A Dangerous Path

Chapter 13

Skyfall darted from one clump of gorse to the next as she crossed the moor toward the WindClan camp. She ran with her belly brushing the turf, trying to stay out of sight and longing for the thick undergrowth of her own territory. The last time she had visited the camp, when ThunderClan helped WindClan in a battle against the other two Clans, there had been no need to hide. Now she dared not show herself until she reached Tallstar, or at least met one of the cats she could call her friends—if any of them were still friendly, after the recent disastrous Gathering. WindClan patrols had attacked her on their territory once before; they would be even more hostile now.

The scent of WindClan was all around her, but so far she hadn't seen any cats. The sun had nearly finished crossing the sky. Skyfall tried not to think about that. She came close to panic when she remembered how little time was left before Bluestar launched her attack.

She was crossing one of the shallow moorland streams, bounding from rock to rock, when a stronger scent of WindClan cats flooded over her, along with the scent of rabbit. Skyfall's belly growled in complaint, but she had to ignore it. There was no way she could take WindClan's prey now—and it smelled as if there was a hunting patrol not far behind anyway. Diving into a clump of bracken at the water's edge, she peered out cautiously to spot the source of the scent.

Three cats were making their way upstream toward her. At the front of the patrol was her friend, Onewhisker, and Skyfall's heart lifted. Gorsepaw was with his mentor; they were both carrying rabbits. But to Skyfall's dismay, the third cat was Mudclaw, the dark, mottled tom who had stopped Bluestar when she tried to cross WindClan territory to get to Highstones. This cat would never allow her to bring her message to Tallstar.

But it seemed that luck—or the favor of StarClan—was on Skyfall's side. With their jaws full of prey, the WindClan cats were unable to smell her ThunderClan scent, and they passed within a couple tail-lengths of her. Then Gorsepaw, who was struggling with a rabbit that was almost as big as him, stopped to adjust his grip on it and fell behind the others.

Skyfall spotted her chance. "Gorsepaw!"

The young cats raised his head, ears pricked.

"Over here, in the bracken."

Gorsepaw turned, and his eyes stretched wide when he saw Skyfall poking her head out of the rusty fronds. His mouth opened, but Skyfall urgently signaled him to keep quiet.

"Listen, Gorsepaw," she mewed. "I want you to tell Onewhisker I'm here, but don't let anyone else know, okay?" The apprentice hesitated, looking troubled, and Skyfall added urgently, "I have to talk to him. It's important for both out Clans. You've got to trust me."

The desperation in her tone reached Gorsepaw, who paused a moment longer then gave a quick nod. "All right, Skyfall. Wait here."

He picked up his rabbit again and hurried to catch up to the two warriors. Skyfall crept deeper into the bracken and crouched there, waiting. Before long she heard another cat approach her hiding place and murmur, "Skyfall? Is that you?"

To her relief, Skyfall recognized Onewhisker's voice. She peered warily out of the bracken and relaxed when she saw that her friend was alone.

"Thank StarClan," she sighed, relieved. "I thought you weren't coming."

"This had better be good, Skyfall," Onewhisker meowed. He fixed Skyfall with a hard stare, his usual friendliness gone. "It took me a while to get rid of Mudclaw. If he knew you were on our territory, you'd be crowfood, and you know it." He padded up to Skyfall. "I'm sticking my neck out for you," he growled. "I hope it's worth it."

"It is, I promise. I've come to tell you something, but I've got to speak to Tallstar. It's important," she added, as Onewhisker went on staring at her.