CHAPTER 7

Firepaw retraced his steps and headed back toward the

stream. He thought of those eyes burning from the

darkness of the ShadowClan territory.

Suddenly he caught a faint smel on the breeze.

A stranger! Perhaps that ShadowClan warrior…

Instantly a growl rumbled in Firepaw’s throat. The scent

message told him many things. The stranger was a she-cat,

not young and definitely not from ThunderClan. She carried

no distinct scent from any of the Clans, but Firepaw could

tel she was tired, hungry, and sick, and she was in an ugly

mood.

Dropping low, Firepaw moved forward, heading toward

the scent. Then he paused in puzzlement. The warrior scent

was fainter now. He sniffed again.

Suddenly, with a lightning movement, a snarling bal of

fur burst from the bushes behind him.

Firepaw screeched in shock as the she-cat slammed

into him, knocking him sideways. Two heavy paws clamped

down onto his shoulders, and iron jaws closed around the

back of his neck. “Murr-oww! ” he grunted, already thinking

fast. If the other cat were to sink its fangs too deep, it would

al be over.

He forced himself to go limp, relaxing his muscles as if

in submission, and let out a pretend howl of alarm.

The she-cat opened her mouth to give a triumphant yowl.

“Ah, a puny apprentice. Easy prey for Yel owfang, ” she

hissed.

At the insult, Firepaw felt a surge of fury. Just wait. He’d

show this coughed-up furbal what kind of warrior he was!

But not yet, he told himself. Wait until you feel her teeth

again.

Yel owfang bit down. Firepaw surged upward with al the

strength in his powerful young body. The she-cat gave a

snarl of surprise as she was thrown clear. She tumbled

backward into a gorse bush.

Firepaw shook himself. “Not such easy prey, huh? ”

Yel owfang hissed defiance as she tore herself free from

the clinging branches. “Not bad, young apprentice, ” she

spat back. “But you’l need to do a lot better! ”

Firepaw blinked when he saw his opponent clearly for

the first time. The she-cat had a broad, almost flat face, and

round orange eyes. Her dark gray fur was long and matted

into smel y clumps. Her ears were torn and ragged, and her

muzzle was traced with the scars of many old battles.

Firepaw stood his ground. He puffed out his chest and

glared a chal enge into the intruder’s face. “You’re in

ThunderClan’s hunting ground. Move on! ”

“Who’s going to make me? ” Yel owfang drew back her

lip defiantly, exposing stained and broken teeth. “I wil hunt.

Then I wil leave. Or maybe I’l just stay awhile…. ”

“Enough talk, ” Firepaw spat, feeling the stir of ancient

cat spirits deep inside him. There was no trace of the

house cat in him now. His warrior blood was up. He was

itching to fight, to defend his territory and protect his Clan.

Yel owfang seemed to sense the change in him. Her

fierce orange eyes sparked with new respect. Dipping her

head and breaking eye contact, she started to back off. “No

need to be hasty, now, ” she purred in a silky tone.

Firepaw wasn’t fooled by her trickery. Claws extended

and fur on end, he leaped forward, his war cry ringing out:

“Grr-aaar! ”

With a hiss of rage the other cat responded. Snarling

and spitting, young cat and old locked together. They rol ed

over and over, teeth and claws flashing. Ears pressed flat

to his head, Firepaw fought to get a grip. But the she-cat’s

clumpy fur snagged in his claws, and he couldn’t break

through to skin.

Then Yel owfang reared up on her back legs. With her

filthy tail bristling, she looked even bigger.

Firepaw sensed Yel owfang’s huge jaws lunging toward

him. He leaned backward, just in time. Snap! Bared teeth

closed on the air next to his ear.

Instinctively Firepaw lashed out with a backswipe. His

paw caught the side of Yel owfang’s head. The force of it

sent shock waves up his front leg.

“Yee-ow! ” Stunned, Yel owfang dropped onto four paws.

She shook her head to clear it.

