“I’m with you, Leafstar,” Rockshade panted from behind her. “What—?”
He broke off with a shriek as the cat leaped out and fastened his claws in his rump. Leafstar spun around and flung herself on the enemy cat, raking her claws down his side. The cat let Rockshade go as he turned to face Leafstar, but before the black tom could scramble to his paws a cream-colored she-cat hurled herself on him. Her lips were drawn back in a snarl as she buried her teeth in Rockshade’s neck. The young black warrior let out a shriek of pain.
Chasing the first cat off with a pawful of claws slashed across his ears, Leafstar turned to battle the cream-colored she-cat. She flung her away from Rockshade and tried to pin her down, but the she-cat wriggled out from under her, slippery as a fish.
“Mange-pelt!” she snarled, baring her teeth at Leafstar.
Leafstar sprang at her, but the she-cat darted to one side, cuffing Leafstar over her head as she did so. Leafstar managed to trip her, and rolled over with her in the ruins of a nest; the she-cat’s hind paws pummeled at her belly. A half-admiring thought slid through Leafstar’s mind: She’s a vicious fighter, just as skilled as a warrior.
Then Rockshade threw himself against the she-cat’s shoulder, knocking her off balance and giving Leafstar the chance to scramble to her paws. She and Rockshade faced the enemy cat side by side. Undaunted, she let out a hiss and leaped right over their heads, to sprint off among the nests.
Leafstar bunched her muscles to spring after her. But before she could move, a nest nearby exploded into fragments and a dark brown tabby tom stalked out. His tail lashed and his fur was bristling as he let out a roar of rage. At the same moment Stick appeared from a gap between two nests and faced him.
“Coward!” the tabby tom spat. “You came skulking into my camp like rats—”
“At least I came myself,” Stick retorted, stalking stiff-legged up to his enemy. “Not like you, Dodge, getting Twolegs to do my dirty work.”
So that’s Dodge, Leafstar thought.
Dodge and Stick leaped at each other, meeting in midair and crashing to the ground in a flailing knot of fur. They almost squashed Egg, who was wrestling with a black-and-white she-cat; he rolled out of the way and leaped up onto one of the sturdier dens. Shrewtooth jumped up beside him and the two warriors balanced there precariously for a couple of heartbeats. Then Shrewtooth spotted a ginger tom sneaking up on Cherrytail, who had emerged from a nearby den and had paused to lick a wound on her side. The young warrior let out a screech; then he and Egg jumped down on top of the ginger tom.
We work together, Leafstar thought, a tiny trickle of warmth penetrating the haze of battle.
Shrieks and growls rose around her; the cat scent was shot through with the reek of blood. Stick and Dodge were still locked together in a vicious, clawing bundle. Dragging her gaze away from them, Leafstar spotted Sharpclaw battling two toms at once, easily holding them off with SkyClan battle moves. Then a gap opened up between two dens, and Leafstar gasped in horror as she spotted the cream-colored she-cat grappling with Billystorm. She had him pinned down; as Leafstar watched she clawed out a pawful of his belly fur.
Leafstar sprang forward to help her Clanmate, but before she reached him a shriek went up from the nursery den. “Please don’t hurt my kits!”
Leafstar spun around to see Coal and Shorty stalking toward the nest. The tortoiseshell-and-white queen was backing away to stand over her kits. Her hackles were raised and her eyes wide with fear. She stretched out one forepaw, its claws extended, as her gaze flickered from one attacker to the other.
Rushing over to the den, Leafstar thrust herself between the queen and the Twolegplace cats. “No!” she yowled. “You can’t attack these kits. This is not their battle.”
Shorty and Coal exchanged a baffled look. Then their eyes narrowed suspiciously as they stared at Leafstar. “Are you betraying us?” Coal growled.
Desperation surged through Leafstar. I can’t fight Coal and Shorty! But I have to protect these kits!
Suddenly Rockshade appeared at her side. His black pelt was ruffled, and blood trickled from a scratch on his forehead, but his eyes were clear and filled with courage.
“We have to get these kits to safety,” Leafstar told him.
“No!” the tortoiseshell queen exclaimed. “You’re not going to touch my kits!”
Leafstar turned to her, making her voice quiet and soothing. “You have to trust us. If they stay here, they’ll be hurt—maybe killed.”
The young queen’s eyes stretched wide with amazement. “But you’re on the other side!”
Rockshade stepped forward. “Kits take no sides,” he meowed. “They are the responsibility of all of us.”
Leafstar felt a stab of pride in her young Clanmate. Flashing him a grateful look, she stepped into the den and dipped her head to the kits’ mother before picking up a tiny black kit by its scruff; it let out a shrill squeak and waved its paws in the air. Rockshade followed her and picked up another kit, and their mother took the third. Coal and Shorty stepped aside as they left the den.
“This is not what we asked you to do!” Coal hissed as Leafstar passed him.
“We’re not here to take orders from you,” Leafstar replied, making her words sound clear through the mouthful of fur. She felt confidence grow inside her as she led the way to the ditch, weaving a path through knots of fighting cats with Rockshade and the tortoiseshell queen just behind her.
This is how Clan cats fight. We do not try to kill, and we do not make enemies of the weak or the young.
The ditch gaped ahead of her; beyond it, the woods were quiet. Leafstar was about to jump over when she spotted the cream-colored she-cat break free from Billystorm and streak toward her. Billystorm raced behind, his ginger-and-white fur dabbled with blood.
The SkyClan leader had no time to protect herself or the kit she carried. The cream-colored she-cat pounced on her and sank her teeth deep into Leafstar’s neck.
A shriek of horror from Billystorm echoed around Leafstar. Then pain engulfed her, and the whole world went black.
Chapter 35
Leafstar sensed silver light all around her, encouraging her to open her eyes. She found herself sitting on the edge of the woods, bathed in the warm rays of the rising sun. Battle still raged in Dodge’s camp, and on the far side of the ditch, cats were gathering around a hunched shape lying on the ground—something Leafstar couldn’t see clearly. Billystorm and Cherrytail were there with Rockshade, and as she watched, Sharpclaw came racing up.
She tried to hear what they were saying, but their voices were oddly muted, and however much she strained her ears she couldn’t make out the words. For some reason they seemed to be very distressed. Billystorm was crouched on the ground, his head flung back and his jaws parted in a soundless wail.
Then the crowd shifted and Leafstar gasped in horror as she saw her own body stretched lifeless in the mud at the edge of the ditch. The cream-colored she-cat was standing triumphantly over her.
No!
Leafstar jumped as she felt a tail stroke her flank. She turned her head to see a tortoiseshell she-cat sitting beside her, a look of compassion in her beautiful green eyes.
“Spottedleaf?” she rasped.
“Don’t be afraid, dear one,” Spottedleaf reassured her. “You are losing a life. You will return to them soon.”
Leafstar became aware of another cat sitting on her other side, and glanced across to see the gray-and-white pelt of Cloudstar. The former SkyClan leader licked the top of her head as if she were a troubled kit.
“We are here,” he murmured. “We will keep you safe.”
“Did I do the wrong thing by bringing my Clanmates here?” Leafstar asked. “This isn’t their battle!”