Erin Hunter - Dawn

Firestar watched her curiously. “Sandstorm told me Leafpaw had brought a kittypet back with her. Is that you?”

“Yes. I’m Cody. Come, Ferncloud, eat the poppy seed.”

“You can see that the Clan cannot offer you much as a place of safety,” Firestar apologized. “But it’s even more dangerous for you to travel alone. When I have a free warrior, you’ll be escorted home. Until then, you can stay with us.”

“Thank you,” Cody murmured.

Firestar’s gazed flicked back to Ferncloud. “Will she be all right?”

“She just needs rest,” Cinderpelt told him.

“And Birchkit?”

“He always was the strongest of the three.” Cinderpelt bent down to lick the small scrap of fur that had begun to knead his mother’s belly in search of milk.

“Do your best.” Firestar turned and padded away.

Cody’s shoulders drooped. “It’s hard to believe your father was ever a kittypet,” she muttered to Leafpaw.

“I never really think about it,” she admitted. “It’s not as if I knew him back then. I was born after he became leader.”

She looked at Cody. “Will you be all right, staying here?”

“Of course.” Cody sounded surprised that Leafpaw should have any doubts. Sweeping her tail gently along Leafpaw’s flank, she turned and crouched down beside Ferncloud. “You two go,” she meowed to Leafpaw and Cinderpelt. “You have many cats to look after. There is little I can do for the rest of the Clan, but at least I can take care of Ferncloud.”

Cinderpelt looked uncertainly at the kittypet, but Cody reassured her. “I’ll make sure she eats the seed,” she promised. “And while she sleeps I can look after Birchkit. He’ll be missing his sister.”

“Very well,” Cinderpelt agreed. “But call me if Ferncloud becomes more distressed.”

Cody nodded, and Leafpaw followed Cinderpelt out of the den, glancing back just once to blink appreciatively at her friend.

The Clan was huddled in small groups on the exposed flank of the rock, their faces grave. Leafpaw suddenly longed to run through the woods on her own. The Clan she had returned to seemed filled with more suffering than she could ease, and she wanted to be away from it, if only for a short while.

She padded down the slope toward the trees. Pushing through the undergrowth she inhaled the earthy odors of the forest, drinking them in gratefully. She detected the familiar smells of Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw, and when she put her head to one side to listen she heard their voices mewing urgently up ahead. Weaving through the bracken, she found them in a small clearing near the RiverClan border.

“I told Firestar we’d have to leave soon,” Brambleclaw was meowing. “We shouldn’t try to cross the mountains after the snow comes, and we’ll never make it to newleaf if we stay here.”

“But how do we know we should go through the mountains?” Squirrelpaw argued. “The sign never appeared when we were at the Great Rock. A warrior was meant to show us the way, but no warrior came!”

“With no sign, how do we know we’re meant to go at all?”

Brambleclaw muttered. “Perhaps Midnight was wrong.”

“How could she be wrong?” Squirrelpaw mewed. “StarClan sent us to her!”

Leafpaw froze, her tail quivering. She closed her eyes, wishing for some sign that StarClan was listening, and then opened them again impatiently. Why was she being so feeble?

If StarClan had a sign they would send it. Until then, they would have to figure this out by themselves.

“Squirrelpaw?” she called. “Brambleclaw, it’s me.” She pushed through the bracken to join her Clanmates. The pair sprang away from each other and faced her warily.

Brambleclaw shifted his paws. “Did you hear what we were talking about?”

“Yes.”

“What do you think?” He stared at her. “Could Midnight have been wrong?”

Part of Leafpaw wanted Midnight to be wrong. She wanted to stay in the forest where she had been born. This was StarClan’s home, too. But why else would they have ordered Brambleclaw and the others to make such a dangerous journey? They would not have risked the cats’ lives for nothing.

“Is it StarClan you doubt or yourselves?” she murmured.

Brambleclaw wearily shook his head. “The journey was difficult enough. We didn’t think things would be even harder once we returned. We were so sure StarClan would show us the way, but they haven’t, and we can’t afford to wait. Taking the Clan away from their home is such a big responsibility…”

“And we don’t know when we should leave or where we should go,” Squirrelpaw put in.

“In the end, it has to be Firestar’s decision,” Leafpaw reminded them. “You can only tell him what you have seen and heard.”

Brambleclaw nodded.

“How did you get to be so wise?” Squirrelpaw asked her sister fondly.

“How did you become so brave and noble?” Leafpaw teased, flicking Squirrelpaw’s flank with her tail. She felt a surge of happiness at being with her sister again. Then she remembered Ferncloud and Graystripe, and her heart sank.

“If Firestar does decide to leave,” she breathed, “what about Graystripe?”

Squirrelpaw looked sad. “Graystripe will find us, wherever we are.”

“I hope so,” Leafpaw mewed. “But until he does, who’ll be deputy?”

“Graystripe is still our deputy,” Brambleclaw meowed.

“But he’s not here, and the Clan needs strong leadership more now than ever,” Leafpaw argued.

“Firestar can’t appoint a new deputy as long as he believes Graystripe is still alive,” Brambleclaw insisted.

Leafpaw shook her head. She couldn’t agree with him, but she admired his loyalty.

“Let’s not argue about it,” Squirrelpaw pleaded. “There’s already too much to worry about.” She glanced at Leafpaw.

“There’s something I wish I’d asked Graystripe to explain before we lost him.”

Leafpaw tipped her head on one side. “What?”

“It just seemed strange at the time, and Firestar silenced him before he could explain…”

Brambleclaw pricked his ears as she went on.

“When we first returned, Graystripe welcomed us by saying, ‘Fire and tiger have returned.’” Squirrelpaw blinked. “It just seemed like an odd thing to say.”

Leafpaw looked at her paws, unsure what to say. Should she tell Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw about Cinderpelt’s ominous warning? Or would they be better off without that hanging over their heads? After all, they had enough to worry about already.

“You know something, don’t you?” Squirrelpaw prompted.

Leafpaw shuffled her paws, feeling a flash of frustration that she could never hide anything from her sister. “Cinderpelt had a message from StarClan.”

Brambleclaw leaned forward. “I thought StarClan had been silent?”

“It was just before you left,” Leafpaw explained. “StarClan warned her that fire and tiger would destroy the Clan.”

“Fire and tiger?” Squirrelpaw echoed. “What’s that got to do with us?”

Leafpaw twitched an ear. “You are Fire star’s kit.” She turned to Brambleclaw. “And you are Tiger star’s.”

Squirrelpaw’s eyes widened. “So we’re fire and tiger?”

Leafpaw nodded.

“But how could anyone believe we would destroy the Clan?”

Squirrelpaw protested. “We’ve risked our lives to help save them!”

“I know.” Leafpaw dipped her head. “And no cat really thinks you would—in fact, only Firestar, Cinderpelt, Graystripe, and I even know about it…” She was desperate to reassure her sister. “We believe you would never do anything to harm us.”

Leafpaw realized that Brambleclaw had said nothing. But he was staring at her, his eyes dark with worry, and she felt a flash of inexplicable fear. “Brambleclaw?”