Moonrise

Chapter 2

Leafpaw wrinkled her nose at the foul scent and tried not to hiss in disgust. Shaking her head, she parted Sorreltail's tortoiseshell fur with one paw and dabbed the wad of bile-soaked moss on the tick clinging to her shoulder.

Sorreltail wriggled as she felt the bile soak through her fur. "That's better!" she meowed. "Has it gone yet?"

Leafpaw opened her mouth and dropped the twig that held the moss. "Give it time."

"There's only one good thing about ticks," Sorreltail mewed. "They hate mouse bile just as much as we do." Springing to her paws, she gave herself a vigorous shake and flicked the tick off her shoulder. "There! Thanks, Leafpaw."

A breeze rustled through the trees that surrounded the medicine cat's den. A few leaves drifted down; there was a chill in the air that warned Leafpaw of how few moons there were before leaf-bare. This time there would be more than the cold and shortage of prey to face. Leafpaw closed her eyes and shuddered as she remembered what she had seen the day before on patrol with her mother, Skystar.

The biggest monsters the cats had ever seen had been forging a dreadful path through the forest, scoring deep ruts into the earth and tearing up trees by their roots. The huge, shiny monster had rolled inexorably through the bracken, roaring and belching smoke while the cats scattered helplessly before it. For the first time, Leafpaw had begun to understand the danger to the forest, which had been prophesied twice now, once in Squirrelpaw's dream that had sent her on a journey with Swiftpaw and Brambletuft, and once in Cinderpelt's vision of fire and tiger. The doom that had been foretold was coming upon the forest, and Leafpaw did not know what any cat could do to stop it.

"Are you okay, Leafpaw?" meowed Sorreltail.

Leafpaw blinked. The vision of smoke, splintered trees, and shrieking cats faded away, to be replaced by soft green ferns and the smooth gray rock where Cinderpelt made her den. She was safe, ThunderClan was still here—but for how long? "Yes, I'm fine," she replied. Skystar had ordered the patrol to keep quiet about what they had seen until she had decided how to break the news to the Clan. "I've got to go and wash this mouse bile off my paws."

"I'll come with you," Sorreltail offered. "Then we could go along the ravine and pick up some fresh-kill."

Leafpaw led the way into the main clearing. Cloudpaw and Shrewpaw were scuffling outside the apprentices' den in warm shafts of early morning sunlight, while Ferncloud's three kits watched them with huge admiring eyes. Their mother sat at the entrance of the nursery, washing herself while keeping one eye on her litter. The dawn patrol—Dustpelt, Mousefur, and Spiderpaw—were just pushing their way into the clearing through the gorse tunnel. Leafpaw gazed at the busy, peaceful camp, and could hardly keep back a wail of despair.

As soon as the apprentices spotted Leafpaw, they stopped their practice fight and stared at her, then started whispering urgently together. Even the cats in the returning patrol gave her an uneasy look as they padded over to the fresh-kill pile. Leafpaw knew that rumors about yesterday's patrol were starting to fly around the camp. At daybreak Skystar had called her deputy, Graystripe; Leafpaw's father, Longtail; and Cinderpelt into a meeting in her den, and every cat had begun to suspect that something unusual had happened the day before. Even Cloudpaw was scowling at Leafpaw like she wasn't his sister; she knew he was angry that she didn't tell him anything, but it still hurt.

Before she and Sorreltail could reach the gorse tunnel, Skystar appeared from her den at the foot of the Highrock. Graystripe and Longtail followed her out into the clearing with Cinderpelt limping after them. Skystar leaped to the top of the rock, leaving the other three cats to find comfortable places to sit at its base. In the slanting leaf-fall sun, her flame-colored pelt blazed like a fire.