Twilight

Chapter 21

“Mouse dung!” Squirrelflight muttered. The starling she had just missed fluttered onto a branch above her head, while her empty claws sank into the moss. How was she supposed to concentrate on hunting when every waking moment was filled with worry about her sister?

I should have stopped her, she thought bleakly.

“Bad luck,” Ashfur meowed, coming up behind her.

“Should we call it a day? We’ve got more than enough to carry back.”

“Okay.” Squirrelflight followed him to the place under a thorn bush where he had scraped earth over their previous kills. Spiderleg joined them, a squirrel dangling from his jaws, and the hunting patrol headed back to camp.

“Come on,” Ashfur murmured to Squirrelflight when they had dropped their catch on the fresh-kill pile. “Leafpool will be fine.”

“How can she be fine, when she’s left everything behind?”

Squirrelflight retorted.

“Why don’t you rest for a while?” the gray warrior suggested, pointing with his tail at a sunny spot near the wall of the hollow. “You hardly slept at all last night.”

“And I won’t be able to sleep now. I’m going to make sure Cinderpelt has eaten.”

Squirrelflight grabbed a vole from the fresh-kill pile and padded across the clearing to the medicine cat’s den.

Rounding the screen of brambles, she found Cinderpelt crouched in the opening of her den with her paws tucked under her. Her blue eyes were fixed on nothing.

Squirrelflight shivered; it looked as though Cinderpelt were gazing at horrors that only she could see.

The medicine cat blinked and looked up at her.

“Squirrelflight—is there any news?”

“About Leafpool?” Squirrelflight set the vole down in front of Cinderpelt. “No, nothing. I brought you some fresh-kill.”

The medicine cat turned her head away. “Thanks, but I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat!” Squirrelflight protested. She wondered if Cinderpelt blamed herself for Leafpool’s disappearance.

The medicine cat seemed to have no courage or energy left.

“We need you more than ever, now that Leafpool’s gone.”

Cinderpelt let out a long sigh. “But I’ve failed. Utterly failed.”

“It’s not your fault!” Squirrelflight wriggled into the narrow opening beside Cinderpelt so that she could press herself comfortingly against her. “You’re a great medicine cat. What would ThunderClan do without you?”

Cinderpelt gazed at her, a searching look that made Squirrelflight feel like she was about to drown in the blue depths of her eyes. Cinderpelt seemed to be on the verge of confiding something to her, but all she said was, “I wish things didn’t have to change.”

“They don’t have to. They won’t. Leafpool will come back.

We have to believe that.”

Cinderpelt shook her head and closed her eyes.

Squirrelflight stretched out a paw and nudged the vole a bit closer to her. “Come on, you’ll feel better when you’ve eaten.”

Cinderpelt hesitated, then bent down to sniff the fresh-kill. “Squirrelflight, will you go and check on Sorreltail?” she meowed after a moment. “I’m worried about her. You know what good friends she and Leafpool were.”

“Does Sorreltail know what’s happened?” Confined to the nursery because her kits were due any day, the young tortoiseshell warrior might not have heard the news.

“Yes, I told her last night.” To Squirrelflight’s relief, Cinderpelt was beginning to sound more like her normal self.

“She was upset, and I gave her some poppy seed to help her sleep.”

“Sure, I’ll look in on her. On one condition—that I see you eating that vole before I go.”

A faint gleam of humor crept into Cinderpelt’s eyes. “You never give up, do you? All right—and call me if Sorreltail needs anything.”

As Squirrelflight slid out of the den, the medicine cat sniffed the vole again, took a bite, and then began to eat more quickly, as if she had suddenly realized how hungry she was.

Squirrelflight left her to it and headed for the nursery. Just outside, Brightheart was bending over Berrykit. She straightened up as Squirrelflight approached.

“There!” she mewed. “That thorn won’t bother you again.

Give your paw a good lick now.”

“Thanks!” Berrykit looked up admiringly at the ginger and white she-cat. The horse place cats seemed to have stopped noticing her scars. “You’re the best medicine cat ever!”

