Leafpool’s Wish

Leafpool whirled around and jumped onto the moss, ripping it to shreds. “Take that!” she hissed. “You won’t get away from me!” She looked up at the dark gray tom, laughter bubbling inside her. “I haven’t played this game since I was a kit!” she mewed.

Crowfeather narrowed his eyes. “I can tell!”

Leafpool launched herself at him, knocking him onto the fallen leaves. “Think I can’t hunt, hmmm? I can catch you anytime I want!” She found herself standing over him, gazing down into his blue eyes.

“I’d never run away from you,” Crowfeather whispered. “Ow!”

Leafpool jumped backward. “Did I hurt you?”

Crowfeather was sitting up and licking at the base of his spine. “No, I think I lay on a thistle.”

“Let me look.” Leafpool pushed his muzzle away and parted the hair on his back. “There’s a tiny prickle stuck in you. Hold still…” She bent closer and gripped the end of the thorn in her teeth. It slid free easily, and Leafpool rubbed the spot with her paw. “There, you’ll live!”

Crowfeather nuzzled her cheek. “Thank StarClan I had a medicine cat to save me!”

“Let’s climb a tree!” Leafpool suggested. She walked over to a moss-covered oak and stared up at the branches.

Crowfeather padded over to join her. “I don’t see why we can’t stay on the ground,” he muttered. “We’re cats, not squirrels!”

“Come on,” Leafpool urged. “You know it’s not as hard as it looks, and the view from the top is worth it!” She jumped up to the lowest branch and used her front paws to haul herself onto the next one. Crowfeather followed, moving more carefully than Leafpool, but light-footed and nimble thanks to his slender frame. The branches were strong and dry, with deeply-ridged bark that made it easy to grip with their claws. Leafpool was hardly out of breath when she reached the top of the oak and broke through the leaves. Crowfeather popped out beside her, clinging so hard to the slender branch that Leafpool felt it sway beneath them.

“It’s okay,” she mewed. “I won’t let you fall.”

Crowfeather blinked. “Neither of us has wings, Leafpool, so you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t like how high up we are.”

“But look how far we can see!”

They were on the other side of the ridge from the lake, out of sight of any of the Clan territories. In front of them, the land unrolled in dips and curves all the way to the dark line of mountains on the horizon. Here and there, Twoleg dens clustered in small reddish groups, but mostly the view was empty.

Leafpool shuffled closer to Crowfeather and leaned her head against his shoulder. His pelt smelled of grass and the breeze, with a faint hint of rabbit underneath. “There is so much land beyond our homes,” she whispered.

Crowfeather rubbed his chin on the top of her head. “Somewhere out there is a place we can be together all the time. You know that, don’t you, Leafpool?”

Still tucked against him, she nodded. “I wonder if we’ll ever find it,” she murmured.

She felt the dark gray cat tense beside her. “I would give my last breath trying,” he vowed.

Suddenly a gust of wind rocked the top of the tree. In a heartbeat, Crowfeather was flung off the branch. Leafpool shrieked in horror as his body plunged downward. She tried to jump down after him, but the wind was so fierce that the branch leaped and bucked beneath her. She clung on, flattening her ears, as rain pelted against her and the forest and the view disappeared in swirling darkness.

“Help!” she wailed. “Crowfeather!”

The branch under her paws vanished and her claws scraped against cold stone. The wind faded and Leafpool realized she was standing beside the Moonpool. A pair of eyes gleamed in the shadows and a familiar scent wreathed around her.

“Spottedleaf!” she mewed in relief.

The tortoiseshell she-cat walked forward. Her pelt glowed with starlight and her eyes were like tiny yellow moons.

Leafpool felt her kits cold and unmoving in her belly. Had the journey through the storm harmed them? “Are my kits all right?” she begged.

“Yes, they are well,” Spottedleaf meowed. Her voice cracked with sorrow. “Oh, Leafpool, what you have done? You foolish cat!”

Leafpool flinched, feeling the lash of Spottedleaf’s tongue like a blow. “But I…”

“You can’t make excuses,” Spottedleaf warned. “It’s too late for that, don’t you think?”

“Spottedleaf, hush!” A thick-furred gray cat lumbered across the stone. Her flattened muzzle and stained teeth shone with the same light as her Clanmate. “Leafpool knows what she has done.”

Spottedleaf narrowed her eyes. “If you can see a way out of this, you’re a wiser cat than I am, Yellowfang.”

The old medicine cat twitched one matted ear. “Wisdom comes in many shapes. Now, leave us alone.” She pointed into the shadows with her nose. Spottedleaf glanced once more at Leafpool, then padded away.