CHAPTER 24

Yellowfang turned and pushed her way into the bracken.

Whitestorm and the others fol owed her.

Firepaw was tingling with excitement. He didn’t feel the

damp chil in the air, and his weariness was long forgotten.

Yel owfang guided them to a smal hol ow surrounded by

thick undergrowth and pointed out the entrance to the

ShadowClan camp. The tangled mass of brambles looked

very different from the neat gorse tunnel that led into the

ThunderClan camp. The camp boundary was ful of holes

and gaps and the stench of rotting meat wafted toward

them.

“You eat crow food? ” whispered Graypaw, curling his lip.

“Our warriors are used for attacking, not hunting, ” replied

Ashfur. “We eat whatever we can find. ”

“ThunderClan, hide in that clump of bracken over there, ”

hissed Yel owfang. “It’s ful of toadstools that wil disguise

your scent. Wait here til you hear me cal. ”

She stepped back to let the other ShadowClan cats lead

the way, tucking herself into the center of their group as

though she were their prisoner. They headed silently into

the camp.

The ThunderClan cats settled themselves among the

toadstools, tense and alert. Firepaw could feel his coat

prickling. He looked at Graypaw beside him. The thick fur

on the back of his friend’s neck was standing on end, and

Firepaw could hear him panting with suppressed

excitement.

Suddenly yowling erupted from the ShadowClan camp.

Without hesitating, the ThunderClan cats sprang from their

hiding places and raced through the entrance.

Yel owfang, Ashfur, Dawncloud, and Nightpelt were in a

wel -trodden, muddy clearing, wrestling with six vicious-

looking warriors. Firepaw recognized Brokenstar and his

deputy, Blackfoot, among them. The warriors looked hungry

and battle-scarred, but Firepaw could see the hard muscles

pounding beneath their patchy fur.

Around the edge of the clearing, groups of scrawny cats

stared uncertainly at the mayhem. Their skinny bodies

seemed to recoil at the violence, while their dul eyes

looked on, shocked and confused. Out of the corner of his

eye, Firepaw saw Runningnose back away and hide

beneath a bush.

At Whitestorm’s nodded signal, the ThunderClan cats

leaped into the battle.

Firepaw grasped a silver tabby with his claws, but was

shaken loose. He tumbled over and the ShadowClan

warrior turned on him and gripped him with claws as sharp

as blackthorns. Firepaw managed to twist and sink his

teeth deep into the cat’s flesh. The warrior’s yowl told him

he had found a tender spot, and he bit harder. The warrior

screeched again, ripping himself free, and ran off into the

bushes.

Firepaw stood up. A young ShadowClan apprentice

leaped at him from the edge of the camp, its soft kitten fur

fluffed up with fear.

Firepaw sheathed his claws and batted him away easily.

“This is not your battle, ” he hissed.

Whitestorm already had Blackfoot pinned to the ground.

He gave him a vicious bite and the injured deputy raced

away toward the camp entrance and out into the safety of

the forest.

“Firepaw! ” Firepaw heard Dawncloud screech his name.

“Watch out! Clawface is—” He didn’t hear the rest. A

heavily built brown cat crashed into him. Clawface! Firepaw

dug his claws into the ground and whirled around to fight.

The warrior that kil ed Spottedleaf! Rage surged through

him and he flung himself onto the brown tom.

Firepaw pushed the warrior to the ground and pressed

his head into the dirt. Blinded by fury, he prepared to sink

his teeth into Clawface’s neck. But before he could deal his

death blow, Whitestorm knocked him aside and grasped

the ShadowClan warrior.

“ThunderClan warriors do not kil unless they have to, ” he

growled in Firepaw’s ear. “We just need to let them know

not to show their faces here again! ” He gave Clawface a

fierce bite that sent him screaming out of the camp.

Stil raging, Firepaw looked around wildly. Brokenstar’s

warriors had gone.

An angry screech sounded from behind Graypaw.

Graypaw leaped out of the way and Firepaw saw

Yel owfang gripping Brokenstar with muddy, bloodstained

paws. His body bled from several wounds. His ears were

flattened against his head, and his whiskers were drawn

back as he crouched, flattened beneath Yel owfang’s

powerful grasp.

“I never thought you would be harder to kil than my

father! ” he snarled up at her.

Yel owfang recoiled as if she had been stung by a bee,

her face twisted suddenly by shock and grief. She loosened

her grip on Brokenstar, and instantly he threw her aside

with a twist of his powerful body.

“You kil ed Raggedstar? ” Yel owfang wailed, her eyes

wide with disbelief.

Brokenstar eyed her coldly. “You found his body. Didn’t

you recognize my fur between his claws? ” Yel owfang

stared in horror as he continued. “He was a soft and foolish

leader. He deserved to die. ”

“No! ” hissed Yel owfang, her head dropping. Then she

gave herself a shake. She looked up at Brokenstar, arching

her back. “And Brightflower’s kits? Did they deserve to die

too? ” she rasped.