“I’m not a medicine cat,” Brightheart corrected him, with a sidelong glance at Squirrelflight. “ThunderClan already has two medicine cats. I’ll never be one.”

“Well, I think you are,” Berrykit meowed, licking his paw vigorously.

It’s a pity Brightheart couldn’t have said that while Leafpool was here, Squirrelflight thought. “Hi,” she mewed. “Cinderpelt sent me to check on Sorreltail.”

“Sorreltail’s fine,” Brightheart told her. “She and Daisy shared a rabbit earlier, and now she’s asleep again. Great StarClan, she’s huge,” she added. “It can’t be long before she starts to kit.”

“That’s good.” Squirrelflight tried to summon up enthusiasm, but she couldn’t get excited about the first kits to be born in their new home when her mind was filled with worrying about Leafpool and Cinderpelt.

She poked her head into the nursery and saw a tortoiseshell mound of fur sleeping peacefully among the moss and ferns. Daisy and Ferncloud were close beside the young warrior, sharing tongues and mewing softly to each other. Both of them glanced up and twitched their whiskers in greeting to Squirrelflight.

Brightheart had gone by the time she backed out again; Squirrelflight caught a glimpse of her tail whisking behind the bramble screen in front of Cinderpelt’s den. Trusting Brightheart to report about Sorreltail to the medicine cat, Squirrelflight headed for the fresh-kill pile to find a piece of prey.

Firestar was there, sharing a squirrel with Sandstorm, while Brambleclaw devoured a thrush a tail-length away.

“I want you to lead the dawn patrol tomorrow,” Firestar was meowing to Brambleclaw as Squirrelflight came up.

“Have a good look along the WindClan border. It’s possible you’ll come across more traces of Leafpool.”

Brambleclaw swallowed a mouthful. “I’ll take Cloudtail.

He’s one of our best trackers.” Hesitantly, he added, “But we followed her trail quite a long way into the hills. I don’t think we’ll find anything else now.”

“You might,” Firestar insisted. It was as if he couldn’t admit they might never see Leafpool again.

Like Graystripe? Squirrelflight suddenly wondered.

Sandstorm lifted her head. “You might meet her coming back,” she mewed. “If you do, don’t be angry with her.”

Brambleclaw nodded. “Don’t worry. If I see her I’ll make sure she feels safe to come home.”

Squirrelflight could tell he didn’t hold out much hope of setting eyes on the missing medicine cat. She was beginning to agree with him. Even though she clung to the hope that her sister would come back, she knew how hard it would be for Leafpool once she had made the impossible decision to leave.

She chose a magpie from the pile and settled down to eat it.

“Are you okay?” Brambleclaw asked quietly.

“Not really,” she replied.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself,” Sandstorm assured her.

“But it’s my fault!” All Squirrelflight’s worries spilled over and she had to stop herself from wailing like a lost kit. “I knew Leafpool was leaving the camp at night and I didn’t do anything.”

Firestar leaned over to give her ear a comforting lick. “We should all have seen that there was something troubling Leafpool.”

“Yes,” Brambleclaw put in unexpectedly. “If you had done anything, you might have driven her away sooner. No cat knows.”

His gaze slid past her to the camp entrance, where Ashfur had just appeared with his apprentice. They headed for the fresh-kill pile; Brambleclaw finished his prey, swiped his tongue around his jaws, and stalked off before the gray tomcat came up.

“That was good work,” Ashfur meowed as he and Birchpaw approached. “Take some fresh-kill to the elders, and then you’re done for today.”

Birchpaw grabbed some prey from the pile and dashed off across the clearing, while Ashfur padded over to Squirrelflight. Firestar and Sandstorm got up and left the two of them together.

“I just gave Birchpaw a training session,” Ashfur told Squirrelflight. “He learns really fast.”

“That’s good,” Squirrelflight replied, trying to feel pleased that Ashfur’s mentoring was going well.

“You look exhausted.” Ashfur touched his nose to her ear.

