SkyClan's Destiny

by Erin Hunter

  “Let’s hope they have some tracking skills,” Sharpclaw commented.

  “Well, I can’t believe you’re going to so much trouble,” Petalnose meowed, gazing disdainfully at the scattering of Twoleg objects.

  “Nor can I,” Sparrowpelt agreed. “It’s nothing to do with us. Why should we care whether the Twolegs find their kit or not?”

  Clovertail’s eyes stretched wide. “I can’t believe you said that!”

  Sparrowpelt shrugged. “I just think it’s too much trouble. We’re putting ourselves in danger, and for what?”

  “Well, I think it’s a great idea!” Cherrytail glared at her brother. “Are we going now?”

  Leafstar glanced up at the sky; the sun was starting to go down, and not much time was left if they were to lead the Twolegs to the gorge before dark. “Yes, right now,” she decided. “I’ll take the same patrol as before. We all know the way now. Each of you pick up something and follow me.”

  “I’ll stay here, if that’s okay,” Sharpclaw meowed. “I’ve got a few ideas that might help when the Twolegs come to the gorge.”

  Leafstar wondered for a moment what her deputy was planning, then told herself firmly that she couldn’t keep suspecting his motives, or nothing would get done. “Fine,” she mewed briskly. “We’ll see you later.”

  Wincing at the strong Twoleg scent, Leafstar gripped the green jingly thing in her jaws, while the rest of the patrol gathered up the other objects. Billystorm picked up the backpack, dangling it between his forelegs like some weird piece of fresh-kill.

  Leafstar led the way up the cliff face, scrambling over the rocks, for there was no clearly defined trail just here. Halfway up she came upon a round object made of Twoleg pelt-stuff, with a hard crescent shape sticking out at one side. It was about the size of a Twoleg’s head.

  That must be to cover their head fur, she thought, pleased with herself for guessing as she grabbed it up and carried it with her.

  Near the spot where they reached the top of the cliff, a straggling thornbush grew, thrusting its roots between the rocks. “Hang the backpack there,” Leafstar instructed Billystorm, gesturing with her tail at a jutting branch. “It’s big and bright. The Twolegs will be able to see it from a long way off.”

  Billystorm nodded and did as she told him, though he didn’t speak to her. Leafstar’s heart ached all over again. This mission would feel much more exciting if we were still friends!

  Working their way across the open ground between the gorge and Twolegplace, Leafstar and her patrol positioned the objects where they thought the Twolegs would easily spot them: on a tree stump, a flat rock, the top of a steep bank. Leafstar checked carefully that each object could be clearly seen behind them before she placed the next one.

  Finally, Cherrytail scrambled up and left the hair band on an overhanging branch of a chestnut tree beside the Thunderpath, on the edge of the open ground. “Now what?” she panted when she jumped down again.

  The only thing left was the head fur cover that Leafstar was carrying. By now she was sick of it; it was heavy and awkward and kept tripping her up. She set it down for a moment to take a breather from the all-pervading scent.

  “I’ll take this to the Twoleg nest,” she meowed. “With any luck, someone there should recognize it.”

  “Be careful,” Cora warned her. “They might throw things again.”

  Leafstar nodded. That’s a risk I’ll just have to take.

  She picked up the cover again and headed for the nest with her patrol padding cautiously behind her. The sun was sliding below the roofs of the Twoleg nests, and the shadows in the alley seemed to reach out for her. She suppressed a shiver as she jumped up onto the wall and looked out across the bright green grass.

  At first she thought the space was empty, though the door to the nest was still open. Then she noticed the male Twoleg pacing up and down in the shadow of the bushes on the opposite side. A moment later the female came out and called something to him. Worried that they would both go back inside, Leafstar sprang down and carried the head fur cover across the grass toward the female, letting out a hiss of annoyance as her paws got tangled up again in the pelt-stuff.

  As soon as the female Twoleg spotted her, she let out a screech and started flapping her arms again, trying to chase her off.

  Yes, we’ve done all this, Leafstar thought irritably. Just look at what I’m carrying, will you?

