“It’s been amazing!” Bella mewed, to Ravenpaw’s surprise. “There was this really fierce dog, and we had to hide in the hedge!”
Barley looked alarmed.
“It’s okay,” Riley put in. “We stayed super quiet until the dog went away. Ravenpaw made sure we didn’t come out till it was safe.”
“And he’s taught us great battle moves!” Bella exclaimed. “We can do the hunter’s crouch, the front-paw blow, and the duck-and-twist!”
Barley glanced at Ravenpaw. “I’m glad to hear he’s been looking after you,” he purred.
Bella nodded. “Yes, but he’s really bossy,” she added.
“As he should be!” Barley meowed. “He knows all about living in a Clan, so you must listen to everything he says.” He looked around the abandoned den. “Now, are you planning to make a camp here, or should we keep going?”
“Let’s go!” yowled Riley, racing out the door with Bella on his heels.
Ravenpaw blinked affectionately at Barley. “You certainly know how to motivate them!”
The black-and-white tom ran his tail over Ravenpaw’s flank. “I’m so proud of you for doing this. You’re right; they deserve to choose the life they lead. Just as we did, a long time ago.”
Side by side, they padded into the sunshine. Ravenpaw forgot the tiredness in his legs as he trotted beside Barley. Riley and Bella took the lead, calling back to let the older cats know about every new scent, every ripple in the river, every crushed leaf.
“They’re certainly observant,” Barley commented as they all stopped to look at a dragonfly that Bella had spotted on a reed.
As dusk fell, they reached a shallow pool fed by a low waterfall. Ravenpaw and Barley settled onto warm, flat boulders and basked in the final rays of the sun while the young cats played at the edge of the water, chasing rainbows in the spray. Riley ventured too far from the shore with one leap and vanished into the pool with a splash. Bella squeaked in horror, but a moment later her brother emerged, scattering drops of water, with a wriggling fish in his jaws. He scrambled out and dropped it triumphantly beside Ravenpaw and Barley.
“Look what I caught!” he announced.
“Caught? Or did it land in your mouth when you fell?” Barley teased.
“Whatever happened, it’s the best fresh-kill we’ve had in a while,” Ravenpaw purred. “Well done, Riley!”
The gray tabby shook his fur, making Bella spring away with a yelp as water spattered her pelt. Ravenpaw let them start eating first. He was conscious of Barley standing very close to him as they watched the young cats tuck in.
“I can’t believe how well they’ve settled into living wild,” Barley murmured. “You’ve done a great job.”
“They’ve been very brave,” Ravenpaw replied. “I’m proud of them.”
Barley leaned against him, smelling warm and soft and familiar. “You should be,” he whispered.
CHAPTER SEVEN
They slept in the long grass beside the waterfall, lulled by the soft splash of water, and woke as the first rays of sun crested the trees. Barley caught a squirrel, and Ravenpaw was relieved to see Bella eating as eagerly as her brother once more.
The river grew steadily narrower and shallower beside them until it was tumbling between steep sandy banks, with barely enough room for the cats to squeeze through beside the water. They walked in single file, Ravenpaw in the lead and Barley bringing up the rear. Riley and Bella were full of chatter, competing to spot minnows beneath the glittering surface. Ravenpaw only listened with half an ear; he knew they were approaching the end of the river, and that meant they could cross SkyClan’s boundary at any moment.
“I’m as hot as a fox on fire!” Barley panted. “Can we find somewhere shady to stop?”
Ravenpaw narrowed his eyes. There seemed to be nothing but the stream and its sandy banks ahead of them. There were trees at the top of the banks, but he doubted they could scramble up the sheer slope. Then Riley squeezed past him.
“I’ll take a look!” The gray tom ran a short distance along the bank to some gorse bushes. He paused to sniff them, then vanished from sight.
When the others caught up to him, Riley was peeking smugly from a small cave sheltered by the gorse. It was cozy but shallow, with just enough room for the four cats to lie down.
“I’m hungry,” Bella mewed.
“We’ll rest here for a moment, then find somewhere to hunt,” Ravenpaw promised. His paws were sore from the scorching sand, and his belly was aching. As the others settled around him, he closed his eyes.
