Warriors AU: Skyclan's Destiny

Chapter 30

For a few heartbeats Poppystar crouched frozen in the mouth of her den. Then, setting down her paws as lightly as if she was stalking a squirrel, she crept out and headed for the top of the cliff. She made a wide detour around Cinder, who was gazing down into the gorge, unaware that her leader was sneaking past her. The moon was a claw-scratch, low in the sky, giving just enough light for Poppystar to make out which of her warriors were following Cherrytail and the cats from the Twolegplace.

Rockshade, her black pelt no more than a moving shadow. Sharpclaw, her excited little bounce as she reached the cliff top giving her away. Tinycloud, his white fur glowing in the light.

Pulling herself up onto level ground, Poppystar paused, watching the patrol as it headed across the open ground to the Twolegplace. Their confident strides told her that they had done this any times before.

Leafdapple was right!

Creeping along with her belly fur brushing the grass, Poppystar followed, thankful that the breeze was blowing toward her; her scent wouldn't alert Cherrytail that she was tracking his paw steps. At the edge of the Twolegplace she hid behind a boulder and watched as Haze lined up the patrol along the edge of the Thunderpath.

"There's not as much chance of monsters after dark," the Twolegplace cat meowed. "But you still need to be careful. Don't look into their eyes. They can freeze you like a scared rabbit."

Who put you in charge? Poppystar wondered, thinking that Haze sounded like a mentor teaching a group of apprentices.

The growl of an approaching monster drowned out Haze's next words. It swept past, its glaring eyes angling over the row of cats; Poppystar blinked as they were outlined as dark shapes against the dazzle.

When the noise had died away, Haze glanced both ways along the Thunderpath, then raised his tail. "Now!"

The patrol pounded over the black stone and vanished into the shadows on the opposite side. Poppystar followed more cautiously, forcing her legs not to shake as she crossed the hard surface of the Thunderpath. She had lost sight of the patrol, but their scent trail was fresh and strong; she followed it over a fence into an enclosed space behind a Twoleg nest, where she spotted them again, slinking alongside the stretch of flat, green grass under cover of the overhanging branches of bushes.

On the opposite side of the grass, Haze beckoned with his tail and hissed, "This way!" He slithered under a gate into an alley, and the rest of the patrol followed him, with Cory at the rear. The black tom seemed to be keeping a lookout; Poppystar shrank into the shadow of a holly bush until he too had vanished under the gate.

Bounding across the garden, she pressed herself close to the gate and peered between the wooden strips. The patrol was standing in a huddle a couple of fox-lengths away.

"Remember your paw steps sound louder when you're walking on stone," Haze warned. "You need to practice being completely silent."

"And use the shadows," Stumpy added.

Haze nodded. "Stumpy's right. Don't forget that your eyes reflect the light more here. Cats will spot you even in the shadows if your eyes are gleaming."

"Look sideways to check what's ahead," Cory advised.

Poppystar felt her pelt start to prickle as she listened. Is Haze leading an attack on cats in the Twolegplace? Horror rooted her paws to the ground. They can't be targeting our daylight warriors! Cherrytail would never do that. Then she remembered all the times Cherrytail had criticized the kittypets or left them out of Clan duties, and she couldn't be sure.

As soon as the patrol moved off again, Poppystar slipped under the gate and followed, remembering what the Twolegplace cats had said about the best ways to hide. She kept to the shadows and turned her head to look sideways along the alley so that her eyes didn't catch the light full on. Her muscles were shrieking at her to leap forward and confront them, but she forced herself to watch and wait.