by Erin Hunter
Leafstar took a look in both the lower caves. Ebonyclaw was right. They were too cramped to make comfortable dens; they didn’t go back far enough, and the roofs were low. Snail trails crisscrossed the stone floors with silver lines, and farther back leaves and debris were heaped against the walls.
“We’ll clean them out later,” she decided. “They might do for storage.”
Outside, Bouncefire was staring up at the other two caves. “I can climb up there,” he announced. “Do you want me to take a look?”
“We’ll all take a look,” Leafstar replied. “Follow me, and be careful. There’s no proper trail leading up there.”
The route up to the next cave was a hard scramble. Leafstar had to push herself up using cracks in the rock for paw holds, hauling herself over boulders and edging along narrow ledges. Glancing back she saw that the other cats were managing to follow; Rockshade grabbed Mintpaw by the scruff and dragged her up a slanting rock when the short-legged apprentice couldn’t reach the next crack.
If we want to use this cave as a den, we’ll have to make a better way of getting to it.
But when she reached the entrance to the cave and checked to see if it was safe, Leafstar was encouraged to see that it was much bigger than the two lower ones. Its roof arched at least a tail-length above her head, and she couldn’t see the back wall, it was so choked with debris.
Bouncefire scrambled panting onto the ledge beside her, and immediately let out a huge sneeze. “Dust!” he gasped.
“Right,” Leafstar mewed, feeling a spark of amusement at the young cat’s surprised look. “So let’s get on with clearing it out.”
She started by clawing at an old bird’s nest, which instantly came apart in her paws, sending up another cloud of dust and setting her sneezing, too. She heard a mrrow of laughter from Bouncefire as he set to work beside her.
The other cats arrived to help, pulling out twigs and leaves and bones of long-dead prey and sending it all cascading over the lip of the entrance into the gorge below. At last Leafstar began to get a better idea of how big the cave was: a wide space stretching deep into the cliff, dry and shielded from bad weather.
“This could be good,” she wheezed as she blinked through a haze of dust. “Plenty of room, and it will be comfortable once we bring some moss up here.”
“Safe, too,” Ebonyclaw pointed out. “Nothing could sneak up on us.”
Leafstar gave her an approving nod. She might spend her nights in a Twoleg nest, but the black she-cat was smart and thought like a warrior. Maybe we shouldn’t try to make an easier trail. It’ll be safer to leave it as it is.
“Let’s take a breather,” she mewed, sitting where she could look out of the entrance at the climb they had just managed. “You’ve all worked really hard.”
Her Clanmates flopped down around her and began to groom dust and bits of debris out of their pelts.
“Leafstar, will you tell us more about the old SkyClan?” Snookpaw asked, sounding unusually shy. “I’ve heard the other cats say there was another Clan here a long time ago. Is it true?”
“Completely,” Leafstar answered, trying to recollect everything that Firestar had told her about the first SkyClan. She settled herself more comfortably on the sandy floor of the cave. “Long ago, the first SkyClan lived in a forest, with four other Clans. But they had to leave when Twolegs stole their territory to build a Twolegplace.”
“There are other Twolegplaces?” Mintpaw gasped, her eyes stretched wide in wonder.
“Oh, yes, lots of others. Anyway, SkyClan traveled for a long way, and at last they came to the gorge and made their camp here. They lived in the dens where we live now.”
The three apprentices glanced at one another, their eyes wide, as if they expected to see the spirits of those long-ago cats padding in through the cave entrance.
“But then the rats came,” Leafstar went on. “They killed many of the old SkyClan cats, and drove out the rest. Some of the warriors went elsewhere, and some of them became loners or kittypets. And some—just a few—held on to the memory of SkyClan until Firestar came and brought it back to life.”
Sagepaw heaved a long sigh. “That’s so great! Do you think that we could be descended from those old SkyClan cats? I wish I was!”
“And me!” Rockshade put in.
“Me too!” Mintpaw added, while Snookpaw blinked but said nothing.
“You might be,” Leafstar mewed, though privately she had her doubts. Firestar had told her that the old SkyClan cats had long legs for jumping and hard pads for walking on rocky surfaces. Mintpaw and Sagepaw didn’t have either of those, and neither did Rockshade or Bouncefire.