Suddenly his nose filled with powerfully familiar scents. He heard soft whispers, not from his companions but from two other cats. These were voices he hadn’t heard in a long time, and Ravenpaw’s heart leaped. Although he couldn’t make out the words, he knew he was listening to Firestar and Sandstorm. He could feel them all around him, nervous and excited. They had sheltered here too, knowing that their journey was close to its end.
I’ve done it! Ravenpaw thought. I have followed their paw steps to SkyClan!
He opened his eyes to see Bella standing at the entrance to the little cave, gazing out.
“I think I heard something!” she mewed. “Another cat!”
Ravenpaw took a deep breath. “We are close to SkyClan territory now,” he meowed. Three pairs of eyes stared at him in the dim light. “I don’t think we’ve crossed their border, but we must tread carefully from now on. No Clan welcomes trespassers.”
Riley licked his chest. “What if they don’t like us?” he muttered.
“What if they think we’re just dumb kittypets?” Bella added.
Barley rested his tail on her flank. “If you’re not welcome, we’ll take you home. We won’t abandon you, I promise.”
Ravenpaw met his friend’s gaze over the heads of the young cats and nodded.
They crept out of the cave and padded quietly along the stream. There was no sign of the cat that Bella thought she had seen, but Ravenpaw kept his mouth open to taste the air. The gorge widened, and the banks sloped downward until they were walking through trees beside the sparkling stream. Barley caught a young rabbit, and they ate quickly, with the older cats keeping a wary eye out for signs of the Clan.
The sky had filled with clouds, bringing an early dusk. Ravenpaw decided that they should spend the night here and enter SkyClan in the morning. Barley found a heap of dry leaves under a hazel tree, which would make a decent enough nest. Riley and Bella settled down obediently; they were much quieter than usual, as if they knew that the real adventure was about to begin. Ravenpaw asked Barley to stay with them while he scouted around the immediate area.
“We don’t want SkyClan to find us sleeping a mouse-length from their border!” he pointed out, and Barley nodded.
Ravenpaw left the stream and slipped through the trees, pausing every few steps to sniff bushes and taste the air. There was a strong smell of cats here, though he hadn’t found any border marks yet. There were tangs of kittypet scent too, sometimes almost hidden beneath the wild-cat traces, at other times clear and sharp and unexpected so far from any Twoleg dens. Ravenpaw hadn’t been anticipating such a mix of scents, even knowing that SkyClan had some warriors who lived as kittypets part of the time.
He returned to the hazel bush and lay down. Barley was fast asleep, snoring, but Riley and Bella were still awake.
“We’re not sleepy!” Bella whispered.
“Tell us some more about the warrior code!” Riley begged.
Ravenpaw sighed. “Okay, but after that you must go to sleep. Who can remember the rules we’ve talked about so far?”
“You must be ready to die for your Clan,” Riley began. “And you can’t be friends with cats from other Clans.”
“Don’t trespass on another Clan’s territory,” Bella mewed. She put her head to one side. “But if SkyClan is the only Clan around here, that doesn’t matter, does it?”
Ravenpaw flicked his ears. “There could be loners in the woods who won’t wel
come visitors. Go on.”
“Elders and kits must eat first,” Riley meowed. “And you only kill something if you’re going to eat it.”
“That’s two rules!” Bella protested.
“You’re both doing very well,” Ravenpaw told them. “Right, here are some more.” For a moment he was back in the training hollow, listening to Whitestorm addressing all the new apprentices. Kind, patient Whitestorm, who had tried so hard to make Ravenpaw’s apprenticeship bearable. “A new warrior keeps vigil for the whole Clan on their first night. A warrior must mentor at least one apprentice before they can become deputy.” Ravenpaw paused, racking his brain. “When the Clan leader dies, the deputy takes over.”
He stopped. Riley and Bella were very quiet, and their flanks rose and fell steadily. They had drifted off already. Ravenpaw curled up and tucked his chin into Barley’s belly fur. Riley and Bella were trying so hard to learn about the life of a warrior; he just hoped SkyClan would give them a chance to try it for real.
“Ooh, what do we have here? Four little warriors lost in the woods?”
