Warriors #3: Moonrise ✓

Chapter 13

Leafpaw's POV

I shifted uneasily in the pool of moonlight, listening to the wind sighing softly in the oaks at Fourtrees. Cinderpelt and I were on our way to meet with the other medicine cats at Mothermouth, and the half-moon was already high in the sky. "They're late," Cinderpelt meowed, her eyes scanning the area. "We're wasting moonlight."They'll be along soon," Littlecloud, the ShadowClan medicine cat, reassured us.

"I know," Cinderpelt replied, her tail-tip twitching. "We need all the time we have at the Moonstone, especially tonight. We have to find out what we should do about the Twolegs." I shared Cinderpelt's impatience, but I tried not to show it. The RiverClan medicine cats should have met us long before now. Perhaps sharing tongues with StarClan wasn't as important to them, since their own territory hadn't been invaded by the Twoleg monsters.

Everything was quiet now, but I knew the Twoleg monsters were still there, squatting on the scarred ground among the trees they hadn't destroyed yet. The silence in the forest was unnatural, without the small sounds of prey that always seemed louder at night.

I felt my belly rumble at the thought of prey. Cinderpelt had given me traveling herbs to quell my appetite before we set out, but they didn't help my hunger when I couldn't remember the last time I had been full-fed.

All the Clan cats were suffering; lack of food had begun to weaken us so that we couldn't run as fast and catch what prey there was.

With leaf-bare looming ever closer, crisping the leaves and sending them spiraling to the ground in the chill breeze, I couldn't see what help StarClan might give. Mistyheart nuzzled my ear, offering me comfort.

I felt my face flush with embarrassment as my belly rumbled again, loud enough for the others to hear. Littlecloud shot me a sympathetic glance.

"Blackstar has sent warriors to fetch rats and crow-food from Carrionplace," he told Cinderpelt. His eyes darkened. "We haven't had any sickness yet, but it's only a matter of time."

"I hope you remember the herbs and berries I gave you when you were ill," Cinderpelt meowed.

"I've been collecting them. I know I'll need them soon."

"And tell your Clan not to touch any crow-food," Cinderpelt advised. "Fresh rats might be okay, but not carrion."

Littlecloud sighed. "I've tried, but what can I do when Blackstar gives the orders? Most of our cats are too hungry to care what they're eating."

Just then, I caught sight of Mudfur, the RiverClan medicine cat, and his apprentice, Mothwing, climbing the slope from the river. I leaped to my paws, delighted to see my friend again, though I could not suppress a pang of envy that Mothwing looked so well fed, her long golden fur sleek with good health.

"At last!" Cinderpelt growled as the two cats came up. "I was beginning to think a fish must have jumped out of the river and swallowed you."

"Well, we're here now," Mudfur hardly paused for greetings, but led the way around the top of the hollow toward the WindClan border. Cinderpelt and Littlecloud followed, while I and Mothwing brought up the rear, side by side.

"I got into trouble about that fishing lesson," I whispered. "I knew I should not have eaten your prey."

"Your leader's got no right!" Mothwing meowed indignantly. "We're medicine cats."

"Still, we shouldn't have done it," I replied. "Medicine cats have to stick to the warrior code as much as any cat."

Mothwing snorted. "I think I'm getting on really well," she mewed after a moment. "Mudfur taught me the herbs to use for greencough and blackcough, and the best way to get thorns out of pads. He said he'd never seen a cat do it so neatly."