  She dodged to one side as the female swiped at her, fighting the urge to flee back into the alley. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Cora and Cherrytail side by side on the top of the wall, looking on with horrified expressions.

  Then the male Twoleg let out a yowl. He ran across the garden and grabbed the female’s foreleg, stopping her from swiping again at Leafstar. He was pointing urgently at the head fur cover.

  At last!

  The male Twoleg crouched down, talking in quiet tones with one pink paw stretched out to Leafstar. The female had stopped screeching, and was staring at her with her eyes wide. Leafstar wanted to drop the cover and run, but she knew that wouldn’t do any good. She backed away slowly, trying to keep her fur flat in case the Twolegs thought she was trying to threaten them. The head fur cover dragged on the grass in front of her, luring the Twolegs forward as if it were a tasty piece of fresh-kill. When she reached the wall Leafstar spun around and leaped onto it, noticing with relief that the rest of the patrol had vanished. They didn’t want to scare the Twolegs with a horde of unfamiliar cats.

  Jumping down into the alley, she looked back at the male Twoleg, who stared over the wall at her for a couple of heartbeats, then opened a gate and followed her out.

  That’s right. Just keep following.…

  Reaching the Thunderpath, Leafstar dropped the head fur cover and ran toward the chestnut tree where Cherrytail had left the hair band. When she stopped and looked back, she saw that the male Twoleg had picked up the cover and was turning it over in his paws; then he raised his head and gazed after Leafstar. It was hard for her to read Twoleg expressions, but she thought he looked puzzled.

  A moment later the female Twoleg joined her mate. He gave her the cover and she examined it in her turn. Leafstar twitched her tail impatiently. Come on! How hard can it be?

  Then her jaws dropped open in dismay as the male turned away and headed back into the mouth of the alley.

  “No!” Leafstar let out a despairing wail. “This way!”

  The female paused, then headed alongside the Thunderpath, toward Leafstar. Her mate followed her, yowling something, but the female didn’t reply. Leafstar’s instincts were telling her to race across the Thunderpath and back toward the gorge, but she made herself retreat slowly so that she didn’t lose the Twolegs.

  She was close to the chestnut tree when the female suddenly let out a screech. She started to run, passing Leafstar, who sprang out of the way, and grabbed the hair band from the low branch where Cherrytail had left it.

  “Thank StarClan!” Leafstar purred. “They’ve found the trail.”

  The male Twoleg caught up with his mate and pointed across the open ground, to where Snookpaw had spread the hanky over a rock just beyond the line of Twoleg nests. Sure now that the Twolegs could find their own way to the gorge, Leafstar waved her tail to summon her patrol. They emerged from hiding places in the shadows and underneath bushes and crowded around her.

  “We did it!” Cherrytail exclaimed, with an excited bounce.

  “Then let’s head back to camp,” Leafstar meowed. “I want to get there before the Twolegs.”

  They raced back to the cliffs, staying well clear of the trail of Twoleg objects. Through the dusk, Leafstar could hear the Twolegs shouting as they found each new thing. Her heart soared as she realized that the plan had worked. When the patrol scrambled down the trail that led to the camp, Leafstar skidded to a halt and stared around in surprise. The gorge had never looked so busy. Petalnose, Waspwhisker, and Shrewtooth were dragging branches and fronds of fern across the den entra
nces. Ebonyclaw was supervising the three remaining apprentices in moving the fresh-kill pile across the Rockpile and into a hollow among the rocks on the other side of the river. Tangle and Lichenfur were down by the river, using their tails to wipe out paw prints.

  They’re hiding the camp!

  “Are they coming?” Sharpclaw demanded, bounding up to Leafstar.

  “They’re on their way,” Leafstar told him. “You’re doing a good job,” she continued, grateful for her deputy’s quick thinking. “It’s hard to tell there have ever been cats here.”

  Sharpclaw replied with a terse nod. “I’d rather the Twolegs didn’t come anywhere near the gorge,” he meowed. “But you’re right that the injured kit can’t stay here. It’s better to control the invasion than have the Twolegs swarming all over us when we’re not ready for them.”

