“What sort of trouble?” she pressed Dovewing, unable to bear the uncertainty. “You know, you can’t believe everything Tigerheart says.”
“Too right!” Dovewing burst out loudly, then lowered her voice again with a swift glance around to see if any warrior was listening. “He’s trying to make me believe that Dawnpelt has a grudge against Jayfeather because he didn’t save Flametail. She thinks Jayfeather murdered him. According to Tigerheart, Dawnpelt is planning something really bad for ThunderClan.” She twitched her whiskers. “Does he think that’s going to scare me?”
Ivypool relaxed, trying not to let her sister see how relieved she was. “Maybe you should tell Brambleclaw,” she suggested. “He might want to put extra cats on ShadowClan border patrols.”
“And get into trouble for talking to Tigerheart?” Dovewing responded. “I don’t think so.” She leaped up onto the end of the tree-bridge and looked down at Ivypool. “Honestly, what damage can Dawnpelt do? It’s all a lie, and she knows it.”
Chapter 7
On the morning after the Gathering, Lionblaze returned from the dawn patrol and headed straight for Firestar’s den. The sun was shining down into the hollow, and puffs of white cloud scudded across a blue sky. The camp was filled with the noise of peaceful activity, but Lionblaze couldn’t help feeling that trouble was heading for them like a swelling storm cloud.
As he climbed up to the top of the tumbled rocks, Lionblaze heard Brambleclaw’s voice coming from Firestar’s den.
“Do you think Onestar was making all that up?” the Clan deputy meowed. “Is he looking for a fight?”
“I hope not,” Firestar replied. “But WindClan is certainly getting hostile.”
“Firestar?” Lionblaze reached the entrance to the den and poked his head inside. “Can I talk to you?”
Firestar was sitting on his pile of bedding at the back of the den, with Brambleclaw standing beside him. “Come in,” he invited with a wave of his tail. “We were just discussing Onestar’s outburst at the Gathering.”
Lionblaze padded into the den, dipping his head to Brambleclaw. “I heard what you were saying,” he began. “That’s what I wanted to discuss, too. What if WindClan is right?”
“What?” Brambleclaw’s tail-tip twitched. “You think ThunderClan cats—?”
“No,” Lionblaze interrupted. “I know that’s not true. But suppose they have seen a cat hanging around? Remember what Cherrypaw and Molepaw said they saw. We might well have a rogue wandering about in the territory.”
Firestar nodded. “That’s a very good point.”
“I’ll track it down if you like,” Lionblaze offered, “and send it on its way.” Waiting tensely for his leader’s reply, he added to himself, And then I can find out if what Jayfeather and I suspect is true.
“There’s no need for that,” Brambleclaw meowed. “We can just send out extra patrols.”
“No,” Firestar decided after a moment’s thought. “Lionblaze can go alone if he wants. There’s no need to be aggressive about this. We just need to find out if there’s any evidence of an intruder.”
Brambleclaw looked slightly puzzled, but dipped his head toward Firestar. “Fine, if you think that’s best.”
Lionblaze bade the two cats a hasty farewell, and ran down the tumbled rocks into the clearing. On his way to the thorn tunnel, he spotted Jayfeather outside his den, sniffing at the fox bite on Foxleap’s shoulder. Lionblaze veered toward him.
“That smells fine,” Jayfeather meowed to Foxleap as Lionblaze approached. “See me again tomorrow. If there are no more problems I think you can go back to warrior duties in a few days.”
“Great, thanks!” Foxleap replied, heading toward the warriors’ den.
Jayfeather turned to Lionblaze. “Well? What are you so excited about?”
Lionblaze paused for a heartbeat, still finding it odd after all this time that Jayfeather could judge his feelings so accurately without being able to see him. “Firestar has given me permission to go and look for the intruder,” he told his brother.
Jayfeather twitched his ears. “Really? You’d better be careful, then.” A heartbeat later, he added, “What will you do if we’re right?”
“I don’t know,” Lionblaze admitted, feeling a tingle in his paws. “But I don’t want any other cat finding out first.”
“True enough,” Jayfeather commented.
Leaving his littermate to return to his den, Lionblaze brushed through the thorn tunnel and headed to the slope above the hollow. Wind blew into his face and flattened his fur to his sides as he gazed out over the lake. It looked so peaceful, the water glittering in the sunlight, surrounded by rustling green leaves. Yet Lionblaze felt it was overshadowed by the Dark Forest and his knowledge of what was coming.
The acrid scent of fox dung trickled into Lionblaze’s nose. He followed it until he reached the clearing where Cherrypaw and Molepaw had been training.
Phew, what a stench! Ivypool certainly did a thorough job.
He searched along the edges of the bramble thickets until he discovered paw prints and scraps of fur clinging to the thorns, which showed him where the apprentices had hidden from the fox. Squeezing under the brambles, Lionblaze tried to work out what the young cats might have seen from their hiding place. Bramble tendrils cut off his view in most directions, but there was a gap low down, level with a scared apprentice’s sight line. Through it he could see a hazel bush a few tail-lengths away that looked like a place where the mysterious rescuer might have been crouching.
Lionblaze wriggled out from underneath the brambles, hissing with annoyance as thorns raked his fur. Underneath the hazel bush the debris was disturbed as if a cat had stood there, and a few snapped twigs lay on the ground, but there were no clear paw prints.
The cat must have been a bit smaller than me to get under there, Lionblaze thought. Too bad there are no scraps of fur left behind. And I can’t smell a thing over this awful reek of fox.
There was nothing more to be learned in the clearing. After a moment’s thought, Lionblaze headed for the border with the unclaimed forest, then turned toward WindClan, since the intruder had been seen there. Scanning the ground carefully as he padded along, he spotted a place where the leaf-mold had been churned up, as if a pounce and a brief struggle had taken place there.
Sniffing carefully all around, Lionblaze couldn’t find any signs that the prey had been eaten where it was caught. Then he stiffened, spotting tiny drag marks leading toward the border. Following them paw step by paw step, sometimes almost losing the trail among grass and leaves, Lionblaze finally reached the border. The drag marks continued; passing the ThunderClan scent markers, he found scattered feathers a few fox-lengths outside the boundary, in unclaimed forest.
So this cat killed prey, but knew enough to take it across the border before they ate it. Lionblaze’s heart started to beat faster. This is a cat who knows about the territories! It’s confident hunting and moving around here, but it doesn’t want to be found.
Lionblaze sat beside the feathers, wrapped his tail around his paws, and tried to think. If the intruder was living in this area, she had food and water, but she would need shelter, too.
Not too far from here, if they want to keep an eye on ThunderClan, but not so close that scent would stray across the border while they’re resting…