Dawn

Over the distant grumbling of the Twoleg monsters, Leafpaw heard footsteps outside and instinctively crouched at the back of her cage. The nest door opened and the Twoleg came in carrying the food pellets.

“There’s no way you’ll persuade that Twoleg to let us out of here by purring at it,” Leafpaw whispered to Cody as the Twoleg began opening the cages and putting in more food.

“I guess not,” Cody shrugged. “But it won’t hurt to make him trust me.”

As she spoke a hiss exploded from the cage next to her.

The Twoleg leaped backward from Coal’s open door. Blood trickled down its forepaw as it stamped around the nest, spitting in rage. Leafpaw strained to see Coal through Cody’s cage. She could just make out his shadowy outline as he flattened himself against the floor. The blood pulsed in her ears as she glanced over her shoulder at the Twoleg. It had stopped screeching and was staring menacingly at Coal.

Suddenly, with a vicious cry, it thrust its paw back into the cage, and Leafpaw heard the tom screech in pain. Muttering, the Twoleg slammed the door shut.

Leafpaw shuddered. What had the Twoleg done?

When the Twoleg opened Cody’s door and tipped pellets into her pot, the kittypet shied away. She was not purring at it now.

As soon as the Twoleg had gone, Leafpaw yowled, “Are you okay, Coal?”

A muffled groan came from the cage beyond Cody’s.

“That stinking Twoleg!”

Leafpaw sniffed the air and smelled the warm tang of blood.

“It looks bad,” Cody whispered to Leafpaw. “There’s blood on the floor of his cage.”

“Where are you hurt?” Leafpaw asked Coal.

“I’ve cut my leg,” replied the rogue. “That badger-pawed Twoleg shoved me against something sharp.”

Leafpaw thought quickly. What did Cinderpelt use to stop bleeding? “Can any cat reach a cobweb?” she called. “Come on; we have to help him!”

“There’s one near me,” answered Gorsetail. “I think I can reach it. Hang on.”

Peering down, Leafpaw saw Gorsetail’s tawny paw reach out from a cage below her. A large cobweb stretched from the floor of the nest to the top of his cage. He reached toward it, squeezing his foreleg through the hole in the side of his cage.

Finally he managed to plunge his paw into the thick tangle and drag it down. Twisting his foreleg around, Gorsetail held the cobweb as far up toward Leafpaw as he could.

Leafpaw flattened herself against the cage and pushed her paw through the shiny floor. It scraped against her fur but she clenched her teeth and forced her leg through a little more until she could take the wad of sticky cobweb from Gorsetail.

She pulled it quickly into her cage and then began passing it to Cody. “Give him this!” she urged, squeezing the last pieces of cobweb through with her paws.

Cody nodded, unable to talk because she was holding a wad of cobweb in her mouth. As she dragged it into her cage, some of it stuck to the sides of the hole, wasting a few of the precious threads.

“Be careful!” Leafpaw gasped.

The voice of a rogue beneath them called anxiously up.

“There’s blood dripping through the top of my cage! That cat’s badly hurt.”

Leafpaw’s heart beat faster. “Coal! Are you okay?”

“It won’t stop bleeding,” Coal replied, his voice trembling.

“Take the cobweb from Cody!” Leafpaw ordered. “Press it against the wound for as long as you can.”

She heard Cody breathing hard as the kittypet passed the cobweb through to the next cage, followed by the sound of Coal’s paws scrabbling on the blood-soaked floor.

“Don’t panic, Coal!” she mewed. “Just press the cobweb onto the wound.”

“It’s already soaked with blood!” Coal panted.

“That’s okay,” Leafpaw reassured him. “It’ll still stop any more blood coming. Just hold it in place!”

She waited. Silence gripped the nest. Leafpaw’s head began to spin, and she forced herself to take slow, deep breaths.

“Is he okay?” Brightheart called after a while.

“The blood’s stopped dripping on me!” reported the rogue from underneath Coal’s cage.

“Coal?” Leafpaw called. “How is it?”

A ragged sigh came from Coal’s cage. “That’s better,” he murmured. “It didn’t even sting.”

Leafpaw felt a rush of relief. “Keep the cobweb there for a bit longer,” she told him. “Then you can give the cut a gentle lick to clean it. Not too fierce—you don’t want it to start bleeding again.”

“Well done, Leafpaw,” Cody whispered from her cage.

Leafpaw blinked. For the first time since she had been captured, she didn’t feel entirely helpless. Closing her eyes, she sent a prayer of thanks to StarClan. She had never helped a rogue before, but she knew her warrior ancestors would approve. Loyalty to one Clan alone was no longer the way to survive.

She realized her belly was growling with hunger. She might as well follow Cody’s advice and keep her strength up.

Trying not to breathe in the horrible stench, she nibbled at a few of the foul pellets the Twoleg had left. I suppose I should be grateful for the easy meal, she thought as she forced herself to crunch the dry morsels.

“These are disgusting,” she muttered.