Dawn

  Firestar’s call startled her. “Leafpaw!” She turned to see her father bounding up the slope with Brambleclaw and Mousefur. “How is Ferncloud?” he asked.

  “Cinderpelt told me to get some poppy seeds to calm her,” Leafpaw told him.

  “I didn’t think it would get this bad so soon!” Firestar growled. “Oh, StarClan! What can I do to help these cats?” He raised his eyes to Silverpelt, fading quickly in the dawn light.

  “Last night was so cold,” Mousefur remarked. “The poor little mite didn’t have enough flesh on her bones to make it through.”

  “Birchkit survived,” Leafpaw reminded them. “We must do everything we can to make sure Ferncloud can feed him properly.”

  “But the nights are only going to get colder, and once the snow comes . . .” Firestar trailed off and stared into the treetops beyond Sunningrocks.

  Brambleclaw glanced uneasily at Leafpaw. “If we are to leave the forest we should go soon,” he meowed. “Before snowfall makes the mountains too difficult to cross.”

  Leafpaw narrowed her eyes. She had been torn by doubts since her sister had told her about Midnight’s warning. She could tell that many of her Clanmates couldn’t believe that StarClan really intended them to go, but she trusted that her sister and Brambleclaw had a role to play in their Clan’s destiny. She did not want to leave her forest home, and she feared the Clan were not strong enough for such a journey, but how could she ignore the will of StarClan?

  “You already know how I feel. We cannot go without the other Clans,” Firestar pointed out. Leafpaw silently agreed with him. However much hardship one Clan was in, they had to remain together for StarClan’s sake.

  “I must take these to Ferncloud,” she murmured, picking up the bundle of seeds.

  As she reached the crevice, Sorreltail was padding away, her eyes dull with sorrow. She didn’t even look up as she went past. Leafpaw noticed that she trod carefully on the freezing stone as if it hurt her paws. She scrambled into the hollow and dropped the poppy seeds at Cinderpelt’s paws. Ferncloud was lying with her eyes wide, staring at nothing. Birchkit was huddled beside her, too shocked and hungry to mew. To Leafpaw’s surprise, Cody was there too.

  “Thank you,” Cinderpelt whispered, taking the leaf bundle and carefully unwrapping it with her teeth.

  “Shouldn’t you be outside?” Leafpaw gently prompted Cody.

  “I thought I might be able to help,” came the reply. “I lost a litter once.”

  “A whole litter? That’s so sad!”

  “They didn’t die,” Cody explained quickly. “My housefolk sent them away to new homes. But I felt the loss as badly.”

  “And these are the Twolegs you want to go back to?” Leafpaw mewed in disbelief. “How could you possibly forgive them?”

  “It is normal for kittypets not to raise their kits. We don’t expect anything else.” Cody blinked. “My housefolk are gentle and kind. They chose good homes for each kit. They wouldn’t have known that I miss them.”

  Cinderpelt silenced them with a warning stare. Ferncloud had grown fretful again, writhing on the cold stone and letting out tiny moaning sounds. “Hollykit is with StarClan now,” Cinderpelt whispered to her. “She will never know cold or hunger again.”

  “I tried my best,” Ferncloud wailed. “Why couldn’t I have died instead of her?”

  Firestar’s deep mew sounded from the rim of the hollow. “Because then there would be no cat left to look after Birchkit. You must have courage, Ferncloud.”

  Leafpaw looked up. Cody flattened her ears. She had not met the ThunderClan leader yet.

  “Ferncloud, I’m so sorry about Hollykit,” Firestar went on. “We will make sure Birchkit survives.”

  Ferncloud stared up at him. “Birchkit must survive,” she hissed.

  Cinderpelt placed a poppy seed on the ground beside her. “Here,” she mewed. “Eat this; it will help soothe your pain.”

  Ferncloud looked uncertainly at the seed.

  Cody stretched forwards and sniffed the black speck. “Eat it,” she advised, pushing it nearer to Ferncloud with her paw. “You need to save all your strength for the kit you have left.”

  Firestar watched her curiously. “Sandstorm told me Leafpaw had brought a kittypet back with her. Is that you?”

  “Yes. I’m Cody. Come, Ferncloud, eat the poppy seed.”

