Erin Hunter - Sunset

Leafpool retreated a few paw steps into the shelter of a twisted tree root. Could this be Brambleclaw’s meeting place with Hawkfrost? It was a long way for the RiverClan cat to travel.

The moon drifted across the sky while Leafpool waited, watching. But there was no sign of Hawkfrost or any other cat. Brambleclaw sat motionless, his gaze fixed on the star-flecked water. Leafpool wished she knew what was going through his mind.

He and the rest of the Clan, including Firestar, seemed to believe that their troubles were over. It was hard to imagine anything worse than the badger attack; they had survived that, with the help of WindClan, and the scars were healing.

But Leafpool couldn’t stifle her sense of disquiet, even stronger now that she was alone with Brambleclaw. Bluestar, Lionheart, and Yellowfang had warned her of a dark future beyond their control. What trouble was still to come? And was the dark-furred cat in front of her involved?

As the night wore on, weariness crept over Leafpool. She nodded, jerked awake, then let her eyes close, curling up in a mossy spot between two tree roots. In her dreams she woke again, scrambling up to see that Brambleclaw had vanished.

And beyond the place where he had been sitting, the lake was thick and scarlet, as if waves of blood were rolling onto the shore.

Before all is peaceful, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red .

With a gasp of horror, Leafpool turned to run. She slammed into something solid; her claws scraped against the bark of a tree. She was trapped! Struggling back to wakefulness, she realized that she had stumbled over a tree root and collided with the trunk beside her. Above her, early-morning light was filtering through the branches, dappling the grass.

“Who’s there?” demanded a sharp voice.

Before Leafpool could reply, Brambleclaw sprang up onto the root and stood staring down at her. His eyes were dark with anger. “What are you doing here? Are you spying on me?”

“No!” Leafpool retorted indignantly, with a stab of guilt that she had done exactly that. “I was out late last night, gathering herbs. I must have fallen asleep, that’s all.”

Fear churned in her belly. He won’t hurt me , she told herself.

He’s my Clanmate, for StarClan’s sake! Squirrelflight trusts him .

Brambleclaw couldn’t possibly be following a path that led to blood and shadow if StarClan had such faith in him and Squirrelflight being together.

But she was still uneasy as Brambleclaw went on glaring at her, not speaking. Clutching at her dignity, she rose and stalked away. Though her paws itched to flee, she forced herself to walk slowly across the open ground, toward the sheltering ferns.

Beyond the trees the lake reflected the pale dawn light. Yet at that moment, the choking scarlet tide that had lapped stickily at the shore seemed far more real to Leafpool than the dove-gray water below her, barely rippled by the breeze.

Before all is peaceful, blood will spill blood, and the lake will run red .

What horror still lay in wait for ThunderClan?

Sighing, Brambleclaw tucked his paws beneath his chest and gazed out over the lake again. Ever since he had returned to Tigerstar’s forest in his dreams, his sleep had been uneasy. His restless thrashing had disturbed Squirrelflight and the rest of the warriors, crowded together in what had been salvaged of their den. So he had taken to slipping out at night to keep watch by the lake, to give his Clanmates a bit of peace.

It had been a shock when Leafpool disturbed him.

However much the young medicine cat denied it, he was convinced that she had followed him. Did that mean she knew where he went in his dreams? Like her sister, she wouldn’t understand that he could visit Tigerstar and still be loyal to his Clan. He tried to tell himself that his meetings with Tigerstar did no harm to any cat, but he was beginning to wonder whether he should go on visiting the shadowy forest. He was afraid of what Leafpool might know and more afraid still that she would tell Squirrelflight. The sisters were so close, it was hard to believe that Leafpool would keep any secrets from her.

Narrowing his eyes, Brambleclaw peered across the lake.

In the dawn light he could just make out the Twoleg boats clustered around the half bridge on the opposite side, on the border between RiverClan and ShadowClan. Just as Daisy had said, the Twolegs had stayed there so far, but Brambleclaw couldn’t stop worrying that sooner or later they would invade ThunderClan territory.

The growing daylight glimmered on the surface of the water. He remembered what Squirrelflight had told him about Leafpool’s vision of their entwined paw prints, and his fur prickled. He wished he had the power of a medicine cat, to read the future in the lake, but to him the reflections of the stars were nothing more than meaningless sparkles on the indigo water: beautiful, but telling him nothing. Does my future really lie in the paws of StarClan ? he wondered. No starry warriors walked the paths of Tigerstar’s forest. Was he turning his back on them by visiting his father? Did they know?

At last he slipped into a doze again and woke to the sound of birdsong. The sun was rising over the hills behind WindClan. Brambleclaw sprang to his paws. He hadn’t meant to stay out so long. A cat who wanted to be deputy didn’t wander out of the hollow in the night!

He headed back to camp, pausing to hunt on the way so that by the time he approached the thorn barrier his jaws were filled with prey. He was about to enter the tunnel when an eerie wailing rose up from inside the camp, freezing Brambleclaw’s paws to the spot. Had the badgers come back?

A heartbeat’s thought told him that wasn’t possible. The patrols hadn’t found any sign of badgers in the territory since the attack, and the thorns in front of him were undamaged.

Then the cry came again, more clearly.

“My kit! Where’s my kit?”

Brambleclaw squeezed through the tunnel and into the camp. Daisy was standing outside the nursery, her fur bristling. Cloudtail was with her and two of her kits were peering out of the entrance, their eyes wide with alarm. Leafpool was hurrying across the clearing from her den, with Brightheart hard on her paws. Brambleclaw dropped his fresh-kill on the pile and bounded across.

“I’ve looked everywhere!” Daisy wailed. “He’s not here.

Oh, Berrykit, where are you?”

Anxiety stabbed at Brambleclaw. Berrykit had always been the liveliest kit of the litter, and the most likely to get into mischief. It was all too easy to imagine him sneaking out of camp in search of an adventure.

“When did you last see him?” Cloudtail asked Daisy.

“Last night. When I woke up this morning, he had vanished. I’ve searched and searched, but he isn’t anywhere in the camp!”

“Calm down,” Brightheart meowed. “Wailing like that won’t help, and you’ll upset Sorreltail. We’ll find Berrykit.”

Daisy ignored her. “A badger’s eaten him! I know it has.”

Brightheart rolled her eyes, and even Leafpool twitched her whiskers impatiently. “Daisy, you know there hasn’t been any trace of badgers around here for days. Berrykit has wandered off somewhere, but we’ll track him and bring him back.”

By now more cats had begun to emerge, drawn from their dens by Daisy’s yowling. Firestar leaped down the tumbled rocks from the Highledge, and padded over to Brambleclaw.

“What’s going on?”

Brambleclaw explained rapidly.