by Erin Hunter
“Just a moment.” Echosong padded up with a courteous flick of her tail to Sharpclaw. “I need a cat to help me collect herbs. May I have Tinycloud?”
“But that’s an apprentice task!” Tinycloud objected, her neck fur fluffing up in dismay. “I’m a warrior now.”
“And warriors do what they’re told,” Sharpclaw growled.
“But—”
“It needs doing, Tinycloud,” Echosong interrupted gently. “And what if a fox or a badger attacks me while I’m out of the gorge? I’ll need a warrior to protect me.”
“Oh…” Tinycloud’s eyes brightened and her neck fur lay flat again. “Then I’ll be glad to come, Echosong. I’ll make sure you’re safe!”
Leafstar watched the various patrols dispersing. It must be just like this in the forest where Firestar lives. We’re a real Clan, just like them.
“Sharpclaw,” she murmured, before her deputy could leave. “Just a quick word.”
Sharpclaw cast a glance to where the other members of his border patrol were waiting a little farther up the gorge. His tail-tip twitched, but he waited for his Clan leader to continue.
“Was it necessary to sneer at Ebonyclaw like that?” Leafstar asked.
“I didn’t—” Sharpclaw began to protest, his eyes sparking with anger, then broke off with a sigh. “All right. I was a bit sharp, and I’m sorry. But these kitty-warriors ruffle my fur.”
Leafstar flattened her ears and felt her neck fur start to bristle. “Kitty-warriors, Sharpclaw? Don’t you think that’s a bit insulting?”
Sharpclaw met her gaze steadily. “I’m just trying to be accurate. What would you call them? They don’t live here in the gorge. They turn up when they feel like it. How can they follow the warrior code when they go home to their Twolegs every night?”
“We’ve been through this already, Sharpclaw.” Leafstar sighed. “Too many times. You know my thinking on this. We’re a small Clan, and if we give these cats the chance to experience the way that warriors live, they might decide to join us permanently.”
“It can’t be too soon for me,” Sharpclaw snorted. “Even their names are half kittypet! Snookypaw … please!”
“Snookpaw,” Leafstar corrected him. “He doesn’t think that Snooky sounds like a warrior.”
“And Snook does, I suppose?”
Leafstar gave him a half-exasperated, half-amused nudge. “If their names are all you’ve got to complain about, they’re doing well. Go on, your patrol is waiting for you. And just be a bit kinder to Ebonyclaw next time. She’s one of the keenest cats we have.”
“She’s a kittypet!” Sharpclaw twitched his whiskers. “She wears a collar, for StarClan’s sake!”
“And look at the way she’s tucked moss around it,” Leafstar countered. “She’s doing everything she can not to scare off prey. So don’t discourage her, okay?”
“All right, Leafstar.” Sharpclaw blinked at her, the anger gone from his green eyes. “I might think your brain is full of bees, but I’ll do as you say.” Turning, he padded away and joined his patrol.
Leafstar saw that Fallowfern was herding her kits back up the trail to the nursery, ignoring their protests. “You can play with Billystorm later. Right now it’s time for your naps.”
“I’ll still be here, kits!” Billystorm called after them.
Leafstar waved her tail to beckon him and Snookpaw, and led the way up the gorge, following in the paw steps of Sharpclaw’s patrol. By now the sun had disappeared behind swelling black clouds and a chill breeze stirred up the dust.
Rain before sunset, Leafstar thought.
A few tail-lengths farther on, the cliff curved inward, leaving a wide, sandy space between the rocks and the river. Petalnose and Waspwhisker were seated at one side of it, watching their apprentices. Mintpaw was crouched in the middle of the sandy area, her tail lashing as if she was about to pounce on a piece of prey. Sagepaw stalked forward, then suddenly ran at her, flashing out his claws to rake her along one side. But Mintpaw was too fast; she rolled toward him, ducked under his outstretched paw, and hooked his hind legs out from under him. Springing to her paws, she left her littermate scrabbling helplessly in the sand.
“Well done!” Leafstar called.
Mintpaw gave a little bounce of excitement when she realized that her Clan leader had seen her successful move.
“Yes, very well done,” Waspwhisker meowed. “But next time follow it up. While he’s floundering about in the sand, you could get in a couple of good blows.”
