by Erin Hunter
“Maybe Fawnstep will visit you tonight for another training session. After all, she was a SkyClan medicine cat,” Leafstar suggested. She was still a little suspicious of Spottedleaf’s appearance in her dreams. Surely Spottedleaf’s loyalties were to ThunderClan? Why is she so interested in my Clan? Leafstar flicked her tail-tip, trying to control her frustration. “But right now, we need to figure out what those cats in the gorge were talking about. It … it sounded like a prophecy, didn’t it?”
“Yes, it did,” Echosong agreed quietly.
“The small tabby was warning us,” Leafstar murmured, anxiety prickling in her fur as if ants were running through it. “He talked about worse things to come for SkyClan.”
The young medicine cat shuddered. “What could be worse than the rats?”
“And ‘deeper roots,’” Leafstar went on. “Whatever that means.”
“Maybe we should eat roots?” Echosong guessed.
Leafstar shook her head. “What good would that do? Unless they’re a source of medicine that we haven’t discovered yet.… Besides, I had another dream the night before. Floodwater was pouring down the gorge, uprooting everything in its path, flooding into our dens and sweeping us away. I think the two dreams are connected.”
Echosong nodded thoughtfully. “One of our Clanmates might have a better idea about what the dreams meant,” she suggested. “Should we call a meeting and tell them?”
Something inside Leafstar flinched away from the thought of confessing to the rest of the Clan that the leader and the medicine cat couldn’t figure out what their ancestors were trying to tell them. Was Firestar plagued by these kinds of doubts? Maybe she should give StarClan another chance to explain.
“No, we won’t say anything to the rest of the Clan yet,” she meowed. Echosong looked surprised. Leafstar added, “Not because they’re not involved, but because we might get more dreams that make the prophecy clearer. After all, what could we tell them now? That something bad is going to happen? That will only make them panic.”
Echosong tilted her head to one side. “If that’s what you want, Leafstar,” she murmured.
Leafstar tried not to bristle at the hint of doubt in the medicine cat’s tone. “It’s what is best for the Clan,” she insisted. “And if we have any more visions, we’ll discuss them in private until we can figure out what our ancestors are trying to tell us.”
CHAPTER 4
Leafstar padded up the gorge toward the new caves, enjoying the sensation of sunlight on her fur. A few days had passed since the snowfall, and the weather had turned unexpectedly warm for so early in newleaf.
As she approached the new dens, a twig sailed out into the air from the cliff face and clattered onto the ground by Leafstar’s paws; she had to jump aside to avoid it.
“It’s a snake!” a voice yowled from above her head. “I killed it!!”
Gazing upward, Leafstar spotted two of the daylight-warriors, Harveymoon and Macgyver, on a ledge outside the fourth of the new caves, which so far no cat had cleared out. As she watched, Macgyver scooped up a pawful of dry moss and threw it at Harveymoon; it hit the white tom in the chest and spattered all over his fur.
“I’ll get you for that!” Harveymoon meowed, leaping on top of Macgyver.
For StarClan’s sake! Leafstar thought, annoyed, as she began to scramble up to the ledge. Fallowfern’s kits have more sense!
The toms sprang apart as Leafstar bounded up the last couple of tail-lengths and joined them on the ledge.
“What d’you think you’re doing?” she growled. “I thought you were here to help, not behave like a couple of kits.”
Before either of them could reply, Sharpclaw emerged from the cave. His dark ginger pelt was clumped and streaked with dust and his green eyes sparked with irritation. “I’ve had to put up with this all morning,” he told Leafstar, turning a furious glare on Harveymoon and Macgyver. “You’re being disloyal to your Clan when you behave so stupidly. Don’t you care about the honor of being a warrior? You haven’t done a stroke of work, and you’re making it harder for every other cat.”
“It’s not like we’ll have to sleep in these caves,” Harveymoon pointed out. “So why should we have to clear them out?”
Sharpclaw let out a long hiss of anger, and even Macgyver’s eyes widened in shock. Harveymoon glanced uneasily from one to the other; Leafstar could tell that he hadn’t realized how insolent the words sounded until they were out of his mouth.
