“Warriors!” Cloudtail let out a mrrow of laughter. “Come on! You’ve only been away for a day.”
“It feels like moons!” Berrykit wailed. “It’s boring here.”
“But it’s safe.” Brambleclaw looked up at the sound of Daisy’s voice. The she-cat padded over to join them, sweeping her tail round to flick Hazelkit on the shoulder. “Get off at once! Is that any way to show respect for a warrior?”
Hazelkit bounced to the floor, allowing Cloudtail to get up and shake scraps of straw from his pelt. “Hi, Daisy,” he meowed.
Daisy halted a couple of tail-lengths away and steadily held his gaze. “I know why you’re here. Please don’t ask me to come back to the forest. I’ve made up my mind.”
“But every cat misses you, and your kits,” Cloudtail mewed. “ThunderClan needs new warriors. And you know we’ll do everything we can to make you feel at home.”
“We want to go back,” Berrykit added, nudging his mother. Mousekit and Hazelkit squeaked their agreement.
Daisy shook her head. “No, you don’t. You’re too young to understand.”
“I don’t think that’s true,” Brambleclaw put in. “When you brought them into the forest they were so young that they won’t be able to remember much about this place. Living in our camp is all they know. They’re almost Clanborn, like the other warriors. Of course they want to go back.”
Daisy let out a long sigh. “It can’t possibly work. I’ve always lived close to Nofurs. I’m used to regular feeding times and a roof over my head. You warriors despise that way of life.”
“We don’t despise you, Daisy,” Cloudtail promised quietly.
“But everything in the forest is so strange!” Daisy protested. “I don’t understand half of what’s in that warrior code of yours. I don’t feel like I could ever belong.”
Her eyes, fixed on Cloudtail, were huge with sorrow. Understanding struck Brambleclaw like a flash of lightning. She was in love with the white warrior! And she must know that there would never be any cat for him but Brightheart. He let out a purr of sympathy. Perhaps Daisy was right to leave. It must hurt to see Cloudtail every day and know he would never be more than her friend.
Cloudtail didn’t seem to realise the strength of Daisy’s feelings. “I still think you should come,” he argued. “There’ll always be a place for you. And every cat misses you. I know Brightheart does.”
Daisy winced. Brambleclaw thought Cloudtail was being a little optimistic in mentioning Brightheart. “But I’m so useless out there,” she meowed. “I feel like every cat in the Clan is fed up with looking after me.”
“That’s not true.” Brambleclaw tried to reassure her. “You’ve helped Sorreltail with her kits, haven’t you?”
“Don’t worry, I’ll look after you. I’ll protect you from the badgers. And I’ll teach you the warrior code,” Berrykit promised his mother, the stump of his tail quivering. “When I’m an apprentice, I’ll tell you everything my mentor teaches me.”
“So will we,” Hazelkit added. “Please take us back! We want to be warriors and catch our own prey. We don’t like that yucky Twoleg food.”
Mousekit flexed tiny claws. “We want to learn to fight.”
Smoky, who had listened in silence until now, padded up to Daisy and brushed his muzzle against hers. “Maybe you should go,” he mewed.
Daisy turned towards him, her eyes questioning and a little hurt. “I thought you missed me.”
“I did. I missed all of you. But it’s obvious that our kits aren’t going to settle here. They’ve done nothing but talk about the forest ever since they set paw in the barn.” The grey-and-white tomcat blinked affectionately at her. “You could always come back yourself once they’re fully grown.”
“Or you could come to the forest too,” Cloudtail suggested to him, making Brambleclaw flinch.
“Me!” Smoky’s eyes opened wide with astonishment. “Live in the open in the pouring rain and have to catch every mouthful of food? No thanks! Besides,” he added, “it sounds way too crowded. I’d never remember all your names.” He glanced back at the other she-cat, who had finished eating and was washing her face with one paw. “And I couldn’t leave Floss all by herself, could I?”
Berrykit nudged Daisy again. “Can we go back? Can we?”
Daisy looked at her kits. “You really want to go and live in the cold and wet with no proper food in a forest full of badgers and traps?”
“Yes!” All three kits bounced up and down, eyes blazing with excitement. “Yes! Yes!”
