There was no time to argue. Firestar sprang forward, leaping over one rat and knocking a second out of his path, to fling himself on the creatures that were attacking Rainfur.
The gray warrior was barely visible under the mass of rats.
They split apart at the sound of Firestar’s furious yowl, and Rainfur scrambled to his feet, only to be pulled down again.
Firestar landed among them, clawing and spitting. He bit down on the neck of one rat, and it slumped to the floor.
Another fell back, writhing and squealing, its blood spurting as he raked his claws across its eyes and muzzle. He had almost reached Rainfur when more rats surged around him, and a weight landed on his back, carrying him off his paws.
His head struck the hard floor of the barn, stunning him.
For a few heartbeats he scrabbled with his paws, trying to get up. Then sharp claws fastened themselves in his throat, and his whole body spasmed with the pain.
Evil rat eyes stared into his, glittering with malice. A voice rasped, “Die, cat!”
Firestar struggled to sink his claws into the body that was pinning him down. This must be the leader of the rats! Kill him, and the battle would be over.
But there was no strength in Firestar’s limbs, and the moonlight seemed to be fading, leaving him in a cave of echoing darkness. For a couple of heartbeats longer he was aware of those eyes, twin points of hatred. Then night closed down over him, and he knew nothing more.
Chapter 33
Firestar opened his eyes to see a pale light glimmering all around him. At first he thought he was still in the barn. But he couldn’t understand the silence, and the lack of any scent of rat.
After a moment’s struggle he managed to sit up, and realized that he was in the Whispering Cave, the mosses glowing eerily around him and the underground river sliding past on its way to the opening.
How did I get here? he wondered.
Then he saw that he was not alone. The ancient SkyClan leader was sitting at the other side of the cave. “Greetings,” he meowed.
Firestar began to understand. “Have I lost another life?” he rasped.
The SkyClan leader bowed his head. Now Firestar could make out the outline of a flame-colored cat just behind him in the shadows. His pelt and his green eyes glowed; Firestar recognized himself as the shape dipped his head slightly.
Firestar staggered to his paws. “Let me go back,” he begged the SkyClan cat. “I’ve got to help Rainfur. I’ve got to save 4 6 1
SkyClan—isn’t that what you want?”
The SkyClan ancestor rose and padded across the cave to Firestar. His scent was a mingling of frost and wind and the night sky. Breathing it, Firestar felt energy begin to flow back into his aching, exhausted limbs.
“Go now,” the SkyClan cat murmured. “And may my strength go with you.”
The pale light of the mosses faded, and for a heartbeat Firestar hung in a dark void. Then he felt a paw shaking his shoulder and heard Sandstorm’s voice. “Firestar! Firestar!”
He blinked awake to see his mate crouched over him, anguish in her green eyes. “Firestar!” she repeated. “Get up—the rats are coming.”
Firestar raised his head to find himself lying on the ground outside the barn. His chest was matted with blood that had flowed from the wound in his throat.
Rats were already swarming through the gap in the barn wall. Sandstorm shoved Firestar to his feet, and with Leafdapple supporting him on the other side, he managed to stagger as far as a stunted tree, several tail-lengths from the fence. The rest of the cats had already scrambled into its branches, all except Cherrypaw and Sparrowpaw, who waited at the bottom.
“Climb!” Cherrypaw urged as Firestar and the other she-cats limped up. “Don’t wait for us. We can leap up after.”
“No…” Firestar tried to hold back. “We’ll be trapped. We have to get out through the fence.”
Sparrowpaw waved his tail. “Have you seen it?”
Firestar’s heart sank. All along the line of the fence, clustering most thickly around the gap the cats had used to get in, were hordes of rats. Their eyes seemed to glitter with triumph. They had the cats trapped now, with all the time in the world to finish them off. The only possible safety, for a short while, was this tree.
Firestar clawed his way up the trunk and found a space to crouch on a broad branch. Looking around, he spotted Shortwhisker, Sharpclaw, Clovertail…
“Rainfur?” He gasped. “Where’s Rainfur?”
“I’m sorry.” Sandstorm clung to the branch beside him.
“Rainfur didn’t make it.”
Firestar’s gaze flew to the barn and he tensed his muscles, half prepared to spring down and battle his way back inside to help the warrior.
“It’s no use, Firestar.” Sandstorm rested her tail tip gently on his shoulder. “Rainfur is dead.” Pain throbbed through her voice as she added, “I could save only one of you, Firestar, and I had to choose you.”
Firestar remembered how he and Rainfur had rescued Petalnose, and how Rainfur had saved him from falling into the gorge when the rats attacked the camp the night before.
He remembered the great future he had foreseen for the gray warrior. Now he was dead, and the remnants of SkyClan were huddled in this tree while rats swarmed over the ground below, just waiting to finish them off. Firestar had failed: failed the Clan, and Skywatcher, and the SkyClan ancestor who had sent him here. The fifth forest Clan would be destroyed all over again. Sighing, Firestar rested his head against Sandstorm’s flank, too weary to move.
“We can’t give up!” It was Leafdapple, speaking from a branch just above Firestar’s head. “Are we going to let Rainfur die for nothing?” When no cat answered her, she went on. “The rats have no more right to live here than we do. Aren’t we going to fight for what’s ours?”
Firestar looked up to see the tabby she-cat standing commandingly on her branch. Her eyes glowed with courage.
Around her the other cats were stirring, seeming to catch something of the fire that blazed within her.
“I’ll fight with you,” Sharpclaw snarled. “They’ll kill us anyway, but I’ll take a few of them with me.”
A chorus of voices rose up around Firestar, vowing to fight on, whatever happened. Even Shortwhisker agreed, though his fur was bristling and his eyes were blank with terror.
“We’re a Clan now,” Clovertail declared, “and this is where we belong. We’ve got to fight for that.”
Firestar hauled himself to his feet, digging his claws into the branch. His head was clearing now, and the strength of his next life flowed into his limbs—the strength of the SkyClan ancestor who had brought him here believing that he would not fail.
“I honor your courage,” he meowed. “And I’ll fight with you. You can have all my lives and all my strength if it will help you beat these rats.”
He was aware of Sandstorm’s ears pricking in surprise, but he meant every word. This was the right thing to do by the warrior code. For tonight, he was not the leader of ThunderClan, but a member of SkyClan.
“But what are we going to do?” Patchfoot asked in a small voice.
Firestar looked down. The tree was surrounded by sinuous rat bodies, their sharp eyes fixed on the warriors who had taken refuge in the branches. Cherrypaw and Sparrowpaw still stood at its foot, ready to spring up to join their Clanmates if the rats attacked.
But the rats seemed to be in no hurry. Firestar could tell they thought the battle was over, and they could wipe out the remaining cats as slowly as they wished.
“The rats are acting together,” he thought out loud. “Like a swarm of bees or a pack of dogs. Last night they stopped attacking us and all turned tail at once. Something is controlling them. They must be taking orders from the leading rat.”