Firestar was left facing Scourge. The small black cat looked unmoved. Now Firestar knew not to underestimate him due to his size. He knew he had never faced a cat more dangerous than this, who in a single blow could destroy a leader with nine lives.
Behind Scourge, the cats of BloodClan moved forward as if they were about to attack, and Firestar shot a glance at his own warriors to make sure they were ready. They stood in line with the warriors of WindClan, and Firestar braced himself to leap forward with them, but when he looked back at the enemy, Scourge raised one blood-soaked paw.
The cats behind him stopped.
“You see what happens to cats who defy BloodClan,” the black cat warned calmly. “Your friend here”—he gave a contemptuous flick with his tail toward Tigerstar’s motionless body—“thought he could control us. He was wrong.”
“We don’t want to control you,” Firestar rasped. “All we want is to lead our lives in peace. We’re sorry that Tigerstar brought you here with lies. Please feel free to hunt before you go home.”
“Go home?” Scourge widened his eyes in scornful disbelief. “We’re not going anywhere, forest fool. In the town where we come from, there are many, many cats, and live prey is scarce. Here in the forest we won’t need to depend on Twoleg rubbish for our food.”
His gaze slid past Firestar to where ThunderClan and WindClan stood ready for battle. “We are taking over this territory now,” he went on. “I shall rule the forest as well as the town. But I understand that you may need some time to reflect on this. You have three days to leave—or meet my Clan in battle. I shall wait for your decision at dawn on the fourth day.”
Chapter 23
Firestar stared, speechless with shock, as Scourge turned away and disappeared through the lines of his own warriors. Silently the cats of BloodClan fell in behind him and vanished into the bushes with scarcely a rustle. Firestar tracked their departure through the movement of branches up the side of the hollow, and then they were gone.
Firestar looked down at the body of Tigerstar. The huge tabby’s legs were splayed and his teeth bared in a last snarl of defiance at death. The amber eyes that had smoldered with savage ambition were blank and sightless.
Faced with the death of his enemy, Firestar knew he should feel triumphant. He had known for a long time now that the only hope for peace in the forest was the death of Tigerstar. But Firestar had always expected that he would be the cat that struck his enemy down, risking his own life in combat with the massive warrior. Instead, now that Tigerstar lay at his paws, staining them with his blood, he found himself struggling with the strangest feeling of all—grief. Tigerstar had received from StarClan all the strength, skill, and intelligence to make himself truly great, a legend among cats. But he had misused his gifts, murdered and lied and plotted revenge, until his ambition brought him to this terrible end. And nothing had been solved. The fate of every Clan still hung in the balance, and the tide of blood still flowed.
We need your strength, Tigerstar, Firestar whispered. Just as we need every cat who can fight, to drive BloodClan out of the forest.
He became aware that another cat was standing beside him, and he turned his head to see Graystripe. The rest of the ThunderClan cats were still drawn up in their battle lines at the far side of the clearing, with Tallstar and the WindClan warriors beside them.
“Firestar?” Graystripe’s yellow eyes were huge with fear. “Are you okay?”
Firestar shook himself. “I will be. Don’t worry, Graystripe. Come on—I need to talk to Tallstar.”
As they turned away, Graystripe glanced down at the dead S h a d o w C l an leader and a shudder passed through him. “I never want to see anything like that again,” he meowed hoarsely.
“If we don’t get rid of Scourge, you probably will,” Firestar replied.
He paced slowly back toward the WindClan leader, using the time it took to cross the clearing to think. When he stood in front of Tallstar, he saw his own shock reflected in the eyes of the older cat.
“I can’t believe what I’ve just seen,” the WindClan leader. “Nine lives gone—just like that.”
Firestar nodded. “No cat would blame you if you took your Clan and left the forest to find another place to live.” He did not doubt Tallstar’s courage, but felt unable to assume that he would stay to fight such a terrible enemy.
Tallstar stiffened and his neck fur bristled. “WindClan was driven from the forest once,” he hissed. “Never again. Our territory is o u r s, and we’ll fight for it. Is ThunderClan with us?”
Even before Firestar replied he heard a murmuring from his own cats, defiance and determination mingled together. “We’ll fight,” he promised. “And we’ll be proud to stand side by side with WindClan.”
The two leaders looked into each other’s eyes for a few heartbeats. Firestar could see that Tallstar shared the fear neither of them had spoken, that their resolve to fight the invading cats could mean the destruction of both their Clans.
“We’ll go now to prepare ourselves,” Tallstar meowed at last. “And we’ll meet you here again in three days, at dawn.”
“At dawn,” Firestar echoed. “And may StarClan be with us all.”
He watched the WindClan cats retreat up the slope toward their territory before he turned to his own warriors. They looked subdued, eyes wide with apprehension, yet Firestar knew that none of them would flinch from the coming battle. They had followed him to Fourtrees expecting to fight, and even though their enemies were more terrible than any cat could have imagined, they would still defy them to keep the forest that they loved.
“I’m proud of you all,” Firestar mewed quietly. “If an y cats can drive out BloodClan, you can.”
Sandstorm padded over to him and pressed her muzzle against his shoulder. “With you to lead us, we will do anything,” she promised.
For a moment Firestar felt too overwhelmed to speak. Far from lifting his spirits, his warriors’ expectations weighed on him heavily. “Let’s get back to camp,” he managed to meow at last. “We’ve a lot to do. Graystripe, Cloudtail, scout ahead. I wouldn’t put it past Scourge to lay an ambush for us.”
The two warriors bounded away in the direction of the ThunderClan camp. A few moments later Firestar led the rest of his cats after them, putting Dustpelt at the rear to keep watch. As they headed swiftly through the forest Firestar thought that he could feel Scourge’s cold, malignant eyes following their pawsteps. Once before, when the dog pack was loose, Firestar had felt like prey in the forest, and now his enemy had a face all the more terrible for being one of his own kind.
But if the BloodClan leader was watching them he gave no sign of it, and the ThunderClan warriors reached the ravine unchallenged.
Firestar noticed that Bramblepaw had begun to lag behind, his tail trailing on the ground. “What’s wrong?” he asked gently.
Bramblepaw raised his eyes to his mentor’s, and Firestar was shocked by the depths of sick horror in his gaze.
“I thought I hated my father,” he mewed quietly. “I didn’t want to join his Clan. But I didn’t want him to die like that.”
“I know.” Firestar pressed his muzzle against the young cat’s side. “But it’s over now, and you’re free of him.”
Bramblepaw turned his head away. “I don’t think I’ll ever be free of him,” he murmured. “Even now that he’s dead, no cat will forget that I’m his son. And what about Tawnypaw?” His voice choked. “How could she choose to follow him?”