Taking a pace forward, Leafstar rested her muzzle on Parsleyseed’s head, and he licked her shoulder in response, before stepping back to stand beside his mother and father.
“Parsleyseed! Parsleyseed!” the Clan acclaimed him.
As soon as the noise had died down, Leafstar turned to Pebblepaw, and asked her the same question. “Do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?”
Pebblepaw held her head and tail high and her voice rang out clearly across the Twoleg garden. “I do.”
“Then by the powers of StarClan,” Leafstar continued, “I give you your warrior name. Pebblepaw, from this moment you will be known as Pebbleshine. StarClan honors your determination and your intelligence, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SkyClan.”
She rested her muzzle on Pebbleshine’s head, while Pebbleshine responded with a lick to her leader’s shoulder.
“Pebbleshine! Pebbleshine!”
That’s the perfect name! Hawkwing let his voice rise in a joyous yowl as Pebbleshine too retreated to her parents and touched noses with them. Pebbleshine shines like the brightest moon! Then she ran across to Hawkwing and twined her tail with his, her purrs almost as loud as a Twoleg monster.
“I like your new name,” Hawkwing mewed as he gave her ear a lick. “It suits you.”
He was so pleased that he barely paid any attention as Bellapaw and Rileypaw were made warriors, though he joined with the rest of his Clan in chanting their new names.
“Bellaleaf! Rileypool! Bellaleaf! Rileypool!”
The ceremony over, the Clan was beginning to disperse when Leafstar halted them with a commanding wave of her tail.
“Wait,” she meowed. “We still have more to do.” When the Clan had settled again, she continued, “The youngest cats—kits and apprentices—are the future of any Clan. It’s time now for some kits to be apprenticed, and these strong young warriors-to-be should give us all hope. Fidgetkit, Curlykit, come here.”
The two kits scampered up to their leader, their eyes brighter than they had been since Snipkit’s death. Birdwing and Sagenose watched them proudly, though Birdwing let out an exasperated sigh. “I’d have groomed them if I’d known. Look, Curlykit has a leaf in her fur!”
“Fidgetkit,” Leafstar began, “Echosong tells me you have shown a real interest in caring for your Clanmates since the battle, and she thinks you would make a wonderful medicine cat.”
Fidgetkit let out a gasp. “Really?”
Leafstar dipped her head. “With Frecklewish missing, and new adventures ahead of us, SkyClan badly needs a medicine cat apprentice. It’s a difficult and important job, and a medicine cat stands apart from the rest of the Clan. If you take this step, you won’t find a mate or have kits, and you’ll be responsible for caring for your Clanmates and, eventually, passing along the will of StarClan. Fidgetkit, are you willing to take on this responsibility?”
Solemn and with shining eyes, Fidgetkit nodded fervently. With a purr of approval, Leafstar turned to Echosong and beckoned her forward with a sweep of her tail.
Echosong padded up to Fidgetkit and looked down at him, her green eyes full of wisdom. “Fidgetkit,” she mewed, “is it your wish to share the deepest knowledge of StarClan as a SkyClan medicine cat?”
“It is,” Fidgetkit replied. He suddenly sounded much older, and completely certain that he was making the right choice.
Echosong has chosen the right cat, Hawkwing thought. That must mean things are going to get better for SkyClan.
“Warriors of StarClan,” Echosong continued, looking up at the sky, “I present to you this apprentice, who has chosen the path of a medicine cat. From this moment his name will be Fidgetpaw. Grant him your wisdom and insight so that he may understand your ways and heal his Clan in accordance with your will.”
Fidgetpaw stood blinking in front of her, overcome with awe, scarcely reacting even when his Clanmates began to call his new name. Hawkwing could share some of his wonder. That’s a huge step for a kit to take.
“Before the rogues came,” Echosong meowed when the Clan was quiet again, “I would have performed this ceremony in the Whispering Cave, where StarClan would have greeted you as a new medicine cat. I can’t do that now. But don’t worry, Fidgetpaw. Wherever we may be at the next half moon, you will meet with StarClan.”
Fidgetpaw dipped his head. “Thank you, Echosong,” he whispered.
