Skyclan’s Destiny

Chapter 21

Leafstar woke as a paw prodded her in the side. “Leafstar! Leafstar, wake up!”

It was Sharpclaw’s voice. Leafstar opened her eyes and blinked at him as he stood over her, one paw raised to prod her again.

“What’s the matter?” she muttered, scrambling out of her nest. “Are we being attacked?”

“No, but we have to go now,” Sharpclaw hissed. When Leafstar stared at him, puzzled, he added, “To the Twoleg’s nest, to give him a fright he won’t forget.”

“No.” Leafstar shook her head. “We agreed to attack tomorrow night, as long as the weather was better.”

“But the clouds have cleared. Look!” Sharpclaw backed away to the entrance to the den, and stood on the trail outside, his shape outlined against an almost full moon. He waved his tail at a sky glittering with the warriors of Silverpelt. “You couldn’t hope for a better night than this.”

“But the kittypets have gone home,” Leafstar argued. “They promised to stay tomorrow night and help with the attack. We can’t leave them out again, not when they were so upset about the fight against the rats.”

Sharpclaw twitched his tail impatiently. “That’s their problem. This is the best night for attacking. We need as much light as possible.”

Leafstar twitched her nose. “I suppose you’re right,” she admitted reluctantly.

But as she shook moss out of her fur and headed down the trail into the gorge, she couldn’t shake off a nagging sense of guilt. She could imagine the shock and disappointment on the faces of the daylight-warriors when they heard that the attack had taken place without them. What am I going to say to them? And will Billystorm think that I lied to him?

Sharpclaw ran nimbly across the face of the cliff to rouse the warriors in their den, then led the way down to the river. Leafstar joined them near the foot of the Rockpile. The moon cast black shadows across the cliffs and turned the surface of the river to bubbling silver; every rock and tree stood out sharply against the wash of pale light. Sharpclaw was right. This is a good night to attack. But deep inside, she still knew that this wasn’t right.

Though no cat had called them, Sagepaw and Mintpaw burst out of their den and raced down to join the warriors.

“Are you going now?” Mintpaw panted, her eyes gleaming. “I want to come, too!”

“And me,” Sagepaw added. “I want to teach that Twoleg a lesson, after what he did to our mother.”

“Mintpaw, you can certainly come,” Leafstar replied. “But I’m not sure about you, Sagepaw. It’s a long way. Will your leg hold out?”

“My leg is fine now!” the apprentice insisted.

“Echosong, what do you think?” Leafstar asked the medicine cat, who had padded up in time to hear the discussion.

Echosong twitched her ears. “I know how much this means to Sagepaw…” she began hesitantly. “I suppose he can go,” she mewed at last. “But keep an eye on him, Leafstar, and if he starts limping, then take him out of the action.”

Leafstar nodded. “I’ll do that. And Sagepaw,” she added sternly, “if I tell you to back off, you do it. No arguments, okay?”

“I’ll keep an eye on him, too,” Petalnose promised, shouldering her way through the throng of cats to stand beside her kits.

“You’re sure you want to come?” Leafstar meowed, faintly surprised that the she-cat would be willing to return to the den where she had been a prisoner for so long.

“You need me,” Petalnose replied steadily. “I know that Twoleg and his nest better than any cat.”

“True.” Leafstar dipped her head in approval.

“I’ll come, too,” a shaky voice meowed.

Leafstar spun around to see Shrewtooth, who had crept up behind Echosong, a black shadow in the night. He was trembling, but there was determination in his gaze.

“Thanks, Shrewtooth, but there’s no need,” Leafstar responded. Great StarClan! What if he panics like he did this morning?

“But I want to. I don’t want to be a coward anymore.”

“No cat will call you a coward,” Leafstar promised. “But we don’t need every cat to come. Patchfoot is going to stay behind to guard the camp, but he can’t do it alone. What if the rats attacked Clovertail and Fallowfern and the kits?”

“Leafstar’s right,” Sharpclaw added, with more sympathy for the young black tom than Leafstar had expected. “Guarding the camp is the most important job there is. We trust you, Shrewtooth.”

The young warrior blinked and stood a little straighter. “Okay, Sharpclaw. I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t,” Sharpclaw told him.

With a grateful glance at her deputy, Leafstar gathered the rest of her Clan together and led them over the Rockpile and up to the top of the cliff on the far side of the gorge. She noticed that all four newcomers had joined the patrol without any more protest, though they padded along in a tight group at the rear, their tension clear in the swift glances they cast from side to side, and the bristling of their fur.

What secrets are they hiding?

The wind had dropped and the night was warm and still. The only sounds were the soft paw steps of her Clanmates and the swish of ferns and grass as they brushed against well-groomed fur. It would be a good night for a hunt, Leafstar thought, not looking forward to what was coming.

As the SkyClan warriors crept across the border, Leafstar noticed that Petalnose was trembling. Slipping through the ferns to her side, she touched her nose briefly to the gray cat’s ear. “If it gets too bad, you can go back,” she murmured.

