by Erin Hunter
Peering out through the thorns, she saw Brambleclaw glance in her direction, but he kept going until they reached the safety of the standing trees. Squirrelpaw straightened up with relief. Wriggling around, she forced her way through the brambles and skirted the edge of the clearing until she reached the path that led to the tunnel. Firestar, Brambleclaw, and Leafpaw were hurrying towards her.
“You made it!” Leafpaw gasped.
“Keep going!” Brambleclaw hissed.
Squirrelpaw fell in beside them. Firestar staggered, his paws stumbling on the packed earth.
“Don’t stop now!” she urged, pressing against him. Brambleclaw flanked his other side, and between them they kept their leader on his paws as they hurried to the safety of the tunnel that led to ThunderClan territory. They had escaped the Twolegs this time—but how much longer would it be before the whole forest was lost to them forever?
CHAPTER 15
Leafpaw burst out of the tunnel that led under the Thunderpath. Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw followed, with Firestar stumbling between them. For a moment, the light was blinding, and Leafpaw screwed up her eyes. Then they adjusted to the cold daylight after the shadows in the tunnel, and she looked around at the ShadowClan cats lying exhausted on the narrow strip of grass beside the deserted Thunderpath.
Tallpoppy’s kits mewled as they huddled close to their mother. Littlecloud hurried from one cat to another, helpless without any of his supplies, and Blackstar stood staring at his Clan as if he couldn’t believe what was happening to them. His white pelt was stained with blood, and his black paws were pricked with bark and splinters.
Firestar’s voice croaked behind her. “Is everyone OK?”
“You should lie down,” Leafpaw urged him. “There are no monsters here.”
“We can’t stay in the open!” Brambleclaw objected.
“We have to rest before we go on,” Leafpaw insisted.
Tallstar limped towards her. “Is Firestar all right?” he asked hoarsely.
“Yes, but he lost a life when the tree fell,” Leafpaw explained.
Tallstar closed his eyes and shuddered all the way to the tip of his long tail.
“I’m taking my warriors home,” Mistyfoot called from where the RiverClan cats had gathered at the edge of the grassy space.
“Will you help us get ShadowClan to Sunningrocks first?” Firestar asked.
“Sunningrocks?” Blackstar narrowed his eyes. “Why do you want to take us there?”
“It’s where ThunderClan lives now, and you’ll be safe from Twolegs there,” Firestar meowed. “Cinderpelt has herbs for your injured cats, and there’s room for you all to rest.”
And where else can ShadowClan go? Leafpaw thought grimly. There was hardly a place left in the forest that hadn’t been taken over by Twolegs.
“OK,” Mistyfoot nodded. “We’ll go with you as far as Sunningrocks. But just because you’ve welcomed ShadowClan on to ThunderClan territory doesn’t mean they’re welcome in ours.”
“We’ll be patrolling the border!” Hawkfrost warned, his eyes cold as ice.
Squirrelpaw glared at him. “How can you worry about borders at a time like this? When will you realise what our journey meant, for all the Clans?”
Brambleclaw silenced her with a glance. “ShadowClan will not cross the border,” he promised.
“Of course we won’t,” snapped Blackstar.
Brambleclaw turned to Leafpaw. “How long before we can leave?”
When Leafpaw hesitated, Firestar lifted his head. “I’m growing stronger,” he insisted. “We can go soon.”
“Littlecloud?” she called to the ShadowClan medicine cat. “Can everyone make it to Sunningrocks?”
“I think so, if we travel slowly,” the small tabby tom replied.
Leafpaw looked up at the sky. The sun was a fiery ball, sinking towards the treetops. “We should try to get back before it’s dark,” she told Brambleclaw. “Before it’s too cold.”
“Okay,” Brambleclaw mewed. “We’ll rest long enough for everyone to catch their breath, then we’ll move on.”
Thin clouds drifted in front of the sinking sun as the cats trekked through the woods.
“Tallpoppy?” Leafpaw matched her pace to the limping ShadowClan queen’s. “Are your kits all right?”
Tallpoppy gazed at her three kits, carried now by warriors, and nodded. “Just scratches,” she murmured.
