Hailstar nodded. Crookedjaw darted forward, racing for the shelter of the low wall. As the patrol caught up, Petaldust tasted the air. “No fresh scents,” she reported.
Leopardfur sniffed. “I can’t taste anything but rain.”
“Wait there.” Hailstar jumped onto the wall and, keeping low, scanned the open space on the other side.
Crookedjaw sprang up beside him. Bare cream stone stretched from the wall to the barn, just like the yard at Fleck’s farm. “All clear?”
Hailstar nodded. Crookedjaw glanced down at Petaldust. “Come on.”
Sedgecreek was first over the wall.
“Be careful,” Crookedjaw whispered as she dropped to the ground below him. He hopped down after her, checking the yard warily as Hailstar led them over the knobbly stone. There was a small ragged hole in the bottom of the huge wooden barrier that blocked the entrance to the barn.
Hailstar slid through first. “All clear,” he whispered.
Leopardfur followed, Sedgecreek and Petaldust on his tail. Crookedjaw ducked in after them. Inside, the roof soared as high as Silverpelt. Dim light seeped in through slits in the walls and great shadows stretched across the smooth stone floor. Looming piles of golden dry grass were stacked at the edges.
“We’ll collect grass first,” Hailstar decided. “Then hunt.” He waved Crookedjaw and Sedgecreek toward one bundle and led Petaldust and Leopardfur toward another.
“It smells dusty,” Sedgecreek whispered. She gazed up at the far roof, her fur pricking along her spine. Then she sneezed.
Crookedjaw’s whiskers twitched. “Come on.” He led her to one of the huge grass bundles. Reaching up, he ripped out a clawful and rolled it around his paws before dropping it on the floor. Sedgecreek copied him and they worked quietly until they’d made a pile of fat, prickly bundles, smelling strongly of sunshine and dried leaves.
Crookedjaw dusted grass seed from his ears with a paw and peered into the shadows at the back of the barn. His pelt tingled. The smell of grass and mouse was stirring old memories. He dropped into a crouch. “Follow me,” he hissed to Sedgecreek.
Together they stalked past Hailstar, Petaldust, and Leopardfur, who were still busy bundling dried grass, and slipped into the shadows. Crookedjaw stilled Sedgecreek with a flick of his tail and pricked his ears. Tiny feet were scrabbling at the bottom of the wall. He nodded toward the sound but Sedgecreek was already creeping across the stones, her tail lifted a whisker off the ground, her belly taut.
Crookedjaw selected a wider angle of approach, coming in from the side as Sedgecreek closed in on her prey. Suddenly she pounced, springing forward with her forepaws outstretched. She missed—but the plump brown mouse fled straight toward Crookedjaw. He scooped it up as it shot past and gave it a quick killing bite.
“Very good.” Hailstar was sitting back on his haunches, with grass hanging from his paws. He rolled a final bundle and padded across the barn.
Sedgecreek was already crouching down, ready for her next catch.
Hailstar pricked his ears. “A big one!” His eyes widened with delight and he dropped down beside her.
Crookedjaw tasted the air.
He stiffened. That wasn’t mouse. That was rat! Fleck had taught him to be wary of rat-scent. One rat was okay. A swarm could be deadly. “Watch out!”
As he yowled a warning, four huge rats raced squealing from the shadows. Sedgecreek squawked with surprise. “They’re attacking us!” She hopped into the air as a rat hurtled at her, but it grabbed her hind paw with its teeth and held on.
Crookedjaw pounced squarely on the rat’s back, killing it with a bite to its neck. “Are you okay?”
Sedgecreek whimpered with pain as blood welled thick and scarlet from her hind paw. Leopardfur raced over to help. She clawed another rat and sent it squealing away.
“There’s more!” Sedgecreek gasped.
Countless rats were streaming from the side of the barn. Their eyes burned and their sharp teeth glinted in the half-light.
“Get help!” Crookedjaw yowled at Petaldust.
“But—” Petaldust began to argue.
“Now!”
As the tortoiseshell warrior tore out of the barn, Crookedjaw braced himself. Trapped by her wounded hind leg, Sedgecreek was batting at the flood of rats with her front paws. Hailstar lunged wildly, rats on every side of him. Leopardfur shrieked as one bit her tail. She turned and sunk her teeth into its neck. Instantly another rat leaped on her back. “Help!”
