Darkest Night

Violetpaw wrinkled her nose. She could still feel the bitterness of the traveling herbs on her tongue. She swiped it around her lips, hoping to get rid of the taste.

Hawkwing’s whiskers twitched. “You didn’t like the herbs?”

“No.” Violetpaw shuddered.

They were standing near the camp entrance, waiting to leave. Blossomheart and Rabbitleap, Violetpaw’s mentor, crouched beside them, sharing a mouse while Molewhisker paced beside the stream.

Rabbitleap looked up. “Have you eaten?” he asked Violetpaw.

“Only the traveling herbs.” Violetpaw had been too nervous to eat anything else. She’d never traveled so far beyond Clan territory before.

“It’s a long journey,” Rabbitleap reminded her. “I don’t know when we’ll be able to stop and hunt.”

“The traveling herbs will stop her getting hungry for a while.” Hawkwing said, watching the nursery. Tinycloud’s kitting had started before dawn. Leafpool was with her.

The ThunderClan medicine cat had arrived two days ago, just after half-moon. She had been tending to Finpaw, who was recovering from his accident but was still confined to his nest. The stock of herbs that Leafpool had brought with her had been safely stored in the hollow beneath the cedar tree, and she’d made her nest there. She’d moved Finpaw there too, so she could watch over him. Molewhisker had joined her in the SkyClan camp yesterday after Macgyver had gone to fetch him from ThunderClan.

Now it was nearly time to leave for the gorge, and Violetpaw was so nervous that she felt as though frogs were jumping inside her belly. She wished Twigpaw were coming with them, but Twigpaw had asked to stay behind to help finish building the new camp. Violetpaw could see her tail now, sticking out from beneath the juniper bush where she was hollowing out the space for the apprentices’ den.

“How far is it to the gorge?” Violetpaw asked Hawkwing, trying not to imagine the dogs and Twolegs and unfamiliar land that lay between here and there.

Molewhisker answered. “It may take a quarter moon.” Blue sky showed through the branches above the camp. “But the weather is with us.”

Blossomheart swallowed the last of her share of the mouse and sat up. “Leaf-fall weather can be changeable.” She licked her paw and ran it over her face.

“A little rain won’t hurt us,” Hawkwing meowed.

As he spoke, Leafpool’s face appeared at the nursery entrance. She slid out, blinking happily at Sparrowpelt, who was pacing anxiously outside. Leafstar was with him, and both cats lifted their tails excitedly as Leafpool shared the news.

“You have three newborn kits,” the medicine cat announced happily. “A tom and two she-kits.” She dipped her head to Sparrowpelt. “You can go and see them if you like.”

“Thank you!” Purring loudly, the brown tabby tom squeezed through the entrance.

“Is Tinycloud okay?” Leafstar asked when he’d gone.

“She’s tired,” Leafpool told her. “But she did fine. Perhaps Sparrowpelt could sleep in the nursery for a few days to keep her company? A new litter can be daunting.”

“Of course.” Leafstar glanced toward the party preparing to leave.

As Leafpool turned back toward the nursery, the SkyClan leader headed toward her deputy. “May StarClan guide your paws,” she meowed.

Hawkwing flicked his tail. “With Molewhisker’s help.”

Leafstar blinked at the ThunderClan tom. “Are you sure you know the way?”

He nodded.

Violetpaw looked around the camp. Even though SkyClan had been here only a short while, it felt like home. She would miss the sound of the stream and the swishing branches of the pine forest.

Hawkwing seemed to sense her unease. He swept his tail along her spine. “We’ll be home soon, hopefully with some more of our Clanmates.” He purred. “There are so many cats I want you to meet.”

Leafstar caught his eye. “I hope you find them.”

“We will find as many as we can,” Hawkwing promised. “Soon we will be a bustling Clan again.”

Wistfully, Leafstar held his gaze. “We will never be as we once were.”

The juniper bush shivered as Twigpaw scrambled from underneath. She raced across the camp, leaping the stream and stopping beside her sister. “Are you leaving now?” She rubbed her muzzle along Violetpaw’s jaw.

Violetpaw pressed against her. “I wish you were coming with me.”

“I’ll be here when you get back.” Twigpaw blinked at her brightly. “You’re going to have such an exciting time.”

Violetpaw shifted her paws nervously. “I hope so.”

“You will!” Twigpaw insisted. “Some cats never get to leave the forest. You’ll remember this journey forever, and you’ll always be known as one of the cats who helped reunite SkyClan.”

Twigpaw was always so positive. Sometimes Violetpaw wished she were more like her. But then she glanced at Hawkwing; being more like Twigpaw would mean being less like him, and she liked being like Hawkwing. One day she’d be as brave as him too.

“We should leave,” Molewhisker meowed, glancing at the sky once more. “I’d like to get to the Thunderpath before sunhigh.”

The Thunderpath? Violetpaw swallowed.