A Dangerous Path (Warriors 4)

“Then you’re a fool!” Bluestar growled. Suddenly she seemed to relax. “No, Fireheart, you are a good and noble warrior. It’s not your fault that you can’t imagine the treachery of others.”

What does she mean? Fireheart thought. Has she forgotten that I was the one who told her about Tigerstar?

His mind spinning, he realized that this wasn’t one of Bluestar’s good days. Her eyes were staring and her fur bristling as if rows of enemies stood in front of her. Perhaps, in her confusion, she thought they were.

“But Bluestar,” Fireheart protested, “everywhere we found the scraps of prey, we scented dog. There’s no reason to think that other Clans are responsible.”

“Mouse-brain!” Bluestar hissed, her tail lashing from side to side. “Dogs don’t behave like that. They come here with their Twolegs, and their Twolegs take them away again. Whoever heard of a dog roaming free in the forest?”

“Just because it hasn’t happened before, doesn’t mean it can’t happen now,” Fireheart meowed desperately. “Why do you believe it was WindClan?”

“Can’t you see?” Bluestar’s voice was taut with fury. “WindClan warriors were hunting rabbits, and the rabbits must have crossed the RiverClan border by Fourtrees. RiverClan’s territory is narrow there. The WindClan cats chased their prey across both borders, onto ThunderClan territory, before they caught it and killed it.” She spoke with absolute certainty, as if she had witnessed it herself. “It’s so obvious, a kit could see it.” Her paws started working again. “Well, WindClan had better watch out!”

Fireheart’s heart lurched. It sounded as if Bluestar were planning to attack WindClan. We can’t bear any more trouble! he thought despairingly. An image popped into his head, of Tigerstar on his way to visit Crookedstar and Leopardfur. With a possible alliance in the air between RiverClan and ShadowClan, the last thing they needed right now was a war with WindClan.

“You may be right, Bluestar,” he admitted diplomatically, “but we shouldn’t blame WindClan without any real proof. It could have been RiverClan, couldn’t it?”

“Nonsense!” Bluestar’s voice was scornful. “The cats of RiverClan would never cross a border in pursuit of prey. They know the warrior code better than that. Have you forgotten how they helped us in the fire? We would all have been burned or drowned if not for RiverClan.”

Yes, and Leopardfur won’t let us forget it in a hurry, Fireheart added silently. He couldn’t help thinking that RiverClan might believe a few rabbits were only the beginning of payment for their help.

Fireheart shook his head to clear it. There was no point in trying to blame RiverClan. He knew what scents he had picked up. A dog was responsible for the scattered prey, and he had to make Bluestar see that. “Bluestar, I really think—” he began.

Bluestar dismissed his words with a sweep of her tail. “No!” she insisted. “It was you, Fireheart, who came to me after the last Gathering and told me how Tallstar welcomed Tigerstar as leader of ShadowClan.”

“Hardly welcomed!” Fireheart tried to protest, but Bluestar ignored him.

“Have you forgotten how WindClan warriors stopped me from traveling to Highstones? And how they attacked you when you brought Cloudpaw home? They show no gratitude, none, for what ThunderClan did for them, when you and Graystripe brought them home from exile! Tallstar is working with StarClan against me! He has allied himself with my greatest enemy, and now he and his warriors invade my territory. He’s a disgrace to the name of warrior; he…” Her eyes were wild and her voice sank to a rough choking, as if she could hardly get the words out.

Thoroughly alarmed, Fireheart started to back out of the den. “Bluestar, don’t,” he begged. “You’ve been ill; this is bad for you. I’m going to fetch Cinderpelt.”

But before he could leave, a loud yowling broke out from the clearing. It was the sound of many cats raising their voices in a terrible screech of fear. Fireheart spun around and raced out of Bluestar’s den.

The center of the clearing was almost deserted, bathed in bright light where the normally leafy cover had been burned away. Cats crouched around the edges in the scant shelter of the charred fern walls. Fireheart caught a glimpse of Goldenflower and Willowpelt pushing their kits into the nursery. Brackenfur was nudging a couple of the elders toward their den, urging them to hurry.

The cats at the edge of the clearing were staring up at the sky, their eyes huge with fear. As he looked upward, Fireheart heard the beating of wings and saw a hawk circling above the trees, its harsh cry drifting on the air. At the same time he realized that one cat had not taken shelter; Snowkit was still tumbling and playing in the middle of the open space.

“Snowkit!” Speckletail yowled desperately.