A shrill voice and a blast of hot breath jolted Ravenpaw awake. In a heartbeat he sprang to his feet, growling. Five cats circled the nest, eyes narrowed and ears flat back. These weren’t warriors, though; they had the stench of kittypet about them, cloying and unwelcome among the leaves. Their fur was sleek and glossy, and they looked plump and overfed rather than well muscled. But their eyes were mean, and there was no mistaking the challenge in the first cat’s voice.
“Swallowed your tongue?” he jeered. He was a dark tabby, almost black, with piercing green eyes. “I didn’t think patrols were allowed to go to sleep!”
Ravenpaw heard the other cats stir beside him. “Leave us alone,” he snarled. “We’re doing no harm.” He was confident that these weren’t SkyClan warriors. They were too scornful of patrols, for a start. He took a step forward and let his fur rise along his spine.
“You’re so scary,” gasped the tabby, pretending to fall back. Then he leaned forward. “I’m joking. I don’t like the look of you. You don’t smell like those SkyClan fools, but you’re scrawny enough to be wild. Go back to where you came from!”
“You’ll have to make us,” rumbled Barley, stepping up alongside Ravenpaw.
For a moment the tabby looked less certain. Barley was broad-shouldered and tall, and there was menace in his growl.
“You heard what Pasha said,” meowed another kittypet. Her pelt was ginger and white. “Go away.” The other three cats took a pace forward so that they were looming over the nest.
Bella squeezed in between Barley and Ravenpaw. “And you heard what we said. We’re not going unless you make us! We’re warriors, so we know how to fight!”
“Warriors?” spat Pasha. “Ha, they don’t scare us.” He twitched his ears at Ravenpaw. “Run along, squirrel-breath.”
Slam!
Quick as lightning, Ravenpaw raised his front leg and clouted the tabby between his ears. The kittypet staggered backward with a yowl.
“You’ll regret that!” he hissed. He stalked toward Ravenpaw, his thick tail lashing.
One of his companions, a she-cat with silver and black patches, interrupted. “This is boring, Pasha. I’m getting cold. Can’t we run through the gorge like we did last night? That was way more fun.”
“This bunch of weasels will be too easy to fight,” agreed the ginger-and-white she-cat.
Pasha glared once more at Ravenpaw. “If I see you again, you’ll regret it,” he snarled. Then he whirled around and bounded into the trees. “Come on! Let’s give SkyClan another surprise!”
Ravenpaw watched them vanish into the shadows. His heart was pounding, and his paw throbbed where he had struck the tabby.
“Well, they weren’t very nice!” Bella exclaimed.
“It sounds like they’re not that nice to SkyClan, either,” Barley commented. He arched an eyebrow at Ravenpaw. “Do you think they’re going to invade the camp?”
Ravenpaw shrugged. “I think they’re more hot air than action,” he meowed. “Otherwise they’d have shredded us while we were asleep. But I don’t think they’ll trouble us again tonight. Their Twolegs will expect them home before dawn.”
He lay down again and licked his sore paw. The others settled around him.
“I’ll stay awake to make sure they don’t come back,” Barley murmured in Ravenpaw’s ear.
Ravenpaw nodded his thanks. They must be close to the border with SkyClan, judging by what those cats had said. Tomorrow Riley and Bella would see their new home for the first time.
If SkyClan will have them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Ravenpaw didn’t expect to go back to sleep after the excitement of their night visitors, but he woke to find himself alone in the nest with sunbeams reaching under the edge of the branches.
“Barley?” he meowed.
“Right here,” came the reply, and Barley’s black-and-white rump appeared, dragging a squirrel through the leaves. “We caught you something to eat,” he announced.
Riley and Bella’s faces appeared at the edge of the bush. “We climbed a tree and chased it down to Barley!” Riley meowed.
“Wow,” mewed Ravenpaw, impressed. He recalled Firestar telling him about SkyClan’s unusual skill in hunting above the ground. Perhaps Riley and Bella would fit in even better than he had imagined.
They shared the squirrel and buried the remains a little way from the bush. Then Riley found the way back to the stream, and they carried on, all of them alert to noises and scents from the trees around them.
