“Don’t worry,” Ivypool tried to reassure her. “There are warriors all around us.” Anger stabbed at her like a claw as she saw her sister was unconvinced. “But they don’t count, because they’re not part of the prophecy, right?” she added sarcastically.
“You wouldn’t understand,” Dovewing snapped back at her.
“You think?” Ivypool hissed. “I don’t see you going to the Dark Forest every night!”
In her stress, she didn’t realize that her voice was rising, until she saw Brackenfur dropping back to walk beside them.
“Stop it, both of you,” he meowed. “You can at least present a united front at a Gathering. Do you want the other Clans to see ThunderClan warriors squabbling? Not to mention that StarClan will be angry if you argue under the full moon.”
Ivypool gave a reluctant nod and Dovewing muttered, “Sorry.” Brackenfur gave them a hard look from narrowed green eyes, then quickened his pace again to rejoin Cloudtail.
StarClan! Ivypool thought. Sometimes I wonder if they have any power at all. Suppressing a shiver, she recalled everything she had seen in the Dark Forest. I know what those cats can do. How will we ever fight back?
As Firestar led his Clan along the shore toward the tree-bridge, the RiverClan cats emerged from the shrubbery around the stream, with Mistystar at their head. For a few moments every cat milled around in confusion. Ivypool spotted a few hostile looks from the rival Clan.
We can’t fight over which Clan gets to cross the bridge first!
Then Mistystar stepped forward and dipped her head politely to Firestar. “Please, go ahead,” the RiverClan leader meowed, waving her tail for her Clan to retreat a few paces.
“Thank you,” Firestar replied.
He waited on the shore beside Mistystar while Brambleclaw led the ThunderClan cats across the treebridge. Ivypool was waiting her turn when she glanced across at the RiverClan cats and caught the gaze of Minnowtail. For a heartbeat she couldn’t look away, as if the memory of training together in the Dark Forest were a claw pinning her to the RiverClan warrior. Then Minnowtail turned her head aside, and the moment was past. Ivypool realized she was shivering.
“Come on!” Dovewing gave her a prod in the side. “Are you crossing, or are you going to stand there all night?”
“Sorry.” Ivypool leaped onto the tree-bridge and ran across.
There were no other cat scents in the air as she jumped down onto the pebbly shore of the island, meaning that ThunderClan was the first to arrive. The clearing seemed very quiet as Ivypool wriggled underneath the surrounding bushes and padded toward the Great Oak. Dovewing and Brackenfur, who had followed her, set their paws down carefully as if they didn’t want to break the silence.
Then a scamper of paws sounded from beyond the bushes and Ivypool jumped, startled, as excited squeals rose into the air.
“This way! I’ll race you to the Great Oak!”
“I’ll get there first! You couldn’t race a hedgehog!”
Brackenfur let out a mrrow of amusement. “Our apprentices have arrived for their first Gathering.”
Cherrypaw and Molepaw came squirming through the bushes, with Rosepetal right behind them.
“That’s enough,” she meowed. “Don’t even think of racing around the clearing. We have to wait for the leaders and listen quietly while they’re speaking.” She gestured with her tail. “Sit there.”
The two apprentices obeyed her, but they were wriggling with excitement, exchanging bright-eyed glances as they gazed around.
“Wow! The Great Oak is big!” Cherrypaw exclaimed.
The rest of the ThunderClan cats emerged from the bushes, closely followed by RiverClan and WindClan. A few moments later ShadowClan joined them. As the clearing filled up and the different Clan scents mingled, Ivypool crouched in the middle of her own Clanmates, not wanting to see the cats who were familiar to her from the Dark Forest.
I feel as if I half belong with them, she thought uncomfortably. But I’m betraying them already. I wish I could tell the other Clans exactly what’s going on. Maybe then we could make a plan to fight the Dark Forest from within.
Firestar was the first leader to jump into the branches of the Great Oak, followed by Onestar, Mistystar, and Blackstar. Brambleclaw and the other deputies took their places on the tree roots. The other cats grew quiet at once; Ivypool noticed that most of them had stayed with their own Clans, instead of mingling to exchange news as they usually did.