Crookedjaw darted forward and hooked it off. Leopardfur wailed as it ripped out fur.
“Hailstar!” Sedgecreek’s screech made Crookedjaw whirl around.
Two rats were attacking the RiverClan leader, one clinging to his spine, the other dragging at his hind legs with its teeth. Crookedjaw hauled off the biggest rat and flung it to the edge of the barn.
“Wait!” A snarl came from the shadows.
Mapleshade! Crookedjaw recoiled. “What are you doing here?” he growled.
“This is your chance.” Her voice rang inside his head. “Leave him to the rats. You can be the leader of RiverClan today, if you have the courage!”
“No!” Crookedjaw lunged at the rat clinging on to Hailstar’s pelt and clawed it away from the RiverClan leader. “I won’t let you kill my leader!” Crookedjaw hooked another rat and slapped it to the floor.
Mapleshade hissed. “But this is your destiny!”
Crookedjaw growled under his breath. “I decide my destiny, Mapleshade. Not you!” As Hailstar staggered to his paws, Crookedjaw knocked away another rat. Behind him, Sedgecreek had made it to her feet, leaning on Leopardfur. Crookedjaw glanced at the injured she-cat. She looked as if she could stand on her own for a short while.
It was too dangerous to race for the entrance. The moment they stopped fighting, the rats would overwhelm them. Their only hope was to work together.
“Warriors! Tail-to-tail!” he ordered.
The patrol backed toward one another and pressed their spines together. Rearing up on their hind paws and swiping with their front legs, they met the rats with a circle of flashing claws. Hailstar was gasping for breath, but he jabbed mercilessly at the flood of brown creatures. Leopardfur yowled in triumph at each rat she sent flying. Sedgecreek slammed her paws down again and again on writhing, squealing bodies. Crookedjaw’s nose and mouth filled with the musky tang of blood. Panic started to rise in his chest. Sedgecreek was starting to wobble on her injured leg, and Leopardfur sagged against his flank. They couldn’t hold out much longer. “Try and get to the entrance!” he yowled. As they edged back toward the hole, a pelt flashed at the corner of Crookedjaw’s vision.
“I’ve brought help!” Petaldust yelled across the barn.
Rippleclaw and Timberfur streaked toward them. Sunfish, Blackclaw, and Owlfur followed. They dived on to the sea of rats, hooking them with their claws and hurling them across the barn. Timberfur cracked a spine in his jaws. Rippleclaw grabbed a rat with each forepaw and smashed them both against the hard stone floor. The rats scattered, shrieking, to the edge of the barn and flowed back into the shadows and disappeared.
Crookedjaw dropped on to all fours. Leopardfur crouched beside him. She was panting, her pelt streaked red, but her eyes were bright. “We did it!” she gasped.
Crookedjaw lapped blood from between her ears. “Yes, we did.”
A weak groan sounded beside them.
“Sedgecreek!” Crookedjaw ran to her side and searched her glittering eyes. “How badly are you hurt?”
She groaned. Paws pounded across stone and a white pelt knocked Crookedjaw away. “Give me room!” Brambleberry snapped. The medicine cat crouched beside Sedgecreek. “Fetch cobwebs!” she ordered. Rippleclaw and Timberfur streaked away and leaped onto the huge piles of grass, stretching up to snatch cobwebs from the wall behind.
“Hailstar!” Owlfur’s shocked mew made Crookedjaw freeze.
Hailstar? Horror dropped like a stone in his belly. The RiverClan leader was lyin
g stretched out on the stone floor. Blood pulsed from his throat.
“Brambleberry!” Crookedjaw yowled.
“Hold on!” she called back. “Sedgecreek’s bleeding badly.”
Crookedjaw dropped down beside Hailstar and felt for the wound in his neck. He found the tear in the skin and pressed his paw against it, desperately trying to stop the blood. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I let you down.”
“No, you didn’t.” Hailstar drew in a rattling breath. “You fought as bravely as I expected. Now you must lead the patrol home safely.”
“Get away from him!”
Crookedjaw gasped as he felt Mapleshade charge into his flank and knock him away from Hailstar. The Dark Forest warrior’s pelt was little more than a faint gleam in the half-light, but her eyes burned fierce and yellow.
