Warriors: Power Of Three 4 - Eclipse (23 page)

Hollypaw pressed her muzzle against Squirrelflight’s cheek.

“She’s hardly breathing.” Her mother’s eyes were beginning to close. “Stay awake!” Hollypaw begged. She spotted Lionpaw and Foxpaw returning with wads of cobweb hanging from their jaws. Thank StarClan! “Over here!”

Lionpaw darted to his mother’s side.

“Give me those.” Leafpool dragged the cobwebs from his mouth and began padding Squirrelflight’s wound. She beckoned Foxpaw over, taking his cobwebs too. “Go to the pool in my den,” she told him, not looking up. “Fetch soaked moss.

Quick as you can.”

Lionpaw was staring at his mother in horror.

“You too!” Leafpool growled. “Quickly!”

Lionpaw and Foxpaw darted away.

Jaypaw must have heard the commotion. He left Brambleclaw, his paws still wet with ointment, and began weaving his way through the wounded warriors.

Brambleclaw watched him go, surprise lighting his eyes, then looked past him and saw Squirrelflight. He charged around the clearing, Jaypaw’s poultice crumbling from his flank as he ran. He stopped beside Hollypaw. “What’s wrong?”

“Belly wound,” Hollypaw whispered.

“How’d it happen?”

Sandstorm shook her head. “She was fighting beside me on the shore, but I thought she was okay. She was never down for more than a moment.”

Brambleclaw crouched beside his mate. “Don’t leave me,”

he begged.

Squirrelflight’s eyes flickered open at the sound of his voice, then closed again.

He nudged her with his muzzle. “You’ll be okay. Leafpool won’t let you die.”

Hollypaw stared hopefully at Leafpool, but the medicine cat was too busy working on Squirrelflight’s wound to look up. Jaypaw slid in beside her and began holding cobwebs in place as Leafpool applied fresh padding.

Lionpaw returned and dropped a wad of dripping moss beside her. She snatched it up and began washing away the blood. “Fetch more!”

Squirrelflight didn’t flinch at the cold water. She was too deeply unconscious.

Hollypaw leaned in closer. “She’s going to be all right, isn’t she?”

Brambleclaw started to lick Squirrelflight’s cheek. “Sleep well, my lovely. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“What’s happened?” Firestar was staring down at Squirrelflight, his eyes round with shock.

“Get back, all of you!” Leafpool suddenly snapped.

Blood roared in Hollypaw’s ears. She’s going to die! She stepped back, numbly, and brushed against Brambleclaw. Her father was trembling.

“Hollypaw!” Leafpool was staring directly at her. “Go to my den and fetch oak leaves.”

Oak leaves. Oak leaves. She tried to focus, terrified she’d forget, her mind in a whirl of panic.

In the medicine cat’s den, she reached into the gap in the rock and dragged out a pawful of leaves. Sifting through them, she separated out the oak leaves. At least they were easy to recognize. She picked them up in her jaws and hurried back to Leafpool.

“Do you want me to chew them up?” she offered, dropping them beside Leafpool.

“Jaypaw can do that.”

Hollypaw stepped out of the way. Lionpaw was staring down at his mother, his eyes lit with fury. He wants to know who did this.

She realized she was trembling like a kit. She closed her eyes and felt Sandstorm press against her.

“If anyone can save her, Leafpool will.”

Hollypaw leaned against Sandstorm, thankful for her warmth, while Leafpool and Jaypaw finished packing Squirrelflight’s wound.

Leafpool looked up. “I’ve done all I can,” she meowed. “It’s in the paws of StarClan now.” She picked up a wad of moss and held it to Squirrelflight’s lips, letting the water drip into her mouth.

After a few moments, Squirrelf light swallowed. Was that a good sign?

“She needs a warm nest,” Leafpool explained. “But I daren’t move her yet in case her wound opens up again.” She gazed at Hollypaw and Lionpaw. “Can I rely on you to build a nest around her?”

Hollypaw nodded. Of course they would!

“Fern, moss, feathers, whatever you can find,” Leafpool went on. “She needs to stay warm and still.” She got to her paws. “Jaypaw, watch her, and report to me if there’s any change. I have to see to the other wounded cats.” She looked at Brightheart, who was moving among the warriors with a bundle of herbs in her mouth. “Brightheart can’t manage all this alone.”

Firestar stepped forward and rested his muzzle on Leafpool’s head. “I’m proud of you.”

“I just hope I’ve done enough,” Leafpool murmured.

Firestar turned to his mate. “You must be exhausted. You should eat and rest.”

Sandstorm’s green eyes flashed. “She’s my kit! I’m not leaving her!”