“And next time, Sagepaw,” Petalnose added, “try feinting to one side before you attack on the other. That way you get your opponent confused.”
“I want to try that!” Snookpaw mewed eagerly as he and Billystorm reached the edge of the training area. “Can I?”
“Sure,” Billystorm replied. “Let’s watch Sagepaw and Mintpaw do it a couple more times first.”
“Yes.” Sagepaw sat up, spitting out sand. “I’m gonna get you next time, Mintpaw!”
“Yeah, and hedgehogs will fly!” his sister retorted.
Leafstar settled down beside the mentors, her tail wrapped over her paws, and watched the training session. Very soon all three young cats had mastered the new move. They still had a lot of training to do before they would be ready for their warrior names, but they seemed to grow stronger and faster every day.
“I want to practice what you showed us yesterday,” Snookpaw meowed, scratching furiously to get sand out of his ear. “Where we leaped up on the rocks. That’s such a great move!”
Leafstar pricked her ears with interest; she hadn’t seen that move yet. “Show me,” she invited.
Snookpaw and Sagepaw faced each other, each one maneuvering to get closer to the rock wall. Suddenly Sagepaw leaped up the cliff, twisting his body, clung there for a heartbeat, and launched himself down on top of Snookpaw, who failed to back off quickly enough. Snookpaw let out an indignant yowl as he battered at his opponent with all four paws, trying to thrust him off.
“Again!” he insisted, struggling to his paws.
“Okay, if you want more sand in your pelt,” Sagepaw agreed.
The two young cats squared off again. This time Snookpaw was first to leap up the cliff, but when he hurled himself down again he was a heartbeat too slow, and landed hard on the ground.
“Missed!” Sagepaw squealed.
Undaunted, Snookpaw spun around and scratched hard at the sand with his hind paws, sending a shower of it over Sagepaw. “Now who has sand in their pelt?” he taunted.
“Hey!” the gray apprentice protested.
“Snookpaw, that’s enough,” Billystorm warned.
“But it’s part of the move,” Snookpaw explained, trotting over to his mentor. “If I could get sand in my enemies’ eyes, they couldn’t see to claw me.”
“He has a point,” Leafstar purred. “It’s a good move for fighting here in the gorge.”
“True,” Billystorm admitted. “But don’t overdo it when you’re training, okay, Snookpaw? We don’t want Echosong spending all day getting sand out of apprentices’ eyes.”
“Okay.” Snookpaw gave his mentor a cheerful nod.
Leafstar was impressed by the young cats’ enthusiasm. Here in the gorge, there wouldn’t be the kind of battles with other cats that Firestar and his Clan had to face from their rivals. But there could still be clashes with rogues and loners, or overly curious kittypets from the Twolegplace.
Not to mention that the rats might come back. And there are foxes and badgers in the woods. Leafstar was determined that all her cats would be able to defend themselves and their Clan.
“I want to try it now,” Mintpaw meowed, bounding up to stand by Snookpaw. “I—”
She broke off with a startled squeal as a snowflake landed right on top of her head. Looking up, Leafstar saw that the black clouds had covered the sky, and more flakes of snow were drifting down onto the sand.
“Snow!” Patchfoot exclaimed, wrinkling his nose in disgust. “It
’s supposed to be newleaf!”
“I think that’s enough training,” Leafstar decided as the snow began to settle on her fur and whiskers. “Let’s get back to the camp before we’re all soaked.”
Even though the camp was only a few fox-lengths down the gorge, the snow grew thicker, a white screen that hid even the cliff on the opposite side of the river. The track beneath their paws was churned into mud. Before the dens came into view, every cat’s pelt was plastered to their body by the melting flakes.
Reaching the camp, Leafstar peered through the snow and managed to make out Shrewtooth and Rockshade racing back up the gorge with a couple of scraps of sodden prey in their jaws. Sparrowpelt’s border patrol was only a few fox-lengths behind.
“Back to your dens!” Leafstar gasped. “Billystorm, Ebonyclaw, go with them. You’ll have to stay until this is over.”
“Come on,” Mintpaw meowed to Snookpaw. “You can shelter in our den.”
