CHAPTER 22
Ivypaw drew in a breath. The cold seared her tongue but the tang of fresh ThunderClan markers tasted warm. She puffed out her chest. Her Clanmates were lined along the border like hawks, poised to defend their new territory. Their breath billowed in the milky light of dawn, while mist drifted from among the dark trunks of ShadowClan’s forest and rolled over the grass toward them.
“Are you okay?”
Dovepaw was trembling beside her.
“Fine.” Dovepaw shifted her paws.
“Do you think ShadowClan will come?”
Dovepaw didn’t answer. She was staring into the trees, her ears pricked, claws unsheathed.
For a moment, Ivypaw wished Dovepaw weren’t there. She hadn’t had extra training from Hawkfrost. How in the name of StarClan could she fight ShadowClan warriors? Ivypaw suddenly pictured Dovepaw horribly wounded, with claw marks scarring her flanks. She shuddered. Whatever arguments they’d had recently, they were still littermates.
She curved her claws into the damp earth, dragging her thoughts back to the present. This was her battle. The new border was here because of her, and she was ready to defend it with her blood.
“Hold the line!” Lionblaze snarled at Blossomfall as the young tortoiseshell warrior took a step forward, whiskers twitching.
“I thought I heard something,” Blossomfall protested.
“Get back in line!” Firestar growled. He swung his head to stare along the ranks of warriors. “Stay inside the border.”
Blossompaw shuffled back into place.
Dovepaw flinched.
Someone was coming.
Ivypaw caught her breath as Blackstar padded out of the forest, flanked by Russetfur and Rowanclaw. His pelt glowed white in the half-light. He looked far more powerful than he did at Gatherings, his hackles raised, eyes glittering with anger. Ivypaw fought the urge to back away. Hawkfrost has trained me! She grasped the thought and hung on to it.
Courage began to seep back into her paws as Blackstar halted and wrinkled his nose. The clearing was drenched in ThunderClan scent.
“You have made your choice,” he snarled to Firestar. “You gave us this territory. It’s not yours to take back.”
Firestar lifted his chin. “We have given you a chance to avoid fighting. Even now, no blood needs to be shed.”
Blackstar curled his lip. “Blood will fall, and every drop of it will be on your conscience.” He flicked his tail.
From the shadows and mist of the forest ShadowClan warriors leaped out with their claws unsheathed, their teeth bared. The muted dawn was ripped apart by screeches.
Ivypaw froze. The warriors were huge! Then she felt the warm bulk of Hawkfrost pressing against her flank. She knew that if she turned her head, she would be unable to see him, but he was there, all the same.
“Defend what is yours,” he growled. “You know how.”
The first wave of warriors hit.
A dark tabby tom lunged toward her. Ivypaw was ready. She turned and flicked out her hind legs, catching him on the cheek and sending him reeling backward, a yowl of surprise choking in his throat.
Hawkfrost’s breath stirred her pelt. “Don’t spill all their blood at once, little one.”
“Okay.” Ivypaw swerved away from the fallen warrior and reared to meet a ShadowClan tom twice her size.
Ratscar!
Undaunted, she raked claws across his nose, drawing blood.
His eyes lit with surprise. “Don’t think I’ll go easy on you”—he batted her back with a hefty blow—“just because you’re an apprentice.”
Dizzy from the clout, she rolled sideways. His forepaws split the grass a whisker from her ear. She leaped to her paws and reared again.
Blossomfall appeared. “Want some help?”
“Yes, please,” Ivypaw grunted. She began swiping with her forepaws and, as Blossomfall joined in, ducked and scooted behind Ratscar and crouched beneath his legs. Blossomfall drove him backward and, as he tripped, Ivypaw pushed herself up in a surging jump that sent him spinning away, shocked and unbalanced. Before he could find his paws she was clinging to his back, churning her hind paws mercilessly.
“Get underneath him!” she snapped at Blossomfall.
The young warrior obeyed and slid beneath the raging ShadowClan tom, unbalancing him again. Ivypaw let go before Ratscar tumbled onto his back, then plunged her forepaws down hard onto his belly. The breath huffed from his mouth and he lay stunned for a moment before scrabbling up clumsily, shaking his head as if trying to clear it.
“Wow!” Blossomfall breathed. “Cinderheart must be an awesome mentor!”
Ivypaw glanced at the young warrior, her mind fizzing. I have a better mentor than you could ever imagine!
