves. “They would be easy to bend.”

  Plumwillow swished her tail impatiently. “How can we bend them? We can’t even reach them.”

  Leafstar narrowed her eyes. “If one cat could make it across,” she mewed softly, “they could bend a branch.”

  “Two would be better.” Hawkwing didn’t take his eyes from the maple.

  “Or three,” Plumwillow chimed in.

  “I’ll go,” Sagenose meowed.

  “I’ll go too,” Macgyver called from above.

  “I should go first.” Hawkwing squared his shoulders.

  “No!” Violetshine’s fur spiked. Hawkwing mustn’t leave her! “What if you drown?” She felt sick as she stared down at the muddy water.

  Leafstar lifted her muzzle. “I’ll go.” She eyed her Clan. “I brought you here. I’ll lead you out.”

  “You’re our leader.” Hawkwing blinked at her. “You mustn’t risk your life.”

  “I have nine lives to risk,” she countered. “You only have one.”

  “Let’s wait and see if the rain stops!” Nectarpaw’s frightened wail sounded above.

  “If you drown, it won’t help any cat,” Harrybrook called.

  “I won’t drown.” Leafstar fluffed out her wet fur. “We have to find a way out. We can’t live in this tree forever.” She picked her way closer to the end. The tip dipped precariously beneath her weight.

  The Clan watched in silence as Leafstar fixed her gaze on the maple branches. She crouched and bunched the muscles in her hind legs. Then, trembling, she leaped.

  Violetshine felt the branch shake. Time seemed to slow as Leafstar flew through the air. Violetshine willed her on. Please make it! Her pelt spiked as Leafstar fell. Thrashing the air, the SkyClan leader snatched at the maple, but it was out of reach. She hit the water with a splash and disappeared below the surface.

  Shock pulsed through Violetshine. She stared at the swirling water, blood roaring in her ears.

  Dewspring leaned over the edge. “I’ll save her!”

  “No!” Hawkwing ordered. “She has more lives to lose than you. You’d be dead in four breaths.”

  Violetshine’s throat tightened. “Where is she?” The SkyClan leader had still not surfaced.

  “Wait.” Hawkwing stared down, every muscle taut.

  A shape appeared in the muddy water. Leafstar’s head bobbed up. Terror flared in the SkyClan leader’s eyes as she blinked up at the Clan. With a gasp, she disappeared. The water frothed as she fought her way back to the surface. She opened her mouth and then slid under once more.

  “We have to save her!” Wild with panic, Violetshine lunged forward. Teeth pierced her scruff as Hawkwing jerked her backward. Violetshine turned to glare at him. “What? We can’t just watch her die!”

  Brown fur flashed on the far bank, a blur behind the driving rain. She gasped as a shape plunged into the water. A cat! What was it doing? It could drown! She watched the cat dive beneath the surface, bob up, and then dive again. She glimpsed broad shoulders and a wide forehead before they disappeared again. It was a tom. Would he be strong enough to survive the flood? He broke the surface once more. This time he dragged Leafstar with him. Flailing against the current, he tugged Leafstar toward the bank.

  With a gasp, Violetshine recognized his pelt. She struggled free of Hawkwing’s grip. Finleap? What was he doing here? She stared in amazement as more cats streamed to the edge of the water and began to haul Finleap and Leafstar from the flood. Tree was with them! And Twigbranch. Even through the pouring rain, she recognized them. Her heart soared.

  Excited yowls rang from above.

  “ThunderClan sent a patrol!”

  “Lizardtail’s with them.”

  “And Gorsetail.”

  “Have all the Clans come?”

  Harrybrook and Macgyver leaped down and crowded close to Violetshine. Nectarpaw and Quailpaw strained to see from the branch above them.

  Violetshine’s gaze was fixed on Leafstar. Was she moving? Had Finleap dragged her from the water in time? She recognized Willowshine’s pale tabby pelt. The RiverClan medicine cat was pumping Leafstar’s chest with her paws.

  The SkyClan leader lay lifeless on the shore as Willowshine worked on her. Violetshine held her breath. Let her live! Then Leafstar twitched. With a violent jerk, the SkyClan leader’s head rose, and she vomited muddy water.

  “She’s alive!” Sagenose yowled triumphantly overhead as Leafstar stared groggily around.

  Jubilant cries rang from the tree, and the group of cats on the shore turned to look.

  Finleap’s face fell in dismay as he saw his former Clanmates trapped, but Tree padded to the edge of the water and called across. “Don’t worry!” he called. “We’ll find a way to rescue you.”