“Well, I suppose . . .”
Berrykit let out a high-pitched yowl of triumph. He and his littermates scurried around in a circle, their tails held high. “We’re going back to the forest! We’re going back to the forest!”
“That’s great!” Cloudtail looked nearly as pleased as the kits. “These three are just what ThunderClan needs. They’ll be fine warriors one day.”
Brambleclaw spotted a flash of pain in Daisy’s eyes. Cloudtail seemed more pleased that the kits were coming back than that their mother was coming with them.
He touched her shoulder with his tail. “Ferncloud and Sorreltail will be really glad to see you,” he mewed. “They were both terribly upset when they found you’d gone.”
Daisy blinked at him, a faint glow in the depths of her eyes. “They’re good friends,” she murmured.
“When can we go?” Berrykit demanded, halting in front of his mother. “Now?”
“No, not now.” Cloudtail stepped forward before Daisy could answer. “It’s dark out there. We’ll go in the morning.”
“You’re welcome to spend the night here,” Smoky offered. He swept his tail towards the food bowl. “Help yourselves.”
“OK, thanks.” Cloudtail padded over to the bowl and plunged his muzzle into it.
Brambleclaw remembered hearing about how the white warrior used to sneak off to eat food the Twolegs gave him, until they made him a prisoner and shut him up in their nest. He had come back to the Clan when Firestar helped him to escape, but he obviously still had a fondness for kittypet food.
“Not for me, thanks,” he meowed to Smoky with a polite dip of his head. “I’ll catch my own.”
“Show us how,” Berrykit pleaded, at the same time as Mousekit asked, “Can we watch?”
“You don’t learn how to hunt until you’re apprenticed,” Brambleclaw told them. “But you can watch if you like.”
The three kits crouched down together, gazing at him with huge eyes as he tasted the air. Now that they were quiet, the whole barn seemed to be filled with the scuffling and squeaking of mice. Brambleclaw soon spotted a plump one, nibbling on a seed at the foot of a pile of straw bales. Very cautiously, not letting his claws scrape on the stone floor of the barn, he crept towards it. This is one mouse I can’t afford to miss, he thought as he pounced and swiftly bit it on the back of the neck.
All three kits let out a squeal of excitement as he turned back with his limp prey in his jaws. Berrykit dropped into the hunter’s crouch, waggling his haunches just as Brambleclaw had done. He almost had the position exactly right. He’ll be a great hunter, Brambleclaw thought.
“Here,” he meowed, after dropping the mouse in front of the three kits. “You can share that one, if your mother says it’s OK. I’ll catch another.”
Daisy gave her permission, shaking her head slightly as she watched her kits eat the fresh-kill. A moment later she turned away and joined Cloudtail at the food bowl.
Brambleclaw soon caught himself a second mouse. By the time he had finished eating, Daisy had gathered her kits together and vanished with them into the straw. Cloudtail clawed at the stiff stems until he had pulled enough out of the bale to make a nest. “I’ll be glad to be back in camp,” he mewed. “This stuff isn’t nearly as comfortable as moss.”
As Brambleclaw made a nest for himself, he had to agree. The straw poked into him, and a chill seeped up from the stone floor underneath. He curled up and tucked his nose into his
tail, missing the warriors’ den, its air warmed by the breath of his Clanmates. Most of all he missed Squirrelflight, her sweet scent and the soft touch of her fur. Sleep was a long time in coming, but out here in the horseplace, far from his Clan, no dreams disturbed it.
Chapter 14
Leafpool curled up in her nest of moss and bracken, but she shifted around for a long time before she slept, feeling as though ants were crawling through her pelt. How could she get in touch with Willowpaw to tell her about StarClan?
When at last she drifted into unconsciousness, she opened her eyes and found herself at the top of a slope overlooking the lake, not far from the place where Brambleclaw had sat, staring across the water. There was no sign of the tabby warrior tonight. Instead, as she brushed through the long grasses, each blade outlined in silver, there was a different cat waiting for her by the lake. The frosty glimmer of StarClan shone in its fur as it gazed out over the water.
Spottedleaf? Leafpool quickened her pace until she was racing through the undergrowth to the water’s edge. But when she reached the shore and saw the StarClan cat more clearly, she realised it was Feathertail, Stormfur’s sister, who had died in the mountains on the way back from the sun-drown-place.
