“That would be really helpful,” meowed Echosong.
With a happy mrrow Frecklepaw disappeared inside the den again.
“She’s learned a lot,” Leafstar meowed, impressed.
Echosong nodded, then turned back to the river, crouching down to lap a few more mouthfuls of water. In a couple of heartbeats she stood up again, swiping her tongue around her jaws to catch the last drops. “I need to think about finding an apprentice,” she remarked.
“You mean Frecklepaw?” Leafstar had just seen for herself the young cat’s enthusiasm and competence, but she wasn’t sure that she was the right choice for Echosong. “Can a medicine cat live part of the time with Twolegs?”
“I don’t know,” Echosong admitted. “But Frecklepaw has natural talent, and she enjoys the work. She learns quickly, too.”
Leafstar still wasn’t convinced. “Has StarClan sent you any signs about this?” she asked.
Echosong shook her head. “I don’t think I need a sign, when Frecklepaw is perfect for the job.”
Leafstar couldn’t agree. This was far more difficult than accepting kittypets into the Clan as warriors. A medicine cat needed to have a special link with StarClan; Leafstar didn’t know if their ancestors would accept a cat who was not a full member of a Clan. “I’ll think about it,” she promised.
Echosong dipped her head in acceptance, but Leafstar could see she wasn’t happy with her reply. “I’d better get on.” The medicine cat spoke more curtly than usual.
“Yes … fine.” Leafstar flinched at the tension that had sprung between them. “Send Frecklepaw out as soon as you can. She’s supposed to be hunting with Ebonyclaw.”
Echosong nodded and stalked off.
Leafstar watched her go with an unaccustomed feeling of helplessness. She had grown used to being challenged by Sharpclaw over her decisions about the daylight-warriors; she hadn’t expected the same challenge from a cat she regarded as her closest friend in SkyClan.
“Full moon tonight!” Tinycloud gave an excited little bounce. “Rockshade, I’ll race you up to the Skyrock!”
Leafstar, coming across the two young warriors on her way down from her den, was about to remind them that they weren’t apprentices any longer. The trail that led up to the ledge under the rim of the gorge was narrow, and there was a dangerous jump from there to the Skyrock itself. As warriors, they should know better than to take stupid risks.
But before she could speak, Cora looked up from where she was sunning herself with the other visiting cats. “What’s the Skyrock?” she meowed.
“That, up there.” Rockshade raised his tail to point at the flat ledge jutting out over the gorge. “The whole Clan meets there when the moon is full.”
“Why?” Coal asked, getting up to join the younger warriors. “Can’t you meet down here in the gorge?”
“It has to be a special place,” Tinycloud explained. “And up there we’re closer to StarClan—that’s the spirits of our warrior ancestors.”
Coal exchanged a mystified glance with Shorty. “Warrior ancestors? What are you meowing about?”
Leafstar stopped to listen but stayed in the background, interested to know what the visiting cats would think about the idea that the spirits of their ancestors watched over them. Or do they? Maybe it’s only Clan cats who go to StarClan when they die.
“Every moon we hold a Gathering on the Skyrock,” Tinycloud began. “We tell StarClan what has been happening in the Clan, and we discuss stuff.”
“Er … sounds interesting,” Stick mewed, looking mystified.
“Back in the forest where Firestar lives,” Rockshade went on, “there are four Clans. They meet at the full moon, too, and exchange their news, and there’s a truce so they’re not allowed to fight one another.”
“We can’t do all of that, because we’re only one Clan,” his littermate meowed, sounding rather disappointed. “But we still Gather. It’s what Clan cats do.”
The Twolegplace cats were silent for a moment.
“So … you go up to the top of the cliff to talk to dead cats?” Shorty meowed at last.
“No, that’s not exactly what we do,” Tinycloud objected, with a glance at Rockshade; she sounded confused, as if she wasn’t sure what else she could say to make the visitors understand what a Gathering was.
“I guess you have to be there…” Rockshade began.
Leafstar padded forward, deciding that it was time to intervene. “Tinycloud, Rockshade, go find Sharpclaw. He’ll be organizing the hunting patrols. Off you go.”
The warriors bounded off at once, looking distinctly relieved.
