SkyClan's Destiny/Chapter 10

Chapter Summary
 Leafstar's PoV 


 * Leafstar reaches the top of the gorge and into the undergrowth. It is night, but she can see dark outlines of her Clanmates. Five sunrises had passed since Patchfoot’s patrol found the Twoleg waste, and every cat had practiced Stick’s battle moves. Leafstar’s dreams had been full of thing face, rat squeaks, and the stench of blood. She heads toward the rat heap, Sharpclaw and Stick beside her, other warriors following, gliding silently along the ground. A sharp snapping noise breaks the silence. Sharpclaw whips around and hisses, and every cat halts; Shrewtooth particularly frozen with fright.


 * Bouncefire apologizes, saying he stepped on a twig, and Sparrowpelt complains that the rats would know now that they were coming. Stick assures them that it won’t matter, as the rats would just hide deeper into the nests, soon to find out that nowhere is safe in their nest. Leafstar calms down and waves her tail to sgnal the patrol to move on, although she can still feel tension into the air. She thinks about how it is the first time she’s led her Clan into battle, and asks StarClan to give them strength and safety.


 * The first faint light of dawn filters into the forest, and Leafstar’s nose twitches at the foul stench the breeze carries. A few fox-lengths ahead, the waste pile is hardly visible through the trees. Leafstar signals with her tail for the patrol to halt, and she turns to face her Clanmates. Sharpclaw, fur bristling, turns too, and Leafstar feels his desire to avenge Rainfur’s death. He reviews the plan of blocking most of the holes to the patrol, and Leafstar feels more confident, listening to her deputy and seeing determination in his eyes.


 * Leafstar can see tension mounting, and the whole patrol are clearly very nervous. She decides to get on with it, and asks Sparrowpelt, who had led a patrol there yesterday, if he located exits from the heap. The young tabby tom nods, saying that they didn’t want to get too close. However, he had found three gaps in the far side, one on each side, and two in front. Leafstar looks through the trees and can make out the front wholes Sparrowpelt had mentioned. She assings Patchfoot, Tinycloud, and Petalnose to go around the back and block the exits there, and gives Bouncefire and Cherrytail each their own hole. She tells them to stay beside them even after they’re blocked, and tells Sharpclaw that he’s in charge of catching the rats as they come out to the front. She tells Waspwhisker, Sparrowpelt, Rockshade, Stick, Coal, and Shorty to go with the deputy.


 * Mintpaw asks what the rest would do, and Leafstar promises that soon they would fight rats too. Leafstar tells the apprentice that Mintpaw, Cora, and Shrewtooth would come with her after the exits were blocked, to chase the rats out. Mintpaw is excited at this.


 * The dawn light becomes brighter, and Leafstar pads around to the back of the heap, following Tinycloud, Petalnose, and Patchfoot. They pass Bouncefire on the way, and the ginger tom had been trying to push a chunck of wood into a gap between two shiny black pelts, and Leafstar gives him a nod of approval, silently thanking Stick for all he taught them. Her confidence grows with every step, iand is proud as she watches her Clan work together.


 * Then she remembers the fight with the rats in the barn, and her confidence ebbs as she pictures the hordes of rats, pouring from hiding places: their only thought to kill cats. Her breath choked as she imagines being overwhelmed by the rats. Leafstar wonders if there are enough of them, and realizes that perhaps she should have brought the daylight warriors, as she hadn’t included them. She remembers that Sharpclaw hadn’t included them in practices, so that perhaps he thought they wouldn’t be strong enough to fight rats. Leafstar shakes off her thoughts, telling herself it was too late for reinforcements. She halts and gazes up at the mound, and is shocked at how tall it is. She had seen it before, but never up close. From inside, rustling, scraping, and high-pitched rats squeaks come from inside.


 * Beside her, Petalnose, Patchfoot, and Tinycloud collect sticks and lumps of wood and stone to block the exits. Cora pads up to her, asking if they should climb up yet. Leafstar nods, and beckons to Mintpaw and Shrewtooth, then claws her way up the pile. She is almost at the top when she hears a yowl of alarm that is quickly cut off. She looks over her shjoulder and sees Mintpaw, a tail-length below her, forepaws clinging into a jutting piece of wood, though her hind paws dangled in the air, tail waving wildly. The apprentice apologizes. Leafstar manages to haul herself up again, and murmurs to Mintpaw that it’s okay.


 * A fox-length beneath Mintpaw, Shrewtooth had frozen, but before Leafstar could speak, Cora whispers to him that he’s doing fine. He quivers as he manages to climb, and the SkyClan leader is grateful tor the Twolegplace cat’s courage. Leafstar admits to herself that it would be much harder without Cora and her friends.


 * Finally, Leafstar gets a firm paw hold on a piece of stone, and scans the clearing: at the bottom of the pile, Patchfoot, Tinycloud, and Petalnose, each braced against the blocked exits. Farther around, Bouncefire is in position, but Leafstar can’t see Cherrytial on the far side. The mound’s curve also cuts off her view of Sharpclaw and his patrol, but she has to assume that they’re ready. She looks around one last time, then yowls for SkyClan to attack. The mound becomes alive beneath her. The rats’ voices rise in squeals, and Leafstar can feel them scrambling underneath her paws, and the stone she is standing on shift. A rat head pops out of the hole Tinycloud blocked, trying to force its way through, but the white warrior slashes its nose, and the rat vanishes. Leafstar congratulates Tinycloud as the small warrior shoves sticks back into place. Petalnose is hissing furiously at two rats who are trying to escape through her exit, and pathcfoot darts across to help. The rats slide back into the mound at the sight of two cats.


 * Leafstar is reassure that her warriors know what to do, and climbs to the top of the heap, yowling to scare rats out of the mound. She sees Cora and Mintpaw do the same, while Shrewtooth shrieks. The mound lurches under Leafstar’s paws as new gaps open up. A rat broke into the open a few mouse-lengths from her nose, running down the heap before she could swipe it. A squeal from below tells her that another cat killed it instead. Mintpaw appears, clawing her way over a Twoleg chair, when suddenly the chair gives way and sinks deeper into the waste, carrying the apprentice into a gaping hole. Mintpaw screeches and struggles as she sinks into the depth of the mound.