Warriors: Power Of Three 4 - Eclipse (22 page)

Fear flashed from Leafpool’s pelt. “We won’t be invaded, I’m sure.”

Would the ThunderClan patrols really be able to hold WindClan and RiverClan at bay?

“Don’t forget ShadowClan are helping us now!” Mousewhisker meowed. “I was fighting beside one of their apprentices when Tawnypelt dragged me away. They’re pretty good fighters. We were about to overpower a WindClan warrior.” His tail swished over the ground.

“Sit still,” Leafpool chided.

Mousewhisker was obviously itching to get back into battle.

Didn’t he understand how serious this was? All four Clans fighting. No warning from StarClan. No clear reason for the battle.

Jaypaw headed for the medicine cats’ den to soak more leaves for Sorreltail’s dressing, but as he neared the entrance, the air grew chilly around him. His fur fluffed, prickling along his spine.

“Why is it getting dark?” Rosekit’s mew echoed around the hollow from above his head.

Was a storm coming?

Graystripe and Whitewing were hurrying through the tunnel.

“What’s happening?” Graystripe called.

“Why’s the camp getting dark?” Daisy’s mew trembled.

“The sky’s still light.”

“The sun’s disappearing!” Brightheart’s terrified wail made Jaypaw stiffen. This couldn’t just be a cloud passing over the sun. The birds in the forest had fallen silent. Even the fighting had stopped. What was going on?

He darted back to Leafpool. “What does she mean?”

“Something’s swallowing the sun!” Leafpool whispered.

Millie’s kits started mewling, their cries muffled as their mother gathered them to her.

Leafpool pressed against Jaypaw. “We have to stay calm.”

Her body was shaking but her mew was steady. “It’s probably a message from StarClan. It will pass.”

“What message?” Ferncloud demanded.

Graystripe leaned closer. “Are they trying to stop us from fighting?”

“I-I don’t know,” Leafpool stammered. “They’ve never hidden the sun, only the moon.”

Why send a message now? They hadn’t given any warning before.

Jaypaw’s blood turned to ice.

This was nothing to do with StarClan. It was Sol who had warned them about this. Sol who had told them a darkness was coming, a darkness that was beyond the control of StarClan, beyond even their powers of sight. Sol had tried to warn them that the sun would disappear, but they hadn’t listened to him.

Wailing swept down toward the camp, and paws thundered near the barrier.

Were they being attacked?

Graystripe’s claws sprayed earth as he dashed to the camp entrance. Brightheart hurtled after him.

Jaypaw held his breath as the thorn barrier rattled and cats exploded into the clearing.

ThunderClan.

Jaypaw smelled the raw fear-scent of his Clanmates returning from battle, along with the stench of blood. Wounded cats, too scared to worry about their injuries.

“Why is this happening?”

“Where’s the sun gone?”

“Has StarClan abandoned us?”

Terror pulsed from every pelt.

“Can we hide in the nursery?” Icepaw begged Ferncloud.

Lionpaw tore through the thorn tunnel and skidded to a halt beside Jaypaw. Hollypaw was at his heels.

Jaypaw sniffed them quickly, relieved to find they weren’t badly wounded. “Has the sun really gone out?”

“Yes.” Lionpaw kneaded the ground.

“Is it dark like nighttime?”

“More like dusk.” Hollypaw weaved around him, her fur bristling.

“But the sun’s really gone?”

Lionpaw brushed his tail against Jaypaw’s shoulder. “There’s a thin circle of flame in the sky, where it used to be. But the rest of the sun has been covered up.”

Why can’t I see?

“Is everyone safe?” Firestar demanded.

“As safe as any cat,” Graystripe growled. “Where are the other Clans?”

“Fled back to their territories,” Brambleclaw called from the barrier.

Whimpers and yowls rippled through the Clan.

“Ferncloud!” Icepaw mewled. “Where are you? I can hardly see!”

“Everybody keep calm!” Firestar ordered. “I don’t know what’s happening. But we are warriors, and we must face it with courage.”

Slowly the Clan began to quiet.

He padded toward Leafpool. “Can you tell us what is happening?”

Will she mention Sol’s warning?

“StarClan hasn’t spoken to me directly,” she mewed.

Jaypaw flexed his claws. Because they didn’t know. . . .

“This must be an omen,” Leafpool continued. “To stop the battle.”

“But the battle wasn’t our fault!” Hazeltail wailed.

“WindClan started it,” hissed Whitewing.

“Why do we have to suffer?” Ferncloud yowled.

Leafpool’s tail stirred the air. “But it has ended the battle.

That must be what StarClan intended.”

“Are we going to live in darkness from now on?” Thornclaw sounded more outraged than scared.

