Warriors

by Erin Hunter

  Tigerstar squared his shoulders. “No ShadowClan cat would do something so fox-hearted!” Anger sharpened his mew.

  “Not even Juniperclaw?” Alderheart pressed. “He turned rogue once, remember?” Juniperclaw had left ShadowClan to follow Darktail and his rogues when he’d been an apprentice. He’d returned only after Darktail had revealed himself to be a ruthless enemy of the Clans.

  “Are you questioning my judgment?” Tigerstar’s hackles lifted.

  “No.” Alderheart stood his ground. Even if Tigerstar was covering for his deputy, he wouldn’t be frightened into silence. This was too important. “You’re probably right to believe he’s loyal now. But did you think about how far he might go to prove his loyalty?”

  Doubt flickered for a moment in Tigerstar’s eyes. Alderheart felt a glimmer of relief. He felt sure that the ShadowClan leader hadn’t known about Juniperclaw’s plan. Tigerstar blinked. “I don’t care what you think Juniperclaw might or might not have done. It’s a question of trust. ShadowClan cats trust their Clanmates. Besides, this is between SkyClan and ShadowClan, and SkyClan is gone. The matter is closed.”

  “But if Juniperclaw is capable of doing something—”

  Tigerstar cut him off. “What does it have to do with you?” He thrust his muzzle closer to Alderheart. “Why is a ThunderClan cat sticking his nose into ShadowClan’s affairs?”

  Alderheart held his gaze. “Don’t you care that you may have a murderer in your Clan?”

  “No cat has been murdered.” Tigerstar pulled back slowly. “Did Bramblestar put you up to this?”

  “Bramblestar told me to forget it, just like you,” Alderheart told him.

  But Tigerstar wasn’t listening. “Bramblestar has always been an interfering old buzzard. ThunderClan should learn to keep its whiskers out of other cats’ prey.”

  “Even if it means letting a cat break the warrior code?” Alderheart stared at him. Tigerstar couldn’t let Juniperclaw get away with this.

  “I think you should leave now.” Tigerstar’s mew was cold.

  “But I haven’t checked Puddleshine’s wounds.”

  “Puddleshine is fine. You saw that for yourself.” Tigerstar signaled to Snaketooth and Grassheart with a flick of his tail. As they hurried across the clearing, he jerked his nose toward Alderheart. “I want you to make sure Alderheart reaches the border,” he told them. “It’s time he went home.”

  Alderheart searched Tigerstar’s gaze. Was he really going to ignore this? His heart sank as Tigerstar looked away. Tail drooping, he followed Grassheart and Snaketooth to the entrance.

  Grassheart glanced at him. “What did you say? Tigerstar looked pretty angry.”

  “I thought he was going to claw your pelt off,” Snaketooth mewed.

  “It was nothing,” Alderheart mumbled. Frustration itched beneath his fur. Why wouldn’t any cat take the poisoning seriously? As he reached the entrance, the brambles trembled.

  Juniperclaw emerged from the tunnel. He looked at Alderheart. “Are you leaving already?” There was a suspicion in his gaze.

  Alderheart glared at him without answering.

  “Tigerstar asked us to escort him to the border,” Grassheart told the ShadowClan deputy

  “Really?” Juniperclaw narrowed his eyes.

  “He wants to make sure I’m safe,” Alderheart grunted.

  “Cats are always safe on ShadowClan land.” Juniperclaw looked away. “As long as they’re allowed to be there.”

  Alderheart reached camp, his paws itching to tell Bramblestar that Shadowkit had seen Juniperclaw take the deathberry seeds. His father would have to do something, surely? A Clan’s deputy mustn’t be capable of cold-blooded murder.

  As he hurried through the dripping tunnel, he scanned the camp. Bramblestar was crouched in the shelter of the camp wall, sharing a mouse with Brackenfur. Twigbranch was pacing beside them, her eyes glittering excitedly. She glanced urgently at Bramblestar, as though willing him to finish eating. Beside them, Thornclaw was nosing through the bedraggled fresh-kill pile, while Ivypool called to Thriftkit, Flipkit, and Bristlekit from the nursery.

  “Come inside!” she ordered.

  They looked at her from the edge of the puddle beside the clearing.

  “We’re pretending to be RiverClan cats!” Flipkit waded into the muddy water.

  Bristlekit splashed after him. “Look! I can swim!” The water barely covered her paws.

