by Erin Hunter
Billystorm nodded. “You can tell when a tom has been, because when they come back they’re really different.”
“Yeah,” Sparrowpelt added. “Fatter and lazier!”
Faintly amused, Leafstar wondered when Sparrowpelt would stop sticking his paw in his mouth. A look of horror spread across his face as he realized what he had said.
“Sorry … er… Percy,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean…”
“That’s okay,” mewed Cora, giving Sparrowpelt a friendly nudge. “He was lazy to start with!”
Leafstar felt herself begin to relax. She had imagined that they would be walking into a place tense with the threat of war but this could be the reunion of any Clanmates separated by a longer than usual patrol.
“It’s great to have you back,” Snowy purred. “We thought we’d never see you again.”
“And you found the fighting cats,” Percy added. “That’s even better!”
“We’re not just fighting cats.” Leafstar felt that she had to explain what it was like to be part of a Clan. “We live by the warrior code, and train apprentices to hunt for the whole Clan as well as to protect our borders.”
Snowy and Percy exchanged a look. “That’s nice,” Snowy mewed politely, though Leafstar could tell that neither of the Twolegplace cats understood what she was trying to tell them.
“Anyway, you’re here now,” Percy went on. “We’ll soon show Dodge and his friends what’s what.”
“Has Dodge been causing any more trouble?” Stick asked.
Snowy’s cheerful look died away and her tail drooped. “A couple of kittypets got badly hurt trying to protect their housefolk’s guinea pig.”
While Stick and the other Twolegplace cats shot one another dismayed glances, Leafstar leaned closer to Billystorm. “What’s a guinea pig?” she whispered.
“It’s like a rabbit, but smaller and with tiny ears,” Billystorm explained. “They squeak a lot. And they don’t have legs, just spiky feet.”
Leafstar found it hard to imagine such a weird creature. “That sounds like prey,” she murmured. “Why would the kittypets want to protect it?”
Before Billystorm could reply, Shorty broke in, his voice outraged. “The Twolegs will drive us all out if Dodge keeps attacking the animals that live by their nests!”
Leafstar began to understand. For these cats, living on the fringes of Twoleg dens, it was essential not to make the Twolegs angry.
Thinking about that, she missed the rest of the Twolegplace cats’ comments, only paying attention again when Shorty asked quietly, “Have you seen Red?”
Snowy studied her paws. “Sometimes,” she admitted. “Always with the brown-and-gray tom.”
“Harley.” Stick spat the name out through gritted teeth. “His name is Harley. And he must have tricked Red, or threatened her, if she’s still with him. He needs to be taught a lesson!”
Leafstar exchanged a glance with Sharpclaw; she could see her deputy shared her thoughts. Stick has a personal grudge against this cat. But still, it sounds as if Dodge and his friends are treating the others unfairly. There must be something we can do.
“How far does your territory extend?” she asked the Twolegplace cats. “And how often does Dodge trespass?”
Percy looked puzzled. “Territory? Trespass?”
“We don’t have borders here like you do in SkyClan,” Coal explained. “Cats can go anywhere.”
“What about prey?” Sharpclaw prompted with a twitch of his tail.
“We eat what we catch.” Cora shrugged. “If every cat can hunt for themselves, then we should all have enough to eat.”
“Then how are we going to stop Dodge threatening you if you don’t have a border to keep him out?” Leafstar meowed.
“We have to get rid of him once and for all,” Stick growled.
Cherrytail shot Leafstar an anxious glance. “That’s not part of the warrior code,” she pointed out. “We chase cats out of our territory, and patrol the border to make sure that they stay out. How far would we have to chase Dodge before he agreed not to come back?”
Good question, Leafstar thought. She was feeling worse about the battle with every heartbeat that passed. Just what does Stick want us to achieve?
“You have to fight him,” Sharpclaw meowed to Stick. “And we’ll help you. Do you have a plan?”
“We’ll wait until nightfall,” Stick replied. “Then I’ll show you Dodge’s camp. Meanwhile, you can hunt here. There’s usually some prey in the waste ground we just passed.”