Ebonyclaw and her apprentice, Frecklepaw, had appeared at the mouth of the cave, peering around Sharpclaw, and Leafstar spotted Rockshade and Sparrowpelt in the shadows behind them. She realized that every cat was waiting for her to do something; behavior like this couldn’t be ignored. The fact that it was warriors from Twolegplace causing the trouble somehow made it much worse.
“Clan cats don’t fool around when their Clanmates are working,” she told Macgyver and Harveymoon. “And they certainly don’t talk like that to the Clan deputy—or any other cat. Warriors treat one another with respect.” She felt as if a stone were lodged in her belly as she added, “It’s not as if this is the first time. You couldn’t be bothered to turn up for the warrior ceremony, and on your last two hunting patrols you never caught a thing.” She took a deep breath and went on, “You’re both banished from the camp until the next full moon. Perhaps by then you’ll have decided whether you really want to be part of SkyClan.”
Macgyver and Harveymoon crouched down as their leader scolded them, their ears flattened. As she pronounced their sentence they exchanged a shocked glance.
“We’re sorry, Leafstar,” Macgyver meowed. “We didn’t think. Please let us stay.”
“We’ll work really hard,” Harveymoon promised. “Sharpclaw, I’m sorry I said what I did. I didn’t mean it.”
“‘Sorry’ catches no prey,” Leafstar responded. “It’s too late for that.”
“But I promised to join Waspwhisker and Mintpaw on a hunting patrol after sunhigh,” the white tom protested.
“And I was going to help Sagepaw check the elders for fleas,” Macgyver put in. “Tangle is halfway through telling us a story about a fox, and I really want to hear the end.”
“You should have thought of that sooner,” Leafstar meowed. She couldn’t weaken now, not with Sharpclaw’s stare scorching the fur on her back. “We’ll welcome you back at the next full moon, if you are ready to behave like proper warriors while you’re here. But now you have to go.”
Harveymoon opened his jaws to argue again, then seemed to think better of it. Despondently the two cats scrambled down the cliff face to the bottom of the gorge and headed toward the Rockpile with their heads bowed and their tails drooping.
Watching them, with Sharpclaw bristling at her side, Leafstar wondered if she was doing the right thing by allowing kittypets into her Clan at all. Could this be the “greater storm” that the dream-cat had warned about? Leafstar shoved the thought away; a couple of flea-brained toms didn’t deserve a prophecy all to themselves.
But I can’t go on ignoring Sharpclaw’s doubts about the daylight-warriors. I have to stand up for my deputy.
Before Harveymoon and Macgyver had gone more than a couple of tail-lengths, they met Cherrytail and Bouncefire bounding around a spur of rock on their way to the new caves. In the still air, their voices floated clearly up to Leafstar.
“What’s the matter with you two?” Cherrytail asked, halting in front of the dejected toms. “You look as if you’ve lost a squirrel and found a beetle.”
“It’s worse than that,” Harveymoon muttered.
“What, then?” Bouncefire demanded.
“We were fooling around,” Macgyver admitted; he sounded genuinely ashamed. “And then this flea-brain”—he gave Harveymoon a shove—“was really rude to Sharpclaw. So Leafstar has banished us from camp until the next full moon.”
“That’s terrible!” Bouncefire squeaked, wide-eyed.
“It sounds as if you asked for it,” Cherrytail
meowed tartly. “You must have bees in your brain if you think you can come here and just fool around.”
“Cherrytail’s right.” Leafstar jumped as Ebonyclaw spoke quietly behind her from the mouth of the cave. “It was all their fault. Don’t feel bad about it, Leafstar.”
“That’s right,” Frecklepaw added; she was a leggy light brown tabby, and she looked scared stiff at speaking directly to her Clan leader.
Leafstar touched her shoulder gently with her tail-tip. “Thank you, Frecklepaw.”
More cats pushed their way out onto the ledge to watch the two daylight-warriors leave. Billystorm and Snookpaw joined Ebonyclaw and Frecklepaw, with Tinycloud just behind, while Shrewtooth crept out last of all. Leafstar blinked in surprise; she hadn’t realized how big this cave was.
“It’s a pity they couldn’t stay,” Tinycloud mewed sadly. “There won’t be as many of us to fill the fresh-kill pile.”
Billystorm and Snookpaw glanced at each other, murmuring agreement.