  “You can see that the Clan cannot offer you much as a place of safety,” Firestar apologised. “But it’s even more dangerous for you to travel alone. When I have a free warrior, you’ll be escorted home. Until then, you can stay with us.”

  “Thank you,” Cody murmured.

  Firestar’s gazed flicked back to Ferncloud. “Will she be all right?”

  “She just needs rest,” Cinderpelt told him.

  “And Birchkit?”

  “He always was the strongest of the three.” Cinderpelt bent down to lick the small scrap of fur that had begun to knead his mother’s belly in search of milk.

  “Do your best.” Firestar turned and padded away.

  Cody’s shoulders drooped. “It’s hard to believe your father was ever a kittypet,” she muttered to Leafpaw.

  “I never really think about it,” she admitted. “It’s not as if I knew him back then. I was born after he became leader.” She looked at Cody. “Will you be all right, staying here?”

  “Of course.” Cody sounded surprised that Leafpaw should have any doubts. Sweeping her tail gently along Leafpaw’s flank, she turned and crouched down beside Ferncloud. “You two go,” she meowed to Leafpaw and Cinderpelt. “You have many cats to look after. There is little I can do for the rest of the Clan, but at least I can take care of Ferncloud.”

  Cinderpelt looked uncertainly at the kittypet, but Cody reassured her. “I’ll make sure she eats the seed,” she promised. “And while she sleeps I can look after Birchkit. He’ll be missing his sister.”

  “Very well,” Cinderpelt agreed. “But call me if Ferncloud becomes more distressed.”

  Cody nodded, and Leafpaw followed Cinderpelt out of the den, glancing back just once to blink appreciatively at her friend.

  The Clan was huddled in small groups on the exposed flank of the rock, their faces grave. Leafpaw suddenly longed to run through the woods on her own. The Clan she had returned to seemed filled with more suffering than she could ease, and she wanted to be away from it, if only for a short while.

  She padded down the slope towards the trees. Pushing through the undergrowth she inhaled the earthy odours of the forest, drinking them in gratefully. She detected the familiar smells of Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw, and when she put her head to one side to listen she heard their voices mewing urgently up ahead. Weaving through the bracken, she found them in a small clearing near the RiverClan border.

  “I told Firestar we’d have to leave soon,” Brambleclaw was meowing. “We shouldn’t try to cross the mountains after the snow comes, and we’ll never make it to newleaf if we stay here.”

  “But how do we know we should go through the mountains?” Squirrelpaw argued. “The sign never appeared when we were at the Great Rock. A warrior was meant to show us the way, but no warrior came!”

  “With no sign, how do we know we’re meant to go at all?” Brambleclaw muttered. “Perhaps Midnight was wrong.”

  “How could she be wrong?” Squirrelpaw mewed. “StarClan sent us to her!”

  Leafpaw froze, her tail quivering. She closed her eyes, wishing for some sign that StarClan was listening, and then opened them again impatiently. Why was she being so feeble? If StarClan had a sign they would send it. Until then, they would have to figure this out by themselves.

  “Squirrelpaw?” she called. “Brambleclaw, it’s me.” She pushed through the bracken to join her Clanmates. The pair sprang away from each other and faced her warily.

  Brambleclaw shifted his paws. “Did you hear what we were talking about?”

  “Yes.”

  “What do you think?” He stared at her. “Could Mid
night have been wrong?”

  Part of Leafpaw wanted Midnight to be wrong. She wanted to stay in the forest where she had been born. This was StarClan’s home, too. But why else would they have ordered Brambleclaw and the others to make such a dangerous journey? They would not have risked the cats’ lives for nothing. “Is it StarClan you doubt or yourselves?” she murmured.

  Brambleclaw wearily shook his head. “The journey was difficult enough. We didn’t think things would be even harder once we returned. We were so sure StarClan would show us the way, but they haven’t, and we can’t afford to wait. Taking the Clan away from their home is such a big responsibility . . .”

  “And we don’t know when we should leave or where we should go,” Squirrelpaw put in.

  “In the end, it has to be Firestar’s decision,” Leafpaw reminded them. “You can only tell him what you have seen and heard.”

  Brambleclaw nodded.

  “How did you get to be so wise?” Squirrelpaw asked her sister fondly.