“This time you are going to rest, so don’t try to argue.”

Squirrelflight felt as though ants were crawling through her pelt; the last thing she wanted to do was lie down, unable to sleep. But seeing the concern in her Clanmate’s eyes, she sighed and gave in. Finishing her prey, she padded over to the sunny spot near the wall, where she stretched out on her side and let the rays of the setting sun soak into her fur.

Ashfur crouched close beside her and began to lick her shoulder soothingly. In spite of the thoughts that buzzed in her mind, Squirrelflight began to drift into sleep. But the buzzing grew louder, and she realized it wasn’t inside her head after all. A low, grumbling roar was approaching through the trees.

Irritated, she raised her head. “What in StarClan’s name is that?”

Before she had finished speaking, the startled wail of a cat came from outside the clearing. The thorns rustled violently and Whitepaw skidded out of the mouth of the tunnel, her ears flat to her head and her eyes huge with fear. Brackenfur was hard on her paws.

Squirrelflight jumped up. The roaring grew clearer: it was the sound of many creatures, growling and snarling. It became louder still, until it seemed to fill the whole forest, and with it came snapping noises of breaking twigs, as if something were trampling down the barrier across the entrance to the hollow. Suddenly Squirrelflight saw an enormous creature thrust its way through the branches. The dying sunlight showed her a broad head with a narrow, striped snout, massive shoulders, and strong, blunt claws.

“Badger!” she yowled.

Cats ran out from all around the clearing. Firestar emerged from his den on the Highledge and launched himself down the rockfall. Brambleclaw pushed his way out of the warriors’ den, closely followed by Sandstorm and Cloudtail.

Cinderpelt and Brightheart brushed past the bramble screen in front of the medicine cat’s den; Brightheart’s good eye narrowed and she snarled at the intruder.

The badger had paused just inside the barrier, swinging its head from side to side as it scanned the clearing with small, bright eyes. Squirrelflight was about to hurl herself on it when more trampling noises kept her paws frozen to the ground in horror. Other badgers were breaking their way into the camp, more than she could count, crushing the thorn bushes like blades of grass.

With a roar that seemed to come from all their throats at once, the badgers surged forward. In an instant, the hollow was filled with gaping jaws and slashing claws. Squirrelflight glimpsed Rainwhisker being caught by one leg and tossed into the air; he landed with a dull thud a fox-length away, and didn’t get up.

Suddenly a striped face loomed in front of her.

Squirrelflight backed up against a clump of brambles, hissing as she lashed out with both front paws. The badger’s rank scent stung in her throat. “Get out, or I’ll claw your fur off!” she rasped.

Then she felt herself shouldered aside, stumbling to keep her balance as a streak of gray fur flashed past her. Ashfur had thrown himself between her and the badger.

“I can take care of myself!” she hissed, but Ashfur had already leapt forward, plunging his claws into the attacker’s pelt while he fastened his teeth into its ear. The badger let out a hoarse bellow, shaking its head from side to side to dislodge him.

“Squirrelflight!” a voice meowed in her ear. It was Brambleclaw, bleeding from a long scratch down one shoulder. “Help me—we’ve got to get Daisy and the kits out of the hollow. Sorreltail, too.”

Without waiting for her response he turned and raced toward the nursery, skirting the edge of the clearing.

Squirrelflight darted after him, dodging a couple of screeching cats—Spiderleg and Sootfur—who darted in from opposite sides to claw one huge female badger; the great beast swung her head to and fro, jaws snapping, frustrated that she couldn’t catch either of them.

Brambleclaw plunged into the nursery while Squirrelflight waited at the entrance, ready to defend it. The clearing heaved with cats fighting for their lives, and badgers fighting to kill them. Squirrelflight realized that the walls of the stone hollow, which had seemed to offer such good protection when they first found the camp, were trapping her Clanmates now. They couldn’t run away, or avoid their enemies by climbing trees. Squirrelflight watched Birchpaw scrabble a few tail-lengths up the rock wall, only to fall back into the claws of a badger. The apprentice saved himself by squeezing into a narrow crack at the foot of the cliff, just out of reach of the swiping black paw.

