Dovepaw felt a tug on her tail.
“Weren’t we going to hunt?” Ivypaw meowed crossly.
Dovepaw ignored her, and headed through the beech trees toward the WindClan border. She could hear a squirrel pattering along the ground nearby, but she kept going. She had no intention of stopping to hunt. She had to get Ivypaw somewhere far from the Clan and ask her if Jayfeather was right.
She was suddenly aware that Ivypaw had stopped following. Skidding to a halt on the slippery leaves, she turned back. Ivypaw had dropped into a hunting crouch and was stalking a mouse as it sat nibbling a beechnut between the roots of a tree. Ivypaw pulled herself forward, eyes locked on her prey.
How can you hunt like everything’s normal? Rage rose in Dovepaw’s throat until she couldn’t swallow it back anymore.
“Stop!” she yowled.
The mouse froze, then dropped its nut and darted away beneath the roots of the beech.
“Is it true?” Dovepaw marched toward her sister, pelt bristling, half with fear, half with anger.
Ivypaw blinked at her.
Dovepaw took a deep breath. “Have you been to the Dark Forest?”
“What?” Ivypaw stepped back.
“You heard me!” Dovepaw halted and glared at her sister. “Have you been to the Dark Forest?”
“Of course not!” Ivypaw was bristling now, her green eyes wide. “Why would you say something like that?”
“Jayfeather followed you in your dreams.” Dovepaw saw Ivypaw swallow.
“I—I…”
“So it’s true?” Dovepaw’s heart pounded.
Ivypaw’s blue eyes hardened. “So what if I did? It’s the only way I’m going to learn how to be a great warrior. Everyone’s trying so hard to make you the best warrior in ThunderClan; they hardly bother with me. I’m just Dovepaw’s dumb sister—”
Dovepaw couldn’t bear to listen. “How could you be so stupid? The Dark Forest cats are evil!”
“How would you know?” Ivypaw spat back. “You’ve never met one!”
Dovepaw stared at her. “Of course they’re evil. Why else would they be in the Dark Forest? Do you think StarClan sent Tigerstar there because he was good?”
“Have you ever met Tigerstar?”
“No! But I’ve heard nursery tales about him. So have you! He tried to destroy Firestar; he set BloodClan on him—”
“He’s different now!” Ivypaw thrust her muzzle in Dovepaw’s face. “His time in the Dark Forest has taught him the importance of loyalty.” Was that a challenge in her mew?
Dovepaw didn’t flinch. “You’re wrong,” she hissed. “He wants to destroy Firestar as much as he ever did. The only thing that matters to Tigerstar is power.”
Ivypaw curled her lip. “You haven’t spoken to him. I have! He told me everything. How he only became ShadowClan’s leader after Bluestar forced him out of ThunderClan. How he’s always stayed loyal to his birth Clan. Despite everything they’ve done to him!”
“Everything they’ve done to him?” Dovepaw couldn’t believe her ears.
“Who won the battle yesterday?”
“What’s the battle got to do with it?”
“It was Tigerstar’s idea! He’s the one who told me to persuade Firestar to fight ShadowClan. He warned me that ShadowClan was planning to steal our territory. And because of Tigerstar, we stole their territory instead. What’s that, if it’s not loyalty?”
“But Tigerstar is part of the Dark Forest! You can’t trust him! Don’t you see that the battle caused nothing but trouble?” Dovepaw spat. “Winning a worthless piece of land cost Firestar a life and killed Russetfur!”
Ivypaw narrowed her eyes. “Tigerstar is still loyal to ThunderClan. You’re just jealous. You’re jealous that it’s me he’s visiting and not you! You’re scared I might become a better warrior than you! That I might be the special one, and that Firestar might start taking notice of me instead of you!”
“Don’t be a mouse-brain! You’re my sister.” But Dovepaw found herself yowling at empty air. Ivypaw had turned and bounded into the bracken. Suddenly alone in the frozen forest, Dovepaw started shivering.
Her sister was training in the Dark Forest! How could StarClan have let this happen?
Chapter 5
“I think we should just wait and watch.” Jayfeather turned up the slope, flinching from the cutting wind. “I’m going home.” The watery sun had not softened the frost, and the grass crunched beneath his paws.
Lionblaze remained beside the lake. Jayfeather paused, sensing his brother’s struggle to break free from the anxiety that had fixed him at the water’s edge. “Hunt for your Clanmates!” he called over his shoulder. “They’ll be hungry after the battle.”
The pebbles swished as Lionblaze bounded away, and Jayfeather darted over the crest of the slope into the shelter of the trees. As the musty scents of dying foliage touched his nose, memories of the Dark Forest flooded his mind. He couldn’t believe that Tigerstar had found a recruit in ThunderClan. Strange that it should be Ivypaw. Perhaps Dovepaw wasn’t the only one of the sisters with a destiny.
Jayfeather tried to focus on the familiar scents of ThunderClan territory—prey scuttling over frosty bark, birds calling in the branches above—but only sensed fear beating in every tiny heart as leaf-bare tightened its grip on the forest. It was the season of death, and by newleaf cold and hunger would have slain the weakest.
Shivering, he pushed the thought away and hurried down the brambly trail that led toward the hollow. Cold air pooled outside the thorn barrier, but as he pushed through and broke from the tunnel, he felt warmth wash his pelt. His Clanmates were busy.
“We can lift this branch and prop it up with a beech branch,” Leafpool called from the warriors’ den. “If we weave new walls around it, there’ll be room for at least three more nests.”
Jayfeather picked his way through the clutter of twigs piled anew for the warriors’ den.
“Watch out,” Millie warned as he neared the fresh-kill pile. “Birchfall’s digging a hole to preserve prey.” When the earth froze, prey could be kept fresh for days by burying it.
Jayfeather lingered at the edge of the prey-hole. “Do you think this weather’s going to last?” he asked Millie.
“I’m not sure, but it’s best to be safe,” she replied. “We need to preserve as much as we can.”
“Jayfeather!” Bumblestripe yowled from the medicine den.
Jayfeather jerked his head up and felt anxiety flash from Millie. Was Briarlight worse? He raced for the cave, forcing his way through the trailing brambles that veiled the entrance.
Bumblestripe was standing in the middle of the den, his fur scented with bark and damp green leaves. “Look what we’ve brought you,” he announced cheerfully.
Beneath the forest smells, Jayfeather picked up the dusty scent of cobwebs. “I thought something was wrong!”
Millie ran into the den. “Is Briarlight okay?”
“Everything’s fine.” Brightheart padded forward. “Bumblestripe found great clumps of web behind the ivy on the Great Oak.” The one-eyed warrior sounded proud. “He had to climb a long way up to reach it.”
Briarlight fidgeted in her nest. “Isn’t he brave?”
Jayfeather sniffed Brightheart’s pelt, alert for the sour scent of infection. “How are your wounds?”
“A bit sore,” she admitted. “But they were hardly more than scratches. They’ll heal.”