It was too dangerous to race for the entrance. The moment they stopped fighting, the rats would overwhelm them. Their only hope was to work together.
“Warriors! Tail-to-tail!” he ordered.
The patrol backed toward one another and pressed their spines together. Rearing up on their hind paws and swiping with their front legs, they met the rats with a circle of flashing claws. Hailstar was gasping for breath, but he jabbed mercilessly at the flood of brown creatures. Leopardfur yowled in triumph at each rat she sent flying. Sedgecreek slammed her paws down again and again on writhing, squealing bodies. Crookedjaw’s nose and mouth filled with the musky tang of blood. Panic started to rise in his chest. Sedgecreek was starting to wobble on her injured leg, and Leopardfur sagged against his flank. They couldn’t hold out much longer. “Try and get to the entrance!” he yowled. As they edged back toward the hole, a pelt flashed at the corner of Crookedjaw’s vision.
“I’ve brought help!” Petaldust yelled across the barn.
Rippleclaw and Timberfur streaked toward them. Sunfish, Blackclaw, and Owlfur followed. They dived on to the sea of rats, hooking them with their claws and hurling them across the barn. Timberfur cracked a spine in his jaws. Rippleclaw grabbed a rat with each forepaw and smashed them both against the hard stone floor. The rats scattered, shrieking, to the edge of the barn and flowed back into the shadows and disappeared.
Crookedjaw dropped on to all fours. Leopardfur crouched beside him. She was panting, her pelt streaked red, but her eyes were bright. “We did it!” she gasped.
Crookedjaw lapped blood from between her ears. “Yes, we did.”
A weak groan sounded beside them.
“Sedgecreek!” Crookedjaw ran to her side and searched her glittering eyes. “How badly are you hurt?”
She groaned. Paws pounded across stone and a white pelt knocked Crookedjaw away. “Give me room!” Brambleberry snapped. The medicine cat crouched beside Sedgecreek. “Fetch cobwebs!” she ordered. Rippleclaw and Timberfur streaked away and leaped onto the huge piles of grass, stretching up to snatch cobwebs from the wall behind.
“Hailstar!” Owlfur’s shocked mew made Crookedjaw freeze.
Hailstar? Horror dropped like a stone in his belly. The RiverClan leader was lying stretched out on the stone floor. Blood pulsed from his throat.
“Brambleberry!” Crookedjaw yowled.
“Hold on!” she called back. “Sedgecreek’s bleeding badly.”
Crookedjaw dropped down beside Hailstar and felt for the wound in his neck. He found the tear in the skin and pressed his paw against it, desperately trying to stop the blood. “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I let you down.”
“No, you didn’t.” Hailstar drew in a rattling breath. “You fought as bravely as I expected. Now you must lead the patrol home safely.”
“Get away from him!”
Crookedjaw gasped as he felt Mapleshade charge into his flank and knock him away from Hailstar. The Dark Forest warrior’s pelt was little more than a faint gleam in the half-light, but her eyes burned fierce and yellow.
“No!” Crookedjaw shoved past her and raced back to Hailstar, reaching again for the wound. No blood pulsed beneath his paw. It still seeped out, but no life force throbbed behind it. Hailstar’s head had rolled to one side and his eyes were glassy and dull. Crookedjaw felt something snap inside his heart.
“Brambleberry,” Crookedjaw mewed hoarsely. “He’s dead.”
Collapsing to the cold earth floor, Crookedjaw rested his head on Hailstar’s matted pelt and closed his eyes.
Chapter 36
“Crookedjaw!” Brambleberry was whispering in his ear.
Crookedjaw forced his eyes to open. It hadn’t been a dream. He was still in the barn, still covered in Hailstar’s blood, his claws still clogged with rat fur. Trembling with shock, he pushed himself to his paws. “How’s Sedgecreek?”
Brambleberry rested her tail on his flank. “She’ll be okay.” She stared down at Hailstar, her eyes glistening.
“I tried to stop the bleeding,” Crookedjaw told her. Maybe I could have if Mapleshade hadn’t stopped me. Guilt scorched through him.
Brambleberry checked the wound on Hailstar’s neck. “There was nothing you could do,” she meowed. “This wound was too deep to heal.”
Crookedjaw looked around. The barn seemed very still and empty. “Is Leopardfur all right?”
“I’m fine.” Leopardfur limped to his side and touched her nose to Hailstar’s pelt.
Crookedjaw padded to where Sedgecreek was struggling to her paws. Cobwebs swathed her pelt. “You fought like a true warrior.” He brushed her cheek with his. “Are you going to be able to make it home?”
Sedgecreek nodded. Her eyes were dull.
Crookedjaw signaled to Timberfur. “Help her.”
The brown tom pressed against Sedgecreek and began to guide her toward the entrance. Sunfish darted over and propped her up on the other side.
Rippleclaw dipped his head. “Should I carry Hailstar back to camp?”
Crookedjaw shook his head. “I will.”
Brambleberry raised one paw to stop him. “You can’t. You’re hurt.”
“It’s only a few nips.” Crookedjaw was too numb to feel anything. He crouched down while Rippleclaw and Owlfur dragged the RiverClan leader onto his back, then forced his legs to straighten to begin Hailstar’s final journey home.
Crookedjaw hated dragging Hailstar’s body through the hole. He flinched as the leader’s fur snagged on the splintering wood but he refused to pause for breath. All he could think of was the grief that lay in wait for the Clan.
“Let me carry him a while,” Rippleclaw begged as they crossed the rain-soaked meadow.
Crookedjaw was panting beneath the weight, the pain from his wounds beginning to bite. “No. I’m okay.”
As they passed the beech copse and neared the camp he became dimly aware of Rippleclaw pressing against him, shouldering some of Hailstar’s weight. He staggered into the clearing and stood long enough for Owlfur to slide Hailstar from his back. Then he sank on to his side in the mud, feeling it seep into his fur.
“Crookedjaw!” Willowbreeze frantically licked his cheek. “Are you okay?”
Exhausted, Crookedjaw closed his eyes where he lay and let darkness enfold him.
He woke in his nest, his wounds stinging.
Willowbreeze ducked down beside him. “You’re awake?”
Crookedjaw scrambled to his paws. “The vigil for Hailstar!”
“It’s okay, you haven’t missed it.” Willowbreeze’s voice was hoarse with sadness. “He’s in the clearing.”
Crookedjaw hurried out of the den.
“Are you okay?” Oakheart raced over to him.
“I’m fine.” Crookedjaw stared past his brother at his wretched, leaderless Clanmates.
Birdsong was pacing the edge to the clearing, wailing in distress. “Why did I suggest going to the barn? I sent him to his death!”
Tanglewhisker padded after her. “How could you know what would happen? You can’t blame yourself, frog-brain.”
Beetlenose sat, hunched, underneath the willow with Petaldust and Voleclaw beside him. The three warriors stared blankly across the clearing at their father’s body. The rain had stopped and the clouds were clearing. A shaft of late-afternoon light illuminated the clearing, sparkling on Hailstar’s rain-drenched pelt.
Echomist huddled beside him. She looked up as Crookedjaw approached. “I should never have let him go.”
Crookedjaw touched his muzzle to her head. “He fought like a StarClan warrior right to the end.”
The entrance to Brambleberry’s den swished and the medicine cat padded out.