by Erin Hunter
Squirrelflight backed away, her hackles lifting. “Stay away from me.”
Ashfur narrowed his eyes. “Don’t you realize how I feel about you?”
“I don’t care how you feel about me!” Squirrelflight bared her teeth. “I want Bramblestar back.”
“He’s not coming back.” Ashfur’s ears twitched. “I’ve made sure of that. I’m the only cat who loves you now. And I’m willing to forgive you for betraying me and making me a prisoner. Come with me. I can make you happier than you ever imagined.”
Squirrelflight stared at him, her eyes glittering with disbelief. “Do you think I could ever be with the cat who killed my mate?”
Be careful. Rootspring silently pulled himself onto the next rock. Don’t make him angry.
Hurt showed in Ashfur’s eyes. “I’ve loved you through death.” His mew was pleading now, like a kit desperate for food. “Doesn’t that mean anything? I came back from StarClan to be with you. Bramblestar could never do that. No cat could. Don’t you think you could learn to love me now that he’s gone?”
Squirrelflight glared at him. “You killed him and stole his body!” she hissed. “You lied to every cat and tore Thunderclan apart. I made my choice moons ago, and you’ve proven over and over again that it was the right one.” She squared her shoulders, hate burning in her eyes. “I could never love you!”
Rootspring scrambled higher, panic pressing in his chest as Ashfur flattened his ears.
A growl sounded in the dark warrior’s throat. “I’ll make you wish you’d never made that choice.” With a snarl, he flung himself at Squirrelflight. She reared and met his attack with a vicious swipe that raked his muzzle and sent blood spraying onto the rock. He spun toward her and hooked his claws into her shoulders, dragging her onto the stone. Leaping on top of her, he slashed her cheek with his foreclaws. She pushed up with her hind legs, flinging him away, and lunged at him with a yowl of fury as he rolled across the rock.
Rootspring leaped to the top of the waterfall and heaved himself over the edge. Squirrelflight was on Ashfur, churning his belly with her hind paws. The dark warrior gripped her neck between his claws and rolled her onto her spine. She screeched with pain as she tried to twist free. Blood smeared the stone where she writhed. Showing his teeth, Ashfur dug his claws harder around her throat until Squirrelflight’s shriek became a strangled yelp.
Rootspring hurled himself toward them, sinking his claws into Ashfur’s pelt. Straining, he dragged him backward, shocked by the dark warrior’s strength.
With a snarl of rage, Ashfur turned on him. “Warriors are like rats,” he hissed. “No matter how many I kill, there’s always another waiting to steal from me.”
Rootspring’s pelt spiked as he saw murder in Ashfur’s gaze. The dark warrior lifted a paw and swung at his face, a blow so fierce that it sent Rootspring reeling away.
Blind with pain, Rootspring hit the rock, the hard stone knocking the wind out of him as he landed. He fought for breath and blinked away blood welling in his eye. He pushed himself to his paws and gasped for air, terror flooding his chest as Ashfur padded toward Squirrelflight. She was trying to scramble to her paws, but her legs buckled beneath her. Her gaze darkened with fear as it met Ashfur’s. Helplessly, she lashed out at him, but he ducked and grabbed her scruff between his teeth. Growling ominously, he began to drag her along the spiral of dimpled paw steps, down toward the Moonpool.
Rootspring forced his breath to steady. The hollow swam before his eyes, his vision blurred with blood. He shook it away and, flanks heaving, staggered after Ashfur as the dark warrior hauled Squirrelflight’s limp body to the bottom of the hollow.
The Moonpool reflected starlight, its surface unruffled in the shelter of the encircling rock. Rootspring stared in confusion as Ashfur waded into the water, dragging Squirrelflight with him. Is he going to drown her? Rootspring’s paws shook beneath him as he stumbled after them. Ashfur pushed deeper into the pool, his eyes glittering with triumph as, with a grunt, he pressed Squirrelflight beneath the surface and disappeared after her.
Rootspring stopped at the edge, hardly able to believe his eyes. Panic surging beneath his pelt, he plunged in after them. As the chilly water soaked his fur, his thoughts flashed to the time he’d nearly drowned in the lake. Ignoring the memories, he waded as deep as he dared, circling the pool, reaching out with his paws to feel for Ashfur or Squirrelflight. Nothing. Taking a gulp of air, he ducked beneath the surface, his eyes stinging as he scanned the dark water for some sign of them.
There was no cat there. He flailed his paws, sweeping the water in a desperate search. They can’t have disappeared! Bursting up through the surface, he scanned the hollow. It was deserted. He circled the pool again and again, sinking below the surface in case he could see some sign of Ashfur and Squirrelflight. But the Moonpool was empty. He was alone.
Struggling to the edge, he heaved himself out and shook water from his fur. The Moonpool shimmered, then grew calm, its surface unruffled once more as it reflected the star-specked sky.
Where had they gone? Shock reached like ice to his bones. How would any cat believe what he’d seen here? He stared at the water, hardly breathing. Water dripped from his pelt as he began to shiver.
Ashfur was alive, and he’d taken Squirrelflight to a place where only the dead could reach her.
About the Author
ERIN HUNTER is inspired by a love of cats and a fascination with the ferocity of the natural world. As well as having great respect for nature in all its forms, Erin enjoys creating rich mythical explanations for animal behavior. She is also the author of the Seekers, Survivors, and Bravelands series.
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Books by Erin Hunter
THE BROKEN CODE
Book One: Lost Stars
Book Two: The Silent Thaw
Book Three: Veil of Shadows
Book Four: Darkness Within
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Copyright
WARRIORS: THE BROKEN CODE #4: DARKNESS WITHIN. Copyright © 2020 by Working Partners Ltd. Series created by Working Partners Ltd. Map art © 2020 by Dave Stevenson. Interior art © 2020 by Owen Richardson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Cover art © 2020 by Owen Richardson
Series cover design by Ellice M. Lee
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Hunter, Erin, author.
Title: Darkness within / Erin Hunter.
Description: First edition. | New York : HarperCollins, [2020] | Series: Warriors: the broken code ; book 4 | Summary: “Exiled after a battle that left all five Clans devastated, ThunderClan’s deputy, Squirrelflight, reveals the identity of the fake Bramblestar and fights for the return of the real one”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020008885 | ISBN 978-0-06-282372-4 (trade bdg.) — ISBN 978-0-06-282373-1 (lib. bdg.)
Subjects: CYAC: Cats—Fiction. | Fantasy.
Classification: LCC PZ7.H916625 Dav 2020 | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008885
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Digital Edition NOVEMBER 2020 ISBN: 978-0-06-282375-5
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-282372-4
2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321
FIRST EDITION
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