CHAPTER 23

Firepaw could tell there were several cats in the patrol,

traveling fast. He couldn’t recognize the individual scents of

the cats through the earthy bog odors, but he knew it was

ThunderClan. He held his breath as the pawsteps raced

past and away.

“Are we real y going to try to rescue the kits from

ShadowClan alone? ” whispered Graypaw.

Yel owfang answered him first. “I might be able to find us

some help from inside ShadowClan. Not al the cats

support Brokenstar. ”

Firepaw pricked up his ears and Graypaw flicked his tail

in surprise.

“When he became leader, ” Yel owfang explained,

“Brokenstar forced the elders to leave the security of the

inner camp. They had to live on the boundary and hunt for

themselves. These are cats who have grown up with the

warrior code. Some of them might help us. ”

Firepaw stared into her old eyes, thinking quickly. “And I

might be able to persuade the ThunderClan hunting party to

help us too, ” he meowed. “If I can speak to them before they

see Yel owfang, I might be able to make them believe her

story. Graypaw, you wait at the dead ash, where we

smel ed the kit blood, til one of us returns. ”

Graypaw looked worried. “But do you real y trust

Yel owfang to bring back help? ” he murmured to Firepaw.

“You must trust me, ” growled Yel owfang. “I wil return. ”

Graypaw looked at Firepaw, who nodded.

Without another word Yel owfang sprang past the two

apprentices and disappeared into the bushes.

“Have we done the right thing? ” asked Graypaw.

“I don’t know, ” Firepaw admitted. “If we have, we are

heroes and the kits are safe. If we are wrong, then we are

as good as dead. ”

Firepaw sprinted after the patrol, around brambles, past

gorse, and through nettles. The trail was easy to fol ow. The

angry ThunderClan cats weren’t trying to disguise their

presence in ShadowClan’s territory.

Overhead, the thick layer of cloud had final y rol ed away.

Beyond the treetops, Silverpelt glittered across the night

sky. The moon was just rising, but its cold light couldn’t

pierce the mist that clung to the shadowy undergrowth.

Firepaw concentrated on the scent from up ahead. He

could smel Whitestorm. He sniffed again. Tigerclaw wasn’t

with them. He raced to catch up and skidded to a halt

behind the band of ThunderClan cats.

The warriors turned and glared at him, fur bristling, ears

flattened aggressively. Darkstripe was with them and the

young she-cat Mousefur, as wel as the tabby warrior

Runningwind. Mousefur wasn’t the only she-cat in the patrol

—Wil owpelt was there too.

“Firepaw! ” growled Whitestorm. “What are you doing

here? ”

Firepaw gasped for breath. “Bluestar sent me! ” he

panted. “She wanted me to find Yel owfang before—”

Whitestorm interrupted him. “Ah! ” he meowed. “Bluestar

told me I might find a friend out here. Now I understand what

she meant. ” He looked thoughtful y at Firepaw.

“Is Tigerclaw nearby? ” Firepaw asked, feeling a tingle of

pride at their shared gaze.

Whitestorm looked at him curiously. “Bluestar insisted

she needed him to remain at camp, to protect the

remaining kits. ”

Firepaw nodded quickly, relieved. He meowed urgently,

“Whitestorm, I need your help. I can lead you to the kits.

Graypaw is waiting for me. We plan to rescue them tonight.

Wil you come? ”

“Of course we’l come! ” The warriors flicked their tails

with excitement.

“It wil mean raiding the ShadowClan camp, ” Firepaw

warned.

“Can you lead us there? ” asked Runningwind eagerly.

“No, but Yel owfang can. And she has promised to bring

help from her old al ies in the camp. ”

Mousefur glared at him and thrashed her tail angrily.

“You have found Yel owfang? ” she hissed.

“I don’t understand, ” meowed Whitestorm, puzzled. “The

traitor is going to help rescue the kits she stole? ”

Firepaw took a deep breath to calm himself, then looked

steadily into Whitestorm’s eyes. “Yel owfang didn’t take

them, ” he meowed. “Nor did she murder Spottedleaf. She

wants to help us rescue our kits. ”

Whitestorm stared back at him, then blinked slowly.

“Lead the way, Firepaw, ” he ordered.

Graypaw was waiting by the ash tree, pacing restlessly

around its rotten trunk. He stopped as soon as he saw the

patrol emerge from the mist and twitched his whiskers in

greeting.

“Any sign of Yel owfang? ” Firepaw asked.

“Not yet, ” answered Graypaw.