In the single heartbeat before the she-cat recovered,

Firepaw saw his chance. He threw himself forward,

crouching low, and clamped his jaws tight on Yel owfang’s

back leg. “Mur-ugh! ” The taste of the matted fur was

horrible, but he chomped down hard.

“Reow-ow-wow! ” Yel owfang screamed in agony and

whipped around to snap at Firepaw’s tail.

Her teeth connected and pain lanced up Firepaw’s

spine, but it only made him angrier. He ripped his tail from

his opponent’s grip, and lashed it back and forth in rage.

Yel owfang crouched, ready for a fresh attack. Her

breath seemed to wheeze up from her foul-smel ing lungs.

The scent blasted Firepaw’s nose. Up close, the message

of desperation and weakness, and the aching void of the

she-cat’s hunger, was almost painful.

Something stirred inside him, an unwarriorlike feeling he

didn’t want: pity. He tried not to dwel on this instinct—he

knew his loyalty must be to his Clan—but he couldn’t shake

free of it. “You speak from your heart, young Firepaw. ”

Lionheart’s words echoed in his head once more. “This wil

make you a stronger warrior one day. ” Then Tigerclaw’s

warning rang in his ears: “Or it might make him give in to

kittypet weakness right at the moment of attack. ”

Yel owfang lunged forward and Firepaw jerked instantly

back into aggression. The bigger cat tried to reach up onto

his shoulders and get a kil ing grip, but this time she was

hampered by her wounded leg.

“Gar-off! ” Firepaw arched his spine, but Yel owfang

managed to dig in her claws and hung on tight. The bigger

cat’s weight forced him to the ground.

Firepaw tasted earth on his tongue and spat out a

mouthful of grit. “Pah! ”

He twisted nimbly to avoid Yel owfang’s thrashing back

legs and the thorn-sharp claws that were trying to rake at

his soft underbel y. Over and over they rol ed, biting and

snapping.

Moments later they broke apart. Firepaw was gasping

for breath now. But he sensed that Yel owfang was

weakening. The she-cat was badly wounded, and her back

legs could barely support her scrawny body.

“Had enough yet? ” Firepaw growled. If the intruder gave

way, he’d let her go with just a warning bite to remember

him by.

“Never! ” Yel owfang hissed back bravely. But her injured

leg gave way and she slumped to the ground. She tried to

get up and failed. Her eyes were dul as she hissed up at

Firepaw, “If I weren’t so hungry and tired, I’d have shredded

you into mousedust. ” The she-cat’s mouth twisted in pain

and defiance. “Finish me off. I won’t stop you. ”

Firepaw hesitated. He’d never kil ed another cat before.

Perhaps, in the heat of battle, he would, but a mercy kil ing,

in cold blood? This was something very different.

“What are you waiting for? ” Yel owfang taunted. “You’re

dithering like a kittypet! ”

Firepaw smarted at the she-cat’s words. Could she

smel the scent of Twolegs on him, even now, after al this

time?

“I’m an apprentice warrior of ThunderClan! ” he snapped.

Yel owfang narrowed her eyes. She’d seen Firepaw

flinch at her words and she knew she’d hit a nerve. “Ha, ”

she snorted. “Don’t tel me ThunderClan is so desperate

they have to recruit kittypets now? ”

“ThunderClan is not desperate! ” hissed Firepaw.

“Prove it then! Act like a warrior and finish me off. You’l

be doing me a favor. ”

Firepaw stared at her. He would not be goaded into

kil ing this miserable creature. He felt his muscles relax as

curiosity pricked him. How had a Clan cat gotten in such a

state? ThunderClan elders were looked after better than

kits! “You seem in an awful hurry to die, ” he meowed.

“Yeah? Wel, that’s my business, mousefodder, ”

Yel owfang snapped. “What’s your problem, kitty? Are you

trying to talk me to death? ”

Her words were brave, but Firepaw could smel the

hunger and sickness that were coming off the other cat in

waves. She was going to die anyway if she didn’t eat soon.