  “How did you become so brave and noble?” Leafpaw teased, flicking Squirrelpaw’s flank with her tail. She felt a surge of happiness at being with her sister again. Then she remembered Ferncloud and Greystripe, and her heart sank.

  “If Firestar does decide to leave,” she breathed, “what about Greystripe?”

  Squirrelpaw looked sad. “Greystripe will find us, wherever we are.”

  “I hope so,” Leafpaw mewed. “But until he does, who’ll be deputy?”

  “Greystripe is still our deputy,” Brambleclaw meowed.

  “But he’s not here, and the Clan needs strong leadership more now than ever,” Leafpaw argued.

  “Firestar can’t appoint a new deputy as long as he believes Greystripe is still alive,” Brambleclaw insisted.

  Leafpaw shook her head. She couldn’t agree with him, but she admired his loyalty.

  “Let’s not argue about it,” Squirrelpaw pleaded. “There’s already too much to worry about.” She glanced at Leafpaw. “There’s something I wish I’d asked Greystripe to explain before we lost him.”

  Leafpaw tipped her head on one side. “What?”

  “It just seemed strange at the time, and Firestar silenced him before he could explain . . .”

  Brambleclaw pricked his ears as she went on.

  “When we first returned, Greystripe welcomed us by saying, ‘Fire and tiger have returned.’” Squirrelpaw blinked. “It just seemed like an odd thing to say.”

  Leafpaw looked at her paws, unsure what to say. Should she tell Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw about Cinderpelt’s ominous warning? Or would they be better off without that hanging over their heads? After all, they had enough to worry about already.

  “You know something, don’t you?” Squirrelpaw prompted.

  Leafpaw shuffled her paws, feeling a flash of frustration that she could never hide anything from her sister. “Cinderpelt had a message from StarClan.”

  Brambleclaw leaned forward. “I thought StarClan had been silent?”

  “It was just before you left,” Leafpaw explained. “StarClan warned her that fire and tiger would destroy the Clan.”

  “Fire and tiger?” Squirrelpaw echoed. “What’s that got to do with us?”

  Leafpaw twitched an ear. “You are Fire star’s kit.” She turned to Brambleclaw. “And you are Tiger star’s.”

  Squirrelpaw’s eyes widened. “So we’re fire and tiger?”

  Leafpaw nodded.

  “But how could anyone believe we would destroy the Clan?” Squirrelpaw protested. “We’ve risked our lives to help save them!”

  “I know.” Leafpaw dipped her head. “And no cat really thinks you would—in fact, only Firestar, Cinderpelt, Greystripe, and I even know about it . . .” She was desperate to reassure her sister. “We believe you would never do anything to harm us.” Leafpaw realised that Brambleclaw had said nothing. But he was staring at her, his eyes dark with worry, and she felt a flash of inexplicable fear. “Brambleclaw?”

  “Are you sure we wouldn’t destroy the Clan?” he growled.

  “W-what do you mean?”

  “Of course we wouldn’t!” Squirrelpaw rounded on Brambleclaw in anger and confusion.

  “Not on purpose,” Brambleclaw meowed. “But it’s us, isn’t it—fire and tiger—who want to lead the Clan away from its home and on a long, dangerous journey when we don’t even know where we’re meant to be going?”

  A cold shiver rippled down Leafpaw’s spine. Cinderpelt’s prophecy suddenly seemed more frightening than it ever had before. If the Clan left the forest, following Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw, what terrible fate awaited them?

  When the three cats returned to Sunningrocks, the leaf-bare sun was already low in the sky. Each cat carried a piece of fresh-kill: Leafpaw had caught a mouse; Brambleclaw held a starling in his jaws; while Squirrelpaw carried a plump thrush.

  Leafpaw longed to go to sleep and forget Brambleclaw’s worrying warning. But she was a medicine cat, and she could not rest until she knew the Clan was all right. As she followed her sister up the slope, she wondered if Cody had managed to persuade Ferncloud to eat the poppy seed.

  Brackenfur met them. “The fresh-kill pile is over there.” He gestured with his tail to a meagre heap further up the rock. Ashfur sat guard beside it, scanning the sky for birds of prey. The days were gone when the fresh-kill pile lay at the edge of the camp, well stocked and unguarded.

  As Leafpaw dropped her offering on to the pile she was shocked by how small it was. There would not be enough for a whole piece of prey each. Tonight she would go without, she decided. She felt too tired to eat anyway.

