Moonrise/Epilogue

Chapter Summary
Squirrelpaw's PoV
 * Squirrelpaw is trapped in a small, dark space that violently rocks from side to side. Her head spins and she her paws frantically scrape on something smooth and solid. The young she-cat calls out Leafpaw's name, then opens her eyes and finds herself scrambling in a hollow dip in the ground. Tawnypelt stands over her and asks what happened. The traveling cats had left the mountains the previous night and were trekking across open moorland; the sun is now rising.


 * Squirrelpaw gets up from her nest and mews that it was just a dream, but she knows that her sister is in terrible danger, and her dream took her to wherever Leafpaw was. Tawnypelt looks faintly interested and asks if it was a sign from StarClan, but Squirrelpaw says it wasn't and, without mentioning Leafpaw, explains that she felt like she was trapped in somewhere dark, and couldn't escape. The ShadowClan warrior steps forward and presses her muzzle against Squirrelpaw's side, reassuring that they probably have all had dreams since Feathertail. The apprentice nods, still finding it hard to believe that she wouldn't see the silver tabby again, and she remembers when the Tribe cats had helped bury the RiverClan she-cat, and how Stormfur and Crowpaw had kept vigil. The following dawn, the Tribe cats had escorted them part of the way through the mountains, and they soon came to easier flat country, but they felt no hope that they would be home soon.


 * Squirrelpaw soon recovers enough from her nightmare to help hunting, and although no cat wanted to eat, they forced themselves to eat the fresh-kill. That day and the next, the Clan cats traveled on until their paws were cracked and bleeding. The sun is going down behind them again as they come to the top of a rise, and their shadows point to a hill with a jagged crst. Tawnypelt exclaims to look, and for a few heartbeats no cat speaks, until Squirrelpaw's eyes flash with a fire that had seemed dimmed forever by Feathertail's death. The ginger she-cat exclaims that it is Highstones, and that they are almost home.