The cats followed him as he struck out across the prickly grass. The snow had stopped, but it still lay thickly on the ground, clogging Hollyleaf’s paws as she limped after her Clan deputy. My fur’s so cold I think I’m turning into an ice cat, she thought, trying to shake the cold white clumps off her feet. A cold wind was blowing into their faces, catching up the loose snow and flinging it into her eyes. “Mouse dung, that stings!” she muttered.

As they drew closer to the copse, she could see that the trees were shorter than the ones on ThunderClan territory, and twisted into strange shapes. They looked like the bushes on WindClan’s moorland territory, bent double like hunched Twolegs. But as she tasted the air, Hollyleaf realized that the smells were more familiar than anything she had scented since she left the forest. The reek of the Thunderpath was dying away, and in its place she could pick up the scents of leaf and bark; water flooded her jaws as she recognized mouse, rabbit, and squirrel.

“We’ll stay here to eat and rest,” Brambleclaw announced when the cats reached the edge of the trees. “We won’t find anywhere better to spend the night.”

Birchfall’s ears perked up, and Hollyleaf exchanged a hopeful glance with Lionblaze at the thought of not having to plod any farther through the snow.

“It can’t be sunset yet,” Brackenfur objected, eyeing the gray clouds that still shouldered their way across the sky.

“No, but we’re all tired and cold,” Brambleclaw replied. “And when we can’t see the sun, we can’t be sure that we’re heading the right way to the sun-drown-place.”

Brackenfur shrugged, agreeing, and all six cats headed deeper into the copse. There wasn’t as much snow under the shelter of the trees, and Hollyleaf felt her paws starting to warm up. The ground was uneven, sloping roughly down to where a small stream trickled among the roots of the trees.

“Catch your prey and then rest,” Brambleclaw ordered. Hollyleaf thought he sounded tense—perhaps he was unhappy about where their journey would take them next. Does he know there’s something dangerous up ahead?

Brackenfur vanished into the undergrowth, and Lionblaze and Birchfall headed off together.

“Would you like to hunt with me?” Hollyleaf asked Hazeltail; her Clanmate still looked shocked by her panic at the Thunderpath.

“That would be great!” Hazeltail’s ears flicked up. “Where should we start?”

“Right here’s as good as anywhere.”

Both she-cats tasted the air; Hollyleaf picked up a strong scent of squirrel, and a moment later she spotted one scuffling among the debris at the foot of a twisted thorn tree. Angling her ears, she pointed it out to Hazeltail. Her friend nodded, eyes gleaming.

Hollyleaf signaled to Hazeltail to stay where she was, then dropped into a hunter’s crouch and worked her way in a wide circle around to the other side of the tree. She had carried out this hunting move so often in ThunderClan territory that it almost felt as if she were home again. Approaching the squirrel from the other side, she crept closer and closer, sliding her paws through the rough grass. When she thought she was close enough, she let out a fearsome yowl and leaped. Panicked, the squirrel darted away, only to run straight into Hazeltail’s claws. Hazeltail dispatched it with a swift bite to the neck.