Hollyleaf looked startled.
“There’s no need for this,” Brambleclaw meowed, before any other cat could say anything. “The past is the past. You’re making a fuss about nothing.”
“Really, Brambleclaw? Nothing?” Birchfall padded up to the deputy, his amber eyes serious. “Why won’t Hollyleaf tell us where she’s been? And why did she leave in the first place?”
Lionblaze took a breath for an indignant protest, but left it unspoken. Perhaps these questions would have to be answered before Hollyleaf could stay in the Clan.
“Yes, why did you leave?” Thornclaw sounded much more belligerent than his Clanmates.
Brightheart let her tail rest lightly on the tabby warrior’s shoulder. “No need to ruffle your fur, Thornclaw,” she mewed. To Hollyleaf she added gently, “If you tell us, we’ll understand, whatever it is. Did some cat do something to hurt you? We need to know.”
Hollyleaf was still silent.
Thornclaw shook off Brightheart’s tail. “You left not long after Ashfur was killed.” He spoke slowly, as if he was thinking about every word. “Hollyleaf, did it have something to do with that?”
Lionblaze thought that his heart had stopped beating. A thick silence hung in the clearing, as though every cat had been turned to ice.
Then Poppyfrost called out, “No, of course it doesn’t! If Hollyleaf had seen who had killed Ashfur, she would have told us back then.”
Thornclaw blinked. “I’m not asking if she witnessed another cat killing him.”
This time Lionblaze thought that the silence would last forever. Berrynose turned to Thornclaw. His whisper sounded throughout the clearing like the shriek of trapped prey. “You think Hollyleaf was the killer?”
Poppyfrost’s eyes stretched wide. “She can’t be!”
“I won’t believe it,” Cinderheart declared.
“Nor will I,” Leafpool agreed. “Oh, Hollyleaf…” Her voice faded into silence.
Birchfall’s gaze was fixed on Hollyleaf. “I don’t want to believe it,” he rasped. “But it makes sense.”
More voices rose around Hollyleaf where she stood, hunched and small, in the middle of the clearing. Lionblaze stared desperately at his Clanmates, wondering what in the name of StarClan he could say; he felt as if a piece of fresh-kill was lodged in his throat, choking him. He glanced at Firestar for help, but the Clan leader was standing in silence, his eyes slightly narrowed and his gaze fixed on Hollyleaf. There was nothing to tell Lionblaze what he was thinking.
“Hollyleaf, you have to speak for yourself,” Graystripe called out.
“Yes, let’s hear what happened,” Thornclaw demanded, sliding out his claws with a menacing look at Hollyleaf.
Lionblaze stepped forward, putting himself between his sister and the tabby warrior. “Stop!” he snarled. “This is ridiculous. There’s no way that Hollyleaf knows anything about Ashfur’s death.”
Hollyleaf took a pace toward Lionblaze until they were so close that their pelts brushed. Her green eyes were full of misery, and she was gaunt from the hardship of her life as a loner, but Lionblaze could read determination in every hair on her pelt.
“No, Lionblaze,” she whispered. “I know you’re only trying to help, but you must let me speak. I think it’s time for the truth to come out.”
Lionblaze heard a whimper from somewhere at the back of the crowd. Without turning to look, he knew that it had come from Squirrelflight. The rest of the Clan was silent, pressing around Hollyleaf in a circle, a barrier of eyes.
Hollyleaf raised her head and spoke clearly to her Clan. “Thornclaw is right. I was there when Ashfur died. And his death was my fault.”
Her confession was greeted with a horrified gasp from the cats. As if at a word of command, they shrank back, widening the circle. Lionblaze spotted Foxleap swiftly thrusting Cherrypaw behind him. Sorreltail, who had brought Lilykit and Seedkit into the clearing for the first time, gathered them close to her with a sweep of her tail.
Hollyleaf looked terrified, her glance darting around the clearing as if she expected some cat to leap on her and rip her throat out. Lionblaze suddenly wished that she had never come back, that she had gone away to the mountains if that would have kept her safe. Dovewing and Ivypool would have found their own way out of the tunnels, he thought, his belly shaking from the force of his fear and anger. She didn’t have to help them!
“I was there…” Hollyleaf’s faltering voice began again. “I saw Ashfur, beside the stream. He had threatened to kill me and my littermates. Most of you know how much Ashfur wanted Squirrelflight to be his mate. He hated us all because he thought we were Squirrelflight’s kits with Brambleclaw. Even when he knew he was wrong, he still hated us. So…”
Lionblaze stared at his sister in horror, wanting to hold back the words he knew she was about to speak. She can’t confess to killing Ashfur! She mustn’t!
But while Hollyleaf was gathering herself to go on, Brambleclaw pushed his way to the front of the crowd and stood beside her.
“I was there, too, that day, beside the stream,” he announced. He glanced at Hollyleaf as she opened her jaws to protest, and added, “You didn’t see me there, but I saw you, and Ashfur.” He paused for a moment, letting his glance rake across the Clan. “When Ashfur saw Hollyleaf alone by the stream,” he continued, “he sprang at her. He was determined to hurt one of the three cats Squirrelflight loved most, to punish her for not loving him. Hollyleaf fought bravely, but before I could help her, Ashfur slipped on the edge of the stream and fell in. He was still alive when he hit the water. There was nothing Hollyleaf could do to save him. She was only defending herself.”
The clearing exploded as the tabby warrior finished speaking.
“Why didn’t you tell us that at the time?” Thornclaw demanded.
“Yes, we spent moons suspecting one another,” Berrynose growled. “Firestar, they should both be punished for not telling the truth back then.”
“No!” Leafpool protested, her amber eyes full of pain.
Lionblaze stepped forward and glared at Berrynose. “You might want to know that it was Hollyleaf who saved your kits, not Sol,” he snarled. “Think about that before you start meowing about punishment.”
Berrynose stared at him in disbelief. “It was Hollyleaf?”
“Then we have to let her back into the Clan!” Poppyfrost mewed. “She risked her life for my kits!”
“Besides, Ashfur only got what he deserved,” Dustpelt declared. “He tried to kill four cats—his own Clanmates! If you ask me, Hollyleaf did us a favor.”
Firestar padded into the middle of the crowd, raising his tail for silence. His fur was bristling and his tail twitched. “What happened was a tragic accident,” the Clan leader began as soon as he could make himself heard. “I agree that Hollyleaf should have spoken up at the time.” His green gaze rested sternly on Hollyleaf. “She should have trusted us to believe her, and deal with her fairly. But she has been punished enough by living away from her Clan for so many moons.” Firestar transferred his gaze to his Clan. “She will not be punished again, and nor will Brambleclaw for not speaking out before. Their silence has been a burden for both of them, and that has eased now.” With a drawn-out sigh he added, “What’s done is done. Let Ashfur be judged by our ancestors.”
Lionblaze puffed out a breath of relief, but he could see that not all the cats were satisfied. And Hollyleaf still looked as if she wished the ground would open up and swallow her.