CHAPTER 14

The cold air chilled Firepaw’s bones as blackness

wrapped itself around him. He could hear nothing, and his

nostrils were fil ed with the musty scent of damp earth.

Out of nowhere, a bril iant bal of light flared in front of

him. Firepaw ducked his head, screwing up his eyes

against the glare. The light shone, dazzling coldly like a

star; then it blinked out, disappearing as quickly as it had

come. The darkness fel away, and Firepaw found himself

in the forest. He felt comforted by the familiar smel s of the

woods. He breathed in the moist green scents, and

calmness flowed through his body.

Without warning, a dreadful noise burst from the trees.

Firepaw’s fur bristled. It was the screeching of terrified cats

racing out from the bushes up ahead. Firepaw recognized

their ThunderClan pelts as they fled past him. He stood

rooted to the spot, unable to move. Then came great cats,

huge dark warriors, their eyes glittering cruel y. They

thundered toward him, pounding the earth with massive

paws, their claws unsheathed. And out of the shadows,

Firepaw heard a high, desperate cry fil ed with grief and

rage. Graypaw!

Firepaw woke, horrified. His dream vanished, leaving

his ears ringing and his fur standing on end. As he opened

his eyes, he saw the face of Tigerclaw peering into the den.

Firepaw leaped to his feet, instantly alert.

“Something wrong, Firepaw? ” asked Tigerclaw.

“Just a dream, ” Firepaw mumbled.

Tigerclaw gave him a curious look, then growled, “Wake

the others. We leave shortly. ”

Outside the den, the sky glowed with a new dawn, and

dew sparkled on the ferns. It would be a warm day once the

sun was up, but the early-morning dampness reminded

Firepaw that the time of leaf-fal was not far off.

Firepaw, Graypaw, and Ravenpaw quickly gulped down

the herbs that Spottedleaf had given them. Tigerclaw and

Bluestar sat watching them, ready to leave. The rest of the

camp was stil asleep.

“Ugh! ” complained Graypaw. “I knew they’d be bitter.

Why couldn’t we eat a fat, juicy mouse instead? ”

“These herbs wil keep your hunger at bay longer, ”

answered Bluestar. “And they wil make you strong. We

have a long journey ahead of us. ”

“Have you eaten yours already? ” Firepaw asked.

“I cannot eat if I’m going to share dreams with StarClan

at the Moonstone tonight, ” replied Bluestar.

Firepaw felt his paws tingle when he heard these words.

He was itching to begin the journey. With the dawn’s light

and the familiar voices, the terror of his dream had left him.

Al that remained was the memory of the bril iant light, and

Bluestar’s words sent a renewed thril of excitement through

him.

The five cats made their way through the gorse tunnel

and out of the camp.

Lionheart was just returning with a patrol. “Safe journey, ”

he meowed.

Bluestar nodded. “I know I can trust you to keep the

camp safe, ” she answered.

Lionheart looked at Graypaw and dipped his head.

“Remember, ” he meowed, “you are almost a warrior. Don’t

forget what I have taught you. ”

Graypaw looked back at Lionheart with affection. “I wil

always remember, Lionheart, ” he mewed, nudging his head

against the tabby’s broad golden flank.

They retraced their route to Fourtrees. This was the

quickest way to pass into WindClan territory. HighStones

lay beyond.

As Firepaw bounded down the side of the glade toward

the Great Rock, he could stil smel the scents of last night’s

Gathering. He fol owed the others through the grassy

clearing and up the slope on the other side, into WindClan

territory. The bushy slope became steeper as they climbed,

and rockier, until the cats had to leap from boulder to

boulder up the side of a craggy cliff face.

Firepaw paused when they reached the top. Ahead of

them, the ground flattened out into a wide plateau. The wind

blew in a steady gust that rippled the grass and bent the

trees. The soil was stony, and outcroppings of bare rock

dotted the landscape here and there.

The air stil carried the scents of WindClan, but they

were stale. Much fresher, and more alarming, were the

pungent markings of ShadowClan warriors.

