Blackstar glanced at Leopardstar, who twitched her tail, giving nothing away, and then at Mudclaw, who dipped his head. “WindClan has no objection,” he meowed.
“Very well,” Blackstar growled. “But don’t think for one moment that will give ThunderClan any extra rights over the territory.”
Brambleclaw exchanged an exasperated glance with Crowfeather. Trust Blackclaw to think that other Clans were trying to steal an advantage before the new territories had been divided up!
“Of course not,” Firestar replied evenly. “Squirrelflight, you may go with the patrol.”
Squirrelflight’s tail curled up in delight.
“Go all the way around the lake, and explore as much of the surrounding land as you can,” Firestar instructed. “We need to know what kind of territory it is, and where the best hunting places will be. Think about the different sorts of hunting each Clan will require, because it might help with setting boundaries later on. It would be good to get an idea of how the territory could be split up, and where might be good places for camps. And keep a close watch for Twolegs, or anything else that might be dangerous.”
“Is that all?” Crowfeather muttered.
“I reckon you’ll need two days to travel all the way around the lake,” Firestar went on. He lifted his head and narrowed his eyes as he peered across the water, trying to judge the distance. “Try not to spend too much time exploring. We’re exposed to danger while we stay here, so we need to get all the Clans settled as soon as we can.”
“We’ll do our best, Firestar,” a new voice called out.
Brambleclaw glanced over his shoulder to see Mistyfoot, the RiverClan deputy, padding over to join them.
“Hi, there,” he mewed, moving up to make room for her.
Mistyfoot looked wary about joining the close band of cats that had made the first journey.
“Good luck,” called Leopardstar, and Firestar added, “May StarClan go with you all.”
By now the sun had risen well above the hills. His paws itching to be off, Brambleclaw dipped his head toward Firestar and the other leaders, and raised his tail to signal the others to follow him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Tawnypelt wince, and he heard a hissing intake of breath from Crowfeather. His fur prickled with embarrassment as he realized that Mistyfoot ought to be in charge of the patrol, since she was the deputy of her Clan. He stopped and took a pace back; Mistyfoot gave him a long, cool look, then nodded briefly to him as she took the lead.
“Mousebrain!” Squirrelflight whispered.
They headed for the edge of the lake, with Blackstar’s voice drifting behind them on the breeze as he began to arrange the hunting patrols.
“Squirrelflight! Wait!” Brambleclaw looked back to see Leafpaw bounding after her sister. “Be careful, won’t you?” she begged.
Squirrelflight touched noses with the young medicine cat.
“Don’t worry about us,” she meowed. “We can look after ourselves.”
“But you’re as tired as the rest of us from the journey,” Leafpaw warned. “Hunt as soon as you can, and don’t stray too far from the lake or you might get lost.”
Squirrelflight brushed her tail across Leafpaw’s mouth to stop her. “We’ll be fine,” she insisted. She lifted her head and pointed with her nose to the gleaming stretch of water below them. “Look, you can see exactly where we’re going. We’ll be back before you know it.” She paused for a moment, then added quietly, “Have you had a sign from StarClan? Is that why you’re so worried?”
Leafpaw shook her head. “No, nothing like that, I promise.
It’s just hard to let you go again. It feels too much like the first time you left, when you went to sun-drown-place.”
Brambleclaw went over and rested his muzzle against Leafpaw’s shoulder to comfort her. “And we came safely home, didn’t we? Trust me, Leafpaw, I’ll look after her.”
Squirrelflight jerked away in mock indignation. “I don’t need looking after! It’s more likely to be me watching out for your battered old fur!”
Leafpaw gave a purr of amusement, letting them lighten the mood. “Well, just take care, all of you. And if you have a chance to look out for any herbs, that would be great. Our medicine supplies will need refilling very soon.”
Squirrelflight licked her ear. “Sure. I’ll keep my eyes open—when I’m not looking for foxes, badgers, Twolegs, Thunderpaths…”
“Are we going or not?” growled Crowfeather. “We don’t have much daylight, and we need to get at least halfway around the lake before nightfall.”
Leafpaw ignored him. “StarClan go with you,” she murmured to Squirrelflight, before whisking around and bounding back up the slope.
Brambleclaw tasted the air and listened to the lapping of waves on the shore. The gray water was flooded with color as the sun rose higher over the hills. It stretched ahead so far that the trees on the distant shore were nothing more than a greenish blur, and curved hungrily around the marshy land in front of them. Something about the stillness of the water, the silence that hung over it like mist, told Brambleclaw that it was much, much deeper than the river in the forest, even when it flooded. He gave Mistyfoot a swift sidelong glance.
She looked daunted too, though like all RiverClan cats she was an excellent swimmer.
As if aware that his eyes were on her, the RiverClan deputy gave herself a shake. “Right,” she meowed, gazing around at the patrol. “This is it. Let’s see where StarClan has brought us.”
Chapter 2
Leafpaw stopped halfway up the slope and turned to watch her sister and the rest of the patrol make their way down to the lake.
From the tingling of her own fur, she could tell how excited Squirrelflight was, not just at the prospect of exploring the new territory, but because she was with the friends she had made on the journey to sun-drown-place once more. For a few heartbeats Leafpaw felt almost breathless with envy, wishing that she could have a bond that strong, based on that depth of trust and that many shared experiences, with another cat.
Her gaze was drawn to the lean, gray-black shape of Crowfeather. Of all the others, he was the hardest to understand. Leafpaw wished she knew him better. He seemed the least willing to trust cats from another Clan, yet during the long journey through the mountains she had seen him put himself in danger over and over to help cats who weren’t from WindClan. Leafpaw’s pelt prickled, making her shiver from nose to tail. Something told her Crowfeather had an important path laid out by StarClan, but she had no idea where it might lead—nor was there any reason for StarClan to let her know the destiny of a cat from another Clan.
She jumped as something brushed against her shoulder, and turned to see Cinderpelt gazing at her with wise blue eyes.
“Do you wish you were going with them?” the medicine cat asked.
Leafpaw hesitated. She was a medicine cat, not a warrior—her duties lay with her weak and exhausted Clan. So why did she feel a tug in her paws to follow the little patrol that was padding away along the line of the shore? Her mind flooded with an image of bounding after them to walk alongside Crowfeather, who was bringing up the rear; she drew in her breath sharply, almost able to feel his dark gray pelt brush against hers as they picked their way over the tufts of boggy grass.
“Are you all right?” mewed Cinderpelt, looking at her closely.
Leafpaw blinked. “Yes, I’m fine. Of course I don’t want to go with the patrol. There’s enough work for me here.”
“That’s true,” Cinderpelt meowed. “We have four Clans of exhausted cats to look after, and our stock of healing herbs barely amounts to a couple of leaves and a pawful of crushed berries.”