  Violetshine pushed past her father, desperate to speak to Tree. “You came!” Joy pulsed beneath her pelt. She thought she’d never see him again.

  His eyes widened as he saw her. “You’re safe!”

  “Not yet.” Violetshine lifted her muzzle. “We need you to bend the branches of that maple so we can climb across.”

  He nodded at once and turned to his patrol. In a moment, Tree, Twigbranch, Hootwhisker, and Lionblaze were climbing the maple. They moved among the branches to one that was already dipping toward the water. Clustering around it, they stretched up and pushed with their forepaws. As it began to bend deeper, Tree signaled to Lionblaze and Hootwhisker with his tail. They clambered over the others and balanced on the branch. Under their weight, it dipped further. Gingerly, they crept along it until it was bobbing over the surface of the water.

  Violetshine blinked. It was going to work. She could see where the tip of Plumwillow’s branch and the maple overlapped.

  Plumwillow was the first to cross. Macgyver and Harrybrook followed, the branches trembling beneath them. One by one, the SkyClan cats scrambled to safety.

  Hawkwing nudged Violetshine forward. “Go on,” he murmured.

  “You go first.” She didn’t want to let him out of her sight.

  “I’ll be okay,” he told her. “Trust me.”

  She padded along the branch, her heart quickening as she neared the end. Water swirled beneath, but she fixed her gaze on the maple and slithered onto the branch. She felt it quiver as she landed and scurried toward the trunk. Heart pounding, she leaped to the ground and looked back in time to see Hawkwing dart to safety.

  Relief washed over her like warm sunshine. She almost didn’t notice the rain.

  A moment later, Tree was nuzzling her while Twigbranch wove happily around Hawkwing.

  “It’s great to see you.” Purring, Tree rubbed his muzzle over every part of her face. She pressed against him, joy flooding her pelt. “I never want to be a loner again,” he told her. “From now on, I go wherever you go.”

  Violetshine pulled away and looked deep into his eyes. Love bubbled inside her. “Never leave me again.”

  “I won’t.”

  “Even if a whole patrol of dead warriors tells you to.”

  “I promise.”

  She touched her nose to his cheek and turned to Finleap. “Thank you!”

  Finleap’s eyes shone as Violetshine hurried toward him. “It looks like we arrived just in time.”

  “You were so brave!” Violetshine blinked at him. “Where did you learn to swim?”

  “That wasn’t swimming,” he joked. “It was drowning.”

  “You saved Leafstar.”

/>   As she spoke, Twigbranch hurried to her side and thrust her muzzle against her ear, purring. “I was worried I was never going to see you again.”

  Violetshine breathed in Twigbranch’s scent. “What are you doing here?”

  “I persuaded Bramblestar to let me bring a patrol to beg Leafstar to return to the lake.”

  “But RiverClan and WindClan cats are with you.” Violetshine was confused.

  “We wanted to show Leafstar that we all want SkyClan beside the lake,” Twigbranch explained. “We thought it was the only way to convince her to come back.”

  Violetshine lifted her muzzle to the sky. Rain washed her face. “I think she knows now that we shouldn’t have left.”

  “Let’s hope so.” Twigbranch glanced at Leafstar, who was looking dazed beside Willowshine. “We can talk to her when she’s recovered.”

  Violetshine blinked at Finleap again. “I still can’t believe you risked your life to save her.”

  Finleap shrugged. “Any cat would’ve done the same.”

  “But you’re the only one who did.” Violetshine caught Twigbranch’s eye. “I can see why you love him so much. He’s a great warrior.”

  Twigbranch looked at Finleap. Was that sadness in her eyes? “He is,” she murmured. “And I do love him. Very much.”

  CHAPTER 22

  Alderheart stifled a shiver and paced along the scent line. He’d been waiting with Bramblestar at the ShadowClan border since sunhigh. The storm rocked the trees and rain trickled through the canopy. “Can we just cross it?”

  “No.” Bramblestar shook drops from his whiskers. “We’ll wait for a patrol to take us to the camp. I don’t want to start the meeting on the wrong paw.”

  It had been two days since Alderheart had told Bramblestar that Juniperclaw had stolen deathberry seeds from the medicine den, and Bramblestar was finally willing to travel to ShadowClan and discuss the matter with Tigerstar. “There needs to be peace between the Clans,” he had told Alderheart that morning. “And you were right. How can that happen when a rogue-hearted cat is a deputy? How could he ever be trusted? What if he becomes leader?”