“No!” Crookedjaw shoved past her and raced back to Hailstar, reaching again for the wound. No blood pulsed beneath his paw. It still seeped out, but no life force throbbed behind it. Hailstar’s head had rolled to one side and his eyes were glassy and dull. Crookedjaw felt something snap inside his heart.
“Brambleberry,” Crookedjaw mewed hoarsely. “He’s dead.”
Collapsing to the cold earth floor, Crookedjaw rested his head on Hailstar’s matted pelt and closed his eyes.
Chapter 36
“Crookedjaw!” Brambleberry was whispering in his ear.
Crookedjaw forced his eyes to open. It hadn’t been a dream. He was still in the barn, still covered in Hailstar’s blood, his claws still clogged with rat fur. Trembling with shock, he pushed himself to his paws. “How’s Sedgecreek?”
Brambleberry rested her tail on his flank. “She’ll be okay.” She stared down at Hailstar, her eyes glistening.
“I tried to stop the bleeding,” Crookedjaw told her. Maybe I could have if Mapleshade hadn’t stopped me. Guilt scorched through him.
Brambleberry checked the wound on Hailstar’s neck. “There was nothing you could do,” she meowed. “This wound was too deep to heal.”
Crookedjaw looked around. The barn seemed very still and empty. “Is Leopardfur all right?”
“I’m fine.” Leopardfur limped to his side and touched her nose to Hailstar’s pelt.
Crookedjaw padded to where Sedgecreek was struggling to her paws. Cobwebs swathed her pelt. “You fought like a true warrior.” He brushed her cheek with his. “Are you going to be able to make it home?”
Sedgecreek nodded. Her eyes were dull.
Crookedjaw signaled to Timberfur. “Help her.”
The brown tom pressed against Sedgecreek and began to guide her toward the entrance. Sunfish darted over and propped her up on the other side.
Rippleclaw dipped his head. “Should I carry Hailstar back to camp?”
Crookedjaw shook his head. “I will.”
Brambleberry raised one paw to stop him. “You can’t. You’re hurt.”
“It’s only a few nips.” Crookedjaw was too numb to feel anything. He crouched down while Rippleclaw and Owlfur dragged the RiverClan leader onto his back, then forced his legs to straighten to begin Hailstar’s final journey home.
Crookedjaw hated dragging Hailstar’s body through the hole. He flinched as the leader’s fur snagged on the splintering wood but he refused to pause for breath. All he could think of was the grief that lay in wait for the Clan.
“Let me carry him a while,” Rippleclaw begged as they crossed the rain-soaked meadow.
Crookedjaw was panting beneath the weight, the pain from his wounds beginning to bite. “No. I’m okay.”
As they passed the beech copse and neared the camp he became dimly aware of Rippleclaw pressing against him, shouldering some of Hailstar’s weight. He staggered into the clearing and stood long enough for Owlfur to slide Hailstar from his back. Then he sank on to his side in the mud, feeling it seep into his fur.
“Crookedjaw!” Willowbreeze frantically licked his cheek. “Are you okay?”
Exhausted, Crookedjaw closed his eyes where he lay and let darkness enfold him.
He woke in his nest, his wounds stinging.
Willowbreeze ducked down beside him. “You’re awake?”
Crookedjaw scrambled to his paws. “The vigil for Hailstar!”
“It’s okay, you haven’t missed it.” Willowbreeze’s voice was hoarse with sadness. “He’s in the clearing.”
Crookedjaw hurried out of the den.
“Are you okay?” Oakheart raced over to him.
“I’m fine.” Crookedjaw stared past his brother at his wretched, leaderless Clanmates.
Birdsong was pacing the edge to the clearing, wailing in distress. “Why did I suggest going to the barn? I sent him to his death!”
Tanglewhisker padded after her. “How could you know what would happen? You can’t blame yourself, frog-brain.”
Beetlenose sat, hunched, underneath the willow with Petaldust and Voleclaw beside him. The three warriors stared blankly across the clearing at their father’s body. The rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing. A shaft of late-afternoon light illuminated the clearing, sparkling on Hailstar’s rain-drenched pelt.
Echomist huddled beside him. She looked up as Crookedjaw approached. “I should never have let him go.”
Crookedjaw touched his muzzle to her head. “He fought like a StarClan warrior right to the end.”