Brokenstar growled and hurled himself at Yel owfang,

forcing her onto her bel y. Yel owfang didn’t even attempt to

struggle against his thorn-sharp claws. Firepaw saw with

alarm that her eyes were glazed with sadness.

“Those kits were weak, ” Brokenstar hissed, bending his

face toward Yel owfang’s ear. “They would have been no

use to ShadowClan. If I hadn’t kil ed them, some other

warrior would have. ”

A wail of grief went up from a black-and-white

ShadowClan queen. Brokenstar ignored her. “I should have

kil ed you when I had the chance, ” he spat at Yel owfang. “It

seems I must have some of my father’s softness. I was a

fool to let you leave ShadowClan alive! ” He lunged, teeth

bared, ready to sink them into her neck.

Firepaw was quicker. He jumped onto Brokenstar’s

back before he could clamp his jaws shut. Firepaw dug his

claws into the matted tabby fur and pul ed him off the

exhausted queen, flinging him to the edge of the clearing.

Brokenstar twisted around in midair to land on his feet

and looked into Firepaw’s eyes, spitting viciously. “Don’t

waste your time, apprentice! I’ve shared dreams with

StarClan. You wil have to kil me nine times over before I

join them. Do you real y think you’re strong enough for that? ”

His eyes glowed with confidence and defiance.

Firepaw stared back at him. His bel y tightened.

Brokenstar was a Clan leader! How on earth could he

expect to defeat him? But the watching ShadowClan cats

had begun to pad slowly toward their defeated leader,

snarling and hissing with hatred. They were battered and

half-starved, but Brokenstar was outnumbered, and he

seemed to realize this with a nervous flick of his tail. He

crouched and backed away through the bushes. His eyes

glittered menacingly from the shadows, his gaze finding

Firepaw through the crowd.

“This isn’t over, apprentice, ” he hissed before he turned

and vanished into the forest after his broken warriors.

Firepaw looked to Whitestorm. “Should we go after

them? ” he meowed.

The warrior shook his head. “I think they got the

message that they are not welcome here. ”

Nightpelt, the ShadowClan warrior, nodded in

agreement. “Leave them. If they dare to show their faces

here again, ShadowClan wil be strong enough by then to

tackle them alone. ”

The rest of ShadowClan was huddled together in the

ruins of their camp, as if numbed by the realization that their

leader had gone. It will take time to rebuild this Clan,

Firepaw thought.

“The kits! ”

Firepaw heard Graypaw’s meow from a far corner of the

clearing. He rushed over to his friend, Mousefur and

Whitestorm bounding at his heels. As they approached,

they could hear the pitiful mewling of kits coming from

beneath a pile of leaves and twigs. Quickly Graypaw and

Mousefur dug down through the foliage until they had

uncovered the missing ThunderClan kits at the bottom of a

smal pit.

“Are they okay? ” demanded Whitestorm, his tail

twitching with anxiety.

“They’re fine, ” replied Graypaw. “Most have only a few

scratches. But that little tabby has a pretty nasty wound on

his ear. Can you take a look, Yel owfang? ”

The old she-cat was licking her own wounds, but at

Graypaw’s cal she raced to the side of the pit, where

Graypaw had careful y deposited the tabby kit.

Firepaw helped Graypaw to lift out the rest of the kits.

The last one was gray, like the embers of an old fire. She

mewled and squirmed as Firepaw placed her on the

ground. Mousefur gathered al the kits to her and comforted

them with licks and caresses.

Yel owfang looked closely at the torn ear. “We need to

stop this bleeding, ” she meowed.

Runningnose stepped out of the shadows. His forepaw

was coated in a layer of cobwebs, which he silently passed

to Yel owfang. She nodded her thanks and began to treat

the kit’s wound.

Nightpelt approached the group of ThunderClan cats.

“You helped ShadowClan rid itself of a brutal and

dangerous leader, and we are grateful. But it is time you left

our camp and returned to your own. I promise your hunting

grounds wil be free of ShadowClan warriors as long as we

can find enough food in our own territory. ”

Whitestorm nodded. “Hunt in peace for one moon,

Nightpelt. ThunderClan knows you need time to rebuild your

Clan. ” He turned to Yel owfang. “And you, Yel owfang? ” he

asked. “Do you wish to return with us, or stay here with your

old comrades? ”

Yel owfang looked up at him. “I wil make the journey

back with you. ” She glanced at a deep gash on

Whitestorm’s hind leg. “You wil need a medicine cat, for

yourself as wel as your kits. ”

“Thank you, ” purred Whitestorm. He signaled to the

ThunderClan cats with a sweep of his tail and led them out

of the clearing. Mousefur and Wil owpelt helped the kits,

who stumbled along, exhausted and bewildered.

Yel owfang walked close to the wounded tabby kit, lifting

him by the scruff of his neck every time he slipped. Firepaw

and Graypaw fol owed them through the brambles, past the

camp scent-line and out into the forest.

The moon was stil rising in the quiet sky as the

ThunderClan party began the long trudge home, while

around them showers of brown leaves fluttered to the forest

floor.