But Snookpaw could be a SkyClan descendant, she thought. He’s good at leaping and fearless when he climbs trees. And Ebonyclaw’s legs are long and strong.
“Every cat around here could have links to the old Clan,” she continued, careful not to single out the daylight-warriors. “Which means that every cat has the right to be our Clanmate.”
“I’m a SkyClan cat!” Rockshade announced, crouching down as if he intended to take a flying leap out of the cave. “I can jump and climb really well.”
“So can I!” Mintpaw chimed in, her eyes gleaming. “And my legs are really strong.”
Leafstar suppressed a sigh. Are they going to start measuring each other’s legs now?
“I’m strong, too. Unlike some I could mention,” Rockshade growled.
He means the daylight-warriors, Leafstar realized. “SkyClan cats come from many different places,” she reminded the young black tom. “They should all have a chance to belong here.”
“I guess so,” Rockshade mumbled, though Leafstar wasn’t sure he really agreed.
Ebonyclaw and Snookpaw exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.
Inwardly, Leafstar admitted to doubts of her own. I wish I could be sure how to handle this. I want a Clan where every cat will be welcomed and valued for the skills they can bring. Instead, all my warriors seem to be pulling in different directions.
When Firestar and Sandstorm left, all the SkyClan cats had lived in the gorge day and night, dedicated warriors like the Clans in the forest where Firestar lived. He’d had no way of knowing that cats from the Twolegplace would want to join SkyClan on their own terms, spending days in the gorge and nights with their housefolk, well fed and cozy and safe from foxes. None of Firestar’s advice about leading a Clan had prepared Leafstar for having Clanmates who seemed to be split in two.
Can I really hold them together?
CHAPTER 3
Leafstar opened her eyes to see moonlight slanting in through the entrance to her den. A voice had roused her from sleep, but now all was silent except for the whispering of the river at the bottom of the gorge. She rose to her paws, arched her back in a long stretch, and shook scraps of moss from her pelt. Slipping out of her den, she padded down the trail until she reached the edge of the water.
At the foot of the Rockpile, the three new warriors were keeping vigil, each one sitting upright with their tails curled neatly over their paws. In the moonlight they looked like cats carved out of ice or stone, and they didn’t acknowledge the nod Leafstar gave them as she passed.
She headed for the new dens, her paws gliding silently over the white drifts of snow that still lingered in the shade of the rocks. The boulders glistened with frost, as if leaf-bare had returned to the gorge, but the brown-and-cream tabby didn’t feel cold. Instead, her body felt warm and curiously light, like a leaf spinning idly in a warm breeze. Scrambling up the rocky cliff face, Leafstar reached the largest of the new dens and padded inside, shaking the snowmelt from each of her paws in turn.
I was right, she thought. This will make a good den. It’s sheltered from the wind, and it will be hard for enemies to reach the entrance—if they suspect we’re in here at all.
“Your cats will be safe here.”
Leafstar spun around at the sound of a voice behind her. Another cat stood outlined in the entran
ce to the cave, black against the silver moonlight. Catching her breath, Leafstar drew in a sweet but unfamiliar scent. Not until the strange cat stepped forward did she recognize the graceful tortoiseshell-and-white figure of Spottedleaf.
The medicine cat who walks with StarClan. Firestar’s friend. What is she doing here?
Spottedleaf paced forward, her pelt glittering with starlight, until she was close enough to brush against Leafstar’s fur. Her scent wreathed around them. “Greetings, dear friend,” she murmured.
“Am I—am I dreaming?” Leafstar asked hoarsely. She still wasn’t used to dead cats walking into her mind and talking to her as if they were still alive.
Spottedleaf dipped her head. “To your Clanmates, you are asleep in your den. Didn’t you notice how the new warriors didn’t even blink when you walked by?”
Leafstar shrugged. “I thought they were obeying the rules of the first night vigil.”
“I don’t doubt that they are,” Spottedleaf murmured. She looked around, pricking her ears. “SkyClan must be doing well if you need new dens,” she observed.