Ratscar was snaking away into the writhing mass of pelts. Ivypaw searched the battlefield. ShadowClan had spilled over the new border and was pressing ThunderClan back into the long grass.
Dovepaw? She searched for her sister.
In the swirl of pelts and mist, Ivypaw couldn’t pick her out. She plunged into the fray, shouldering her way between the wrestling bodies. The fighting was vicious. Dovepaw hadn’t been trained by Hawkfrost. She must need help.
CHAPTER 23
Dovepaw dug her paws deeper into the grass as Blackstar strode from the trees, flanked by Russetfur and Rowanclaw. She would not give way, no matter what. Ivypaw was pressing against her flank. Dovepaw was aware of her sister’s stillness beside her own trembling body. Wasn’t Ivypaw scared?
She could hear ShadowClan coming, stalking through their territory, their paws scuffing the needle-strewn forest floor, their pelts brushing against pine trunks, their breath coming short and fast. She could picture them slicing through the sparse undergrowth, scoring marks on the ground with unsheathed claws. Their stench rolled over her, choking her until she felt as if she could no longer breathe.
Blackstar was challenging Firestar.
Blood roared in her ears. She could see her leader’s mouth moving but heard nothing but her own blood pulsing through her.
Then ShadowClan warriors erupted like a flock of ravens from the misty pine forest.
“Make every blow count!” Dovepaw hardly heard Lionblaze’s order before he leaped away.
Crouching low, she fought to remember her battle moves as her mind emptied of everything except panic. Cats lunged on either side of her and she shrank back, staring wildly around her.
Then the noise began. Every breath, every rip of fur, every scrape of tooth on bone. Growls and shrieks tore at her senses. As she struggled to shut out the chaos of sound, the scent of fear and of blood swamped her tongue. Was that Dustpelt’s breath knocked from him as a warrior hurled him to the ground? Was that pain in Sorreltail’s shriek, or was it triumph?
A cream pelt flashed toward her. Paws slammed her shoulders and knocked her flying; then claws gripped her flank. The ShadowClan she-cat smelled like Tigerheart.
Dawnpelt?
Instinctively Dovepaw battered the warrior’s belly with her hind paws until the she-cat let go. It was Dawnpelt! Dovepaw jumped to her paws and ducked under Dawnpelt’s belly, breaking from the line, racing forward, slipping through the ShadowClan ranks as she desperately tried to escape the shrieking mass of warriors.
Her ears twitched with too much noise. Was that the sound of more ShadowClan warriors pounding through the undergrowth toward her?
Her paws skidded underneath her. The ShadowClan cats had driven ThunderClan back toward the middle of the clearing. Dovepaw couldn’t get a grip on the slippery grass. Her claws couldn’t reach through to solid ground.
Dawnpelt was on her tail.
She turned and reared and met the ShadowClan warrior in a clumsy flurry of swiping blows. Dawnpelt fought back. Knocked her muzzle. Unbalanced her.
Help me, StarClan!
She tried to spring up but Dawnpelt held her down, raking her spine with hind claws. Pain seared her pelt and a yowl escaped her. Writhing to escape, she glim
psed golden fur.
Lionblaze was staring down at her. “You seem to have strayed from your Clanmates,” he growled.
There was a blur of movement above Dovepaw, and suddenly Dawnpelt let go. Raising her head with a wince, Dovepaw saw Lionblaze fling the ShadowClan warrior away.
“Can you manage now?” he asked.
She nodded, hoping she could, and Lionblaze dashed back toward the battle line.
Ivypaw slowed to a halt beside her. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” Dovepaw panted. She fought to block out the yowling of her Clanmates.
“Look out!” Ivypaw warned.
Dovepaw spun around as Foxleap backed into her. His forepaws were raised as he swiped at an advancing ShadowClan warrior.
Crowfrost.
Two ShadowClan apprentices—Starlingpaw and Pinepaw—flanked the black-and-white tom, their eyes fixed on Foxleap as they drove the ThunderClan warrior toward the pine forest, separating him from his Clanmates.
Ivypaw darted forward and nipped Starlingpaw’s foreleg. Dovepaw knew what she had to do. Yowling, she hurled herself at Pinepaw, knocking her backward with such ferocity that Crowfrost glanced up to see if his Clanmate was okay. In an instant, Foxleap regained his balance, dropped onto four paws, and launched himself forward. He sent Crowfrost hurtling backward and the pair rolled away while Dovepaw dug her claws into Pinepaw’s flanks and tore until the she-cat shrieked and struggled from her grip.
