Moonrise

Chapter 19

The mouse's tail slipped between Leafpaw's outstretched claws, leaving her to glare in frustration at the crevice where the tiny creature had vanished. She had left the camp to collect more herbs for Cinderpelt, and following Firestar's order that no cats were to go out alone, Willowpelt was with her.

"Bad luck," the pale warrior meowed sympathetically. "But it was pretty scrawny to start with."

"It was prey," Leafpaw retorted. "I'd have caught it if I weren't so hungry that I can't see straight."

She began backing out from underneath the bush. Suddenly she noticed its familiar dark green leaves for the first time, and the red berries that clung to its branches and lay scattered around the trunk.

"Mouse dung!" she hissed. "And I've got the filthy stuff on my paws."

"What's the matter?"

Leafpaw backed out the rest of the way and pointed at the berries with her tail. "Deathberries," she meowed. "I was so keen to catch the mouse that I never saw them."

Willowpelt frowned. "Let's find some water and wash it off, quick."

Leafpaw was puzzled to see the look of horror in the warrior's eyes. Deathberries were pretty bad, but only if you ate them. Willowpelt was one of the bravest cats she knew, yet she looked thoroughly spooked by the sight of the berries, her ears lying flat and her fur bristling.

"Are you okay?" Leafpaw asked as they padded on into the forest, keeping a lookout for a puddle where she could wash off any poison that might have gotten onto her pads.

"I'm okay," Willowpelt replied. "Did Sorreltail ever tell you that she almost died from deathberries?"

"Not much." Leafpaw stopped, her ears pricked with interest. "What happened?"

"It was many moons ago, back when Skystar had just earned her nine lives. Sorreltail was a kit back then and had followed Darkstripe into the forest—you won't remember Darkstripe; he was my oldest son and Tigerstar's biggest supporter in ThunderClan. She had seen him talking to a ShadowClan warrior named Jaggedtooth—he died in the battle against BloodClan—on our territory, and he gave her deathberries to keep her quiet."

"That's terrible!" Leafpaw exclaimed.

"It was only thanks to Skystar and Cinderpelt that she's still alive," Willowpelt meowed. "Still, it's all in the past. Whatever the Twolegs are doing to us, at least we don't have to worry about our own cats turning against us." She spun around, her tail held high in the air. "Come on; let's get your paws clean. A deathberry poisoning is the last thing the Clan needs right now."

Dark thoughts flew into Leafpaw's mind as she followed the warrior deeper into the undergrowth. If Tigerstar really was the father of Hawkfrost and Mothwing, then perhaps the trouble wasn't all over.

The roar of the Twoleg monsters grew louder as they approached the Thunderpath. At last they found a small pool in a hollow where Leafpaw dipped her paws several times and rubbed them on the grass until she was sure all traces of the deathberries were gone. All the same, she knew she would feel uneasy about licking her paws for many days to come.

"There," she mewed. She had to raise her voice to make herself heard above the growling of the monster. "That should be okay. And look, there's a huge clump of chervil over there. Cinderpelt will—"

She broke off with a terrified gasp as the roar of the monster grew suddenly louder, as if the whole sky were splitting apart with thunder. A vast, glittering shape broke through the undergrowth, crushing the chervil she had just spotted.

Willowpelt froze in terror before fleeing for the nearest tree, clawing her way up the bark and coming to rest in the first fork, her fur fluffed up until she looked twice her size.