Mistystar stood on a low branch and let out a yowl, sweeping her blue gaze around the clearing. Moonlight shone on her gray-blue fur. “I will begin,” she announced. “RiverClan is prospering. The dry weather hasn’t affected the water levels in the lake or the stream, so fishing is good.”
A murmur of approval came from RiverClan, but the other cats were silent.
“Also,” Mistystar went on, “we have two new warriors. Mossypaw and Hollowpaw are now Mossyfoot and Hollowflight.”
“Mossyfoot! Hollowflight!”
Ivypool peered out from behind Lionblaze to see the two new warriors sitting with their heads high while the other cats called out their names. She noticed that most of the cheers came from their own Clan; the others weren’t nearly as enthusiastic. When the yowling had died down, Mistystar dipped her head to the other leaders and sat on her branch, letting her tail hang down.
Firestar rose to his paws and advanced a couple of paces to the end of the branch where he had been sitting. “Prey is running well in ThunderClan,” he reported. “Two days ago a fox appeared in our territory, but our warriors chased it off.”
Ivypool breathed a sigh of relief that the Clan leader didn’t mention what she had done with the fox dung, which led to the fox entering ThunderClan in the first place. He hasn’t mentioned injuries, either. He won’t want ThunderClan to seem weak.
“And we have two new apprentices,” Firestar went on, “Cherrypaw and Molepaw.”
The two young cats sat up straight, their eyes shining, as their Clanmates called out their names. Ivypool thought they were in serious danger of bursting with pride. But still there were only a few cats from other Clans who acknowledged them.
Redwillow of ShadowClan was eyeing the two apprentices thoughtfully, though he remained silent. Paws off! Ivypool wanted to tell him. You’re not having them for the Dark Forest!
Firestar waited until the clearing was quiet, then began to step back. But before he could sit down again, Onestar leaped to his paws, rustling the oak leaves as he balanced on his branch.
“I noticed you haven’t mentioned the way your warriors hang around on the WindClan border,” he rasped. “Are you plotting an invasion?”
Ivypool’s heart beat faster and she swallowed nervously. Is this because Birchfall and I were caught washing in the stream?
Instantly Firestar took a pace forward so that he was facing the WindClan leader. His eyes blazed with green fire. “No!” he exclaimed. “You’re being ridiculous!”
“Ridiculous, am I?” Onestar hissed. “Then why have my warriors seen a ThunderClan cat scouting our territory?”
“Yes!” Crowfeather yowled from the clearing. He sprang to his paws with his gray-black fur bristling. “I’ve seen it!”
“So have I!” Whitetail agreed.
Ivypool realized that Lionblaze was stiffening beside her, clearly indignant about the false accusation. She was just relieved that this didn’t seem to have anything to do with her and Birchfall.
“Can you identify this trespasser?” Firestar inquired icily. He waved his tail toward the ThunderClan cats in the clearing. “Is that cat here tonight?”
“No,” Onestar replied. “My warriors never got a good look at the intruder, and the scent wasn’t clear.”
“Oh, really?” Firestar’s green eyes narrowed. “So you have no evidence that this was a ThunderClan cat? It could easily have been a passing loner—unless it was a bit of mist or a skinny dog.”
“Well, you would say that, Firestar,” Onestar blus
tered.
“Yes,” Firestar agreed. “I would always defend my Clan against an unfounded accusation. Onestar, I think you’d better give us your Clan news and sit down, before you fall any further into the hole you’ve dug for yourself.”
There were murmurs of agreement from the cats in the clearing—and not only from ThunderClan, Ivypool realized. The WindClan cats were mostly looking embarrassed, except for a few like Crowfeather and Breezepelt, who were still furious.
“WindClan has two new apprentices,” Onestar announced abruptly. “Crouchpaw and Larkpaw.” He sat down.
This time only WindClan called out the names of the two new apprentices. Ivypool felt sorry for the young cats. Their special moment has been spoiled because their leader is such a mouse-brain!
Firestar also sat down, waving his tail for Blackstar to speak.
“ShadowClan warriors fought a battle with the two kittypets at the Twoleg nest.” The big white cat lashed his tail with satisfaction. “We won’t be having any more trouble from them for a while.”
There was a yowl of agreement from ShadowClan; Ivypool spotted Tawnypelt and Toadfoot with satisfied expressions on their faces, although Toadfoot’s eye was swollen from a nasty scratch, which suggested the kittypets had put up a decent fight.