The beautiful silver-furred tabby let out a welcoming purr. “I hoped you would come, Leafpool,” she mewed. “We have a task tonight, you and I.”
“What’s that?” Leafpool asked, her pelt prickling with excitement.
“StarClan want me to help you visit Willowpaw in her dreams,” Feathertail explained.
Leafpool stared in astonishment at the StarClan warrior. Each medicine cat dreamed his or her own dreams of StarClan—they never appeared in each other’s. She had assumed that the only way she could meet Willowpaw was in the waking world. “Can that be done?”
“Yes, but very rarely, and only in times of greatest need. Follow me.”
Rising, she brushed her muzzle lightly against Leafpool’s, then bounded away along the lakeshore. Leafpool raced after her. Moonlight shone all around her and she felt as though her paws were lighter than the wind. She skimmed across the stream that marked the WindClan border without even feeling the water touch her paws. Was this what it felt like to be a warrior of StarClan, she wondered—as though she could run forever, leap into the sky, and toss the moon like a shining leaf?
The whole journey might have lasted for several seasons, or no more than a heartbeat. The horseplace flickered past, and Feathertail slowed down as the two cats drew closer to the RiverClan camp. They crossed the stream and padded silently up the bank on the other side; Leafpool set her paws down as delicately as if she were stalking a mouse, even though she knew this was only a dream and she couldn’t wake the sleeping RiverClan warriors.
Mothwing’s den was in a cave hollowed out by the stream on the far side of the camp. As Feathertail led the way towards it, Leafpool spotted the small grey shape of Willowpaw curled up in a nest of moss just outside.
Feathertail flicked her ear gently with the tip of her tail. “Willowpaw,” she breathed. “Willowpaw, we need to speak to you.”
The small grey cat’s ears twitched and she curled up more tightly. Feathertail nudged her with one paw, softly repeating her name. This time Willowpaw blinked and looked up.
“Do you mind?” she mewed crossly. “I was chasing this huge fat mouse and I was just going to sink my claws in it when—” She broke off, gazing from Leafpool to Feathertail and back again. “I’m still dreaming, aren’t I?” Her eyes stretched very wide. “You’re Leafpool from ThunderClan, and you must be a warrior from StarClan.” Looking dismayed, she slapped the tip of her tail over her mouth. “I’m so sorry I snapped at you,” she mumbled through her fur.
Feathertail’s blue eyes glimmered with amusement. “Don’t worry, dear one. You’ll soon get used to visits in your dreams, now that you’re a medicine cat apprentice.”
Willowpaw scrambled to her paws. “Welcome to RiverClan,” she meowed formally. A puzzled look crept over her face. “You have RiverClan scent,” she mewed to Feathertail, “but I don’t know you.”
“My name is Feathertail,” the silvery she-cat replied. “You weren’t even born when I left on the journey to the sun-drown-place.”
Willowpaw’s eyes filled with awe. “And you never came back,” she whispered. “You gave your life to save your friends and the Tribe in the mountains. I’ve heard the story. RiverClan will never forget you.”
Feathertail blinked affectionately and let her tail rest for a moment on Willowpaw’s shoulder. “Enough of that, dear one,” she mewed. “Tonight we’re here to show you something.”
“Me?” Willowpaw exclaimed. “Are you sure? Do you want me to fetch Mothwing?”
Leafpool and Feathertail exchanged a glance. Leafpool wasn’t sure how much Willowpaw understood. Did she realise that her mentor had no contact with StarClan?
“No, this sign is for you,” Feathertail assured her. “You can tell Mothwing about it when you wake up. Now you must come with us.”
The young apprentice’s paws danced in the grass. “Are we going a long way?” she asked. “As far as the sun-drown-place?”
“Not this time,” Leafpool told her. “Just to the edge of your territory.”
Remembering what Mudfur had told her about where to find the catmint, she took the lead, crossing the stream and heading across RiverClan territory to the small Thunderpath. Drawing closer to it, she could pick up the reek of Twoleg monsters and more smells from the Twolegs who came to sail their boats on the lake, almost drowning the scent markers of both Clans. Even in a dream, she was cautious as she emerged from the undergrowth on the edge of the Thunderpath, but everything was dark and silent. All the Twolegs must have gone back to their nests when darkness fell.
