“Only Feathertail can answer that, and she is dead,” Leopardstar retorted.
Hawkfrost climbed up beside his leader. “If you can’t survive in the forest any more, then I agree that you should leave,” he meowed, his gaze flicking around the cats to include Tallstar. “After all, what sort of leader would let his Clan starve?”
Squirrelpaw was rather taken aback by the bold way he addressed the other Clan leaders. After all, he wasn’t much older than her.
Brambleclaw glared at Hawkfrost. “You just want us to leave so you can steal our territory!”
“If you aren’t here, then you won’t need it any more.”
Brambleclaw bristled. “You might feel differently if you were truly Clanborn.”
“Show some respect, Brambleclaw!” Firestar snapped. “Hawkfrost is not responsible for his birth.”
Brambleclaw opened his mouth, ready to argue, then seemed to think better of it and looked down at his paws. Squirrelpaw thought she saw Hawkfrost’s whiskers twitch with satisfaction and felt a surge of anger on Brambleclaw’s behalf. How dared he gloat?
“This is getting us nowhere,” Tallstar meowed fretfully.
“The four Clans must remain together,” Firestar insisted. “We have lived beneath Silverpelt for as long as any cat remembers. We share the same ancestors. How could StarClan watch over us if we are separated?” But Blackstar had jumped down from the tree trunk and was padding away, signalling to Littlecloud, the ShadowClan medicine cat, to join him.
Tawnypelt looked uneasily at her friends. “I have to go,” she whispered to Squirrelpaw.
“What about the sign?” Squirrelpaw reminded her. She shivered, and not just from the cold. Where was the sign that was supposed to save them?
Doubt flickered in the ShadowClan warrior’s gaze. “I’m sorry; I can’t wait.” She hurried after Blackstar and Littlecloud. The hollow felt even emptier and more exposed without the three ShadowClan cats.
“Good luck, Firestar,” Leopardstar meowed. She looked over to where Mothwing was crouched beside Mudfur. “Is he well enough to travel?”
“Of course I am!” Mudfur rasped, struggling to his paws. “I made it here, didn’t I?”
“Then come,” Leopardstar ordered, and, turning away, she led her cats from the clearing.
Stormfur brushed against Squirrelpaw’s pelt as he passed. “I’ll try to speak to you and Brambleclaw soon,” he whispered.
“What can we do without the sign?” Squirrelpaw hissed frantically.
Stormfur flashed her a look of despair. “I don’t know,” he said. He gazed back at the Great Rock, dragged from its ancient seat. “Perhaps StarClan has no power here anymore.”
Squirrelpaw stared at him in horror. Could that be true?
Firestar watched the RiverClan cats leave. “I cannot persuade them.” He sighed.
“Then we two must go alone,” Tallstar wheezed. He sat down to catch his breath. “Firestar,” he croaked, “I must find new territory for my Clan before the next full moon. We are starving.” Squirrelpaw felt her heart twist with pity as he went on. “But we are too weak to make the journey alone. Travel with us, Firestar. Help us like you did when you brought WindClan back from exile, after Brokenstar drove us out.”
Firestar miserably twitched his ears. “We can’t leave without the other two Clans. There have always been four Clans in the forest, and wherever we end up, four Clans must be there as well. How else can we be sure the fifth Clan will come with us?”
The fifth Clan? Squirrelpaw wondered what her father meant. She glanced at Brambleclaw, but he looked as puzzled as she felt.
“StarClan will be with us always,” Tallstar argued, and Squirrelpaw understood: StarClan were the fifth Clan.
She saw a glimmer of anger enter the WindClan leader’s tired eyes. “You are too proud, Firestar,” he warned. “I can tell ThunderClan is on the brink of starvation just like WindClan. If you insist on staying in the forest while you wait for the other two to make up their minds, your Clanmates will die.”
Firestar looked away. “I’m sorry, Tallstar,” he meowed. “I want to help you, but my heart tells me that ThunderClan cannot leave until all the other Clans agree to leave as well. We will have to keep trying to persuade them.”
Tallstar thrashed his tail. “Very well,” he hissed. “We cannot travel without you, and so we will wait. I don’t blame you for the hunger we suffer, but I’m disappointed you will not help us now.” He padded away with Barkface close beside him, ready to support him if the WindClan leader stumbled on paws that hardly seemed strong enough to carry him to the edge of the clearing, let alone all the way back to the moor.