She was just emerging from behind the nursery, the place where the queens went to make dirt, and she darted toward her kit as soon as she realized what was happening. In the same heartbeat the hawk plunged down toward the clearing. Snowkit screamed as the cruel talons fastened onto his back. The great wings flapped. Fireheart raced forward, but Speckletail was faster still. As the hawk lifted off, she sprang upward and snagged her claws in the white kit’s fur.

For a couple of agonizing moments both cats dangled from the hawk’s claws. Fireheart launched himself into the air, but they were too high. Then the hawk released the kit with one foot and scored its talons across Speckletail’s face. The she-cat lost her grip and fell back, landing heavily on the ground. Without her weight, the hawk mounted rapidly to treetop height and flew off toward Fourtrees. Snowkit’s terrified crying died away.

“No!” Speckletail threw her head back and let out a yowl of pure desperation. “My kit! Oh, my kit!”

Brackenfur dashed past Fireheart, leaping the camp wall at a place where the rebuilding had barely started, and vanished into the forest. Even though Fireheart knew the pursuit was hopeless, he swung around and caught the eye of the nearest cat. “Swiftpaw, go with him.”

Swiftpaw opened his mouth to protest, clearly aware that the pursuit would be hopeless, then closed it again and took off after Brackenfur. The rest of the cats, stunned by shock, gradually crept out into the clearing again and formed a ragged circle around Speckletail.

“He couldn’t hear,” Sandstorm murmured, touching her nose to Fireheart’s cheek. “He couldn’t hear the hawk, and he couldn’t hear us when we tried to warn him.”

“It’s my fault!” Speckletail wailed. “I left him…and now he’s gone. The hawk should have taken me instead!”

Sandstorm moved closer to the tabby queen, pressing herself comfortingly against her side, and Cinderpelt came up and gave her ears a gentle lick. “Come to my den,” she mewed softly. “We’ll look after you. We won’t leave you.”

But Speckletail refused to be comforted. “He’s gone and it’s my fault,” she whimpered.

“It’s not your fault,” meowed Bluestar.

Fireheart turned to see his leader pacing toward them. The broad-shouldered gray she-cat looked strong and determined, more like a warrior than any of the other cats, crushed as they were by the tragedy of Snowkit’s loss.

“It’s not your fault,” she repeated. “Whoever heard of a hawk that dared to swoop down and take a kit from the middle of a camp, with so many other cats around? This is a sign from StarClan. I cannot deny the truth any longer.” Bluestar gazed at her shocked, assembled Clan, and her voice vibrated with anger. “StarClan is at war with ThunderClan!”

CHAPTER 9

As her Clan stared at her in horror, Bluestar spun around and stalked away to her den. Fireheart took a pace after her, but without turning her head she snapped, “Leave me alone!” There was so much venom in her voice that Fireheart stopped in his tracks.

What am I supposed to do now? he asked himself. He could see that the Clan was on the edge of panic. The shock of the hawk’s attack, and Bluestar’s interpretation of it, was turning them into frightened kits. His own legs were shaking, but he pushed his fears away and sprang onto the Highrock.

“Listen!” he called. “Gather ’round, all of you.”

Gradually the cats obeyed him, creeping into a huddle at the base of the rock. Several of them glanced fearfully up at the sky, as if they expected the hawk to return. Fireheart noticed Fernpaw pressing close to Dustpelt, and Longtail crouched on the ground as if he thought StarClan were going to start raining fire on them there and then.

And then Fireheart spotted Cloudpaw. The apprentice was gazing around in bewilderment. “What’s all the fuss about?” he meowed to Brightpaw. “Every cat knows StarClan is just a tale for kits. They can’t really do anything to us.”

Brightpaw faced him with shock in her eyes. “Cloudpaw, that’s not true!” she exclaimed.

“Come on!” Cloudpaw gave her an affectionate flick with his tail. “You don’t really believe that load of thistledown, do you?” He showed his indifference by sitting down and giving his paws a thorough wash.

Fireheart stared down at his apprentice with cold dread chilling the blood in his veins. He had known for a long time that Cloudpaw had no respect for the warrior code, but he had not realized that his apprentice did not believe in StarClan at all.

On the other side of the clearing, Cinderpelt and Brindleface were gently guiding Speckletail in the direction of Cinderpelt’s den. Cinderpelt stopped, mewed something rapidly to Brindleface, and came limping back toward the rock.

“I think you might need me, Fireheart,” she mewed. “But make it quick. I have to take care of Speckletail.”