Dawn

Brambleclaw charged after her, and Leafpaw followed, wriggling through the hedge to find herself in a broad, grassy space.

While Brambleclaw and Squirrelpaw ranged around the edge of the field, she headed into the long grass battered down by the leaf-bare winds and rain. Almost at once she smelled mouse. After the long, hungry moons in the prey-scarce forest they had left behind, Leafpaw could not believe her luck. Crouching down, she prowled through the grass until she found the freshest trail. A moment later she spotted a twitch of brown scrabbling deep in the grass, and pounced.

The mouse darted away before her paws hit the ground, and she only flattened the tussock where it had been sitting a heartbeat before.

“I see you’re more accustomed to forest hunting.”

Hawkfrost’s condescending mew made Leafpaw jump. She spun around to find the RiverClan warrior calmly watching her, his tail curled over his paws.

“Haven’t you got anything better to do?” she challenged him. “Like hunt for your own Clan?”

“I’ve already caught three mice and a thrush,” he meowed.

“I think I have earned a rest.”

As Leafpaw searched for a sharp reply, Hawkfrost lifted his nose and scented the air. “Dog!” he hissed. “Heading this way.”

Leafpaw could hear the heavy pawsteps now, pounding through the grass. She stared around in terror, wondering which way to run.

“Get back to the hedge!” Hawkfrost commanded.

Leafpaw began to run, but an angry snarl made her freeze.

Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Hawkfrost arching his back at a snarling black-and-white dog. The RiverClan warrior let out a hiss and leaped back, lashing out to rake his claws across the dog’s snout.

“Brambleclaw! Squirrelpaw! Help!” Leafpaw yowled.

The dog lunged again; Hawkfrost sprang out of the way, but the dog turned in an instant and snapped at the air where Hawkfrost had been.

“Look out!” Brambleclaw burst out of the grass beside Leafpaw and leaped onto the back of the dog. He clung on with piercing claws as it bucked and howled and struggled to shake him off. Brambleclaw hung on, but the dog twisted its head back and clamped its jaws shut only a mouse-length from Brambleclaw’s face. Hissing in terror, Brambleclaw let go and was hurled to the ground. In the heartbeat it took him to recover, the dog had rounded on him, slavering with rage.

Just in time, Hawkfrost threw himself in front of Brambleclaw, aiming a flurry of thorn-sharp swipes at the dog’s muzzle. Brambleclaw scrambled to his paws and joined the attack. Leafpaw stood stiff-legged with horror, watching the two warriors turn and move and hunch their massive shoulders as though one were a reflection of the other.

The dog began to back away with its tail clamped between its legs. Hawkfrost reared up on his hind legs and hissed so menacingly that the dog yelped and ran for the hedge.

“Brambleclaw, are you all right?” Leafpaw gasped.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“Good job I was here to save you,” Hawkfrost sneered.

“I saved you, in case you’ve forgotten,” Brambleclaw retorted.

Hawkfrost shrugged. “I suppose you did,” he admitted ungraciously.

“Well, I guess you scared that mutt off pretty well,” Brambleclaw conceded.

“What’s going on?” Squirrelpaw hurried out of the long grass. “I smell dog.”

“It attacked us. Brambleclaw and Hawkfrost scared it away,” Leafpaw reported.

“You’re kidding!” gasped Squirrelpaw.

“I’m going back now,” Hawkfrost announced abruptly.

Their narrow escape didn’t seem to have made him any friendlier, and Leafpaw was quite happy to see the RiverClan warrior stalk away.

“Come on; let’s keep hunting,” meowed Brambleclaw. He bounded off through the grass.

“Come on, Leafpaw!” Squirrelpaw called over her shoulder. “You’ll need to eat well before we head into the mountains.”

Leafpaw looked up at the snow-dappled peaks. She wished she shared her sister’s courage. The Clans had struggled enough getting this far—how would the kits and elders cope with rocks and ice, and sheer, dizzying cliffs? How would the warriors and apprentices cope, for that matter? She shut her eyes and uttered a silent prayer to StarClan, but she felt hollow with dread as her words came echoing emptily back, as if there were no one there to listen.

Chapter 21

A bitter wind blew down from the mountains as the Clans joined the trail that led into the towering peaks. Heavy clouds blan-keted the sky, and Leafpaw could tell by their yellow tinge that it would soon start snowing.

Brambleclaw and Stormfur were leading them along the side of a steep valley. It was as different from the forest as Leafpaw could possibly imagine. There were only a few trees, gnarled and stunted, clinging to the smooth gray stone, with nowhere that prey might live. Moons of desperate hunger had left the WindClan cats’ fur thin and useless against the chill, but they plodded grimly on with their heads down.