Lionblaze had been so excited when he’d first seen the tunnels. The wonder of them! A secret place to meet and have fun. Now he stared at the fractured earth and wished Heathertail had never found them. Guilt pricked his pelt as he remembered playing underground with the pretty WindClan warrior while they were both still apprentices.
A growl rumbled in his throat. If Heathertail hadn’t discovered the tunnels, Hollyleaf might still be alive.
“Lionblaze?” Cinderheart’s anxious mew brought Lionblaze to his senses. His paws ached, and he realized he had been digging his claws deep into the frozen earth.
“What is it?” Cinderheart was staring at him with her head to one side. “Are you still spooked by the owl?”
“I guess so.” Lionblaze unhooked his claws from the earth and smoothed his fur with a few licks. “Let’s check the ShadowClan border,” he suggested, hoping to distract her. “We’re almost there.”
“Not still scared they’re after our blood?”
Lionblaze glanced at the lightening sky, ignoring her teasing. “It’s nearly dawn,” he meowed. “We can do an early patrol and report back to Firestar.”
Cinderheart looked relieved. “You sound like a warrior again.” She brushed past him. “You had me worried.”
Lionblaze fell in beside her. “Worried about me?”
“Why not?” She stopped and gazed at him seriously. “You’re a good friend.”
Maybe more than a friend?
Before he could summon the courage to say it out loud, she darted away.
“I’ll race you!” she called.
Lionblaze gave chase, keeping up easily as Cinderheart swerved between the trees. Would he ever have the nerve to tell her he wanted her to be more than a friend? His fur prickled with frustration. He could be the bravest warrior in all four Clans, but the thought of telling Cinderheart how he felt drained every drop of courage from him.
Stars glimmered between the trunks ahead. They were nearing the edge of the forest.
He quickened his pace. “Hurry up!” He pulled ahead of Cinderheart, pretending to tease. Truthfully, he wanted to reach the Twoleg clearing before she did. They had fought for it and won it, but he still didn’t trust ShadowClan. There was no way he was going to let Cinderheart run into a trap.
He stopped at the edge of the trees, signaling to Cinderheart with his tail to keep back. She ignored him and crouched at his side as he peered across the frost-whitened grass. “I wish Firestar had never asked for it back!” she muttered.
Lionblaze snapped his head around and stared at her, shocked.
She shifted her paws. “I just mean it’s impossible to patrol.” There was an apology in her mew, as though she sensed she’d spoken too hastily. “ShadowClan can see us patrolling the moment we set paw out of the forest, and the hunting’s so poor, and the Twolegs are here all greenleaf—” She broke off.
Lionblaze saw the sense in her argument and wanted to tell her that he’d had doubts about the battle, too. Had it really been worth the blood that had been spilled? But he held his tongue. The Clan had to remain strong and united, now more than ever.
He stifled a shiver. The sound of battle echoed in his ears. Yet again, he felt Russetfur’s life ebb away beneath his claws. Sickness rose in his throat, and he pressed his belly to the earth.
“Someone’s watching us!” Cinderheart’s hiss jerked him back to the present.
“Where?”
Cinderheart pointed with her muzzle, and Lionblaze spotted a pair of eyes gleaming from among the ShadowClan trees on the other side of the clearing.
In a flash, Lionblaze was tearing across the grass. No cat was going to touch the newly won ThunderClan territory. Pelt bristling with anger, he skidded to a halt a tail-length from the ShadowClan border, ears flattened, tail lashing.
The eyes blinked at him calmly; then a cat stepped out from the trees.
Flametail.
The ShadowClan medicine cat stared at him boldly. “Come to kill me like you killed Russetfur?” he growled.
Cinderheart’s paws sounded behind Lionblaze. “This is our territory now,” she warned the ShadowClan cat. “You’d be wise to remember that.”
Flametail snorted and padded closer, crossing the scent line as casually as if he were padding into his own camp. “I’m a medicine cat,” he reminded them. “I can go where I please.”
Lionblaze swallowed against the rage that rose from his belly. ShadowClan arrogance! “Shouldn’t you be back at your camp, treating your wounded?”
“My Clanmates are well.” Flametail fixed his gaze on Lionblaze. “Except for Russetfur, of course.”
Lionblaze had to stop himself from leaping at the young cat. Didn’t Flametail understand the significance of the battle? Didn’t he understand how much it had cost both Clans?
He felt Cinderheart’s tail brush his flank. “Enough,” she murmured, smoothing his bristling fur. “He wants a reaction. Don’t give it to him.”
Lionblaze let her soft mew soothe him and pulled in his claws.
“You’d best steer well clear of ThunderClan today,” Cinderheart told the ShadowClan cat. “We have to set new markers, and yours is not the only Clan that has suffered from the battle.”
Flametail blinked at Lionblaze, ignoring Cinderheart. “Once I thought we were kin,” he spat. “Now I’m glad we’re not. I would hate to share blood with a murderer.”
Lionblaze let out a warning yowl, but Flametail turned and, chin high, stalked back into the trees.
“The fox-hearted coward!” Lionblaze wanted to tear Flametail to shreds and feel his life ebb away as Russetfur’s had.
“Let’s go.” Cinderheart circled him nervously, edging him backward, away from the ShadowClan border. “There’s nothing we can do here except make more trouble.”
Growling, Lionblaze turned and plunged across the clearing. Reaching the ThunderClan forest, he crashed through a wall of brambles, hardly feeling the thorns that slashed his muzzle and tugged lumps from his pelt. Rage and grief blinded him as he raced through the forest. He headed for the hollow, running blindly, ignoring Graystripe and Hazeltail as they welcomed him back. The thorn barrier swooshed past him as he hurtled into camp.
Berrynose was at the nursery entrance, looking rather startled. “Is everything okay?” he called.
“Fine.”
Berrynose narrowed his eyes for a moment, then nodded and disappeared into the brambles. Squeaks of welcome sounded inside as Molekit and Cherrykit greeted their father.
“Lionblaze?” Jayfeather was beside the warriors’ den.
“What are you doing awake?” Lionblaze panted. “It’s not even dawn.”
“Checking on the wounded cats.”
“Is everyone okay?”
Jayfeather nodded and headed for the barrier. “Come with me,” he instructed. “We need to talk.”
Lionblaze was starting to feel bone tired from all his running. “What about?” he grumbled mutinously.
Jayfeather narrowed his eyes. “Ivypaw,” he growled.
Chapter 4
“Ivypaw?”
Dovepaw sat up, blinking.
Lionblaze’s disbelieving mew had woken her, ringing in her ears as clearly as a blackbird’s alarm. She jerked her head around, searching the apprentices’ den for him, but he wasn’t there. Ivypaw was sleeping; Blossomfall and Bumblestripe were still snoring in their nests. They’d move to the new warriors’ den once it was finished. Then Ivypaw and Dovepaw would be alone, the only apprentices in the Clan until Molekit and Cherrykit became ’paws.