Squirrelflight's Hope

CHAPTER 22

Squirrelflight scrabbled between boulders, climbing the hill that would bring them close to the Sisters’ camp. She could hear Leafpool panting behind. The sky was still as black as raven feathers, glittering with stars as they pushed onward, but light was pooling at the horizon. The Clan patrols would be gathering at the border soon.

“We’re nearly there, right?” Leafpool puffed. “I recognize this track.”

Squirrelflight glanced over her shoulder. Her sister’s pelt was ruffled, her eyes glittering with exhaustion. “It’s just over this hill.” She paused as they reached the top and looked down into the valley. The Sisters’ camp was hidden among the thick overgrowth at the bottom. “I hope we’re in time. My dream was really bad. If it was about Moonlight’s kits, she must need us.”

Leafpool stopped beside her. “I had a dream too.”

Squirrelflight looked at her. “About the kits?”

“Yes.” Leafpool eyed her uncertainly. “There were wounded kits everywhere, more than I could treat. I had the sense they were Moonlight’s kits.” She shrugged. “I don’t know why StarClan would send me a dream about the Sisters. They’re not Clan cats. But it felt important.” As she spoke, she pricked her ears. “Do you hear that?”

Squirrelflight listened. A wail drifted from the valley. Her heart lurched. There was pain in the cry. “Moonlight!” She pelted down the hillside, zigzagging between bushes. As she plunged through a wall of bracken, another wail rose from the camp. Her paws skidded on the earth, sending stones spraying behind her. She could hear Leafpool’s paw steps thrumming at her heels as she slewed past a bramble. Heart pounding, she crashed through the fern entrance.

Leafpool burst out behind her as she slowed to a stop on the grassy clearing. The wail sounded again. Squirrelflight jerked her muzzle around, scanning the moonlit camp.

Snow was hurrying toward the birthing den. Creek and Flurry crouched, wide-eyed, at the edge of the camp, while Furze paced anxiously beside them.

Snow stopped and stared. “What are you doing here?”

Squirrelflight ignored the question. “Where’s Moonlight? Is she okay?”

“She’s kitting.”

Squirrelflight saw fear in Snow’s gaze.

Leafpool hurried forward. “Take me to her,” she ordered briskly.

“But she’s kitting!” Snow blinked at her.

“I’m a medicine cat, remember?” Leafpool told her. “I treated Sunrise.”

“Hawk and Tempest are taking care of her.” Snow sounded uncertain. “They know what to do.” A screech echoed from the birthing den.

“It sounds like they need help.” Leafpool pushed past Snow and disappeared inside.

Squirrelflight blinked at Snow, trying not to betray her fear. “She’s helped deliver countless kits in ThunderClan, including my own. She knows what she’s doing.”

“I hope so.” Snow’s pelt prickled along her spine. “Moonlight’s been kitting since sundown. She’s had one kit but something’s wrong. We’ve never seen anything like this. Perhaps it’s because she was expecting for so long. The kits might be too big. The next one won’t come. I think it’s stuck.”

Pressing back panic, Squirrelflight darted after Leafpool. She blinked, adjusting to the darkness, as Snow squeezed after her.

At the edge of the den, a newborn kit mewled at Tempest’s paws while Hawk crouched beside Moonlight. The queen was stiff with pain as she fought against a spasm. Her thick pelt was matted. Her eyes rolled wildly and she let out another shriek. Squirrelflight was shocked to see strong, stubborn Moonlight so overwhelmed. Her suffering must be terrible.

Leafpool ran her paws over Moonlight’s belly.

“Snow says a kit is stuck,” Squirrelflight told her.

“I know.” Leafpool didn’t take her eyes from Moonlight. “It’s facing the wrong way. I can feel it. We need to ease the pain and give Moonlight the strength to push.” She looked at Hawk. “Do you know what raspberry leaves look like?”

Hawk nodded.

“What about ragweed?” Leafpool asked.

Snow blinked at her eagerly. “I know ragweed.”

“Find some.” Leafpool’s gaze flitted to Squirrelflight. “Go with them. Bring as much as you can, but be quick. We need to get this kit out before Moonlight exhausts herself completely.”

Squirrelflight nodded, relieved that she could help. As she ducked out of the den, Hawk and Snow pushed past her and raced out of camp. She followed, chasing Snow’s white tail as it flashed away between the bushes. Branches poked at her pelt. Loose earth crumbled beneath her paws. She followed Snow to the top of the hill and out onto a stretch of grass. The white she-cat had stopped and was staring toward the distant horizon, her eyes narrowed against the wind that streamed through her fur. The land was lit now with pale dawn light. Hawk was already streaking down the hillside ahead of them, skimming the grass like an owl swooping for prey.

“She’s fetching raspberry leaves,” Snow told Squirrelflight. “Ragweed is this way.” She bounded downhill toward a shallow stream.

Squirrelflight hurried after her, catching up as Snow reached it. The water chattered over pebbles, and Snow waded in and hopped out the other side. Squirrelflight splashed after her, gasping as the chilly water tugged her belly fur. As she scrambled onto the bank, she saw Snow stop beside a swath of tall yellow flowers. They swirled in the breeze as the white she-cat reached up and tore down a pawful of blossoms. Squirrelflight stopped beside her and helped, ripping the pungent petals from their stems.

Snow heaped more on the ground. “How much do we need?”

Squirrelflight glanced at the pile uncertainly. “That must be plenty,” she guessed. “If we need more, I can fetch some.” She grasped a bunch between her jaws and raced back to camp. Moonlight’s wail split the air as Squirrelflight charged through the fern entrance and made for the birthing den. She pushed her way inside and dropped the ragweed beside Leafpool. “I can fetch more if you need it,” she panted.

