Dawn

Chapter 17

“How will I manage without him?” gasped Mothwing, her eyes huge and scared.

“You’ll be fine,” Cinderpelt assured her. “And there will be time to grieve, but not now.”

Mothwing looked at her for a moment, then nodded and left the medicine clearing to tell her Clan that Mudfur was dead. Leafpaw waited until the RiverClan cats began to pad through the tunnel to pay their final respects, then hurried out into the main clearing.

Mothwing was sitting in the rain with her head bowed, water streaming from her whiskers. “I can’t believe he’s gone,” she mewed.

“He hasn’t gone far,” Leafpaw comforted her. “He’s with StarClan.”

“I hope so,” Mothwing murmured.

Leopardstar emerged from the medicine clearing and padded over to Firestar. “Shadepelt and Loudbelly will remain here with your elders,” she meowed. “They are too old to travel and wish to sit in vigil for Mudfur.”

Firestar nodded. “We will wait until RiverClan is ready to travel,” he murmured.

Hawkfrost and Stormfur padded toward Leafpaw and Mothwing. For once, Hawkfrost’s gaze was gentle as he rested his muzzle against his sister’s cheek.

“I never thought we’d be leaving anyone behind.” Stormfur sighed.

“Neither did I,” Leafpaw agreed, gazing at Frostfur and Speckletail. The image of Graystripe staring out from the monster’s belly flashed through her mind.

Leopardstar padded to the center of the clearing and looked around. “Is everyone ready?”

“We haven’t hunted today,” a RiverClan queen protested, wrapping her tail protectively around her kit.

“We can hunt on the way,” Leopardstar told her.

The moment had arrived. Silently, the cats began to head for the camp entrance. Frostfur and Speckletail sat in the clearing watching their Clanmates leave.

“Good-bye, Frostfur,” Leafpaw whispered. “Good-bye, Speckletail. Good hunting.”

“Good hunting,” Frostfur replied.

Leafpaw looked up at the gray sky crisscrossed by leaf-bare branches. The rain spattered on her face, and she blinked away the drops that clung to her eyelashes. It was as if StarClan wept to see their Clans leave the forest. Bleakly, Leafpaw wondered if their ancestors would travel with them, or whether this was a final farewell.

“Come on.” Firestar’s voice sounded softly in her ear. “The Clan will be waiting for us.”

*

The trek through the forest was hard going, the rain making the leaves slippery underpaw. The RiverClan cats stayed together, keeping up with ThunderClan but traveling separately. Sorreltail fell into step beside Leafpaw and nudged her up each time she stumbled. As they neared the edge of the forest, where there was a narrow strip of RiverClan territory before the moorland began, Leafpaw scented ShadowClan cats. She lifted her head and saw them huddled under the trees, wet and shivering.

“We thought you’d never get here,” Blackstar complained, shaking the water from his coat.

The ShadowClan cats paced impatiently around him. They were not comfortable under the trees that had once belonged to ThunderClan; even Tawnypelt looked eager to leave. But Leafpaw longed to linger here, suddenly unable to bear the thought of saying good-bye to the forest for the last time.

Firestar gazed at his Clan. “We must say good-bye to all we have known,” he meowed.

Leafpaw felt Sorreltail’s pelt pressing against hers, and she noticed Squirrelpaw draw closer to Brambleclaw.

“I want to go home!” one of Tallpoppy’s kits mewled up at her mother with her eyes stretched wide.

“We are going home,” Tallpoppy promised, her ears twitching. “Our new home.”

As she spoke, a tawny-colored cat emerged from the trees a little way off. Even though the rain masked her scent, Leafpaw recognized the stranger at once. It was Sasha.

Mothwing recognized her too, because she bounded over and rolled on her belly like a kit. Hawkfrost padded after his sister more slowly, the tip of his tail flicking from side to side.

The RiverClan cats watched them go with patient acceptance, but Leafpaw saw bewilderment in the eyes of the ThunderClan cats who did not know who Sasha was, and open hostility from the ShadowClan cats.

