The sedge rustled and Rippleclaw raced into camp. He skidded to a halt in front of Reedfeather, hackles raised and snarling. “I knew I smelled WindClan!” he hissed as Hailstar pounded into the clearing. Cedarpelt followed, Petalpaw and Beetlepaw on his tail.
Shellheart nodded to his leader. “Crookedpaw found him at the border,” he reported. “He wants to speak with you.”
Reedfeather stood up. “I’ve come to ask for what is mine.”
Willowkit and Graykit tumbled out of the nursery. Fallowtail reached after them but they escaped her paws and bounded into the clearing.
“I’ve never seen a WindClan cat!” Willowkit gasped.
Graykit screwed up her face. “He smells weird!”
“Hush!” Birdsong wrapped her tail around them and pulled them close as Fallowtail slid from the nursery.
Cedarpelt crossed the clearing and stood beside the queen, a growl rumbling in his throat. Crookedpaw lifted his chin, proud that his mentor was so protective of his littermate and her kits.
Reedfeather dipped his head. “I’ve come to take my kits home.”
Cedarpelt stiffened. “His kits?”
Crookedpaw stared. How could a WindClan cat have kits in RiverClan?
“You can’t!” Fallowtail’s cry was desperate.
There was a gasp from the cats in the clearing. Crookedpaw looked from one face to the other. Slowly images stirred in his mind. Willowkit and Graykit had no father in RiverClan—or at least not one that Fallowtail had named. Crookedpaw had seen Fallowtail in WindClan territory with a tom two moons before the kits were born. Could Reedfeather be their father?
Rippleclaw turned his snarl from the WindClan warrior and glared at Fallowtail, who looked as if her world were ending. “You’re not even going to deny it? Have you forgotten the meaning of loyalty?”
Fallowtail pushed Birdsong out of the way and gathered her kits close to her belly. “I am loyal!” Fallowtail’s eyes sparked with grief. “I haven’t seen Reedfeather in moons. I love my kits more than my own life and I planned to bring them up as true RiverClan warriors.” She stared at Reedfeather. “How can you even suggest taking them away from me?”
The WindClan warrior returned her gaze. “They are as much mine as yours.”
Willowkit stared up at her mother. “He can’t be our father,” she whimpered. “He doesn’t smell like us.”
Hailstar padded across the clearing and stopped beside the queen. “Is this true?”
Fallowtail stared at the ground, pulling her kits closer with her tail.
Shellheart sighed. “These kits have a right to be with their father.”
Crookedpaw watched, his heart twisting.
Shimmerpelt crossed the clearing and pressed against Fallowtail. “You can’t make her give up her kits.”
Piketooth lashed his tail. “Kits should be with their mother!”
“We can’t give them up!”
“They were born in RiverClan!”
“How can we let strangers raise them?”
A snarl cut dead the Clan’s murmuring. “How can we trust them, knowing they are half WindClan?” Rippleclaw’s eyes shone.
Tanglewhisker shook his head. “He’s right,” the elder murmured. “We’ll never truly know where their loyalties lie.”
Graykit squirmed free of her mother. “We’re RiverClan!” she cried. “We’ll always be RiverClan.”
“You’re WindClan, too.” Reedfeather spoke up. “They will be well cared for,” he promised. “We have plenty of prey.” He scanned the clearing, his gaze lingering on the dens crowding the fallen tree. “You have enough mouths to feed. What if there’s another flood? Or the river freezes? It’s happened before.” His gaze returned to the kits. “They’ll grow stronger on WindClan prey.”
“No.” Hailstar padded between Reedfeather and Fallowtail.
Reedfeather’s gaze hardened. “If it comes to war, WindClan will fight for them.”
Hailstar unsheathed his claws. “RiverClan isn’t scared by threats!”
“You should be,” Reedfeather meowed. “Don’t think the other Clans haven’t seen how you gave up Sunningrocks without a fight. RiverClan is weak. My Clanmates will join me to take back what is mine. You should fear us, old cat.”
Tension spiked the air. Then Fallowtail’s mew broke the silence. “I’ve caused enough trouble,” she whispered. “I don’t want bloodshed. Nothing is worth that.”
Crookedpaw felt sick. Don’t give up! Fight for them! He stared in disbelief as Fallowtail backed away from her kits.
“Fallowtail?” Willowkit blinked at her mother.
Graykit spun around. “What’s happening?”
Hailstar stared at the queen. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Reedfeather is right. Our kits will fare better in WindClan. And we cannot risk war over my… my mistake.”
Graykit scrambled after her mother, but Hailstar nudged the kit away with his muzzle. “You’re going to live in your father’s Clan,” he meowed softly.
Willowkit stiffened. “How can he be our father? I’ve never seen him before!”
“He smells horrid!” Graykit flinched away as Reedfeather sniffed each kit gently.
“You’ll be well taken care of,” he told them. “WindClan is looking forward to meeting you.”
Willowkit searched desperately for her mother’s gaze but Fallowtail stared at the ground. Crookedpaw wanted to race from where his paws were rooted and beg the queen not to let them go. But, like his Clanmates, he sat in silence as Hailstar nudged the kits toward their father.
“No!” Graykit yelped in terror as Reedfeather scooped her up. “Fallowtail!”
He padded toward the camp entrance.
Willowkit stared wildly around the Clan. “Aren’t you going to stop him?”
“Willowkit!” Graykit struggled. “Don’t leave me!”
Stumbling, Willowkit followed. “I’m coming, Graykit! I’m coming!”
As they disappeared through the tunnel, Hailstar padded slowly to his den.
Birdsong pressed against Fallowtail. “They won’t forget you.”
Shimmerpelt rubbed her muzzle against the queen’s cheek. “You’ll see them again. They’ll always be your kits.”
Fallowtail tore away from her Clanmates and staggered toward the nursery.
Rippleclaw snorted. “What does she want to go there for?”
Ottersplash spun around and hissed at the silver warrior. “Shut up! Just shut up!”
Crookedpaw darted after the grief-stricken queen and squeezed into the nursery after her. He searched for words to comfort her as she collapsed into her nest.
How could anyone let a queen be separated from her kits? His heart ached for Willowkit and Graykit. They’d be terrified without their mother. He crouched down beside Fallowtail and pressed against her trembling flank. “I wouldn’t have let him take them,” he whispered. “If I was leader.”
Chapter 12
“No, no, no!” Cedarpelt’s frustrated yowl made Crookedpaw stop.
He straightened up and blinked at his mentor. “What am I doing wrong?”
A lump of snow dropped from an icy branch overhead and landed on his back. He shook it off. He could see across the meadow and beyond the river to the snow-whitened moorlands. The frosted beeches behind them were stark against the gray leaf-bare sky; the marsh meadow stretching below them sparkled, smoothed by snow, and the small clearing beside the beech copse, where they’d been practicing battle moves all afternoon, was icy underpaw.
Cedarpelt sighed. “How many times do I have to tell you? When you’re attacking, bush out your fur! StarClan gave RiverClan thick pelts for a reason. Bush it out and you’ll look twice as big as your enemy. And a frightened enemy is already half-beaten.”