Erin Hunter - Dawn

“And who will give the orders?” Leopardstar demanded.

“You?”

Firestar shook his head. “That’s not important. I only meant it would be less dangerous if we were to stick together.”

“You have no idea where we’re going,” Blackstar argued.

“We have to trust the cats who’ve made this journey already, and each Clan has one of those. We can travel separately.”

“But you fell behind just now,” Firestar pointed out.

“RiverClan, too. We must stick closer together, at least while we’re near the Twolegs.”

Blackstar narrowed his eyes. “Closer together, yes,” he conceded. “But each Clan should follow its own leader’s orders.”

Squirrelpaw’s paws pricked with frustration. Fighting a bone-weariness that made her head spin, she gazed across the stretch of land between the rocky outcrop and the edge of the moor. There were yet more monsters in the distance, lumbering up and down like terrifying border patrols.

Brambleclaw padded up to her. “I’ve spoken to the others.”

His voice was low, and Squirrelpaw understood that by “others,” he meant Tawnypelt, Crowpaw, and Stormfur.

“We’ve agreed to keep to the outside,” he explained. “That way we can look out for trouble and help any cat who falls behind. Crowpaw and I will stay at the back. Stormfur will lead. You take one side, and Tawnypelt will take the other.”

Squirrelpaw nodded. “We’ve brought them this far—we have a responsibility to protect them,” he added, his eyes darkening with worry.

Squirrelpaw twined her tail with his. “We’ve done the right thing,” she whispered. “I’m still sure of that.”

“Are we ready?” Firestar yowled.

Slowly the cats gathered on the brink of the rocks, huddling close to their Clanmates. Only Brambleclaw, Crowpaw, Squirrelpaw, Stormfur, and Tawnypelt slipped away from their Clans to take up positions at the edge of the group.

Blackstar gave the order to move first, but Leopardstar, Firestar, and Mudclaw quickly followed, and the cats began to leap down from the reassuringly hard surface of the outcrop and back into the slippery mud.

They crept toward the monsters that guarded the edge of WindClan’s territory, keeping low and quiet. Squirrelpaw skirted one edge of the group, keeping her ears pricked for any unexpected Twoleg activity, as well as looking out for any cats falling behind.

Leafpaw fell in beside her. “Is everything okay?”

“I think so,” Squirrelpaw murmured.

“I meant are you okay?” Leafpaw persisted. “You don’t have to protect all of us, you know. We made our own decisions to come on this journey.”

Squirrelpaw blinked gratefully at her. “I know.”

As the Clans neared the monsters they slowed down, crouching so low that Squirrelpaw felt she had almost turned into a lump of mud. At least with the cats this filthy, they blended into the earth around them. The monsters were far away to one side and showed no sign of straying back here yet.

“There’s mud in my eye!” Birchkit squealed.

“Hush!” snapped Ferncloud, and Birchkit fell silent.

Squirrelpaw’s heart pounded. Only a few more fox-lengths and they would reach the crest of the slope that would take them away from this mud and the monsters. Suddenly she heard a sound that turned her blood to ice. A dog howled from somewhere near the monsters, and when she lifted her head to look, she saw it pelting toward them, its ears flapping and its giant paws leaping over the mud.

“Dog!” yowled Leopardstar.

“Run!” Blackstar commanded.

Squirrelpaw stared around in panic. There was no way the kits and elders could outrun a dog! As the other cats pelted forward, Firestar and the other leaders raced among their Clans yowling orders.

“Pick up the kits!” Firestar commanded.

“Help the elders!” hissed Leopardstar.

Squirrelpaw looked for Birchkit, but Rainwhisker had already scooped him up and was racing for the top of the slope. Ferncloud hurtled after him, but Squirrelpaw could hear the terrifying howls of the dog getting closer. The huge creature bounded easily over the rutted ground, bearing down on the cats even faster than the monsters had done.

Already the elders were falling behind, even though the other cats urged them forward with desperate yowls and nudges.

Squirrelpaw glanced back to find out where Brambleclaw was, and with a jolt of horror she watched him spin around and head straight toward the dog. Crowpaw and Tawnypelt raced beside him, hardly recognizable under the slick of mud that clung to their pelts. What were they doing?

Stunned, Squirrelpaw watched them charge toward the vicious snarling dog, and only when they got near did she understand what they were doing. Spreading out on Brambleclaw’s hissed command, they surrounded the great black hound; at once the creature slowed down, swinging its massive head from side to side as it figured out which cat to chase. Then it fixed its eyes on Crowpaw and headed straight for the scrawny black warrior. Instantly Crowpaw swerved toward Tawnypelt, his paws sliding in the mud. Tawnypelt shot past him in the other direction, yowling abuse at the dog as she dodged its snapping jaws. The dog hesitated, snarling, then set off after the ShadowClan warrior.

Squirrelpaw’s heart pounded with terror as she saw it gaining on her, but Brambleclaw was already racing up behind the dog. He raked its hind legs and swerved nimbly away as the dog spun around and gave chase.

The Twolegs had heard the commotion and one ran toward the dog, howling as Brambleclaw fled a fox-length ahead of the creature’s glistening fangs. Crowpaw had turned and was running for the dog again, hurtling past its nose and bringing it to a bewildered halt. The dog gazed around, its eyes gleaming with fury. Crowpaw spun on his hind legs and raced back again. The dog lashed out, its jaws snapping close to Crowpaw’s flank. The Twoleg howled again and leaned forward, reaching out with its paw.

Squirrelpaw’s breath stopped in her throat. Don’t let the Twoleg catch you! she silently begged Crowpaw. They couldn’t lose another cat this way! Then the Twoleg’s paw closed around the dog’s collar and dragged it away. Squirrelpaw felt dizzy with relief.

Crowpaw tore away from the Twoleg with Tawnypelt and Brambleclaw on his tail. “Run!” he screeched as he streaked toward Squirrelpaw. She spun around and raced after her Clanmates. Most of them had reached the top of the rise and were pelting down the other side. Squirrelpaw checked to see if any cat needed help, but the last elders, two ShadowClan cats weak with fear, were being half dragged, half pushed to safety by Russetfur and Stormfur. Squirrelpaw followed them as they stumbled over the crest of the hill and fled down the slope.

Not until she was halfway down did she realize that she had crossed the WindClan border and left Clan territory for the very last time. The scent markers had been washed away by the mud and the rain and the stench of the monsters.

Squirrelpaw forced herself not to look back. They had left their homes. The journey had truly begun.

Like cloud shadows drifting over the ground, the Clans trekked in silence across a meadow. Squirrelpaw was grateful that Brambleclaw walked close beside her, shielding her from the icy wind. The rain was easing now, but the clouds had been raked into tatters by a thorn-sharp breeze that promised colder weather. Shivering, she looked up and saw a Twoleg nest looming ahead, even bigger than the Great Rock.

Her paws were sore from the prickly stubble that seemed to cover all the fields they had passed through, and she longed for the softness of leaves underpaw. The air was filled with unfamiliar scents—Twolegs, the monsters that prowled the crisscrossing Thunderpaths, the fresh scent of dog drifting from a Twoleg nest, and the recent scent of rogues. Squirrelpaw felt the instinctive tension of any cat that strayed from its territory, even though she was surrounded by more Clan cats than she had seen before in her life. She scanned the hedgerow, and her heart seemed to stop beating altogether when she saw the brown beech leaves rustle madly, shaken by more than just the wind.