Bramblestar moved beside him. “Tree is one of us now. If he wishes to know you better, that’s up to him, but he came here for the same reason we did. You are holding our Clanmates against their will. Let them go!” He flexed his claws. “You may be carrying kits, but that doesn’t mean we won’t fight to get our Clanmates back.”
As Moonlight hesitated, Squirrelflight saw Plumwillow and Berrynose drop into battle stances. Hawkwing and Thornclaw bared their teeth. Her breath caught in her throat. “They only want us to stay here until Moonlight’s kits are ready to travel,” she mewed quickly.
Bramblestar swung his gaze toward her. “Do you want to stay with them until then?” he growled.
“Of course not!” Squirrelflight blinked at him. “But they meant us no harm. If we wait, this territory will be free for SkyClan to take in a moon or two.”
Bramblestar stared at her coolly. “That is a decision for Leafstar and SkyClan to make.”
Leafstar whisked her tail. “This is good land. I think SkyClan would be happy here.” Relief washed Squirrelflight’s pelt. Leafstar was backing her up. She looked gratefully at her as the SkyClan leader went on. “I’m willing to give the Sisters a moon to move on. Two if they need it.” She switched her gaze to Moonlight. “But they must let us return to our Clans. I’m not staying here another day.”
Moonlight dipped her head. “You can go.” She lifted her gaze to Bramblestar. “We’re bigger than you, and stronger,” she told him. “Any battle between us would be bloody. But there is no need to fight if you leave us in peace.”
Bramblestar narrowed his gaze. “Strength doesn’t always win battles,” he snarled.
Plumwillow showed her teeth. “You held our leader captive!”
“She looks wounded,” Sagenose growled.
Did the Clan cats want revenge? Squirrelflight gazed pleadingly at Bramblestar. “Let’s go.”
Larksong padded forward. “If they’re letting Squirrelflight leave, there’s no need to fight. Leafstar’s wound will heal faster if she returns home right away.”
Squirrelflight looked at the young tom, grateful for his sense. He was thinking with his head, not his claws. Sparkpelt had chosen a good mate.
“Very well.” Bramblestar signaled with his tail, and the Clan cats began to turn toward the fern entrance.
Squirrelflight lingered, catching Moonlight’s eye. “Thanks for sharing your fresh-kill.”
“I am sorry that we met under such circumstances,” the gray she-cat meowed. “If we meet again, I hope that it will be as friends.”
Leafstar eyed Moonlight but didn’t speak. She was clearly less than grateful for the Sisters’ hospitality. She nodded curtly and limped after her Clanmates as Squirrelflight dipped her head to Moonlight.
“I hope your kitting goes well.”
“Thank you.” Moonlight swished her tail.
“Are you coming?” Bramblestar stopped at the entrance and glared at Squirrelflight, his pelt prickling along his spine.
“I have to go.” Squirrelflight headed toward him, irritated at being called away like a kit.
Bramblestar waited for her to push through the ferns, then followed her out of camp. Her Clanmates wound their way out of the valley. She padded after them, relieved to be heading home.
“What in StarClan were you thinking?” Bramblestar fell in beside her.
She dipped her head, bracing herself for the argument she knew must be coming. “I’m sorry.”
“Going off like that on a hare-brained mission without telling me!”
She could feel his gaze burning through her pelt. “You’d have stopped me if you’d known,” she mewed.
“Of course I would have!” he snapped. “Now look what’s happened. You’ve found a whole new group of cats to fight with over territory. As if ShadowClan and WindClan weren’t enough!”
“But we don’t have to fight with them,” Squirrelflight objected. “They’re happy for SkyClan to have the land when they’re finished with it.” She stopped and looked at him. She’d made a mistake coming here as she had, but it was obvious she’d found the answer to the Clans’ problems. “Don’t you see? I’ve found SkyClan the land they need! Now the Clans won’t have to fight over territory ever again.”
“Don’t be naive.” Bramblestar stared at her. “New territory will probably mean new battles. Since when was any Clan satisfied with what they have?”
“When each Clan has enough, then the fighting will stop.” Why was he being so negative? “We haven’t gotten the borders right until now. But once SkyClan moves, every Clan will have plenty.”
Bramblestar brushed past her and padded after his Clanmates.
Squirrelflight caught up to him, irritation spiking her fur. “I had a good idea and I followed it through,” she snapped. “Leafstar likes the new territory, and now SkyClan will have somewhere they can finally make a real home. You just don’t want to admit I was right!”
“Nonsense!” Bramblestar lashed his tail. “I’m Clan leader. I welcome ideas from any of my Clanmates, and if it’s a good idea, I’m happy to be proved wrong.”
“My idea is a good idea!” Squirrelflight swallowed back frustration.
“You’re only seeing it from your point of view,” Bramblestar growled. “Have you really thought about what it would be like for SkyClan to move again so soon? To build yet another camp? To learn about new territory? How do you know there aren’t Twolegs here? Or a family of foxes? Have you checked every tail-length of this land? What if one of their kits is killed by a snake here? Will you take responsibility?”
“Life is risky!” Squirrelflight ignored the doubt shimmering at the edge of her thoughts. “There will be risks wherever SkyClan lives!”
Bramblestar ignored her. “And how does it make SkyClan look—agreeing to live where the other Clans choose again? Do you think the other Clans will treat them as equals once they’ve finished pushing them around?”
“That’s not my problem!” Squirrelflight shot back. “It’s up to SkyClan! Leafstar wants to move. She knows what she’s doing.”
“I hope so.” Bramblestar paused and looked along the track as it steepened and disappeared among boulders. “Are you sure that, after a few seasons living among these hills, SkyClan won’t feel like they’ve been pushed outside the Clans again?”
“Why should they? This land is right next to ours, and ShadowClan’s. And they’ll have a strip of territory right down to the lakeshore. They’ll be as much a part of the Clans as we are.” Squirrelflight hurried after him, following the path as it snaked into a narrow gorge. Ahead, their Clanmates padded beneath overhanging rock. The star-specked sky showed in a narrow band above them. As the trail opened into another valley, Bramblestar spoke again.
“I was worried about you, you know?” His mew was husky.
“I know.” Guilt rippled beneath her pelt. “I didn’t know I’d be away so long, and I told Sparkpelt where I’d gone, just in case.”
“Sparkpelt was worried too,” he told her. “More so because you asked her to keep your secret. She didn’t know whether telling me was betraying you, or remaining silent was betraying me. You should never have put her in that position.”
Squirrelflight shrank beneath her pelt. “I know,” she mewed softly. “I just wanted to make the Clans okay again. How was I to know we’d be taken prisoner?” As she spoke, resentment bubbled in her chest. Bramblestar wasn’t even trying to understand. Was he enjoying making her feel bad? “But we weren’t hurt, and it was good to see how other cats live. The Sisters have an interesting way of life.”
“And we don’t?”
“That’s not what I meant and you know it!” He was acting like a kit! “They treated us well.”
“What about Leafstar’s wound?”
“She tried to escape.”
“And you didn’t?” He shot her a reproachful look. “Did you like the Sisters so much that you didn’t want to come home?”