Sign Of The Moon

“We did it!” Fish Leap croaked.

“Yes, we did.” Stone Song’s gaze rested on Jayfeather. “Jay’s Wing, your plan to protect our hunters just might work. At least to find enough food until we leave.” Waving his tail at the rest of the patrol, he added, “Come on. Let’s go and tell the others.”

He led the way down the rocks beside the waterfall, leaving Jayfeather and Half Moon alone on the cliff top.

“I was so scared for you,” Half Moon murmured, brushing her muzzle along his flank. “And I’m so proud of you! If we had kits, just think how brave they would be!”

Kits! “Half Moon…” he began awkwardly.

Before he could say more, he saw another cat emerge from behind one of the boulders at the water’s edge. Rock! Not now, please!

The sightless cat stood waiting; though she was looking in that direction, Half Moon had no idea that he was there.

“Why don’t you go down with the others?” Jayfeather suggested. “I’ll follow you in a moment.”

“Okay.” There was a trace of disappointment in Half Moon’s green eyes, but she headed down the cliff without protesting.

“What do you want now?” Jayfeather demanded.

Rock did not reply. For a moment they stood side by side at the edge of the cliff. Far away, a red glow on the snow showed where the sun would rise.

“So much is the same…” Rock breathed. Then he turned to Jayfeather. “You can’t stay here. You know that, don’t you?”

“Why not?” Jayfeather demanded, with a sudden tug of anguish.

“You are too powerful to be lost in the past.”

“I can be powerful here!” Jayfeather protested. “I could raise kits, teach them everything I know, and then go back to the Clans.” He stared at Rock. “I…I don’t want to leave.”

Chapter 18

“We have to get out of here!” Ivypool whispered, expecting hostile cats to leap out at them at any moment.

“We’re only exploring,” Blossomfall pointed out, padding up to the paw prints and giving them a curious sniff. “We’re not doing any harm.”

“Well, it doesn’t feel like that,” Ivypool retorted, annoyed by Blossomfall’s nonchalance. “It feels like we’re trespassing, and I want to leave.”

Blossomfall shrugged. “Okay, let’s find a way out.”

On the opposite side of the river, more tunnels opened up, leading away into darkness. Ivypool leaped across the stream and headed into the nearest one. But she hadn’t taken many paw steps when she was confronted by a solid wall of mud.

“No good,” she told Blossomfall, who was following her. “This one’s blocked.”

Retracing their paw steps into the cave, they chose another opening. This one seemed more promising at first, leading upward with the occasional chink in the roof to let in light. Then Blossomfall, who was in the lead again, halted abruptly when the tunnel took a sharp turn to one side.

“Mouse dung!” she spat.

Ivypool craned her neck to see past her Clanmate; in the dim light she could make out a tumbled heap of stones and rock stretching right up to the tunnel roof. Ivypool’s heart began to beat faster as they returned to the cave again. “We’ll have to go back the way we came,” she meowed, “and just hope that some cat comes along to help us out of the hole.”

Blossomfall heaved a sigh. “I suppose you’re right.”

But as they leaped back across the river, Ivypool noticed for the first time that several tunnels led away from the cave on this side. “Do you remember which way we came in?” she asked her Clanmate.

Blossomfall shook her head. “We’ll have to follow our scent trail.”

But no scent lingered on the damp rock, and away from the edge of the water there was no trace of their paw prints on the hard floor.

“We’re lost!” Ivypool yelped.

“We’ll be fine,” Blossomfall reassured her, though Ivypool could detect a hint of panic in her voice. “We’ll just pick a tunnel. Come on!” Racing across the cave floor, she dived into a wide black opening. Ivypool was almost sure it was the wrong one, but she bounded after her Clanmate, terrified that they would be separated.

“Wait!” she yowled. “We can’t—” She broke off at the clatter of falling rocks from up ahead. “Blossomfall!” she called. “What was that?”

There was no reply. Ivypool went limp with terror and she had to force her legs to carry her along the tunnel. A few paw steps farther, she made out Blossomfall in the dim light; the tortoiseshell warrior was lying motionless on the floor with rocks scattered around her. Looking up, Ivypool saw a fresh scar on the roof, and guessed that the rocks must have fallen from there.

“Blossomfall?” she whispered, crouching beside her Clanmate. StarClan, please don’t let her be dead!

A shudder of relief ran through her as Blossomfall’s whiskers twitched and her eyes opened. “Ivypool?” she murmured. “What happened? My head hurts.”

“I think a rock fell from the roof and hit you,” Ivypool replied. “Can you get up?”

Blossomfall scrabbled with her paws, raising her shoulders off the floor, then collapsed with a whimper of pain. “Everything’s whirling,” she complained, her eyes wide and scared. “Oh, Ivypool, do you think we’re going to die down here?”