Dawn

Suddenly a wail rang out from up ahead, and a large chunk of rock clattered endlessly down into the abyss. A hole yawned in the narrow path, sending Smokepaw, a ShadowClan apprentice, plummeting into nothingness. For a moment he clutched desperately at the ledge, his claws scratching against the stone. Russetfur, the ShadowClan deputy, lunged to grab him, but her extra weight only dislodged more stones, and the edge where Smokepaw clung suddenly dropped away.

Russetfur leaped backward, only just managing to save herself. The apprentice fell, twisting violently in the air, and disappeared into the darkness.

A ShadowClan queen leaned over the precipice.

“Smokepaw!”

“Get back!” Stormfur yowled. He weaved like a fish back along the ledge and dragged her back.

As the cats stared in frozen horror, Leafpaw willed StarClan to take the apprentice quickly. Blackstar peered over the edge.

“There’s nothing we can do,” he meowed, straightening up.

“We have to keep going.”

“You’re going to leave him?” wailed the queen.

“He won’t have survived that fall,” Blackstar told. “And we can’t reach his body.” He touched the queen’s flank with his muzzle. “I’m sorry, Nightwing. ShadowClan won’t forget Smokepaw; I promise.”

Hollow-eyed with shock and grief, the cats set off once more, pressing so close to the cliff face that it scraped their fur. But Smokepaw’s fall had left a gap in the ledge.

Fortunately Longtail was among the cats that had been ahead of the RiverClan apprentice—Leafpaw gulped at the thought of helping the sightless tom across a gap he had no way of measuring—but there were still several cats on the wrong side of the terrifying hole.

Stormfur crouched on the far side, bracing his claws against the rock. “Come on,” he called to Weaselpaw, a WindClan apprentice. “It’s safe on this side. You can jump it easily.”

Weaselpaw stared down at the shadows, his eyes stretched wide.

“The others will freeze waiting for you,” Stormfur growled, losing his patience. “Just jump!”

Weaselpaw looked up and blinked. He crouched, keeping his weight well back on his haunches, then leaped across with his front legs outstretched. Stormfur caught him by the scruff as he landed, grunting with the effort. He gave him a nudge up the path and turned to the next cat.

“My kits can’t jump that!” Tallpoppy shrank back.

“Can you pass them over?” Stormfur meowed.

Tallpoppy flattened her ears. “It’s too far!”

“I’ll take them.” Crowpaw squeezed carefully past Stormfur and jumped the gap to land in front of Tallpoppy. She stared at him, her eyes filled with fear. “I won’t drop them,” he promised. He picked up the smallest and padded to the edge of the hole. The kit struggled beneath his chin, its terrified mewls echoing around the chasm. Tallpoppy watched, huge-eyed, as Crowpaw jumped. Pebbles showered from the ledge as he landed beside Stormfur, but he kept his footing.

Leafpaw was amazed by his agility.

“Make sure he stays put,” he meowed, placing the kit gently on the ledge. Then he turned and leaped back for the next.

When all three were safely over, Tallpoppy followed, clearing the gap easily with her long legs. “Thank you,” she breathed.

She pressed her muzzle against each of her kits before nudging them gently onward, up the slope.

“Let’s get the others across,” Crowpaw mewed to Stormfur. “You stay on this side; “I’ll go to the other.”

When it was Leafpaw’s turn, her paws trembled so hard that she was afraid they would shake her right over the edge.

“It’s okay,” Crowpaw murmured. “It’s not as hard as it looks.”

Leafpaw felt his warm breath on her fur and tried to concentrate on that instead of the gaping hole before her. She knew that back home, with nothing but the soft forest floor beneath her, she would leap this far without thinking. But here, the gap seemed to drag at her like a black river, pulling her down, down, down…

“Don’t think about it!” Stormfur called.

Leafpaw screwed up her eyes, feeling the lip of stone under her paws. StarClan, help me! She crouched down and sprang, landing in a skid that made her paws sting.

“Well done!” Stormfur yowled.

Leafpaw shuffled around and saw Sorreltail waiting to jump. She shrank back as Sorreltail hurtled toward her and skittered dangerously near the edge. Leafpaw lunged and grabbed her scruff.

“Thanks,” Sorreltail breathed shakily.

“That’s okay,” Leafpaw muttered through a mouthful of tortoiseshell fur.

“Hurry and catch up with the others,” Stormfur mewed.

“We’ll make sure the rest get over in one piece.”