He led the way back to the mouth of the alley. Leafstar glanced around the stretch of rough ground; it felt odd to be hunting for herself, not in a patrol. She watched Cherrytail and Sparrowpelt dive into the bushes nearby, while Sharpclaw, Egg, and Waspwhisker set out for the long grass at the foot of the opposite wall.
From the corner of her eye Leafstar glimpsed movement in one of the scrubby trees; her ears pricked as she made out a squirrel, half-hidden among the leaves. Pressing herself to the ground, she crept up to the tree and clawed her way up the trunk on the far side from the squirrel. She was fairly confident of making her catch; there was no other tree close enough for the squirrel to leap into.
But the squirrel was alerted by her progress through the rustling leaves. It sat straight up on the branch, then took a flying leap to the ground.
“Mouse dung!” Leafstar spat.
Then she spotted Billystorm near the foot of the tree. Panicking, the squirrel launched itself almost into his paws, and he killed it with a neat bite to its throat.
“Well done!” Leafstar exclaimed, dropping to the ground beside her Clanmate. “That was a great catch.”
“You set it up,” Billystorm meowed. “Let’s share.”
Even in this strange and disturbing place, joy washed through Leafstar from ears to tail-tip as she settled down beside Billystorm to eat the squirrel.
“Thank you, StarClan, for giving us this prey,” she murmured, adding to herself, Are you still watching over us, even here?
She took a mouthful of the prey, her whiskers brushing the side of Billystorm’s face. “I’m glad you’re here,” she purred.
Billystorm blinked at her, his green eyes warm. “So am I,” he mewed.
CHAPTER 34
A paw prodding in her side woke Leafstar; she opened her eyes on glaring orange light that cast thick shadows across her sleeping Clanmates. For a few heartbeats she wasn’t sure where she was. Then Cora’s face came into focus as the black she-cat bent over her.
“Wake up!” she hissed. “Stick says it’s time.”
Memory flooded back into Leafstar, of the long journey to the Twolegplace and Stick’s promise to show them Dodge’s camp. She stumbled to her paws, realizing that she had been sleeping with her back pressed against Billystorm. Her movement woke him, and their eyes met for a moment in embarrassment.
Then Billystorm leaped up. “I’m ready,” he announced.
Urgency swept through Leafstar, overpowering her doubts and pumping energy into her paws. She woke her other Clanmates and led them to where Stick was waiting with Shorty and Cora.
“Let’s go,” Stick meowed.
Whipping around, he led the way across the waste ground and down another alley. Leafstar and the other SkyClan cats bounded after him, along alleys and tiny paths that led through piles of split wood and past sleeping monsters, with scarcely a glance to make sure that they wouldn’t wake. They passed so close to Twoleg nests that Leafstar’s fur brushed against the rough red stone.
Eventually Stick led them up onto the top of a small wooden nest. As Leafstar leaped up, she saw him crouching at the far side of the roof, staring down at what lay beyond. She padded across the roof and crouched down beside him. The orange light showed her a pile of square Twoleg things, tumbled together on the bank of the shallow stream that they had crossed on their way into the Twolegplace. Its banks were muddy, with only a sluggish trickle of water at the bottom.
“Those boxes a
re where Dodge lives,” Stick told her.
As Leafstar looked more closely, she could make out the shadows of cats slinking between the boxes, and caught the occasional gleam from their eyes. Then a sturdy-looking cat emerged into the open and called out, looking back over his shoulder.
A cheerful chirrup answered him, and a slender she-cat pushed her way out of the nearest box to join him. Although the harsh light drained all the color from their pelts, Leafstar guessed that they were Stick’s daughter, Red, and her mate, Harley; she could feel Stick stiffening, and heard a faint snarl coming from the depths of his throat.
It was clear that Red wasn’t a prisoner in Dodge’s camp; she looked relaxed and happy to be there. With their tails twined together, the two cats strolled across the ditch and vanished into the woods.
Stick had sunk his claws so deeply into the wooden roof that he had to yank them out before he could sit up. His gaze swept over the cats who were crowding up behind him. “We’ll attack now,” he growled.
“Wait.” Shorty stepped forward, his ears flicking anxiously. “What about Coal, Snowy, and Percy?”
