What’s happening! Tigerheart’s thoughts whirled as he struggled to keep his balance. He looked back to where the silver strip had marked the halfway point of the bridge. There, the bridge had cracked and opened like a stick snapping in half. Dovewing yelped beside him and gripped the rapidly slanting Thunderpath. Lightkit and Shadowkit squealed in panic. Below them Berryheart, Sparrowtail, Ant, and Cinnamon leaped clumsily down onto the stretch of flat stone where Blaze and Spire had already landed.
Tigerheart gasped as Lightkit and Shadowkit plummeted past him. Cinnamon reared and caught Shadowkit. Rippletail reached out and wrapped his paws around Lightkit.
Tigerheart flattened himself against the stone, clinging with his claw-tips as he watched Dovewing desperately trying to scrabble up the slope. “Where are you going?” he yowled. “We need to get off the bridge now!”
“Pouncekit!” Terror filled in Dovewing’s cry.
Tigerheart looked up. Pouncekit was teetering at the top of the slope where the bridge had cracked in the middle. Her ears flat, she wailed with terror.
Fear-scent pulsed from Dovewing. “She’s going to fall through the gap!”
“Pouncekit!” Tigerheart’s breath caught in his throat as Pouncekit tumbled out of sight. His belly lurched. She’s gone! He tore at the stone, trying vainly to haul himself closer. Pouncekit! Horror shrilled beneath his pelt as he scanned the top.
Two small paws showed against the silver strip. Hope flashed in his chest. Pouncekit was clinging on. He tried again to heave himself toward her, but his claws couldn’t dig into the stone. Dovewing wailed desperately as she slipped farther away from her kit.
Suddenly, claws scraped the stone beside him. Spire’s black pelt flashed past. Scrambling higher, the healer leaped for the top of the raised bridge. He must have pushed off from the flat stretch of stone with such power that momentum carried him forward. The healer hooked his paws over the end of the bridge. He churned the stone with his hind paws and managed to pull himself up so that he was balancing at the top. Hindquarters trembling, he leaned over and hauled Pouncekit up, then let her drop toward Dovewing. With a squeal, Pouncekit tumbled past.
Tigerheart watched the kit fall, his heart in his throat. As Ant stretched to catch her, relief flooded his pelt. The tom grabbed Pouncekit and swung her safely onto the Thunderpath.
“Spire!” Dovewing’s anguished cry made Tigerheart look up again. The bridge was still rising, so steep now that Tigerheart couldn’t keep his grip. As he began to slide, he saw Spire wobble at the top. The skinny black tom opened his mouth in a wail that never came. As he swayed backward and fell, silence filled the space where he’d been.
Chapter 32
“Spire!” Disbelief swept Tigerheart. He can’t be gone! The stone of the Thunderpath scoured his belly as he slid down the bridge. Landing with a thump, he stared blindly at the top.
Dovewing dropped beside him, grunting as she landed. “Pouncekit.” She rushed to her kit and began washing her frantically.
Tigerheart couldn’t move. “Spire.” His mew came as a helpless whisper.
“We have to get off the bridge.” Ant nudged his shoulder.
Tigerheart blinked at him. “What about Spire?”
“He’s in the river!” Blaze had already dashed to the edge of the Thunderpath and was scrambling down the steep grass bank to the water’s edge.
Rippletail, Cloverfoot, and Cinnamon streamed after him while Sparrowtail steered Berryheart, Dovewing, and the kits to the side of the Thunderpath.
Tigerheart’s mouth was dry. “He can’t swim.” The river was so huge. How could any cat survive?
“Come on.” Ant nosed him forward. “He might have made it to the bank.”
Tigerheart could hardly believe what was happening. He ran numbly after Ant, his paws slipping on the grass as he followed the others down the bank.
Blaze was leaning out over the swirling water, scanning the surface desperately.
Cinnamon and Cloverfoot scurried beneath the bridge, their gazes fixed on the river. Tigerheart stared blankly at the floating monster, which was gliding through the gap the raised bridge had made. Water whirled at its flanks and churned at its tail. Dread hollowed Tigerheart’s belly. Even if Spire had survived the drop and managed to swim to the surface, the monster would have chewed him up.
“I can’t see him!” Panic edged Blaze’s mew. He paced up and down, straining harder to glimpse the black tom.
Had Spire foreseen this? Had he known when he suggested the crossing? Why didn’t he find another way? Tigerheart swallowed back the grief threatening to overwhelm him. He couldn’t give up. Blaze would need him. The whole patrol would need him. He had to be strong. There was no sign of Spire. No black pelt showed on either bank. The river had taken him.
He padded to Blaze’s side and waited until the young tom stopped pacing. Pain glittered in the young tom’s amber eyes as he gazed over the muddy water. The floating monster was gone. Above them, the bridge was slowly lowering its legs. Tigerheart heard the clatter of the fences lifting and the rumble of monsters moving once more. “He saved Pouncekit,” he murmured.
Blaze turned on him, helpless grief twisting his young face. “Why didn’t he find another way to cross the river?”
Tigerheart held his gaze. “There was no other way.” The river stretched wide on either side for as far as the eye could see. He touched his nose to Blaze’s ear. “We will remember him. StarClan will remember him.” Tigerheart glanced at the darkening sky where the first stars were beginning to show. “His visions helped me and Dovewing, and they led him to Clanmates I thought were lost forever.”
Rippletail padded to his side. “How are we going to find our way now that Spire is gone?” Worry darkened the white tom’s gaze.
Blaze bristled. “Oh, now you believe him?” He glared at Rippletail. “Spire died trying to help you. Are you only bothered that we don’t have a guide anymore?”
Rippletail dropped his gaze. “Of course not, but how will we find where we…”
As his mew trailed away, Sparrowtail padded forward. “Rippletail meant no disrespect.” He glanced toward Berryheart, who had climbed down the slope with Dovewing and the kits and waited now beside the others. “But we need to get home before Berryheart starts kitting.”
“Especially now that we’ve lost Spire.” Cinnamon stood at Blaze’s side. “He was the only healer with us.”
“We should go back to the Silverpath.” Cloverfoot’s tail twitched anxiously. “We know it leads to the lake.”
“It would take too much time to retrace our steps,” Ant argued.
“But we might be wandering forever without a guide.” Cinnamon gazed across the river. “Surely it’s better to travel longer and be sure of getting where we’re going.”
“I think we should keep going this way.” Blaze pointed his muzzle toward the side of the valley where the Thunderpath cut between hills. “Spire said a Twolegplace lies that way and we must travel around it.”
“But where do we head after that?” Tigerheart searched the young tom’s gaze.
Blaze looked at the ground. “Spire didn’t say.”
Tigerheart paused, willing his heart to feel less heavy. “I came past a Twolegplace when I left ShadowClan,” he mewed hopefully. “Maybe this Twolegplace is the same one…”