He paused, sweeping his tail to hold back Squirrelpaw so that she wouldn’t go dashing into the clearing before they knew what they would find there. Drinking in the air, he could taste the mingled scents of the three other Clans, and when he looked down the slope he saw Tawnypelt, Feathertail, and Stormfur sitting at the base of the Great Rock, while Crowpaw paced restlessly up and down in front of them.
“At last!” Tawnypelt sprang to her paws as Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw burst out of the bushes at the foot of the slope. “We thought you weren’t coming.”
“What’s she doing here?” Crowpaw demanded, glaring at Squirrelpaw.
Squirrelpaw returned the glare, her neck fur bristling angrily. “I can speak for myself, thanks. I’m coming with you.”
“What?” Tawnypelt padded up to her brother’s side.
“Brambleclaw, have you lost your mind? You can’t bring an apprentice. This is going to be dangerous.”
Before Brambleclaw could reply, Squirrelpaw hissed, “He’s an apprentice!” and flicked her tail at Crowpaw.
“I was chosen by StarClan,” Crowpaw pointed out immediately. “You weren’t.” Seeming to think that settled it, he sat down and started to wash his ears.
“He’s not chosen either,” Squirrelpaw protested, transferring the glare to Stormfur. “Don’t tell me he’s here just to say good-bye to his sister!”
The two RiverClan cats said nothing, just exchanged a worried glance.
“She’s coming, and that’s that.” Brambleclaw’s patience was rapidly running out. At this rate the mission would fall apart in bickering and bad temper before it had even started.
“Now let’s get going.”
“Don’t order me around!” Crowpaw snapped.
“No, he’s right,” Tawnypelt sighed. “If we can’t stop Squirrelpaw coming—”
“You can’t,” Squirrelpaw put in.
“—then we might as well get moving and make the best of it.”
To Brambleclaw’s relief, even Crowpaw seemed to see the sense in that. He got to his paws, turning his back on Squirrelpaw as if she didn’t exist. “Pity you can’t leave your Clan without dragging along a burr in your pelt,” he jeered at Brambleclaw.
The two RiverClan cats rose too, and padded up to join the group. “Don’t worry,” Feathertail murmured, touching Squirrelpaw’s shoulder briefly with her muzzle. “We’re all feeling a bit nervous. It’ll be better once we’re on our way.”
Squirrelpaw’s eyes flashed as if she were about to make a sharp reply, but meeting Feathertail’s gentle gaze she clearly thought better of it, and dipped her head, her neck fur beginning to lie flat again.
As if obeying an unspoken command, all six cats padded through the bushes to the top of the slope, emerging at the edge of WindClan territory. When Brambleclaw looked out on the moorland slopes, the tough, springy grass ruffled by the wind like the fur of a huge animal, his heart pounded until he thought it would burst right out of his chest. This was the moment he had been waiting for, ever since Bluestar had spoken to him in his dream. The time of the new prophecy was here. The journey had begun!
But as he took his first steps across the moor, he was pierced by a sharp pang of regret for everything he was leaving behind—the familiar forest, his place in the Clan, his friends. From now on, everything would be different.
Can we really live by the warrior code outside the forest? Brambleclaw wondered. Glancing back to the dark line of the trees, he added silently, Will any of us ever see our Clans again?
Brambleclaw crouched in the shelter of a hedge and looked down at the clustered buildings of a Twoleg farm. Behind him, the other cats shifted restlessly.
“What are we waiting for?” Crowpaw demanded.
“That’s the barn where Ravenpaw and Barley live,” Brambleclaw replied, indicating it with his tail.
“Yes, I know,” meowed the WindClan apprentice. “Mudclaw took me there when I made my apprentice journey to Highstones. We’re not stopping there now, are we?”
“I think perhaps we should.” Brambleclaw was careful not to sound as if he were giving the touchy apprentice an order.
“Ravenpaw knows about the sun-drown place. He might be able to tell us something useful.”
“And his barn is crawling with mice.” Tawnypelt swiped her tongue around her whiskers.
“We could do worse than spend the night there,” Brambleclaw agreed. “A couple of good meals will help to build up our strength.”
“But we could easily make Highstones before dark if we keep going,” Crowpaw pointed out.
Brambleclaw suspected uncharitably that the WindClan apprentice was arguing just for the sake of it. “I still think it might be best if we stay here for tonight,” he meowed. “This way we’ll get to Highstones early next morning, with most of the day to get a good start in unknown territory.”
“Would you rather sleep on bare stone with no prey,” Stormfur murmured, “or warm and comfortable with a full stomach? I vote for Barley’s barn.”
“Me too!” Squirrelpaw mewed.
“You don’t get a vote,” Crowpaw retorted.
Squirrelpaw refused to be crushed. Green eyes gleaming with anticipation, she sprang to her paws. “Let’s go!”
“No, wait.” Feathertail pushed in front of the eager apprentice a heartbeat before Brambleclaw. “There are rats around here. We have to be careful.”
“Dogs, too,” Tawnypelt added.
“Oh—okay.”
Brambleclaw remembered that Squirrelpaw hadn’t yet made the journey that all the apprentices took to Highstones before they could be made into warriors. In fact, this must be the first time she had left ThunderClan territory beyond Fourtrees.
Privately, he admitted that she had done well so far, crossing WindClan territory without fuss and being sensible about avoiding WindClan patrols so that Crowpaw’s departure could remain secret. Perhaps she would cope better than he first feared with the longer path that lay ahead of them.
Brambleclaw emerged from the hedge and led the way past the farm buildings toward the barn. He froze briefly when he heard the barking of a dog, but it sounded distant, and the scent that came to him was faint.
“Get on, if we’re going,” Crowpaw muttered at his shoulder.
The barn was some way away from the main Twoleg nest.
There were holes in the roof, and the door sagged on its supports. Brambleclaw approached warily and sniffed at a gap at the bottom of the door. The scent of mouse flooded his senses; his mouth started to water and he had to concentrate hard to distinguish the cat scent that was almost drowned out.
A familiar voice spoke from just inside. “I smell ThunderClan. Come in, and welcome.”
It was Ravenpaw. Brambleclaw slid through the gap to see the sleek black loner standing just in front of him. Barley, the black-and-white cat who shared the barn with him, was crouched a pace or two behind, his eyes widening uneasily as Brambleclaw’s companions slipped in as well. Brambleclaw realized that Barley had probably not seen so many cats since he came to the forest to help the Clans fight against BloodClan, four seasons ago.
“I took your advice, Ravenpaw,” Brambleclaw meowed. “I think StarClan sent me the dream because they want me to travel to the sun-drown place. These are the cats StarClan has chosen to go as well.”
“Or some of us are,” Crowpaw muttered disagreeably.
Brambleclaw ignored him, and introduced the rest of the cats to Ravenpaw and Barley. The older loner merely dipped his head in greeting and slid away into the shadowy depths of the barn.
“Don’t mind Barley,” Ravenpaw meowed. “It’s not often we have so many visitors all at once. So this is Squirrelpaw,” he went on, touching noses to greet the young apprentice.