The Clan was hushed and serious as Echosong drew Fidgetpaw to one side. Hawkwing knew that every cat shared his feelings: pride in their new medicine cat apprentice, but sadness too that Frecklewish was missing.
Meanwhile, Leafstar turned to Curlykit, who had waited patiently while her brother was apprenticed. “From this day forward,” the Clan leader announced, “this apprentice will be known as Curlypaw. Hawkwing, you will be her mentor. I trust you will pass on to her your loyalty to your Clan, your generous heart, and your courage in battle.”
What, me? Hawkwing thought, shocked to the very depths of his pelt. His heart was pounding hard as he stepped out of the crowd of cats to meet Curlypaw. Am I really ready to be a mentor? Even though no cat had blamed him, he knew that he should have been a better judge of character, to know what kind of cat Darktail really was. And he could never forget the last words Darktail had said to him: that they were alike. He wasn’t sure he deserved the faith that Leafstar was putting in him by making him a mentor. Will I really be able to guide Curlypaw? She was so brave when the rogues attacked the nursery, and so determined to cross the river. . . . She has so much to offer her Clan.
The little gray she-cat bounced up to him and stretched upward to touch noses with him. “I’ll work really hard,” she assured him.
Then so will I, Hawkwing thought, his heart filling with warmth. “I know you will,” Hawkwing responded. “And I’ll do my best to make sure you become a great warrior.”
The next day dawned bright and warm, with a brisk wind that sent white puffs of cloud scudding across the sky. Hawkwing hoped that the fine weather was a good omen for the journey he and his Clan were about to make.
The remaining cats of SkyClan gathered together under the bushes at the end of Ebonyclaw’s Twoleg garden. Hawkwing’s pads prickled with excitement, but there was a hollow feeling in his belly, because he knew that not all his Clanmates would be setting out on this new journey.
“We’ve thought a lot about this, and decided we won’t be coming with you,” Nettlesplash meowed, standing protectively over Mintfur and their litter. “The kits are too small to travel.”
“They’ll be safer here, on familiar territory,” Mintfur added. “But we’ll miss you all terribly. And who knows what StarClan has in store for us? Maybe one day we’ll all be together again,” she finished with a sigh.
“I’m afraid we have to stay with our Twolegs.” Ebonyclaw was standing beside Harveymoon, who murmured agreement.
“We’ll miss you all,” he told his Clanmates. “And we’ll always be SkyClan warriors at heart. But this decision is right for us.”
Listening to them, Hawkwing felt as if his life was splitting into two parts. There was Before, where he had lived in the gorge, played with Duskpaw and grieved over his death, trusted Darktail and then been betrayed by him. Now, from this point forward, his life would be After. After Darktail and his rogues took the gorge, and SkyClan was forced out. Hawkwing had no idea what After would hold, but he knew that he was unlikely to see the gorge or these cats again.
Am I being selfish to want to leave with Pebbleshine? he asked himself, glancing over at Blossomheart, Cloudmist, and Cherrytail. Do I owe it to my father to attack Darktail and avenge his murder? A hot, sick feeling gathered in Hawkwing’s chest and throat, and he slid out his claws as if Darktail were right in front of him.
While he hesitated, Curlypaw scampered up to his side. “This is so exciting!” she mewed. “Hawkwing, will you teach me to hunt while we travel?”
Hawkwing dipped his head,
his feelings of rage dissipating like fog when the sun broke through. “Of course.”
My duty is to my Clan now. And if I’m going to be loyal to my Clan and to Leafstar, I have to follow where she leads. I have to be the best mentor to Curlypaw that I can be.
Then his gaze met Pebbleshine’s. Her eyes were bright with excitement and hope at the thought of setting out into new territory. He realized, staring at her, that there had never been any real question of what his decision would be. Wherever Pebbleshine goes, I go.
Leafstar nodded understandingly to the cats who were staying behind, though Hawkwing could see sadness in her amber eyes. “We will miss you,” she mewed. “But wherever your paws lead you, may StarClan light your path.”