“And there won’t be as many mouths to feed,” Rockshade pointed out, swiping his sister over the ear with one paw. “Besides, how much prey did those two ever bring in?”
“What about enemies?” Shrewtooth crouched at the front of the ledge and peered along the gorge. “Will there be enough of us to fight them off?”
Rockshade rolled his eyes. “What enemies, mouse-brain? There’s only us.”
Leafstar’s heart grew heavier as she heard her Clanmates arguing. Will this Clan ever learn to work together?
“Thanks for supporting me.” Sharpclaw broke in on her thoughts. “It was the right decision.”
“I didn’t do it for your sake!” Leafstar snapped, surprising herself with her sharp tone. “This problem isn’t over yet.”
Sharpclaw looked surprised, too, his green eyes flashing at her, but he said nothing. Leafstar wondered if she should apologize, but she couldn’t think of the right thing to say.
Apologizing is all I do these days, when I’m not being baffled by something going on in the Clan.
Giving her deputy a brusque nod, she headed down into the gorge. At the foot of the cliff she met Cherrytail and Bouncefire; Harveymoon and Macgyver had disappeared.
“We’re looking for Billystorm and Snookpaw,” Bouncefire meowed. “We’re supposed to be doing a border patrol.”
“They’re up in the caves,” Leafstar told them.
“Great! Er… Leafstar,” Cherrytail went on, “we spoke to Harveymoon and Macgyver. Do you still want us to patrol the border, or should we hunt instead?”
Leafstar remembered the few miserable pieces of prey that had remained on the fresh-kill pile when she passed it on her way up the gorge.
“You’d better hunt,” she decided. Border patrols can wait. Right now, it feels as if all SkyClan’s problems are inside its borders, not outside.
Leaving Cherrytail yowling for Billystorm and Snookpaw at the bottom of the cliff, Leafstar headed for the elders’ den. Just as she reached the end of the trail that led up the cliff face, she met Sagepaw.
“Can you go to help Sharpclaw with the new caves?” she mewed. “Some of his cats are going hunting, and there’s still a lot of work to do.”
Sagepaw blinked in disappointment. “Sure, Leafstar. But I was just going to check the elders for fleas.”
“You want to check the elders for fleas?” Leafstar mewed.
Sagepaw gave his chest fur a couple of awkward licks. “Well, Tangle was telling this really great story…”
Leafstar let out a soft purr of amusement and gently flicked the apprentice’s ear with her tail. “There’ll be plenty of chances to listen to Tangle,” she promised. “Now you need to go and help Sharpclaw.”
“Okay.” Sagepaw dipped his head and bounded along the gorge toward the new caves.
Leafstar watched him go, then padded up the trail that led to the elders’ den. “Greetings, Lichenfur, Tangle,” she meowed as she poked her head inside.
“Where’s that pesky apprentice?” Tangle growled without returning her greeting. “He was supposed to be sorting out my fleas.” The old cat vigorously scratched his rumpled tabby pelt. “They’re driving me mad.”
“I’ll do your fleas, Tangle,” Leafstar offered, slipping right inside the den. “Sagepaw is busy.”
Lichenfur raised her head from the nest of moss where she was curled up. Her amber eyes were wide with shock. “Do other Clan leaders search their elders’ pelts for fleas? I didn’t know that.”
The barb in her voice was unmistakable, like a thorn hidden in a bed of moss. Leafstar guessed the old cat thought she was inviting criticism by taking on tasks that were beneath her rank. She bit back a sharp reply.
“I wouldn’t ask any of my cats to do something I’m not prepared to do myself,” she responded mildly. “And I have no idea what other Clan leaders do. But if you want to lie here with fleas in your pelts, I can go away and leave you in peace.”
“I suppose it’s all right,” Lichenfur admitted grudgingly.
Tangle just grunted; Leafstar assumed that was agreement. I bet elders are the same wherever they are.
“What’s this I hear about you sending those kittypets away?” Lichenfur asked as Leafstar settled down beside Tangle and started to probe deep into his ragged fur.
Leafstar blinked, surprised even though she knew how fast gossip traveled within the Clan. “How do you know about that?”
“Petalnose met Harveymoon and Macgyver on their way out,” Tangle explained. “And she came to tell us.”
