Ivypool followed, her belly still churning. Even if Dove-wing doubted what she had overheard, Ivypool was convinced that her sister’s first instincts had been right.
Something’s going on, and Sol is at the bottom of it.
Ivypool woke with a start. Dovewing was curled up close beside her, while at the opposite side of the den Molepaw was snoring softly and Cherrypaw’s tail was twitching as if she were deep inside a dream.
I wish the warriors’ den weren’t so crowded, Ivypool thought. We’re warriors; we shouldn’t be stuck in here with the apprentices!
But there was no time to worry about that now. Somehow in her sleep an idea had come to her, and she knew she had to check it out right away. She gave Dovewing a gentle prod.
“Wake up,” she breathed into her sister’s ear. “And keep quiet. We don’t want to wake the apprentices.”
Dovewing sat straight up, instantly alert. “Is something happening in the Dark Forest?”
Ivypool shook her head, relieved that her dreams hadn’t taken her there that night. “No, this is about Sol,” she replied in a whisper. “I think I know where he vanished to today.”
The visiting cat hadn’t returned to the camp before dark, and no cat had seemed to know where he was. Ivypool had heard Dustpelt muttering, “Good riddance. I never trusted him anyway.”
Cloudtail had agreed with a lash of his tail. “That cat is trouble wherever he goes.”
Now Ivypool leaned even closer to murmur into Dove-wing’s ear. “Come with me. We have to go right away, or it might be too late.”
Side by side, the two she-cats slipped out of their den. Clouds drifted across the moon; its light was faint and uneven. Here and there a warrior of StarClan glittered frostily. Graystripe was on watch; they waited until his head was turned the other way, then raced across the camp and plunged into the dirtplace tunnel. Heartbeats later they were once more climbing the path that led to the top of the hollow.
“Take me to the place where you heard Sol,” Ivypool meowed.
She followed Dovewing until they reached a bramble thicket near the edge of the cliff. Jaws parted to pick up Sol’s scent, Ivypool began to search, poking among the bramble tendrils, crouching low so that she could see underneath them.
“I don’t think Sol would hide under there,” Dovewing objected. “He likes to be comfortable.”
“I’m not looking for a cozy hiding place,” Ivypool replied. She knew exactly what she was looking for. It has to be here somewhere.
At last she spotted what she was searching for; her paws tingled with a mixture of fear and excitement as she clawed aside a pawful of bramble tendrils to reveal a dark hole leading deep into the ground.
“Sol went down there?” Dovewing asked, sounding incredulous.
“It’s a tunnel,” Ivypool explained. “The hillside is full of them. Remember when Icecloud fell into one, when we were doing our assessment? Well . . .” She went on more hesitantly as Dovewing flicked her ears. “Blossomfall and I . . . er . . . went down there, too. We walked underground for ages.”
“You never told me!” Dovewing exclaimed indignantly.
Ivypool shrugged, unwilling to get into an argument. “If Sol knows about these tunnels,” she pointed out, “then he could have gone down one and be anywhere by now.”
Dovewing crept closer and took a deep sniff. “Sol’s scent is here,” she meowed. “It’s faint, but it’s definitely his.” She paused for a heartbeat, then added, “What do we do now?”
“Follow him,” Ivypool declared. She was half-scared by her own suggestion, but she didn’t see any other option. They couldn’t accuse a cat who was considered a hero by half her Clanmates of plotting with WindClan—not unless they had real evidence.
Dovewing’s eyes stretched wide, but she didn’t argue, just gave her sister a brief nod. “Lead on,” she mewed.
Ivypool squeezed into the tunnel. It was so narrow that her fur brushed the walls on either side, and their bodies blocked the dim light from outside. Her heart began to pound as she walked into the dark, but she made herself keep going.
“This shouldn’t be as bad as last time I was underground,” she whispered after a few moments, trying to reassure herself as much as Dovewing. “With your special senses, you should be able to work out where we’re going, just as easily as if we could see.”
“I’m not sure.” Dovewing’s voice quivered. “It’s all so strange down here . . . so confusing . . . Give me a moment to get used to it.”
