Outcast

  “Do we fight now?” Splash asked nervously.

  “Let’s hope not,” Lionpaw replied. Hollypaw was grateful for the reassurance in his voice. “But Hollypaw will give you a signal if we have to.”

  She didn’t have much hope that they could avoid a battle now. Stripes had made it clear that the trespassers had no intention of respecting the borders the Tribe had worked so hard to set in place. The Tribe were no better off than when they started.

  At Stripes’s challenge, Crag had stepped forward until the two cats stood nose to nose. His neck fur bristled and his eyes were narrowed menacingly. “If you’re looking for a fight—”

  Brambleclaw stopped him with a touch of his tail on his shoulder and motioned him back. “This isn’t the right time,” he murmured. “They outnumber us, for one thing. Best go back to the cave and see what happens.”

  “I know what’s going to happen,” Crag snarled.

  For a couple of heartbeats Hollypaw thought that he would defy Brambleclaw and leap into battle. Then the rest of them would have to fight to back him up.

  At last Crag let out a long sigh, bowing his head. “Have it your way,” he mewed to Brambleclaw.

  Brambleclaw touched his tail to the cave-guard’s shoulder once again, a silent gesture of gratitude. Facing Stripes, he meowed, “We will defend our borders. It’s your choice if you cross them.”

  “Fine.” Stripes flicked his tail. “We’ll bear that in mind. Not forgetting that some of you don’t belong here.”

  “He means us,” Lionpaw whispered. “He knows we’ll go home sooner or later. Then the Tribe will be weaker….”

  He didn’t need to go on. It was obvious to Hollypaw that Stripes meant to attack the Tribe as soon as the Clan cats left them defenseless. But we can’t stay here forever, she thought, struggling against a pang of homesickness for the forest and the camp in the stone hollow.

  Brambleclaw turned and led his cats away. Mocking caterwauls followed them. “Don’t bother coming back!” Flick yowled.

  The sun was well above the mountains as the patrol made its way back to the cave. Golden rays warmed the rocks, but Hollypaw felt as cold as if she were padding through a bitter leaf-bare.

  “Do you think that was okay?” Splash fretted. “They know about our borders now, so they should leave us alone.”

  “I hope I’ll be on the first patrol!” Pebble added.

  “Let’s wait and see,” Hollypaw mewed. She wasn’t sure if the Tribe to-bes really hadn’t understood what had just happened, or whether they were forcing themselves to be optimistic. She couldn’t bring herself to tell them that borders didn’t exist unless they were seen from both sides. The trespassers had shown that they had no honor, not a scrap of respect for their rivals, so it was only a matter of time before they crossed the boundaries and stole more prey from the Tribe.

  The warrior code has failed, she thought. She had built her life on it, and now she felt as though she had stepped off a precipice and was plummeting down into darkness. Even the Tribe doesn’t really understand it.

  She gave herself a shake. The Tribe might not have the warrior code, but they had traditions just as ancient and important. Perhaps the Tribe of Endless Hunting would come to their aid at last.

  The patrol had reached the boulder-covered slope that led down to the stream when Brambleclaw paused suddenly, raising his tail to bring the other cats to a halt behind him. “Intruder scent!” he hissed.

  Hollypaw felt the fur on her shoulders begin to bristle. Tasting the air, she picked up a strong, fresh scent, carried on the breeze that swept across the bare rock. She couldn’t see the intruders, but she realized that they must be very close.

  “I don’t believe this,” Lionpaw muttered into her ear. His fur was fluffed up with anger and his tail tip twitched back and forth. “We only just told them about the borders, and they’re already trespassing.”

  “Look—down there!” Pebble angled her ears toward the stream.

  Down below, the skinny brown intruder, Flick, emerged from behind a spur of rock, following the course of the stream. Four more of the intruders followed him; one of them, the black tom they had encountered before, had the body of a mouse hanging from his jaws. They padded along confidently, as if they had every right to be there.

  I knew it, Hollypaw thought. Everything we’ve done has been for nothing.

  “They’re useless hunters,” she commented, trying to push down the cold sense of failure that sat in her belly like a stone. “They can’t even scent us. They have no idea that we’re here.”