Petalnose shook her head. “I can do this, Leafstar,” she vowed.

Leafstar padded alongside her to bolster her courage as they headed for the Twoleg den. Did ThunderClan ever fight Twolegs? she asked herself, wondering whether their starry ancestors were watching from the sky. I should have asked Echosong if she had a sign from StarClan about this attack, she thought with a stab of concern. But wouldn’t Echosong have told her? If StarClan was silent, perhaps it meant that they were happy for SkyClan to make their own decision. Leafstar flicked her tail in frustration. Why did it always feel as if she was leading her Clan in the dark? All the stars in the sky didn’t seem to give enough light to see where the future lay.

There was a soft hiss from Sharpclaw as the patrol reached the edge of the clearing and halted under the trees opposite the Twoleg nest. It was dark and silent; Leafstar could almost believe the nest had been abandoned. That would make everything much easier.

“Right, this is it,” Sharpclaw whispered. “You all know what you have to do. Waspwhisker, Shorty, and Cherrytail, go collect dead branches and brambles, and drag them outside the nest door as quietly as you can. We don’t want to wake the dog and warn the Twoleg.”

The three warriors, already primed from the earlier planning, twitched their ears in acknowledgment and melted into the shadows.

“Cora, Bouncefire, Rockshade.” Sharpclaw beckoned the next group of cats with his tail. “You’re the fastest runners, so you’re going to lead the dog away. Get into position now.”

“And make sure you have a good escape route,” Leafstar added before the three cats could move. “Climb a tree if you need to. I don’t want any cat getting hurt tonight.”

“We know all this,” Bouncefire muttered as he led the others away.

“We’ll be careful, Leafstar,” Cora mewed; her eyes were full of sympathy, as if she shared her Clan leader’s misgivings.

“The rest of you, spread out around the clearing,” Sharpclaw went on. “And don’t so much as twitch a whisker until you hear Leafstar’s signal.”

Leafstar crouched beneath the bushes at the edge of the Twoleg garden, her nose quivering at the rank smells that came from the den; scents of dog and rotting Twoleg waste drowned out the sweet night scents of grass and herbs. Moonhigh was close, and the silver light cast sharp-clawed shadows on the walls of the den.

There was a thick whispering sound. Cherrytail, Waspwhisker, and Shorty crept across the open space, dragging branches and tendrils of bramble behind them. Her paws tingling with tension, Leafstar watched them make several trips back and forth from the edge of the wood until they had built a dense, bristling mound outside the door of the nest. Then they melted silently into the bushes. Now the only sounds Leafstar could hear were the faint rustling of leaves and the distant bark of a fox. Her warriors were in position. For a heartbeat her belly cramped as if she had eaten crow-food.

This is it.

“Attack!” she yowled, bunching her hindquarters underneath her and springing forward.

All around her the warriors of SkyClan burst out of the undergrowth and raced toward the Twoleg den. Their yowls split the still night air and sent birds crashing out of the trees with shrieks of alarm. Sharpclaw was the first to reach the den. He leaped up onto the narrow ledge outside the gap in the wall; his paws rattled the hard, transparent barrier as he battered at it. Leafstar, a pace behind him, jumped up to the gap on the other side of the door and hurled herself against it, feeling the transparent stuff shift in its crumbling wooden frame.

Sparrowpelt sprang up beside her, while Tinycloud and Petalnose bounded over the thorn barrier and raked their claws down the door in long, whistling scratches. Leafstar saw the light of battle in Petalnose’s eyes; the gray she-cat’s nerves had vanished now that the attack had begun. The rest of the Clan gathered close to the nest, wailing as they lashed their tails and dug their claws into the ground. Leafstar’s misgivings returned; these looked like cats just waiting for a chance to slash at their enemy with claws and teeth. Would they be able to resist getting dangerously close to the Twoleg or his dog?

Her gaze met Sharpclaw’s; the deputy gave her a swift nod, and jumped down to join the warriors on the ground. “Remember we’re only trying to scare the Twoleg,” he yowled. “We don’t want any injuries.”

Suddenly light appeared in one of the gaps high up in the den wall, throwing a hard-edged yellow square onto the grass that trapped Mintpaw and Sagepaw in the glare. The two apprentices crouched, frozen in shock.

“Get back!” Sharpclaw screeched, waving his tail to urge his Clanmates away from the nest.

Leafstar repeated the signal. “Keep back! Hide!” she ordered.

The cats dashed for cover on either side of the nest, leaving a clear space in front of the door. Leafstar found herself crouching in a clump of ferns with Shorty beside her. The brown tom was shivering, his eyes wide and his gaze fixed on the light in the wall of the Twoleg den. Leafstar could hear crashing inside the nest and shouts from the Twoleg. The door flew open and the dog stood on the step, its tongue lolling. Leafstar shuddered. The dog’s legs were long and bony, its muscles hard and stringy under its smooth pelt. Its small eyes glittered with moonlight as it stared around.