“Al Clans are entitled to safe passage to the

Moonstone, but ShadowClan seems to have no respect for

the warrior code anymore, so be alert, ” warned Bluestar.

“We mustn’t hunt outside our territory, though. We’l fol ow

the warrior code, even if ShadowClan doesn’t. ”

They set off across the plateau as the sun rose into the

sky, fol owing the tracks through the heather. Firepaw had

grown used to living under a canopy of trees. Without their

shade, his flame-colored pelt felt heavy and hot, and his

back seemed to burn. He was thankful for the steady

breeze blowing from the forests behind.

Suddenly Tigerclaw stopped dead. “Watch out! ” he

hissed. “I smel a ShadowClan patrol. ”

Firepaw and the others lifted their noses, and sure

enough, the scent of ShadowClan warriors traveled on the

wind.

“They are upwind. They won’t know we are here if we

keep moving, ” meowed Bluestar. “But we must hurry. If they

move ahead they’l detect us. It’s not far to the edge of

WindClan territory now. ”

They moved on quickly, leaping over the rocks, pushing

their way through the sweet-smel ing heather. Every few

steps, Firepaw sniffed the air and glanced over his

shoulder, on the lookout for the ShadowClan patrol. But

gradual y the odor grew fainter and fainter. They must have

turned back, he thought with relief.

Final y they reached the edge of the uplands. The

landscape changed dramatical y, shaped and altered

beyond recognition by Twolegs. Wide earth tracks

crisscrossed green and golden meadows, smal woods

dotted the land, and Twoleg nests were scattered here and

there among the fields. In the distance Firepaw saw a

familiar wide, gray path, and an acid tang that stung his

throat drifted on the breeze.

“Is that the Thunderpath? ” he asked Graypaw.

“Yes, ” replied Graypaw. “It runs up from ShadowClan

territory. Can you see HighStones behind it? ”

Firepaw looked at the distant horizon. The land rose

sharply up to a point, jagged and barren. “Do we have to

cross the Thunderpath then? ”

“Yep, ” mewed Graypaw. His voice was strong and

confident, almost cheerful, as he faced the difficult journey.

“Come on! ” Bluestar meowed. She bounded forward.

“We can be there by moonrise as long as we keep up the

pace. ”

Firepaw fol owed her with the others, down the hil, away

from the bleak hunting grounds of WindClan and into the

lush Twoleg territory.

Keeping near the hedges, the cats walked on. Once or

twice Firepaw could smel prey-scent from the bushes, but

Spottedleaf’s herbs had succeeded in taking the edge off

his hunger. The sun was stil hot on his back, even in the

shadows of the hedgerows.

They skirted a Twoleg nest. It stood on a wide expanse

of hard white stone, with smal er nests round the edges.

Keeping low, the cats crept past the fence that surrounded

the white stone. A sudden barrage of barking and snarling

made them spin around.

Dogs! Firepaw’s heart missed a beat. He arched his

back, fur bristling from nose to tail.

Tigerclaw peered through the fence. “It’s al right. They’re

tied up! ” he hissed.

Firepaw looked at the two dogs scrabbling on the stone

barely ten tail-lengths away. They were nothing like the

pampered pets that lived in the gardens of the

Twolegplace. These creatures stared at him with wild,

kil ing eyes. They strained at their ties and reared up on

their hind legs. They growled and barked, their lips drawn

back to reveal huge teeth, until the shout of an unseen

Twoleg silenced them. The cats moved on.

The sun was beginning to sink by the time they reached

the Thunderpath. Bluestar signaled to them to stop and wait

beneath a hedge. His eyes and throat stinging from the

fumes, Firepaw watched as the great monsters flashed to

and fro in front of him.

“We’l go one at a time, ” meowed Tigerclaw.

“Ravenpaw, you first. ”

“No, Tigerclaw, ” Bluestar interrupted. “I shal go first.

Don’t forget, this wil be the first time of crossing for the

apprentices. Let them see how it is done. ”

Firepaw stared at his leader as she padded to the edge

of the Thunderpath and looked up and down. She waited

calmly as one monster after another flew past her, ruffling

her fur. Then, when the earsplitting roar paused for a

moment, she raced across to the other side.