To Ivypool’s relief, she felt her sister’s fear begin to ebb as they padded forward. She lost count of how much time had passed before she sensed that the passage was growing wider. She couldn’t feel the walls any longer, and the steep downward slope leveled out. There was hard stone beneath her paws, not close-packed earth, and the small sounds of their movement echoed eerily around them.
“Let’s stop a moment,” Dovewing mewed. “I think I can reach out now.”
Ivypool halted. All she could hear was the sound of their breathing, and the occasional drip of water, but she knew that the whole of this strange underground world would be open to Dovewing.
“Voices!” Dovewing whispered after a long, tense silence. “I can hear voices.”
“Where?” Ivypool asked.
“Let me go in front.”
There was enough space in the tunnel now for Dovewing to slip past her sister, and lead the way farther into the depths. Ivypool couldn’t see or hear anything; all she could do was follow her sister’s scent and the sound of her paw steps. The tunnel twisted in front of them, sometimes plunging deeper, sometimes leading upward again. Sometimes it felt as though they were turning back to follow their own trail. But Dove-wing walked without hesitating, taking side tunnels that were hidden to Ivypool, skirting pools and patches of broken rock.
Ivypool was acutely aware of the weight of earth and rock above their heads, and the cats who were sleeping above, not knowing that two Clan warriors were so far beneath them. With a shudder, she pushed these thoughts away.
Focus. Concentrate on what we have to do.
“You’re doing really well,” she told Dovewing encouragingly. “We’ll soon find out what’s going on.”
At last Ivypool thought she could hear the murmur of voices some way ahead of them. At first she thought she was imagining things. But as she followed in Dovewing’s paw steps, the sounds grew clearer. She felt every hair on her pelt rise as she began to make out some of the words.
“WindClan!” she whispered. “And Sol!”
“Shhh.” Dovewing’s voice was no more than a breath. “If you can hear them, they can hear us.” She led the way forward more cautiously, until the voices grew clearer still.
“I will lead you through the tunnels,” Sol was meowing. “I can bring you out above the ThunderClan camp. Those mouse-brains won’t know what’s happening.”
“Traitor!” Ivypool hissed, taking a pace forward.
Dovewing blocked her, and slapped her tail over her sister’s mouth. “Shut up and listen!”
“How do we know we can trust you?” Ivypool recognized Owlwhisker’s voice. “How do we know that you haven’t told ThunderClan to attack us?”
WindClan cats aren’t completely mouse-brained, Ivypool reflected.
“Of course I have.” Sol’s tone was scornful. “How else would I get them to trust me? But it’s WindClan that I’ll be leading into ThunderClan territory.”
Another WindClan cat spoke, the words too soft for Ivypool to make out. She leaned forward, and felt a pebble slip underneath her paw. The clinking sound it made seemed as loud as a crack of thunder.
Ivypool froze, but the damage was done.
“What was that?” Owlwhisker growled. “Who’s there? Is some cat eavesdropping on us?”
“Get us out of here!” Ivypool whispered into Dovewing’s ear.
But Dovewing didn’t move. “I followed the voices to get here,” she confessed. “I’m not sure of the way out.?
??
Ivypool heard movement from Sol and the WindClan cats. “They’re coming to look for us! We have to go.” But even as she spoke she was terrified at the thought of wandering blindly through the dark tunnels. Will we ever find our way out?
Before either of the she-cats could move, they heard paws padding toward them from the tunnel behind. Cat scent washed over Ivypool; she thought she ought to recognize it, but she was too scared to think clearly. She slid out her claws, her heart thumping in panic at the thought of being trapped between two enemies.
Then the newcomer spoke. “Come with me. Quick!”
“No way!” Ivypool hissed, bunching her muscles to spring. “You could be with them.”
“I’m not,” the strange cat mewed.
“Prove it,” Dovewing challenged her.
“I shouldn’t have to,” the newcomer replied irritably. “For StarClan’s sake, let’s go.”
Ivypool’s eyes widened in shock and she exchanged a glance with her sister, picking up the gleam of Dovewing’s eyes. “StarClan? Then you . . .”
“Do you want to get out of here or not?” the newcomer interrupted.
