Darkest Night

Violetpaw glanced at her father. They’re not rebuilding SkyClan here, are they? They’re supposed to come back with us! But Hawkwing wasn’t looking at her as he padded around the hollow, mouth open as though breathing in old scents. “Darktail’s dead,” he mewed.

Mintfur’s eyes flashed maliciously. “Good.”

“And his rogues?” Nettlesplash narrowed his eyes.

“The Clans chased them off.” Rabbitleap bent to smell the fresh-kill pile. A thrush lay on top.

Fidgetpaw hurried to his side. “Help yourself.” He spread the prey out with his paw and stepped back to let the patrol choose from it.

Violetpaw glanced at Hawkwing. Her belly was hollow with hunger, but she didn’t want to steal prey from this tiny Clan. It might have taken them all day to fill the pile.

Hawkwing nodded her forward. “Take what you like. We can help restock the pile tomorrow.”

“There’s plenty of prey around here.” Fidgetpaw seemed to guess her reluctance. “It’s flourishing with so few cats to hunt it.”

The gorge cats hung back politely while their visitors took a piece of prey each, waiting for them to settle before choosing food for themselves.

Violetpaw sat beside Hawkwing and took a bite from a soft, juicy mouse. It was sweet, ripened by leaf-fall, and she relished the flavor on her tongue. Pleasure warmed her belly. They had made it to the gorge and found Clanmates. But would these cats return to the lake with them? She swallowed and licked her lips. “When are you going to ask them?” she murmured to Hawkwing as she took another mouthful.

“Ask us what?” Palepaw looked up from the robin she was eating, her ears twitching.

The other gorge cats paused and stared at Violetpaw. She froze, the mouse turning dry on her tongue, and wished she’d never spoken.

Hawkwing wrapped his tail around her. “We came to ask you to return to the lake with us. We’ve found the other Clans, and we have territory. The land is good. There is prey and shelter, and the other Clans say that Twolegs come in summer, but they don’t disturb our camps.”

The gorge cats looked at each other.

Gravelpaw blinked. “We can’t leave the gorge,” he mewed. “It’s our home.”

Mintfur looked thoughtful. “Our home is with SkyClan.”

“We are SkyClan,” Palepaw pointed out.

“We are,” Nettlesplash agreed. “But our leader and deputy are not with us.”

“Then they should come here,” Palepaw mewed.

Fidgetpaw peered out of the small hollow, his gaze following the stream as it flowed along the gorge. “I think StarClan would want us to be with the other Clans,” he meowed softly. “They led Leafstar and Hawkwing to the lake for a reason. I think we should go with them. The gorge will never be what it once was to us.” He looked from Mintfur to Nettlesplash.

“It might be good to leave the bad memories behind us,” Nettlesplash agreed.

Mintfur’s pelt ruffled. She looked at Fidgetpaw. “What about Frecklewish?”

Fidgetpaw dropped his gaze.

“We can’t abandon her!” Mintfur stared at him, her pelt twitching.

Hawkwing scrambled to his paws. “You know where she is?” He sounded amazed. “She’s been missing for so long, I thought she was dead.”

Fidgetpaw looked up, his eyes glittering in the half-light. “Twolegs took her,” he meowed darkly. “They’re holding her captive.”

“Where?”

Violetpaw heard excitement in her father’s mew.

Nettlesplash turned his vole over and took a bite. “Rest tonight, and in the morning we’ll show you.”

Violetpaw gazed out from the woods. Ahead, the forest opened onto stone where a huge Twoleg den rose into the sky. Violetpaw’s neck ached from craning to see the top. “It must touch the clouds,” she whispered breathlessly.

Blossomheart and Hawkwing flanked her. Rabbitleap, Nettlesplash, and Mintfur clustered beside them while Palepaw and Gravelpaw hung back in the shade of the trees with Fringepaw and Nectarpaw.

Fidgetpaw padded from the forest, his black-and-white fur glossy in the early morning light. Monsters slumbered on the stone at the far side of the nest. “It’s full of Twolegs.” His mew was tight with fear. “We’ve seen them come and go.”

Violetpaw’s pelt prickled anxiously. “It’s like a camp.”

“Full of nests,” Blossomheart breathed.

“It’s more like a beehive,” Mintfur growled.

“Why do they want to live so high in the air?” Bellaleaf asked. “They can’t fly.”

Fidgetpaw shrugged. “Perhaps it’s so they can see if danger’s coming.”

“Why do Twolegs need to look out for danger?” Blossomheart grunted. “They cause most of it.”

Hawkwing padded to Fidgetpaw’s side. “Is Frecklewish in there?”

Fidgetpaw looked up to a row of shiny squares near the top. “I’ve seen her through one of the clear walls up there.” He nodded to the trees that grew beside the great hive. Their tops reached just a little higher than Frecklewish’s prison. “From up there, I could see her moving around inside.”

“You’ve climbed to the top?” Violetpaw gasped, her paws prickling with fear.