“Go fetch them,” Stick directed. “If we wait until tomorrow night, Dodge will know there are strangers here, and he might be on his guard.”
Waspwhisker leaned over to murmur into Leafstar’s ear. “He wants to attack while his daughter is out of the camp.”
Leafstar nodded. She could understand why Stick had made his decision, but she was reluctant to go into battle unprepared. They didn’t know anything about the layout of the camp beyond what they could see from the roof of the little den, nor how many cats were inside the boxes.
“Don’t worry,” Stick mewed, as if he could read her mind. “We’ll outnumber them.”
His eyes burned with a cold fire; Leafstar shivered, reminding herself that these cats did not live by the warrior code. They’ll kill, if that’s the only way to win.
“I want to take a closer look at the camp,” Sharpclaw announced, beckoning Egg and Sparrowpelt with his tail. “We can’t go into battle blind,” he added as Stick seemed about to object, “and there’ll be plenty of time before Shorty and the others get here.”
Stick nodded; Leafstar felt her fur start to bristle at the way he was taking charge, just as he had done when Sharpclaw took the patrol into the Twolegplace.
“Good idea, Sharpclaw,” she meowed. Just so he’s sure who is Clan leader here.
Sharpclaw flicked his ears in acknowledgment; he and the two cats he had chosen slunk down the side of the nest and melted into the shadows.
“Don’t worry, Stick.” Cherrytail’s voice was warm with pride in her Clanmates. “They won’t get spotted.”
While they waited for the others to join them, Leafstar scanned the camp below, but there was little movement to suggest how many cats might be there, or what they were doing. Behind her she could hear Shrewtooth’s teeth chattering, but when she turned to give him a word of encouragement, she saw grim resolution in his eyes.
“Don’t underestimate Shrewtooth’s courage,” Billystorm whispered to her. “I’ve seen him chase off a fox on border patrol, when the rest of us were stuck in brambles.”
“Really?” Leafstar’s pads tingled. Shrewtooth had a bad start, but I think he may turn out to be one of our best warriors.
Scrabbling sounds on the wall of the nest announced the return of Sharpclaw with Egg and Sparrowpelt. “There are cats in almost all of the dens,” he reported to Leafstar, “but it’s impossible to tell how many. We—”
“I told you, they won’t outnumber us,” Stick interrupted. “Not when the others get here.”
Leafstar exchanged a concerned glance with Sharpclaw. Nothing was going to stop Stick from attacking. He was telling them what he wanted to hear.
“We need to attack from three sides,” Sharpclaw went on. “From both ends of the ditch, and from this point here.”
Stick and Cora were listening closely to what the deputy said. With a shock like a gust of icy leaf-bare wind, Leafstar realized that she had given them exactly what they wanted: the expertise of highly skilled warriors in a battle that might be nothing more than personal revenge.
With a flick of her tail she beckoned her Clanmates closer. “Remember, we fight according to the code!” she whispered. “No cat is to be killed for the sake of victory, and we fight as one, or not at all.”
Stick’s ears pricked up as she spoke, and he swung around to face her. “What is the point of fighting if you don’t mean it? We fight to win!”
Leafstar did not respond, just let her gaze travel over her warriors to make sure they were certain whose orders they were following. To her relief, Stick fell silent and listened to Sharpclaw describing the terrain along the line of the ditch. Before he had finished, Shorty returned with Snowy, Coal, and Percy.
“Right,” Stick growled. “The time has come for Dodge to leave this place. He has stolen too much from us!” Without hesitating, he launched himself off the top of the nest and raced across the open ground toward the boxes. Leafstar raised her tail to stop the others following him like a swarm of bees.
“Waspwhisker, Cherrytail, and Egg, you attack from that end of the ditch,” she mewed rapidly, waving her tail. “Billystorm, Sparrowpelt, and Shrewtooth, from the other end. Wait for my signal.”
The Clan cats moved briskly off. Before he climbed down from the roof, Billystorm glanced back. “Be careful,” he told Leafstar.
Leafstar replied with a nod.
Rockshade and Sharpclaw remained with her on the roof, along with the Twolegplace cats. Snowy was crouched on the edge, staring down at the boxes.