“I … we were just exploring,” Leafstar explained. “Wondering what these caves could be used for. We have new kits in the Clan, and more on the way, but we haven’t spilled out of our old dens yet.”
Spottedleaf’s glowing green eyes searched Leafstar’s face. “Is all well with your Clan?”
“Everything’s fine,” Leafstar replied carefully. She wasn’t going to share her concerns about Billystorm and the others with this cat who was almost a stranger to her. She isn’t part of our Clan. “How are Firestar and Sandstorm?”
“They’re both well,” the StarClan cat replied. “They have two kits—little daughters.”
“That’s great!” Warm pleasure flooded through Leafstar. “When you see Firestar, tell him how happy I am for them.”
“I will.” To Leafstar’s surprise, Spottedleaf didn’t seem as pleased as she would have expected at the thought of Firestar’s litter. Once again, she fixed her green gaze on Leafstar. “You have the hardest task of any Clan leader,” she meowed. “You must build a Clan from cats who know nothing of the warrior code.”
Leafstar hadn’t expected Spottedleaf to begin discussing her Clan, and she wasn’t sure she welcomed it. We do know the warrior code. Firestar taught the first of us, and we’re teaching the rest!
“I do my best,” she pointed out.
“And you are doing well,” Spottedleaf told her. “But there is a long way to go before your future is secure.”
Leafstar stiffened. What did Spottedleaf know that she wasn’t sharing? Had she seen the tension among the SkyClan warriors earlier? She opened her mouth to defend her Clanmates, but Spottedleaf was beckoning her to the cave entrance with a wave of her tail.
Looking out, Leafstar saw several unfamiliar cats in the bottom of the gorge. At first her fur started to bristle at the idea of strangers invading the camp. Then she realized that pale starlight glimmered from the fur of the newcomers, and their bodies were so faint that they were almost transparent; Leafstar could make out the jagged shapes of rocks behind them through their shadowy forms. As she watched, some of the cats padded away in different directions. Three more melted into the shadows of the elders’ den, leaving only two behind, sitting together at the entrance of Echosong’s cave.
“Who are they?” Leafstar whispered, icy claws pricking her spine.
Spottedleaf didn’t reply. Instead, the voice of the bigger cat, a dark brown tabby tom, floated faintly up from the gorge. “Will a Clan ever live here again?”
The other cat, a paler brown tom, dipped his head and murmured something Leafstar couldn’t catch. She sensed great sadness clinging to the pelts of both cats, like the scent of rank herbs.
Then the smaller cat raised his head, gazing upward as if he spoke directly to Leafstar. “This is the leaf-bare of my Clan.” Now his words rang clearly in Leafstar’s ears, echoing through the seasons that separated her from the long-ago cat. “Greenleaf will come, but it will bring even greater storms than these. SkyClan will need deeper roots if it is to survive.”
“Is that a warning?” Leafstar whispered over her shoulder, trying hard to keep her voice steady. “Maybe a prophecy?” She remembered her dream of the night before, the uprooted trees and bushes hurled down the gorge by the foaming torrent where her cats were drowning. Was that dream a prophecy, too?
No answer came from Spottedleaf, and when Leafstar turned toward her the cave was empty. Shivering as if she had fallen into icy water, Leafstar looked out at the gorge again. The moon shone down on empty rocks; the shadowy cats had vanished.
A heartbeat later, Leafstar opened her eyes to find herself curled up in the mossy nest inside her own den. Watery dawn light seeped in through the entrance. She blinked in confusion, the words of the small brown tom still echoing in her ears.
What did he mean by “greater storms”? And how can cats have “deeper roots”?
“Mouse-brain! There’ll be more prey if we go downstream!”
“No, we should cross the stream and hunt in the forest.”
“You’re both wrong! We should climb the cliff and try the trees at the top. There are plenty of squirrels there.”
Leafstar sighed as the bickering reached her den; she recognized the voices of Tinycloud, Rockshade, and Bouncefire. Heaving herself to her paws, she stumbled to the entrance of her den, struggling to tear her mind away from the clinging cobwebs of her dream. When she peered out the entrance, Leafstar spotted the Clan’s three newest warriors crouched together at the bottom of the Rockpile.
