Erin Hunter - Dawn

Squirrelpaw curled up beside Shrewpaw and tried not to think about the warm, moss-lined den where the apprentices had slept before. At least the small gully they were lying in gave some shelter from the chilly night breeze. It felt strange to be sleeping apart from Brambleclaw after their long journey together, but at least Shrewpaw seemed happy to have her back. Her paws ached with tiredness, and she closed her eyes, folding her tail over her muzzle for comfort. At first she couldn’t stop thinking about the disastrous meeting at Fourtrees, but gradually dreams wove into her waking thoughts and drew her into sleep.

She was alone among the trees, and she could smell prey-scent. A cold wind breathed through the forest. Squirrelpaw lifted her nose and tasted the air. A fat mouse was snuffling among the leaves. It was the plumpest piece of prey she had found since returning to the forest, and she swiped her tongue hungrily over her lips. Brambleclaw would be pleased to have a share of this fresh-kill.

Crouching, Squirrelpaw crept silently toward the unsuspecting creature. It had its head half-buried under an oak leaf and hadn’t noticed her. This was going to be an easy catch.

Suddenly, rapid pawsteps sounded behind her. Terrified, the mouse darted out from under the oak leaf and scuttled away beneath the roots of a tree. Squirrelpaw spun around, bristling with fury.

A tortoiseshell cat with gentle amber eyes was standing behind her. “Hello, Squirrelpaw,” she mewed. “I have something to show you.”

“You’ve just ruined the best catch I’m likely to get all day!”

Squirrelpaw snapped back. She had never seen this cat before, though she carried the scent of ThunderClan. She stopped and put her head to one side. “Who are you, anyway?”

“I’m Spottedleaf.”

Squirrelpaw blinked. She had heard all about the long-dead ThunderClan medicine cat. Why would Spottedleaf come to her?

She stepped forward to touch the she-cat’s nose in greeting, but as she went closer, the image faded.

Bewildered, Squirrelpaw stared into the trees. She pricked her ears, listening for movement, but heard nothing and turned to resume her hunt. The scent of prey that hung in the air was too tempting. Perhaps Spottedleaf had wanted only to greet her, nothing more.

Squirrelpaw prowled deeper into the woods, following a path that led toward Snakerocks. But as she crept through the undergrowth, the forest seemed to change, and she didn’t recognize the trees around her. Surely she should have reached Snakerocks by now. Had she taken the wrong path? She quickened her pace until she was racing through trees she had never seen before.

A tiny voice in her mind reminded her that it was just a dream, and she wasn’t really lost. She blinked, trying to wake up. But when she opened her eyes, she was still trapped in the strange woods, and her alarm grew until her heart pounded like a woodpecker’s beak on bark. She ran on, hoping to find a landmark she recognized, but the forest grew darker and more silent, as if the trees themselves were watching her.

There didn’t seem to be anything else alive in these woods—no sound of prey, no scent of her Clanmates or any other Clan.

“Spottedleaf!” she called. “Help me!”

There was no reply.

The trees grew more thickly here, and the shadows between the trunks swallowed her until she could hardly see where she was putting her paws.

“Don’t be frightened.”

The soft voice seemed to echo from every direction at once, and Squirrelpaw spun around, trying to find where it came from. There was a faint scent of ThunderClan, and then she saw Spottedleaf’s pale pelt glowing among the trees like the distant moon in a mottled sky.

“I’m lost, Spottedleaf!” she called.

“No, you’re not,” Spottedleaf reassured her gently. “Follow me.”

Panting with relief, Squirrelpaw wound her way through the tree trunks. As she approached, the shadows seemed to draw away and the forest grew lighter, although there wasn’t any moon that she could see.

“Follow me,” Spottedleaf murmured. She turned and headed into the trees, running as confidently as if she were following an invisible path. Squirrelpaw pelted after her.

Spottedleaf ran like the wind, but Squirrelpaw raced over the ground until she felt as though she were swooping through the trees like a bird. Exhilaration flooded her so that she hardly noticed the forest become familiar once more.

Then she recognized the Great Sycamore, reaching high into the sky. And here were the Snakerocks, a tumbled heap of round, sandy boulders where snakes basked in greenleaf, but which offered good prey in colder weather. Spottedleaf leaped up to the top of the rocks, then down the other side and on through the forest. Squirrelpaw scrambled after her quickly.

On they went until Squirrelpaw detected the tang of the Thunderpath. Suddenly, without warning, Spottedleaf stopped. Squirrelpaw skidded to a halt, nearly bumping into her, and followed the medicine cat’s gaze. Ahead of them, every single tree had been stripped away, and the forest floor was churned into mud right to the edge of the Thunderpath.

Wooden Twoleg nests ringed the clearing, and monsters sat hunched and silent nearby.

“This way,” Spottedleaf mewed. She led Squirrelpaw across the slippery, rutted earth toward the nests.

“It’s so quiet,” Squirrelpaw whispered. Oddly, she felt soothed by the eerie quiet, and she followed Spottedleaf over the open ground without fear.

Spottedleaf stopped beside one of the wooden nests, and Squirrelpaw looked up at it in surprise. “What is this place?” she mewed. “Why have you brought me here?”

Spottedleaf twitched her gold-and-brown-striped tail.

“Look through the hole,” she urged. “Look at the cages.”

Cages? The word sounded strange to Squirrelpaw’s ears.

She noticed a small gap in the wall, about a fox-length up. She stretched her forepaws up the side of the nest, her belly brushing the scratchy wood, and peered in.

Rows of dens made of cold-looking shiny web were stacked along the walls. Those must be the “cages.” Squirrelpaw could see a dark, soft-edged shape huddled in each cage. Cats !

Her heart raced as scents flooded her nose—RiverClan, WindClan, rogue. She stared breathlessly through the hole, and then she smelled the warm scent of ThunderClan. With a jolt of recognition she saw her sister curled up in one of the cages near the roof of the wooden nest.

“Leafpaw!” She gasped. She clawed herself upward, thrusting with her hind legs, trying to clamber through the hole.

“You can’t get in, Squirrelpaw.” Spottedleaf stood on her hind legs to reach up beside her. “This is only a dream,” she murmured. “But when you wake, Leafpaw will still be here.”

“Will I be able to rescue her?”

“I hope so,” Spottedleaf answered softly.

“But how?” Squirrelpaw yowled, jumping down to the ground.

“Stop fidgeting, for StarClan’s sake!” Shrewpaw muttered.

Squirrelpaw’s eyes shot open. She was lying in the narrow cleft in Sunningrocks. The hollow was dark, and she could only just make out the soft shapes of sleeping cats around her.

She sat up and stared over the lip of the gully. Outside, frost glittered on the smooth stone, and beyond that she saw the outlines of leafless trees, black and spiky against the sky.

“What’s the matter?” Shrewpaw asked sleepily.

“I know where Leafpaw is!” Squirrelpaw whispered. “I have to go and rescue her.”