Long Shadows

“What are the trees like? How big are they?” Jaypaw was beginning to sound excited. “What are their roots like?”

“Small trees,” Hollyleaf replied, wondering what was going through her brother’s mind. “Their roots look quite long and shallow, at least as far as I can see.”

Jaypaw fell silent, motionless except for his whiskers quivering.

“I don’t see what we can do here,” Hollyleaf mewed anxiously, wondering if they should have chosen somewhere else.

“There’s nothing to—”

“Shut up, I’m thinking,” Jaypaw snapped.

Hollyleaf exchanged a glance with Lionblaze.

“Leave him alone,” her brother whispered. “If any cat can work this out, he can.”

Hollyleaf hoped he was right. Trying to push down her impatience, she kept an eye on the three apprentices, who were stalking around the edge of the marshy ground, looking for prey.

“Nothing but pond flies!” Dawnpaw exclaimed indignantly.

“These trees.” Jaypaw broke his silence at last. “Do any of them look as if they could be knocked over?”

What? Has he gone completely mouse-brained? Hollyleaf flexed her claws and forced herself not to speak.

“I’ll check,” Lionblaze mewed. “There might be a few.”

He splashed off into the marsh with water brushing his belly fur and pondweed sticking to his golden pelt. The three apprentices left their hunt to watch, and Hollyleaf waited anxiously while Lionblaze circled several of the trees, giving their trunks a good sniff, then came splashing back.

“I think we could do it,” he reported. “I could feel roots under my paws, so we should be able to dig them up.”

“But why?” Hollyleaf only just stopped herself from wailing like a frustrated kit.

Jaypaw’s sightless blue eyes gleamed. “We’re going to make it look as if ShadowClan’s territory is falling down around them.”

Hollyleaf’s heart thumped harder. Only Jaypaw would have thought of digging up trees as a message from StarClan. If it worked, it should really convince Blackfoot that following Sol was wrong.

Under Jaypaw’s direction, Hollyleaf and Lionblaze chose two saplings, not too far from each other.

“I want them still upright, but ready to fall. And when I give the word, I want them to fall toward each other, so their branches are joined together,” Jaypaw explained. “Okay, get digging.”

Hollyleaf waded out into the marsh, flinching as cold mud and water soaked into her fur. Dawnpaw joined her at one of the trees, while Lionblaze and Tigerpaw tackled the other.

As Lionblaze had said, Hollyleaf found that she could easily feel the roots of the tree under her paws. She clawed at them vigorously, trying to dislodge them from the mud. At first she thought she wouldn’t be able to shift them at all.

“This is hopeless!” Dawnpaw gasped. She was belly deep in the thick mud, and drops of it were spattered over her head and shoulders. “We’ll never do it.”

“Yes, we will,” Hollyleaf growled, clawing even harder.

“We’ve got to!”

She staggered as the root she was tugging at gave way, barely saving herself from sliding under the mud. Her pelt burned with urgency as she scrabbled around to find another root and dug her claws into it.

A few fox-lengths away, Lionblaze was struggling with the other tree. Tigerpaw worked alongside him, but Flamepaw was standing back with a troubled look in his eyes.

“What’s the matter with you?” Tigerpaw asked, flicking mud from his ears. “Come and help!”

“I still don’t know…” Flamepaw mewed doubtfully. “I’m not sure it’s right to fake a sign from StarClan.”

Dawnpaw glanced over her shoulder. “We’ve been through this,” she hissed in exasperation. “We already agreed to try anything. This might just work, and let us go back to our own Clan.”

Flamepaw hesitated, then took a deep breath. “Okay.” He floundered forward into the mud beside Lionblaze and his brother.

Hollyleaf couldn’t shift the next root however hard she clawed. Growing desperate, she gulped in air, then plunged her head below the surface of the mud and bit down on the stubborn tendril. Mud oozed into her mouth as she gnawed at it. Her chest ached with the need to breathe, but at last the bitter strands parted. Hollyleaf resurfaced, coughing and spitting out mud. Her fur was plastered with it and a foul taste clung to her tongue, but she didn’t care. Triumph flared through her from ears to tail-tip. I’ll do whatever it takes to save ShadowClan!

“I think we’ve done it!” Dawnpaw exclaimed. “The trunk feels unsteady.”

Hollyleaf gave the sapling an experimental push. The trunk tilted and a sucking sound came from under the surface of the mud.

“Stop!” Jaypaw ordered. He had been sniffing at Lionblaze’s tree; now he splashed across to Hollyleaf and stretched out a paw to touch the trunk of her tree. Hollyleaf saw it wobble again.

“That’s it,” Jaypaw meowed. “You can stop now.”

“Thank StarClan!” Dawnpaw sighed.