Erin Hunter - Sunset

Brambleclaw lashed his tail, angry with the way his thoughts were heading. He cared about the bright, disobedi-ent little kit for Berrykit’s own sake, not just because Brambleclaw needed an apprentice. But however hard he tried, he couldn’t stop thinking about being Clan deputy, and what he needed to do to get there.

Returning to the camp just after sunhigh, he meant to go and check on Berrykit right away, but paused when he saw Stormfur and Brook crossing the clearing with Firestar and Squirrelflight.

Stormfur waved his tail in greeting and raced ahead of the other cats to meet Brambleclaw. “Hi,” he meowed. “We waited for you.”

“Why?” Brambleclaw’s belly lurched at the shadow of regret in his friend’s eyes. What was happening now?

Stormfur touched his nose to Brambleclaw’s shoulder.

“Brook and I are leaving.”

“Now?” Brambleclaw sank his claws into the ground in frustration. It had felt so right, so comfortable, to have Stormfur around again. Though Brambleclaw had known he and Brook would have to leave one day, this seemed much too soon. “I suppose you have to go back to the mountains.” He sighed. “But I hoped you would stay longer.”

Stormfur hesitated. “No, not to the mountains,” he mewed. “To RiverClan. Those ShadowClan cats were right.

If we want to stay here, then we have to live by the warrior code, and that means being loyal to RiverClan.”

Brambleclaw stared at him. “Is that the only reason you’re going? Because of what those mangy crow-food eaters said?”

“No,” meowed Brook, padding up to Stormfur’s side.

Squirrelflight was beside her. “You’ll see us again, I promise.

We want to stay by the lake for good, and when we get to RiverClan I’m going to train to be a warrior.”

Brambleclaw stared at her in astonishment. They were staying for good? That meant they hadn’t just come here to make sure the Clans had found their new homes. Why exactly had Stormfur and Brook left the mountains? And why didn’t they want to go back? But he couldn’t ask; if Stormfur had wanted him to know, he would have told him already. Sharp claws sank into Brambleclaw’s heart at the thought that his friend didn’t trust him enough to confide in him.

“It’s great that you’re staying.” He forced a purr. “At least we’ll get to see each other at Gatherings.”

“Yes, we’ll expect all the RiverClan gossip,” Squirrelflight mewed, pressing her muzzle against Stormfur’s and then Brook’s. More quietly, she added, “None of us will ever forget our journey. Part of us will walk together always.”

Firestar was waiting a couple of tail-lengths away for the friends to say good-bye to one another. “We won’t forget what you did after the badger attack,” he told the visitors.

“You will always have ThunderClan’s thanks. We owe you more than we can ever repay.”

Stormfur dipped his head. “We’re grateful to you too, for letting us stay this long.”

With Brook just behind him, he turned and made his way through the thorn tunnel. Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight followed them out and watched, side by side, as the two cats padded into the undergrowth.

“May StarClan light your path!” Brambleclaw called after them.

Stormfur paused to look back, curling his tail in farewell, then both he and Brook vanished among the ferns.

The moon floated above the trees that surrounded the stone hollow, but the nest where Berrykit lay was in deep shadow. Leafpool crouched beside the kit and touched her nose to his.

Berrykit’s nose felt hot and dry with fever, and he whimpered without opening his eyes. He hadn’t regained consciousness since Brambleclaw and the others had brought him back to camp, early the previous morning.

Since then, Leafpool had stayed awake to keep watch over him. After doing her best with cobwebs and a poultice of marigold, she had been forced to admit defeat in her efforts to save the whole of his mangled tail. That afternoon, she had bitten through the last couple of tendons that held the end in place. Berrykit’s limbs jerked and he let out a squeal of pain, but he didn’t wake up. Patting more cobwebs on the new wound, Leafpool had given the end of his tail to Brightheart to bury outside the camp.

Now she fetched borage leaves from her store, chewed them up, and parted Berrykit’s jaws to trickle a little of the juice into his mouth. StarClan willing, that should bring down his fever. She kept watch for a little longer as the moon shadow crept across the clearing, but she was so exhausted that at last her eyes closed, and she slipped into an uneasy sleep.

She found herself standing on the lakeshore with the stars of Silverpelt blazing above her head. A dark shape caught her eye, farther around the lake: a cat, swiftly making his way toward her. As he drew closer she recognized Mudfur, the previous RiverClan medicine cat, who had died in their old home before the Clans made their journey. Now his body was strong and lithe, and his fur was frosted with starlight.

Dipping her head, Leafpool meowed, “Greetings, Mudfur.

Do you have a message for me?”

“Yes,” the former medicine cat replied. “I need you to take word to Mothwing.”

Leafpool tensed. Mothwing, the present RiverClan medicine cat, didn’t believe in StarClan, and the spirits of her warrior ancestors couldn’t reach her in dreams. Once before, Leafpool had taken a message from Feathertail to Mothwing, warning her of Twoleg poison in RiverClan territory. But she had never felt comfortable about being responsible for this vital part of Mothwing’s duties. She was even more reluctant now, after the new commitment she had made to her own Clan.

“A RiverClan elder is suffering from greencough,” Mudfur went on. “Mothwing needs catmint to cure him, but she can’t find any.” His eyes filled with anxiety. “Did I make a mistake when I chose Mothwing to be our medicine cat? The sign of the moth’s wing outside my den seemed so clear…” He hesitated, as if he was not sure how to go on. “Leafpool, I beg you to make sure that my Clan doesn’t suffer for my poor judgment.”

“Do you want me to take her some catmint?” Leafpool asked, remembering the thick clumps that grew near the abandoned Twoleg nest.

“No. There’s plenty of catmint just outside her own territory if Mothwing knew where to look,” Mudfur meowed.

“She must go to the small Thunderpath at the edge of her territory, and follow it away from the lake until she comes to a row of Twoleg nests with gardens. Catmint grows there.

Leafpool, will you tell her this?”

He opened his mouth and a thin mewling came out.

Leafpool watched in alarm as the old medicine cat faded away, but she could still hear the mewling. Her eyes blinked open and she saw Berrykit thrashing in his nest. “It hurts! My tail hurts!” he wailed.

Leafpool rested a paw on his chest to calm him, and trickled more of the borage juice into his mouth. As she stroked his fur and purred soothingly into his ear, she remembered the anxiety in Mudfur’s eyes as he told her about the dreaded greencough.

The moon had vanished, and the first traces of dawn light were appearing in the sky; Leafpool could just make out the dark outlines of trees overhead.

“How can I go to RiverClan?” she murmured.

Firestar had given her permission to help RiverClan in the past, but this time she had a sick kit to consider. Berrykit might die if he weren’t cared for properly. Besides, not many days ago Leafpool had abandoned ThunderClan to go with Crowfeather—what would her Clanmates think if she disappeared again? Even if she told them she was going to help Mothwing, they wouldn’t sympathize with a show of loyalty toward a different Clan.