The Clan cats called out their good-byes as Leafstar led the way toward the Twoleg fence. But before any cat reached it there was a sudden scurry of paws from outside the garden. Macgyver appeared, leaping up to the top of the fence and tottering there for a heartbeat before he half fell, half jumped down beside his Clanmates.
He’s a bit of a show-off, Hawkwing thought, amused.
“I thought I’d never find you!” Macgyver exclaimed. “My stupid Twolegs wouldn’t let me out. What’s happening?”
“We’re leaving,” Waspwhisker replied, and explained to the daylight warrior everything that had happened since the battle in the gorge.
“Then I’m coming with you,” Macgyver stated without hesitation. “I’ll miss my Twolegs, but, well . . . I’m a SkyClan cat!” He paused, and his Clanmates let out yowls of approval. Hawkwing joined in, glad that at least one of the daylight warriors had decided to stay with SkyClan as they searched for a new home.
Twitching his whiskers happily, Macgyver turned to Leafstar. “So . . . ,” he began, “where are we going?”
“Rileypool and Bellaleaf are going to lead us back to where they came from,” Leafstar told Macgyver when she could make herself heard. “Barley may be able to point us in the right direction to find ThunderClan. He’s our best hope, since Ravenpaw died.”
Hawkwing’s fur tingled with excitement. This was a good idea. The old farm cat who had visited SkyClan territory with Ravenpaw had seemed kind and sensible—if any cat knew where the other Clans had gone, he would.
The SkyClan cats followed Leafstar out of the Twoleg garden and began their careful journey through the Twolegplace. Pebbleshine and Blossomheart padded alongside Hawkwing, with Curlypaw hard on his paws.
As they set out, Hawkwing felt his heart lift a little. Gazing at Pebbleshine and Curlypaw, he knew that these cats were giving him real purpose. Moving into life After isn’t all bad. It was as though he was making a fresh start, as if he was leaving behind all the mistakes and sorrow of the past. I will be a different cat, he decided. I will think before I speak or act, and I will put my Clan before anything else.
But then, as they approached the corner where two Thunderpaths met, Hawkwing glanced over his shoulder and saw his former mentor, Ebonyclaw, sitting on the garden fence, with the other cats Hawkwing had known all his life, watching their Clanmates go.
Hawkwing let out a long sigh. I’m leaving such a huge part of my life behind here.
But he knew that the cats beside him were his kin, and his future.
CHAPTER 21
Hawkwing stood on the edge of a shallow stream, gazing at the walls of the Twolegplace on the opposite side. All around him spindly hazel trees rustled in the wind. The ground underpaw was damp, and Hawkwing shivered as the chill struck upward through his pads.
Two sunrises had passed since SkyClan had set out, and so far their journey had been easy. Though Hawkwing still felt the bitter loss of his way of life in the gorge, excitement was tugging his paws onward to find the new home by the water where they would meet the other Clans.
But I guess we still have a long way to go, he thought. And I think our journey is about to get a whole lot harder.
“This is the Twolegplace where we fought the battle against Dodge,” Leafstar meowed. “We must travel through it quickly, and hope we don’t meet any of the cats who live here.”
Hawkwing’s ears pricked alertly at his leader’s words. The huge battle had been fought before he was born, but he had heard the story many times while he was still in the nursery. Some of the cats from the Twolegplace had traveled upriver to the gorge, and lived with SkyClan as warriors until they revealed they had come to ask for help.
A vicious tom named Dodge was terrorizing them and their friends, and they weren’t strong enough to fight him off. Leafstar had led some of her warriors into battle in the Twolegplace, defeated Dodge, and forced him to agree to share the territory.
Almost like they were two neighboring Clans, Hawkwing thought.
“We don’t have to avoid all the cats,” Rabbitleap objected in response to Leafstar’s order. “Some of them were our friends. I was only a kit then, but I remember when they lived with us. They were friendly!”
Leafstar gave a doubtful snort. “It wasn’t as simple as that,” she replied. “I don’t want any more to do with those cats. So let’s go, before they spot us.”
A few fox-lengths downstream a fallen tree stretched across the water. Leafstar led the way to it and padded confidently across, then turned to wait for the rest of her Clan.