“Wait!” Leafpool called. “It’s getting lighter. The sun’s coming back!”

Hollypaw gazed at the trees above the hollow as the sun bleached away the half-light. The sky paled to blue and the air began to warm. Beside her, Lionpaw shifted on his paws, and Jaypaw tasted the air. The birds began to sing again. Late-season bees began to rise sleepily from the grass around the edge of the camp and buzzed away on heavy wings. But, despite the sun on her pelt, Hollypaw was still shivering, her scratched and aching body trembling beyond her control.

What just happened?

She turned to ask Jaypaw. If StarClan had hidden the sun, surely he must know something. But he was hurrying away to join Leafpool as she weaved among the anxious and wounded cats.

“Can you stretch out your forepaws?” Leafpool asked Brackenfur. The golden tom winced as he tried.

“Shoulder wrench,” Leafpool concluded. “Go and wait by the halfrock. I won’t be long.” She moved on to Whitewing.

The warrior’s snowy pelt was darkened by patches of blood.

“Any sprains or wrenches?”

“Just scratches,” Whitewing answered.

“Then wait beside the warriors’ den,” Leafpool ordered.

“We’ll bring you ointment as soon as we can.”

“Thornclaw’s sprained a hind paw,” Jaypaw called.

“Help him over to the far end of the clearing and let him rest below Highledge,” Leafpool told him. She moved on, sending Hazeltail and Poppyfrost to wait with Whitewing.

Hazeltail dropped into a crouch beside Whitewing. “How could the sun disappear?”

“The sky was clear blue, so it couldn’t have been a cloud,”

Poppyfrost breathed.

“Clouds never make it dark and cold like that,” Whitewing added.

Leafpool looked at them sharply. “You should be licking those scratches, not chattering like finches!” She nudged Birchfall and then Berrynose toward Thornclaw. “Wait over there.”

Birchfall limped across the clearing, keeping his swollen forepaw off the ground. “I don’t see why StarClan should hide the sun from us!” he meowed indignantly.

Berrynose hopped alongside him, a hind paw held out gingerly behind him. “WindClan should never have started the battle. It serves them right if StarClan are angry with them.”

Hollypaw glanced at her brother. He was watching the Clan. “Are you okay?”

“Fine,” he mewed.

Didn’t he want to talk about the vanishing sun? “You’re very quiet.”

“Yeah.” Lionpaw glanced up at Highledge, where Millie was picking her way down the tumble of rocks. Briarkit swung from her jaws. Daisy followed, holding Toadkit.

“Let’s help them,” Lionpaw suggested. He darted away toward Highledge.

How did he have so much energy left? Hollypaw felt weighted with exhaustion, and the scratches and bites that covered her body, though not deep, were stinging. Sighing, she followed.

“I could have walked down myself!” Toadkit flailed his paws crossly.

“Keep still, or we’ll both fall!” Daisy’s rebuke was muffled by his scruff. She jumped down the last few paw steps and looked back at Millie. “Are you okay?”

Millie nodded. Briarkit was dangling wide-eyed under her chin.

It isn’t always like this, Hollypaw wanted to tell the tiny kit, not sure if he was old enough to understand.

Lionpaw reached out a forepaw to steady Millie as she scrabbled down into the clearing, stones cracking behind her.

“We’ll bring the others,” he promised.

“Thanks.” Daisy put Toadkit down and he bounced away, fluffing up his fur.

“Watch out!” Daisy shut her eyes as he careered straight toward Graystripe.

The gray warrior sidestepped him. “Why don’t you go make sure there’s enough moss in Millie’s nest, little one?” he meowed.

“Okay!” Toadkit raced away to the nursery.

Graystripe blinked at Daisy. “He’s obviously not too shaken.”

Daisy’s pale eyes darkened. “He just thinks it’s an adventure.” She sighed.

“Perhaps it’s better that he does.” Graystripe took Briarkit from Millie and followed Daisy to the nursery. Millie padded beside him, pressing her pelt to his.

Lionpaw was already bounding up the rocks. Hollypaw scrambled wearily after him and followed him into Firestar’s den.

It was dark inside. Hollypaw almost tripped over Rosekit, crouched in the entrance. Behind her, Longtail was trying to hush Bumblekit. The tiny gray-and-black-striped tom was wailing for his mother.

Longtail ran his tail gently over him. “Shh, you’ll wake your sister.”

Hollypaw could just make out Blossomkit curled against Mousefur’s belly, sound asleep.

“Don’t disturb her.” Mousefur waved Hollypaw away with her tail. “Graystripe can fetch her down later.”

