Hawkwing’s Journey

Chapter 27

“Do you want to lean on my shoulder?” Hawkwing asked Plumwillow.

The SkyClan cats were still trying to go in the direction Barley had shown them, trudging up a long slope covered with tough moorland grass. The ridge ahead of them never seemed to get any closer. A wide blue sky arched above them, where one or two birds were circling, and a stiff breeze buffeted their fur.

“Thanks, Hawkwing.” Plumwillow shifted a pace sideways so that she could lean against him.

Her belly is absolutely enormous! Hawkwing thought. It won’t be long before her kits are here.

A pang of sadness clawed through him as he wondered whether Pebbleshine would get as big as this before the end. Wherever she was—and Hawkwing had to believe that she was alive, somewhere—their kits would still be growing inside her.

A half moon had passed since Pebbleshine had been carried away by the monster with the chickens. Since then there had been no sign or scent of her, but Echosong had dreamed the same dream several times: a pleasant place near water where SkyClan would belong.

“Have you seen Pebbleshine in your dreams?” Hawkwing had asked.

The medicine cat had paused for a long time before replying.

“No,” she mewed with a sad shake of her head. “But that doesn’t necessarily mean that she won’t find her way there.”

Hawkwing was left to struggle with his grief. Even though he had decided to stay with his Clan, he still wondered what the future could possibly hold for him. Everything he did: hunting, seeking for safe places to rest, even his mentoring of Curlypaw, was completely meaningless now. Only Plumwillow, who had lost her mate, Sandynose, seemed to understand his pain.

Now Plumwillow huffed out a gasping breath, and Hawkwing felt something move against his side. That must be the kits! he realized, shivering as wonder and a terrible sadness threatened to tear him apart.

“I understand,” Plumwillow murmured. “It’s really hard for me to go on without Sandynose, but I have to believe he’s out there somewhere—just like Pebbleshine. I have to believe that we and our kits will be reunited someday.”

Hawkwing gazed deeply into the gray she-cat’s eyes, and saw that she really did understand what he felt. Maybe she’s the only one who can.

After what felt like a moon of toiling upward, the SkyClan cats reached the top of the hill.

“Look at that!” Waspwhisker exclaimed.

Hawkwing looked down to see a shallow valley in front of him.

The ground was covered with grass and stretches of woodland, dotted with outcrops of rock. At the bottom lay a reed-fringed lake, its shimmering surface reflecting the blue of the sky. In the distance, on the far side of the lake, was a small cluster of Twoleg dens.

“This must be it!” Tinycloud exclaimed. “Our new home!”

Parsleyseed’s eyes were sparkling: It was the first time, Hawkwing realized, that he had looked happy since his sister disappeared. “This must be the place that Echosong dreamed about!”

Anticipation stirred inside Hawkwing and his pads prickled with excitement. The valley looked just right for a Clan’s territory, with its grassy open spaces and wooded areas full of undergrowth for shelter and hunting grounds.

But I don’t see any other cats, Hawkwing thought. Where is ThunderClan?

Glancing to the side, he spotted Echosong; she was gazing down into the valley with interest, but he didn’t think she looked convinced just yet that this was the place of her visions.

Leafstar tilted her head toward Waspwhisker, gesturing him out of earshot of the other cats. For a few moments they conferred quietly together; then they both returned to join the other cats.

“Okay, listen up,” he meowed. “This could be the place from Echosong’s visions, but we have to be cautious. We’re going to split into patrols to explore. Look out for places we might camp, and good places to hunt. And keep your eyes open for other cats.”

“Yes,” Leafstar added. “For all we know, this is the territory of one of the other Clans. The last thing we want is to walk into another conflict.”

“We’ll meet up again beside the lake,” Waspwhisker finished.

Waspwhisker led one patrol and Sparrowpelt another.

Hawkwing was surprised when the deputy chose him to lead the third. M eanwhile Leafstar led the way to a nearby copse where Plumwillow and Clovertail could rest. Echosong and Fidgetpaw joined them, and the remaining warriors stayed with them, on guard.

Hawkwing set out with M acgyver, Parsleyseed, Birdwing, and Curlypaw. Together they headed down into the valley, pausing to investigate clumps of trees, thickets of fern and bramble, and the crevices in rocks where prey might hide.

“Can we hunt, Hawkwing?” M acgyver asked. “M y jaws are watering, there’s so much prey-scent around!”

“Sure,” Hawkwing replied. “We need to know that the Clan can feed itself here.”

M acgyver’s eyes gleamed. “Then it would be pretty irresponsible not to hunt!”

“Don’t get carried away,” Hawkwing warned his patrol while they padded toward a stretch of deeper woodland. “Remember this is strange territory, and we don’t know what might be lurking.

Foxes… maybe badgers,” he finished with a shudder. “And if this is another Clan’s territory, we don’t want them to think we’re stealing their prey. Curlypaw, stay close to me.”