  “Or they don’t care,” Lionpaw added.

  Brambleclaw, Crag, and Stormfur exchanged a few quick words, speaking too low for Hollypaw to catch what they said. Then Brambleclaw leaped up onto the nearest boulder so that his figure was outlined against the sky. “Trespassers!” he yowled.

  The invaders halted. In the same heartbeat, Brambleclaw let out a fearsome screech and launched himself down from the boulder. The rest of the patrol poured down the slope after him; Hollypaw felt as if a rushing torrent were sweeping her on.

  After one terrified glance, Flick’s patrol spun around and fled downstream. Flick clawed his way up a steep rockslide until he reached a ledge. He glared down at the Clan and Tribe cats, his ears flattened and his lips drawn back in a snarl.

  Brambleclaw bounded up to the foot of the rockslide. “You have crossed the Tribe’s border,” he meowed. Hollypaw could tell that he was trying to remain calm, though his voice vibrated with fury. “You are trespassing and stealing prey.”

  “Why shouldn’t we?” Flick spat. “There’s nothing to stop us.”

  “We explained the scent marks,” Crag began, pacing forward to stand at Brambleclaw’s shoulder.

  “Oh, the scent marks!” Flick sneered. “I’m frightened out of my fur. So what are you going to do now, set stronger marks? We’ll hunt where we please, and you can’t stop us.” Before any cat could reply he leaped upward and vanished over the top of the rock.

  “We should follow him,” Talon growled. “Maybe he’ll listen if we rip his fur off.”

  “No point.” Brambleclaw sounded despondent. “It’s obvious that explaining the boundaries hasn’t worked. The intruders crossed the border as soon as our backs were turned. No, we have to teach them a lesson, once and for all.”

  When Hollypaw entered the cave she was aware of a buzz of excitement. The Tribe cats who had stayed behind were clamoring to hear what had happened when the patrol met the intruders.

  “So they know about the borders?” Bird asked, her eyes gleaming hopefully. “Does that mean they’ll leave us alone?”

  “Maybe we can hunt in peace now,” Gray added.

  Brambleclaw shouldered his way into the cluster of excited cats. “No,” he meowed. “The battle is not over. There are no borders.”

  “But there are!” Screech slipped between two older cats to confront Brambleclaw, his neck fur bristling. “You helped set them yourself!”

  “And the intruders have already crossed them,” Stormfur meowed.

  Gasps of astonishment and snarls of fury rose from the cats gathered around as the gray warrior quickly described their encounter with Flick’s patrol. “They can’t do that!” some cat exclaimed.

  “They have,” Talon replied flatly.

  “There are no borders if the other side won’t recognize them,” Squirrelflight pointed out.

  “That is true.” Hollypaw whipped around to see that Stoneteller had taken his place on the boulder. The old cat’s fur was fluffed up with anger and he glared at Brambleclaw. “So all our efforts have been wasted. What do you suggest that we do now?”

  “There’s only one thing left to do,” Brambleclaw meowed, dipping his head respectfully to the old cat. “We must take the battle to the trespassers and defeat them once and for all.”

  Stoneteller drew back his lips in the beginnings of a snarl. Every cat in the cave fell silent as his amber eyes searched out Stormfur. “No
,” he mewed. His voice was soft but charged with fury. “We tried that once, and too many lives were lost. Too many cats will never walk these mountains again.”

  “But this time will be different,” Brambleclaw promised. “Your cats have been training to fight. And this time they will fight with a clear purpose—to defend their territory, instead of trying to drive out the intruders.” He hesitated, drawing a deep breath, then added, “It’s your choice. You can fight, or be driven from your home.”

  A babble of conflicting voices rose from the Tribe cats. Stoneteller silenced it with a single lash of his tail.

  “Very well,” he hissed. “The Tribe shall choose—and prove once and for all that we are not a Clan.”

  Hollypaw caught a startled glance from Lionpaw.

  “What’s he meowing about?” her brother asked. “Of course they’re not a Clan.”

  “He doesn’t want them to fight,” Hollypaw mewed. “But perhaps he thinks it’s fairer to let the Tribe decide. After all, they’ll have to live with the decision.”

