The only thing left was the head fur cover that Leafstar was carrying. By now she was sick of it; it was heavy and awkward and kept tripping her up. She set it down for a moment to take a breather from the all-pervading scent.
“I’ll take this to the Twoleg nest,” she meowed. “With any luck, someone there should recognize it.”
“Be careful,” Cora warned her. “They might throw things again.”
Leafstar nodded. That’s a risk I’ll just have to take.
She picked up the cover again and headed for the nest with her patrol padding cautiously behind her. The sun was sliding below the roofs of the Twoleg nests, and the shadows in the alley seemed to reach out for her. She suppressed a shiver as she jumped up onto the wall and looked out across the bright green grass.
At first she thought the space was empty, though the door to the nest was still open. Then she noticed the male Twoleg pacing up and down in the shadow of the bushes on the opposite side. A moment later the female came out and called something to him. Worried that they would both go back inside, Leafstar sprang down and carried the head fur cover across the grass toward the female, letting out a hiss of annoyance as her paws got tangled up again in the pelt-stuff.
As soon as the female Twoleg spotted her, she let out a screech and started flapping her arms again, trying to chase her off.
Yes, we’ve done all this, Leafstar thought irritably. Just look at what I’m carrying, will you?
She dodged to one side as the female swiped at her, fighting the urge to flee back into the alley. Glancing over her shoulder, she spotted Cora and Cherrytail side by side on the top of the wall, looking on with horrified expressions.
Then the male Twoleg let out a yowl. He ran across the garden and grabbed the female’s foreleg, stopping her from swiping again at Leafstar. He was pointing urgently at the head fur cover.
At last!
The male Twoleg crouched down, talking in quiet tones with one pink paw stretched out to Leafstar. The female had stopped screeching, and was staring at her with her eyes wide. Leafstar wanted to drop the cover and run, but she knew that wouldn’t do any good. She backed away slowly, trying to keep her fur flat in case the Twolegs thought she was trying to threaten them. The head fur cover dragged on the grass in front of her, luring the Twolegs forward as if it were a tasty piece of fresh-kill. When she reached the wall Leafstar spun around and leaped onto it, noticing with relief that the rest of the patrol had vanished. They didn’t want to scare the Twolegs with a horde of unfamiliar cats.
Jumping down into the alley, she looked back at the male Twoleg, who stared over the wall at her for a couple of heartbeats, then opened a gate and followed her out.
That’s right. Just keep following…
Reaching the Thunderpath, Leafstar dropped the head fur cover and ran toward the chestnut tree where Cherrytail had left the hair band. When she stopped and looked back, she saw that the male Twoleg had picked up the cover and was turning it over in his paws; then he raised his head and gazed after Leafstar. It was hard for her to read Twoleg expressions, but she thought he looked puzzled.
A moment later the female Twoleg joined her mate. He gave her the cover and she examined it in her turn. Leafstar twitched her tail impatiently. Come on! How hard can it be?
Then her jaws dropped open in dismay as the male turned away and headed back into the mouth of the alley.
“No!” Leafstar let out a despairing wail. “This way!”
The female paused, then headed alongside the Thunderpath, toward Leafstar. Her mate followed her, yowling something, but the female didn’t reply. Leafstar’s instincts were telling her to race across the Thunderpath and back toward the gorge, but she made herself retreat slowly so that she didn’t lose the Twolegs.
She was close to the chestnut tree when the female suddenly let out a screech. She started to run, passing Leafstar, who sprang out of the way, and grabbed the hair band from the low branch where Cherrytail had left it.
“Thank StarClan!” Leafstar purred. “They’ve found the trail.”
The male Twoleg caught up with his mate and pointed across the open ground, to where Snookpaw had spread the hanky over a rock just beyond the line of Twoleg nests. Sure now that the Twolegs could find their own way to the gorge, Leafstar waved her tail to summon her patrol. They emerged from hiding places in the shadows and underneath bushes and crowded around her.
“We did it!” Cherrytail exclaimed, with an excited bounce.
“Then let’s head back to camp,” Leafstar meowed. “I want to get there before the Twolegs.”
They raced back to the cliffs, staying well clear of the trail of Twoleg objects. Through the dusk, Leafstar could hear the Twolegs shouting as they found each new thing. Her heart soared as she realized that the plan had worked. When the patrol scrambled down the trail that led to the camp, Leafstar skidded to a halt and stared around in surprise. The gorge had never looked so busy. Petalnose, Waspwhisker, and Shrewtooth were dragging branches and fronds of fern across the den entrances. Ebonyclaw was supervising the three remaining apprentices in moving the fresh-kill pile across the Rockpile and into a hollow among the rocks on the other side of the river. Tangle and Lichenfur were down by the river, using their tails to wipe out paw prints.
They’re hiding the camp!
“Are they coming?” Sharpclaw demanded, bounding up to Leafstar.
“They’re on their way,” Leafstar told him. “You’re doing a good job,” she continued, grateful for her deputy’s quick thinking. “It’s hard to tell there have ever been cats here.”
Sharpclaw replied with a terse nod. “I’d rather the Twolegs didn’t come anywhere near the gorge,” he meowed. “But you’re right that the injured kit can’t stay here. It’s better to control the invasion than have the Twolegs swarming all over us when we’re not ready for them.”
Leaving her patrol to help with the concealment of the camp, Leafstar headed up the gorge to find Echosong. The medicine cat and Clovertail were sitting beside the injured kit, who still wasn’t moving. Her tiny pink paws lay on the stones beside her, all scratched and smeared with dried blood. Leafstar blinked. Oh, you poor little kit.
“Did it work?” Echosong sprang to her paws and rushed over to Leafstar as soon as the Clan leader rounded the spur of rock.
Before Leafstar could reply, they heard the sound of huge paws trampling around on the cliff above their heads, and Twoleg voices yowling.
“Thank StarClan!” Clovertail whispered. “They’re calling for their kit.”
“But the kit can’t answer,” Echosong mewed anxiously.
“Then we’ll have to answer for her.” Leafstar jumped onto a nearby rock and let out an earsplitting screech.
At first she thought that the Twolegs were ignoring her. She took a deep breath and yowled on a long, throbbing note that echoed off the rocks. A couple of heartbeats later she spotted first the male Twoleg, then his mate, peering over the top of the cliff. Suddenly they let out answering cries and pointed at the motionless kit.
Echosong leaped up beside Leafstar and waved her tail triumphantly. “They’ve seen her!”
“And now they’ll come to get her,” Leafstar mewed, letting her yowl die away. “By then I want no sign of SkyClan anywhere in this gorge. Let’s get back to camp right away.”
Sharpclaw was waiting at the foot of the Rockpile when Leafstar and the other she-cats returned to the camp. The rest of the Clan were already in their dens; Leafstar spotted them peering out between the ferns and branches that had been piled against the entrances.