“I’m not stupid!” she hissed.
“I didn’t say you were,” Brambleclaw retorted. “But there are times when you do stupid things.”
Ashfur took a breath as if he were going to leap to her defence, but she flicked her tail at him for silence. “Really, it’s not worth it,” she muttered.
“If we find there’s just one fully-grown badger with the cubs, we’ll attack,” Brambleclaw mewed. “We can’t let them settle in our territory. Four of us should be able to cope with one badger. Hawkfrost managed to drive one off, after all. This could even be the same badger.”
Squirrelflight’s neck fur began to rise again at the mention of Brambleclaw’s half-brother. It was bad enough that Brambleclaw refused to admit that Hawkfrost was untrustworthy, without having him held up as a model of courage and fighting skill as well.
“We might drive it into ShadowClan territory,” she pointed out.
“Then ShadowClan’s warriors will have to deal with it.” Brambleclaw’s eyes were intense, and his voice cold. “We have to protect our own Clan first.”
“And if there’s more than one badger?” Ashfur wondered.
“Then we’ll gather as much information as we can and report back to Firestar. Find somewhere to hide where you can see the mouth of the set.”
Squirrelflight returned to her vantage point in the clump of fern. The badger cubs were still scuffling in front of the pile of earth. The sun climbed higher, and Squirrelflight would have dozed off if hunger hadn’t gnawed at her belly. The squirrel she had shared with Ashfur seemed a long time ago, and she thought longingly of the heap of fresh-kill left under the oak tree.
Her jaws gaped in a yawn, and she clamped them shut again as an even stronger reek of badger flooded into her mouth. The undergrowth on the far side of the clearing rustled briefly before the ferns parted to reveal a powerful, broad-shouldered body and a long muzzle with a white stripe down the middle. The female badger lumbered into the clearing and her three cubs scampered up to her. She dropped a mouthful of beetles onto the ground and the cubs gulped them up with high-pitched cries of joy.
Brambleclaw sprang on top of the boulder and let out a challenging yowl. The female badger’s head shot up and she roared in defiance, showing two rows of sharp yellow teeth.
Brambleclaw yowled again. “Attack!” He leapt from the boulder, landing among the cubs who scurried out of the way, yelping with fear. They huddled together in the mouth of the set, staring at the warrior with wide, scared eyes.
Ashfur hurtled out of his hiding place further around the clearing, with Rainwhisker hard on his paws. Squirrelflight pelted forward to stand beside Brambleclaw. “Get out!” she hissed at the badgers, even though she knew they wouldn’t understand what she was saying. “This is our territory!”
Brambleclaw lashed at the badger’s muzzle with both forepaws. She reared backward, swiping at him with massive claws, but Brambleclaw dodged the blow.
Squirrelflight ran forward until she was close enough to rake her claws down the badger’s side; blood welled out of the clawmarks and she shook her paw fiercely to dislodge the trapped black fur. She ducked to avoid the snapping jaws, then darted back just as Ashfur dashed in from the other side. The badger swung her head from side to side as if she couldn’t decide which swift-moving target to attack first.
This is easy! Squirrelflight thought. She’s too slow and clumsy!
She let out a screech of alarm as a massive white-furred paw slammed down less than a mouse-length away from her haunches. If it had landed on her it would have snapped her spine. Startled and shaking, she rolled out of range in a tangle of paws and tail. She wanted to run all the way back to the camp, but she knew they couldn’t give up now. This ferocious creature could not be allowed to make a home in their territory, or no cat would be safe, from the youngest kits to the most battle-hardy warriors.
She scrambled to her feet in time to see Brambleclaw swipe his claws down the badger’s shoulder. Leaping up, he tried to fasten his teeth in her throat, but the badger shook him off. He flew through the air, landed with a loud thump, and lay motionless.
Squirrelflight raced to his side, her belly churning in fear. But before she reached him, he shook his head as if he were coming out of deep water, then he staggered to his paws. “I’m OK,” he rasped.
Squirrelflight veered away to meet the badger head-on. Rearing up on her hindlegs, she clawed her enemy’s nose while her other paw slashed for the tiny bright eyes. Ashfur battered at the creature’s haunches, angling his body to make room for Brambleclaw, who was biting down on the badger’s hindpaw. Rainwhisker had his front paws hooked in the badger’s rough pelt while his teeth clamped down on her ear.
