Erin Hunter - Dawn

“It wasn’t easy for us either,” Squirrelpaw mewed. “It’s as if we’re not part of the Clan any more.”

“Of course we’re part of the Clan,” Brambleclaw reassured her. “It’ll just take a while for things to get back to normal.”

Stormfur snorted. “Nothing’s ever going to get back to normal!” he spat. “I’ve seen what the Twolegs have done to WindClan and ThunderClan territory, and I can imagine it’s the same in ShadowClan.” He glanced at Tawnypelt, and she nodded grimly. “Even though they haven’t reached RiverClan territory yet, everything’s changed,” Stormfur went on, lashing his tail. “Mistyfoot’s gone missing, and Hawkfrost is deputy now.”

“Mistyfoot’s missing?” Squirrelpaw gasped.

“Was she taken by Twolegs?” asked Brambleclaw.

Stormfur looked puzzled. “Why would Twolegs take her?”

“They took Leafpaw!” Squirrelpaw told him. “We know what happened because Sorreltail was there, although she got away.”

“Gorsetail’s missing too,” Crowpaw mewed, his gaze flicking from one cat to another.

“No ShadowClan cats have been taken, but I’d guess it’s only a matter of time,” Tawnypelt mewed. “And meanwhile the Twolegs have invaded so much of our territory that we’re starving. There’s hardly any prey left, and leaf-bare’s only just begun.”

Brambleclaw sat down carefully on the muddy ground.

“Whether it’s Midnight’s message or starvation that drives the Clans out, I don’t see any way we can stay in the forest.”

“But the Twolegs haven’t touched RiverClan territory,” Stormfur reminded him. “And Hawkfrost thinks they never will. He pretty much called me a traitor for being concerned about the other Clans, and he said I should never have gone on the journey.” His amber eyes glistened with sadness. “He said Feathertail would still be alive if I hadn’t let her get caught up in other Clans’ problems.”

“It wasn’t the journey that killed Feathertail. It was staying with the Tribe so long,” hissed Crowpaw.

Stormfur flinched and looked down at his paws.

“We had to help them!” Squirrelpaw stared at Crowpaw, puzzled. She had found him arrogant and impatient at the start of the journey, but he had become much easier to be around as they traveled, and by the end of their adventure she would have considered him one of her closest friends. Now he was as prickly as ever. Did their journey, the importance of the message they all had to take to their Clans, mean nothing to him?

“Crowpaw?” Brambleclaw meowed. “What did WindClan say when you told them?”

“They accepted Midnight’s words without question,” he muttered. “It’s our last hope of survival.” His voice was flat and dull, like stone. “I didn’t think the Clan could be suffering any more than when I left, but it is. There’s nothing left to eat on the moors at all. A bird if we’re lucky. Sometimes a mouse, just one to feed the whole Clan. WindClan kits have never gone hungry like this before.”

“So Tallstar wants to leave?”

Crowpaw lifted his eyes and met Brambleclaw’s gaze. “Oh, yes,” he agreed. “He wants the Clan to go as soon as we can. His greatest fear”—he broke off and swallowed—“his greatest fear is that we’re not strong enough to make it.”

“Oh, Crowpaw!” Squirrelpaw exclaimed, immediately forgiving his harsh words to Stormfur. “I’m so sorry.”

“We don’t need your pity,” growled the WindClan apprentice. “I will fight with all the strength I have to make sure my Clan survives.” He glared at her, his eyes cold.

Squirrelpaw felt a surge of anger rise in her belly. “What are you talking about? You’re acting as if you’re the only one who can save your Clan! Don’t you remember that we’re in this together? Or have you forgotten there were six of us on that journey?”

“Squirrelpaw!” Brambleclaw stopped her with a flick of his tail. “We mustn’t fight now.”

Squirrelpaw grumpily fell silent. Crowpaw looked away, but he flexed his claws, tearing at the cold earth.

Tawnypelt gazed up at the rock. There was no sign of their leaders. They were hidden behind the brow of the rock’s towering summit. “Everything would be easier if we knew where we were meant to be going,” she mewed. “Do you think the sign will come?”

“Perhaps we’re too late,” murmured Stormfur. “We were a long time in the mountains.” He glanced at Crowpaw.

“Believe me, I wish we hadn’t stayed.”

“We all agreed at the time,” Brambleclaw reminded him.

Crowpaw stared at his paws without saying anything.

There was a yowl from above them, and Firestar’s call rang around the hollow. “We should wait awhile longer!”

“Why? What’s the point?” growled Blackstar. His bony frame appeared, silhouetted against the stars, on the edge of the rock. “We have wasted our time coming here. There will be no sign tonight. And do we really need one to tell us that the forest is being destroyed? Just look around you!”

Squirrelpaw and the others backed away as the ShadowClan leader bounded down the rock and landed in the mud beside them. Leopardstar followed him.

“But it’s not even moonhigh!” Firestar protested, peering down from the top of the rock.

Leopardstar looked up at him. “Even if StarClan does send a sign about leaving the forest, it’s no concern of RiverClan’s,” she meowed.

However frustrated she was by Leopardstar’s selfishness, Squirrelpaw could understand why she wasn’t as troubled as the other leaders. Her glossy coat proved that she and her Clanmates were as well fed as ever, and their sleep wasn’t disturbed by fear of monsters snarling and munching their way into the camp.

“Hunger will soon make her change her mind,” Crowpaw hissed.

“But surely you want to see what StarClan thinks we should do?” Firestar argued.

“It’s too cold to wait any longer,” meowed Blackstar. “My fur is thinner than I’d like these days—and that’s not a sign from StarClan. It’s the fault of those fox-hearted Twolegs stealing my Clan’s prey.”

“You can’t leave yet!” Firestar yowled as the ShadowClan leader clambered away over the logs.

“There’ll be no sign here tonight,” Blackstar called over his shoulder. “Look at this place! It’s ruined.”

“StarClan will not desert us!” Firestar leaped down from the rock and scrambled awkwardly over the logs to the ShadowClan leader.

Blackstar faced him, his pelt bristling. “I did not say StarClan had deserted us! But my Clan would rather rely on their leader’s judgment than on the muddled rumors of some inexperienced warriors and a badger .”

“But StarClan is going to show us the way!” Tallstar slithered over the edge of the Great Rock, half scrambling, half falling down its side. Crowpaw leaped forward, reaching up with his forepaws to soften his landing. Tallstar hit the mud clumsily but staggered to his paws, shaking Crowpaw off.

“They will know where we can find new territories, far away from these dangers,” he insisted.

“We are perfectly capable of finding a new home for ourselves.” There was a chilling certainty in Blackstar’s words.

“You have somewhere in mind already, don’t you?”

Cinderpelt looked up from where she crouched beside Mudfur.

“We are going to live in Twolegplace where BloodClan used to rule,” he announced. “I still have one of their former warriors among my elders. He will show us the best places to find food and shelter. Now Scourge is dead, we’ll be the strongest cats there.”

“You can’t do that!” Firestar protested. “That will leave only three Clans in the forest!”

“Soon there won’t be a forest,” Blackstar pointed out grimly. “Only the bodies of dead cats. This is one battle in which I cannot see how it would help us to join with other Clans. It’s not a matter of fighting an enemy, but of finding enough prey to feed the mouths we already have. I’m sorry, but we go alone.”