  Leaving her patrol to help with the concealment of the camp, Leafstar headed up the gorge to find Echosong. The medicine cat and Clovertail were sitting beside the injured kit, who still wasn’t moving. Her tiny pink paws lay on the stones beside her, all scratched and smeared with dried blood. Leafstar blinked. Oh, you poor little kit.

  “Did it work?” Echosong sprang to her paws and rushed over to Leafstar as soon as the Clan leader rounded the spur of rock.

  Before Leafstar could reply, they heard the sound of huge paws trampling around on the cliff above their heads, and Twoleg voices yowling.

  “Thank StarClan!” Clovertail whispered. “They’re calling for their kit.”

  “But the kit can’t answer,” Echosong mewed anxiously.

  “Then we’ll have to answer for her.” Leafstar jumped onto a nearby rock and let out an earsplitting screech.

  At first she thought that the Twolegs were ignoring her. She took a deep breath and yowled on a long, throbbing note that echoed off the rocks. A couple of heartbeats later she spotted first the male Twoleg, then his mate, peering over the top of the cliff. Suddenly they let out answering cries and pointed at the motionless kit.

  Echosong leaped up beside Leafstar and waved her tail triumphantly. “They’ve seen her!”

  “And now they’ll come to get her,” Leafstar mewed, letting her yowl die away. “By then I want no sign of SkyClan anywhere in this gorge. Let’s get back to camp right away.”

  Sharpclaw was waiting at the foot of the Rockpile when Leafstar and the other she-cats returned to the camp. The rest of the Clan were already in their dens; Leafstar spotted them peering out between the ferns and branches that had been piled against the entrances.

  “Well?” Sharpclaw asked tensely.

  “The Twolegs are here,” Leafstar reported. “They—”

  She broke off as yowls of triumph erupted from the cliff.

  “I knew we could do it!” Harveymoon exclaimed, pushing his shoulders through the barrier across the warriors’ den.

  “Quiet!” Sharpclaw snarled. “And get back in there. Do you want the Twolegs to come looking for us?”

  Harveymoon vanished abruptly, though Leafstar could still hear squeals and meows of excitement coming from the dens. Fallowfern’s kits were scrambling among the branches outside the nursery; Clovertail hauled herself up the trail and helped Fallowfern to round them up and take them back inside.

  “I want to know what the Twolegs are doing,” Sharpclaw commented to Leafstar. “But I don’t think we can leave the camp. The whole Clan sounds as if it has bees in its brain.”

  Leafstar could understand her cats’ need to celebrate their success, but she was relieved when the noise died down after a few moments. Choosing a small patrol—Sharpclaw, Cherrytail, Echosong, Billystorm, and Snookpaw—she crept back up the gorge and peered out from behind the rocks to watch the rescue of the Twoleg kit.

  By the time they returned to the spot, the adult Twolegs had been joined by many, many more. They wore bright yellow pelts, and lowered themselves down into the gorge on long tendrils suspended from the top of the cliff.

  “See, Twolegs aren’t bad all the time!” Snookpaw whispered, bouncing lightly on his paws. “They’ve all come to help the kit.”

  “Maybe.” Sharpclaw’s green eyes were wary. “But I’m not happy about all these Twolegs in our territory. What if they decide to come back?”

  Leafstar watched the Twolegs lower a flat, bulky object down the cliff face and lift the little Twoleg gently onto it. “I can’t see why they would do that,” she murmured.

  “But they must know we’re here,” Cherrytail murmured, sounding uncharacteristically troubled. “We brought them here, after all.”

  “And they’ve got what they came for,” Leafstar reassured her.

  All the same, as the Twolegs fastened the kit onto the bulky object and started to haul her up the cliff on the tendrils, Leafstar admitted to herself that she shared her Clanmates’ concern. Clan cats and Twolegs lead separate lives, she thought. Have I brought them too close together by what I did today?

  Echosong brushed against her shoulder. “You did the right thing,” she insisted, as if she had read her Clan leader’s thoughts.

  But Leafstar could see a shadow behind the medicine cat’s gaze, telling her that Echosong was worried, too.

  What have I done? she wondered. And what’s going to happen now?