Even so, Ravenpaw jumped when there was a blur of movement from behind a holly tree and three cats leaped out to block their path. All were she-cats: A long-legged ginger warrior was flanked by a gray warrior and a smaller white cat who looked like an apprentice, judging by her trembling paws and huge eyes.
“What are you doing here?” growled the ginger cat. “This is SkyClan territory!”
Ravenpaw caught a strong scent from the holly bush, and he realized they were less than a fox-length from a border mark.
“You’re not welcome here!” hissed the gray warrior.
“Yeah! You should make like a tree and leave!” chimed the little white cat. The gray cat looked down at her in surprise.
“But we’ve come a long way,” Riley began.
“Then you’ll have a long walk home,” snarled the ginger cat.
“Wait,” Ravenpaw pleaded, stepping forward alongside Riley. “We come in peace. I am a friend of Firestar, who saved your Clan. Do you know him?”
The three cats looked blankly at him. Ravenpaw felt his heart sink. He hadn’t anticipated that SkyClan might have forgotten all about the ThunderClan cats who helped them moons ago.
Then the ginger cat stirred. “My mother has talked about a cat of that name. What do you want? Is he here?”
Ravenpaw shook his head. “No, but he was once my closest friend, and I hoped that his friends in SkyClan would be prepared to speak to me.”
The ginger she-cat looked him up and down. “You don’t smell like a Clan cat,” she commented. “You smell of cows.”
“I’m not a Clan cat,” Ravenpaw admitted. “At least, not anymore. Look, is Leafstar still your leader? Please, may we speak with her? Tell her . . . tell her that Firestar’s friend Ravenpaw is here.”
The warrior studied him for another heartbeat, then turned to the small white cat. “Cloudpaw, fetch my mother.” Cloudpaw nodded and scampered off.
Barley came up to join Ravenpaw. “I’m Barley,” he announced, dipping his head. “And these are Riley and Bella.”
The ginger she-cat twitched her tail. “I’m Firefern, and this is Plumwillow.”
“Er . . . nice territory,” Ravenpaw stammered, trying to break the strained silence.
“How would you know? You haven’t seen it,” Plumwillow pointed out.
Barley caught Ravenpaw’s eye and shook his head. It looked as if they weren’t going to make
friends with these warriors today.
Riley and Bella were just starting to fidget when Ravenpaw heard the sound of paw steps. Cloudpaw raced back along the stream, followed by a brown-and-cream tabby. She was not young, but she moved gracefully and her amber eyes were bright. She stood beside Firefern and studied the visitors.
“I am Leafstar, leader of SkyClan.” Her gaze met Ravenpaw’s. “I remember Firestar talking about you. You left ThunderClan, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did,” Ravenpaw admitted. “I live with Barley now”—the black-and-white cat bowed—“and we have come here with Barley’s kin Riley and Bella.”
“Do you still live near the Clans?” Leafstar asked. Ravenpaw nodded and was about to explain that the Clans had moved away when Leafstar went on. “Then you have come a long way. It must be important, whatever it is.”
Ravenpaw felt suddenly unprepared. How could he ask this cool, powerful leader if two complete strangers could join her Clan?
He hesitated for too long. Barley lifted his head and blurted out, “My sister Violet’s kits want to become warriors. Please, could they join SkyClan? They’ve already started their training, and they’re really good.”
Leafstar’s eyes opened very wide. Beside her, Firefern and Plumwillow bristled. Cloudpaw leaned forward and sniffed Bella’s fur. “That one smells funny,” she mewed, recoiling. “She can’t be a warrior!”
“Do we look like we take in strays?” Firefern growled.
“I’m not a stray!” puffed Riley.
“Hush!” Leafstar ordered, raising her tail. “SkyClan is honored by your request. I appreciate that you have traveled a long way. But it’s not that simple. SkyClan is strong and thriving as it is. We don’t need to recruit warriors from outside, as we have done in the past. We have enough loyal warriors already.”
Ravenpaw felt as if the ground were opening under his paws. She didn’t even give Riley and Bella a chance! He had imagined Leafstar being reluctant, of course, but he had hoped he’d be able to persuade her when she saw how determined the young cats were, and how much they had learned so far.