“We can clean them and treat them with marigold when we get to Sunningrocks,” Leafpaw promised.
Mistyfoot padded close beside Tallstar, pressing against the WindClan leader’s flank whenever he stumbled. Brackenfur carried one of Tallpoppy’s kits, and Tornear followed the ShadowClan apprentices, nudging them gently forwards whenever they slowed their step.
“It’s as if we don’t belong to different Clans anymore,” Leafpaw whispered, catching up with Squirrelpaw.
Her sister nodded. “This is what it was like on the journey to the sun-drown-place.”
But as the cats limped on to the sloping surface of Sunningrocks, the old rifts returned. ShadowClan climbed to the top of the rock, while RiverClan halted beside the trees. Brackenfur placed the kit beside Tallpoppy and rejoined the ThunderClan cats as they padded slowly up the slope. He pressed his golden-brown flank against Sorreltail’s, supporting her as her exhausted paws swayed beneath her. Tallstar lay down close to the base of the rock, too tired to climb any further. Onewhisker, Tornear, and Crowpaw gathered around him.
“How did it go?” Whitepaw rushed over to Brightheart and pressed her nose into her flank. She drew back quickly. “You’re bleeding!”
“Just some scratches,” Brightheart reassured her.
“You’re alive!” Cody hurried down from the overhang, with Birchkit stumbling after her. She pressed her muzzle against Leafpaw’s.
Ferncloud appeared at the lip of the nursery and stared in bewilderment at the cats crowding on to the rock. “What happened?”
“Everyone’s safe.” Brambleclaw shouldered his way to the front of the patrol. “That’s the main thing.”
“Thank StarClan.” The ThunderClan queen sighed.
Cinderpelt clambered out of her hollow. “Where’s Firestar?”
“I’m here,” Firestar croaked, weaving his way to the front. Leafpaw followed him closely, aware that he was still shaking.
“Firestar lost a life,” she murmured before Cinderpelt could say anything.
“What about the ShadowClan camp?” Frostfur demanded. “Did you save it?”
“We cannot fight the monsters,” Firestar meowed bleakly. “We could do nothing except help ShadowClan escape before their camp was destroyed.”
“They destroyed the camp?” Frostfur gasped.
“There’s nothing left but fallen trees,” Blackstar growled. “We have no home.”
“You’ll be safe here for now,” Firestar told the ShadowClan leader.
Blackstar’s eyes glimmered with relief for a moment. Then he turned to his medicine cat. “Littlecloud,” he meowed. “Do what you can to help your Clanmates.”
The small tabby tom began to pace quickly around the ShadowClan cats. He leaned down and sniffed Tallpoppy, then began to lick her flank. “There are many splinters here,” he mewed, lifting his head.
“Tallstar has a gash on his hind leg,” Onewhisker added.
Cinderpelt looked at the bloodstained pelts around her. “Fetch everything we have,” she told Leafpaw. “We just have to hope it will be enough.”
Leafpaw heard pawsteps following her as she hurried to the crevice where they stored their medicine supplies. It was Cody.
“There are so many injuries!” The kittypet’s eyes were wide and frightened.
“But we’re all still alive,” Leafpaw pointed out, reaching down into the gully with her paw. She pulled out the first bundle of herbs she touched. “Can you take out splinters?”
“I can do more than that,” Cody answered. “Come on, Birchkit!” she called, and they pa
dded towards a group of ShadowClan kits trembling with fear and cold.
“Is this kittypet a medicine cat?” Blackstar growled.
“It’s OK,” Leafpaw called out. “She knows what she’s doing.”
Cody soothed each kit with a reassuring lick, then encouraged Birchkit to distract them while she searched their fur for cuts and splinters.
Leafpaw pushed her paw back into the crevice. She hoped there were enough berries to make poultices for all the cats who needed one. To her surprise she found the hiding place was better stocked than she had expected. She pulled out as much marigold as she could find and reached back in for the berries.