“You’ll find out all about the Gathering later,” Leafstar reassured the other cats.
“Oh, are we invited?” Cora asked, sounding pleased.
“Every cat comes,” Leafstar told her. And if you’re going to join this Clan, she added to herself, you’ll have to learn about StarClan sooner or later.
Leafstar padded in the paw steps of the two young warriors, toward the center of the camp. She glanced over her shoulder as she heard Billystorm call her name.
“Leafstar, could you give me a couple of moments, please?”
Billystorm was padding down the trail with his apprentice Snookpaw just behind. “I… er… I want you to check out the hunting move I’ve been teaching Snookpaw,” he explained. “I’m not sure he’s got it quite right. Could we go to the training area?”
“Sure.” Leafstar felt faintly uneasy. Billystorm looked as if he had more on his mind than a hunting move. More trouble between the daylight-warriors and the Clan cats? she wondered.
When they reached the training area, Billystorm waved Snookpaw into the middle of the empty space. “I’ve been showing Snookpaw how to leap onto a rabbit’s back and roll it over before it can run. Snookpaw, show Leafstar.”
The apprentice dropped into the hunter’s crouch and crept up on his imaginary rabbit. Leafstar watched approvingly as he waggled his haunches and leaped into the air, coming down on all four paws and flipping himself onto his back as if he was gripping the rabbit in his claws.
“That looks fine to me,” she meowed. “Snookpaw, you might want to keep your legs tighter to your body as you roll. That way, you’ll keep a firmer hold on the rabbit.”
“Thanks, Leafstar.” Snookpaw scrambled to his paws and shook sand from his black-and-white pelt.
“Why don’t you practice that a few times?” Billystorm suggested. “We’ll watch you.”
The apprentice nodded and crouched down again, creeping low across the open space.
“You’ve taught him well,” Leafstar commented. “Now, what is this really about?”
Billystorm looked guilty. “I wanted to know,” he began, “whether the visitors have said anything to you about their plans.”
That was the last question Leafstar had expected him to ask, yet on reflection she realized she shouldn’t be surprised. The whole Clan must be speculating about what the Twolegplace cats want.
“No,” she meowed, annoyed that she sounded defensive. “They haven’t told me anything.”
“Maybe you should ask them.” Billystorm hesitated, and then went on, “I’ve seen them leading patrols of SkyClan cats in Twolegplace.”
Leafstar’s belly lurched and she felt her neck fur beginning to bristle. “That’s not possible. No patrols go hunting in Twolegplace.”
“I saw them.” Billystorm leaned closer toward her, his amber eyes full of concern. “Last night I was sitting on the wall around my housefolk’s garden, in the shade of a thick bush. No cat could have seen me from below, and the flowers on the bush hid my scent. They walked right past me: Stick and Sharpclaw, Mintpaw and Rockshade.”
Leafstar met his worried gaze. “You must have been mistaken,” she meowed, trying to sound calm.
Billystorm shook his head, but he didn’t seem inclined to argue. Inside, Leafstar felt puzzled and unsure. She could imagine some of the younger warriors setting off to explore Twolegplace, im
agining it would be an adventure. But Sharpclaw is Clan deputy! What was he doing there? She didn’t like the fact, either, that he had taken Mintpaw, whom he was mentoring while Waspwhisker recovered from his wound. The Twolegplace is no place for an apprentice.
As she watched Snookpaw practice his move, possibilities drifted through her mind like clouds. Had Sharpclaw and the others been chasing off a dog? If so, why hadn’t he reported it?
“You can stop now, Snookpaw,” she called as the apprentice leaped and rolled once again. “You’ve got the move down.”
Snookpaw scrambled up and bounced over to his mentor at the edge of the training area. “Can we go and try it for real?” he puffed.
“Tomorrow,” Billystorm promised. He added, “You would catch even more rabbits if you were a bit thinner.” He gave his apprentice a gentle prod in the side.
“Aw, but I have to eat two lots of food every day!” Snookpaw protested. “My housefolk get really upset if I don’t eat theirs. And they’ve made it extra tasty lately.”