Hawkwing looked around warily as he ventured into the woodland with his apprentice by his side. The trees were old and twisted here, many of them covered with ivy, and interspersed with banks of fern and bramble thickets. Sunlight filtered down through the foliage, dappling the ground with green-gold light.

“It’s great here!” Curlypaw sighed. “I hope we can stay.”

“Let’s find out a bit more about the place first,” Hawkwing meowed. “What can you scent?”

Curlypaw stood still, her jaws parted to drink in the air.

Watching her, Hawkwing reflected that since he had lost

Pebbleshine, his heart hadn’t been in Curlypaw’s training. Am I teaching her anything? he wondered. I’ve got to start making more of an effort.

“M ouse,” Curlypaw murmured after a few heartbeats. “And squirrel… oh, and rabbit. And… I think there’s fox, Hawkwing, but I’m not sure.” She glanced around as if she expected to see the red-pelted creature slinking toward her with its fangs bared.

“Very good,” Hawkwing told her with an approving nod.

“You’re right, a fox has been through here, but two or three days ago. The scent is faint, so I don’t think it stayed long.”

As he finished speaking he heard a yowl of triumph from farther into the woods, and Parsleyseed appeared, dragging the body of a plump rabbit. “Look what I caught!” he announced, obviously pleased with himself. “We can all share.”

“Great catch!” Hawkwing praised him.

M acgyver and Birdwing reappeared a moment later, Birdwing carrying a mouse, and the patrol settled down to eat.

“I’ve got something to show you,” M acgyver mewed between mouthfuls. “Something good. But it can wait.”

With the rabbit picked clean, M acgyver led the way farther into the trees, around a bramble thicket and up a steep bank to a flat shelf of rock. “Look down there,” he meowed, pointing with his tail.

Hawkwing looked out over a deep hollow, the sides formed from rocks and the tangled roots of trees. Long grass and ferns covered the ground at the bottom. Just below Hawkwing’s paws a small spring bubbled out between two boulders and trickled out across the hollow in the direction of the lake.

“What about that?” M acgyver asked proudly. “Isn’t it a perfect place to camp?”

Hawkwing nodded slowly. There were plenty of sheltered spots for dens, with room enough for every cat, and the steep sides would provide some protection. There was even a source of water.

“It’s a bit like the gorge,” Curlypaw murmured. There was a hint of wistfulness in her voice, telling Hawkwing how homesick she must feel.

“Let’s go find Leafstar,” Hawkwing suggested. “We’ll get her to come and see it.”

Heading out of the wood again, Hawkwing reflected that this could be the perfect place for SkyClan to settle, except for one thing.

There were no other cats here.

If this is where StarClan intends us to be, where are the other warrior Clans?

Hawkwing tasted the air once more, wondering if somehow they could have missed picking up the traces of a large number of cats. This time he did smell cat, but only one, and there was something not quite right about the scent.

Emerging from the undergrowth, Hawkwing spotted the cat: a plump dark tabby tom, sitting on a tree stump at the edge of the wood, grooming his long glossy pelt. Hawkwing didn’t need to see the collar around his neck to recognize a kittypet.

I should have known, he thought. Is this territory so unfamiliar that I can’t even tell when I’m smelling kittypet scent?

“Greetings,” he meowed, approaching the kittypet and dipping his head politely. “Do you live around here?”

The kittypet looked up, mildly surprised. “You’re the second group I’ve seen today,” he mewed. “There are plenty of you, aren’t there?”

The second group? Hawkwing was briefly excited, until he realized that the kittypet must mean he’d seen one of the other patrols. Trying to keep irritation out of his voice, he repeated his question.

“Oh, no, my nest is a long way away, with my housefolk,” the kittypet replied with a vague wave of his tail. “M y name’s M ax.

Who are you?”

“We are SkyClan,” Hawkwing replied proudly, introducing himself and the rest of his patrol.

“You’re a scruffy-looking bunch, if you ask me,” M ax commented, looking the patrol up and down, then licking one forepaw and drawing it over his ear.

No cat did ask you, Hawkwing thought, beginning to feel annoyed.

“You would look scruffy too if you’d had to fight for your life and then traveled for days and days looking for a new home,” M acgyver snapped.

“Keep your fur on,” M ax responded, not at all offended. “I know all about traveling. I stay out away from my housefolk all the time.” He riffled his whiskers. “It drives them crazy. But I always get a really good meal when I come home,” he finished, swiping his tongue around his jaws.

M acgyver flashed Hawkwing a glance, as if he was asking, Do we have to put up with this idiot?

“We’re looking for more cats,” Hawkwing began, determined to get as much information from M ax as he could.

“Aren’t there enough of you already?”

The heat of anger roiled in Hawkwing’s belly, but he pushed it down. No, I will not claw his ears off. But oh, it’s tempting…

“A specific group of cats,” Birdwing explained patiently, as if she guessed that Hawkwing was close to losing his temper.

“They’re called ThunderClan. Their leader is—was, I suppose—a tom called Firestar, with a flame-colored pelt.”

