“No,” she hissed, her irritation deepening as she noticed Firestar emerge from his den, his gaze flicking straight toward her.
A ripple of dark fur caught her eye. Briarpaw was scampering toward her, brown pelt plastered with rain. Thornclaw, her mentor, padded slowly after her.
“We’re going on border patrol!” Briarpaw skidded to a halt, slewing muddy water against Dovepaw’s pelt. The wind, circling down into the hollow, tugged at her whiskers.
Dovepaw purred, cheered by her denmate’s enthusiasm. It was as if the young cat hadn’t even noticed it was raining.
Thornclaw clearly had. He shook his whiskers crossly, sending droplets spraying. “Are you ready?” he asked Lionblaze, casting a brief glance at Dovepaw. “Brambleclaw wants us to check ShadowClan’s markers.”
Dovepaw felt a surge of excitement. A run through the forest would warm her up. “Come on!” She raced for the thorn barrier, beckoning to Briarpaw with her tail, and slipped through, happy to be out of sight of Firestar’s watchful gaze.
Thornclaw caught up to them outside.
“Which way should we go?” Dovepaw panted.
Thornclaw was staring along the gully. “We’ll go by the ancient oak,” he decided. He headed through the trees, his paws slapping over the wet leaves.
As they headed into the dripping forest, Dovepaw screwed up her face. Mud was clogging her claws and oozing up through her toes. Each time they pushed through a thicket a fresh shower of water seeped through her pelt.
Suddenly pawsteps slithered behind them. “Wait for me.” Graystripe was hurrying after them. “Firestar asked me to join you.” The gray warrior was puffing. His leaf-bare pelt, normally so thick, was rain-slicked against his body and he looked unusually lean.
Thornclaw flicked his tail. “Has ShadowClan been crossing the border again?”
“No prey has been stolen.” Lionblaze narrowed his eyes. “Just a few stray scent trails on our side of the border.”
Graystripe shook the rain from his fur till it stood in spikes. “Firestar wants us to keep an eye on the situation.”
Briarpaw’s eyes were round. “Do you think Firestar will mention it at the Gathering tomorrow?”
“I don’t see why not,” Graystripe meowed.
Thornclaw peered up through the trees. “If there is a Gathering.” Dark clouds swarmed the sky, heavy with more rain.
“There’s a good breeze,” Graystripe observed. “I think it’ll have blown away the clouds by morning.” A hefty gust buffeted its way through the canopy and whisked the undergrowth. Graystripe dug in his claws as the breeze streamed through his whiskers. “If it hasn’t blown us away too.”
The stream was in full flood and it took Thornclaw a while to find the narrowest place to cross. He leaped first over the gushing brown water and turned to watch Briarpaw safely over. Dovepaw jumped next, her heart lurching as her paws skidded on the muddy bank. Thornclaw grabbed her scruff while she found her feet. Graystripe and Lionblaze made the crossing in easy bounds.
“It’s hard to believe the lake was ever empty,” Graystripe commented, watching the water swirl away downstream.
Lionblaze was already pushing on, leaping onto a fallen tree. The bark was green and shiny with wet moss, and as he landed his paws skidded, sending him hurtling over the other side. “Oof!”
Dovepaw heard him grunt as he crashed down through the dripping foliage. The smell of wild garlic tainted the air. She stretched her front paws up the log, peering over the top. “Are you okay?”
Lionblaze was thrashing around in a patch of dark green leaves, turning the air sour with their scent as he crushed them beneath him.
Dovepaw swallowed back a purr of amusement as Lionblaze finally scrambled to his paws, his fur ruffled. “I’m fine,” he snapped.
“Should we all disguise our scent?” Dovepaw asked as innocently as she could.
“That wasn’t my intention and you know it!” Lionblaze flicked his tail and headed on through the forest while Thornclaw and Graystripe bounded over the fallen tree after him.
“Be careful,” Briarpaw warned with a sparkle in her eyes as Dovepaw mounted the log. “It’s a bit slippery.”
Dovepaw snorted.
Briarpaw was purring loudly as they caught up with their mentors, but she hushed when Thornclaw flashed her a stern look. Instead, she wrinkled her nose at Dovepaw. “At least we won’t lose him,” she whispered, glancing at Lionblaze.
The golden tom stank of garlic, but was striding ahead as though he hadn’t even noticed.
Dovepaw began to scent ShadowClan markers, so strong that even the smell of Lionblaze couldn’t hide them. They mingled with the ThunderClan markers, which matched ShadowClan’s scent for scent. She wondered whether to cast her senses farther, to try to detect ShadowClan movement beyond, but yesterday’s practice had left her mind weary.
Light splashed in among the trees as they approached the edge of the forest. Dovepaw recognized the grassy space beyond, where she had charged unwittingly into a Twoleg pelt-den on the journey upriver. Fortunately the field was deserted now. Not even a Twoleg would be dumb enough to sit around in this miserable weather.
Lionblaze halted at the tree line, which was dotted with ShadowClan scent. Thornclaw and Graystripe began weaving among the undergrowth within the borderline, sniffing each bush and clump of ferns.
“Any sign?” Lionblaze called.
Graystripe shook his head, but Thornclaw had halted at a low hazel bush a few tail-lengths inside the border.
Briarpaw hurried to join him. “ShadowClan?” She sniffed the bush, the fur rippling along her spine. “They’ve been here!” she mewed in alarm.
Lionblaze and Graystripe crowded around her. Dovepaw hung back, the scent as clear in her nostrils as if she were standing beside it.
Tigerheart!
The scent pricked her memory. The young ShadowClan warrior had journeyed upstream to find the beavers with her. She knew his smell as well as any of her denmates’.
“Get back, Lionblaze,” Thornclaw ordered. “That garlic stink is tainting everything.”
That’s why he doesn’t recognize it! Dovepaw watched as Thornclaw sniffed again and found herself hoping that the warrior wouldn’t identify the scent.
Graystripe padded to the border and started pacing, lashing his tail. “Patrol!” he warned.
Four ShadowClan cats were approaching across the grass, their pelts rippling. Thornclaw and Lionblaze squared up beside Lionblaze to face them, keeping their paws on their own side of the border, but baring their teeth.
While Briarpaw hurried to join her Clanmates, Dovepaw padded to the hazel bush and sniffed. It was definitely Tigerheart. What in the name of StarClan had he been thinking, crossing the border? Was it an accident? Perhaps he’d been chasing prey and hadn’t noticed until it was too late.
“What are you doing on our border?” A black-and-white ShadowClan tom stared challengingly at the ThunderClan patrol.
Dovepaw recognized Crowfrost from the Gatherings. He had halted a few pawsteps from the ThunderClan cats. Beside him stood Ratscar, Pinepaw, and Tigerheart.
Graystripe curled his lip. “We’re checking out the ShadowClan scents inside our border.”
Crowfrost’s hackles lifted. “What?”
“There’s a hazel bush drenched in ShadowClan scent over here,” Lionblaze snarled.
Tigerheart growled, “What would we want with a load of sodden old trees?”
Graystripe dug his claws into the muddy ground. “Then why did you cross our border?”
“No ShadowClan cat has crossed your border,” Ratscar hissed.
Dovepaw was watching Tigerheart. His amber eyes gave nothing away.
Thornclaw stood aside. “Come and smell it for yourself!” he challenged.