“You poor thing, I feel so sorry for you,” Billystorm murmured. He caught Leafstar’s eye, and they shared an amused purr at the way Snookpaw seemed genuinely downcast. Leafstar shoved the thought of Sharpclaw leading a patrol into Twolegplace to the back of her mind. SkyClan was strong and contented now, with the rats safely defeated. There was no need to go looking for trouble by challenging her deputy on something that might have a perfectly innocent explanation.
As the last scarlet traces of sunlight faded from the sky, Leafstar kept casting glances toward the top of the gorge. This was the time when Harveymoon and Macgyver were allowed to come back to the Clan.
But will they want to? Surely they should be here by now.
All the other daylight-warriors had stayed late in the gorge so they could attend the Gathering. Snookpaw and Frecklepaw were part of an excited huddle with their fellow apprentices, while Billystorm and Ebonyclaw waited with Patchfoot and Petalnose for the signal to climb the trail.
“I wonder if I was too harsh with Harveymoon and Macgyver,” Leafstar murmured to herself. As Echosong padded past with a bunch of yarrow leaves, she meowed out loud, “Echosong, do you think I should have banished those two daylight-warriors?”
“’Course,” the medicine cat mumbled around her mouthful of herbs. “They’ve got to learn.” She headed for her den to store the leaves away.
Leafstar watched Echosong’s fluffy tail whisk out of sight. I’ll feel a lot better when they arrive. But what will I do if they don’t come back?
Excited squeaking broke out behind her as Fallowfern brought her kits down from the nursery. “Nettlekit, sit still,” she ordered. “Your neck fur is all rumpled, and I can’t lick it straight when you’re bouncing around like that.”
Leafstar turned to watch the kits bundling around their mother.
“I’m going to sit on the Skyrock!” Plumkit announced. “I’m going to jump right over the gap and sit with the warriors!”
“You certainly are not,” her mother scolded, pausing in her firm tongue strokes over Nettlekit’s neck. Her sharp gaze traveled over her kits. “The Skyrock is for warriors. Besides, you’re too young to leap across the gap, and if even one of you tries it, all four of you will go straight back to the nursery.”
“But—” Rabbitkit protested.
“Not another word. You’re only kits; you can’t possibly jump that far.”
“Can too,” Plumkit muttered; her mother flicked her over the ear with the tip of her tail.
Leafstar was distracted from the antics of the kits as Waspwhisker limped past. “How is your wound?” she called to him. “Do you think you can leap across to the Skyrock?”
The gray-and-white tom nodded determinedly. “I’ll be fine, Leafstar.”
She wasn’t certain, but before she could protest she heard yowls of greeting coming from the top of the cliff. Relief rushed through her from nose to tail-tip as she recognized the outlines of Harveymoon and Macgyver.
“Hey, look who’s here!” Patchfoot exclaimed as the two daylight-warriors raced down the trail.
Their Clanmates clustered around to welcome them back to the Clan, and Leafstar let out a sigh of relief. Now maybe we can carry on and put their bad behavior behind us.
As the initial excitement died down, Harveymoon spotted the Twolegplace cats, who were sitting together in the shadow of the Rockpile. His white neck fur started to fluff up. “Who are they?” he demanded, flicking his ears in their direction.
“They’re cats from another Twolegplace,” Rockshade explained, springing to his paws and padding over to the visitors. “Firestar met them on his way here. This is Stick,” he began, touching each cat on the shoulder with his tail-tip as he spoke their name, “and this is Cora, Shorty, and Coal. These are Harveymoon and Macgyver,” he told the visitors. “They… er… they haven’t been here for a while. They’re kitty… I mean, daylight-warriors like Billystorm and Ebonyclaw.”
Stick dipped his head. “We’re glad to meet you.”
Harveymoon and Macgyver didn’t look as if they wanted to return the compliment. “What are they doing here?” Macgyver asked.
“They’re just staying here for a while,” Patchfoot replied. “They’ve been helping us out.”
“What, with hunting and everything?” Harveymoon sounded shocked.
Leafstar suppressed a sigh. The questions were natural enough, she supposed, but did he have to sound so unwelcoming?
“They’ve been great, actually,” Sharpclaw meowed. “We would never have won the rat battle without them.”
“Rat battle?” Macgyver spun around to face the Clan deputy. “What rat battle?”
