“We need to make sure the snake isn’t a threat to us,” Firestar meowed quietly.
Leafpool blinked, puzzled. “What do you want me to do? I can’t summon the snake out of its hole.”
“No,” Firestar replied, “but you can make sure that it never reaches the main part of the camp. I want you to put deathberries around the place where the snake came from.”
Hollyleaf felt her paws freeze to the ground as soon as the Clan leader mentioned deathberries. She exchanged a shocked glance with Brightheart. Every cat knew that Leafpool refused to have deathberries in the camp because they were so dangerous.
“Firestar, you know—” the medicine cat began.
“Explain to the kits, and to every single cat, what the berries are and why they mustn’t be touched or eaten,” Firestar interrupted her. “They’ll understand. We have to do this. I will not lose another cat this way.”
Leafpool hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. “Very well. Jayfeather and I will collect some today. But I don’t like it,” she added more forcefully. “If the deathberries don’t kill the snake within one moon, we’ll have to try something else.”
CHAPTER 18
Lionblaze led Foxpaw and Icepaw into the forest to collect brambles. He felt numb; the terrible scene kept repeating itself endlessly behind his eyes.
Was there anything I could have done? If I’d been quicker…maybe if I’d leaped for the snake I could have killed it first.
Both the apprentices were still trembling with fear, spooking at every leaf rustle, as if they thought that a snake might be hiding in every hollow. And for all I know, they’re right.…
“I can’t believe we’ve got Sol and a snake in the camp,” Icepaw mewed, jumping aside with her fur bristling as an oak leaf drifted to the ground beside her.
“I wonder if Sol summoned the snake to kill Honeyfern,” Foxpaw added, his voice shaking.
“Don’t be ridiculous!” Lionblaze’s voice came out louder than he’d intended; both apprentices jumped backward. “The snake was just there. It could easily have bitten Sol instead of Honeyfern.”
“I wish it had,” Foxpaw muttered.
Lionblaze didn’t say anything. Hadn’t there been enough death in the Clan already?
He led the apprentices to a bramble thicket near the beginning of the old Thunderpath and crawled underneath to bite the long, thornless stems at the bottom. The two apprentices hesitated at the edge of the stone, blinking nervously.
“Come on!” Lionblaze urged them. “What’s the matter?”
“Are there any snakes in there?” Icepaw whimpered.
“If there are, I’m dead,” Lionblaze replied irritably. “Okay,” he added with a sigh. “I’ll bite through the stems, and you drag the tendrils out.”
For a while they worked steadily, and the pile of bramble tendrils began to grow. Then Foxpaw stopped with the end of a stem in his mouth.
“What’s wrong?” Lionblaze asked. “I need you to get that out of the way so I can reach the next one.”
Foxpaw dropped the tendril. “I can smell WindClan!”
Icepaw let go the stem she was dragging to the pile and tasted the air. “No, it’s RiverClan!” she exclaimed.
Quickly Lionblaze wriggled his way out of the thicket and took a deep breath. “You’re both right,” he meowed, his neck fur beginning to rise. “And there’s ShadowClan scent as well.”
Foxpaw laid his ears flat and crouched low to the ground. “Are we being invaded again?” he shrieked.
“I don’t think so.” Lionblaze forced himself to stay calm. “The scents aren’t strong enough for lots of cats.” Gesturing with his tail, he added, “Stay behind me. And don’t do anything unless I tell you.”
The two apprentices huddled together, close to his hind paws, while Lionblaze faced the undergrowth from where the scents were approaching. A clump of bracken quivered, and Blackstar of ShadowClan stepped into the open, followed by Rowanclaw. A heartbeat later Leopardstar and Reedwhisker appeared, and hard on their paws came Onestar and Turnear.
All three leaders! Lionblaze stared at them, his heart racing. What kind of patrol is this?
“Greetings, Lionblaze.” Blackstar dipped his head. “We need to speak with Firestar.”
“O-okay,” Lionblaze meowed. “Follow me. Foxpaw, Icepaw, bring back the brambles, please.”
Leaving the apprentices to their task, he led the visitors back to the stone hollow and through the thorn tunnel. The clearing was quieter than when he had left. Honeyfern’s body still lay in the shade. Her family crouched around it, keeping vigil alone until nightfall. Sol had disappeared; Thornclaw was back on guard duty outside his nest. The queens and kits had retreated into the nursery.
Firestar was standing in the middle of the clearing, talking to Graystripe and Brambleclaw. All three cats looked up in surprise as Lionblaze emerged with his unusual patrol following.
“Greetings,” Firestar mewed, dipping his head courteously to the other Clan leaders. His tone was wary, and his neck fur had begun to bristle. “What can I do for you?”
Blackstar didn’t bother to return his greeting. “Is Sol here?” he demanded.
“And is it true that he killed Ashfur?” Leopardstar added.
Onestar bared his teeth in a snarl. “When were you going to tell us that you’re keeping a murderer captive?”
Firestar’s ears pricked and his tail-tip twitched from side to side. Lionblaze could see shock in his green eyes. “How did you find out so quickly?” he asked.
“One of my patrols saw your cats returning with Sol along the edge of the lake,” Onestar replied, his voice tense with anger. “They told a RiverClan patrol, and RiverClan passed on the news to ShadowClan.”
Firestar’s gaze flicked from one leader to the next. “Since when was this any of the other Clans’ business?” he meowed icily.
“Since you put our Clans in danger,” Leopardstar retorted.
“You know how much of a threat that cat is,” Onestar added, his forepaws kneading the ground. “And yet you brought him back into our territories!”
Blackstar took a pace forward. Lionblaze could hardly believe that he would attack Firestar in the ThunderClan camp, but he braced his muscles ready to defend his leader if any of the other cats so much as raised a paw.
“Have you forgotten what Sol tried to do to ShadowClan?” Blackstar hissed. “He tried to force us to stop believing in StarClan!”
And I’m a mouse! Lionblaze thought cynically. A look flashed between Graystripe and Brambleclaw, telling Lionblaze that the senior warriors shared his thought. Blackstar wasn’t prepared to admit any responsibility, though at the time he had been only too willing to listen to Sol.
“What are you going to do with him?” Leopardstar demanded.
Firestar hesitated. He was looking increasingly harried, but he kept his claws sheathed. “I haven’t decided,” he admitted. “We’re still trying to find out exactly what happened.”
Onestar’s nostrils flared and he narrowed his eyes. “Sol is too dangerous to keep anywhere near the lake. You should send him away now.”
“You should have left him where he was,” Leopardstar growled. “Any cat with a flea’s worth of sense would see that.”
“Then Ashfur’s murder would have gone unpunished,” Firestar argued.
“Vengeance isn’t everything,” Onestar spat. “You have put all our Clans in danger by bringing Sol back. Whatever happens next, you will not have our support.”