“Off you go, Ravenpaw; now you’ve seen how it’s done, ”

meowed Tigerclaw.

Firepaw saw Ravenpaw’s eyes widen with fear. He

knew just how his friend felt. He could smel his own fear-

scent. The smal black cat crept forward to the edge of the

road. It was quiet, but Ravenpaw hesitated.

“Go! ” hissed Tigerclaw from the hedge. Firepaw saw

Ravenpaw’s muscles tighten as he prepared to run. Then

the ground began to tremble beneath his paws. A monster

sped out of the distance and hurtled past. The black cat

shrank back for a moment, then pelted over to join Bluestar.

A monster coming in the other direction threw dust up

where his paws had been just a heartbeat before. Firepaw

felt his fur shiver and he took a deep breath to calm himself.

Graypaw was lucky. A long lul let him cross safely. Then

it was Firepaw’s turn.

“Go on, then, ” growled Tigerclaw. Firepaw looked from

Tigerclaw to the Thunderpath, and then walked out from

beneath the hedge. He waited at the edge, as Bluestar had

done. A monster was rushing toward him. Firepaw looked

at the approaching monster. After this one, he thought, and

waited for it to pass. Suddenly his heart lurched as he

realized the monster had veered off the Thunderpath and

was bumping along the grass. It was heading straight for

him! A Twoleg was jeering from an opening in its side.

Firepaw leaped backward, claws out, battered by the storm

of wind from the Twoleg monster as it roared past him only

a whisker away. He crouched, trembling, in the dirt and

stared as it swerved back onto the path and disappeared

into the distance. Through the roaring of blood in his ears,

Firepaw realized the Thunderpath was quiet again, and he

raced across, running faster than he had ever done in his

life.

“I thought you were fresh-kil! ” cried Graypaw as Firepaw

cannoned into him, almost knocking him over.

“Me too! ” Firepaw gasped. He was trying to stop

shaking. He turned back to watch Tigerclaw dart over the

path toward them.

“Twolegs! ” he spat as he arrived at their side.

“Do you want to rest before we go on? ” Bluestar asked

Firepaw.

Firepaw looked up. The sun was low in the sky. “No, ” he

answered. “I’m okay. ” But he had leaped so frantical y out of

the monster’s way that his claws felt frayed and tender.

The cats carried on, with Bluestar in the lead. The earth

was darker on this side of the Thunderpath and the grass

felt coarser underpaw. As they approached the foot of

HighStones, the grass gave way to bare, rocky soil, dotted

with patches of heather. The land sloped up now, toward

the sky. Craggy rocks topped the slope, blazing orange in

the sun.

Bluestar stopped once more. She chose a sun-warmed

rock to sit upon, flat and wide enough for al five cats to rest

side by side.

“Look, ” she meowed, tilting her nose toward the dark

slope before them. “Mothermouth. ”

Firepaw peered upward. The glare of the setting sun

blinded him, and the slope was engulfed in shadow.

The cats waited in silence. Gradual y, as the sun

dropped down behind HighStones, Firepaw began to

make out the cave entrance, a square black hole that

yawned darkly beneath a stone archway.

“We’l wait here until the moon is higher, ” meowed

Bluestar. “You should hunt if you are hungry and then get

some rest. ”

Firepaw was pleased to have a chance to find food. He

was starving now. Graypaw clearly felt the same and

leaped away into a clump of heather, fol owing the prey-

scent that was thick in the air. Firepaw and Ravenpaw

fol owed him. Tigerclaw set off in the opposite direction, but

Bluestar remained where she was. She sat stil and silent,

gazing unblinkingly at Mothermouth.

The three apprentices gathered plenty of fresh-kil. With

Tigerclaw they crouched on the stony hil side and feasted.

But in spite of their easy hunt, no cat said much, and the air

stil felt thick with tension and anticipation.

Afterward, the cats rested beside their leader until the

warmth had seeped out of the rock on which they lay and

cold black shadows reached up on al sides. Only then did

Bluestar cal out, “Come. It is time. ”