“Where’s Curlypaw?” he asked, glancing around as the patrols began to move off.
“I saw her going with Fidgetpaw and Bellaleaf,” Pebbleshine replied.
“M ouse dung! I wanted her with me.” Hawkwing’s pads prickled with anxiety at the thought of his apprentice wandering off by herself in this dark and unfamiliar place. Then he reminded himself that she wasn’t alone; she had two Clanmates with her, and Twolegplace cats who knew their way around.
She’ll be fine, he told himself, though he wasn’t entirely convinced.
“Hi, I’m Foggy,” one of the strange cats mewed. He was a long-furred gray tom; jerking his head toward the other, a small tortoiseshell, he added, “This is Suzy.”
“Hi,” Pebbleshine responded.
“Are you ready?” Suzy asked briskly. “We’ll show you some good places to hunt.”
Hawkwing realized for the first time how hungry he was.
“That sounds good to me,” he replied. “Lead the way.”
“I’ve never hunted in a Twolegplace before,” Hawkwing mumbled around the rat that he was carrying by the scruff. “It’s so weird.”
Pebbleshine was dangling two mice by their tails. “We did all right, I suppose,” she meowed. “I never thought we’d find any prey. But it’s still not as good as hunting in a forest.”
Hawkwing yearned for the feeling of grass underneath his paws and the rustle of wind in the trees above his head. “At least this is only for one night,” he pointed out. “We’ll manage… Just as long as no cat expects me to eat this rat. It tastes foul.”
“I’ll take it off your paws,” Foggy put in, glancing over his shoulder from where he and Suzy were padding ahead. He had caught a mouse, and Suzy had a blackbird. “There’s good eating on one of those.”
Yuck! Hawkwing thought.
When he and his patrol returned to the stretch of empty ground where the Twolegplace cats had their camp, more of the cats were gathering around one of the twisted trees in the center. Hawkwing spotted Leafstar and Stick with Sparrowpelt, Shorty, and the black tom called Coal. He padded over to join them, depositing his prey on a nearby heap for the cats to share.
“How are things here with you?” Leafstar was asking Stick as Hawkwing came into earshot.
Stick shrugged. “Dodge kept to his side of the border at first, but we’ve had a few skirmishes lately. I’m afraid he’s up to his old tricks.”
“Things are getting really bad, just like before,” Shorty agreed.
“Cora and I are scared for our kits.”
“You need to scent-mark the border,” Leafstar told him. “And make sure that cats who cross it learn not to do it again.”
“We’re not a Clan!” Stick’s eyes flashed at her.
Hawkwing blinked in surprise at Stick’s hostile tone, then turned away as Pebbleshine offered him one of her mice. The two cats settled down close to Sparrowpelt to eat.
“Why don’t Leafstar and Stick like each other?” Hawkwing asked the senior warrior in a low voice.
Sparrowpelt swallowed a mouthful of thrush. “When we defeated Dodge, Stick wanted Leafstar to kill him. Leafstar wouldn’t do that. Stick was furious, and she was angry with him because he didn’t know how to treat a defeated enemy. She warned Dodge to stay on his own side of the border, and we left.”
“It doesn’t sound as if Dodge is doing that anymore,” Pebbleshine commented.
Sparrowpelt shrugged. “That’s Stick’s problem.”
Finishing his mouse, Hawkwing glanced around to see that most of the hunting patrols had returned. But he didn’t see Curlypaw.
“I’m getting worried,” he murmured to Pebbleshine. “Where is she?”
His mate rose to her paws and gave the assembled cats a careful scrutiny. “Well, Bellaleaf and Fidgetpaw aren’t here either,” she meowed. “M aybe they—”
She broke off as a screech split the night. Bellaleaf raced out of an alleyway on the far side of the barren ground. Her fur was bushed up, and her eyes were wild; blood was trickling from a scratch above her eye. Fidgetpaw followed her more slowly, limping on three legs.
“Leafstar! Leafstar!” Bellaleaf yowled.
The Clan leader sprang up and wove her way rapidly out of the group of cats to meet Bellaleaf. “What’s happened?” she demanded.
“Oh, Leafstar, it’s terrible!” Bellaleaf gasped. “They took
Curlypaw!”
Chapter 22
“Who? Where?” Leafstar’s voice was urgent.
“Other cats… They jumped down on us from the top of a wall,” Bellaleaf replied. “There were so many of them! I managed to get Fidgetpaw away, but I couldn’t help Curlypaw.”
“What about Stick’s cats?” Leafstar asked. “Where are they?”
“They ran away.” Bellaleaf’s mew was bitter. “Cowards!”
By now Hawkwing and the others had leaped to their paws and were crowding around Leafstar and Bellaleaf. Echosong hurried up to Fidgetpaw and began examining his injured paw with careful sniffs.
“We have to do something!” Hawkwing exclaimed. “If they’ve hurt Curlypaw, I’ll—”
“We must stay calm,” Leafstar interrupted sharply. “Bellaleaf, can you take us back to where this ambush happened? We can try to follow the scent trail and find out where these cats took
Curlypaw.”
“I wouldn’t bother.” Stick padded up to join the Clan leader.
“They must have been Dodge’s cats, and if Dodge has your friend there’s nothing you can do to help her.”
Leafstar whirled around to face Stick, a blaze of fury in her amber eyes. “We don’t abandon our friends,” she hissed. “We’re Clan cats!”
Stick shrugged. “Suit yourself.”
“Stick, you should be ashamed of yourself!” Shorty exclaimed, bounding up to the group with more of Stick’s cats behind him.
“Have you forgotten how SkyClan helped us? I’ll come with you, Leafstar.”
“So will I,” Snowy added.
“Thank you,” Leafstar meowed. “Let’s go. I’ll take Bellaleaf, of course, and Rabbitleap, Harrybrook, Sagenose, and Tinycloud.
Waspwhisker, you’re in charge here.”
“What about me?” Hawkwing asked, his fur beginning to bristle in anger at being left out. “Curlypaw is my apprentice.”
Leafstar fixed him with a hard gaze. “Can I trust you to follow orders and not lose your temper?”
Hawkwing swallowed. “Yes, Leafstar.” Underneath his anger was fear, fear that Curlypaw might be in real danger.
“Then you can come. But…”
Leafstar’s voice trailed off as she gazed past the twisted trees, toward the alley where Bellaleaf had appeared. Another cat had emerged, and was pacing slowly toward them. As he drew closer, Hawkwing could see that he was a powerful gray-and-brown tabby tom. M uscles rippled under his pelt as he padded up to the group and halted a tail-length away.
Stick was glaring at him, his shoulder fur bristling and his eyes narrowed. “Harley!” he snarled. “You’re not welcome here!”
Hawkwing thought that Harley looked no happier to be there than Stick was to have him, but his voice was even as he responded. “I’ve brought a message from Dodge. Not for you, Stick, but for Leafstar.”
This must be another one of the cats Leafstar met when SkyClan was here before, Hawkwing thought.
“What message?” Leafstar asked calmly.
“Dodge has your cat,” Harley replied. “He wants you to meet him and discuss the situation. All of you,” he added, sweeping his tail around to include the whole Clan.
“You must think they’re all flea-brained,” Stick sneered. “Walk into Dodge’s territory, just like that? No way!”