Rockshade veered toward the cliff with the other warriors behind him, clawing their way up a trail that was suddenly treacherous and slick with melting ice. Leafstar spotted Echosong and Tinycloud hurrying into the medicine cat’s den, and Fallowfern carrying a wriggling kit back into the nursery by its scruff. More cats appeared from the top of the gorge: Sharpclaw and his patrol were returning to camp.
Leaping rapidly down the trail, the Clan deputy reached Leafstar and the other cats on the ledge outside the warriors’ den.
“Snow!” the deputy exclaimed, shaking white flakes from his head with a disgusted snort before padding inside the den. “As if we didn’t get enough of it in leaf-bare.”
“So let’s not stand around complaining,” Leafstar meowed, following him inside. “Come on, all of you—into shelter.”
“It’ll be a good chance to do some cleaning out,” Sharpclaw meowed as the other warriors crowded into the den after their leader. “It’s starting to stink as if a fox died in here.”
“Yuck!” Cherrytail exclaimed, slapping her tail over her nose.
“Good idea,” Leafstar agreed, though all she could pick up was the overwhelming scent of wet fur from the cats milling around. “We can pull out the old moss and rub snow on the walls to clean them.”
“And I’d like to investigate those caves farther up the gorge,” Sharpclaw suggested. “We’ve been meaning to do it for nearly a moon. They could be useful for storing food, or extra sleeping dens.”
“You mean, go out there again?” Shrewtooth asked, his eyes wide and nervous. “In this snow? What if we fall off the cliff? What if we freeze to death? What—?”
“What if a giant hedgehog spears you on his prickles?” Cherrytail asked, giving the black tom a shove that was only half impatient. “I never knew a cat could worry so much!”
“Well, I think cleaning up is a good idea.” Petalnose spoke up. “I’ll go over and help in the nursery, if it’s okay with you, Leafstar.”
“Good idea. Thanks, Petalnose.”
The gray she-cat slipped out into the snow, which was already starting to ease off. Leafstar stuck her head out to watch her go, then turned back to speak to her warriors. “Sharpclaw, if you can supervise the clean-up here, I’ll take some cats and check out the unused caves. And I’d be grateful if some cat could clean my den out while I’m gone.”
“I’ll do that!” Sparrowpelt offered. “It’ll be so clean you won’t recognize it.”
Leafstar gave the warrior a nod of gratitude. “Okay, Rockshade and Bouncefire can come with me. And you, Billystorm. We’ll pick up the apprentices from their den on the way.”
“Er… Leafstar.” Billystorm gave his chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks. “I really think I should be going. I’m worried about getting snowed in. My housefolk won’t know what’s happened to me, and—”
“I don’t think you’re bothered about your housefolk at all,” Sparrowpelt interrupted indignantly. “You just don’t want to do the cleaning up.”
“That’s not true!” Billystorm sounded equally outraged; his neck fur started to bristle.
“So stay.” Rockshade took a pace forward to stand beside Sparrowpelt. “The snow is easing off already.”
“It might start again,” Billystorm argued. “I don’t want to get stuck here. Remember when there was that really strong wind last leaf-bare, and all the kittypets stayed overnight until it was over? My housefolk were really scared. I’m sure they thought I was never coming back at all.”
Sparrowpelt slid his claws out and opened his jaws to reply, but Leafstar silenced him by lifting her tail. “Okay,” she meowed to Billystorm. “If you need to go, then go. We’ll see you again tomorrow.”
“Thanks, Leafstar.” The ginger-and-white tom sounded relieved. His embarrassed gaze swept around the remainder of the cats; then he turned and slipped out of the den.
“Do you need to go too, Ebonyclaw?” Leafstar asked.
The black she-cat started. “Oh—no, Leafstar. I’ll stay. I’ll help with the clean-up.”
“Well done,” some cat murmured from the back of the crowd.
“I don’t think we should let Billystorm back tomorrow,” Sparrowpelt announced, his eyes still sparkling with indignation.
“Right,” Rockshade agreed. “He only wants to be involved in the fun stuff. When there’s work to do, he goes back to his housefolk.”
Leafstar suppressed a sigh. She knew she needed to head off quarrels between the full Clan cats and the daylight-warriors. She wanted every cat to be accepted as equal, but Billystorm wasn’t helping.