Cinderpelt appeared behind her and nodded when she saw the pile of herbs growing on the rock. “I went back to the ravine while you were away and brought as much as I could carry,” she explained. She paused and looked at the mass of ShadowClan cats milling fretfully at the top of the slope, their faces bewildered and frightened. “Help ShadowClan first,” she ordered. “There are too many for Littlecloud to manage alone, and I can cope with Tallstar and our own wounded.”
“Will Blackstar mind if I help?” Leafpaw asked. The ShadowClan leader sat with his elders, his eyes fixed on Cody as she tackled another kit.
“You persuaded him to let Cody help,” Cinderpelt reminded her.
“But she’s not a ThunderClan cat . . .” Leafpaw mewed.
Cinderpelt gazed at her through narrowed eyes. “Blackstar’s no fool. He knows his cats need our help.”
Leafpaw nodded. Summoning up her courage, she padded towards the ShadowClan cats and called to Littlecloud, “Can I help?”
The look in Littlecloud’s eyes gave away his relief and gratitude. But before he could reply, Blackstar rounded on Leafpaw, his eyes as hard as the Moonstone. “We can take care of our own cats, thank you.”
“But you’ve already allowed Cody to help, and I have herbs,” she offered, forcing herself to sound calm.
“Littlecloud will manage,” Blackstar insisted.
Leafpaw shuffled her paws, torn between her duties as a medicine cat and nervous respect for Blackstar’s wishes. Then Littlecloud mewed loudly, “Blackstar, we need those herbs.”
Blackstar flattened his ears, but Littlecloud held his gaze. “With Leafpaw I can help our Clanmates twice as fast.”
Blackstar twitched his ears. “Very well,” he growled.
“Can I help too?” Mothwing padded across the rock to join them. “Mistyfoot said it would be OK.”
“You may as well,” Blackstar grunted, turning away.
“Thanks, Mothwing,” Leafpaw whispered. She left the bundle of herbs at Mothwing’s paws and hurried back to the crevice to fetch more. Cinderpelt was still there and had begun mixing a salve on a dried oak leaf.
“This is ready to use,” she muttered through a mouthful of half-crushed berries. “Come back when you need more.”
Leafpaw went back and dropped the salve beside Littlecloud, who was examining Runningnose’s pelt. “Rub this in after you’ve pulled out the splinters,” she told him. “It’ll stop any infection.” She gazed around at the ShadowClan cats. “Where would you like me to start?”
“The elders heal slowly, so they should be treated as soon as possible,” Littlecloud advised without looking up.
Leafpaw went over to Boulder, who was lying beside Runningnose, his eyes glazed with shock. She nodded politely at him, and when he did not respond, she leaned down and began to lick his flank. The old cat sighed quietly as she pulled out a splinter with her teeth and rubbed in a tiny drop of salve.
Leafpaw worked on one cat after another till her paws ached with tiredness. As the moon began to brighten in the sky, she glanced up the slope towards her father. “Cody, can you take over here?” she asked. “There are only one or two apprentices left, and I want to see how Firestar is.”
“Of course. You go right ahead.”
Firestar was lying beside Sandstorm, washing dried blood from between his claws. “How are you?” Leafpaw whispered, touching her muzzle to his.
“I’m fine,” he purred, his eyes soft and clear.
“Are you sure?” She searched his face. For all her connection with StarClan, she would never know what it felt like to lose a life. “D-did StarClan tell you we should leave the forest now?”
“They told me only to go back and do what I must to protect my Clan,” Firestar told her. “And that’s what I’m going to do.”
Leafpaw heard the RiverClan cats gathering on the slope behind her. “We’re returning to our camp,” Mistyfoot announced to Firestar. “But we know that the time has come to make a decision about leaving the forest.”
Leafpaw held her breath. The fate of all four Clans hung like a cobweb, fragile to the gentlest breath of wind.
“I’m sure many of you have noticed that the river is drying up,” Mistyfoot went on.
Onewhisker padded forwards. “The Twolegs have changed the course of the water,” he meowed. “Our warriors have seen them digging great holes around the gorge to channel the river away.”
Mistyfoot just blinked at him as if the reason for the disappearance of the river no longer mattered. “Leopardstar told me that if the ShadowClan camp was destroyed, then we must accept that the Twolegs are coming.” She held Firestar’s gaze steadily. “RiverClan will leave the forest with the other Clans.”