  “Me too!” Thriftkit squeaked.

  “You look like drowned mice!” Ivypool ventured a little way into the rain, her pelt prickling as the rain touched it. She hurried to the puddle and grabbed Bristlekit by the scruff. Lifting her off her paws, she carried her to the nursery, whisking the other two along with her tail.

  Water streamed down the cliff behind the medicine den. It dripped from the Highledge. Graystripe looked out miserably from the elders’ den and turned back inside with a snort.

  “Bramblestar.” Alderheart hurried toward his father.

  As Bramblestar looked up from his mouse, the camp entrance rustled and Lionblaze raced in. Cherryfall and Bumblestripe were on his heels. They hurried past Alderheart and stopped, panting, in front of Bramblestar. The ThunderClan leader scrambled to his paws.

  “We traveled around the lake, as you ordered,” Lionblaze puffed. “RiverClan has been flooded out of their camp. They’re sheltering with WindClan.”

  Twigbranch darted forward and stared imploringly at Bramblestar. “That makes it easy!” she mewed. “You have to let me fetch them back!”

  Bramblestar waved her away with his tail and nodded to the patrol. “How are they all doing?”

  Alderheart padded closer, curiosity prickling in his pelt, as Lionblaze carried on with his report. “They’re wet and miserable, but they seem safe. Mistystar was very upset, though.”

  “She says StarClan was right and we should have listened to them,” Cherryfall told him.

  “Actually, both she and Harestar say the same thing,” Bumblestripe chimed in. “If we’re to survive this storm, we need SkyClan back.”

  Bramblestar narrowed his eyes. “Are they willing to give up land, then, as I’ve said ThunderClan would do?”

  Cherryfall twitched her whiskers anxiously. “Not exactly,” she said.

  “But they both said they would be willing to discuss it further,” Lionblaze added. “I think they might be convinced.”

  Twigbranch pushed herself forward again. “We have an opportunity, then,” she urged. “StarClan clearly wants all the Clans to stay together. What if I take cats from each of the Clans, and we try to persuade SkyClan that they are wanted here?”

  Hope soared in Alderheart’s chest. “It can’t hurt,” he urged. “But . . . the biggest obstacle remains: Tigerstar.”

  “Tigerstar will have to accept StarClan’s will,” Bramblestar growled.

  “What if he still refuses to give up land?” Bumblestripe asked.

  “Then he will have to answer StarClan alone.” Bramblestar nodded to Twigbranch. “Take the warriors you need from ThunderClan, and recruit as many cats as you can from the other Clans. Find Leafstar and persuade her to come back.”

  Twigbranch’s eyes shone. She lifted her muzzle, ignoring the rain, and purred. “I’ll bring SkyClan back,” she promised.

  As she headed toward the warriors’ den, Alderheart tried to catch his father’s eye. He still had to speak to him about Juniperclaw.

  “Go with Twigbranch,” Bramblestar told Lionblaze. “Help her recruit volunteers for her patrol and tell Mistystar and Harestar what we’ve decided.”

  As Lionblaze dipped his head and turned away, Alderheart padded forward. “I need to talk to you.” He blinked expectantly at his father.

  Bramblestar narrowed his eyes. “You look worried. Do you think it’s too late to bring SkyClan home?”

  “It’s not about SkyClan.” Alderheart jerked his nose toward the Highledge. “Let’s talk over there.” He led Bramblestar away from the crowded fresh-kill
pile, relieved to find shelter beneath the jutting rock.

  Bramblestar gazed at him anxiously.

  “We have to help ShadowClan,” Alderheart told him.

  “Help them?” Bramblestar looked puzzled.

  “Shadowkit saw Juniperclaw take deathberries from the medicine den,” Alderheart told him quietly. “Violetshine says Juniperclaw was beside the SkyClan fresh-kill pile just before Sparrowpelt got sick.”

  “So you really think Juniperclaw poisoned Sparrowpelt?”

  “I know he did,” Alderheart insisted. “He told me that every cat is safe on ShadowClan territory as long as they’re allowed to be there. As far as ShadowClan is concerned, SkyClan wasn’t allowed to be on ShadowClan land. It’s obvious—he poisoned Sparrowpelt as a warning. He wanted SkyClan gone, and he saw a way to drive them away without a battle.”

