Sunrise

“Don’t go near them monsters,” Purdy instructed. “They’ll flatten you as soon as look at you. And there’s dogs give trouble sometimes. They know not to mess wi’ me, but youngsters like you…”

“We met the dogs, Purdy,” Hazeltail told him. “You’re right, they are dangerous. We’ll be careful.”

The old tabby tom gave his chest fur a lick, as if he was pleased to have been helpful. Every mouthful of prey felt like dust to Hollyleaf. She wished there was something they could do, so that Purdy wouldn’t be left alone.

When all the cats had finished eating, Hollyleaf said good-bye to Purdy. The old cat was still trying to stay cheerful, but Hollyleaf could see the loneliness and fear in his eyes. She touched noses with him gently. “May StarClan be with you, Purdy,” she murmured. “I hope we’ll meet again.”

“Mebbe we will.” But Hollyleaf could tell Purdy didn’t believe they would. “You take care now, you hear?”

Brambleclaw led the way to the entrance of the den. Sol rose to his paws and fell in beside the Clan deputy as the cats emerged into the garden. By this time the sun was up; the sky was the clear, pale blue of leaf-bare, and a faint breeze rustled the leaves on the bushes.

Halfway to the fence, Brambleclaw stopped and looked back at Purdy, who stood watching them from the nearest gap in the wall.

“Come with us, Purdy,” he meowed urgently. “There’s room for you in the elders’ den. Firestar will welcome you.”

Purdy stared at him. “Well, I…I dunno what to say.”

As sorry as she felt for the old cat, Hollyleaf felt herself bristling inside. This can’t be right! Purdy isn’t a Clan cat. What will the other Clans say? Then she suppressed a shiver. I might not be a Clan cat, either. Does that mean I should live alone, without any friends to help me hunt?

Sol was looking on expressionlessly. Does he care about Purdy at all? Hollyleaf wondered.

“Well?” Brambleclaw prompted the old cat.

“No, I’ll be fine.” Purdy gave his rumpled pelt a shake. “There ain’t no need to feel sorry for me. I’ve survived more than one leaf-bare on my own.”

“We’d appreciate your help getting around this Twolegplace, you know,” Brackenfur meowed, padding back toward the den. “You know the area far better than we do.”

“And once we’re back in the camp, you’d have a lot to teach our apprentices,” Brambleclaw put in. “I don’t suppose Hollyleaf and Lionblaze have forgotten how you saved them from the dogs.”

Lionblaze nodded, while Hollyleaf suppressed a shudder at the memory of the dogs who had trapped them in a barn on their way to the mountains. Without Purdy’s quick thinking, she and her brother and Breezepelt would all have been torn to pieces.

“Elders have a lot of influence in the way the Clan is run,” Brambleclaw went on. “It would be an honor to have you live with us, with all your experience, and all you know about Twolegs—I mean, Upwalkers.”

Hollyleaf dug her claws into the earth. She knew that the two senior warriors were lying. Bringing another loner into the Clan wouldn’t be easy, and they didn’t need to know about living among Twolegs, because there were so few of them by the lake. Why not leave Purdy where he is, if he’s happy? Why do Clan cats always think they know best?

“Well, okay.” Purdy scrambled through the gap in the wall and padded over to join the patrol. “I’ll come along as far as the edge of Twolegplace, at least. Reckon you might need a bit o’ help findin’ your way.” Turning to Sol, he added, “I never finished tellin’ you that story about the fox….”

Brambleclaw led the way to the gap in the fence where the patrol had entered the night before. Here he paused, his head raised and his ears pricked, while he tasted the air. The rest of the patrol waited in silence; Hollyleaf closed her eyes, concentrating until she felt the tug at her paws that told her the direction of the lake.

“Do you know which way to go?” Hazeltail fretted, obviously not trusting her own inner guide.

Brambleclaw nodded. “I think so. I’m trying to remember what we saw from that rooftop.”

“I’m not going up there again!” Birchfall wailed.

“No, there’s no need,” Brambleclaw assured him. “But one of us can climb a tree soon to check whether we’re going the right way. Let’s get moving.”

Hollyleaf squeezed through the gap in the fence, hard on the Clan deputy’s paws, and found herself on a grass shoulder beside a Thunderpath. They had crossed here the night before, when all was dark and quiet. Now monsters were rushing up and down. Their bright colors dazzled Hollyleaf’s eyes; the air was filled with their growling and their acrid stink.

“I hate this,” she muttered to Lionblaze. “I don’t care how many times we’ve done it, I’m still afraid some cat will get squashed.”