The badger had had enough. Shaking off Brambleclaw and Rainwhisker, she let out a roar of fury and defeat and turned tail. Lumbering across to the mouth of the foxhole, she nudged her cubs to their paws and herded them in front of her as they fled the clearing.
“And don’t come back!” Ashfur yowled.
The badger wouldn’t understand his words, but the meaning was plain enough. All four cats stood shoulder to shoulder while the badger’s roars and the high-pitched cries of the cubs faded away through the trees.
“Well fought, all of you,” Brambleclaw panted. “Let’s hope that’s the last we see of them.”
“And that there aren’t any more,” Ashfur commented.
Brambleclaw nodded. “We’ll fill in the hole and keep watch to make sure they don’t come back.”
“What? Now?” Squirrelflight protested. “I’m worn out, and my belly’s yowling!”
“No, not now. We’ll go back to camp and get a couple of other warriors to deal with the set. The regular patrols can keep an eye on it after that.”
“Thank StarClan!” Squirrelflight sighed. “Let’s go and collect that fresh-kill.”
The four cats limped back through the forest. Squirrelflight felt the sting of new wounds on top of her scratches from the battle against Mudclaw. “I won’t have any fur left at this rate,” she muttered.
Ashfur padded to her side and drew his tongue gently across a clawmark on her shoulder. “You fought well,” he murmured.
“So did you.” Squirrelflight could see how battered he was, with blood seeping from a patch on his hindquarters where the fur had been clawed off. She touched her nose to his ear. “I bet that badger wishes she’d never set foot on our territory!” she mewed.
She pictured the huge creature crashing through the undergrowth with her cubs stumbling along behind. For a few heartbeats she shared their fear, and a pang of sympathy pierced her. She knew what it felt like to lose your home, and have to travel far to find a new one.
I hope she finds somewhere safe for her cubs, Squirrelflight thought. But a long, long way from ThunderClan.
CHAPTER 3
“Leafpool! Leafpool, what’s the matter with you? That’s the third time I’ve called your name.”
The young medicine cat jumped. “Sorry, Cinderpelt.”
The grey she-cat bent her head to sniff at the seeds Leafpool was wrapping in a leaf. “What have you got here?”
“Poppy seed.”
Cinderpelt sighed. “No, it’s not. It’s nettle seed. Honestly, Leafpool, what’s the matter with you today?”
Leafpool stared down at the leaf. Cinderpelt had asked her to take some poppy seed to Firestar to soothe the pain in his wrenched shoulder. She had no idea how she had taken the wrong herb from the store inside Cinderpelt’s den, but the green, spiny seeds on the leaf in front of her were definitely nettle. They might have helped if Firestar had eaten something poisonous, but they wouldn’t do anything to help his shoulder.
“I’m really sorry, Cinderpelt.”
“I should think so. This morning I caught you trying to put yarrow on Mousefur’s ticks instead of mouse bile.” Cinderpelt’s tone softened. “Is everything all right, Leafpool? Were you hurt when those ShadowClan warriors chased you?”
Leafpool
shook her head. “No … no, I’m fine.”
Her thoughts flew back to the night of the battle, when two ShadowClan warriors had chased her into the undergrowth at the top of the hollow, and plunged over the cliff to their deaths. Leafpool had almost fallen with them, her paws slipping on the rock as she tried to haul herself up. She could still feel the firm grasp on her scruff that had hauled her to safety, still see the intense gaze of her WindClan rescuer as he confessed that he loved her. Crowfeather! Every hair on her pelt tingled.
“Leafpool, you’re doing it again!”
Shaking her head to clear it, Leafpool carried the leaf back into Cinderpelt’s den. She returned the nettle seeds to the crack in the rock and took out some poppy seeds instead.
“If there is anything wrong, I wish you would talk to me about it,” Cinderpelt meowed, watching her from the entrance. “We’re busier than we’ve been since we arrived, dealing with wounds from the battle. I need you, Leafpool. You’re more than an apprentice now—you should be able to carry out medicine cat duties on your own.”
“I know. I’m sorry. But everything’s fine, really.”