  She padded towards Cinderpelt and Mousefur, who were lying underneath a shallow overhang. The medicine cat looked exhausted, as much in need of her healing herbs as any of her Clanmates.

  “How’s Ferncloud?” Leafpaw asked.

  Cinderpelt looked up. “She’s resting now. Cody’s taking good care of her.”

  “Not bad for a kittypet, that one,” Mousefur added with a twitch of her tail. “She looked so nervous when she arrived I didn’t think she’d settle in. But it looks like she’ll be OK here—for a while, anyway.”

  Leafpaw blinked gratefully at the dusky brown cat, then turned to Cinderpelt again. There was something she had to ask, even though she dreaded hearing the answer. “Will Ferncloud lose her other kit?”

  “Birchkit is strong enough for now,” Cinderpelt reassured her. “And with only one mouth to feed, Ferncloud should be able to give him more milk.”

  “He won’t last the winter if we stay here, though,” Mousefur commented. Her eyes betrayed alarm as she saw Dustpelt padding towards her. “I hope he didn’t hear that,” she whispered. “He’s mourned enough today.”

  “I did hear, Mousefur,” Dustpelt meowed wearily. “And I agree. We must leave the forest.”

  Leafpaw stared at him in shock. Hollykit’s death seemed to have crushed the last morsel of strength in him.

  Duspelt raised his voice so that his deep meow rang around the rock. All the other cats stared at him in astonishment.

  “We must leave the forest as soon as we can!” he insisted, his eyes blazing. He swung his head round to look at Brambleclaw. “Your message from StarClan is the only sign of hope we’ve had,” he meowed.

  Mousefur stood up. “Before we can leave, we’ll need a new deputy.”

  As she spoke, Firestar appeared from the edge of the forest, carrying a scrawny blackbird. He had clearly heard her words. His eyes glittered as he dropped the blackbird on to the fresh-kill pile and strode up the slope. “ThunderClan has a deputy. When Greystripe returns, he won’t find another cat in his place.” He turned to face Dustpelt. “I’m glad you agree we must leave,” he meowed. “But we cannot leave yet, not without the other Clans.”

  “I have only one kit left,” Dustpelt meowed. “He will die if we stay. We will probably all die.”

  “Then we must try harder to persuade the other Clans to leave,” Firestar growled.
br />   “The other Clans can come when they are ready,” Dustpelt retorted. “We are ready now.”

  Firestar returned the warrior’s gaze. “We cannot leave yet,” he repeated.

  “Ferncloud still needs to rest,” Cinderpelt put in quietly.

  Firestar acknowledged her support with a brief nod.

  Brambleclaw faced Dustpelt. “I know you are mourning two kits,” he mewed. “And that you fear for the other. But Firestar is right. StarClan would not want us to leave without the other Clans.” He turned to the other cats. “StarClan chose a cat from each Clan to carry Midnight’s message back. We had to work together to survive, without ever thinking of the differences between our Clans. StarClan wanted us to share the journey, to learn how to help one another. They must want us to travel together now.”

  Firestar padded across the rock to stand beside the young warrior. “We need to send out more hunting patrols,” he meowed. “We are under no threat from the other Clans now. RiverClan have more food than we do. They have no need to attack.” He stared around at the gaunt, hungry cats. “We can devote all our patrols to hunting from now on. We will find enough food in the forest until it is time to leave. Yes, Dustpelt, we will leave. I will visit RiverClan and Shadow Clan and try to persuade them once more.”

  Relief washed over Leafpaw as the cats began to nod their acceptance. Then her heart lurched again as Mousefur stepped forwards.

  “But what about Greystripe?” When Firestar flinched, she went on: “Whether he’s coming back or not, we need to find another deputy for as long as he’s not here, someone to carry out his duties.”

  “Yes,” Dustpelt agreed. “You haven’t named anyone yet.” He glanced at Brambleclaw. “You should choose someone young. Some cat StarClan clearly approves of.”

  Leafpaw looked around. Ashfur, Whitepaw, Frostfur, and Cloudtail were staring at Brambleclaw. Even Thornclaw seemed to be watching the young cat, as though he might be the one to fill Greystripe’s pawprints. Only Mousefur and Rainwhisker were looking elsewhere.