Leafstar sought out Sharpclaw, and spotted him in the shadow of the nest, close to the wall. She curled her tail as a signal. We must end this now, before some cat gets hurt.
Sharpclaw stalked out into the open and Leafstar joined him at the center of the ragged semicircle of cats. They had all fallen silent, their gaze fixed on the Twoleg, challenging him to raise the branch again.
“Leave us alone!” Leafstar yowled. She knew that the Twoleg wouldn’t understand, but she spoke the words so that her own Clan could hear them, and hoped that her tone would be enough to warn the Twoleg. “Lay one paw on another cat and we’ll do more than show you our claws.”
The old Twoleg was letting out high-pitched whimpering sounds now. His hind legs had started to shake and one of his back paws twitched, knocking the branch into the heap of brambles. His fear-scent was rank as a fox. For a couple of heartbeats Leafstar felt sorry for him. Then she looked at Petalnose and her kits and remembered how weak and ill they had been, how close to death, when Firestar had led the patrol that released them from the Twoleg’s prison. And she remembered Shrewtooth’s horror when he found himself back in the Twoleg’s clearing.
The Twoleg deserves to feel as scared as these cats have been.
Leafstar waved her tail to tell her Clanmates that the attack was over. Moving as one, they spun around and raced off into the trees. A glance over her shoulder showed the old Twoleg stumbling back inside his den. The slam of the door echoed into the night.
Pride surged through Leafstar as she led her Clan back through the forest. They had just crossed the border when she heard panting and yelping coming from just ahead, and froze as the dog burst out from a clump of hazel saplings. Sharpclaw shouldered his way to her side, his claws extended.
But the dog paid no attention to any cat, not even pausing to give them a sniff. With its tail between its legs, it fled back toward the Twoleg nest. Dark spots of blood dripped from its nose and spattered over the ground.
Yes! Leafstar thought as she started walking again, through moonlight that was sliced by the shadows of trees.
SkyClan has won!
Chapter 22
Leafstar and the rest of the cats caught up to Cora, Bouncefire, and Rockshade near the top of the cliff, so the whole patrol raced across the Rockpile hard on her paws and poured down into the camp.
“You’re back!” Patchfoot appeared out of the shadows near the fresh-kill pile, the white patches on his pelt shining pale in the half-light. “What happened?”
“Is any cat hurt?” Echosong called, bounding up from the direction of her den.
It was Sharpclaw who replied. “No, we’re all fine. And we gave that crow-food-eating Twoleg a fright he won’t forget in a hurry.”
“That’s great!” Patchfoot exclaimed, his eyes gleaming. “You’re all heroes!”
“What about the dog?” Shrewtooth mewed, peering out from behind Patchfoot.
“I doubt the dog will bother us again,” Leafstar told him. “We taught it a lesson, too.”
“I clawed its nose,” Bouncefire announced, pressing forward to give Shrewtooth a friendly nudge. “I wish you’d been there to see it.”
Shrewtooth blinked. “I do, too.”
“You shouldn’t have been near enough to claw it!” Clovertail scolded as she padded up with Fallowfern and the kits. But her eyes glowed with pride as she gazed at her son, and she touched his shoulder approvingly with her tail.
“I can’t believe we did it!” Cherrytail panted. “We took on a Twoleg and we beat him!”
“If we can do that, we can do anything!” Sparrowpelt purred.
The cats crowded around the fresh-kill pile to choose a piece of prey while their Clanmates who had stayed behind hailed them with questions. Fallowfern’s kits bounced around gleefully, even though it was the middle of the night, getting under every cat’s paws as they tried to act out what they imagined had gone on. As she waited to choose her own prey, Leafstar noticed that the four newest warriors had withdrawn a few tail-lengths, and were murmuring to one another with their heads close together. Her paws pricked with uneasiness. Why don’t they want to celebrate with us? It’s their victory as much as any cat’s.
Trying to shrug off her nagging anxiety, Leafstar picked out a plump vole for herself. Seeing that her Clanmates were settling down while Sharpclaw began to tell the full story of the attack, she carried her fresh-kill up the trail and sprang over the gap to reach the Skyrock.
The moon was close to setting but the stars of Silverpelt still shone brightly in an indigo sky. A soft breeze, laden with the scents of newleaf, whispered over the surface of the rock. Down below, the river was a silver snake winding among the rocks; Leafstar could just make out the dark huddle of cats at the foot of the Rockpile. She wondered if the spirits of her ancestors were looking down on them. I hope they are. She was proud of her warriors, the way they had carried out the plan to scare the Twoleg without putting themselves in danger, the courage they had shown in seeking vengeance on behalf of Shrewtooth and Petalnose. For once, Leafstar hadn’t been in doubt that SkyClan was following the right path. But now the attack was over; the Twoleg had been given a fright that would hopefully keep him from torturing more cats in the future; and Leafstar felt herself staring into darkness once more.
She stopped eating with the vole half finished and padded to the very edge of the rock to lay it down. “An offering for the cats who walk the skies,” she whispered. Perhaps I should do this more often, she thought. Maybe our ancestors won’t come down to share our fresh-kill, but at least they’ll be able to see that they are not forgotten. We still hunt in their memory, surviving by their skills.
Almost as if she had summoned it, she caught a whiff of cat scent and heard the soft pad of paws approaching her from behind. She turned to see Skywatcher stepping lightly through the air toward her, his pelt pure silver and his eyes shining like pools of starlight.
“Welcome,” Leafstar murmured, dipping her head.
Skywatcher padded past her to sniff at the prey she had left at the edge of the rock. “A fine, plump creature,” he commented, though he didn’t eat.
“Skywatcher,” Leafstar began hesitantly, “did you and… and the other warriors of StarClan see our attack on the Twoleg?”
Skywatcher’s reply was a brief nod; Leafstar was disappointed when he didn’t tell her what his Clanmates had thought of it. “We planned what we needed to do, and we did it,” she meowed, feeling that she had to justify herself to the starry warrior. “Every cat was so brave! And the Twoleg deserved to be frightened. You know what he did to Petalnose and her kits, and to Shrewtooth.”
“You certainly won that battle,” Skywatcher grunted. “The Twoleg is good and scared, I’ll give you that.”
Leafstar flicked her tail, frustrated. “Did we do the right thing?” she blurted out.
Skywatcher gave her a long look from fathomless green eyes. “Only time will tell,” he mewed at last. “Twolegs aren’t the usual sort of enemies for a Clan. They don’t steal prey or threaten borders like other cats, and they don’t kill kits like foxes or badgers.”
“Then have I broken the warrior code?” Leafstar whispered in dismay. “Was I wrong to take a battle to a Twoleg nest?”
To her relief, Skywatcher shook his head, scattering starlight around them. “You are the leader of SkyClan,” he pointed out. “You must have confidence in what you do. If the Twoleg was a threat to your Clan, then you were right to attack.”