And since she could hardly hunt for herself, perhaps he

should kil her now. The two cats looked at each other,

uncertainty in both their gazes.

“Wait here, ” Firepaw ordered at last.

Yel owfang seemed to deflate. Her hackles smoothed

out and her tail lost its gorse-bush stiffness. “Are you

kidding, kitty? I’m going nowhere. ” She grunted, limping

painful y toward a patch of soft heather. She flopped down

and began licking her leg wound.

Firepaw glanced briefly over his shoulder at her and

hissed quietly in exasperation before heading for the trees.

As he padded silently through the ferns, sun-warmed

odors fil ed his nose, and he caught the sour reek of a long-

dead rat. He heard the scratching of insects beneath bark,

the rustle of furry things scurrying over leaves. His first

thought had been to go and dig up the thrush he had kil ed

earlier, but that would take too long.

Maybe he should go and scoop up the rat carcass. Easy

meat, but a starving cat needed fresh-kil. Only when times

were very hard would a warrior eat crow food.

Just then he paused, scenting a young rabbit ahead. A

few more steps and he saw it. Flattening himself down, he

stalked the creature. He was barely a mouse-length away

before it detected him. By then it was too late. The white

bobtail darting away sent the thril of the chase surging

through Firepaw’s veins. A rush of speed, a flash of claws,

and he had it.

He held the wriggling body fast and finished it off quickly.

Yel owfang looked up tiredly as Firepaw dropped the

rabbit on the ground beside her. Her grizzled jaw dropped.

“Wel, hel o again, kitty! I thought you’d gone to fetch your

little warrior friends. ”

“Yeah? Wel, I might stil do that. And don’t cal me kitty. ”

Firepaw growled, shoving the rabbit nearer with his nose.

He felt embarrassed by his kindness. “Look, if you don’t

want this…”

“Ah—no, ” Yel owfang meowed hastily. “I do want it. ”

Firepaw watched the she-cat rip open the prey and start

to swal ow it down. His own hunger rose up and his mouth

fil ed with water. He knew he shouldn’t even be thinking

about eating. He stil had to take back enough prey for the

Clan, but the fresh-kil smel ed delicious.

“Mmm-mm. ” A few minutes later, Yel owfang gave a

huge sigh and flopped onto her side. “First fresh-kil I’ve

had for days. ” She licked her muzzle clean and settled

down to give herself a thorough wash.

As if one wash is going to make much difference,

Firepaw thought, his nose twitching. She was the arch-cat

of stench.

He eyed the tattered remnants of the prey. There wasn’t

much left to line a growing cat’s bel y, but his fight with

Yel owfang had sharpened his appetite even more; he gave

in to his hunger and gulped down the scraps. It was

delicious. He licked his lips, savoring every last taste,

tingling from head to paw.

Yel owfang watched him closely, showing her stained

teeth. “Better than the muck Twolegs feed some of our

brothers, isn’t it? ” she mewed slyly. Knowing she had found

his sore spot, she was trying to antagonize him.

Firepaw ignored her and began to wash.

“It’s poison, ” Yel owfang went on. “Rat droppings! Only a

spineless bag of fur would accept such disgusting

frogspawn—” She broke off and tensed. “Shhh…warriors

coming. ”

Firepaw was also aware of cats approaching. He could

hear their soft paw-fal on the leaf litter and the sound of fur

swishing through branches. He smel ed the wind brushing

against their coats. Familiar smel s. These were

ThunderClan warriors, confident enough in their own

territory not to care about the noise they made.

Firepaw licked his lips guiltily, hoping to wash away any

traces of the scraps he’d just swal owed. Then he looked at

Yel owfang and the fresh pile of rabbit bones that lay beside

her. “The Clan must be fed first! ” Lionheart’s voice rang

though his head once more. But surely he would understand

why Firepaw had fed this wretched creature. His mind

reeled, suddenly fearful of what would happen to him. His

first apprentice task, and he had ended up breaking the

warrior code!