Hawkwing wasn’t sure. “M aybe near the gorge?” he suggested.
“Watching the rogues and getting ready to attack?”
“I doubt it,” Pebblepaw meowed. “They’ll be injured and exhausted—in no fit state to fight. Not yet, at least. I think they’d try to find a place where they’re sure to find other Clanmates.”
“And there’s only one place like that,” Echosong stated. “In the Twolegplace, with the daylight warriors.”
Hawkwing’s pelt began to bristle with nervousness as he and his Clanmates approached the Twolegplace. This was only the fourth time he had been there: once with Ebonyclaw, who was a daylight warrior and thoroughly familiar with the hard Thunderpaths separating the huge stone dens; once with Billystorm and the rest of the patrol on the first quest; and once when he followed Darktail. He had hoped that he would never have to go there again, and when the first of the dens loomed over them he felt lost and uncertain.
The two kits had never been there before, and were staring around in wonder.
“It’s so big!” Curlykit exclaimed.
“Will we see Twolegs?” Fidgetkit asked. “What will they do to us?”
“Probably nothing bad,” Echosong mewed briskly. “Follow me.”
Hawkwing stared at the medicine cat as she took the lead so confidently. “Have you been here before?” he asked.
Echosong glanced at him over her shoulder. “Of course,” she replied. “Didn’t you know that I was once a kittypet?”
Hawkwing exchanged a surprised glance with Pebblepaw.
“No,” he meowed, shocked that a kittypet could become a medicine cat with such a strong connection to StarClan. “You really lived with Twolegs in one of these dens?”
“I really did,” Echosong told him. “Firestar found me, and explained why I was dreaming of cats with stars in their fur. But that was a long time ago,” she added dismissively. “I hardly think about it anymore.”
Echosong led her Clanmates along the edge of Thunderpaths, down alleyways, and past so many Twoleg dens that Hawkwing became quite bewildered. “If I was on my own, I’d never find my way out of here,” he murmured to Pebblepaw.
At last Echosong squeezed under a Twoleg fence and beckoned with her tail for the others to follow. Hawkwing brought up the rear, and heard the two kits squeaking with excitement as he pressed his belly to the ground and crawled through the gap with the bottom of the fence scraping his spine.
Rising to his paws on the other side, Hawkwing found himself in a Twoleg garden. The powerful scent of cats caught him in the throat. Looking around eagerly, he saw that a long stretch of grass led up to a Twoleg den at the far side. Close by, crouching in the shelter of some bushes with glossy dark leaves, was Leafstar, surrounded by several of their Clanmates.
Relief filled Hawkwing like rain filling an upturned leaf. Some of us have survived! There’s hope after all!
But within a couple of heartbeats Hawkwing’s feelings of relief began to give way to dismay as he realized how many of his Clanmates were missing. Something cold gathered heavily inside him as he looked in vain for his mother, Cherrytail, and his sisters, Cloudmist and Blossomheart.
Have I lost all my kin?
Ebonyclaw was with the others; when she spotted the newcomers she bounded over to them and dipped her head.
“You’re alive!” she exclaimed. “Oh, it’s so good to see you.
Welcome to my nest.”
In spite of his anxiety about his family, Hawkwing couldn’t wait to rejoin his Clanmates. They looked exhausted and their pelts were ragged, but their eyes were bright as they clustered around, eagerly welcoming.
“There’s Parsleypaw!” Pebblepaw exclaimed, running to touch noses with her brother. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re safe!”
Sparrowpelt and Tinycloud were there, too, hurrying up to greet their daughter and brushing their pelts against hers.
Birdwing sprang up and bounded up to Curlykit and Fidgetkit, closely followed by their father, Sagenose. “Thank StarClan you’re safe!” she mewed, relief shining in her eyes. Then she paused, her gaze traveling over the newcomers. “But where’s Snipkit?”
“She’s not with you?” Fidgetkit asked anxiously.
Sagenose shook his head. “We haven’t seen her since last night.”
The two kits launched into their story, of how Snipkit had fallen into the river. Hawkwing could see growing dismay in Birdwing’s and Sagenose’s eyes, and Birdwing let out a wail of pain when Curlykit told how their search had failed. She drew her two remaining kits close to her, and Sagenose buried his muzzle in her shoulder fur.
Giving them space to grieve, Hawkwing looked around to see who else was there. He spotted M intfur with all four of her kits, as well as her mate, Nettlesplash. Plumwillow and Waspwhisker had made it, too. But his relief at seeing they had survived couldn’t wipe out his desolation that his mother and sisters were missing.
Then after a moment Pebblepaw left her family and came to sit beside him, offering silent support with understanding in her eyes.
Hawkwing leaned toward her, grateful for her warmth.
“It’s been a while since any kittypets were attacked by raccoons,” Ebonyclaw was explaining to Leafstar. “So my Twolegs have started letting me out again, though only in the daytime.”
“What about the others?” Leafstar asked.
“I haven’t seen them,” the black she-cat replied. “But I reckon they’ll be free again soon. Twolegs like to do things at the same time as each other. If only Darktail hadn’t made his move while all of us daylight warriors were shut up,” she added. “M aybe we would have been able to turn the tide in the battle. I’ll never forgive myself for not being there!”
“Don’t blame yourself. I’m sure Darktail took all that into account when he was making his plans,” Leafstar meowed grimly.
No cat looked angrily at Hawkwing when the evil rogue was mentioned, but he felt another painful pang of guilt. I never want to hear Darktail’s name again!
“Well,” Sparrowpelt began, sounding determinedly cheerful, “now that we have the daylight warriors again, we can gather up the rest of the Clan, attack the rogues, and take back our territory.”
An enthusiastic murmur rose from the group of cats. “We’ll teach those rogues!” Tinycloud called out.
“Yes, rip their pelts off!” Nettlesplash growled.
Hawkwing flexed his claws eagerly, relieved that he could put the past behind him and prove himself anew.
But Leafstar raised her tail for silence. “You’re right that we need to find our missing Clanmates,” she meowed. “But simply attacking the rogues might not be the smartest course of action right now.”
Hawkwing’s jaws gaped in shock. How could we not fight back? How could we not avenge my father’s death, and so many others?
Several of his Clanmates leaped to their paws, their fur bristling in outrage.
“You can’t mean that!” Waspwhisker protested. “They’re in our home!”
“But we’re not the Clan we used to be,” Sparrowpelt pointed out. “We’ve suffered so much. It might be moons before we can take on those rogues.”
“Could…?” Pebblepaw’s voice was a soft mew, but somehow it caught the attention of every cat. Hawkwing could tell from the way she looked at the ground that she was uncomfortable asking her question. “Could this be StarClan’s plan? Could they be punishing us for something?”
The gathered warriors passed uneasy glances back and forth, no cat sure how to respond. Some of them looked worried.