Leafpaw felt her shoulders sag with relief. At last Firestar would have his wish, and all four Clans would leave together.
Firestar hauled himself to his paws, his eyes brightening. “Onewhisker, tell your Clanmates that ThunderClan and RiverClan will travel with them.” He turned his face towards Blackstar. “Will ShadowClan join us?”
Blackstar hesitated, but Firestar was in no mood to wait for an answer.
“You can’t still plan to live among the Twolegs after you have seen what they are capable of?” he hissed.
Blackstar nodded slowly. “ShadowClan will travel with you,” he meowed. “After all, we have no home and no territory now.”
Firestar lifted his head to address all the cats on the rock. “We will leave at dawn!”
Mews of approval echoed through the air, and Leafpaw felt a tingle of excitement. Whatever the journey held—wherever they were going—nothing could be worse than to stay in this place with Twolegs and their monsters closing in on all sides. She glanced at Cody, still busy among the ShadowClan cats. Would there be time to escort her home first? Or had she become such a part of the Clan that she’d go with them?
“Where will we go?” Tornear was the first to ask, but his question echoed around the gathering.
Firestar looked expectantly at Brambleclaw. The tabby warrior looked down at his paws. Squirrelpaw, standing beside him, pressed her flank against his. Leafpaw tipped her head to one side, puzzled. They looked like a pair of unprepared apprentices who had just been asked the best way to catch water voles.
“As you know, Midnight’s sign never came,” Brambleclaw began, dragging the words out as if they stuck in his throat like thorns. “So we don’t know exactly where we should go. But we could head towards the sun-drown-place.”
“If there’s been no sign before we get there, we could find Midnight again and ask her,” Squirrelpaw put in.
“How do we get to this sun-drown-place?” Blackstar called.
“We travelled two different routes—” Brambleclaw broke off and looked uncertainly at Squirrelpaw.
“And you don’t know which one to take?” Firestar suggested.
“We . . .” Brambleclaw faltered. “We should head for Highstones first,” he meowed at last. “Away from the Twolegs.”
“Very well,” Firestar agreed. “We shall meet at the edge of WindClan’s territory at dawn.”
Mistyfoot and Tallstar nodded.
“Then it’s decided.” Firestar turned to Blackstar. “It would be easier for us all if ShadowClan would sleep at Sunningrocks tonight,” he meowed, choosing his words carefully. “We could make an earlier
start if you were to rest here.”
Blackstar seemed to appreciate Firestar’s diplomacy. “Then we will stay,” he meowed.
“As if they’ve got any other place to go!” Sorreltail muttered in Leafpaw’s ear.
“But we will sleep apart from ThunderClan, and a guard will be posted,” Blackstar warned.
“These cats have just saved your Clan!” Mistyfoot exclaimed. “Do you think ThunderClan brought you here only to attack you?”
“Let’s hear whether Leopardstar agrees with your plan to leave the forest before you start making judgments on my decisions,” Blackstar retorted.
Leafpaw winced. She glanced at her sister, but Squirrelpaw was no longer listening. She was staring into the forest, her face filled with anxiety.
Leafpaw padded quietly to her side. “Are you OK?”
“I just hope StarClan sends us a sign soon,” Squirrelpaw mewed.
“I’m sure they will do what they can.”
Squirrelpaw stared earnestly into her eyes. “You’re right. Even without a sign, I know StarClan will be protecting us and guiding us wherever we go.”
Leafpaw blinked. She wished she were that certain. There had been no sign of StarClan when ShadowClan had needed them most. It was only luck—and the other Clans’ courage—that had gotten those cats out alive. More and more, it looked as if StarClan was powerless to help, and the cats would have to rely on one another, nothing else, to survive.
CHAPTER 16
Clouds obscured the night sky as Leafpaw padded down the hard stone slope. A mild breeze promised that there would be no frost tonight, and she could smell rain. Most of the Clan was sleeping; ShadowClan was huddled near the edge of Sunningrocks, as far from the ThunderClan cats as they could be.