The Place of No Stars by Erin Hunter

Author:Erin Hunter
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2021-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Rootspring plunged deeper into the Moonpool, struggling to free himself from Willowshine’s grip on his scruff. He choked as water surged into his mouth and ears.

I’m drowning!

He was so caught up in panic, like a fly trapped in a spider’s web, that he hardly noticed when Willowshine pulled him through a dark tunnel at the bottom of the pool. He could breathe again now, but the air seemed different, darker, so that everything around him looked blurred. Sensing that at least he wasn’t underwater anymore, Rootspring collapsed at the foot of a huge gnarled tree.

Eventually he realized that Willowshine was sitting beside him, waiting for him to recover. Hauling himself up to sit next to her, Rootspring looked around and finally understood what was happening to him.

“Am I in the Dark Forest?” he asked.

Willowshine nodded. “Sorry.” Her eyes were narrowed to tiny slits.

“Are your eyes okay?” Rootspring asked.

“Sort of,” Willowshine told him. “It’s just that the light is so dim, I’m having trouble seeing. The mist hurts my eyes.”

Rootspring blinked, wondering why his eyes were fine, once he’d gotten used to the weird light, then decided with an inward shrug that it must be because he was still alive. The thought gave him a tingle of relief, even though it was swiftly swamped by dread and fear.

“Anyway,” the medicine cat went on more briskly, “I didn’t mean to scare you, but it was the only way to get you here. You’re the only living cat I can communicate with, and even though I’m dead, I’m still a RiverClan cat, on the side of the Clans. I know things now that can help save them, and I need your help. Do you understand?”

“Of course. I’ll do anything to save the Clans,” Rootspring assured her, feeling a tingle of hope in his pads. “Tell me everything you’ve learned.”

“I will,” Willowshine meowed, rising to her paws. “But first of all, we need to locate Ashfur. Let’s go.”

Rootspring rose and followed the medicine cat, deeply uneasy as they trekked through the bare trees and dying undergrowth. The air was filled with a sickly scent that spread over his tongue and made him want to vomit.

He couldn’t help wondering what it meant for him to be here. I’m still alive, right? he asked himself apprehensively. I’ll still be able to get back to the Clans . . . and see Bristlefrost again? It took a massive effort for him to put his worries out of his mind and concentrate on his mission here.

“Have you seen Shadowsight?” he asked Willowshine.

The medicine cat shook her head. “Should I have? Is he okay?”

“I hope so,” Rootspring responded. “It’s sort of a long story. He dreamed his way in last night, so he should be around somewhere.”

I wonder what’s happened to him, he added to himself. Has he found out the same stuff as Willowshine?

The dead RiverClan cat was padding along cautiously, her slitted gaze scanning the clumps of rotting bracken and withered bramble thickets for any sign of Ashfur.

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