With Willowpaw right behind her and Feathertail bringing up the rear, Leafpool padded along the Thunderpath, away from the lake. When she crossed the border scent markers she still hadn’t found the Twoleg nests Mudfur had told her about, but as she followed the Thunderpath around a wide curve, she spotted a light in a hollow not far ahead: a reddish light that didn’t come from moon or stars.
Her pelt prickled as she thought of fire, but she could not feel any heat or hear the crackle of burning. There was no scent of smoke either, but as she drew in air, she tasted the faintest possible trace of catmint.
“Down there,” she murmured over her shoulder.
She padded on more cautiously, and realised a few moments later that the light came from a hole in the side of a Twoleg nest. It was shining behind a pelt that gave it a reddish colour. Looming up ahead of her was the dark shape of a Twoleg fence. Gathering herself, she leaped up and balanced herself on the top. Willowpaw scrambled up beside her, while Feathertail remained below.
The smell of catmint was stronger now. Willowpaw had picked it up too, and her eyes glinted in triumph. “Catmint!”
“That’s right,” Leafpool mewed. “A very useful herb for medicine cats, and quite hard to find, unless there are Twolegs to grow it for us.”
Willowpaw nodded. “Yes, it cures greencough. I wish we’d had some when Heavystep was ill. Mothwing and the patrols looked all over the territory.”
Leafpool swallowed another pang of guilt. “Tomorrow she can fetch some from here,” she told Willowpaw. “But be sure to warn her to wait until after dark, when there aren’t so many Twolegs around.”
Still balanced on top of the fence, she tasted the air again for any likely dangers. “No kittypets or dogs,” she meowed with relief. “Willowpaw, do you know what dogs smell like?”
The apprentice shuddered. “Yes, some of the Twolegs who come to the lake bring their dogs with them. They smell yucky.”
“Well, I don’t think there are any here, but tell Mothwing to check again when she comes for the catmint. And now we’d better be getting back,” she added.
Leaping down, they rejoined Feathertail and made their way back through RiverClan territory to the camp.
“
Sleep deeply now,” Feathertail told Willowpaw as she settled in her nest again. “See if that fat mouse is still waiting.”
Willowpaw looked up at the two cats. “I’m so glad you came,” she mewed. “It’s great being a medicine cat. I can’t wait to tell Mothwing!”
Leafpool and Feathertail left her curled up again and set off around the lake to ThunderClan territory. This time they padded along more slowly.
“Thank you, Leafpool,” Feathertail meowed. “You’ve done well tonight.” She paused beside the stream that formed ThunderClan’s border with WindClan. Her gaze locked with Leafpool’s. “I spoke to Spottedleaf,” she mewed. “She told me about the butterfly sign.”
Leafpool felt a shiver run through every hair on her pelt.
“You understand, don’t you?” the StarClan cat continued. “You know what that means for Mothwing?”
“I guessed that Hawkfrost must have put the moth’s wing outside Mudfur’s den,” Leafpool confessed, the words threatening to choke her. “I don’t know how I’m going to face Mothwing now. What can I say to her?”
“Say nothing.” Feathertail’s voice was quiet, but filled with certainty. “Mothwing must learn to live with it.”
“Then . . . then does this mean Mothwing can’t be a medicine cat any more?” Leafpool stammered. “She cares so much—”
“I know,” Feathertail interrupted with a soothing purr. “The whole of StarClan knows. Mothwing has proved her skills and her loyalty many times over. It is StarClan’s will for her to stay where she is and teach Willowpaw all she knows.”
“But she doesn’t know about StarClan,” Leafpool protested. “How can Willowpaw learn to understand signs if Mothwing can’t tell her?”
“That will be your task.” Feathertail touched Leafpool’s shoulder with the tip of her tail. “You have no apprentice yet—and no need for one,” she added. “You will be here to serve your Clan for many seasons more. So will you sometimes visit Willowpaw in RiverClan and speak to her at the Moonpool? You can teach her everything she needs to know, without having to walk in her dreams again.”