Warriors AU: Skyclan's Destiny

Chapter 13

Poppystar padded up to the fresh-kill pile and dropped her squirrel onto it. "We hunted well today," she observed.

Clovertail nodded as he deposited his own prey—a mouse and two shrews—on the pile. Cory had caught two mice, and Shrewtooth was pleased with herself for once, for chasing a rabbit and bringing it down.

The sun had risen above the gorge, but it was so early that dew still clung to the grass. The cats who had not been chosen for the dawn patrols were beginning to emerge from their dens. Tinycloud bounded down the trail, halted briefly at the bottom to give one ear a good scratch, then headed for the river to drink. Fallowfern clambered down after him, slower and more awkward because of the wound from the rat battle. Poppystar padded across to meet him as he reached the foot of the trail.

"How do you feel?" she asked. "Is that scratch healing well?"

"I'm fine, Poppystar," the pale brown tom replied. "I'm just fed up with being stuck in the gorge. Please can I go out on patrol today?"

"Not until Echosong says you can," Poppystar told him, narrowing her eyes as she examined his wound. It still looked raw, and she guessed it wouldn't take much for it to open up again.

Fallowfern slid out his claws and gave the ground in front of him a frustrated scrape. "I was afraid you would say that."

"Just be patient," Poppystar advised him. "It's only a few days since the battle."

"It feels like moons," Fallowfern retorted gloomily; following Tinycloud to the water, he crouched down to lap.

Poppystar let her gaze travel around the gorge as more cats appeared. She could almost taste the sense of pride and strength that her warriors shared, united by the victory over the rats. They stalked confidently out of their dens, as if they were showing off their healing wounds.

We'll be back to full strength soon, Poppystar told herself with a purr of satisfaction.

Several cats appeared at the top of the gorge and began running lightly down the trail: Sharpclaw was returning with her border patrol. The young dark ginger tabby leaped down the last few tail-lengths and bounded up to Poppystar.

"We checked out the waste heap," she reported. "There was no sign of rats, and all the scents were stale."

"That's good news," Poppystar purred.

"Everything was quiet," Cinder added, padding up behind Sharpclaw. "We picked up the scent of a loner, but it seemed to lead straight out of the territory again."

Poppystar's whiskers twitched. "A loner? Where was this?"

"Between the rubbish heap and the Twolegplace," Sharpclaw replied, flicking her tail to show Poppystar the direction. "Cinder's right. The trail seemed to veer into our territory for a few fox-lengths and then head out again."

"Maybe the scent markers put it off," Cinder suggested.

"You could be right." Poppystar gave one paw a reflective lick. It didn't seem as if the loner was a threat, but there was no harm in staying alert. "All the same, we'll keep an eye on that part of the territory, just in case it comes back."

The border patrol chose fresh-kill from the pile and settled down to eat. Poppystar found a flat, sun-warmed stone and sat with her tail wrapped around her paws, watching her Clan as the gorge stirred into full wakefulness.

The Twolegplace cats no longer stood out from the rest of the Clan: Cinder was gulping down a sparrow and chatting to Sharpclaw about that morning's patrol; Stumpy had joined Fallowfern and Tinycloud at the water's edge, where Echosong was checking on Fallowfern's kits, while Cherrytail and Haze were prowling up and down near the foot of the Rockpile, discussing hunting techniques.