Squirrelpaw turned to Brambleclaw. “Why wasn’t there a sign?” she protested.
Brambleclaw gazed at her. “Do you think Midnight was wrong?” His wide eyes reflected the moon. “After all, did she really tell us anything we can’t see from what is happening around us?” He gestured with his tail to the ravaged clearing, to the swaths of fallen trees around them. “Every cat knows the forest is being destroyed by Twolegs. Perhaps Blackstar is right, and each Clan should just try to save itself, without waiting for any more signs.”
Squirrelpaw fought to control the panic that fluttered in her chest. “You can’t mean that! We have to believe that Midnight was right!” she argued. “StarClan sent us to speak with her, and that must mean StarClan wants us to save the Clans.”
“But what if we can’t?” Brambleclaw murmured.
Squirrelpaw stared at him in dismay, her mind suddenly filled with an image of falling trees, roaring monsters, and blood spilling down Sunningrocks into the river. “Don’t give up, Brambleclaw!” she whispered. “We didn’t make that journey and lose Feathertail for nothing. We have to save the Clans!”
CHAPTER 7
Squirrelpaw curled up beside Shrewpaw and tried not to think about the warm, moss-lined den where the apprentices had slept before. At least the small gully they were lying in gave some shelter from the chilly night breeze. It felt strange to be sleeping apart from Brambleclaw after their long journey together, but at least Shrewpaw seemed happy to have her back. Her paws ached with tiredness, and she closed her eyes, folding her tail over her muzzle for comfort. At first she couldn’t stop thinking about the disastrous meeting at Fourtrees, but gradually dreams wove into her waking thoughts and drew her into sleep.
She was alone among the trees, and she could smell prey-scent. A cold wind breathed through the forest. Squirrelpaw lifted her nose and tasted the air. A fat mouse was snuffling among the leaves. It was the plumpest piece of prey she had found since returning to the forest, and she swiped her tongue hungrily over her lips. Brambleclaw would be pleased to have a share of this fresh-kill.
Crouching, Squirrelpaw crept silently towards the unsuspecting creature. It had its head half-buried under an oak leaf and hadn’t noticed her. This was going to be an easy catch. Suddenly, rapid pawsteps sounded behind her. Terrified, the mouse darted out from under the oak leaf and scuttled away beneath the roots of a tree. Squirrelpaw spun around, bristling with fury.
A tortoiseshell cat with gentle amber eyes was standing behind her. “Hello, Squirrelpaw,” she mewed. “I have something to show you.”
“You’ve just ruined the best catch I’m likely to get all day!” Squirrelpaw snapped back. She had never seen this cat before, though she carried the scent of ThunderClan. She stopped and put her head to one side. “Who are you, anyway?”
“I’m Spottedleaf.”
Squirrelpaw blinked. She had heard all about the long-dead ThunderClan medicine cat. Why would Spottedleaf come to her?
She stepped forwards to touch the she-cat’s nose in greeting, but as she went closer, the image faded.
Bewildered, Squirrelpaw stared into the trees. She pricked her ears, listening for movement, but heard nothing and turned to resume her hunt. The scent of prey that hung in the air was too tempting. Perhaps Spottedleaf had wanted only to greet her, nothing more.
r />
Squirrelpaw prowled deeper into the woods, following a path that led toward Snakerocks. But as she crept through the undergrowth, the forest seemed to change, and she didn’t recognise the trees around her. Surely she should have reached Snakerocks by now. Had she taken the wrong path? She quickened her pace until she was racing through trees she had never seen before.
A tiny voice in her mind reminded her that it was just a dream, and she wasn’t really lost. She blinked, trying to wake up. But when she opened her eyes, she was still trapped in the strange woods, and her alarm grew until her heart pounded like a woodpecker’s beak on bark. She ran on, hoping to find a landmark she recognised, but the forest grew darker and more silent, as if the trees themselves were watching her. There didn’t seem to be anything else alive in these woods—no sound of prey, no scent of her Clanmates or any other Clan.
“Spottedleaf!” she called. “Help me!”
There was no reply.
The trees grew more thickly here, and the shadows between the trunks swallowed her until she could hardly see where she was putting her paws.
