All the cats were milling around in the center of the clearing, unsure what to do. Hollyleaf was relieved when Graystripe strode into the middle of them, raising his tail for silence.
“Mousewhisker,” he directed, “go and fetch Firestar. He took a hunting patrol toward the old Twoleg nest. Brambleclaw is on a border patrol, so we’ll have to wait for him to come back, as I don’t know where he’ll be right now,” he added as Mousewhisker pelted off. “Leafpool, can you check Briarkit, to make sure she’s okay?”
Leafpool nodded; she looked glad to have something to do. Millie guided her kit over to the medicine cat and waited, her claws scraping the ground and her eyes frantic with worry. Daisy followed, keeping a watchful eye on all the other kits, who seemed as shocked as Briarkit.
As Leafpool sniffed the kit all over, Hollyleaf murmured to Lionblaze, “She must be all right. Honeyfern can’t have died for nothing.”
Finally Leafpool nodded. “She’ll be fine,” she told Millie. “I’ll give her a poppy seed so she gets a good night’s sleep.”
“But what about the snake?” Daisy wailed. “We’ve never had one in the camp before.”
“Yes, what about it?” Millie added. “We’ve got to do something. More cats might die.”
Graystripe turned to Lionblaze. “Show me exactly where the snake struck.”
Hollyleaf followed her brother and Graystripe across the clearing toward the basking rocks. She admired the way the gray warrior had taken over; he must have been a good Clan deputy back in the forest, she realized.
“That’s the crack that the snake came out of.” Lionblaze pointed with his tail toward a deep cleft in the cliff face. “I didn’t see if it went back in there.”
Very cautiously, Graystripe approached and sniffed along the cliff, peering into every crack. “No sign of it,” he reported, returning to Lionblaze. “But it could be anywhere. Some of these cracks are very deep. There’s plenty of room for it to hide.”
Hollyleaf’s paws tingled with fear. How could they go on living in the stone hollow, when death might come sliding silently out of the cliff at any moment and strike down another cat?
“Millie’s right,” she meowed. “We have to do something.”
Before Graystripe could reply, there was a flash of flame-colored fur at the entrance to the tunnel, and Firestar raced back into the camp. Graystripe bounded over to meet him. Hollyleaf watched as her leader’s expression changed from anxiety to horror, and he padded over to Honeyfern’s body, where he crouched down beside her grieving kin.
Hollyleaf was just close enough to hear what he said. “I’m so sorry.” Firestar’s voice was shaking. “Honeyfern should have been safe here. I promise you I’ll never let anything like this happen again.”
But how can you stop it? Hollyleaf wondered. It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known there was a snake hiding under the cliff.
Mousewhisker had followed Firestar into the camp, along with Dustpelt and Birchfall, the rest of Firestar’s patrol. They were soon joined by Brightheart and Jayfeather, each carrying a bunch of catmint. Their dazed expressions told Hollyleaf that Mousewhisker must have met them, too, and passed on the terrible news. Last of all, Brambleclaw’s patrol returned from checking the WindClan border; their cries of shock and anguish echoed around the hollow. Hollyleaf longed to go back to her nest in the warriors’ den and bury herself in the moss and bracken with her eyes shut tight. Perhaps Honeyfern’s death would turn out to be just a terrible dream.
Before her paws could carry her there, she saw Firestar bounding up the rocks to stand on the Highledge. “Cats of ThunderClan!” He raised his voice to carry to every part of the stone hollow. “A dreadful thing has happened, but we must stay calm. Honeyfern died a warrior’s death, protecting a kit of her Clan. We will mourn her, not just tonight, but for all the moons to come. And we must make sure that the snake doesn’t come back to hurt any other cats.”
“Tell us what to do, and we’ll do it,” Brambleclaw called out.
Firestar dipped his head to his deputy. “To begin with, we’ll make a barrier of brambles across that part of the cliff. Dustpelt, will you take charge of that?” The brown tabby warrior gave a curt nod. “No cat must go near it. Millie and Daisy, make sure that your kits understand. And it’s best we don’t use the basking rocks anymore. Snakes usually sleep during leaf-bare, but I think this one must have been disturbed by cats sunning themselves on the stones.”
Hollyleaf saw Purdy and Mousefur exchanging a shocked glance. “That might have been us!” Purdy exclaimed.
Mousefur hung her head, and her eyes filled with sorrow. “Better it had been me, than that poor young cat,” she murmured.
“Okay,” Firestar meowed. “Get on with your duties, all of you. Tonight we will keep vigil for Honeyfern.” He ran lightly down the rocks again and bounded across to Brambleclaw.
“Lionblaze!” Dustpelt called. “Help me with the barrier, please. You can take Foxpaw and Icepaw into the forest to collect brambles.”
“Coming,” Lionblaze replied. He paused briefly to touch noses with Hollyleaf, then raced off to round up the two apprentices.
Daisy and Millie were gathering their kits together and bundling them back toward the nursery. “Don’t any of you dare go near that part of the cliff,” Millie meowed sternly. “You heard what Firestar said.”
“We won’t.” Blossomkit’s mew was high-pitched with fear, and all the kits looked unusually subdued.
Whitewing was following them back to the nursery when Birchfall bounded over to her and pressed his nose into her shoulder. “You will be careful, won’t you?” he fretted.
The white she-cat blinked at him, her eyes full of love. “Of course I will. You don’t have to fuss.”
Birchfall angled his ears toward Berrynose, still crouched silently over the body of Honeyfern. “I won’t lose you to StarClan,” he insisted. “Not for a long, long time.”
Whitewing and Birchfall leaned into each other, their pelts brushing and their tails twined together.
Hollyleaf stood still as the rest of the cats moved away. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to go and comfort Cinderheart, but she didn’t dare disturb Honeyfern’s grieving kin. She had begun to pad uncertainly toward the warriors’ den when Leafpool trotted up to her.
“Hollyleaf, could you help Brightheart to put the herbs away?” she asked. “Jayfeather and I are going to check the queens and kits for signs of shock.”
“Sure.” Hollyleaf was relieved to have something to do. She retrieved Jayfeather’s share of the catmint and carried it to the medicine cats’ den, where Brightheart was already sorting through her bundle of stems. Hollyleaf joined her; it was good to breathe in the scent of herbs that drifted around the den; it reminded her of when she had been Leafpool’s apprentice. I used to get worried when I couldn’t remember which herb was which. If only that was all I had to worry about now!
“I wish we knew a herb to cure snakebite,” Brightheart murmured sadly as her forepaws flicked through the leaves, deftly stripping off any that were shriveled or damaged.
Hollyleaf nodded, but she knew that no amount of wishing would bring Honeyfern back. Her ears flicked up at the sound of a cat brushing past the bramble screen; she glanced over her shoulder to see Leafpool coming in.
“I need some poppy seeds for Daisy,” the medicine cat explained. “She’s getting hysterical.”
“I can’t say I blame her,” Brightheart mewed. “If I had kits now, I’d be terrified.”
Leafpool collected the seed in a leaf wrap and was about to leave the den when Firestar put his head around the brambles.
“Yes?” Leafpool asked; there was an edge to her tone that Hollyleaf didn’t understand.