The entrance to Brambleberry’s den swished and the medicine cat padded out.
“How are Sedgecreek and Leopardfur?” Crookedpaw called.
“Resting,” Brambleberry reported. “I’ve put ointment on their wounds to stop them getting infected.” She studied Crookedjaw’s matted, bloodstained pelt. “I should treat yours, too.”
“Later,” he growled. “When I’ve sat vigil for Hailstar.”
Brambleberry shook her head. “You have to travel to the Moonstone with me,” she reminded him.
He blinked at her.
“To receive your nine lives.”
Nine lives. He was the leader of RiverClan! The realization hit him like a wave of cold water.
“We should leave now,” Brambleberry prompted. “Mudfur can look after Sedgecreek and Leopardfur.”
Crookedjaw glanced at Echomist. “Will you be okay?”
“I have my Clanmates,” she murmured.
Crookedjaw dipped his head. His pelt burned and he looked up to see Timberfur staring at him. Graypool peered from the nursery, her eyes wide. Frogleap and Loudbelly padded beside the reed bed, splashing through the shallows overflowing the bank. Their pelts were spiked, their ears flat. They were depending on him now. His heart ached. He’d never felt less like a leader. He’d only just become deputy.
He felt Willowbreeze’s warm pelt brush against him. “You should go.” Her gaze flicked toward Brambleberry waiting at the entrance. “You’ll be fine,” Willowbreeze whispered. “Hailstar made the right choice when he chose you as deputy.”
No, he didn’t. Crookedjaw felt sick. Mapleshade decided my destiny—a cat from the Dark Forest! Panic fluttered in his chest. What have I done?
“Let’s go.” Brambleberry’s call from the other side of the clearing was gentle but urgent.
“I’m coming.”
Brambleberry kept a little way ahead as they leaped the stepping-stones and followed the path beside the waterfall. Crossing the WindClan scent line, Crookedjaw caught up to her. He didn’t want her to walk into a WindClan patrol without him at her side. Was she going to say anything about him becoming leader? She had been worried about Hailstar making him deputy; she must be horrified that he was to be RiverClan’s leader. He halted.
Brambleberry turned and stared at him in surprise. The heather swayed around her, touched with a pink glow as the evening sun bled into the pale blue sky. “Are you coming?”
“You have to tell me!” Crookedjaw dug his claws into the peaty earth. “I can’t face StarClan until I know what you know.” A StarClan omen had warned her that he was not to be trusted. If she knew about Mapleshade, so m
ust StarClan. What if they refused to give him his nine lives?
Brambleberry blinked. “What I know?”
“Don’t pretend you’re not worried they won’t make me leader,” Crookedjaw growled. “Or is that what you’re hoping for?”
“Why would I hope for something like that?”
“Because of the omen! The omen that warned you not to trust me. What was it? You’ve hidden it long enough. You have to tell me what you’ve seen!”
Brambleberry’s shoulders drooped. “Yes. Yes, I do. But it’s not what you’re thinking.” She sat down and held his gaze with her sky-colored eyes. “I’ve seen you with her.”
Crookedjaw’s pelt burned. “Do you mean Mapleshade?”
“Is that her name?” Brambleberry’s ears twitched. “I didn’t know. I just knew she was training you in a place that was dark and cold and smelled of death.” Her fur pricked. “I watched you choose to walk with cats who would never be loyal to you or your Clan.”
“I didn’t know she was bad,” Crookedjaw whispered. “I was so dumb. I thought she was a StarClan cat.”
Brambleberry flicked the tip of her tail. “StarClan? You thought that?” Her pelt smoothed. “Now I understand! When it came to your Clanmates, you’ve always been so brave and loyal—so determined to do your best. I couldn’t understand why you were training with that monster.”
“I thought she was on my side.” Crookedjaw looked at his paws. “I wanted to be the best warrior I could be, and she said she’d help me.”
Brambleberry shook her head. “You would always have been a great warrior.”
“How could I have known that?” His mew caught in his throat. “After I broke my jaw, no cat seemed to want me. Everyone treated me like I was useless.”
Brambleberry’s eyes clouded. “We let you down.”
“No!” Crookedjaw shook his head. “The past is over. Everything I love is in RiverClan!”
“But you have walked with a dark warrior.”