Erin Hunter - Starlight

“I’m coming, Spottedleaf,” murmured Leafpaw.

They came to a cleft in the hills, where the land dipped down as if sliced by a giant claw. The valley was lined with gorse and bracken, and it grew steeper and narrower as they went on, the ground littered with broken rocks. Leafpaw reached the end of the valley first, where it led to a sheer, rocky slope. She stopped to wait for Sorreltail, whose tail was beginning to droop with weariness, though she still padded on determinedly. But Leafpaw felt as though she could run forever. The sound in her head roared and tumbled like the waterfall in the mountains where the Tribe of Rushing Water lived. She had grown so used to hearing it echo in her mind that for several heartbeats she didn’t realize she could hear it in the waking world too.

“Come on!” she cried to Sorreltail. “We’re almost there!”

She launched herself upward, scrabbling and slipping on the damp rock. The peak above her was outlined by the first faint signs of dawn, but stars still shone in the indigo sky.

Wait for me! she begged the glittering warriors. Glancing back at Sorreltail, she called, “Hurry—before the starshine fades!”

She turned to run on, and froze. A cat was standing a few tail-lengths above her, her ears pricked and her tail held high.

Had one of the other medicine cats been guided to this place too? Then she realized it was Spottedleaf, waiting patiently for her, trusting her to find this place even though she had lost her in the dream.

When Leafpaw leaped up to join her, she saw that she stood on the bank of a stream pouring down a deep channel in the rock. Starlight glittered on the surface of the water as it spilled over the stones.

“We’re here!” Leafpaw breathed. “We’ve found it!”

“Follow me,” Spottedleaf urged.

Leafpaw beckoned Sorreltail with her tail. “Quick!

Spottedleaf’s here!”

The tortoiseshell warrior joined Leafpaw in a couple of bounds and looked around. “Where?”

“There!” Leafpaw gestured to the starlit shape standing a couple of tail-lengths away on the edge of the stream.

“I can’t see her,” Sorreltail meowed. She looked worriedly at Leafpaw. “Is that a problem?”

Leafpaw gently drew her tail over Sorreltail’s eyes. “No, of course not. She can see that you are here, and that’s all that matters. Trust me, she is with us.”

Spottedleaf turned away and began to follow the stream upward. Leafpaw scrambled eagerly after her. The ground sloped more steeply than before, and the starlit stream vanished among a barrier of thornbushes that swallowed Spottedleaf like a fish diving into water.

Leafpaw stopped and put her head to one side as she studied the bushes. She had to follow Spottedleaf, but she’d be clawed to pieces by thorns if she tried to push her way through. Then she spotted a tiny gap and ducked between the prickly stems; there was just enough room to squeeze through without losing half her fur, though the thorns still tugged at her pelt. Behind her she could hear Sorreltail following, her breath rasping with the effort of running up the last stretch of rock.

A heartbeat later Leafpaw emerged on the edge of a steep-sided hollow. The ground fell sharply away on the other side of the thornbushes, and Leafpaw swayed for a moment as she struggled to keep her balance. It was much smaller than the hollow where ThunderClan had made their camp, clear of gorse and bramble and with sides that sloped more gently, lined with moss-covered rocks. Only on the far side did the ground rise into a sheer cliff, shaggy with moss and fern.

Water bubbled out from a cleft about halfway up and splashed into a pool in the center of the hollow. The surface of the pool danced and glittered with reflected starlight. It was the most beautiful place Leafpaw had ever seen.

Spottedleaf was standing at the edge of the water. “Come,” she meowed, beckoning with her tail.

Just beside Leafpaw’s paws a narrow path curved around the side of the hollow, spiraling steadily down until it reached the pool below.

She heard Sorreltail push her way out of the thorns behind her. “Wow!” she breathed. “Is this it?”

“I think so,” Leafpaw replied. “Spottedleaf wants me to go down to the pool.”

“Shall I come too?” Sorreltail offered.

Leafpaw shook her head. “I think I should go alone the first time.”

Leaving Sorreltail on the edge of the hollow, she stepped carefully down the path. The rock was dimpled with ancient pawprints, too many to count, and with each step she felt her paws slip into the marks left by cats many, many moons before. They were long gone, but Leafpaw’s fur tingled just to know they once had been here.

At last she stood beside Spottedleaf at the edge of the pool.

“Look at the water, Leafpaw,” the ghostly cat murmured.

Puzzled, Leafpaw looked down, and felt the stone beneath her paws lurch. Instead of stars she saw the reflections of many, many cats, their moonlit pelts shimmering. Countless pairs of eyes gleamed expectantly at her, as if they had known she would come.

Hardly daring to breathe, Leafpaw looked up. All around her sat the shining warriors of StarClan, lining the hollow’s sloping sides. Their eyes glowed like tiny moons, and their fur was tipped with the glitter of frost.

“Don’t be afraid,” Spottedleaf murmured. “We have been waiting for you to find your way to us.”

Leafpaw wasn’t afraid. She was conscious of nothing but warmth and goodwill in the starry gazes fixed on her. Most of the warriors were unfamiliar to her, but in one of the front rows she saw Dappletail, the ThunderClan elder who had died from eating a rabbit poisoned by the Twolegs. The she-cat looked graceful and beautiful, not thin and desperate as she had been when Leafpaw last saw her. Her eyes glowed with welcome, and she nodded toward two small shapes near the water’s edge, tumbling together as they chased a shaft of moonlight. As their play brought them close to her Leafpaw drank in their sweet kit scent. With a stab of joy, she recognized Hollykit and Larchkit, who had starved when Twolegs destroyed the forest. A half-grown cat reached out with a paw to nudge the starry kits away from the water’s edge: it was their brother Shrewpaw, the apprentice struck by a Twoleg monster as he tried to hunt for their Clan.

I must tell Ferncloud, thought Leafpaw, knowing how happy their mother would be to know that her three kits were safe in the ranks of StarClan.

Then she realized that one cat was missing. She ran her gaze quickly around the hollow to make sure. There was no sign of Graystripe. Leafpaw’s heart leaped. Did that mean that Firestar was right when he insisted that his friend was still alive?

Across the pool, a blue-gray warrior rose to her paws. She reminded Leafpaw of some cat… Of course, she’s the image of Mistyfoot! This must be Bluestar, Mistyfoot’s mother, and ThunderClan’s leader before Firestar.

“Welcome, Leafpaw,” Bluestar meowed. “We are delighted to welcome you here. This is where medicine cats must come to share tongues with StarClan, and where your leaders will receive their nine lives and their names.”

“It’s beautiful, Bluestar,” Leafpaw whispered. “Thank you for sending Spottedleaf to help me find it.”

“You must go back and tell all the Clans,” Bluestar continued. “But first there is a friend who wants to speak to you.”

A beautiful silver-gray cat left the ranks of cats and padded around the pool toward Leafpaw.

“Feathertail!”

The radiant warrior came to a halt in front of her. She touched noses with her, a caress light as a breeze whispering against Leafpaw’s muzzle.

“I thought we left you with the Tribe of Endless Hunting,” Leafpaw meowed.