“What’s she doing here?” Squirrelpaw whispered.

“Perhaps she knows we’re leaving,” Leafpaw guessed.

“But why did she come?”

Sasha finished greeting her kits and padded toward the watching cats. Ashfur hissed threateningly, but Firestar silenced him with a look.

“I didn’t think we’d see you again,” Leopardstar meowed, dipping her head to Sasha.

“Nor I you,” Sasha admitted. “I have come to ask Hawkfrost and Mothwing to leave RiverClan and come with me. I’ve seen what the Twolegs are doing to your homes. It is no longer safe for them to stay with you.”

Mothwing looked down at her paws and Leafpaw’s heart skipped a beat. Could she really be thinking about leaving? She brushed past Sasha and faced the RiverClan medicine cat. “I know things have been tough lately, but you wouldn’t really go, would you?”

Mothwing blinked. “I-I don’t know…”

“Your Clan needs you,” Leafpaw protested. She rounded on Hawkfrost. “You wouldn’t abandon your Clanmates, would you?”

“The decision is theirs.” Firestar’s voice rose above the sound of the falling rain. “But I agree they should remain with their Clan.”

Sasha narrowed her eyes. “You want them to stay?” Suddenly the wind dropped, and every cat seemed to hold their breath as she went on, “In spite of the fact that Tigerstar was their father?”

Leafpaw scanned the shocked faces of the RiverClan cats.

They obviously didn’t know that Tigerstar was Hawkfrost and Mothwing’s father, even though his kits had been raised in their Clan.

There was a long pause while Firestar held Sasha’s gaze. “I want them to stay because Tigerstar was their father,” he meowed.

Brambleclaw sank his claws into the mud, and Squirrelpaw’s eyes stretched even wider. “Tigerstar was a great warrior, and these cats have proved they have inherited his courage,” Firestar went on. “Their Clan needs them now more than ever.” He turned his gaze on Brambleclaw and Tawnypelt.

“Tigerstar’s children have earned their place in their Clans many times over.”

There were no secrets now. Every cat knew that Tigerstar lived on in four cats, and that three Clans nurtured part of his legacy. Mothwing lifted her gaze, searching the faces of her Clanmates. Hawkfrost raised his chin as if he didn’t care what they thought.

Leopardstar nodded. “Firestar is right. RiverClan needs all our warriors, and we certainly need our medicine cat.”

“But they’re Tigerstar’s kits!” Dawnflower’s hiss startled Leafpaw. The RiverClan queen was staring at Leopardstar as if she’d just invited a fox to join them.

Squirrelpaw’s eyes blazed. “So what? That doesn’t mean they can’t be loyal!”

“Hawkfrost is one of our best warriors,” Stormfur added.

He looked around at his Clanmates. “Have any of you ever doubted his loyalty?”

“Never,” Mistyfoot murmured.

Leopardstar looked at Hawkfrost and Mothwing. “Will you stay?”

“Of course,” Hawkfrost answered at once. “I would never desert my Clan.” He was staring at his Clanmates, his eyes glittering defiantly.

Leafpaw felt her tail quiver. Was it ambition or loyalty that fueled his decision? She glanced at Brambleclaw. How could two warriors with the same father be so different?

Mothwing glanced at her mother, her ears twitching. “I have to stay with my Clan too,” she mewed. “I’m their medicine cat now. They need me.”

Sasha nodded. “Very well.” She swept her gaze over them.

“Firestar is right,” she murmured. “I see your father in both of you.”

Leafpaw heard a low growl come from Dawnflower.

Sasha turned to the RiverClan queen. “Tigerstar never knew about these kits, but he would have been proud of them.” She glanced around the RiverClan cats. “You’re lucky to have them.”

She padded back to Hawkfrost and Mothwing, brushing her pelt against theirs. “I wish you well on your journey,” she meowed. Then she turned and padded into the forest. The ferns quivered where she had disappeared, and the Clan cats stared after her in silence.