The cats beside the Twoleg nest fell silent, leaving a single eerie wail that came from the far end of the garden. Every hair on Leafstar’s pelt prickled. It even scares me, and I know what it is! Poking her head out of the ferns she spotted Bouncefire, Cora, and Rockshade, blurry black shapes at the edge of the garden. There was a glint of pointed white teeth as Bouncefire stopped wailing and snapped shut his jaws.

“Come on, flea-pelt!” Rockshade dared the dog. “See if you can catch us!”

The Twoleg—still invisible inside the den—barked out what sounded like a command. The dog leaped over the thorn barrier and hurtled across the garden toward the three warriors.

Run! Now! Leafstar willed them silently.

To her horror, all three cats stayed still, hissing a challenge, until the dog was almost on them. Then they whipped around and raced through the broken-down fence toward the edge of the forest, with the dog hard on their paws.

StarClan, keep them safe! Leafstar prayed, losing sight of them as they led the dog deeper into the brambles.

When the dog had vanished, the remaining SkyClan warriors started yowling again. A heavy, shuffling movement in the doorway caught Leafstar’s attention and she narrowed her eyes with cold anger as the old Twoleg who had tormented Petalnose and her kits loomed into view. Gathering his ragged pelts around him, the Twoleg let out an irritable snarl and stepped forward, right into the barrier of thorns. With a screech he toppled over as the branches snagged on his hind feet and sprawled forward onto his face. His hind paws got more and more tangled in the brambles while he flailed around with his forepaws, trying to get up.

When he managed to struggle upright, he held a branch clutched in one forepaw. Leafstar flinched from his anger and fear-scent as he glared around the clearing. Sparrowpelt slipped out from the shelter of a bush; the Twoleg staggered forward, swiping at him with the branch. Sparrowpelt dodged easily to one side. Then more cats began to appear from their hiding places, racing over the grass with their ears flattened and their lips curled to show pointed teeth.

Not too close! Careful!

Petalnose, Mintpaw, and Sagepaw stood directly in front of the Twoleg with their backs arched, hissing. Leafstar doubted the Twoleg would recognize them as the half-starved she-cat and her terrified kits who’d escaped from him two seasons ago. Petalnose spat vengeance and fury, and the apprentices beside her looked ready to tear the throats from a whole pack of foxes. Behind them, Waspwhisker ripped at the grass with his claws, his lips drawn back in a snarl. Stick and Coal stood close together; Leafstar could see the uncertainty in their eyes, and guessed that it wouldn’t take much for them to turn tail and flee back to the safety of the trees. Cherrytail and Tinycloud advanced side by side, hissing out their hatred as the Twoleg swung the branch at them.

With a growl from deep in her throat, Petalnose took one step forward. The Twoleg paused with the branch held high in the air and looked at her. Petalnose didn’t blink. Instead, she took another step forward, this time lowering her front paws slowly so that the Twoleg could clearly see her long claws. A strange noise came from the Twoleg, a bit like a cough. He let the branch fall onto the ground beside him.

Leafstar sought out Sharpclaw, and spotted him in the shadow of the nest, close to the wall. She curled her tail as a signal. We must end this now, before some cat gets hurt.

Sharpclaw stalked out into the open and Leafstar joined him at the center of the ragged semicircle of cats. They had all fallen silent, their gaze fixed on the Twoleg, challenging him to raise the branch again.

“Leave us alone!” Leafstar yowled. She knew that the Twoleg wouldn’t understand, but she spoke the words so that her own Clan could hear them, and hoped that her tone would be enough to warn the Twoleg. “Lay one paw on another cat and we’ll do more than show you our claws.”

The old Twoleg was letting out high-pitched whimpering sounds now. His hind legs had started to shake and one of his back paws twitched, knocking the branch into the heap of brambles. His fear-scent was rank as a fox. For a couple of heartbeats Leafstar felt sorry for him. Then she looked at Petalnose and her kits and remembered how weak and ill they had been, how close to death, when Firestar had led the patrol that released them from the Twoleg’s prison. And she remembered Shrewtooth’s horror when he found himself back in the Twoleg’s clearing.

The Twoleg deserves to feel as scared as these cats have been.

Leafstar waved her tail to tell her Clanmates that the attack was over. Moving as one, they spun around and raced off into the trees. A glance over her shoulder showed the old Twoleg stumbling back inside his den. The slam of the door echoed into the night.

Pride surged through Leafstar as she led her Clan back through the forest. They had just crossed the border when she heard panting and yelping coming from just ahead, and froze as the dog burst out from a clump of hazel saplings. Sharpclaw shouldered his way to her side, his claws extended.

But the dog paid no attention to any cat, not even pausing to give them a sniff. With its tail between its legs, it fled back toward the Twoleg nest. Dark spots of blood dripped from its nose and spattered over the ground.

Yes! Leafstar thought as she started walking again, through moonlight that was sliced by the shadows of trees.

SkyClan has won!