The dog hesitated just long enough for the rest of the patrol to bundle themselves over the edge of the bank. Leafstar leaped after them and found herself on a narrow pebbly stretch of ground, washed by the river. Grass and foliage hung over the water, making it harder to see them from above.
The patrol huddled together, staring upward, while the dog ran up and down above their heads, whining and snuffling. Leafstar knew it would be only a moment before it tracked them by their scent and launched itself down on top of them.
Then what do we do? Swim?
To her relief she heard the sound of a Twoleg voice, raised in a loud yowl. It sounded angry. The dog went on whining and searching for a moment more; then Leafstar heard its receding paw steps. Its scent began to fade.
“That was close!” Sparrowpelt panted.
Leafstar warned her cats to wait a few heartbeats more to make sure that the dog had gone before they climbed back onto the bank. Egg hung back, gazing into the water; then he darted a paw into the stream and hooked out a fish that flopped and wriggled on the stretch of pebbles until he killed it with a bite to the neck.
“Egg, that was brilliant!” Billystorm exclaimed. “Where did you learn to fish like that?”
The young tom ducked his head modestly. “I used to stay beside the river sometimes.”
He lugged his catch up into the field and the whole patrol crowded around to share it. The fish was big enough for every cat to have a few bites.
“That was good,” Sharpclaw meowed, swiping his tongue around his jaws. “It looks as if we were right to bring you, Egg.”
The cream-colored tom’s eyes shone with pride. Sharpclaw was right all along, Leafstar mused. SkyClan is stronger for having Egg with us.
By the time the patrol had finished eating, the sun was sliding down the sky and there was a chill in the air.
“We’d better look for somewhere to spend the night,” Sharpclaw meowed. “Stick, do you know of anywhere safe, where that dog won’t bother us?”
Stick looked doubtful. “We’ve only been this way once before,” he reminded the deputy. “We’ll just have to hope the Twoleg keeps the dog shut up at night.”
The patrol plodded on beside the river until they came to a thick hedge. Beyond it was another field; Leafstar peered through the thorny branches and spotted more of the gigantic black-and-white cows.
“I think we should stop here,” she decided. “We probably won’t find anywhere better. If we sleep under the hedge the branches should keep us safe from the dog.”
“All the same, we should set a watch.” Sharpclaw stretched his jaws in a vast yawn. “I’ll go first, and wake one of you later on.”
He sat just outside the hedge, his gaze scanning the field and the river; Leafstar stood beside him while the rest of the patrol crawled into shelter underneath the branches.
“Ow!” Cherrytail gave a hiss of annoyance. “I’ve just put my paw on a thorn.”
“Then watch where you’re putting it, mouse-brain,” Sparrowpelt muttered. “And take your tail out of my ear.”
Once her warriors were settled, Leafstar crept under the hedge and managed to make a nest for herself among the dead leaves. It’s not going to be a comfortable night, she realized with an inward sigh. My pelt feels as if it’s full of thorns.
She jumped at a low-pitched, sorrowful noise coming from the other side of the hedge. Shrewtooth, curled up close by, raised his head with his eyes stretched wide. “What was that?”
As the noise came again, Billystorm stuck his head out of the branches on the other side. “Don’t worry,” he reported. “It’s only one of those cows.”
“Well, I hope they’re not going to keep it up all night,” Rockshade snapped from farther down the hedge. “I want to get some sleep.”
Leafstar closed her eyes and wrapped her tail over her nose. For a few heartbeats the noise of the cows disturbed her, but gradually she slipped into sleep.
Mist surged around her; she couldn’t see more than a tail-length beyond her muzzle. Damp grass brushed her pelt and the gurgle of the river over stones sounded unnaturally loud. Where am I? she wondered, knowing that she was dreaming. StarClan, have you something to show me?
As if in answer, a company of cats burst out of the mist in front of her and streamed past her, all heading upriver. She could see the closest ones clearly, make out the color of their pelts, and pick up their wild, distant scent, but others were no more than blurred shapes in the cloud.
“Come on!” Voices began to echo around her. “We’re bound to find somewhere soon.”
“My paws are dropping off.” The voice of a cranky elder. “And my bones have never been so damp.”
“Beechpaw! This isn’t the time to be chasing leaves. Get back here right now!”
“We must keep going.” The words were low and urgent, and Leafstar thought she recognized the voice of Cloudstar. “Sooner or later we’ll find a new home.”
The cats pressed on around Leafstar; they all seemed to know that the new home they had never seen must lie upriver. It was a struggle for Leafstar to walk through them against the flow; she tangled with their legs and tails as they pushed her from both sides, almost carrying her off her paws.
Are they trying to tell me I’m going the wrong way?
At last Leafstar managed to thrust her way to the back of the group. An old cat with a scruffy ginger pelt and rheumy eyes was bringing up the rear. As his gaze fell on Leafstar he halted and stared straight at her: the only cat who had noticed that she was there.
Leafstar shivered as he spoke the words of the prophecy to her: “This is the leaf-bare of my Clan. Greenleaf will come, but it will bring even greater storms than these. SkyClan will need deeper roots if it is to survive.”
With a gasp, Leafstar jumped awake, scrambling to her paws. Next to her, Shrewtooth started up, his fur bristling as he tried to look in every direction at once.
“It’s okay,” Leafstar soothed him, resting the tip of her tail on his shoulder. “It was just a dream.”
The young black tom sank back into his nest. “Are you all right?” he whispered. “Did you have a message from StarClan?”
Leafstar realized that other cats had roused and were watching her; Sharpclaw had come off watch and had his intent green gaze fixed on her.
She shook her head. “No, it was nothing but a bad dream.”
I can’t share this sign with them. Is StarClan telling me that I’m doing the wrong thing?
More than anything, the repetition of the prophecy disturbed her. Surely she wasn’t putting down deeper roots for her Clan by taking off like this to help other cats far away? Desperately she wished that SkyClan’s destiny wasn’t so obscured by shadows and doubts and so many possibilities. Nothing seems clear, and I’m frightened that it’s weakening my Clan.
Sharpclaw held Leafstar’s gaze for a moment longer, then stretched out his forepaws and raised his rump in a long stretch. “We’re all awake,” he meowed. “Why don’t we carry on? It should be dawn soon.”
“Good idea,” Waspwhisker agreed. “I think every thorn in this hedge is pricking me.”
Leafstar nodded agreement; the Clan deputy called to Cherrytail, who was keeping watch, and the patrol crawled out into the field beyond. Clouds had risen to cover the sky and there was little light, but the sound of the river guided their paw steps. Dew-laden grass brushed their pelts as they padded through it; Leafstar shivered as the moisture soaked through her fur.
She realized as they continued that Stick and the other Twolegplace cats were clearly growing more tense. They seemed always on the alert, starting at every unexpected noise.
“Are we near your Twolegplace?” she asked Stick.
The brown tom shook his head. “Not yet. But we should get there today if we make good time.”