Raggedstar nodded toward the wall of flame. “You must burn as brightly as this fire to protect your Clan. Survival is more important than the code of the medicine cats. You must forget your allegiance to them and pledge yourself only to our Clan. From now on, ShadowClan has no allies. Remember this: A time of war is coming, and your warrior ancestors will stand alongside you. No one else.”
A time of war is coming. The fire began to fade, and with it the starry ancestors. You must burn as brightly as this fire to protect your Clan.
Flametail blinked open his eyes, shivering. He was lying beside the Moonpool, the hollow dark and silent except for the breeze whispering over the water. The scent of StarClan still wreathed around him.
I’ll remember, he promised silently. I’ll protect my Clan, whatever it takes.
Chapter 9
Dovepaw sprang awake, shivering. The fern walls rustled around her, and she tensed against the icy draft. Without Bumblestripe and Blossomfall the den was colder than ever. She pricked her ears. Ivypaw was whimpering in her sleep.
What’s wrong?
“Wake up!” Dovepaw jabbed Ivypaw with her paw. What if the Dark Forest warriors were hurting her?
Whitewing poked her head through the ferns. “Is everything okay in here?”
Dovepaw turned quickly, shielding Ivypaw from their mother’s view. “Ivypaw’s having a bad dream,” she mewed. “I was just trying to wake her up.”
Whitewing opened the fern wider with a snowy paw, letting dawn light seep through. “I thought I heard her whimper—”
“Really, she’s okay.” Dovepaw cut her off.
Whitewing shrugged. “If it’s just a dream, wake her up and come out. Brambleclaw’s organizing the hunting patrols.” She ducked out of the den, and the ferns swished closed.
Dovepaw rocked Ivypaw fiercely with two paws. “Wake up!”
“W-what?” Ivypaw blinked open her eyes.
Dovepaw saw that one of Ivypaw’s eyes was bruised and swollen around the socket. “You’re hurt!”
Ivypaw turned away, hiding her injury in shadow. “It’s nothing.”
“Did that happen in your dream?” Frustration clawed Dovepaw. “You were fighting in the Place of No Stars again, weren’t you?”
Ivypaw thrust her muzzle into Dovepaw’s face. “Shut up!”
“You mustn’t go there!” Dovepaw felt heat pulsing from Ivypaw’s swollen eye.
Ivypaw pushed past her. “Keep your whiskers out of my business.”
“Why can’t you see how dangerous it is?”
But Ivypaw had barged away through the ferns.
Help her, StarClan! Help her to see that she’s wrong. And protect her. Dovepaw closed her eyes. Please, StarClan. She steadied herself with a deep breath and nosed her way out of the den.
Hazeltail, Brackenfur, and Toadstep were crowded around Brambleclaw. Bumblestripe and Blossomfall jostled at their heels, and Cloudtail and Brightheart paced while Dustpelt, Sandstorm, and Thornclaw waited quietly.
The ThunderClan deputy’s ear tips were just visible. “Dustpelt!” he called. “Take Sandstorm and see if ShadowClan has marked the new border.” He turned to Cloudtail. “Take Blossomfall and Bumblestripe hunting.” He nodded to Brackenfur. “Go out with Hazeltail and Toadstep and see what you can catch. I want another prey-hole filled by sundown.”
Where’s Ivypaw? Dovepaw scanned the camp. There was no sign of her sister’s silver-and-white pelt, but she spotted Lionblaze at the far end of the clearing. The golden warrior was deep in conversation with Squirrelflight and Spiderleg, their heads almost touching as they murmured to one another. Curious, Dovepaw focused her hearing and listened.
“How big were the paw prints?” Lionblaze sounded worried.
“Big enough,” Spiderleg reported. “A vixen, by the smell of it.”
“She’s used the track more than once,” Squirrelflight added.
Lionblaze frowned. “So she’s not just passing through.”
Squirrelflight unsheathed her claws. “We’re going to have to track her down and chase her out.”
“It might be better to wait,” Lionblaze reasoned. “The forest is harsh in leaf-bare. She may go elsewhere. Foxes prefer crow-food to fresh-kill when the hunting gets hard.” He suddenly looked up and stared straight at Dovepaw. “Join Brackenfur’s patrol,” he called across the clearing.
Dovepaw shifted her paws, aware that he’d guessed she’d been eavesdropping. “What about training?”
“Training can wait.” Lionblaze turned back to Spiderleg.
Toadstep and Hazeltail were already filing through the thorn tunnel after Brackenfur. Dovepaw raced to catch up to them. “Lionblaze told me to join you,” she mewed to Brackenfur.
“Good.” Brackenfur tasted the air. “The more claws the better. Hunting will be hard today. It’s too cold to smell a thing.”
“And your pelt’s going to stand out like a fox in a snowdrift.” Hazeltail circled him, frosty leaves crackling beneath her gray-and-white paws.
Brackenfur snorted. “You’d better go in front then.”
Hazeltail led the way up the slope, her pale fur no more than a smudge in the frost-whitened undergrowth. Dovepaw tagged on at the end. She pricked her ears, listening for Ivypaw.
“Wait!” Hazeltail halted at the crest of the slope. She dropped into a hunting crouch, her gaze fixed on the ground ahead. A blackbird was hopping over the frozen leaves. Dovepaw held her breath, while Brackenfur and Toadstep stood like stone. Hazeltail began to waggle her haunches.
Crack!
A twig snapped underneath Dovepaw’s foot. The blackbird fluttered away in panic.
“Sorry!” Dovepaw shrank into her pelt.
Brackenfur shrugged. “Twigs are more brittle in the frost.”
“Perhaps it’d be better if we split up,” Hazeltail suggested.
Brackenfur tipped his head. “What do you think?” he asked Toadstep.
“Sounds good,” the black-and-white tom agreed. “At least if we come back with nothing, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves.”
Brackenfur nodded. “Okay, let’s separate.” He glanced around the patrol. “Anyone mind if I take the shore?”
Dovepaw shook her head. She was quite happy to stay in the shelter of the trees. “I’ll head toward the stream,” she mewed.
Hazeltail was already following the crest of the slope. “See you back in camp, then,” she called over her shoulder.
“I’ll try the edge of the moor,” Toadstep meowed. “There might be a stray rabbit.”
Brackenfur brushed against Dovepaw as he passed. “Will you be all right on your own?”
Dovepaw nodded. “I can practice my stalking.”
The russet warrior disappeared over the crest of the slope. Dovepaw headed deeper into the forest. She listened, reaching far through the trees, searching out Ivypaw. Then she stopped. Ivypaw had already told her to keep her whiskers out of her business. And why spy on her when she was awake? It was when Ivypaw slept that she needed looking out for.
Dovepaw wove between the trees until she heard the ripple of water ahead. Dovepaw padded to the edge of the stream and leaned down to drink. Ice cracked beneath her paws. She hopped backward in surprise. The still, shallow water had begun to freeze at the shore. There was a narrow strip of sand on the far side where she could reach unfrozen water more easily. Dovepaw leaped the channel and took a long drink. Water dripping from her chin, she tasted the air. There was no warm scent of prey, only the soft promise of snow. Snow was coming. Dovepaw pricked her ears, unnerved by the silence.