  CHAPTER 29

  First thing next morning, Leafstar padded up the gorge to check out the spot where the Twoleg kit had been lying. Rain had fallen during the night; her paws splashed through puddles and she narrowed her eyes as the rising sun glittered on water dripping from the rocks. A stiff breeze sent small white clouds scudding across the sky.

  Leafstar peered cautiously from behind the spur of rock, then padded forward, her jaws parted to taste the air. She could still pick up the mingled scents of many Twolegs, but they were faint and fading; the night’s rain had helped to wash them away. There were still many marks of the Twolegs’ heavy paws, but Leafstar guessed that they too would fade with time.

  Maybe it’s all over, and we are safe.

  When Leafstar returned to the camp, she found Sharpclaw arranging the morning’s patrols. At once she picked up the feelings of restlessness among her warriors; they roamed distractedly around the Rockpile, not really listening to Sharpclaw as he called their names.

  “What are we going to do if the Twolegs come back?” Petalnose fretted. “Maybe we should leave and find ourselves somewhere else to live.”

  “I’m not moving anywhere,” Clovertail retorted. “Not until my kits are born and fit to travel.”

  “I’m sure we won’t have to.” Patchfoot brushed his pelt reassuringly against Clovertail’s side. “What can the Twolegs do, after all?”

  Shrewtooth shuddered, but didn’t try to reply.

  Looking around, Leafstar spotted Stick and the other cats from the Twolegplace huddled together, and she wondered what they were talking about. What if they decide to leave? Maybe they didn’t feel comfortable in a Clan that had too much to do with Twolegs.

  A high-pitched squealing drew Leafstar’s attention to the edge of the river. Plumkit was lying on her back with her paws in the air.

  “I’m an injured Twoleg!” she wailed. “Help meeeeeee!”

  Her brothers frisked around her, darting forward now and then to give her a prod.

  “We have to find her Twolegs!” Rabbitkit announced.

  Leafstar suppressed a mrrow of laughter. At least Fallowfern’s kits weren’t worried about the possible threat from Twolegs. She wished she could say the same about the rest of the Clan. Even the apprentices were looking subdued, and she spotted Tinycloud and Bouncefire facing each other with bristling fur, as if the tensions had to break out somehow.

  “This is no good,” Leafstar muttered. “I have to do something.”

  A yowl of greeting rang out from the top of the cliff; Leafstar looked up to see all the daylight-warriors arriving together: Harveymoon and Macgyver in the lead, followed by Billystorm and Ebonyclaw with their apprentices.

  That’s it! Leafstar th
ought. I know what will pull the Clan together and make them feel better.

  Leaping up to the top of the Rockpile, she yowled, “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Rockpile for a Clan meeting.”

  The gaze of every cat was turned on her. Leafstar waited for the daylight-warriors to reach the bottom of the gorge, and for Echosong to emerge from her den. Tangle and Lichenfur appeared too, stretching out in a sunny spot near the edge of the river.

  “Cats of SkyClan, one of the most important ceremonies for any Clan is the making of a new warrior,” Leafstar began when every cat was listening. “And that is why I have called you together today.”

  The apprentices brightened up, gazing at one another with excitement sparkling in their eyes, as they wondered which of them their Clan leader meant.

  “Yesterday Snookpaw helped his Clan by finding the injured Twoleg’s nest,” Leafstar went on. “Without him, the little Twoleg would still be lying in the gorge. She might even have died. Snookpaw, you acted as a warrior and you deserve your warrior name.”

  The apprentice’s jaws gaped open. “But … but Leafstar,” he protested, “I didn’t do anything!”

  “You did what no other Clan cat could have done,” Leafstar assured him. “Billystorm, has your apprentice, Snookpaw, learned the skills of a warrior?”

  Billystorm’s amber eyes were glowing with pride. “He has.”

  Leafstar’s heart wrenched at the thought that his warm look wasn’t for her. “And does he understand the meaning of the warrior code?”

  “He does.”

  Leafstar leaped down from the Rockpile and stood in front of Snookpaw, who still looked as if some cat had hit him over the head with a dead pigeon.

  “I, Leafstar, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice,” she declared. “He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a warrior in his turn. Snookpaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?”