Leafpool took a mouthful, chewed it, and spat the pulp onto her paw. She ran her tail over Moonlight’s trembling flank and, leaning close, held her paw to the queen’s muzzle. “Swallow this,” she told her.

Moonlight groaned, her gaze clouded with pain, and turned away as Snow burst into the den and dropped more ragweed beside Leafpool.

“She needs to swallow this.” Leafpool looked imploringly at Snow.

The white she-cat nodded curtly and crouched beside Moonlight’s head. “It will help,” she promised the queen. “Just swallow it.”

Moonlight looked at her, fear in her gaze, then quickly lapped the pulp from Leafpool’s paw.

Leafpool glanced at Squirrelflight. “Did you find raspberry leaves too?”

“Hawk’s fetching some.”

As she spoke, the den shivered and Hawk slid through the entrance. Squirrelflight glimpsed faint daylight outside. She stiffened. She could picture the patrols gathering at the edge of Clan territory. Her paws pricked nervously. What had Bramblestar thought when he’d woken to find her gone? Would he have guessed that she’d come here?

Hawk’s flanks heaved as she caught her breath. She dropped a mouthful of raspberry leaves beside Leafpool, who quickly chewed them and held out more pulp for Moonlight to lick. As Snow lapped the queen’s cheek encouragingly, Squirrelflight blinked at Hawk. “The Clans are coming,” she warned.

“Now?” Hawk narrowed her eyes.

“They’re probably on their way,” Squirrelflight told her. “They’re coming to tell you to leave.”

Hawk’s eyes widened. “How can we leave now?” She looked at Moonlight in alarm.

Squirrelflight shifted her paws nervously. “I don’t know.” Would the Clan patrols retreat once they saw Moonlight was kitting? What would happen if they didn’t? She pushed the thought away and leaned closer to Leafpool. “How’s she doing?”

“We can’t do anything until the herbs start to work.” Leafpool sat back on her haunches, her gaze dark as another spasm rippled through Moonlight. The queen groaned limply, helpless against the pain.

Squirrelflight looked toward the den entrance. Weak sunlight was beginning to show through it. Every hair on her pelt seemed to tremble. Please let Moonlight kit in peace. She hoped that StarClan could hear her prayer. No cat spoke as they waited for the herbs to take hold. The first and only kit to be born mewled again and settled at last against Tempest’s belly. Moonlight groaned softly as dawn brightened into day.

At last, when Moonlight had stopped moaning, Leafpool placed her paw on the queen’s belly. She lifted her head and looked at Leafpool. For the first time, her gaze was sharp. Leafpool met it. “Ready?”

“Ready.” Moonlight rolled onto her paws and crouched, her tail stiff.

“Wait for the pain,” Leafpool murmured.

Squirrelflight held her breath.

Moonlight pressed her paws harder against the earth as a spasm jerked along her flank. She lifted her head and let out a screech and pressed her hindquarters against the earth. With a shudder, the second kit slithered onto the ground behind her. Snow darted toward it and quickly lapped the membrane from its pelt.

Squirrelflight’s breath caught in her throat as silence gripped the den.

“It’s not breathing.” Snow looked desperately at the lifeless scrap of fur.

Leafpool pushed past her. “Take care of Moonlight.” As Snow crouched at Moonlight’s cheek, Leafpool stretched the kit out and hooked its mouth open with a claw. Squirrelflight flinched. What was she doing? Leafpool placed a paw on its chest and pumped with small, fierce jabs.

Hawk stared at her with wide eyes. “Be careful!”

Leafpool ignored her and nipped the kit’s scruff, then lifted the kit’s body and shook it.

The kit jerked, lifted its head, and wailed.

It’s alive! Relief surged in Squirrelflight’s belly.

Quickly, Leafpool carried it to Tempest and put it beside its littermate. “It’s another she-kit.”

“She’s a fighter, like her mother.” Tempest scooped the kit close to her belly and bent to wash her.

As Leafpool turned back to Moonlight, the queen jerked and shuddered, and a third kit slipped onto the ground. Squirrelflight held her breath as Leafpool licked the membrane clear of its muzzle.

The kit mewled, squirming at Leafpool’s paws.

“A tom.” Leafpool’s eyes shone. “He’s the last.” She lifted him between her jaws and passed him to Squirrelflight. “Put him with his littermates,” she mewed. Squirrelflight’s heart swelled as she breathed in the kit’s scent. She padded toward Tempest and placed the kit gently between his sisters. She blinked at Leafpool, who was smoothing Moonlight’s ruffled pelt with a paw while Snow touched her nose to the queen’s cheek.

Squirrelflight tensed. “Is she okay?”

“She’s tired, but she’s fine.” Leafpool sat back on her haunches.

Squirrelflight’s pelt rippled with pleasure. They had saved Moonlight and her kits. She blinked happily at Snow, a purr throbbing in her throat. Then she froze. Snow had stiffened. Ears pricked, the white she-cat stared toward the den entrance. Heart lurching, Squirrelflight followed her gaze. Outside the camp, bushes rustled. Something was pushing between them. Muted paw steps scuffed the earth.

Hawk’s eyes glittered with panic. “Are they here?”

Squirrelflight padded to the entrance and peered out. Creek, Furze, and Flurry had backed toward the center of the clearing, their hackles high. The air around them was thick with Clan scents. As the bushes around the edge of the camp shivered, alarm shrilled through Squirrelflight’s pelt. “Leafpool,” she mewed huskily. “The battle patrol is here.”