Starlingpaw was dragging at the grass as Ivypaw pulled him backward and sank her teeth into his neck. Dovepaw froze. Her sister looked as though she were killing prey. She felt a flash of relief as Ivypaw let go and Starlingpaw raced back toward his Clanmates.
Ivypaw turned to face Dovepaw, curling her lip to reveal teeth stained with blood. “Who next?”
Suddenly Brackenfur and Thornclaw appeared, pulling up in front of Dovepaw and Ivypaw, their breath clouding the air.
“Brambleclaw wants us to try something different,” Brackenfur panted.
His gaze fell upon Foxleap; the tawny tabby was beating Crowfrost backward, helped now by Toadstep. Overwhelmed, the ShadowClan warrior turned and slipped back among his own ranks. Brackenfur nodded approvingly and beckoned with his tail.
Foxleap raced over, Toadstep a pace behind. “What is it?”
“ShadowClan keeps regrouping,” Thornclaw told them. “They’re pushing us back across the field.”
Toadstep nodded. “It’s impossible to get a good grip on this grass.”
“Brambleclaw wants us to outflank them,” Brackenfur told him.
Ivypaw leaned forward. “How?”
“I’m going to lead a separate patrol,” Thornclaw meowed, “and try to draw ShadowClan away from the clearing, back into their own territory.”
Brackenfur rubbed his muzzle with one paw. “We stand a better chance in the woods,” he growled. “There are brambles and trees. The ground will feel more familiar. And we can try out our new tree tactics.”
Dovepaw’s eyes widened. “But won’t ShadowClan just fight harder if we invade their territory?”
“That’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Brackenfur muttered. “We’ll never beat them out here in the open.”
Lionblaze bounded toward them, Rosepetal and Sorreltail behind him. “Are you ready?” he asked Thornclaw.
Thornclaw nodded and headed toward ShadowClan’s woods.
Dovepaw glanced at her sister. What if they were caught between two rows of ShadowClan warriors?
But Ivypaw seemed undaunted. She scrambled after Thornclaw. Dovepaw hurtled after, her heart pounding.
“Hey! Where are they going?”
She heard the shocked yowl of a ShadowClan warrior behind them.
“They’ve broken rank!”
Dovepaw tried to concentrate on her Clanmates, slipping after them through the pines, feeling the needles underpaw, adjusting to the gloom of ShadowClan’s woods as she weaved past a swath of brambles. Ivypaw was already scooting up a tree, gripping the bark like a squirrel.
Dovepaw glanced back through the bramble hedge at the battle still raging in the clearing. It looked like chaos. Where were the battle skills they’d all been taught? From here it looked like a tangled mass of writhing pelts, and she was agonizingly aware of each shriek of pain and fear, the tearing of fur, the crunch of teeth as each cat struggled in its own private battle. How could they bear to do this to one another?
“Dovepaw!” Lionblaze’s mew dragged her attention back.
ShadowClan warriors were pounding toward the pines, thundering over the grass, spitting with rage.
“Quick, climb that tree!”
Dovepaw looked in dismay at the smooth, slender pine trunk. Her Clanmates had already scrambled up their own trees and were clinging to narrow branches, staring down, poised to drop on the fast-approaching ShadowClan warriors.
“Move!” Lionblaze nosed her upward and she clawed her way to the lowest branch.
Below, Lionblaze turned to face the ShadowClan attack as warriors streamed through the trees, Blackstar leading. The ShadowClan leader’s face was twisted in rage. “Can’t you even respect the border you just made?” He blinked in surprise at Lionblaze and Thornclaw. “Where are the rest of you?” he demanded.
His warriors skidded to a halt beside him.
Lionblaze glanced up and Blackstar followed his gaze, his eyes widening as he spotted the ThunderClan warriors clinging to the branches above.
Brackenfur was trembling in an effort to hang on. He dropped a moment before Thornclaw gave the signal.
“Now!”
The other ThunderClan cats began to dive on the ShadowClan patrol. Dovepaw clung, trembling, to her branch. Pelts swam beneath her like fish. She fixed her gaze on the light brown pelt of Owlclaw, then leaped.
Oh, StarClan!
