But at the same time he showed the greatest courage in saving his Clanmates, Brambleclaw was also walking with Tigerstar in his dreams, letting his father nurture his ambitions to lead his Clan, and scheming with his RiverClan half brother, Hawkfrost, to destroy the weaker Clans. Brambleclaw stepped as close as he possibly could to the path of vengeance and bloodthirsty destruction that Tigerstar had planned for so long. But at the last moment, faced with the possibility of Firestar losing his lives in a trap set by Hawkfrost, Brambleclaw realized where his loyalties truly lay. He killed Hawkfrost, fulfilling the prophecy that “before all is peaceful, blood will spill blood,” and turned his back on Tigerstar’s attempts to corrupt him.
Brambleclaw’s greatest challenge after that was becoming a father to Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Jayfeather, a challenge that he relished as he watched the kits grow up into strong, loyal members of ThunderClan. His heart was broken when he learned that Crowfeather of WindClan was their real father, and Squirrelflight had lied to him all along. But he kept a check on his rage, stayed loyal to his Clan, and served Firestar well as his deputy. Deep down, Brambleclaw knew that Squirrelflight had followed the only path she could to keep her sister’s kits safe from hostility and rejection. He missed her wisdom, her generous spirit, and her impulsive desire to help others, and he wanted no other cat beside him as deputy when he became ThunderClan’s leader.
ASHFUR
ASHFUR TRULY LOVED SQUIRRELFLIGHT and was bitterly hurt when she passed him over in favor of Brambleclaw. That was the defense he would offer for his dramatic—and terrible—actions on top of the cliff in the midst of a thunderstorm, when he threatened to kill Squirrelflight’s kits to punish her.
There was no way he could have expected the reaction he received, which was Squirrelflight telling him that the three cats meant nothing to her because she was not their real mother.
Now Ashfur had an even more powerful weapon to use against Squirrelflight: the chance to reveal to the Clan that she had been lying to them about Lionblaze, Hollyleaf, and Jayfeather. Would
Ashfur really have done this, knowing it would hurt Squirrelflight more than dying with her secret untold?
It was too great a risk for Hollyleaf, who tracked Ashfur to the stream on the boundary with WindClan and fatally wounded him. It was a tragic and unfortunate end for a cat whose greatest fault had been loving too much. He was a strong, brave warrior, and a good mentor for Lionblaze because he was able to shape the young cat’s raw talent for fighting into powerful, well-practiced techniques.
Ashfur may not have been a close friend of Firestar, but that didn’t stop him from being trustworthy, loyal to his Clan, and a valuable warrior in the thick of battle. In different circumstances—if the cat who he loved had loved him back—he might have led a noble, well-respected life, perhaps even become deputy and leader. But his rivalry with Brambleclaw, and the love for Squirrelflight that soured so cruelly, put him on a path that led only to tragedy.
LIONBLAZE
“THERE WILL BE THREE, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws.” Firestar received this prophecy from Skywatcher, the last surviving link to the original SkyClan cats. He waited a long time for three kits to be born, wondering all the time what exactly the prophecy would mean.
When Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw announced the arrival of their kits, Firestar knew that these were the cats of the prophecy. Each of the kits turned out to have unique strengths and abilities.
Lionblaze seemed the most likely to play a role in saving the Clan because from the start he was exceptionally strong, skilled at fighting, and as brave as Brambleclaw’s father, Tigerstar. Which could be why Tigerstar sought him out in his dreams, walked beside him as he slept, and trained him to be even more fearless and ruthless in his fighting.
Lionblaze rejected Tigerstar’s bloodthirsty words of encouragement when he realized that the old cat only wanted revenge on Firestar. He didn’t need Tigerstar’s mentoring anyway, because
Lionblaze soon realized he had a unique ability to fight in the midst of any battle and escape without a scratch on his pelt. As a warrior, he was invincible.
His heart was less so and he fell in love with Cinderheart. But when she learned about the prophecy, about the responsibility Lionblaze bore for every single one of the Clans, she saw herself as nothing more than a distraction from his greater destiny. Lionblaze had to fight one of the hardest battles of his life to make Cinderheart understand that they could choose their own destinies and that being together would not diminish his strength in the final confrontation with the Dark Forest.
HOLLYLEAF
FROM THE MOMENT SHE opened her eyes, Lionblaze’s sister was the thinker, the politician. She was sensitive and cunning and aware of all the different consequences that might come from a single action. For her, the warrior code lay at the root of every choice a Clan cat had to make, and she was willing to tread the hardest paths to defend it. Even before she heard the prophecy, Hollyleaf was determined to serve her Clan in the best way she could. She started training as a medicine cat with Leafpool, but Leafpool soon realized that Hollyleaf’s heart lay in the life of a warrior, defending her Clanmates with tooth and claw rather than repairing the damage done in the battles of other cats. So
Hollyleaf dedicated herself to becoming the most skilled warrior ThunderClan had known, training harder and longer than the other apprentices, even her brother, Lionblaze.
When she learned that she and her littermates might one day be more powerful than StarClan, Hollyleaf began searching for the way she would fulfill her destiny. Lionblaze had his unconquerable fighting ability, Jayfeather had the gift of sight in his dreams and the ability to walk in StarClan whenever he chose. Hollyleaf found her strength in her absolute faith in the warrior code, and her courage to defend it to her dying breath.
Hollyleaf was utterly broken by Squirrelflight’s revelation that she and her brothers had been born to different cats. Was Hollyleaf nothing but a sordid secret, hidden from her own Clanmates?
She was terrified that Ashfur would tell the rest of the Clan and that she’d be driven out for being an aberration, a demonstration of what happened when the warrior code was trampled over. Hollyleaf knew she had to make Ashfur keep the dreadful secret, whatever it took. She didn’t mean to kill him—she struck, he slipped, and when he fell into the stream with blood streaming from the wounds in his throat, she knew he was beyond saving. There seemed no point in telling Firestar what had happened. She was being punished enough by her conscience—the warrior code said no cat must kill another—and by her fear that the truth would emerge anyway.
When she and her brothers discovered that Leafpool was their mother, and Crowfeather, a
WindClan warrior, was their father, Hollyleaf was overwhelmed by the size of the secret she was trying to keep. The only way she could master it was by revealing everything herself, announcing the truth to a startled Gathering of the Clans, and disgracing Leafpool forever.
Then came her escape into a tunnel that collapsed behind her, leaving her dead to her Clan and everything she had ever known. But the silence of the underground caverns, the quiet, undemanding friendship of Fallen Leaves, and her endless concern for her former Clanmates sent Hollyleaf back to the hollow, to the place where she had been born. The place where she belonged. She fought to the death saving her Clan from the cats of the Dark Forest, her last desperate plea for a forgiveness that had already been granted.