There he was his graceful body running down to meet me.

" Crowfeather!" i whispered happily to him.

" Leafpool i love you but our clans won't let us be together so i've come to ask you if you would run away with me."

" Oh Crowfeather of course i will run away with you!" i said happily

" We'll leave tonight. Is that okay with you?"

" Of course, let's go to the mountains and live with the tribe. nobody will find us there!"

Crowfeather nodded and we set off to the distant mountains at a steady lope that would put quite a distance between us and the clans by the time we stop for the night. Soon at dawn we were passing the horseplace and running to the base of the mountains. By the time we got to the mountain's base it was sunhigh. Crowfeather has gone hunting so we can keep our strength up. When he comes back he has in his jaws two gigantic rabbits for us to eat. As we set off again i couldn't help but wonder how Cinderpelt was doing without me. We start climbing the mountain with Crowfeather in the lead since he knows the way to the cave that the Tribe Of Rushing Water lived.

POV

"Cinderpelt dead. how could this happen especially to her, and where was Leafpool? How could she abandon us without a medicine cat?" I think as i look at my mate Squirrelflight. She wasn't hurt thank Starclan.

" Brambleclaw are you okay" my love askes me gently.

" Yes just shocked, that all this happened" I said truthfully. My mate just nodded in understanding as we left the nursery slowly dragging the body of Cinderpelt. Then we laid her down in the clearing, only then did I notice that Cinderpelt was still breathing.

" Squirrelflight go get cobwebs from Cinderpelt's den and marigold." I said quickly. Then I watched my mate run off to get what I asked. I gently started to lick Cinderpelt's wound which was long but not too deep. Thank Starclan!

" Here you go Brambleclaw" I take the marigold and chewed it up, spat the juice on Cinderpelt's wound then spat out the leaf remains. After I did that i took the cobwebs and bound the wound tightly with the sticky strands.

" Brambleclaw why are you treating Cinderpelt's wounds when she's dead?"

" Squirrelflight, can't you see that Cinderpelt is still alive!" I exclaimed excitedly. Squirrelflight's eyes shone with happiness.

" That's great news!"

suddenly Cinderpelt stirred and opened her eyes and said "Thank you Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight for saving my life, and you should know that Leafpool has run away and is happy. She doesn't want to be found and she is safe."

" How do you know this Cinderpelt?" I asked her.

" i had a prophecy the day before she went missing. the prophecy was " the crow's feather shall forever he with the pooling leaf" that's how I know." Cinderpelt said solemly.

POV

By moonhigh Crowfeather and I have traveled a quarter of the way up the mountain trail to the Tribe of Rushing Water. I have been excited to live with the tribe that I didn't notice that my pace had a little bounce in it.

" Leafpool calm down we need to rest so we can travel. we've been traveling for at least a moon almost nonstop. Tomorrow at sunhigh we'll hunt. And it's almost leaf-fall so we'll have to get to the cave before leafbare comes."

" Okay Crowfeather I get it" I said as we curled up together in small cave we found in a small valley. The next morning Crowfeather and woke up at dawn and started traveling again. We crossed many rocks and my appitite was growing as was my stomach and Crowfeather made us slow down. he seemed to know that i was almost a week into pregnancy with his kits.

one moon later...

At sunhigh we stopped to rest and Crowfeather hunted for me since i was getting clumsey on my paws with my swollen belly. while Crowfeather hunted I found a large cave hidden in some woods on the edge of the meadow that was rich in prey. " What a wonderful place to raise a family in and we're half up the mountain and it's the second moon into leafbare and my kits should come in early greenleaf. i'm going to ask Crowfeather if we could live here permanently." I thought.

Soon Crowfeather came back with his jaws full of two rabbits and an eagle. when he set the food down we started to dig into the food. i ate the eagle and one of the rabbits and Crowfeather had the last rabbit.

when we finnished eating, my love stood up and said " we had better keep moving."

" Crowfeather i think we should stay here permanently and raise our kits here. it's leafbare and the prey is fat and plentiful."

" well i guess so Leafpool but what about shelter. i can't see anything that would suit us around here."

" Come with me my love." i said with a purr.

then i led him to the cave i found earlier. the cave was small on the outside but large on the inside with gaping holes in the walls and in one hole there was a sparkling pool of water that had a crack in the ceiling that make the pool sparkle with stars. in another hole there was another pool of water but this did not shine so it was not as special as the other one. there were holes suitable for a leaders den, warriors den, apprentice's den, elders den, and a medicine den. when i was done showing Crowfeather around the cave he was grinning.

"What do you think. i think we are supposed to make a clan of our own. but who would be the leader?" i asked him.

" i think we should stay here and make a clan and i know just who should be leader. you Leafpool should be the leader. you found this cave so you should be leader and i will be the deputy. tonight's the full moon so you have to get your nine live."

i dipped my head and decided that i would make my own set of rules for my cats to follow once i become leader tonight.

"what should our clan's name be?" i asked Crowfeather.

" well Windstar, Thunderstar, Riverstar, and Shadowstar named their clans after them so maybe we should be Leafclan?"

" Flattering but i don't think so. maybe i should ask Starclan what our clan's name should be when i get my nine lives."

" okay leafpool." Crowfeather said happily.