As Hawkwing followed he shuddered at the gurgling sound of the current just below his paws, recalling the stepping-stones where Snipkit had fallen to her death. He kept a careful eye on Curlypaw and Fidgetpaw, wondering if their memories would make it harder for them to cross safely.
This stream is too shallow to drown in, he reassured himself. If some cat did slip, they would just end up damp.
After a moment’s hesitation, both the apprentices padded over without any trouble, and Leafstar set out at the head of her Clan, farther into the Twolegplace.
A narrow alley led directly ahead, the walls on either side so high that they let in little daylight. Every hair on Hawkwing’s pelt rose in apprehension as the shadows swallowed him up.
Before he had gone many paw steps Hawkwing realized that this was nothing like the Twolegplace where the daylight warriors lived. The stone path felt slimy underpaw, and weird Twoleg rubbish lay scattered in all directions. The reek of Twolegs, monsters, and crow-food—and other things Hawkwing preferred not to think about—filled the air and almost choked him.
Hawkwing’s pelt prickled more strongly still once he became aware of cats watching him and his Clanmates as they penetrated deeper among the Twoleg dens. He could scent the cats, but he never saw them; the air crackled with hostility.
Curlypaw came to pad alongside him, so close that their pelts brushed. “I don’t like this,” she murmured. “Is it far to the other side, do you think?”
“I don’t know,” Hawkwing replied. “Just stick close to me, and you’ll be fine.”
He let out a trill of welcome as Pebbleshine bounded up to pad along on Curlypaw’s other side.
“We’re a whole Clan,” the mottled she-cat meowed reassuringly. “These Twolegplace cats had better not mess with us.”
Hawkwing hoped that she was right. We still haven’t recovered from the battle in the gorge, he thought. The last thing we want is another fight.
More alleyways branched off on either side, and sometimes the cats had to cross a Thunderpath. Leafstar seemed less confident as she continued, as if she wasn’t sure of the way any longer. Hawkwing recalled that she had only visited this Twolegplace once before.
It’s so big and confusing here, I wouldn’t be surprised if Leafstar couldn’t remember.
Waspwhisker and Cherrytail, two of the cats who had accompanied Leafstar on that first expedition, walked beside her at the front of the group. At every corner or place where the path divided they would pause to discuss their route, before heading onward.
Hawkwing began to feel even more uneasy. The sun was going down, and he realized that they would be stuck in this horrible place overnight. I won’t be able to sleep a wink, th
at’s for sure!
Finally Leafstar led the way across a Thunderpath and down another alley which soon led out into a wide open space with a couple of monsters crouching at one side. Hawkwing examined them with narrowed eyes, and decided with a grunt of relief that they were sleeping.
“I don’t remember this place at all,” Waspwhisker mewed, gazing around in confusion.
“Nor do I,” Cherrytail agreed. “We’ve never been here before.”
Leafstar lashed her tail a couple of times in frustration. “We’ve been following the sun so far,” she pointed out after a moment’s thought. “If we keep on doing that, then we should be okay.”
“And when the sun is gone?” Waspwhisker asked sharply.
Already the sun had almost disappeared behind the rooftops of the Twolegplace, though red streaks in the sky showed where it was going down. Hawkwing could see that it wouldn’t be there to guide them for much longer.
“We’d better get a move on,” Leafstar meowed. “This way.”
But as the Clan leader headed for the entrance to another alley that led directly toward the sun, a dark shape appeared on top of the wall, outlined against the scarlet light. It leaped down into the mouth of the alley, and Hawkwing could see it was a brown tom with a short tail. He braced himself, ready if the newcomer should attack, and glanced around sharply to check for any other approaching enemies.
The tom blinked, a friendly look in his amber eyes as he faced Leafstar and the SkyClan cats. “Hi,” he meowed.
“Shorty!” Leafstar exclaimed. Hawkwing relaxed when he heard relief in his leader’s voice. “Greetings! How are you?”
“Fine,” the brown tom, Shorty, replied. “Hey, I see some familiar faces here!”
The older SkyClan warriors crowded around him, echoing Leafstar’s greeting. Hawkwing exchanged a glance with Pebbleshine. “This must be one of the cats who came to live in the gorge,” he murmured.