Bouncefire’s voice rose in a wail. “If you would justlisten…”
Leafstar headed down the trail to break up the argument, but before she reached them Sharpclaw appeared, bounding down the rocks from the direction of the warriors’ den. Leafstar halted on a boulder at the foot of the cliff and watched her deputy deal with the quarrel.
“What’s going on here?” His voice was as rough as a pawful of claws scraping across rock. “You’re supposed to be keeping vigil, not waking the rest of the camp with your caterwauling.”
“It’s dawn. Our vigil’s over,” Rockshade pointed out.
“And we want to go hunting,” Tinycloud added.
Sharpclaw raked all three of them with an icy glare from eyes like chips of green ice. “Funny, I always thought it was the Clan deputy who set the patrols. Am I wrong?”
The young cats hung their heads. “No, Sharpclaw,” Bouncefire muttered.
“Good.” The Clan deputy flicked his tail. “Rockshade, you can come with me and do the border patrol on this side of the gorge. Bouncefire, Patchfoot is leading a hunting patrol; go find him and tell him I said you’re to go with him.”
“What about me?” Tinycloud asked.
“Cherrytail is leading the other border patrol. You can go with her. And make sure that I don’t have to talk to you about this kind of squabbling again.”
Leafstar gave her deputy a nod of approval as he spun around and stalked away. Pleased that she hadn’t needed to intervene, she headed along the bottom of the cliff toward the medicine cat’s den.
From behind her, she overheard Tinycloud’s voice. “At least I can stay away from Echosong’s den today. If she catches me, she’ll have me fetching herbs again.”
Leafstar almost turned back and ordered the white she-cat to do just that, but she didn’t want to countermand Sharpclaw’s orders. I’ll make sure she helps Echosong again soon, though, she decided. Every cat has to understand how important the medicine cat is to the life of the Clan.
When Leafstar slipped through the outer cave into Echosong’s inner den, the young medicine cat had her back to her as she bent over the herbs that were stored in cracks at the back.
“Juniper berries, yarrow, tansy…” she murmured to herself. “No, that’s not tansy, it’s coltsfoot.…”
“Greetings, Echosong.”
At the sound of her leader’s voice the silve
r tabby jumped and whipped around, her green eyes wide. When she saw Leafstar she relaxed, puffing out a breath. “Leafstar, you startled me!”
“Sorry.” Leafstar padded forward to touch noses with the medicine cat, enjoying the sweet, crisp scent of herbs that clung to her fur.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Echosong went on. “I—I had something that might have been a dream last night. At least, I know it was a dream, but I’m not sure if it was important.”
Leafstar felt a tingle beneath her pelt. She’d intended to ask the medicine cat about her dream, too: a coincidence, or something more? “Tell me what happened,” she prompted.
Echosong paced across the outer den and sat down in the entrance, beckoning with her tail for her Clan leader to sit beside her. “I woke up—or at least I thought I woke up—and I heard quiet voices outside my den. When I looked out, I saw two cats. One was a big dark tabby, and the other was smaller and paler brown. Starlight was glimmering in their fur, but they looked so faint and far away.”
Leafstar’s belly clenched. Echosong was describing the two cats she had seen in her own dream. “Did they say anything?” she asked warily.
Echosong nodded. “The big tabby said, ‘It is time to leave. Our last duty is completed.’ They started to pad away, up the gorge. Then the smaller cat stopped and turned, and I felt as if he was looking straight at me. He said, ‘This is the leaf-bare of my Clan. Greenleaf will come, but it will bring even greater storms than these. SkyClan will need deeper roots if it is to survive.’ What do you think he meant, Leafstar?”
Leafstar’s heart was thumping as if it were about to burst out of her chest. It was a moment before she could reply. “I don’t know. But it must mean something. Because I had the same dream last night.”
Echosong sprang to her paws. “The exact dream?”
“Near enough. Except I dreamed that I went to the new dens up the gorge, and that’s where I saw the two cats. Spottedleaf was there, too.”
Briefly Echosong looked envious. “I wish I’d seen her. There’s so much I need to ask her about herbs.”