  The Tribe cats were looking at one another with bewilderment in their eyes. Confused murmurs came from them; eventually Crag spoke up. “Stoneteller, we don’t understand. What do you want us to do?”

  “I should have thought that was clear enough.” Stoneteller’s voice was icy. “I want you to choose what we should do—find a new place to live, or stay and fight. The Tribe of Endless Hunting does not want me to influence your decision.”

  “I bet they don’t.” The furious mutter startled Hollypaw. She glanced over her shoulder to see that Jaypaw had joined them, sitting with his tail curled neatly over his paws.

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  Her brother twitched his ears. “Don’t you get it? Stoneteller can say what he likes about the Tribe of Endless Hunting. Who’s to know any different?”

  Hollypaw stared at him in alarm. How could Jaypaw say that? No Clan cat would dare tell lies about StarClan—how could it be so different for the Tribe?

  Stoneteller began to speak again. “All cats who wish to fight should go to that side of the cave.” He waved his tail. “Those who wish to flee, go to the other side. Remember that you choose the future of your Tribe.”

  “Let’s hope they have a future,” Lionpaw murmured.

  For a few heartbeats no cat moved. Hollypaw thought that the Tribe cats were too bewildered by what Stoneteller was telling them to do. Then she spotted the skinny white elder, Cloud, muttering to another old cat, a speckled brown tom.

  “What do you think, Rain?” Cloud asked him. “Fight or flee?”

  The old tom let out a disgusted snort. “I never wanted to fight, but I’m too old to flee far.”

  Just beyond the elders, two she-cats had their heads together, murmuring anxiously to each other.

  “Swoop, what should we do? I can’t fight while I’m suckling my kits. But they can’t flee; their eyes are barely open! And I won’t leave them.”

  “Don’t worry, Flight,” the other she-cat mewed soothingly. “No cat expects you to abandon your kits. I won’t leave mine, either.”

  Talon loomed over them; both she-cats looked up at him uncertainly.

  “Choose to fight,” the huge cave-guard growled. “That way, the Tribe will protect you as it protects all kit-mothers and their litters.” He encircled both she-cats with his tail and drew them over to the “fight” side of the cave, where he stood beside them as if he was already protecting them from danger.

  By now Hollypaw could see that the Tribe was beginning to divide into two groups. Pebble and Splash bounded quickly over to choose fighting. Screech spat something after them that Hollypaw couldn’t catch and withdrew to the far side with the other to-be prey-hunter. Night joined Talon, but to Hollypaw’s surprise Gray chose to flee and Bird, after a brief hesitation, chose that too.

  Hollypaw found that her heart was pounding and her muscles were tense. She didn’t know why it should matter so much to her that the Tribe should keep its home in the mountains; she only knew that it did matter, desperately. If they left their home they would have to suffer the hardships and dangers of a long journey, and they would leave all their traditions, everything that was familiar, behind them. They would no longer be the Tribe.

  Now very few cats remained to choose. Crag still stood in the center of the cave, his eyes troubled. Eventually, with a curt nod to Brambleclaw, he padded over to join the cats who had chosen to fight. Talon welcomed him with a tail tip on his shoulder.

  All this time Stormfur and Brook had stood silent, their pelts brushing. At last Brook glanced up at Stormfur, pleading in her eyes. He touched his nose to her ear, then laid his tail across her back and led her over to her brother, Talon.

  “Do they get to choose?” Lionpaw asked in a whisper. “Are they Tribe or Clan?”

  “I don’t think even they know,” Hollypaw replied.

  The Clan cats remained in the middle of the cave, drawing closer together as the Tribe moved away. At last they were alone. Hollypaw’s heart raced when she realized that there were more cats on the “fight” side of the cave.

  “They’ve chosen to fight,” she murmured to Jaypaw.

  Her brother flicked his tail. “Good.”

  Brambleclaw glanced from side to side, then dipped his head to Stoneteller. “Healer, the choice seems clear,” he announced. “Your Tribe wishes to fight.”

  Stoneteller’s fur bristled. Hollypaw could see that he hadn’t expected this. His eyes narrowed as he glared at Brambleclaw. “So be it,” he hissed. “And may you sleep well at night, Clan cat. This battle will destroy my Tribe.”