  Bramblestar’s gaze darkened. “Tigerstar should never have trusted him,” he growled.

  “But he did!” Alderheart blinked expectantly at his father. What was Bramblestar going to do about it?

  Bramblestar looked away. “This is Tigerstar’s problem. We can’t interfere with another Clan.”

  “But you must! I spoke to Tigerstar. He won’t accept that one of his warriors would break the warrior code. He’s not going to do anything.”

  “And what would you have me do? Accuse his deputy of murder?” Bramblestar shifted his paws uneasily. “It’s not my place to interfere.”

  Alderheart held his father’s gaze. “ShadowClan is in danger. Juniperclaw was a rogue once. We saw what happened last time ShadowClan let a rogue tell them what to do. They could abandon the warrior code again—and once a Clan abandons the warrior code, it stops being a Clan.”

  CHAPTER 20

  Twigbranch’s paws were numb with cold. She’d been trudging beside Tree across muddy fields since dawn. Nightcloud, Flypaw, and Willowshine trekked after them with the rest of the patrol, and she wondered if they regretted now having agreed so easily to join her on this quest. She stopped and shook out her fur, then glanced at the woods beyond. She couldn’t wait to reach the trees. They would offer a little shelter. “I’m tired of being wet and cold.”

  Tree looked at her. “Get used to it. This weather doesn’t look like it’s going to let up.”

  Twigbranch eyed the dark sky ahead. “Let’s hope we can persuade SkyClan to come back, or it might never stop.”

  They’d left the day before at dusk and trekked half the night before resting in a makeshift camp outside Clan territory. Tree remembered the route he’d followed when SkyClan had led him to the lake. He’d suggested they follow it now, since it was the most likely path SkyClan had taken.

  It had been easy to find volunteers from WindClan and RiverClan. Cats had hurried forward, alarmed by the worsening weather and eager to put an end to it by bringing SkyClan back. But Tree had insisted they take only cats who had always wanted SkyClan beside the lake. Twigbranch had agreed and had chosen Nightcloud, Hootwhisker, and Gorsetail from WindClan, and Willowshine, Icewing, and Lizardtail from RiverClan.

  She glanced back at them now, their heads down and tails drooping. Flypaw padded between them. Finleap was at the back with Lionblaze and Cherryfall. Twigbranch hoped to catch Finleap’s eye, but he didn’t look up. She’d been pleased when he’d volunteered to come and hoped that the journey would bring them closer. But he was keeping his distance, the same way as he had back at camp, and she was finding it hard to shake the nagging worry that, when they found SkyClan, he’d ask to join them again. Sadness tugged at her belly. Perhaps they weren’t meant to be together. She was sure that, in a different life, their love would have flourished. But here, perhaps love wasn’t enough to overcome the troubles they faced. She blinked at Tree. “You must be looking forward to seeing Violetshine again.”

  “I can’t wait.” He flicked rain from his ears. Worry darkened his gaze. “I just hope we can reach them in this weather.”

  The wind was picking up, rocking the trees at the edge of the meadow.

  Willowshine fell in beside Twigbranch. “How much worse can the storm get?” She raised her voice to make herself heard over the wind.

  Twigbranch narrowed her eyes against the rain. “I don’t know, but we have to keep going.”

  Willowshine nodded and hunched her shoulders harder.

  The wood sheltered them for a while, but they were soon out of the trees and crossing wetlands, picking their way through sedge, their paws sinking into the waterlogged ground. Twigbranch could see a Thunderpath on the far side of a valley. She pointed her muzzle toward it. “Is that where we’re heading?” she asked Tree.

  “Yes. We follow it toward moorland. But we have to cross a stream first.”

  She heard the stream before she saw it. Water thundered beyond the sedge. Her pelt prickled nervously. “It sounds more like a waterfall than a stream.”

  Willowshine hurried ahead and disappeared between the bushes. She returned a moment later. “It’s a torrent.” Her eyes glittered with fear. “I don’t know how we’ll cross it.”

  Twigbranch followed as the small gray she-cat beckoned her though the sedge. On the other side, white water roared past. It was too wide to leap. It swirled and frothed and slapped angrily at the muddy banks. “How in StarClan do we cross that?”

  “It’s too wild to swim across.” Willowshine eyed Icewing and Lizardtail as they followed Tree through the sedge. “Even for a RiverClan cat.” Her Clanmates stopped on the bank and stared in dismay at the foaming water as Nightcloud led the rest of the patrol out.