Before she could intervene, Sharpclaw stepped forward and faced the two warriors. “What happens to Billystorm is Leafstar’s decision, not yours. Now let’s get on with what we have to do.”
Sparrowpelt and Rockshade exchanged a glance. “Right, Sharpclaw,” Rockshade muttered.
“Mind you,” Sharpclaw murmured into Leafstar’s ear when the two warriors had turned away, “they’ve got a point. When Billystorm comes back we should find him some extra tasks. We don’t want these kitty-warriors getting the idea that they can have an easier time than the full Clan cats.”
Leafstar felt her neck fur begin to bristle as her deputy used the insulting term again, but she forced it to lie flat again. This wasn’t the time to start an argument.
Sharpclaw paused to give his ear a scratch with one hind paw, then added, “If they want to be part of the Clan, they’ll have to understand that tasks are shared equally.”
“You’re right,” Leafstar replied. She was grateful for her deputy’s support, when she knew that he really agreed with Sparrowpelt and Rockshade. “Maybe if we get them all involved in organizing the new dens, they’ll feel more like staying in the gorge.”
Sharpclaw gave her a disbelieving look and twitched one ear. “Yeah, maybe.”
Leafstar decided there was nothing to be gained by discussing the problem anymore. Instead, she waved her tail to beckon Rockshade and Bouncefire. “And you, Ebonyclaw,” she meowed. “You can come with me instead of Billystorm.”
Ebonyclaw blinked, obviously surprised and pleased to be picked out by her Clan leader, and followed Leafstar out of the den with the two young toms. Outside, the snow had almost stopped, only a few stray flakes still drifting down. But the trails were treacherous with snowmelt and the wind still swept across the rocks, nearly strong enough to blow a cat off the cliff.
“Watch where you’re putting your paws,” Leafstar warned.
She led the way down the trail to the apprentices’ den to collect Mintpaw and Sagepaw, and was pleased to see Snookpaw peering out when she reached the entrance to the cave. He stayed, too.
“Come on,” she meowed to the apprentices. “We’re going to start clearing out the caves farther up the gorge.”
“Great!” Sagepaw shot out past Snookpaw and onto the trail, nearly losing his balance when his paws struck a lump of ice. “What do you think we’ll find in there?”
“Bird bones and dust,” his sister replied, emerging more s
edately. “Mouse-brain!”
Sagepaw raised a paw as if he was about to swipe his sister across the ear, then stopped when he saw that Leafstar had her eye on him.
“Let’s go,” Leafstar meowed, before the apprentices could start tussling. “It’s cold, so we can warm ourselves up with some exploration.”
Once they reached the bottom of the gorge, she picked up the pace until the cats were bounding along, muscles stretching and tails streaming out behind them. Their panting breath made white clouds in the cold air. The new caves were a couple of fox-lengths before the training area, now white with a light covering of snow. Looking up, Leafstar spotted four narrow openings, two close to the bottom of the cliff, and two others higher up.
Ebonyclaw approached the nearest gap and stuck her head and shoulders inside. “It’s really small,” she reported, her disappointment obvious even though her voice was muffled.
“Ebonyclaw, come out,” Leafstar ordered.
The black she-cat backed out of the cave and turned an inquiring look on Leafstar.
“What did you forget?” the Clan leader asked.
Ebonyclaw looked puzzled.
“She should have listened and sniffed first,” Rockshade meowed loudly.
Leafstar gave him an annoyed look. He’s right, but I shouldn’t have given him the chance to embarrass Ebonyclaw. I need to be more careful.
“You never know what might be lurking inside,” Leafstar explained. “There could be a fox or a badger, or even a bees’ nest. So you have to watch out when you’re going into a confined space.”
“Sorry.” Ebonyclaw hung her head and scraped one forepaw on the ground in front of her.
“So why don’t you have a look at this other cave and show us how to do it the right way?” Leafstar indicated the second lower cave with a flick of her tail.
Ebonyclaw padded up to the cave and halted a tail-length in front of it, opening her jaws to taste the air. After a few heartbeats she turned to Leafstar. “I can’t hear or scent anything. There’s nothing alive in there.”
“Go and look, then.”
Ebonyclaw approached the cave and slid cautiously inside, to reappear a moment later. “It’s empty, Leafstar. But I think it’s also too small to be much use.”