  Brambleclaw waited until the Healer had leaped down from the boulder and vanished, with a final lash of his tail, into the passage that led to the Cave of Pointed Stones. Then he turned to face the rest of the cats in the cave. The Tribe, even those who had chosen to fight, looked nervous, as if they realized what a huge decision they had just made.

  “Right, time to get ready.” Brambleclaw’s voice was brisk and confident. “We must strike at once, before the intruders have the chance to attack first. There’s a full moon tonight, so that will help.”

  Hollypaw flinched, every hair on her pelt rising in protest. The full moon was a time of peace! Back beside the lake, the Clans would be Gathering on the island. Though she knew it was impossible, her paws wanted to carry her out of the cave and back down the mountain to be with them. But the full moon’s not special for the Tribe, she reminded herself.

  “Any cats who would like more battle training, go to Squirrelflight and Hollypaw,” Brambleclaw continued. “Crag and Talon, I want you to help me plan our strategy. Jaypaw, see whether you can find some healing herbs for when we get back.”

  “Sure,” Jaypaw muttered. “We’ll get no help from Stoneteller.”

  “Remember,” Brambleclaw meowed, glancing solemnly around the cave. “This isn’t about the warrior code or the Tribe’s code. It’s about life or death, just like the trespassers said. And you—the Tribe—you will be the ones who live!”

  He stood motionless, amber eyes glowing, as the Tribe cats yowled their approval.

  Moonlight shimmered through the falling water, shedding silver light across the cave. The cats who were heading into battle gathered near the cave mouth, waiting for their turn to walk the Path of Rushing Water. Standing beside Lionpaw, Hollypaw sensed her brother’s quivering excitement at the thought of fighting in a real battle. His tail was fluffed up to twice its size and his amber eyes glittered.

  “Here.” Hollypaw jumped as a tail touched her shoulder; she spun around to see Jaypaw. “Come over here,” he repeated, beckoning with his tail. “There’s something I want to say.” There was a suppressed tension about him, too, as if he was facing a battle of his own.

  “What is it?” Lionpaw asked, glancing back at where the cats were vanishing along the path. “We have to go.”

  “This won’t take a heartbeat,” Jaypaw promised, as he drew them into a quiet cor
ner of the cave, sheltered by a boulder. “You have to take care,” he went on, when both his littermates were crouched beside him. “Remember that you don’t have StarClan to watch over you here.”

  “We have the Tribe of Endless Hunting,” Hollypaw reminded him.

  “Oh, no.” Jaypaw flicked his ears. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting has given up. They won’t lift a claw to help you.”

  How can he possibly know that? Hollypaw wondered. But there was no time to question him. In any case, she had learned not to ask how Jaypaw discovered the things he knew.

  “Look, there’s no need to worry about us—” Lionpaw began.

  “I’m not worried.” Jaypaw’s sightless blue eyes were oddly serious. “You must come back, whatever happens. It’s more important than you realize.”

  “We’re not going to run away, you know,” Lionpaw meowed.

  Jaypaw let out a furious hiss. “Will you listen…”

  His intensity scared Hollypaw. She wanted to know whatever it was that he wasn’t telling them. But just then she heard her name called from the direction of the waterfall.

  “Hollypaw! Lionpaw!” Brambleclaw was waiting, his tail twitching.

  “Coming!” she called.

  She and Lionpaw scrambled to their paws and shot across the cave floor to head out along the path. As she padded underneath the arch of thundering water, she thought she heard Jaypaw’s voice raised in one last yowl.

  “You must come back!”

  CHAPTER 28

  Beneath the full moon the mountains were washed with silver, patched with the deep shadows of jutting rocks. Lionpaw padded at his father’s shoulder.

  “Remember,” Brambleclaw mewed, glancing back at him and Hollypaw, “you’re not trying to prove anything. Don’t try to take on a cat you can’t handle. Not if you can help it.”

  “We don’t want to get our ears clawed off,” Hollypaw pointed out, with a whisk of her tail.

  “Be careful you don’t, then.” Brambleclaw’s amber gaze was warm. “How would I face Firestar if I didn’t bring you all home safe?”