Longtail nudged Hollypaw’s shoulder with his nose. His blind eyes were round with worry. “Did you see it happen?”

He meant the vanishing sun.

“Yes.”

“What does Jaypaw say?” Mousefur asked, her eyes gleaming in the half-light.

Lionpaw shrugged. “He doesn’t always tell us what he learns from StarClan.”

Hollypaw caught his eye. Is he thinking what I’m thinking? If they were really more powerful than StarClan, Jaypaw should know what the vanishing sun meant. Lionpaw looked away.

“Perhaps he’ll share dreams with them tonight,” she mewed hopefully.

Mousefur wrapped her tail around Blossomkit. “I hope so.”

Hollypaw grabbed Bumblekit by the scruff and swung him into the air. He squeaked with surprise and churned the air with his tiny paws.

Rosekit backed away. “I’m not being carried down!”

“Oh, yes, you are!” Lionpaw scooped her up and headed out of the cave.

Her paws scuffing the ground with tiredness, Hollypaw followed him to the nursery, where Graystripe was waiting to bundle the kits inside.

“Blossomkit’s sleeping,” she told him as she passed Bumblekit over. Pain flashed from a scratch on her neck. “Mousefur said you can fetch her later.”

Graystripe nodded and disappeared into the brambles.

Cinderpaw trotted over. “Are the kits all right?”

“Lionpaw!” Leafpool called from across the clearing. “Take Foxpaw out to fetch more cobwebs.” She was smearing pulp over a cut on Honeyfern’s shoulder.

Foxpaw came bounding over at the mention of his name.

“I know where there are some really big cobwebs,” he mewed.

“There’s a hollow log just outside the entrance. It’s full of them.”

Lionpaw glanced at Brambleclaw. The ThunderClan deputy was standing below Highledge while Jaypaw pressed a sticky poultice onto a wound in his side. “Is it okay to go out?”

he called. “Leafpool needs cobwebs.”

“Yes, but be careful,” Brambleclaw warned.

As Lionpaw and Foxpaw headed away, Leafpool turned to Hollypaw. “There are herbs piled beside the pool in my den,” she meowed. “Take them to Whitewing and the others.

You’ve had enough training to show them how to chew them up and lick them into their scratches.”

“I know how to do that!” Cinderpaw mewed suddenly.

Hollypaw blinked. “How? You’re not a medicine cat’s apprentice.”

Leafpool stopped wrapping cobwebs over Honeyfern’s wound. “She’s spent so long in the medicine den, she must have picked it up.” She waved Cinderpaw away. “Go with Hollypaw and help her. Just be careful of your leg.”

“I will.”

As they headed for the medicine cat den, Hollypaw noticed that Cinderpaw was hardly limping. “How’s your leg?” she asked.

“Much better,” Cinderpaw mewed. “I don’t think I could do every battle move yet, but it won’t be long till I can. The swimming helped just in time,” she added somberly.

They padded past Squirrelflight. The dark orange she-cat was sitting awkwardly at the edge of the clearing, her haunches drawn up, with one hind paw jutting out.

Hollypaw nodded a greeting, but Squirrelflight only stared dully back.

Hollypaw felt uneasy. “Has Leafpool checked you?”

“Not yet.” Squirrelflight’s mew was taut.

Something’s wrong.

Hollypaw glanced down and saw that the sand around Squirrelflight was stained dark red. Blood. “You’re hurt!”

Her tiredness forgotten, she darted to her mother’s side and sniffed at her pelt. Fresh blood was oozing from below her chest. Squirrelflight’s forepaws trembled, and she dropped into a crouch, a groan jerking from her as she moved.

Paws pattered behind Hollypaw.

“What’s wrong?” Sandstorm was pressing in beside her.

“She’s bleeding,” Hollypaw whispered, feeling her paws go numb with alarm.

Groaning again, Squirrelf light rolled onto her side, reveal-ing her blood-soaked belly.

Sandstorm gasped. “Why hasn’t this been seen to?” She flicked Hollypaw with her tail. “Fetch Leafpool!”

Hollypaw stared at her mother. Squirrelflight was panting, her flanks fluttering unevenly.

“Now!” Sandstorm shoved Hollypaw away.

Leafpool was squatting down at the far side of the clearing, chewing herbs.

“Squirrelflight’s hurt!” Hollypaw didn’t have to say any more. Leafpool was already on her paws and racing toward the she-cat.

Hollypaw chased after her, skidding to a halt as Leafpool crouched and rolled Squirrelf light over with one paw. With her other she carefully parted the dark orange belly fur. A deep claw gash ran from Squirrelflight’s chest to the top of her hind leg. Blood was f looding from it, pooling on the sand beneath her flanks.