“Then maybe WindClan will have to force him.” Onestar drew his lips back in the beginning of a snarl. “Every cat knows that Sol is an enemy to all the Clans.”
Lionblaze’s indignation spilled over and he bounded to the very edge of the stream, his tail lashing and his fur fluffed up. “If you want a fight, you can have one now!”
“Right!” Spiderleg leaped up to stand beside his Clanmate and slid out his claws.
Instantly Onestar and Crowfeather stepped up to the bank on the WindClan side of the stream. A growl began deep in Onestar’s throat, but before any cat could make another move, Graystripe shouldered Lionblaze back. Lionblaze glared at him. Surely he was as furious as Lionblaze at the way Onestar was trying to give orders to ThunderClan?
“That’s enough, Lionblaze.” Graystripe’s voice was firm and calm, and Lionblaze recalled that once he had been Clan deputy. “There’s no need to fight over this. Onestar, you need to remember that it’s not up to you to decide who receives ThunderClan’s hospitality. You’re insulting Firestar if you think he would offer shelter to a cat who didn’t deserve it.”
Though Lionblaze didn’t try to interrupt, he could tell that Graystripe’s words were sticking in his throat. He knew that Graystripe didn’t like Sol any more than Lionblaze did. We’d both like to see him gone. But that’s not the point. It’s not up to another Clan to tell us what to do.
Onestar was unimpressed by what Graystripe had said. “Send Sol away,” he growled. “Or I’ll make you.”
Graystripe shook his head, and there was sadness in his eyes now. “Onestar,” he began, “do you remember when you were Firestar’s friend, back in the old forest? How can we have come so far from that time? We don’t need to be enemies.”
Onestar lashed his tail. “Your Clan makes it impossible to be anything else.”
Lionblaze watched the younger warriors welcome Sol when he strolled back into the camp as the sun went down.
“The hunting patrols are just back,” Blossomfall meowed. “Come and choose some fresh-kill.”
“Will you tell us more stories?” Cherrypaw added, bouncing along at Sol’s side as he strolled across to the fresh-kill pile.
“Yes, did you ever see that dog again?” Molepaw asked eagerly.
Toadstep and Rosepetal gathered to listen, and Briarlight dragged herself over from the medicine cat’s den. Foxleap and Icecloud, who were sharing a blackbird, looked up as Sol approached; Whitewing, Birchfall, and Hazeltail appeared from the warriors’ den and sat nearby.
Lionblaze noticed that Dovewing remained within earshot, but a few tail-lengths off, with Ivypool and Bumblestripe. None of them looked enthusiastic about Sol’s return, and they made no move to join him and the others.
Good. Not all the young warriors want to be friends with him.
While Sol gulped down a plump vole, Blossomfall told him about the clash with WindClan earlier that day. “Lionblaze and Graystripe told Onestar that he can’t tell ThunderClan what to do,” she meowed. “But Onestar said that if we don’t send you away, then he’ll make us!”
Sol swallowed the last bite of vole and swiped his tongue appreciatively around his jaws. “You can’t possibly be afraid of WindClan,” he taunted. “Those scrawny rabbit-chasers? They’re no match for our warriors!”
“We’re not your warriors! You’re not a ThunderClan cat!” Ivypool blurted out.
Several cats gasped, and Whitewing turned and glared at her.
“Ivypool! That’s no way to talk to a visitor.”
“Well, he’s not,” Ivypool muttered.
Dovewing pressed her muzzle sympathetically against her sister’s side and Bumblestripe let his tail-tip rest for a heartbeat on her shoulder. The young warrior exchanged a glance with Dovewing over Ivypool’s head, and she gave a tiny nod in reply.
Dovewing and Bumblestripe seem to be getting very close, Lionblaze thought, and added to himself grimly, I wonder what will happen when Bumblestripe finds out about the prophecy?
Meanwhile, the young cats around Sol raced to reassure him that they weren’t afraid of WindClan at all.
“We’ll show them,” Foxleap yowled. “They can’t order us around like that!”
“Yes, we’ll rip their pelts off if they try,” Blossomfall growled.
Lionblaze listened to them with a growing sense of unease. The last thing any cat should want was a battle with another Clan. But Firestar couldn’t ignore Onestar’s challenge. Now he would be forced to offer hospitality to Sol purely in order to preserve the honor of ThunderClan. Anything else would look like Firestar was obeying orders from WindClan.
We can’t back down now, Lionblaze realized. Onestar has forced us to ally ourselves with Sol, even though he isn’t welcome here.
Chapter 12
Dovewing found herself walking through shadowy trees, and for a heartbeat she was terrified that somehow she had found her way into the Dark Forest. But moonlight was filtering down through the branches, and when she looked up she could see the stars.
All was quiet except that in the distance Dovewing could hear the wails of a cat in distress. She began to search among the ferns and brambles, but she couldn’t figure out where the wails were coming from. They grew louder and more urgent, but the cat still remained hidden.
Panicking, Dovewing started to run. Her flying paws tripped over a dead branch; letting out a startled screech, she rolled over on the ground and woke in her own nest, her legs flailing in the struggle to get up. Ivypool was sleeping beside her, while Cherrypaw and Molepaw were curled up together at the opposite side of the den.
“Whew!” Dovewing muttered. “That was some dream!”
Then she realized that she could still hear the wails of distress. They were fainter than in her dream, but loud enough to reach her through the walls of the camp.
“That’s Sorreltail!” she exclaimed. “And she’s somewhere outside the camp.”
Struggling to her paws, Dovewing scrambled out of the den and raced across the camp to find Jayfeather.
“Wake up!” she panted, brushing past the bramble screen at the entrance to the medicine cat’s den. “Jayfeather, it’s Sorreltail!”
“Wha’?” Jayfeather raised his head, his blue eyes blurred with sleep. “What’s the matter?”
“It’s Sorreltail,” Dovewing repeated. “I can hear her wailing. She must be having her kits, and she’s way outside the camp!”
Jayfeather was instantly alert, springing to his paws and shaking bits of moss and bracken from his pelt. “Her kits are coming early!” he exclaimed. “Show me where.”
Briarlight was waking, too, dragging herself out of her nest. “Can I help?” she meowed.
“No, it’ll be too far for you,” Jayfeather replied. “But be ready to give herbs to Dovewing. I’ll send her back to fetch them when I know what I need.”
As he finished speaking he whisked out of the den with Dovewing hard on his paws. Cloudtail was on watch at the entrance to the tunnel through the barrier.
“What’s going on?” he asked, rising to his paws.
“Sorreltail’s out in the forest, and her kits are coming,” Jayfeather panted, hardly breaking stride as he plunged into the thorns.
As Dovewing followed, she thought Cloudtail looked confused, and realized that no other cats could hear Sorreltail’s heartrending cries. Cloudtail must be wondering how they knew. “Fetch Brackenfur,” she called over her shoulder. “Tell him to follow our scent trail.”