Dawn

The striped warrior stood on the frost-covered slope, silhouetted by the early morning light. A kit dangled limply from his jaws.

As Dustpelt carried the kit away, Ferncloud cried out again from the hollow that formed the camp’s makeshift nursery.

Leafpaw scrambled out, struggling to get a grip on the icy stone, and raced to Ferncloud’s side. “What’s happened?”

“Hollykit is dead!” Ferncloud whispered. “Dustpelt’s gone to bury her.” She tucked her remaining kit close to her belly.

“I woke and she was cold. So cold!” Her voice cracked with grief. “I licked her and licked her but she would not wake up.”

Leafpaw felt sorrow grip her heart. What kind of medicine cat was she if she hadn’t even noticed Hollykit was so close to death?

“Oh, Ferncloud,” she breathed. “I’m so sorry.”

One by one, the Clan gathered above the nursery in grim silence. Cody stood among them, her eyes round with sympathy. To Leafpaw’s relief, her Clanmates took no notice of the kittypet. They shared a common enemy now—the Twolegs who were trapping cats and tearing up the forest.

Cinderpelt scrambled down into the hollow. “Fetch some poppy seeds,” she ordered. “Ferncloud must not waste what little energy she has left on grieving.”

Leafpaw hurried to the crack in the rock where Cinderpelt stored her tiny heap of remedies and reached in to pull out a leaf-wrapped hoard of poppy seeds. She wished with all her heart they were still in the ravine, where the medicine cats had kept their den in the rock well stocked. Looking at the shriveled leaf beneath her paw, she guessed there were only two or three doses of poppy seeds left, and there was no hope of finding more with leaf-bare nearly upon them.

Firestar’s call startled her. “Leafpaw!” She turned to see her father bounding up the slope with Brambleclaw and Mousefur.

“How is Ferncloud?” he asked.

“Cinderpelt told me to get some poppy seeds to calm her,” Leafpaw told him.

“I didn’t think it would get this bad so soon!” Firestar growled. “Oh, StarClan! What can I do to help these cats?”

He raised his eyes to Silverpelt, fading quickly in the dawn light.

“Last night was so cold,” Mousefur remarked. “The poor little mite didn’t have enough flesh on her bones to make it through.”

“Birchkit survived,” Leafpaw reminded them. “We must do everything we can to make sure Ferncloud can feed him properly.”

“But the nights are only going to get colder, and once the snow comes…” Firestar trailed off and stared into the treetops beyond Sunningrocks.

Brambleclaw glanced uneasily at Leafpaw. “If we are to leave the forest we should go soon,” he meowed. “Before snowfall makes the mountains too difficult to cross.”

Leafpaw narrowed her eyes. She had been torn by doubts since her sister had told her about Midnight’s warning. She could tell that many of her Clanmates couldn’t believe that StarClan really intended them to go, but she trusted that her sister and Brambleclaw had a role to play in their Clan’s destiny. She did not want to leave her forest home, and she feared the Clan were not strong enough for such a journey, but how could she ignore the will of StarClan?

“You already know how I feel. We cannot go without the other Clans,” Firestar pointed out. Leafpaw silently agreed with him. However much hardship one Clan was in, they had to remain together for StarClan’s sake.

“I must take these to Ferncloud,” she murmured, picking up the bundle of seeds.

As she reached the crevice, Sorreltail was padding away, her eyes dull with sorrow. She didn’t even look up as she went past. Leafpaw noticed that she trod carefully on the freezing stone as if it hurt her paws. She scrambled into the hollow and dropped the poppy seeds at Cinderpelt’s paws. Ferncloud was lying with her eyes wide, staring at nothing. Birchkit was huddled beside her, too shocked and hungry to mew. To Leafpaw’s surprise, Cody was there too.

“Thank you,” Cinderpelt whispered, taking the leaf bundle and carefully unwrapping it with her teeth.

“Shouldn’t you be outside?” Leafpaw gently prompted Cody.

“I thought I might be able to help,” came the reply. “I lost a litter once.”

“A whole litter? That’s so sad!”

“They didn’t die,” Cody explained quickly. “My housefolk sent them away to new homes. But I felt the loss as badly.”

“And these are the Twolegs you want to go back to?”

Leafpaw mewed in disbelief. “How could you possibly forgive them?”

“It is normal for kittypets not to raise their kits. We don’t expect anything else.” Cody blinked. “My housefolk are gentle and kind. They chose good homes for each kit. They wouldn’t have known that I miss them.”

Cinderpelt silenced them with a warning stare. Ferncloud had grown fretful again, writhing on the cold stone and letting out tiny moaning sounds. “Hollykit is with StarClan now,” Cinderpelt whispered to her. “She will never know cold or hunger again.”

“I tried my best,” Ferncloud wailed. “Why couldn’t I have died instead of her?”

Firestar’s deep mew sounded from the rim of the hollow.