Of course it was—it was better than fine, when Crowfeather loved her! Leafpool wrapped the correct seeds in the beech leaf and picked up the package to carry it to Firestar. She nodded to her mentor as she nudged her way through the curtain of brambles that led into the camp. Part of her wanted to confide in Cinderpelt more than anything, but Leafpool knew she could never reveal her feelings for Crowfeather to any cat. Medicine cats were not supposed to fall in love.
Cinderpelt had suspected a connection between Leafpool and the WindClan warrior before the Clans split up into their new territories. But that was before Crowfeather told Leafpool that he loved her, before Leafpool had admitted her own feelings to herself. Now it would be even harder to hide what she felt from the wise medicine cat.
She scrambled up the rocks that formed a tumbled pathway to the Highledge outside Firestar’s den. Looking down into the clearing, she saw Dustpelt slipping into the nursery to visit Ferncloud and Birchkit; the patrol that had taken the bodies to ShadowClan must have returned peacefully.
Leafpool set her leaf packet down on the ledge outside the den. “Firestar!” she called.
“Come in!”
She slid through the narrow cleft for a couple of tail-lengths until it widened out into a cave, dimly lit by the light that shone through the opening. Firestar was stretched on a bed of fern and moss at the far end. Thornclaw sat beside him. Firestar nodded a greeting to Leafpool and turned back to the golden-brown tabby.
“So there was no trouble with ShadowClan?”
Thornclaw shook his head. “We met Russetfur leading a border patrol, and she fetched Blackstar. He said he knew nothing about his warriors supporting Mudclaw.”
Firestar shrugged, wincing at a twinge of pain from his shoulder. “That could be true.”
“Then his warriors took the bodies away to be buried,” Thornclaw finished, “and we came home.”
“Well done, Thornclaw. I don’t want any trouble with ShadowClan.” Firestar paused for a moment before adding, “We’d better be careful what we say at the next Gathering. No sense in trailing our tails for Blackstar to pounce on. Pass the word to the rest of the Clan, would you?”
“Sure, Firestar.” Thornclaw rose to his paws and left with a farewell flick of his tail.
Leafpool padded across the cave and set down the leaf-wrapped poppy seeds. “Cinderpelt sent you these.”
Firestar leaned over and licked up the seeds with one swipe of his tongue. “Thank you, Leafpool. This’ll teach me not to take on two warriors at once!”
“You should sleep now,” Leafpool meowed.
As she finished speaking, she heard the sound of cats gathering in the clearing below the ledge, and Squirrelflight’s voice calling, “Firestar!”
The Clan leader glanced at Leafpool with a gleam of amusement in his eyes. “There goes my nap. Brambleclaw’s patrol must be back from WindClan.”
He rose to his paws and limped across the den. Leafpool followed him. Excitement rushed through her like a bubbling stream. She wanted to fling herself down the rocks and hurl questions at Squirrelflight. Had the patrol seen Crowfeather? What did he say? Had he been hurt in the battle? Had he mentioned her … ?
She stopped abruptly at the entrance to her father’s den. If she asked just one of these questions, Squirrelflight would want to know why she was so interested in the young WindClan warrior. And even her sister wouldn’t understand if she knew that Leafpool had broken the code of a medicine cat and fallen in love.
Brambleclaw and the rest of the patrol were waiting in the clearing, while more of the Clan cats gathered around them to hear their news. Leafpool jumped down the tumble of broken rocks and paused, feeling puzzled as she caught a powerful wave of feeling from her sister. Squirrelflight was in even more turmoil than she had been after the quarrel with Brambleclaw, making Leafpool’s fur bristle with a whirl of agitation, fear, and sympathy.
Leafpool slid between Dustpelt and Mousefur until she reached Squirrelflight’s side. “What’s the matter?” she murmured in her sister’s ear. “What happened?”
Squirrelflight’s claws scraped furiously at the earth in front of her. “WindClan treated us like we were sworn enemies!” she hissed.
Leafpool turned to listen to Brambleclaw, who was reporting to Firestar.
“Webfoot looked as though he’d like to claw our fur off,” the tabby warrior meowed. “You would never have thought we were the same cats who helped WindClan fight off Mudclaw a couple of nights ago.”