M ax yawned. “Never heard of them. In fact, there aren’t many cats around here. And none living by the lake.”

Hawkwing acknowledged his words with a brief nod. “Thank you for your help.”

“Any time.” M ax went back to his grooming.

By now, Hawkwing could see that some of his Clanmates were gathering by the lake, and led his patrol to join them. They arrived at the same time as Leafstar and her group; the other patrols were already waiting.

“What do you think?” Blossomheart asked, bounding up to Hawkwing as soon as he reached the rest of the Clan. “Isn’t it great?”

“It seems okay.” Hawkwing still had his reservations, especially now that he was sure there were no other Clans here.

Leafstar called a Clan meeting, speaking from a rock at the water’s edge while her Clan sat around her. “This is the first place we’ve found where it seems possible to settle,” she began. “But we need to decide if it’s the right place. Let’s start by hearing from the patrols.”

Waspwhisker, Sparrowpelt, and Hawkwing all made their reports.

“There’s good hunting here,” Waspwhisker meowed. “And we didn’t spot many signs of predators. A fox here and there, maybe, but no trace of badgers.”

“And there are plenty of places we might make our camp,” Sparrowpelt added.

“We could do worse,” Waspwhisker summed up at last. “There doesn’t seem to be much danger, and the Twoleg nests are far enough away that the Twolegs won’t bother us.”

“But there aren’t any other cats,” Hawkwing objected. “If this is the place StarClan wanted us to find, then where is ThunderClan?”

“Well, maybe they—” Waspwhisker began.

He broke off as Echosong rose to her paws and came to stand beside the rock where Leafstar sat. “This is not the place where we’re supposed to be,” she announced.

Gasps of shock and protest came from the cats gathered around her.

“You mean we have to do more traveling?” Rabbitleap asked.

“M y paws are worn away already!”

“What’s wrong with it here?” Firefern mewed. “I don’t want to go on.”

“I can’t go on,” Plumwillow added. “Not until my kits are born—and that won’t be long now.”

“Plumwillow has a point,” Sparrowpelt agreed with a nod to the gray she-cat. “We should stay here, at least until she gives birth and her kits are old enough to travel. We have to stop somewhere for that, and this is a good place, near water, with plenty of prey.

Echosong, we need a home!”

The medicine cat’s green eyes were full of distress, but she never wavered. “This is not the place StarClan showed me in my dreams,” she insisted. “If it was, ThunderClan and maybe the other Clans too would be here to greet us. Believe me, if we stay here, no good will come of it. It doesn’t feel right. I know Plumwillow would be better off having her kits while we’re traveling.”

Plumwillow gave a disdainful sniff. “You don’t have to carry them every paw step of the way,” she snapped, loud enough for Echosong to hear her.

“And we’re all exhausted,” Rabbitleap added, exchanging a doubtful look with Birdwing. “We’d have to have bees in our brains to leave a place as good as this.”

Hawkwing felt his irritation rising. Can’t they see that’s not the point ? We’re not just looking for a new home, we’re trying to follow the will of StarClan. What about the prophecy?

In the midst of more rebellious muttering from his Clanmates, he rose to his paws. “I agree with Echosong,” he meowed. “This place feels wrong. It’s good, but ThunderClan isn’t here, so it can’t be what we’ve been looking for.”

“And what about my kits?” Plumwillow demanded.

Hawkwing gave her a warm glance. “You’re strong, Plumwillow. You’ll take good care of them, whatever happens.”

Turning back to the rest of the Clan, he added, “We’ve followed StarClan this far. How can we start ignoring them now?”

And if we find the place where StarClan has been leading us, then maybe Pebbleshine and our kits will be there, too. They’ll find us there, somehow…

Every cat looked at Leafstar, who paused for a long moment before speaking. “Plumwillow, what do you think?” she asked.

“You’re the cat with the most to lose right now if we make the wrong decision.”

Plumwillow dipped her head. “I am tired,” she confessed.

“And I think this is a good place to have my kits.”

Leafstar nodded, remaining silent for a moment more. “I think we should stay here, Echosong,” she mewed, “at least for a little while. Sparrowpelt and Plumwillow are right: This is a good place.

I’m too tired and heartsick to go any further, and so are all of us.

The entire Clan needs a rest.”

“But that isn’t right!” Echosong protested. “StarClan—”

“StarClan isn’t sending us any clear guidance,” Leafstar interrupted. “And we can’t keep chasing hunches, hoping that fortune will favor us. We have traveled so far, and we are weary—

we must get some strength back, if we are to complete this quest.”

M urmurs of relief and approval followed the Clan leader’s words. Hawkwing couldn’t share his Clanmates’ feelings. He had hoped that when they reached the destination StarClan had in mind for them, he would be reunited with Pebbleshine—and now those hopes were dashed.

This is wrong… she’ll never find us here, I know it. Oh, StarClan, I’m trying to trust you that our destiny is still in front of us, that we haven’t made a terrible choice that will see the end of SkyClan.

But why must you test us this way?