How will Daisy and Sorreltail and the kits escape? Daisy would never be able to defend herself against something like a badger, and Sorreltail was too close to giving birth to fight well.

Could they climb to the Highledge, Squirrelflight wondered, and take shelter in Firestar’s den? But the fallen rocks were too easy to climb, easy enough for a badger, and they could all be trapped up there.

More badgers were trying to enter through the wreckage of the thorns. At least that was their only way in. Firestar flung himself at the barrier, fighting furiously, with Dustpelt, Sandstorm, and Thornclaw beside him. Thornclaw was picked up by a massive paw and sent spinning into a clump of nettles; the trembling stalks closed around him, and he didn’t reappear.

Squirrelflight glimpsed her father clinging desperately to a badger’s shoulder while he clawed at its eyes. Then another of the huge creatures pushed in front of him, and she couldn’t see any more.

“Where’s Daisy?” a hoarse voice meowed. Squirrelflight turned her head to see Cloudtail limping toward her; the white warrior’s pelt was covered with dust, but the light of battle still gleamed in his blue eyes.

“In here,” Squirrelflight meowed, nodding to the bramble thicket behind her. “Brambleclaw’s fetching her.”

The tabby warrior appeared as she spoke, pushing Daisy in front of him. Berrykit squirmed in his jaws, wailing.

Daisy’s eyes were stretched wide with horror. “They’ll kill us all!” she yowled. “What about my kits?”

“We’ll save your kits.” To Squirrelflight’s surprise, Brightheart had made her way across the clearing from the medicine cat’s den. “It’s not their fault their mother brought them here,” she muttered fiercely as she vanished into the nursery. Cloudtail followed her to fetch the third kit.

“But we’ll never get out!” Daisy wailed, staring at the fight still going on in the camp entrance.

“Yes, you will,” Squirrelflight meowed. She suddenly remembered how Leafpool had sneaked out of the camp to meet Crowfeather. “I know a way.”

“Show us.” Brambleclaw managed to speak around the kit in his jaws.

Squirrelflight glanced into the nursery to yowl, “Hurry up!” Brightheart appeared at once, but she wasn’t carrying a kit. “Fetch Cinderpelt,” she snapped. “Sorreltail’s kits are coming. Now.”

Panic swept through Squirrelflight. Great StarClan, no!

Scanning the clearing, she couldn’t see Cinderpelt, but she caught sight of Sorreltail’s mate, Brackenfur, battling furiously with a badger only a few tail-lengths away. He was obviously trying to reach the nursery.

“Brackenfur, run!” she yowled, launching herself at the badger and clawing at its haunches.

The creature swung aside, batting at the air, giving Brackenfur the chance to dodge around it.

Squirrelflight let go of the badger and raced back to the nursery. “Sorreltail’s kits are coming,” she gasped. “No!” she added, blocking Brackenfur as he tried to dive into the bramble thicket. “Find Cinderpelt.”

Brackenfur shot her a look from eyes glazed with fear, then he turned and plunged across the clearing toward Cinderpelt’s den. A gap opened up among the battling animals, just long enough for Squirrelflight to see him meet the medicine cat. He gestured frantically with his tail, then both cats headed back toward the nursery. They arrived just as Cloudtail and Brightheart appeared from the brambles, each with a kit in their jaws.

“If Sorreltail’s kits are really coming, she can’t be moved,” Cinderpelt meowed. “One of you must stay to guard the entrance. The rest of you, do what you can to save yourselves and the kits.” She vanished into the nursery without waiting to see if her order was obeyed.

“I’ll stay,” Brackenfur offered instantly.

“I’ll come back and help you,” Squirrelflight promised. “As soon as I’ve shown the others how to get out. It’s this way…”

She glanced from side to side, trying to judge the safest way to reach Leafpool’s escape route. It’s all the way on the other side of the clearing! At least darkness had fallen, and although the center of the clearing was lit by the faint light of the crescent moon, shadows lay thickly around the edges. Badgers could see well in the dark, but Squirrelflight hoped that they were too distracted by the battle to bother with a few cats slipping along beside the walls.

