Long Shadows

Jaypaw followed her, closing his eyes so that he could match her speed. So this is where the badgers lived, he thought, noticing strong badger scent for the first time; his mind had been so distracted by the changes to the Twoleg path and the stone hollow that he had missed it on the way there. The hollow must be out-of-bounds to the cats because it belonged to their enemies—not rival cats, but badgers. Maybe these were the ancestors of the badgers that came back to the forest, moons and moons later, and attacked ThunderClan, killing Cinderpelt. Did those badgers know that this had been their home once?

Jaypaw was relieved when the badger scents faded and Half

Moon finally slowed and flopped down on the cool grass. He wondered how she knew that they were safe here, when there were no border markings to separate their territory from the badgers’.

“I never thought so before,” he began carefully, “but isn’t it weird how the badgers never chase us here, when there’s nothing to stop them?”

Half Moon shrugged. “I guess there’s enough prey in the thicker part of the forest, so they don’t need to come out this far.” She glanced sideways at Jaypaw, clearly wanting to say something but not sure if she should. “I followed your scent,” she admitted. “I thought you might be in trouble. And I’ve got this for you.” She vanished under a bush and reappeared a heartbeat later with a blackbird in her jaws, which she dropped in front of Jaypaw. “I thought you might find it hard to hunt when your paws are sore.”

Jaypaw nodded, glad of the excuse but still feeling a bit guilty as he crouched in front of the blackbird. “Thanks. Do you want to share it with me?”

“I already ate, but I’ll have a mouthful, thanks.” Half Moon settled down on the opposite side of the prey.

While he ate, Jaypaw realized that he would need to learn how to hunt if he was going to stay here for any length of time.

But that could be tricky, when he was supposed to be a sharpclaw already.

“Will Furled Bracken give me any duties?” he asked Half Moon.

The white she-cat had taken one bite of the blackbird, then began to clean her face and whiskers with her paws. “You might have to hunt for the elders if no cat has any spare,” she mewed. “Don’t you remember how hard it rained last moon?

How Whispering Breeze had to catch prey for all of us because she’s the only cat who doesn’t mind getting her fur wet?”

“Oh, sure,” Jaypaw mumbled.

“I couldn’t believe it when she caught fish!” Half Moon purred. “I’d never tasted fish before.”

“Prey isn’t running well, is it?” Jaypaw thought that was a safe comment to make.

Half Moon shook her head. “Maybe Stone Song isn’t wrong when he says we should think about leaving.” Sadness clouded her eyes. “I remember you said the same.”

“Right,” Jaypaw meowed, relieved to know which side of the argument Jay’s Wing had taken. “There must be somewhere with more prey, and no Twolegs and badgers to bother us.”

“You really think there’s a place like that for us?”

Jaypaw nodded slowly. After all, the Clans found a new home for themselves when the Twolegs destroyed the old forest.

Except that the Clans came here.

Chapter 17

By the time Jaypaw was full, there was still quite a lot of the blackbird left. “Do you want any more?” he asked Half Moon.

The white she-cat shook her head. “We could take it to Owl Feather,” she suggested. “Her kits are hungry, and growing fast.”

“Good idea.” Jaypaw wanted to see as much of these cats and where they lived before he went back to ThunderClan. If he went back…

He and Half Moon picked up the remains of the blackbird and headed farther up the hill toward the tunnel entrance.

It seemed to be a popular daytime gathering place, like the clearing in the center of a camp. Several cats were scattered around it, dozing or sharing tongues; Jaypaw waved his tail at Dove’s Wing and Fish Leap as he passed, hoping he looked as if he knew where he was going.

He dropped back to follow Half Moon as she climbed farther up the slope until they broke clear of the trees. On the ridge, she dropped her chunk of blackbird and stood gazing out across the moorland. She pointed her muzzle at a faint purple line in the far distance.

“Stone Song thinks we should go that way,” she mewed.

As he put down his fresh-kill, Jaypaw felt the hair on his pelt start to rise and his paws tremble. Those were the mountains! Could these cats possibly be the ancestors of the Tribe?

Glancing sideways at Half Moon, he saw that she was compactly built, with strong haunches that looked as if they would be good for climbing trees. She didn’t have the wiry build of a Tribe cat.

“What do you think it would be like to travel so far?” Half

Moon asked.

“Hard.” Jaypaw tried to choose his words carefully. “The land that way could be very, very different from the land here.”

“How?”