“Also,” the ShadowClan leader went on, “we have three new warriors: Pinenose, Ferretclaw, and Starlingwing. ShadowClan is strong.”
Blackfoot sat down as the cats in the clearing yowled approval of the new warriors. Ivypool couldn’t bring herself to join in. Strong? That sounded like a threat. Does that mean they’ll be causing more trouble?
As the Clan leaders came down from the Great Oak, the Clans at last began to mingle and share tongues before they left the island. Ivypool saw Tigerheart staring at her and Dovewing, and immediately looked away. Dovewing seemed to be ignoring the ShadowClan cat, too.
A heartbeat later, Ivypool noticed that Tigerheart had left his Clanmates and was heading toward Dovewing. Ivypool turned to warn her sister, but at that moment Hollowflight thrust himself between them.
“Hi, Ivypool,” he meowed.
“Hi. Congratulations on becoming a warrior,” Ivypool offered, trying to peer around the RiverClan cat to see what had happened to Dovewing.
“Thanks.” Hollowflight puffed out his chest proudly. “Hey, wasn’t that great climbing last night?”
Oh, sure—you were scared out of your fur! Ivypool thought. “We can’t talk about it here,” she whispered.
Hollowflight didn’t take the hint. “It’s really weird, being in the Dark Forest,” he went on, though at least he had the sense to keep his voice to a low murmur. “I mean, half of those cats are dead!”
“Yeah, weird,” Ivypool agreed, still trying to watch for Dovewing and Tigerheart.
To her relief, she heard the voice of Reedwhisker, the RiverClan deputy. “Hey, Hollowflight! It’s time to go!”
“See you tomorrow night,” Hollowflight purred as he turned and pushed his way through the crowds of cats toward his Clanmate.
As soon as he had gone, Ivypool whirled around, looking for her sister. But there was no sign of Dovewing or Tigerheart. Have they gone off together somewhere?
Then she spotted Dovewing heading out of the clearing behind a group of ThunderClan cats. Ivypool hurried after her, creeping under the bushes and running down the shore to catch up to her as Dovewing waited to cross the tree-bridge.
“What did Tigerheart want?” she asked in a low voice.
Dovewing looked stressed, working her claws into the sandy ground. “It’s nothing,” she snapped. “He’s just trying to stir up trouble over Flametail.”
A chill ran through Ivypool from ears to tail-tip. Has Tigerheart told Dovewing what he saw me doing in the Dark Forest? Her belly heaved as she remembered the moment when Brokenstar had tried to make her kill Flametail when he wandered into the Dark Forest from StarClan.
“What sort of trouble?” she pressed Dovewing, unable to bear the uncertainty. “You know, you can’t believe everything Tigerheart says.”
“Too right!” Dovewing burst out loudly, then lowered her voice again with a swift glance around to see if any warrior was listening. “He’s trying to make me believe that Dawnpelt has a grudge against Jayfeather because he didn’t save Flametail. She thinks Jayfeather murdered him. According to Tigerheart, Dawnpelt is planning something really bad for ThunderClan.” She twitched her whiskers. “Does he think that’s going to scare me?”
Ivypool relaxed, trying not to let her sister see how relieved she was. “Maybe you should tell Brambleclaw,” she suggested. “He might want to put extra cats on ShadowClan border patrols.”
“And get into trouble for talking to Tigerheart?” Dovewing responded. “I don’t think so.” She leaped up onto the end of the tree-bridge and looked down at Ivypool. “Honestly, what damage can Dawnpelt do? It’s all a lie, and she knows it.”
Chapter 7
On the morning after the Gathering, Lionblaze returned from the dawn patrol and headed straight for Firestar’s den. The sun was shining down into the hollow, and puffs of white cloud scudded across a blue sky. The camp was filled with the noise of peaceful activity, but Lionblaze couldn’t help feeling that trouble was heading for them like a swelling storm cloud.
As he climbed up to the top of the tumbled rocks, Lionblaze heard Brambleclaw’s voice coming from Firestar’s den.
“Do you think Onestar was making all that up?” the Clan deputy meowed. “Is he looking for a fight?”
“I hope not,” Firestar replied. “But WindClan is certainly getting hostile.”