“But did you find out about Onestar?” Firestar asked. “He is Onestar now, isn’t he?”
“Oh, yes, he’s got his nine lives all right, but his Clan don’t seem to think we’re allies anymore.”
“I told you,” Ashfur broke in. “They have to show us they’re strong enough to stand on their own now.”
Brambleclaw shook his head. “I think it was more than that.”
“And you really can’t imagine what the problem is?” Dustpelt meowed, coming forward to stand beside his Clan leader. “Come on, Brambleclaw. You’re hardly likely to be the most popular cat in WindClan just now, not after Hawkfrost saved your life at the end of the battle. Onestar probably thinks you and Hawkfrost were working together all along.”
“Mouse dung!” Brambleclaw snapped. “Onestar forgave all the cats who fought against him, including Hawkfrost. And every cat knows I fought for WindClan. Onestar can’t have any quarrel with me.”
Leafpool glanced at Squirrelflight; once her sister would have leapt to Brambleclaw’s defence, but now she was just staring at him with narrowed eyes.
Firestar looked from Brambleclaw to Dustpelt and then back again. “I hope Ashfur’s right,” he mewed at last, “and this is just an example of WindClan trying to prove how strong they are. But I don’t think we can trust Webfoot to report on what’s happening in his Clan. I’ll have to visit WindClan myself once my shoulder is better.”
Leafpool exchanged a startled glance with her sister. “He should wait for the Gathering,” she mewed quietly. “He could talk to Onestar there.”
“You try telling him that,” Squirrelflight murmured back.
Leafpool knew she couldn’t. Firestar’s friendship with Onestar went so far back that none of the Clan cats, even those who had grown up with Firestar, would dare tell him he couldn’t visit his old friend. Leafpool heard Mousefur mutter, “Did you ever hear such a mousebrained idea? A day-old kit could see that WindClan wants to be left alone.”
Firestar was about to go back to his den when Brambleclaw stopped him. “Wait, we haven’t told you about the badger yet.”
“What badger?” Firestar turned back, his green eyes flashing with alarm. “On our territory?”
“Not any more,” Brambleclaw replied, and he described how the patrol had tracked the badger by its scent.
“It was digging out a set in an o
ld foxhole,” Rainwhisker added. “And there were four of them. Three cubs and their mother.”
“The cubs were too small to fight,” meowed Ashfur. “But the mother gave us enough trouble.” He twisted around to lick a raw patch on his hindquarters.
Squirrelflight remained silent as Brambleclaw finished explaining how the badgers had been driven off. Leafpool picked up mingled feelings of fear, defensiveness, and pity. She could understand why. ThunderClan had been driven from their home too. But this is our territory now, she reminded herself. We can’t share it with badgers, especially not four of them.
Firestar looked around at his Clan. “Dustpelt, take a patrol up there, please, and fill in the hole. Keep at least one of the warriors on watch in case the badger comes back.”
Dustpelt beckoned to Rainwhisker, who would be able to show him the way to the half-built set, and signalled Brightheart and Cloudtail to follow.
Firestar watched them go. “Every patrol will have to watch out for badgers in the future,” he warned. “This family could come back, or more of them might be trying to settle. If one badger is trying to find a new home, there could be others.” Grimly he added, “We must make it clear they’re not welcome here.”
Moonlight glimmered on the rippling stream, and the warm scents of newleaf drifted across Leafpool’s fur as she stood gazing into WindClan’s territory. Suddenly a lean, dark shape raced down the bank—Crowfeather. He plunged into the stream with a glittering splash as moon-filled drops spun away from his paws. Water brushed his belly fur; then Crowfeather was pulling himself onto the bank beside Leafpool. His scent flooded over her.
“Crowfeather …” she murmured.
“What?”
Leafpool opened her eyes to see Cinderpelt poking her head out of her den. “Did you say something?” the medicine cat mewed.
Leafpool sprang out of her nest and gave herself a shake to dislodge scraps of moss from her pelt. “No, Cinderpelt.” The last thing she wanted was to be asked what she had been dreaming about. “Do you need me to do something?”
“I’ve just been checking our stores of herbs,” Cinderpelt meowed. “Some of them are getting very low, and—”