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You’re not a kit anymore! she scolded herself. Better settle for a juicy piece of fresh-kill instead.

Her heart lighter than it had been for many days, she padded off to join her Clanmates as they ate.

Chapter 15

Leafstar brushed through the dew-laden grass, pausing to glance over her shoulder at the rest of the border patrol. “Shorty, try to keep up,” she called. “I know the rats are gone, but it’s not a good idea to get separated around here.”

“Sorry.” The Twolegplace cat plodded up to stand beside Petalnose. Trying to muffle a yawn, he added, “I can’t get used to these early mornings.”

“You will, sooner or later,” Petalnose promised.

Leafstar gave him a nod and carried on. Above the trees the sky was pale and clear, promising hot sunshine later. The only sound was the swish of grass and the soft rustling of branches.

As they approached the clearing where they had fought the rats, Leafstar halted and stretched her jaws wide to taste the air, almost gagging on the rotting scents from the heap of Twoleg waste. But the traces of rat were faint and stale; they hadn’t returned.

“I can smell another cat,” she mewed after a moment. “Cherrytail, is that the loner you told us about?”

The fourth member of the patrol tasted the air. “That’s him,” she confirmed. “Fresh, too. He’s been here again.”

Leafstar tracked the scent for a few paw steps. It led across the border in the direction of the Twolegplace, though she didn’t think it had been left by any kittypet. The scent was too green and sharp for that, not muffled by Twoleg smells.

“Do you want us to follow it?” Cherrytail asked, her paws working in the grass.

Leafstar thought for a couple of heartbeats. “It doesn’t seem worth it,” she meowed. “It’s the only scent here, so the loner hasn’t been stealing prey. But I’ll make sure all the Clan knows to keep a lookout.”

Was that the right decision? she wondered as she led the patrol back through the trees. What would Firestar have done?

At the top of the gorge, Leafstar was pleased to spot Billystorm on the trail ahead of her, though her pleasure faded when she realized that his apprentice wasn’t with him. She quickened her pace and caught up to the ginger-and-white tom as he reached the bottom of the ravine. “Hi. What happened to Snookpaw? Is he okay?”

Billystorm turned at the sound of her voice; his green eyes showed that he shared her concern. “I don’t know. I went to his nest, but I couldn’t find him, and he didn’t answer when I called out to him. I think his Twolegs must have shut him inside.”

Uneasiness stirred within Leafstar. Snookpaw had never found it hard to get out before. “Maybe he’s still tired after yesterday,” she began. “We’ll have to—”

She broke off at the sound of excited squealing as Fallowfern’s kits swarmed around them.

“Billystorm!” Nettlekit squeaked. “We’ve been waiting for you. Play with us again!”

“Yes, be that giant beast,” Plumkit urged. “Leafstar, you too. You were scary!”

“You’ll have to wait,” Billystorm told them. “You were very lucky to have your Clan leader all to yourselves yesterday.”

Leafstar twitched her whiskers with amusement. “Maybe later, kits,” she meowed. “I’ve got to check the patrols now.”

As she was speaking, Fallowfern bounded up, looking flustered. “Are you bothering Leafstar and Billystorm again?” she asked her kits. “Come with me right away. You haven’t even been groomed this morning!”

With an apologetic glance at Leafstar, she hustled the kits off to a flat stone near the water’s edge and started to groom Rabbitkit with firm strokes of her tongue.

“Billystorm, are you ready for a hunting patrol?” Sharpclaw meowed, padding up with Stick and Sparrowpelt. When the ginger-and-white tom nodded, he waved his tail to where Waspwhisker was waiting with his apprentice, Mintpaw, and Tinycloud and Macgyver. “Over there.”

Billystorm dipped his head to Leafstar and padded over to join the patrol, who headed downstream with Waspwhisker in the lead. Sharpclaw gathered his own patrol, beckoning with his tail to Coal, who was washing his paws near the fresh-kill pile.

“I thought we’d try the woods near the rat heap,” he meowed to Leafstar.

“Good idea,” Leafstar replied. “You can keep an eye open for that loner. My border patrol scented him again today.”

“Will do.” Sharpclaw gave her a brisk nod and led his patrol up the trail.

With her Clanmates organized for the day, there was little for Leafstar to do, but she felt too energetic to sit and drowse in the sun. I think I’ll go and see how the prey is running, she decided. I haven’t hunted alone for at least a moon.

But as Leafstar climbed the trail, she found Cora outside the warriors’ den with her paws tucked under her and her eyes fixed on the distance. She jumped when Leafstar’s shadow fell across her.

“You startled me,” she mewed. “I was… thinking of something else, I guess. Were you looking for one of the warriors? I think they’re all out hunting.”

“No, I’m just off for some hunting myself.”

Cora hesitated for a moment, then asked, “Would you mind if I came with you?”

“Not at all.” Leafstar tried to hide her surprise. Cora was the most reserved of the visitors, keeping her thoughts to herself, although she was always polite and joined in with Clan activities when she was asked to.

The black she-cat fell in behind Leafstar as they climbed to the top of the cliff, then padded beside her as they headed deeper into the woods.

“This must be different from hunting in the Twolegplace,” Leafstar remarked. “Are there any trees there?”

“A few,” Cora responded. “Trees and bushes, in Twoleg gardens.”

“What kind of prey do you hunt?”

“Birds, mostly.”

Leafstar pressed on, determined to make some sort of conversation. “Stick says you eat rats.”

Cora nodded. “They don’t taste that good, but they’re food.”

Leafstar gave up. The two she-cats padded on in silence until Leafstar heard the flutter of wings above her head and caught the scent of thrush. Looking up, she spotted the bird sitting on a low branch in a nearby tree.

If I try to climb the tree, it’ll see me before I get close…

Signaling with her tail for Cora to stay where she was, Leafstar crept through the long grass until she reached the next tree, a beech whose branches interlaced with the ash where the thrush was perching. Bunching her muscles, she jumped and clawed her way up the trunk until she reached a spot where she could look down on her prey. As lightly as she could, imagining she was stalking a mouse, she crept along a branch of the beech tree until she was a tail-length above the thrush.

Suddenly the bird realized it was being hunted. As it spread its wings, Leafstar let herself drop down with her front paws outstretched. The thrush tried to fly away, but Leafstar snagged her claws into one of its wings before it was fully spread. The bird fluttered in panic, its free wing beating frantically. Leafstar sprang on top of it and took its life with a bite to the throat.

“That was impressive!” Cora commented as Leafstar leaped down to the ground with her fresh-kill in her jaws.

“It’s not that hard,” Leafstar meowed. “I could teach you if you like, for when you’re next on hunting patrol.”

“Thanks, but I don’t think it’s worth it,” Cora replied.

“What?” Shock prickled through Leafstar’s pelt. “Are you thinking of leaving?”

Cora didn’t meet her gaze, just lowered her head to give her chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks.

She said something she wasn’t supposed to, Leafstar guessed.

“I… er… I’m not sure. It’s not up to me,” Cora mumbled.