“Yes, we do,” Ivypool snapped back. “But how do we know you won’t lead us farther in?”
The strange cat let out a hiss of annoyance. “Because I’m a ThunderClan cat like you,” she replied, a darker shadow in the darkness of the tunnel. “My name is Hollyleaf.”
Ivypool felt her mouth drop open. “Hollyleaf? But you . . . you’re dead!”
“Obviously not,” the newcomer replied, with an edge to her voice. “And we don’t have time to stand here discussing ancient history. We have to leave now.”
The paw steps of the WindClan cats were drawing closer, speeding up as they sensed their quarry was near. Ivypool could picture them bounding along the tunnel toward them, jaws parted to take in their ThunderClan scent.
“Okay,” Dovewing mewed. “Show us the way.”
Hollyleaf spun around and whisked down a narrow side tunnel. Ivypool and Dovewing followed her, just as the first of the WindClan cats raced past. Ivypool heard their flying paw steps halt suddenly, followed by a murmur of confused voices.
“Where did they go?”
“They were here, I know they were.”
“Fox dung! We’ve lost them!”
Hollyleaf ignored the WindClan cats, heading deeper into the tunnels. Ivypool pressed close up behind her, terrified of losing her. She knew that she and Dovewing would never find their way out alone. After a while Hollyleaf paused; in the pitch-blackness of the tunnels Ivypool almost barged into her.
“You can trust me, you know,” Hollyleaf meowed. “I led you out once before, remember?”
“Oh!” Ivypool gulped, realizing why Hollyleaf’s scent had seemed familiar. “That was you?”
Hollyleaf padded on without saying more. Soon Ivypool realized that a pale light was filtering into the tunnel; Hollyleaf’s head and ears were outlined against it. A moment later they emerged into a shallow dip of tumbled rocks and fern on the hillside; Ivypool drew in the fresh night air, loaded with the scents of ThunderClan. She turned to their rescuer, a slender, long-legged black she-cat with piercing green eyes. “Thank you!”
“We’d never have made it without you,” Dovewing added, following them out of the tunnel and giving her pelt a shake.
Hollyleaf gave her a curt nod. “Listen,” she meowed. “I’ve heard Sol plotting with the WindClan cats for the last half-moon, and—”
“What?” Ivypool interrupted. “That’s even before he came to ThunderClan.”
“They’re going to attack through the tunnels,” Hollyleaf continued, as if Ivypool hadn’t spoken.
“Then we have to warn the others,” Dovewing mewed, her eyes wide with dismay. “Come on, Ivypool!”
“Wait.” Hollyleaf raised her tail as Dovewing spun around to head for the camp. “It’s not going to happen yet. Sol wants to win more support from your Clanmates first. The WindClan cats know that he’s winning ThunderClan’s friendship so he can betray you.” A soft growl rumbled in her throat. “You should never have let him come back!”
“It wasn’t up to us,” Ivypool pointed out. “And he did save the apprentices from a fox.”
“Sol didn’t save them,” Hollyleaf hissed scornfully. “That was me.”
Shock kept Ivypool silent for a moment. Before she could recover, she saw Dovewing’s ears flick up, and a heartbeat later she heard voices coming from the direction of the camp.
“Dovewing! Ivypool!”
“Mouse dung!” she muttered. “They’re looking for us.”
Panic flared in Hollyleaf’s green eyes. “Don’t tell any cat you saw me,” she begged.
“Why not?” Dovewing asked. “Why can’t you come home? You belong here!”
“You don’t understand,” Hollyleaf whispered, beginning to back away toward the tunnel opening. “I have to go!”
But before she could plunge back into the darkness, a shaft of moonlight broke through the clouds, fixing all three cats in a pool of silver light. At the same moment Lionblaze appeared on a rock at the edge of the dip, and stood looking down at them.
“No!” His voice rang out in the night air. “Hollyleaf, I won’t let you run away again.”
Chapter 14
Movement outside his den woke Jayfeather, and he padded into the clearing to discover several of his Clanmates milling around outside their dens.
“What’s going on?” he asked, hurrying up to Graystripe, who was standing beside Firestar near the thorn tunnel.
