“You might be right,” Lionblaze meowed. “But that’s not happening right now. The first thing we need to do is make sure the warriors who are here now have a place to sleep. Besides,” he went on when Crowfeather looked as if he would go on arguing, “you might be a Clan deputy, but you’re not my Clan deputy, so don’t give me orders.”
“Fine!” Crowfeather whipped around and stalked away, his tail held high. Lionblaze picked up a heap of moss he had let fall by his side, and headed off in the opposite direction.
“Is it true that Crowfeather is Lionblaze’s father?” Bristlefrost murmured.
Spotfur nodded, letting out a small mrrow of laughter. “They don’t get along very well, do they?”
Bristlefrost could see that some of the exiled cats who had heard the quarrel were looking troubled. “Will we really be here long enough for kits to become apprentices?” Twigbranch asked.
“I’m sure we won’t,” Squirrelflight reassured her, resting her tail on the younger cat’s shoulder. “You can always trust Crowfeather to see the worst in any situation.”
“You certainly won’t be here that long.” Tigerstar had entered the camp, followed by Dovewing and Tawnypelt, in time to hear Twigbranch’s words. “Don’t forget this is ShadowClan territory, and using this camp is only a temporary solution.”
Twigbranch dipped her head in acknowledgment, but Bristlefrost wasn’t sure she looked convinced.
By this time, more warriors were arriving for the rebels’ meeting. As the crowd gathered, Bristlefrost realized that some of their original supporters hadn’t appeared, and wondered if they were too afraid to come, especially now that the WindClan and RiverClan leaders seemed to be in agreement with Bramblestar. However, she was cheered to see some younger cats there for the first time, including Dappletuft from RiverClan, Kitescratch from SkyClan, and Conefoot from ShadowClan.
More SkyClan cats appeared with Kitescratch: Violetshine and Tree, with Needleclaw and Rootpaw. Bristlefrost carefully avoided catching Rootpaw’s gaze.
“Oh, no—Twigbranch!” Violetshine exclaimed as she spotted her sister. “Are you exiled too?”
Twigbranch ran across and touched noses with Violetshine, letting out a welcoming purr. “For now,” she explained. “But Bramblestar will let me back into the Clan when I’ve atoned.”
Other cats, including Frecklewish and Puddleshine, trickled into the camp, but at last it was clear that no more were coming. They gathered with the exiles beside the old cedar tree.
Squirrelflight beckoned to Bristlefrost with a wave of her tail. “I think it’s up to you to speak first,” she meowed.
Bristlefrost looked at the assembled cats, her heart pounding. She was nervous about addressing so many cats, most of whom were far more experienced warriors. But she was also worried about telling this many cats the truth about Bramblestar. In a way, it would be a relief, but she also feared what might happen if not all the cats believed her, or if they couldn’t agree about what to do. Still, with Squirrelflight nodding at her encouragingly, she braced herself and padded up to the front of the group. “I know this sounds crazy,” she began, “and I have no idea how it can be happening, but we’re sure now that the cat leading ThunderClan isn’t really Bramblestar at all. He’s some other cat—or something—living in Bramblestar’s body. Rootpaw,” she continued, turning toward the SkyClan apprentice, “can you tell every cat what you have seen?”
Rootpaw ducked his head, seeming nervous, and came forward to stand beside Bristlefrost. “I’ve seen Bramblestar’s spirit in the forest,” he told the assembled cats. “Many times now. Tree has seen him, too, and the other night he appeared to me and the other medicine cats.”
Murmurs of shock and protest broke out at Rootpaw’s revelation. Bristlefrost wondered if the medicine cats had shared their news of the vision with their leaders, as Rootpaw and Tree had planned to encourage them to do. I can’t blame them if they didn’t, she thought. It’s so weird!
“I find that very hard to believe,” Crowfeather meowed. “Why would Bramblestar appear to you, and not to a cat of his own Clan?”
“Don’t forget Rootpaw has the Sisters’ blood,” Alderheart pointed out. “And I saw Bramblestar’s spirit at the medicine-cat meeting, as clear as I see you now.”
“So did I,” Jayfeather added. “At least, I heard his voice. It was Bramblestar.”
Bristlefrost was dismayed to see that even with the backing of the medicine cats, some of the rebels still didn’t believe Rootpaw, or were so confused they didn’t know what to believe. And these are the cats who are already resisting Bramblestar, she thought. If even they have trouble believing he’s not really himself, how will the rest of the Clans react?
“I haven’t seen the spirit,” she meowed. “But I know that the cat who calls himself Bramblestar is nothing like our real leader.”
“You’re right, Bristlefrost!” Twigbranch exclaimed. “The real Bramblestar would never have treated me this way.”
Twigbranch’s support made Bristlefrost realize that it was time to share another fact about their so-called leader. The resistance fighters should know the truth. “There’s something else you need to know,” Bristlefrost went on, as the cats settled down again to listen. “On the night that Shadowsight disappeared, I saw Bramblestar returning to the camp with blood on his muzzle and his chest fur. And before that, I’m sure that some cat tried to kill Sparkpelt, too.”
This time the yowls of shock and horror were even louder. Tigerstar and Dovewing were staring at each other, their eyes filled with identical expressions of anguish. Only for a moment—then Tigerstar wrenched his gaze away and leaped onto a nearby rock to seize control of the crowd.
“We must kill Bramblestar!” he announced.
Caterwauls of fervent agreement came from most of the ShadowClan cats, though Bristlefrost could hear protests, too. Eventually Tawnypelt managed to make herself heard.
“All of you know that Bramblestar is my brother,” she meowed. “And I grieve at the thought of killing his body.” She hesitated for a heartbeat, struggling to force the words out. “But whatever destructive spirit is inside him cannot be allowed to continue.”
“No!” Bristlefrost raised her voice, her whole body quivering with outrage. “We just told you the real Bramblestar is still around! How can you suggest killing his body? What would happen to the real Bramblestar then?”
“Maybe he’d return,” Lionblaze suggested hopefully. “Like when a leader loses a life in the normal way.”
“And maybe he wouldn’t,” Twigbranch retorted. “Do we have the right to risk it?”
Once again the meeting erupted into chaos, every cat demanding to be heard, while no cat wanted to listen. Bristlefrost tried to make sense of the argument, finding a tiny shred of hope in the way that most of the ThunderClan cats were horrified at the thought of killing their leader’s body.
“Bramblestar’s dying is what got us into this mess,” Crowfeather pointed out. “Would killing him even work?”
“We can’t take that risk,” Stemleaf insisted.
The young ShadowClan warrior Conefoot flicked his tail dismissively. “Do we know the real Bramblestar is still there to worry about?” he asked. “Rootpaw says he hasn’t seen him since the medicine-cat meeting.”
Squirrelflight pushed her way through the crowd and leaped up onto the rock beside Tigerstar. She waved her tail for silence, and the caterwauling died down to hostile hissing and muttering.
“Bramblestar isn’t gone,” Squirrelflight insisted, her green gaze compelling the attention of the crowd. “He wouldn’t leave me like this, I’m sure of it.” Turning to Tigerstar, she added fiercely, “If you won’t give up on Shadowsight, you should understand that I won’t give up on Bramblestar.”