Leafstar’s suspicions hardened into certainty. Sharpclaw lied to me! And he lied to Egg about the danger from the fox, just to get him to join the Clan.
With an effort, she fought back her shock and anger. She didn’t want to let the others know what Sharpclaw had done.
“Foxes are very unlikely to attack the gorge,” she assured Egg. “And even if they do, we have plans in place to defend ourselves. There’s nothing for you to worry about.”
“That’s great!” Egg puffed with relief.
Leafstar glanced at Ebonyclaw and Frecklepaw. The apprentice had clambered down from the branches and was sniffing around the fallen tree. “The fox scent is quite stale,” she reported to Ebonyclaw with a bewildered look.
Her mentor looked just as puzzled, while Sharpclaw was standing by with defiance in his green eyes, as if he was challenging Leafstar to say something about his plot.
“Ebonyclaw,” Leafstar meowed, “take Frecklepaw and Egg and see if you can find another pigeon. No, Sharpclaw,” she added, as her deputy was about to move off with the rest of the patrol, “you stay here. I want a word with you.”
She kept silent until the other three cats had disappeared among the trees. Sharpclaw gave his shoulder fur a couple of nonchalant licks as he waited for her to speak. Once she was sure they couldn’t be overheard, Leafstar turned on him angrily. “You can’t recruit Clan members with lies!”
Sharpclaw met her gaze steadily. “It wasn’t a lie. There was a fox here, and Egg will be much safer with the Clan. Look at him,” he added, waving his tail in the direction the cream-colored tom had taken. “Long legs, powerful haunches. He’s obviously one of us.”
“True.” Leafstar twitched her ears. She wondered what other secrets her deputy was keeping from her; suddenly she remembered what Billystorm had told her about Sharpclaw and Stick roaming through the Twolegplace at night. Can that possibly be true?
With a shock like a plunge into icy water, Leafstar realized that she no longer trusted her deputy.
“Is that all?” Sharpclaw interrupted her thoughts. He looked quite cheerful now, as if he was satisfied that he had explained himself successfully. “If so, I’ll go catch up with the others.”
He bounded off. Leafstar watched him, shaking her head sadly. He doesn’t even see that he’s done anything wrong. She resented his secrecy and the way he had manipulated Egg, yet she had to admit that the new apprentice would be a valuable addition to the Clan. He had natural talent, and seemed like a quick learner. Maybe it doesn’t matter how Egg was persuaded to join us. SkyClan is obviously where he’s meant to be.
The sun was starting to go down, filling the forest with red-gold light as the patrol made its way back to camp. Frecklepaw was delighted that she’d managed to catch another pigeon, and staggered along with it proudly. Ebonyclaw was carrying two mice, while Egg had caught a sparrow and Sharpclaw a blackbird.
When they were almost at the gorge, Leafstar set down her own prey, a couple of shrews. “Sharpclaw, can you manage to carry these back?” she asked. “I’ll go dig up Egg’s squirrel and follow you down.”
Sharpclaw gave her a brisk nod, and managed to get his jaws around the extra prey. Leafstar padded through the trees until she reached the spot where Sharpclaw had buried the squirrel, spotted the beech husk marker, and began to dig. As she was shaking damp earth off the fresh-kill she heard a rustle in the undergrowth, and Echosong came into view, with a bundle of herbs in her mouth. She looked tired; her pelt was ungroomed and its white patches were grubby.
A pang of sympathy shook Leafstar. “I’ll get you some help,” she promised when she had greeted Echosong. “Maybe Shrewtooth would like to take a break from his warrior duties.”
Echosong dropped her burden and stalked forward, tension in every line of her body. “Shrewtooth has never shown any interest in being a medicine cat,” she mewed bitterly. “But Frecklepaw obviously wants to change her apprenticeship!”
Leafstar sighed. “We’ve discussed this. We can’t have a daylight-warrior as our medicine cat.”
“We could find a way to make it work,” Echosong argued. “It’s not as if my bones are creaking with age. I plan on being around for a long time yet!”
Warmth flooded through Leafstar as she felt her old friendship with the medicine cat beginning to revive. “Good. I’m very glad,” she murmured, touching Echosong’s ear lightly with her nose.
Carrying the squirrel, she headed for the camp again. Echosong retrieved her bundle of herbs and padded by her side. Near the edge of the wood they came upon a sunlit tree trunk overgrown with grass and fern.
“Let’s rest for a bit,” Leafstar suggested, letting the squirrel fall.
Echosong put down her herbs next to the fresh-kill and joined Leafstar as she stretched out in the patch of warmth, enjoying the fresh green scent of the undergrowth.
“How’s Billystorm?” the medicine cat asked.
Leafstar felt her pads prickle at the cautious note in her friend’s voice. “He’s fine. Why do you ask?”
Echosong didn’t meet her gaze. “I think you ought to know,” she began, patting at a grass stem with outstretched paw. “Cats are beginning to talk.”
“What about?” Leafstar meowed.
“You and Billystorm. You’re obviously very… close.”
“He’s a good warrior!” Leafstar pointed out. She felt a burst of excitement. It felt so good to be able to talk about Billystorm to a friend. “We… we have a real connection,” she confessed. “He seems to think the same way I do, and when he’s not here, I feel… empty.”
“Yes, he’s a great Clanmate,” Echosong agreed, still with her gaze fixed on the waving stem. “We’re lucky to have him. But… Leafstar, you need to be careful not to show favoritism toward the kitty… daylight-warriors.”
“This isn’t favoritism!” Leafstar protested. “I… I want Billystorm and me to become mates.”
Her heart beat faster as she spoke her most secret hope aloud; but it was the truth.
Echosong turned to her, her eyes wide with shock. “But you can’t! Not now, with things so tense between the full warriors and the daylight-warriors. At the very least, you and Billystorm ought to wait until things are easier.”
If they ever are, Leafstar thought. I don’t want to wait, she added to herself, aware that she sounded like a mutinous apprentice or an impatient kit.
“I can cope,” she replied shortly to the medicine cat. “That shouldn’t make any difference to me and Billystorm.”
“Besides,” Echosong went on as if Leafstar hadn’t spoken, “it could be difficult if you had kits. I know that you have a deputy and a medicine cat to help you look after the Clan, but what if there was a battle?”
“Who said anything about kits?” Leafstar asked. “You’re being mouse-brained. It’s far too early to be thinking about that.”
“No, it’s not.” Echosong rose to her paws so that she was standing over Leafstar. “You have to stop thinking about Billystorm in that way, right now! You have a different destiny, one that involves the future of the whole Clan.” Her voice softened and her deep green gaze glowed with sympathy. “And it is a path that you must walk alone.”
Chapter 26
The sun had dipped below the level of the gorge, casting long shadows over the rocks. Leafstar padded across to the fresh-kill pile and dropped her squirrel on top of the rest of the prey. Her belly was still churning after her conversation with Echosong; she felt as if every hair on her pelt were a pricking claw, reminding her of her duty as Clan leader.
As she turned away, Petalnose looked up from the vole she was gulping down. “Hi, Leafstar. Do you want to come and eat with me?”