“Cherrypaw woke up,” the gray warrior replied. “She realized that Ivypool and Dovewing weren’t in their nests. She told Firestar, and we’ve been searching the camp.”
“There’s no sign of either of them,” Sandstorm reported worriedly, bounding over to join them.
“Then we have to send out search parties,” the ThunderClan leader decided. “I don’t trust WindClan since Onestar threatened us. Dovewing and Ivypool could have been captured.”
“If WindClan has laid a claw on our warriors, we’ll rip their pelts off,” Graystripe growled.
Since Jayfeather couldn’t help with the search, he returned to his den, but he couldn’t sleep. He wasn’t as worried about Dovewing and Ivypool as the rest of the Clan, knowing what he did about them.
But it’s odd that they’d vanish in the night without giving me any idea of what they’re doing, he thought. He shivered as a new thought struck him. They wouldn’t put WindClan’s threats to the test on their own, would they? They’ve already gotten in trouble for visiting their camp in the past.
He could hear Briarlight moving around in her nest, and picked up a stifled gasp of pain. “Are you okay?” he asked sharply.
“Yes, I’m fine,” Briarlight replied. “I’m just a little stiff.”
Jayfeather heaved himself out of his nest and padded over to her. Since I’m awake, I might as well do something useful, he decided, settling down beside Briarlight and starting to massage her wasted muscles.
“Thanks, Jayfeather.” Briarlight let out a long sigh. “That feels better.” A moment later, she added, “Do you think Ivypool and Dovewing will be okay?”
“I’m sure they will,” Jayfeather meowed, crushing down his own misgivings. “They’ve probably just gone out for a night hunt.”
Soon Briarlight drifted back into sleep, soothed by Jayfeather’s reassurance and the rhythmic rubbing from his paws. But Jayfeather was fully awake. He rose, arched his back in a long stretch, then made his way out into the clearing again.
Firestar was sitting in the center of the camp, while Daisy paced beside the thorn barrier. Jayfeather could sense her anxiety, as sharp as if two of her own kits were missing. Locating Mousefur outside her den, Jayfeather crossed the camp to her side. “You should be in your nest,” he meowed. “I’m sure there’s no need to worry about Ivypool and Dovewing.”
“I’m fine where I am,” Mousefur snapped back at him. “I
can sit and look at the stars if I want.”
“Of course you can,” Jayfeather responded, making his voice more gentle. I wonder if she’s looking for Longtail.
Padding off again, he drew closer to the nursery, and picked up a murmur from Sorreltail. “That’s right, kits. Have a good feed. Grow big and strong.”
The tortoiseshell she-cat still sounded tired, but not with the dragging exhaustion she had felt just after she gave birth. She was recovering well, Jayfeather thought with satisfaction, and her kits were growing stronger. She and Brackenfur had named them: Lilykit and Seedkit.
They’ll all be fine. Jayfeather was warmed by the thought of more kits in the Clan. They meant hope and new life, a faith that the Clan would go on in spite of everything that the Dark Forest was planning. His ears pricked at the sound of a rustle from the thorns. He recognized the scents of Whitewing and Birchfall; their sense of defeat washed over him like a muddy wave.
“There’s no sign of Dovewing and Ivypool by the lake,” Whitewing reported to Firestar. Her voice was taut with worry for her kits.
Foxleap and Icecloud followed their Clanmates in a moment later. “There’s no trace of them between here and WindClan,” Foxleap announced.
“We thought we picked up a scent trail early on,” Icecloud added. “But it faded out, and we couldn’t find it again.”
Jayfeather’s anxiety was rising now, and he padded closer to Firestar. Other cats were emerging into the clearing from their dens: Cloudtail and Brightheart talking quietly to each other; Dustpelt sliding his claws in and out as he stalked around the clearing; Ferncloud popping her head outside the nursery to listen to the news, then disappearing back inside. Leafpool and Squirrelflight slid quietly out of the warriors’ den and sat close together; Cinderheart joined them after a few heartbeats.
More movement from the barrier alerted Jayfeather. This time Brambleclaw and Sandstorm were reporting back, and he could sense their failure before either of them spoke.