Hollypaw felt a thorn-sharp stab in her heart. She’s my mother, too! She can’t die!

“Come on.” Hollypaw felt Lionpaw’s tail brush her flank.

“Let’s build her a nest.”

Foxpaw and Icepaw sat huddled a tail-length away. Had they been watching all the time?

“Can we help?” Foxpaw mewed.

“We need to find stuff for a nest,” Lionpaw told them.

“Anything soft and warm will do.”

As Foxpaw and Icepaw hurried away, Hollypaw noticed that Firestar and Brambleclaw were already below Highledge in deep conversation with Graystripe, Dustpelt, and Thornclaw. Their eyes were dark and their voices low. She pricked her ears, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying.

“Surely the battle is over?” she mewed. “What’s left to talk about?”

“The battle wasn’t won or lost,” Lionpaw pointed out. “The vanishing sun stopped it. Now that the sun’s back, WindClan might return to finish what they started.”

“They can’t!” Hollypaw bristled in shock. “StarClan has told us that we mustn’t fight!”

“If it was StarClan who hid the sun,” Lionpaw muttered.

Foxpaw came hurrying back with a large feather fluttering from his mouth. “Will this do?” He sneezed, and the feather shot into the air and drifted onto the ground.

“It’s a start,” Lionpaw mewed. “But I think we should look outside the camp. We’ll need a lot of bedding.”

Hollypaw glanced at Squirrelflight, lying on her side. Her flanks were hardly moving, and she looked small and cold.

Jaypaw was pressed close to her, his muzzle resting beside hers as though he were listening to her breathing.

“Come on,” Lionpaw urged. He led the way through the entrance and out into the forest.

Hollypaw gazed around in surprise. It’s so peaceful. As if nothing’s happened. The sun streamed through the branches, and birds sang in the trees. A few leaves drifted down. Leaf-fall drew closer by the day. Many of the ferns were browning into bracken, too brittle and hard for a nest.

She padded after Lionpaw, her exhaustion returning. Here and there a flattened clump of grass or a scrap of fur caught on bramble reminded her of the battle just fought, and the sting of her wounds began to prick her once more.

“These ones are soft.” Lionpaw stopped beside a green swath of ferns. He began to tug at a frond with his teeth, haul-ing it out of the ground.

Hollypaw grabbed another in her jaws and heaved it out of the clump. They worked steadily until they’d gathered a thick pile.

“Foxpaw!” Lionpaw called to their denmate.

“We’re coming!”

The undergrowth rustled, and Foxpaw and Icepaw appeared with great wads of moss hanging from their jaws.

“I think we’ve got enough,” Lionpaw decided. He hooked his paw over the pile of ferns and began to drag them back toward camp. Hollypaw followed, shoving the fronds together when the pile began to loosen and scatter. She was so tired that the edges of her vision blurred, and the forest seemed to sway about her.

“We would have won anyway,” Lionpaw puffed as they neared the barrier.

Really? Hollypaw wasn’t so sure. Swerving wearily to avoid a thin trail of blood, she felt as though all four Clans had lost something, though she wasn’t sure what.

Squirrelflight hadn’t moved when they reached her. Jaypaw was still curled beside her. He looked up as they neared, then stood and stretched. “Put the moss underneath her,” he instructed. “The ground’s very hard.”

Hollypaw pushed one bundle under Squirrelflight’s shoulders, another under her haunches, then gently patted a swath around her belly. Her mother’s fur was stiff with dried blood and smelled of herbs. Daisy had brought feathers from the nursery, and, while Lionpaw bunched ferns around Squirrelflight, Hollypaw laid the feathers over her to keep her warm.

When they’d finished, Jaypaw settled beside her again, resting his chin on her shoulder.

“Come and eat!” Brambleclaw called them over to the fresh-kill pile. Only a few morsels remained. There hadn’t been time for hunting today.

Lionpaw padded away, but Hollypaw stayed where she was.

She was too tired to eat, her belly hard with grief. She wasn’t going to leave her mother’s side again. She curled up beside Squirrelflight’s head and, breathing softly against her mother’s cool ear, closed her eyes.

Please don’t let this battle take her away from me.

Lionpaw swallowed his last mouthful. He had hardly tasted the mouse, but it had quieted his rumbling belly. He glanced up at the sun shining high in the clear blue sky. Would it disappear again?

What’s happening? Heatherpaw’s terrified mew echoed in his mind.

He could not trust her.

He could not trust the sun.

He could only trust himself and his Clan.

The clearing was slowly emptying as Firestar moved from cat to cat, sending them to their dens to rest.