“Stay close to me,” she warned Daisy.

She padded around the edge of the hollow, sheltering as well as she could beneath brambles and clumps of fern. She could hear the quick, terrified breathing of the horse place cat behind her, and farther back the faint mewling of her kits, almost drowned out by the snarls and screeches of battling animals no more than a couple of tail-lengths away.

“What’s happening?” Mousekit asked plaintively. “What’s all the noise about?”

“Yes, and why do we have to be carried?” Berrykit complained. “I’m big enough to walk by myself!”

“You’re being carried because badgers are such big, clumsy creatures,” Daisy told them over her shoulder. “They might tread on you in the dark.” Squirrelflight felt a flash of admiration for the way she was hiding her fear from her kits.

“If a badger stepped on me, I’d bite it!” Hazelkit boasted.

“You won’t get the chance,” his mother mewed. “Now keep quiet and stop wriggling, and we’ll be perfectly safe.” She caught Squirrelflight’s eye as she spoke, as if warning her not to disagree.

They shrank back against the camp wall as a badger lumbered past, roaring furiously as it tried to dislodge Thornclaw, who was clinging to its shoulder and raking his claws over its ear.

As they passed the hazel bush where the elders had their den, Squirrelflight saw Mousefur crouched in the shelter of the branches, her claws bared and her eyes gleaming with fury.

Goldenflower and Longtail were just behind her.

“Come with us,” Squirrelflight called softly. “I know a way to climb the walls.”

Mousefur shook her head. “A blind cat can’t climb rocks,” she replied with a glance at Longtail.

“Then you go,” Longtail responded. “I can still claw a badger if it comes near enough.”

Mousefur hissed at him. “We’re staying together and that’s that.”

Squirrelflight didn’t have time to stand around arguing.

Beside her, Daisy was shivering with fear, barely holding back panic. Brambleclaw, Cloudtail, and Brightheart had caught up with them and were shifting restlessly under the weight of the kits they carried; Squirrelflight heard Berrykit asking, “Why have we stopped?”

“You can hide on the Highledge,” she suggested to Mousefur.

“Longtail should be able to get up there if you guide him.” She still had her doubts about how safe Firestar’s den would be, but at least it was more sheltered than down here.

“Okay.” Mousefur nodded. “Longtail, grab my tail with your teeth.”

Squirrelflight led the way past the warriors’ den, Daisy and the others following close behind her. She had to halt briefly as a badger broke out through the branches, blood pouring from its side; it looked ready to give up. Sandstorm shot out after it, yowling, “Get out and stay out!” Squirrelflight flicked her ears at her mother as the badger fled, but there was no time to stop.

When they were more than halfway around the hollow, a pale gray shape slid out of the shadows. It was Ashfur; one ear was torn and a trickle of blood came from a deep scratch on his flank.

He was breathing hard, but he didn’t seem to be seriously hurt.

“Squirrelflight, are you okay?” he exclaimed.

“Yes, fine. I’m going to show Daisy and her kits a way out.”

“I’ll come with you.”

Squirrelflight twitched her whiskers impatiently. “No, go to the nursery and help Brackenfur.”

For a heartbeat Ashfur hesitated, and Squirrelflight thought he was going to object. Then he slipped past her and the rest of the cats and vanished into the darkness. A badger spotted him, let out a roar, and gave chase, but Squirrelflight couldn’t stop to help.

“Come on,” she muttered. “It’s not far now.”

Her belly clenched as the shriek of a cat in pain rose above the clamor. Turmoil filled the clearing, the huge shapes of badgers lunging after their prey, with the small, lithe forms of her Clanmates flitting between them, dashing in to strike a blow, then darting off again. Squirrelflight couldn’t see the thorn barrier from here, but she realized even more invaders must have broken through.

Great StarClan, is this the end?