Moonrise

Chapter 7

"If a cat leaps at you, roll onto your back," Cinderpelt instructed. "Then you can attack his belly with your claws. Try it."

Leafpaw waited as her mentor crouched in front of her and then leaped into the air. Rolling over as Cinderpelt had told her, she dug her hind paws into the medicine cat's belly and flung her off to one side.

"Good," Cinderpelt meowed. She scrambled to her paws, awkward because of her injured leg. "That's enough for now."

The two cats had been training all morning in the sandy hollow, and though thick, gray clouds covered the sky Leafpaw's rumbling belly told her it must be close to sunhigh. She had enjoyed the session with her mentor. The exercise had been a good distraction from her worries about the Clan and the Twolegs, not to mention Squirrelpaw and Swiftpaw and the other cats who were traveling with them.

She followed Cinderpelt down into the ravine. Before they reached the entrance to the gorse tunnel, Leafpaw heard a patrol returning close behind them. Turning, she saw Skystar, Dustpelt, and Sorreltail. Skystar looked more worried than ever, while Dustpelt's brown tabby fur was bristling and his tail lashed furiously from side to side.

Cinderpelt limped over to meet Skystar, while Leafpaw hurried to Sorreltail's side. "What in StarClan's name is going on?"

"WindClan," Sorreltail mewed, with a glance at the older warriors. "They've been stealing prey from us."

Leafpaw remembered the thin, desperate cats who had taken them prisoner, and knew that she was not surprised at the news.

"We found scraps of rabbit fur and bones by the stream near Fourtrees," Sorreltail went on. "They reeked of WindClan scent."

"It's because their rabbits have vanished," Leafpaw meowed. Her mind flashed back to a memory from a few days prior, when she had stumbled across Mothwing along the RiverClan border.

The RiverClan medicine cat apprentice had invited her across and had even shown her how to fish. Suddenly, Leafpaw felt guilty that she had eaten the fish she'd caught.

"It's still against the warrior code," Sorreltail pointed out. "Dustpelt was furious."

"So I see," meowed Leafpaw.

She followed her friend down the gorse tunnel to find Skystar and Dustpelt standing beside the fresh-kill pile. Her belly lurched when she saw how small it was.

"Look at it!" Dustpelt gestured with his tail. "How is that going to feed the Clan? You'll have to do something about WindClan, Skystar."

Skystar shook her head. "Not yet. We all know Tallstar is a noble leader who would never allow his warriors to stoop to such a level unless they were in serious trouble."

"Tallstar might not know what's going on. Besides, ThunderClan is in trouble too. It's not as if we have any prey to spare."

"I know." Skystar sighed.

"I worry for the kits," Dustpelt added. "Ferncloud has already lost a lot of weight and she has three kits to feed. I believe Runningwind has begun giving her his shares as well."

"If this goes on, I'll need to start rationing," Skystar decided, "and I'll speak with Runningwind and Ferncloud. But meanwhile, we will do something about WindClan, I promise."

Whirling around, she bounded across the clearing and leaped to the top of the Highrock. As she yowled out the summons, the rest of the Clan began to appear at once. Leafpaw was shocked to see how thin they were; she had never really noticed before the gradual change from day to day as prey got harder to find. But now they looked more like skinny WindClan cats than sturdy, forest-born ThunderClan warriors. Dustpelt was right that Ferncloud in particular looked gaunt and exhausted; her kits were thinner, too, and they trailed after their mother as if they had no energy left to play. Even Leafpaw's brother, Cloudpaw, looked thin beneath his thick pelt and he flopped beside Shrewpaw like it took all his energy to do so. Were all the Clans—apart from RiverClan—slowly going to starve?