“Don’t be frightened.”
The soft voice seemed to echo from every direction at once, and Squirrelpaw spun round, trying to find where it came from. There was a faint scent of ThunderClan, and then she saw Spottedleaf’s pale pelt glowing among the trees like the distant moon in a mottled sky.
“I’m lost, Spottedleaf!” she called.
“No, you’re not,” Spottedleaf reassured her gently. “Follow me.”
Panting with relief, Squirrelpaw wound her way through the tree trunks. As she approached, the shadows seemed to draw away and the forest grew lighter, although there wasn’t any moon that she could see.
“Follow me,” Spottedleaf murmured. She turned and headed into the trees, running as confidently as if she were following an invisible path. Squirrelpaw pelted after her.
Spottedleaf ran like the wind, but Squirrelpaw raced over the ground until she felt as though she were swooping through the trees like a bird. Exhilaration flooded her so that she hardly noticed the forest become familiar once more. Then she recognised the Great Sycamore, reaching high into the sky. And here were the Snakerocks, a tumbled heap of round, sandy boulders where snakes basked in greenleaf, but which offered good prey in colder weather. Spottedleaf leaped up to the top of the rocks, then down the other side and on through the forest. Squirrelpaw scrambled after her quickly.
On they went until Squirrelpaw detected the tang of the Thunderpath. Suddenly, without warning, Spottedleaf stopped. Squirrelpaw skidded to a halt, nearly bumping into her, and followed the medicine cat’s gaze. Ahead of them, every single tree had been stripped away, and the forest floor was churned into mud right to the edge of the Thunderpath. Wooden Twoleg nests ringed the clearing, and monsters sat hunched and silent nearby.
“This way,” Spottedleaf mewed. She led Squirrelpaw across the slippery, rutted earth toward the nests.
“It’s so quiet,” Squirrelpaw whispered. Oddly, she felt soothed by the eerie quiet, and she followed Spottedleaf over the open ground without fear.
Spottedleaf stopped beside one of the wooden nests, and Squirrelpaw looked up at it in surprise. “What is this place?” she mewed. “Why have you brought me here?”
Spottedleaf twitched her gold-and-brown-striped tail. “Look through the hole,” she urged. “Look at the cages.”
Cages? The word sounded strange to Squirrelpaw’s ears. She noticed a small gap in the wall, about a fox-length up. She stretched her forepaws up the side of the nest, her belly brushing the scratchy wood, and peered in.
Rows of dens made of cold-looking shiny web were stacked along the walls. Those must be the “cages.” Squirrelpaw could see a dark, soft-edged shape huddled in each cage. Cats! Her heart raced as scents flooded her nose—RiverClan, WindClan, rogue. She stared breathlessly through the hole, and then she smelled the warm scent of ThunderClan. With a jolt of recognition she saw her sister curled up in one of the cages near the roof of the wooden nest.
“Leafpaw!” She gasped. She clawed herself upwards, thrusting with her hind legs, trying to clamber through the hole.
“You can’t get in, Squirrelpaw.” Spottedleaf stood on her hind legs to reach up beside her. “This is only a dream,” she murmured. “But when you wake, Leafpaw will still be here.”
“Will I be able to rescue her?”
“I hope so,” Spottedleaf answered softly.
“But how?” Squirrelpaw yowled, jumping down to the ground.
“Stop fidgeting, for StarClan’s sake!” Shrewpaw muttered.
Squirrelpaw’s eyes shot open. She was lying in the narrow cleft in Sunningrocks. The hollow was dark, and she could only just make out the soft shapes of sleeping cats around her. She sat up and stared over the lip of the gully. Outside, frost glittered on the smooth stone, and beyond that she saw the outlines of leafless trees, black and spiky against the sky.
“What’s the matter?” Shrewpaw asked sleepily.
“I know where Leafpaw is!” Squirrelpaw whispered. “I have to go and rescue her.”
Shrewpaw’s eyes blinked open. “How do you know?”
“Spottedleaf told me in a dream!”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure!” Squirrelpaw snapped.
Shrewpaw twitched his ears. “You can’t just disappear without telling any cat where you’re going,” he warned. He didn’t add, Again, but Squirrelpaw guessed that was what he was thinking.