  Lionblaze padded to the edge. “Could we make it across if we hang onto one another and let the strongest swimmers lead?” He looked at Icewing.

  The RiverClan cat’s ears twitched. “Those currents would sweep us away.”

  “Look.” Tree nodded to a young alder farther along the bank. It bent over the water. A worn crack where the trunk had snapped moons ago showed fresh, pale wood where the storm had torn it wider. The tree rocked in the wind, yielding at the crack so that its branches dipped toward the river. “If we climb past the broken wood, our weight will bend the tree more,” he mewed. “Its branches will reach the far bank, and we can use it to cross.”

  The alder looked fragile, creaking as the wind tugged it. It wouldn’t take much weight to snap the trunk so that it collapsed into a makeshift bridge.

  Nightcloud shivered. “It looks dangerous.”

  Hootwhisker’s eyes glittered with fear. “The water might wash the tree away, too.”

  Twigbranch blinked at Tree. “Perhaps we look for another place to cross.”

  He shook his head. “This is the only place. The water will be wilder if we head downstream, and upstream the banks are too steep.”

  Flypaw’s eyes were wide. “What if I fall in?” she breathed.

  “I won’t let you.” Twigbranch ran her tail along Flypaw’s spine. She glanced at the others. “Let’s try to snap the trunk first. We can decide after that.”

  Tree nodded and led the way. He leaped past the splintered wood and balanced on the sloping trunk. Then he reached along it with his paws and pushed. “Help me.”

  Hootwhisker and Lionblaze leaped up beside him. Together they pressed against the trunk. Cherryfall slipped around the other side and, keeping clear of the water’s edge, reached up and hooked her claws into the bark. She pulled the trunk as the others pushed. Twigbranch hurried to help her, rearing onto her hind legs and digging her foreclaws into the wet wood. She heard a snap and felt the tree give. Cherryfall dodged away. Twigbranch ducked as its branches crashed onto the far bank. Wood splintered around Tree as Lionblaze and Hootwhisker leaped clear, and the alder trembled and fell still like fallen prey.

  Triumph surged in Twigbranch’s chest. It had lodged clear of the water, and the river slid beneath it. “We can cross!” The tree was narrow, but smooth. They could easily pick their way across it and scramble through the branches onto the far shore. She leaped onto the trunk and blinked at
the others.

  Lionblaze’s fur was ruffled, but his eyes shone. He jumped up and headed across, curling his claws into the bark as the wind ruffled his pelt. Finleap followed. Twigbranch blinked at him reassuringly as he brushed past her, but he avoided her eye. Lizardtail and Hootwhisker went next, and the others followed. As she waited for them to cross, Tree nudged Flypaw past her onto the trunk.

  The apprentice’s ears were twitching anxiously. Twigbranch ran her tail reassuringly along the young she-cat’s spine. “I’ll be right behind you,” she promised. As Flypaw padded cautiously forward, Twigbranch followed, keeping close enough to grab her if she lost her footing, but not crowding her. The river churned below, spray breaking over the bark. Flypaw was taking her time, but Twigbranch resisted the urge to hurry her on. She knew that the young she-cat did best when she was allowed to go at her own speed. Slowly Flypaw padded along the trunk, her tail quivering and her pelt bushed. She quickened as she neared the end, darted forward in a rush, threw herself among the branches, scrabbled through them, and fought her way to solid ground.

  Twigbranch followed the trunk onto the thickest branch and picked her way among the jutting twigs until she could see earth beneath. She leaped down and looked back for Tree. The yellow tom had already crossed the trunk. She was impressed to see how at ease he seemed, as though he crossed raging rivers every day. He followed Twigbranch’s path nimbly and leaped down beside her. “That was a great plan,” she told him, swishing her tail happily.

  Lionblaze nodded respectfully to Tree. “I didn’t know loners were so resourceful.”

  Tree’s whiskers twitched with amusement. “Warriors aren’t the only smart cats in the forest.”

  Finleap scowled. “Let’s go,” he mewed briskly. “We can’t waste time congratulating one another. We have to catch up.” As he padded away, Tree glanced at Twigbranch questioningly.

  She looked away. “Finleap is right. We should keep moving.” This patrol had been her idea. These cats were relying on her. She wasn’t going to let Finleap upset her.