Squirrelflight lay in her makeshift nest with Hollypaw and Jaypaw curled beside her. Leafpool was checking her again.

“You must rest,” Firestar urged the medicine cat.

Leafpool was swaying on her paws. “What about the other injuries?”

“Brightheart will see to them and fetch you if you’re needed.” Firestar looked at the one-eyed she-cat who was prowling from den to den, peering in to check on the cats inside.

“She’ll need rest too,” Leafpool argued.

“And she’ll get it, once you’ve had some sleep.”

Leafpool blinked, her whiskers trembling as she stifled a yawn. “Okay,” she agreed. “But wake me if there’s any problem.” She was looking at Squirrelflight.

Hollypaw nuzzled closer to her mother, pressing her nose against Squirrelflight’s ear as though she could make her better by wishing it so. Lionpaw’s shoulders tensed, and he dug his claws into the soft earth. If he could fight Squirrelflight’s battle for her, he knew he would win. Frustration stung his paws. This was a battle she must fight alone.

Firestar’s muzzle brushed his ear. “Shouldn’t you be resting too?”

“I’m not tired.” He stared into Firestar’s clear green gaze.

Firestar blinked first. “Come on, then. We need to decide what happens now.”

Lionpaw followed him to where Dustpelt, Ashfur, and Brambleclaw were sharing a rabbit with Cloudtail and Sandstorm.

Sandstorm looked up as they approached, and nudged a mouthful of the prey toward Firestar. “You must be hungry.”

“I’ll eat once the fresh-kill pile’s been restocked,” Firestar replied.

Sandstorm stared at him, then glanced down at the morsel she’d offered. “You need your strength as much as any cat.”

Firestar sat down, his shoulders sagging, and took the piece of rabbit. “Thank you.”

Brambleclaw was sitting uncomfortably, the thorn stab in his side clearly hurting. Lionpaw swallowed the growl rising in his throat. No other cat was going to suffer because of Heatherpaw’s betrayal! He sat down. Now they would plan revenge on WindClan and RiverClan. The cowards! Their sneaky attack wasn’t worthy of true warriors. ThunderClan would make them pay for what they’d done.

“Do you think it’ll disappear again?” Dustpelt’s tail was bushed out.

Ashfur hadn’t washed the blood from his paws yet. He scored a line in the dust with one red-stained claw. “This might just be the start.”

“We mustn’t panic,” Firestar meowed, swallowing. “We have to believe this was simply a message, nothing more.”

Is that al they’re going to talk about? The vanishing sun? Lionpaw could hardly believe his ears.

“But what if it wasn’t a message?” Dustpelt argued. “What if the sun is starting to fail?”

“It’s never failed before,” Sandstorm argued. “Why should it fail now?”

“It’s never disappeared before,” Ashfur pointed out. “But it just did.”

“Surely it must just have been StarClan’s way of warning us to stop fighting?” Brambleclaw meowed.

“Why warn us?” Dustpelt growled. “We didn’t start the battle!”

“Perhaps it was just a strange cloud that hid it,” Cloudtail reasoned. Lionpaw knew the warrior had been born in a Twoleg nest and had never really believed in StarClan.

“Where did the cloud come from?” Ashfur challenged.

“Where did it disappear to? The sky was clear.”

Cloudtail shrugged. “There must be some explanation.”

Dustpelt flicked his tail. “StarClan,” he insisted. “Who else could it be?”

What does it matter? Lionpaw’s belly churned with fury. The battle with WindClan hadn’t been won. It had to be finished once and for all if they were ever to sleep soundly in their dens. The sun didn’t matter. Enemies had to be dealt with.

He scraped the ground with his claws.

“Have you got something to say?”

Lionpaw realized that Brambleclaw was staring at him.

I’ve got plenty to say! He got to his paws. “We need to teach WindClan a lesson!” he declared. “They can’t invade us without suffering the consequences.”

Brambleclaw shook his head. “Enough blood has been spilled, Lionpaw.”

“The battle’s finished,” Firestar agreed. “We need to find out what the vanishing sun means.”

“Will Leafpool go to the Moonpool and share tongues with StarClan?” Sandstorm asked.

Firestar glanced at Squirrelflight on the far side of the clearing. “Once our wounded cats are well enough to manage without her.”

“I hope that’s soon,” Dustpelt muttered.

Ashfur’s pelt smoothed. “The sooner the better.”

Lionpaw pawed the ground. Why wait to find out if their ancestors knew the answer? This wasn’t the time for questions. This was the time for action! There was a battle to be fought. A betrayal to avenge. “Why can’t we just—”