The branch sagged beneath her. Her paws slithered wildly. With a yowl of shock, she landed unevenly on Owlclaw’s back. It was ungraceful but it was enough to floor him. He collapsed beneath her weight.
“What in the name of StarClan are you doing?” Owlclaw heaved her off and turned, his paws raised. Dovepaw ducked the first swipe and nipped at his leg.
“Need help?” Rosepetal appeared at her side and began to bat the tabby away, backing him against a bramble bush till he shrieked with pain.
Dovepaw scanned the fighting cats closest to her. Lionblaze had Ratscar pinned to a tree. Ivypaw was wrestling with Starlingpaw again. Hadn’t the ShadowClan apprentice learned her lesson? Toadstep was squirming beneath a dark tabby tom, his tail lashing wildly.
Tigerheart!
“Fighting like squirrels!” Tigerheart hissed. “Doesn’t ThunderClan have any pride?” He tore at Toadstep’s spine with vicious hind claws, sending fur flying as Toadstep screeched in agony.
Anger surged in Dovepaw’s chest. She had to help her Clanmate. Then she paused. It was Tigerheart! Could she really hurt her friend?
Oh, StarClan! Do we really have to fight each other?
As she hesitated, Foxleap knocked Tigerheart from Toadstep’s back. Relief washed over Dovepaw.
“Help me!” Sorreltail’s furious mew sounded behind her.
Dovepaw spun to see her Clanmate swiping at Smokefoot. The dark ShadowClan warrior was snarling with his teeth bared, sharp claws glinting. Sorreltail reared and fell against him, their chests clashing as Smokefoot rose to meet her challenge. Her hind paws scrabbled, sending needles showering against Dovepaw’s pelt. Dovepaw sprang forward to help, knocking Smokefoot’s paws from under him so that he landed with a grunt on his belly.
“Thanks,” Sorreltail growled, and dived on the tom. Dovepaw leaned away from the flurry of paws and caught sight of Ivypaw. She was steadily beating Starlingpaw backward, her forepaws slashing with vicious accuracy.
Wow! Dovepaw was impressed. Ivypaw was a brilliant fighter. Then Dovepaw stiffened as a dark brown pelt flashed at the edge of her vision. She reared up to get a better look, staring over the tangle of pelts.
/> Tigerheart was streaking toward Ivypaw.
He mustn’t hurt her!
Panic surging in her throat, Dovepaw barged through the battling cats. She dived beneath Crowfrost and burst out just in time to see Tigerheart leap for Ivypaw.
“Ivypaw!” Dovepaw’s warning was lost in the shrieks of battle.
She watched her sister turn and spot Tigerheart lunging toward her. Thank StarClan! Dovepaw flexed her claws and prepared to go to Ivypaw’s rescue. Then she paused.
Tigerheart had stopped midleap and landed clumsily on all four paws. His gaze caught Ivypaw’s and the two cats stared at each other.
Dovepaw felt her chest tighten.
Tigerheart had nodded at Ivypaw. A tiny nod. So tiny that Dovepaw wondered if she had imagined it. Then the ShadowClan warrior turned and vanished into the battle, his pelt blurring alongside Owlfur’s as he fought Thornclaw and Foxleap.
Dovepaw waited for relief to come. Her sister was safe. Tigerheart had not hurt her. But there was no relief inside her. Some other emotion jabbed her belly. A feeling that said she didn’t want Tigerheart to look at Ivypaw that way. The same way he had looked at Dovepaw when he told her he wanted to stay friends.
Am I jealous?
Dovepaw tried to shake the nagging pang away.
Why had Tigerheart looked at Ivypaw like that? Had he recognized the silver-and-white she-cat as Dovepaw’s sister?
No. That wasn’t the look. Something else had lit his gaze, something far more knowing. It almost looked as if they’d met before. But I would know! Dovepaw bristled. Had Ivypaw been sneaking out of camp to meet the ShadowClan warrior? Was that why there was so much distance between the sisters now? Was that why Tigerheart had sought Dovepaw’s friendship?
There is no time for this! A voice inside her told her that she was putting herself and her Clan in danger. Her Clanmates needed her. She would have to wait to sort out what was going on with Ivypaw later. Right now, she needed to fight.
She turned and swiped at the hind legs of Owlclaw, then sank her teeth into Crowfrost’s tail. His yowl of agony sent energy surging through her, and as he turned she reared up, ready to take him on.