Erin Hunter - Sunset

Suddenly Mothwing looked her brother squarely in the eyes. “Do what you want, Hawkfrost,” she meowed. “I’ve tried to be a good medicine cat and to serve my Clan as best I can, but I can’t go on lying. You were made deputy once before, when the Twolegs trapped Mistyfoot, and you’ll be made deputy again—if you don’t do anything stupid.” She paused and added more sharply, “If you tell the truth about me, you won’t look so good yourself, will you?”

Hawkfrost raised his forepaw. Leafpool braced herself to rush out and help her friend, but then the tabby warrior spun around and stalked away. He looked exactly like his father, Tigerstar, had in Leafpool’s dream.

Mothwing slumped down under the tree as if all her strength had been drained. Leafpool padded up to her and gently touched her shoulder with the tip of her tail. She wasn’t sure what to say. She wondered if she should reveal that she had overheard the quarrel. Leafpool was still trying to figure out exactly what she had learned from it. Hawkfrost obviously knew that his sister didn’t believe in StarClan. But Leafpool knew it too, and had long since forgiven her.

Mothwing tried so hard to be a good medicine cat, even without StarClan to strengthen and guide her.

“Mothwing, it’s me,” she began falteringly. “I’m so sorry that Heavystep died.”

Mothwing looked up, her blue eyes pools of regret. “I searched and searched for catmint, but I couldn’t find any,” she mewed.

Words of comfort choked in Leafpool’s throat. How can I be responsible for reading the signs for two different Clans ?

“Leafpool?” Mothwing’s asked. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“It’s my fault!” Leafpool blurted out. “Mudfur came to me in a dream and told me where you could find catmint. But I was caring for a sick kit, and I didn’t have time to come.

Anyway, I didn’t know if you would believe me,” she added.

“Oh, I would,” Mothwing replied quietly. “I would never doubt the strength of your faith.”

Curiosity nagged at Leafpool, sharp as a thorn in her pad.

“Then how do you explain my dreams, if you don’t believe they come from StarClan?”

Mothwing paused to think. “Well, you could have known about the catmint anyway. Perhaps Brambleclaw or Squirrelflight spotted it when they first explored around the lake.

One of them could have told you, except you’ve forgotten that’s how you know.”

Leafpool didn’t remember any conversations about catmint; besides, the first exploration of their new territory had taken place in leaf-bare, when not much was growing. “I don’t think so,” she murmured uncomfortably.

“I’m sure you’re not lying,” Mothwing assured her. “Just that you remember stuff in dreams that you’ve forgotten when you’re awake. Yo u believe in StarClan, so that’s how the memory appears to you.”

Leafpool shook her head, confused. “Whatever. I’d better tell you where the catmint is, anyway. Go to—”

“Mothwing!” Leopardstar’s voice came from the edge of the clearing. “Are you going to sit there gossiping all night?”

“Coming!” Mothwing called, springing to her paws. “I must go. Leopardstar’s angry enough with me as it is.”

“Follow the Thunderpath away from the lake!” Leafpool called after her friend as she headed toward the RiverClan leader.

But Mothwing gave no sign that she had heard before vanishing into the darkness.

Sighing, Leafpool got up and followed her, scrabbling her way through the ring of bushes until she emerged on the shore of the island. Cats were already making their way across the tree-bridge, slipping and scrambling in the darkness with a desperate need to get away from the disastrous Gathering.

Others clustered around the torn-up roots, waiting for their turn to cross.

Padding toward them, Leafpool couldn’t stop worrying about Mothwing. She hadn’t managed to ask her friend about the pebble dream, or the confrontation with Hawkfrost, or find out why he thought he was responsible for Mothwing becoming a medicine cat. Perhaps it was just as well, she thought. Mothwing might not have wanted to answer.

Leafpool glanced around for her own Clanmates. Clouds still covered the moon, and when she first saw movement in the shadows she couldn’t tell which cat it was. Then a familiar scent flooded over her. She stopped dead. Crowfeather!

Her paws urged her to flee, but the WindClan warrior had already spotted her. He stepped forward; his lean body was faintly outlined by starlight, his dark gray pelt turning him to another shadow.

“Hi, Crowfeather,” Leafpool mewed awkwardly. “How are things in WindClan?”

“Fine.” Crowfeather’s voice was curt.

Leafpool doubted that was true. During the Gathering it had been obvious that some of his Clanmates still blamed him for leaving WindClan to be with her. “I’m sorry if you’re having problems…” she began.

“Problems?” Crowfeather shrugged. “I told you, everything’s fine.”

Being so close to him was making Leafpool’s heart pound.

She couldn’t bear to see him so brittle and tense when she knew how much pain he must be hiding. “I never meant to hurt you,” she murmured.

“We chose to be loyal to our own Clans.” Crowfeather’s voice was quiet and steady, but Leafpool could hear agony in every breath. “It’s better if we don’t see each other anymore.”

Leafpool knew he was right, but pain stabbed her more deeply than a badger’s fangs. Couldn’t they even be friends?

Crowfeather held her gaze for a heartbeat longer, then walked away, down the shore to the few cats who still waited on this side of the tree-bridge.

“Good-bye,” Leafpool whispered, but he didn’t look back.

“But look at your poor tail!” Daisy wailed.

Berrykit turned circles in his nest outside Leafpool’s den, trying to see the stump of his tail. He didn’t seem bothered by it at all. “I’m just like a warrior now!” he boasted. “Every warrior has wounds. It shows how brave they are.”

Daisy flinched. “Can’t you do something?” she begged Leafpool.

Leafpool suppressed a sigh. “Not even StarClan can grow back a tail,” she meowed.

“Oh, I know, and I’m so grateful to you for everything you’ve done. I thought he would die for sure. I just wish that some cat could make him see that it wasn’t a clever thing to do, and he mustn’t ever, ever do it again.”

“You know that already, don’t you, Berrykit?” Leafpool prompted.

Berrykit stopped circling and sat up among the bracken, his eyes bright. Leafpool could hardly believe he was the same kit who had lain there wailing from pain and fever, not so many days before.

“Well…” he mewed. “I know it was wrong, but camp’s so boring ! I want to go and see the lake.”

Daisy let out a squeal of terror. “You’ll drown if you go there!”

“You must wait until you’re apprenticed,” Leafpool told him. “Then your mentor will take you all over the territory.”

Berrykit gave an excited wriggle. “Can I be apprenticed now ? Can Brambleclaw be my mentor?”

Leafpool suppressed a mrrow of amusement. It was good to see that Berrykit’s terrible experience hadn’t dampened his spirit.

“No, you’re too young,” she replied. “And Firestar decides who your mentor will be.”

Berrykit looked disappointed, but soon brightened up again. “Then can I go back to the nursery? I bet Hazelkit and Mousekit can’t think of any good games when I’m not there.”

Daisy sighed. “You know, he’s right,” she meowed to Leafpool. “It’s been so peaceful, you can’t imagine!”