“This could be good,” she wheezed as she blinked through a haze of dust. “Plenty of room, and it will be comfortable once we bring some moss up here.”
“Safe, too,” Ebonyclaw pointed out. “Nothing could sneak up on us.”
Leafstar gave her an approving nod. She might spend her nights in a Twoleg nest, but the black she-cat was smart and thought like a warrior. Maybe we shouldn’t try to make an easier trail. It’ll be safer to leave it as it is.
“Let’s take a breather,” she mewed, sitting where she could look out of the entrance at the climb they had just managed. “You’ve all worked really hard.”
Her Clanmates flopped down around her and began to groom dust and bits of debris out of their pelts.
“Leafstar, will you tell us more about the old SkyClan?” Snookpaw asked, sounding unusually shy. “I’ve heard the other cats say there was another Clan here a long time ago. Is it true?”
“Completely,” Leafstar answered, trying to recollect everything that Firestar had told her about the first SkyClan. She settled herself more comfortably on the sandy floor of the cave. “Long ago, the first SkyClan lived in a forest, with four other Clans. But they had to leave when Twolegs stole their territory to build a Twolegplace.”
“There are other Twolegplaces?” Mintpaw gasped, her eyes stretched wide in wonder.
“Oh, yes, lots of others. Anyway, SkyClan traveled for a long way, and at last they came to the gorge and made their camp here. They lived in the dens where we live now.”
The three apprentices glanced at one another, their eyes wide, as if they expected to see the spirits of those long-ago cats padding in through the cave entrance.
“But then the rats came,” Leafstar went on. “They killed many of the old SkyClan cats, and drove out the rest. Some of the warriors went elsewhere, and some of them became loners or kittypets. And some—just a few—held on to the memory of SkyClan until Firestar came and brought it back to life.”
Sagepaw heaved a long sigh. “That’s so great! Do you think that we could be descended from those old SkyClan cats? I wish I was!”
“And me!” Rockshade put in.
“Me too!” Mintpaw added, while Snookpaw blinked but said nothing.
“You might be,” Leafstar mewed, though privately she had her doubts. Firestar had told her that the old SkyClan cats had long legs for jumping and hard pads for walking on rocky surfaces. Mintpaw and Sagepaw didn’t have either of those, and neither did Rockshade or Bouncefire.
But Snookpaw could be a SkyClan descendant, she thought. He’s good at leaping and fearless when he climbs trees. And Ebonyclaw’s legs are long and strong.
“Every cat around here could have links to the old Clan,” she continued, careful not to single out the daylight-warriors. “Which means that every cat has the right to be our Clanmate.”
“I’m a SkyClan cat!” Rockshade announced, crouching down as if he intended to take a flying leap out of the cave. “I can jump and climb really well.”
“So can I!” Mintpaw chimed in, her eyes gleaming. “And my legs are really strong.”
Leafstar suppressed a sigh. Are they going to start measuring each other’s legs now?
“I’m strong, too. Unlike some I could mention,” Rockshade growled.
He means the daylight-warriors, Leafstar realized. “SkyClan cats come from many different places,” she reminded the young black tom. “They should all have a chance to belong here.”
“I guess so,” Rockshade mumbled, though Leafstar wasn’t sure he really agreed.
Ebonyclaw and Snookpaw exchanged a glance, but neither of them spoke.
Inwardly, Leafstar admitted to doubts of her own. I wish I could be sure how to handle this. I want a Clan where every cat will be welcomed and valued for the skills they can bring. Instead, all my warriors seem to be pulling in different directions.
When Firestar and Sandstorm left, all the SkyClan cats had lived in the gorge day and night, dedicated warriors like the Clans in the forest where Firestar lived. He’d had no way of knowing that cats from the Twolegplace would want to join SkyClan on their own terms, spending days in the gorge and nights with their housefolk, well fed and cozy and safe from foxes. None of Firestar’s advice about leading a Clan had prepared Leafstar for having Clanmates who seemed to be split in two.
Can I really hold them together?
Chapter 3
Leafstar opened her eyes to see moonlight slanting in through the entrance to her den. A voice had roused her from sleep, but now all was silent except for the whispering of the river at the bottom of the gorge. She rose to her paws, arched her back in a long stretch, and shook scraps of moss from her pelt. Slipping out of her den, she padded down the trail until she reached the edge of the water.
At the foot of the Rockpile, the three new warriors were keeping vigil, each one sitting upright with their tails curled neatly over their paws. In the moonlight they looked like cats carved out of ice or stone, and they didn’t acknowledge the nod Leafstar gave them as she passed.
She headed for the new dens, her paws gliding silently over the white drifts of snow that still lingered in the shade of the rocks. The boulders glistened with frost, as if leaf-bare had returned to the gorge, but the brown-and-cream tabby didn’t feel cold. Instead, her body felt warm and curiously light, like a leaf spinning idly in a warm breeze. Scrambling up the rocky cliff face, Leafstar reached the largest of the new dens and padded inside, shaking the snowmelt from each of her paws in turn.
I was right, she thought. This will make a good den. It’s sheltered from the wind, and it will be hard for enemies to reach the entrance—if they suspect we’re in here at all.
“Your cats will be safe here.”
Leafstar spun around at the sound of a voice behind her. Another cat stood outlined in the entrance to the cave, black against the silver moonlight. Catching her breath, Leafstar drew in a sweet but unfamiliar scent. Not until the strange cat stepped forward did she recognize the graceful tortoiseshell-and-white figure of Spottedleaf.
The medicine cat who walks with StarClan. Firestar’s friend. What is she doing here?
Spottedleaf paced forward, her pelt glittering with starlight, until she was close enough to brush against Leafstar’s fur. Her scent wreathed around them. “Greetings, dear friend,” she murmured.
“Am I—am I dreaming?” Leafstar asked hoarsely. She still wasn’t used to dead cats walking into her mind and talking to her as if they were still alive.
Spottedleaf dipped her head. “To your Clanmates, you are asleep in your den. Didn’t you notice how the new warriors didn’t even blink when you walked by?”
Leafstar shrugged. “I thought they were obeying the rules of the first night vigil.”
“I don’t doubt that they are,” Spottedleaf murmured. She looked around, pricking her ears. “SkyClan must be doing well if you need new dens,” she observed.
“I… we were just exploring,” Leafstar explained. “Wondering what these caves could be used for. We have new kits in the Clan, and more on the way, but we haven’t spilled out of our old dens yet.”
Spottedleaf’s glowing green eyes searched Leafstar’s face. “Is all well with your Clan?”
“Everything’s fine,” Leafstar replied carefully. She wasn’t going to share her concerns about Billystorm and the others with this cat who was almost a stranger to her. She isn’t part of our Clan. “How are Firestar and Sandstorm?”
“They’re both well,” the StarClan cat replied. “They have two kits—little daughters.”
“That’s great!” Warm pleasure flooded through Leafstar. “When you see Firestar, tell him how happy I am for them.”