“There was this huge heap of old stuff that the Twolegs left on our territory.” Cherrytail’s eyes stretched wide with excitement as she began to explain. “It was full of rats.”
“We found it on patrol,” Patchfoot added. “We had to get rid of the rats, and Stick and the others knew what to do. They have a lot of trouble with rats in their Twolegplace.”
“They eat rats,” Mintpaw chipped in.
“Stick built a practice heap here in the gorge,” Petalnose went on, “and we all learned the right moves for fighting rats.”
“Then we sneaked up to the heap one night.…” Bouncefire began to describe the attack, how the Clan had blocked up all but two exits and driven the rats out into the claws of the waiting warriors.
“I was badly wounded,” Waspwhisker told the kittypets, proudly turning sideways to display his scar. “I might have died if it wasn’t for Echosong.”
“But no cat died,” Sharpclaw finished. “And we owe that to our visitors.”
“I wish I’d been there,” Macgyver meowed enviously as he gave Waspwhisker’s scar a sniff. “I’d have killed loads of rats.”
“Oh, you wouldn’t have been there anyway,” Rockshade told him. “It was too early in the morning for you.”
“None of the daylight-warriors were there,” Mintpaw mewed, as Harveymoon and Macgyver looked puzzled.
“But the Twolegplace cats were there?” Harveymoon checked, sounding offended.
“Yes, they organized the attack,” Cherrytail replied.
Harveymoon and Macgyver exchanged a hurt glance. Leafstar could feel the rising tension. She was annoyed with Rockshade and Mintpaw for not being more sensitive—and with herself for doubting yet again that it had been the right decision to exclude the daylight-warriors.
As she caught Sharpclaw’s eye, the deputy stepped forward. “That’s all in the past,” he mewed. “Tonight’s the Gathering, and it’s time we were off.” He waved his tail and stood back for Leafstar to lead the way up the trail that led to the Skyrock.
I shouldn’t worry so much, Leafstar told herself as she took her place at the head of her Clan. Harveymoon and Macgyver probably just feel left out. And that might not be a bad thing, if it makes them better warriors.
The moon cast soft silver light onto the cliffs, turning ev
erything gray, as the cats of SkyClan reached the Skyrock. Leafstar felt her paws tingle when she jumped across the gap from the edge of the cliff to the ledge that jutted out over the gorge. This was the place where Firestar had shown StarClan to her, and where she had received her nine lives from the spirits of those long-ago cats.
Wind whispered over the surface of the rock as more cats joined her. Now that SkyClan had grown so big, there was only room for the senior warriors. The newly made warriors, Tinycloud, Rockshade, and Bouncefire, sat closest to the edge on top of the cliff, with Mintpaw and Sagepaw just behind them. The daylight-warriors sat a tail-length or so away, as did the visitors; Leafstar noticed with a pang of uneasiness that the three groups of cats were keeping themselves separate, even though there didn’t seem to be any outward hostility among them.
Clovertail, Fallowfern, and her kits sat on a pile of curved stones at the end of the trail, a few tail-lengths from the gap. The two she-cats enclosed the wriggling kits with their tails, to make sure none of them tried to jump across. Lichenfur and Tangle joined them; the two elders had hauled themselves up the trail, complaining every paw step of the way, but Leafstar knew that neither of them would dream of missing a Gathering.
When her Clanmates had settled down, Leafstar sat in silence for a heartbeat or two, gazing up at the full moon and the stars. It was easy to imagine that the cats she had met when she received her nine lives were looking down at her now.
What do they think about the way I’m leading their Clan?
She took a deep breath and let her gaze travel around the circle of warriors. “I, Leafstar, leader of SkyClan, call upon my ancestors to look down upon these cats,” she began. These Gatherings were still unfamiliar, and she was sharply aware that she was forging traditions that her Clan would follow for season after season. I need to get it right. “Since last we Gathered on the Skyrock, we have defended our territory against a horde of rats. Every cat fought bravely and took wounds for the sake of our Clan. I commend especially Waspwhisker, who almost died in the fight, and Patchfoot and Sparrowpelt, who were particularly vigilant in keeping watch on the rats until we were ready to attack.”