“I could wake Firestar up,” she mewed. “Now I know where Leafpaw is, he could send out a rescue party.”
“Not in the middle of the night,” Shrewpaw pointed out. “It’s too cold. Besides, it was just a dream.”
“It was more than a dream,” Squirrelpaw insisted.
“But you’re not a medicine cat,” Shrewpaw argued. “No cat’s going to go on a rescue mission in the middle of the night because you had a dream.” His amber eyes were gentle. “They might listen to you in the morning, though. Settle down and go back to sleep.”
Squirrelpaw sighed, but she knew he was right. She slumped back down again, still seeing the wooden nest filled with cages.
Shrewpaw lay down beside her and rested his tail comfortingly on her flank. “We’ll find her in the morning,” he promised, closing his eyes.
His breathing slowed as he drifted into sleep, but Squirrelpaw stayed awake, gazing up at the narrow strip of Silverpelt she could see through the mouth of the gully. A cat from StarClan had visited her to tell her where Leafpaw was! She knew Spottedleaf had had a special bond with her father when he first came to the forest. Could it be that she wanted to help Firestar’s daughters because she still loved him?
Squirrelpaw opened her eyes and sat up with a start. Bright light streamed into the gully, though the air was cold, colder still because all the other apprentices had left. Quickly, she stretched and scrambled out of the crevice. Her dream was still clear in her mind. She had to tell her father so he could organise a rescue party.
Shrewpaw was washing on the stone slope in front of the den.
“Where’s Firestar?” Squirrelpaw demanded.
“He’s out patrolling with Greystripe,” Shrewpaw replied, rubbing at his cheek with his paw.
She twitched her tail in frustration. “Why didn’t you wake me?”
“You didn’t sleep well, remember?” meowed Shrewpaw. “I thought you could get some extra rest and join me on a later patrol. Firestar agreed.”
“Didn’t you tell him about my dream?” Squirrelpaw pricked her ears. “What did he say? When is he sending out a patrol?”
“I-I didn’t mention the dream,” Shrewpaw stammered. “I thought you would have forgotten it. It was only a dream, after all.”
Squirrelpaw glared at Shrewpaw. “It was a message from StarClan!”
“I’m really sorry.” He shuffled his paws and stared at the ground.
Squirrelpaw let her fur lie flat again. “No, I’m
sorry.” she sighed. “It’s not your fault I overslept.”
“It’s OK.” Shrewpaw shrugged. “Did you really see Leafpaw in your dream?”
Squirrelpaw nodded. “And the other cats that are missing from the forest. Or at least, I definitely smelled WindClan and RiverClan scents.”
“That’s amazing!” He glanced past her and twitched his whiskers. “Looks like there’s been some successful hunting already today. That should put Firestar in a good mood, at least.”
Squirrelpaw turned to see Brambleclaw padding up the slope with a vole in his jaws. He carried it over to where Ferncloud lay in the sunshine watching her kits play. She accepted Brambleclaw’s offering with only a blink of her leaf-coloured eyes, as if she didn’t have the strength to thank him. Squirrelpaw noticed with a prick of unease how small Ferncloud’s kits were. They looked hardly old enough to leave the nursery, let alone journey all the way to the sun-drown-place. By leaf-bare, kits were usually strong and healthy, ready to face the cruellest season. If Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw succeeded in persuading the Clan to leave the forest, how many cats would never see their new home?
She shook her head. Right now, she didn’t want to go anywhere without rescuing Leafpaw.
“Brambleclaw!” She bounded down the slope toward him. “I know where Leafpaw is! StarClan came to me in a dream! The Twolegs have trapped her in a little nest, past Snakerocks. We have to go and rescue her.”
Brambleclaw pricked his ears. “Really?” He scanned Sunning rocks. “Have you told Firestar? Is he organising a rescue party?”
Squirrelpaw shook her head. “He’s on patrol. But if you came with me, we could rescue her together.”
Brambleclaw blinked. “Are you mad? Rescue her from a Twoleg nest? We wouldn’t stand a chance on our own.”
Squirrelpaw’s paws pricked with frustration. “But StarClan must want us to rescue her now!” she argued. “Why else hasn’t Spottedleaf come before? Leafpaw must be in more danger than ever.”
“Let’s wait till Firestar gets back. He’ll know what to do.”