And the whole Clan will know about it by now, Leafstar thought, pouncing on a flea and cracking it between her teeth.
“I’m not sure I did the right thing,” she admitted. “There seem to be so many arguments at the moment, and I’m afraid I’ve just added to them.”
Tangle twisted his neck to look up at her with bleary amber eyes; Leafstar thought she could make out a trace of wisdom lurking in their depths. “Whatever you decide,” he rumbled, “you have to be strong. The path SkyClan walks is shadowed, and you’re the one leading us along it.”
Lichenfur snorted. “Cats are supposed to be able to see in the dark, and I for one don’t want a blind leader.”
Leafstar tensed at the hostility in the elder’s tone.
Tangle gave her a nudge. “Ignore her,” he whispered. “She sat on a thistle all night.”
Leafstar nodded, warmed by the grumpy old cat’s support. But how many more of my Clanmates think that I’m a blind leader? she wondered.
Leaving the elders, she turned her paws in the direction of Echosong’s den. It would be a relief to discuss Harveymoon and Macgyver with the young medicine cat and ask her advice. She hadn’t gone more than a couple of paw steps, when she heard a scrabbling sound from above; grit and scraps of debris pattered down onto the trail. The shriek of a terrified cat echoed through the gorge.
Looking up, Leafstar saw Sagepaw dangling from the cliff face above the highest of the new caves, clinging to the rock by the tips of his claws.
“Help!” he screeched. “Help me!”
CHAPTER 5
Before Leafstar could move, Sharpclaw shot out of one of the lower caves and began clawing his way upward, closely followed by Patchfoot. In the same heartbeat, Petalnose emerged from the nursery and flung herself across the rock face toward the terrified apprentice, scrambling precariously along a trail that was so narrow it was almost invisible against the sandy cliff.
Leafstar began to climb, too, her paws pounding over the rocks, but she was much farther away than her deputy.
“Hold on!” Sharpclaw ordered, his voice crisp and calm. “Don’t move!”
Petalnose let out a panic-stricken wail. “StarClan help him!”
The rock was crumbling beneath Sagepaw’s claws. Leafstar’s belly lurched as she saw him slide a tail-length down the cliff. She spotted Ebonyclaw and Rockshade peering out of the cave below, but Sagepaw was just out of reach of their paws.
“I’m
slipping!” he gasped. “I can’t hold on!”
“Yes, you can. Keep still.” Sharpclaw was only a couple of fox-lengths below the apprentice now, the only cat close enough to have a hope of reaching him. His powerful hind legs pushed upward from a crack in the rock and he lunged toward Sagepaw, but before he could fasten his claws into the young cat’s fur, more of the rock flaked away under Sagepaw’s paws.
The apprentice let out a shriek; his paws flailed as he tried to dig his claws into the powdery surface. Leafstar gazed in horror as his small body plummeted down. Off balance, Sharpclaw barely saved himself from following.
Sagepaw’s shriek was cut off as he struck a jutting boulder, bounced off, and fell the rest of the way to the foot of the cliff, landing with an ugly thud. He lay motionless on the trail between the cliff and the river.
With a cold weight gathering in her belly, Leafstar turned and scrambled down to join him. Landing lightly beside him, she bent her head to sniff his pale gray fur.
“Is he dead?” Petalnose hurtled down the cliff and flung herself onto the ground beside her son. Every hair on her pelt bristled with horror. “StarClan, don’t let him be dead!”
Sagepaw lay stretched out in the dust at the bottom of the cliff. His eyes were closed, but relief flooded through Leafstar when she saw his flank twitch.
“He’s not dead,” she murmured, pressing her muzzle against Petalnose’s shoulder.
Patchfoot jumped down and shot one horrified look at the motionless apprentice. “I’ll fetch Echosong,” he meowed, and raced away.
Petalnose crouched beside Sagepaw and started to lick the fur on the top of his head. “Wake up, Sagepaw,” she pleaded, her voice quivering. “It’s my fault,” she added, raising wide blue eyes to her Clan leader. “I should have been watching him.”
Leafstar could understand the gray she-cat’s guilt. Sagepaw was Petalnose’s son and her apprentice; no wonder she felt responsible for his accident.
I remember Firestar telling us that forest cats don’t mentor their own kin. Maybe they have a point.