“I—I don’t think I can do this,” she whispered, looking up at Leafstar. Her voice was hoarse. “I saw what they did to Percy.…”
Leafstar touched her shoulder with the tip of her tail. “Okay, go back to your den.”
But as the white she-cat rose to her paws and turned to go, Coal stepped forward to block her way. “We’re in this together,” he snarled.
“Not with reluctance, and not with fear.” Leafstar took a pace forward and faced Coal, her head raised challengingly. “Let her go.”
Coal hesitated for a couple of heartbeats, then stepped aside, his fur bristling and his tail-tip twitching. Snowy flashed a grateful glance at Leafstar, then vanished over the other side of the roof.
Staring down again at the camp, Leafstar spotted Stick poised on the edge of the jumble of boxes. His tail flicked impatiently as he glanced back over his shoulders at the others, beckoning them to join him.
“Line up,” Leafstar hissed. “Do not lose sight of the cat beside you.”
Her mind felt like leaves falling, whirled by the wind. This is my first battle against other cats as leader, and I’ve had no chance to plan the fight. I’m going in blind.…
“Sharpclaw, I need you with me,” she meowed to her deputy. “You’re the only cat who has any idea of the layout.”
Sharpclaw nodded. “Don’t worry. I’ll be on your tail,” he promised. “If we—”
“Go!” Coal yowled.
Furious that the black tom had given the signal before she was ready, Leafstar had no choice but to obey. The Twolegplace cats were already leaping down from the roof. Leafstar waved her tail to gather her Clanmates, and they streamed over the side of the nest. The SkyClan cats handled the drop best, landing neatly and pelting toward Dodge’s camp without breaking stride. Leafstar spotted Cora stumble, but the black she-cat recovered herself quickly. Shorty had fallen awkwardly on his side; Leafstar paused to drag him to his feet and shoved him ahead of her as they raced on.
As she drew closer to the camp, Leafstar waited for the sensation of cats running alongside her: StarClan cats sharing her battle, just as Firestar had told her they accompanied him when he fought against BloodClan. But there was no starry glimmer, no insubstantial brushing of pelts against hers, no scent of the icy stretches of the night sky. Just real, live cats, smelling of fear and fury.
&n
bsp; A cold stone seemed to settle in the pit of Leafstar’s belly. Have our ancestors deserted us because this is not our battle?
Yowls erupted from the other side of the camp, and a small flame of confidence rekindled inside Leafstar. The cats sent down to the ditch must have arrived.
Then a ginger-and-white tom hurtled out of the camp, heading straight for the attackers. Stick leaped on top of him, knocked him over, and held him down, gazing around him with the flame of battle in his eyes. “Cora!” he yowled.
When the black she-cat bounded up to him he left the tom to her and ran on, screeching, “I want Dodge!”
No, Leafstar thought, you want your daughter.
Shorty had joined Cora to wrestle with the ginger-and-white tom. Leafstar pelted past them and plunged into the tangle of nests. The strong scent of cats caught her by the throat; the flimsy walls closed in on her, dark and stifling.
Suddenly one of the nests was ripped open and a huge tom with ragged gray fur leaped out, his teeth bared. Leafstar stumbled onto her flank; before she could regain her paws Sharpclaw charged between her and her attacker, driving the gray tom back in a whirl of teeth and claws. They vanished into the darkness of the den, the walls heaving with the force of their fight.
One flap of the Twoleg-stuff collapsed on top of Leafstar; tearing with teeth and claws, fighting back panic, she managed to struggle free of it. As she shook the last scraps off her pelt, she found herself staring into a den where three kits mewled and scuffled in a nest of grass and leaves. Their mother, a young tortoiseshell-and-white queen, arched her back and hissed at Leafstar, her claws extended.
Turning away—she had no quarrel with kits—Leafstar spotted another den with eyes gleaming from its depths; ahead of it yet another den collapsed, revealing Cherrytail and a silver-and-black she-cat rolling on top of the battered walls in a screeching tangle of legs and tails. Just beyond them, Egg leaped onto the back of a tabby tom, clawing him around the ears.