“Firestar?” Lionblaze reached the entrance to the den and poked his head inside. “Can I talk to you?”
Firestar was sitting on his pile of bedding at the back of the den, with Brambleclaw standing beside him. “Come in,” he invited with a wave of his tail. “We were just discussing Onestar’s outburst at the Gathering.”
Lionblaze padded into the den, dipping his head to Brambleclaw. “I heard what you were saying,” he began. “That’s what I wanted to discuss, too. What if WindClan is right?”
“What?” Brambleclaw’s tail-tip twitched. “You think ThunderClan cats—?”
“No,” Lionblaze interrupted. “I know that’s not true. But suppose they have seen a cat hanging around? Remember what Cherrypaw and Molepaw said they saw. We might well have a rogue wandering about in the territory.”
Firestar nodded. “That’s a very good point.”
“I’ll track it down if you like,” Lionblaze offered, “and send it on its way.” Waiting tensely for his leader’s reply, he added to himself, And then I can find out if what Jayfeather and I suspect is true.
“There’s no need for that,” Brambleclaw meowed. “We can just send out extra patrols.”
“No,” Firestar decided after a moment’s thought. “Lionblaze can go alone if he wants. There’s no need to be aggressive about this. We just need to find out if there’s any evidence of an intruder.”
Brambleclaw looked slightly puzzled, but dipped his head toward Firestar. “Fine, if you think that’s best.”
Lionblaze bade the two cats a hasty farewell, and ran down the tumbled rocks into the clearing. On his way to the thorn tunnel, he spotted Jayfeather outside his den, sniffing at the fox bite on Foxleap’s shoulder. Lionblaze veered toward him.
“That smells fine,” Jayfeather meowed to Foxleap as Lionblaze approached. “See me again tomorrow. If there are no more problems I think you can go back to warrior duties in a few days.”
“Great, thanks!” Foxleap replied, heading toward the warriors’ den.
Jayfeather turned to Lionblaze. “Well? What are you so excited about?”
Lionblaze paused for a heartbeat, still finding it odd after all this time that Jayfeather could judge his feelings so accurately without being able to see him. “Firestar has given me permission to go and look for the intruder,” he told his brother.
Jayfeather tw
itched his ears. “Really? You’d better be careful, then.” A heartbeat later, he added, “What will you do if we’re right?”
“I don’t know,” Lionblaze admitted, feeling a tingle in his paws. “But I don’t want any other cat finding out first.”
“True enough,” Jayfeather commented.
Leaving his littermate to return to his den, Lionblaze brushed through the thorn tunnel and headed to the slope above the hollow. Wind blew into his face and flattened his fur to his sides as he gazed out over the lake. It looked so peaceful, the water glittering in the sunlight, surrounded by rustling green leaves. Yet Lionblaze felt it was overshadowed by the Dark Forest and his knowledge of what was coming.
The acrid scent of fox dung trickled into Lionblaze’s nose. He followed it until he reached the clearing where Cherrypaw and Molepaw had been training.
Phew, what a stench! Ivypool certainly did a thorough job.
He searched along the edges of the bramble thickets until he discovered paw prints and scraps of fur clinging to the thorns, which showed him where the apprentices had hidden from the fox. Squeezing under the brambles, Lionblaze tried to work out what the young cats might have seen from their hiding place. Bramble tendrils cut off his view in most directions, but there was a gap low down, level with a scared apprentice’s sight line. Through it he could see a hazel bush a few tail-lengths away that looked like a place where the mysterious rescuer might have been crouching.
Lionblaze wriggled out from underneath the brambles, hissing with annoyance as thorns raked his fur. Underneath the hazel bush the debris was disturbed as if a cat had stood there, and a few snapped twigs lay on the ground, but there were no clear paw prints.
The cat must have been a bit smaller than me to get under there, Lionblaze thought. Too bad there are no scraps of fur left behind. And I can’t smell a thing over this awful reek of fox.
There was nothing more to be learned in the clearing. After a moment’s thought, Lionblaze headed for the border with the unclaimed forest, then turned toward WindClan, since the intruder had been seen there. Scanning the ground carefully as he padded along, he spotted a place where the leaf-mold had been churned up, as if a pounce and a brief struggle had taken place there.