The Clan cats called out their good-byes as Leafstar led the way toward the Twoleg fence. But before any cat reached it there was a sudden scurry of paws from outside the garden. M acgyver appeared, leaping up to the top of the fence and tottering there for a heartbeat before he half fell, half jumped down beside his Clanmates.
He’s a bit of a show-off, Hawkwing thought, amused.
“I thought I’d never find you!” M acgyver exclaimed. “M y stupid Twolegs wouldn’t let me out. What’s happening?”
“We’re leaving,” Waspwhisker replied, and explained to the daylight warrior everything that had happened since the battle in the gorge.
“Then I’m coming with you,” M acgyver stated without hesitation. “I’ll miss my Twolegs, but, well… I’m a SkyClan cat!” He paused, and his Clanmates let out yowls of approval.
Hawkwing joined in, glad that at least one of the daylight warriors had decided to stay with SkyClan as they searched for a new home.
Twitching his whiskers happily, M acgyver turned to Leafstar.
“So… ,” he began, “where are we going?”
“Rileypool and Bellaleaf are going to lead us back to where they came from,” Leafstar told M acgyver when she could make herself heard. “Barley may be able to point us in the right direction to find ThunderClan. He’s our best hope, since Ravenpaw died.”
Hawkwing’s fur tingled with excitement. This was a good idea.
The old farm cat who had visited SkyClan territory with Ravenpaw had seemed kind and sensible—if any cat knew where the other Clans had gone, he would.
The SkyClan cats followed Leafstar out of the Twoleg garden and began their careful journey through the Twolegplace.
Pebbleshine and Blossomheart padded alongside Hawkwing, with Curlypaw hard on his paws.
As they set out, Hawkwing felt his heart lift a little. Gazing at Pebbleshine and Curlypaw, he knew that these cats were giving him real purpose. Moving into life After isn’t all bad. It was as though he was making a fresh start, as if he was leaving behind all the mistakes and sorrow of the past. I will be a different cat, he decided. I will think before I speak or act, and I will put my Clan before anything else.
But then, as they approached the corner where two
Thunderpaths met, Hawkwing glanced over his shoulder and saw his former mentor, Ebonyclaw, sitting on the garden fence, with the other cats Hawkwing had known all his life, watching their Clanmates go.
Hawkwing let out a long sigh. I’m leaving such a huge part of my life behind here.
But he knew that the cats beside him were his kin, and his future.
Chapter 21
Hawkwing stood on the edge of a shallow stream, gazing at the walls of the Twolegplace on the opposite side. All around him spindly hazel trees rustled in the wind. The ground underpaw was damp, and Hawkwing shivered as the chill struck upward through his pads.
Two sunrises had passed since SkyClan had set out, and so far their journey had been easy. Though Hawkwing still felt the bitter loss of his way of life in the gorge, excitement was tugging his paws onward to find the new home by the water where they would meet the other Clans.
But I guess we still have a long way to go, he thought. And I think our journey is about to get a whole lot harder.
“This is the Twolegplace where we fought the battle against
Dodge,” Leafstar meowed. “We must travel through it quickly, and hope we don’t meet any of the cats who live here.”
Hawkwing’s ears pricked alertly at his leader’s words. The huge battle had been fought before he was born, but he had heard the story many times while he was still in the nursery. Some of the cats from the Twolegplace had traveled upriver to the gorge, and lived with SkyClan as warriors until they revealed they had come to ask for help.
A vicious tom named Dodge was terrorizing them and their friends, and they weren’t strong enough to fight him off. Leafstar had led some of her warriors into battle in the Twolegplace, defeated Dodge, and forced him to agree to share the territory.
Almost like they were two neighboring Clans, Hawkwing thought.
“We don’t have to avoid all the cats,” Rabbitleap objected in response to Leafstar’s order. “Some of them were our friends. I was only a kit then, but I remember when they lived with us. They were friendly!”
Leafstar gave a doubtful snort. “It wasn’t as simple as that,” she replied. “I don’t want any more to do with those cats. So let’s go, before they spot us.”
A few fox-lengths downstream a fallen tree stretched across the water. Leafstar led the way to it and padded confidently across, then turned to wait for the rest of her Clan.
As Hawkwing followed he shuddered at the gurgling sound of the current just below his paws, recalling the stepping-stones where Snipkit had fallen to her death. He kept a careful eye on Curlypaw and Fidgetpaw, wondering if their memories would make it harder for them to cross safely.
This stream is too shallow to drown in, he reassured himself. If some cat did slip, they would just end up damp.
After a moment’s hesitation, both the apprentices padded over without any trouble, and Leafstar set out at the head of her Clan, farther into the Twolegplace.
A narrow alley led directly ahead, the walls on either side so high that they let in little daylight. Every hair on Hawkwing’s pelt rose in apprehension as the shadows swallowed him up.
Before he had gone many paw steps Hawkwing realized that this was nothing like the Twolegplace where the daylight warriors lived. The stone path felt slimy underpaw, and weird Twoleg rubbish lay scattered in all directions. The reek of Twolegs, monsters, and crow-food—and other things Hawkwing preferred not to think about—filled the air and almost choked him.
Hawkwing’s pelt prickled more strongly still once he became aware of cats watching him and his Clanmates as they penetrated deeper among the Twoleg dens. He could scent the cats, but he never saw them; the air crackled with hostility.
Curlypaw came to pad alongside him, so close that their pelts brushed. “I don’t like this,” she murmured. “Is it far to the other side, do you think?”
“I don’t know,” Hawkwing replied. “Just stick close to me, and you’ll be fine.”
He let out a trill of welcome as Pebbleshine bounded up to pad along on Curlypaw’s other side.
“We’re a whole Clan,” the mottled she-cat meowed reassuringly. “These Twolegplace cats had better not mess with us.”
Hawkwing hoped that she was right. We still haven’t recovered from the battle in the gorge, he thought. The last thing we want is another fight.
M ore alleyways branched off on either side, and sometimes the cats had to cross a Thunderpath. Leafstar seemed less confident as she continued, as if she wasn’t sure of the way any longer.
Hawkwing recalled that she had only visited this Twolegplace once before.
It’s so big and confusing here, I wouldn’t be surprised if Leafstar couldn’t remember.
Waspwhisker and Cherrytail, two of the cats who had accompanied Leafstar on that first expedition, walked beside her at the front of the group. At every corner or place where the path divided they would pause to discuss their route, before heading onward.
Hawkwing began to feel even more uneasy. The sun was going down, and he realized that they would be stuck in this horrible place overnight. I won’t be able to sleep a wink, that’s for sure!