“We don’t know how far it is to the ShadowClan camp, ”

Firepaw pointed out quickly, feeling Whitestorm stiffen

beside him. “She may be on her way back right now. ”

“Or she might be happily sharing tongues with her

ShadowClan comrades while we sit here like fools waiting

to be ambushed! ” meowed Graypaw.

Whitestorm watched the two apprentices. His ears

flicked uneasily. “Firepaw? ” he prompted.

“She wil come back, ” Firepaw promised.

“Wel said, young Firepaw. ” Yel owfang stalked out from

behind the ash tree and sat down. “You’re not the only one

who can sneak up on someone, ” she meowed at Firepaw.

“Remember the day we met? You were looking in the

wrong direction that time too. ”

Three other ShadowClan cats appeared from behind the

tree and settled themselves calmly on either side of

Yel owfang. The ThunderClan cats bristled, alert and

suspicious.

Both Clans stared silently at each other. Firepaw

fidgeted uncomfortably, unsure what to do now. Eventual y

one of the ShadowClan cats, a gray tom, spoke. His long

body was skinny, and his fur looked dul. “We have come to

help you, not to harm you. You have come for your kits; we

wil help you rescue them. ”

“What’s in it for you? ” asked Whitestorm warily.

“We want your help to get rid of Brokenstar. He has

broken the warrior code, and ShadowClan is suffering. ”

“So it’s that simple, is it? ” growled Runningwind. “We

just drop into your camp, snatch the kits, kil your leader,

and go home. ”

“You wil not meet as much resistance as you think, ”

murmured the gray tom.

Yel owfang stood up. “Let me introduce my old friends, ”

she meowed, weaving her way around the ShadowClan

cats. She brushed past the gray tom. “This is Ashfur; he is

one of the Clan elders.

“And this is Nightpelt, a senior warrior before

Raggedstar was kil ed. ” She circled a battered black tom,

who nodded at them.

“And this is one of our elder queens, Dawncloud. Two of

her kits died driving out WindClan. ”

Dawncloud, a smal tabby, meowed in greeting. “I do not

wish to lose any more of my kits, ” she told them.

Whitestorm gave his chest a quick lick to smooth down

his fur. “You are clearly skil ed warriors if you managed to

creep up on us like that. But are there enough of you? We

need to know what we’l face when we raid the

ShadowClan camp. ”

“The old and sick of ShadowClan are slowly starving, ”

meowed Ashfur. “The casualties among our kits are more

than we can cope with. ”

“But if ShadowClan is a mess, ” burst out Darkstripe,

“how come you have shown so much strength lately? And

why is Brokenstar stil your leader? ”

“Brokenstar is surrounded by a smal group of elite

warriors, ” answered Ashfur. “They are the ones to fear,

because they would die for him without question. The other

warriors obey his orders only because they are frightened.

They wil fight by his side as long as they think Brokenstar is

going to win. If they thought he would lose…”

“They would fight against him, not for him! ” Darkstripe

finished the elder’s words in disgust. “What sort of loyalty is

that? ”

The hackles of the ShadowClan cats began to rise.

“Our Clan was not always like this, ” Yel owfang

interrupted. “When Raggedstar led ShadowClan, we were

feared for our strength. But in those days our strength came

from the warrior code and Clan loyalty, not from fear and

bloodlust. ” The old medicine cat sighed. “If only Raggedstar

had lived longer. ”

“How did Raggedstar die? ” asked Whitestorm curiously.

“There were so many rumors at the Gatherings, but no one

seemed to know for sure. ”

Yel owfang’s eyes clouded with sorrow. “He was

ambushed by a warrior patrol from another Clan. ”

Whitestorm nodded thoughtful y. “Yes, that is what most

cats seemed to think. These are bad times indeed, when

leaders are picked off in the dark, instead of open and

honorable battle. ”

Firepaw frowned, his mind racing over different battle

plans. “Is there any way of taking the kits without alerting the

whole Clan? ” he asked.

Dawncloud answered him. “They are very closely

guarded. Brokenstar wil be expecting ThunderClan to try to

take them. You won’t be able to steal them in secret. Open

attack is your only hope. ”

“Then we must concentrate our attack on Brokenstar and

his inner guard, ” meowed Whitestorm.

Yel owfang had a suggestion. “The ShadowClan

warriors should lead me into the ShadowClan camp. They

could say they had captured me. We have to make sure

Brokenstar and his warriors are out of their dens. News of

my capture wil bring them into the clearing. Once they’re al

out in the open, I’l give the signal for you to attack. ”

Whitestorm was silent for a moment. Then he nodded,

his face grave as he committed his warriors to the attack.

“Very wel, Yel owfang, ” he meowed. “Please lead the way

to the ShadowClan camp. ”