“I did it!” she yowled triumphantly.
“Excellent!” meowed Cloudstar. “Snailpaw, now it’s your turn. Look at the place where you’re going to land, that’s right. Keep your eyes fixed there…and jump!”
The dark brown tabby flew out of the tree as if all the cats in ThunderClan were chasing him and made a desperate grab for the end of Tansypaw’s branch. For a moment he dangled from his front paws, his hind legs swinging into space, but with a grunt of determination he swung his back feet underneath him and scrambled onto the branch.
“Great!” called Cloudstar. Even Tansypaw looked impressed.
Finally it was Mintpaw’s turn. Cloudstar watched her closely; she was smaller than her littermates, so this was going to feel like a bigger jump. Staring at the end of the branch until her eyes almost crossed, Mintpaw sprang into the air with a tiny squeak. Tansypaw and Snailpaw shuffled out of her way as she landed next to them, balanced almost perfectly on all four paws.
“Wow! That was awesome!” Tansypaw mewed. Mintpaw looked thrilled.
Cloudstar jumped down to join them. “Ready for some fun?” he challenged. “Watch where I go, give each other time to land, and if you don’t feel like you can do any of the jumps, there’s no shame in letting me know, and we can all go down to the ground again. It’s not a competition or an assessment.”
Three small heads nodded at him. Cloudstar wriggled around to the far side of the trunk and gazed into the trees, judging where to head next. There was a pine tree close by, but the apprentices weren’t ready to do battle with those spiky needles just yet, so Cloudstar aimed for a young oak tree with thick, well-spaced branches. He checked once to make sure the others were following, then thrust himself into the air. I feel sorry for the other Clans. Who’d want to be trapped on the ground all the time, never knowing the rush of air through your fur or the sight of the forest spreading out around you?
The three cats followed, one by one, this time looking more confident as they landed beside him. “Oak bark is particularly good for paw holds,” Cloudstar explained as he trotted along the branch. “It has deeper grooves than birch, for example, which can feel like ice, especially if it’s wet.”
In a series of joyous, soaring leaps, he led the apprentices around the edge of the pine forest, close to the boundary where the Twolegs were moving earth. The air was thick with noise and tremors from the yellow monsters, and Mintpaw squealed in alarm when one of them loomed out of the trees below them, churning along the ground with strange, elongated paws.
“Get back against the trunk!” Cloudstar ordered. There was nothing to suggest that the yellow monster was hunting cats, but he didn’t want to take any chances. The cats were in a sycamore tree now, with broad green leaves that offered good cover. Cloudstar waited until the apprentices were pressed against the trunk, then curled his body around them, facing out. He’d wait until the yellow monster had passed before taking them to the next tree.
Suddenly the roaring of the monster got even louder, and the tree began to tremble. “What’s happening?” yelped Snailpaw.
“The monster must be stuck,” Cloudstar meowed, trying to peer down through the leaves. He could see the yellow shape directly below, its paws flinging up mud and leaves as they churned on the spot. As Cloudstar leaned over, the tree shuddered so violently that he lost his grip and started to plunge headfirst off the branch. There was a searing pain in his haunches as all three apprentices sank their teeth into his fur and dragged him back up.
“Cloudstar!” gasped Mintpaw. “You nearly fell!”
The tree was swaying now, and shaking so hard that leaves were starting to fall around them. “We need to get out of here!” Cloudstar panted. “Follow me!”
He began to pull himself along the branch, keeping three sets of claws dug into the bark while he moved one foot at a time. The closest tree to them was a fir; the apprentices would have to learn about the dangers of prickly needles sooner than Cloudstar had hoped. Halfway to the end of the branch, the tree lurched sideways. Behind him, the apprentices shrieked in terror. Cloudstar looked down and saw the ground looming toward him. The tree was falling!
“Hold on to the trunk!” he yowled, slithering around and hurtling back to the others in a single stride. Whimpering, the young cats clung to the trunk with their front paws. Cloudstar hung on to the branch and tried to keep the apprentices in place with his body. The tree hovered in the air for a moment as if it was trying to resist, then plunged downward with a dreadful crashing of branches. Cloudstar’s branch hit the ground and folded in on itself, swallowing him in leaves and twigs with a deafening roar. Cloudstar felt his claws being yanked out of the bark, and the world went black around him.
“Cloudstar? Are you there?” A trembling mew roused him, coming from somewhere in a tangle of leaves near his haunches. Cloudstar struggled to sit up, spitting out scraps of dirt. His spine stung and one of his paws felt strange and numb, but he could move all his legs, and his vision cleared when he shook his head.
He scrambled out and clambered over the debris to the heap of leaves. “Tansypaw? Snailpaw? Mintpaw?”
He started to dig down, carefully at first then increasingly frantic. He could hear the yellow monster bellowing close by, as if it wanted to crush the fallen tree into shards. We have to get out of here! Then his paw struck against something furry and solid, and Tansypaw’s head popped up.
“Cloudstar! The tree fell!” she squeaked.
“I know,” he said grimly. He sank his teeth into Tansypaw’s scruff and hauled her out. Snailpaw was underneath her, the breath knocked out of him, but at least he was awake and squirming. Cloudstar helped him out and told him to lie still while he got his breath back.
Tansypaw was peering down into the tangle of broken branches. “Where’s Mintpaw?” she yowled.
Cloudstar pushed Tansypaw out of the way and stared into the shadows. A tuft of pale fur was just visible under some shattered twigs. Cloudstar jumped down and carefully moved the twigs aside. Mintpaw was lying very still, her eyes closed, but her flank rose and fell steadily, and she murmured when Cloudstar touched her. She’s alive!
He hoisted her onto his shoulders and clambered back up to the others. “Is she dead?” Snailpaw wailed, staring at his sister in horror.
“No, but we need to get her to Fawnstep as quickly as we can,” Cloudstar meowed. “Are you two okay to run?” The apprentices nodded bravely. Cloudstar straightened Mintpaw on his shoulders, then started to pick his way out of the crushed branches. He could hear Snailpaw and Tansypaw helping each other behind him.
They had almost reached the edge of the destroyed tree when there was a terrible creaking noise, and the earth beneath Cloudstar’s paws shook so much that Mintpaw slithered to the ground.
“Watch out!” screeched Tansypaw.
Cloudstar looked up just as the fir tree plunged toward him. For a moment he was frozen, imagining what it would feel like to be crushed beneath branches laden with pine needles; then he sprang backward, dragging Mintpaw’s limp body with him, and the tip of the fir tree crashed to the ground less than a tail-length from his muzzle. Beyond the fallen tree, a yellow monster roared in triumph. A Twoleg sat astride it, raising his naked pink paw in the air as he gestured to his companions standing among the trees.