The Darkest Hour Read online

  He paused, and his deputy Blackfoot yowled out, “Filth! Filth!”

  Darkstripe took up the cry, and a chorus of yowls and screeches echoed his words. This time Tigerstar let them fall quiet in their own time, gazing out over the cats below him with a look of calm satisfaction.

  He and Blackfoot must have rehearsed all this, Firestar realized in horror.

  He noticed that it was the ShadowClan warriors who yowled the loudest. The RiverClan cats joined in less enthusiastically; Firestar guessed they might not all fully agree with the ShadowClan leader, but they did not dare stay silent.

  The two half-Clan apprentices flattened themselves close to the ground, as if they were afraid of being swept away in the gale of the Clan’s fury. Stonefur crouched over them as if he could protect them, gazing around with defiance in his eyes.

  Where is Mistyfoot? Firestar wondered. Tigerstar knows she’s half-Clan too. What has he done with her?

  Tigerstar spoke again. “Half-Clan cats have been tolerated until now, but the time for tolerance has passed. There is no place in TigerClan for warriors who owe allegiance to two Clans. How can we trust them not to betray our secrets, or even turn on us and kill us? Can we expect StarClan to fight on our side if we allow those who are not pure in heart and blood to walk freely among us?”

  “No!” Darkstripe screeched, flexing his claws and lashing his tail from side to side.

  “No, my friends. We must get rid of the abominations in our midst! Then our Clan will be clean again and we can be sure of the favor of StarClan.”

  Stonefur sprang to his paws. He was so weak that he stumbled and almost fell, but he managed to stay upright and face Tigerstar.

  “No cat has ever questioned my loyalty,” he snarled. “Come down here and tell me to my face that I’m a traitor!”

  Firestar wanted to wail aloud at the blue-gray warrior’s hopeless courage. Tigerstar could have swatted him aside with one paw, and yet Stonefur still remained defiant.

  “Mistyfoot and I never even knew that Bluestar was our mother until a couple of moons ago,” Stonefur insisted. “We have been loyal RiverClan warriors all our lives. Let any cat who thinks different come out here and prove it!”

  Tigerstar angrily swept his tail toward Leopardstar. “You showed poor judgment when you chose this cat as your deputy,” he growled. “RiverClan is choked by the weeds of treachery, and we must root them out.”

  To Firestar’s dismay, Leopardstar bowed her head. The gesture showed just how far Tigerstar’s power extended, that the once-formidable RiverClan leader was unable or unwilling to protect her own deputy.

  Yet the dark tabby’s words gave Firestar hope. It sounded as if Tigerstar was about to banish Stonefur and the two apprentices. If he did, then Firestar and his friends could wait for them at the border, ready to take them back to ThunderClan, where they would be safe.

  When Tigerstar spoke again, his voice was measured and cold. “Stonefur, I will give you a chance to show your loyalty to TigerClan. Kill these two half-Clan apprentices.”

  An eerie silence spread through the clearing, broken only by Graystripe’s gasp of outrage. Luckily the TigerClan warriors were so intent on the scene in front of them that no cat heard him.

  “Firestar!” Graystripe whispered. “We must do something!” His claws dug into the ground and his muscles bunched, ready to spring, yet his eyes were fixed on Firestar as if he would not attack without his leader’s order.

  Ravenpaw’s eyes, bright with distress, turned to Firestar. “We can’t just watch them die!”

  Firestar could feel his fur prickling with tension. He knew he could not stay crouching here in hiding while Graystripe’s kits were slaughtered a few foxlengths away. If all else failed, he was ready to give up his life in a battle to save them.

  “Wait just a moment,” he murmured. “Let’s see what Stonefur does.”

  The blue-gray warrior had turned to face Leopardstar. “I take orders from you,” he growled. “You must know this is wrong. What do you want me to do?”

  For a heartbeat Leopardstar looked uncertain, and again Firestar began to hope that she would take a stand against Tigerstar and stop the destruction of her Clan. But he had underestimated the strength of her ambition, and her misguided faith that Tigerstar offered an invincible future. “These are difficult times,” she meowed at last. “As we fight for survival we must be able to count on every one of our Clan mates. There is no room for divided loyalties. Do as Tigerstar tells you.”

  Stonefur held her gaze for a moment more, a moment that to Firestar seemed to last for several moons. Then he faced the two apprentices and they shrank away from him, their eyes glazed with terror.

  Stormpaw gave his sister a comforting lick. “We’ll fight him,” he promised. “I won’t let him kill us.”

  Brave words, Firestar thought desperately. Stonefur was a skilled, experienced warrior, and even in his weakened state he was a formidable threat to two half-trained apprentices who had obviously been ill-treated and imprisoned as well.

  The RiverClan warrior gave a little nod to Stormpaw, just like any mentor approving of his apprentice’s courage. Then he turned to look up at Tigerstar again.

  “You’ll have to kill me first, Tigerstar!” he spat.

  Narrowing his eyes, Tigerstar flicked his tail at Darkstripe. “Very well. Kill him,” he ordered.

  The black-striped warrior crouched low, every hair on his pelt quivering with joy that Tigerstar had given him a chance to prove his loyalty to his new Clan. With a grunt of effort, he hurled himself at Stonefur.

  Pity and fear throbbed through Firestar. He could see only one end to the fight. The blue-gray warrior was so weak that he would be no match for Darkstripe. Firestar wanted to leap into the clearing and fight on Stonefur’s side, but he knew it would be suicidal in the presence of so many enemy cats. He knew that he had to hold back in the hope, however slight, of saving the apprentices. Firestar had scarcely known an ordeal worse than the one he faced now, remaining hidden while his friend was slaughtered.

  Yet Stonefur’s skills had not deserted him. Quick as lightning, he dropped backward so that instead of landing on his shoulders Darkstripe was faced with all four paws, claws extended to rip at his fur.

  Firestar felt his throat tighten. He remembered a day during his apprenticeship when Stonefur’s mother, Bluestar, had taught him that very move. Bluestar, if you can see this, help him now! he begged.

  The two warriors were a clawing, screeching knot of fur on the floor of the clearing. The rest of the cats scrambled backward to give them space, still keeping the same eerie silence. They were so intent on the battle, Firestar wondered for a moment if this might be the best time to rescue the apprentices. But Tigerstar was still crouched on top of the Bonehill, with a clear view of the whole clearing, and he would easily see them coming.

  Stonefur had fastened his teeth into Darkstripe’s scruff and was trying to shake the dark warrior, but Darkstripe’s greater size and strength were too much. He lost his grip and the two warriors sprang apart, breathing hard. Blood was trickling from a scratch above Darkstripe’s left eye, and clumps of fur were missing from his flank. Stonefur’s pelt was even more ragged, and as he shook one forepaw spots of blood spattered on the ground.

  “Get a move on, Darkstripe!” Blackfoot jeered. “You’re fighting like a kittypet!”

  With a hiss of fury Darkstripe launched another attack, but Stonefur was ready for him again. Slipping to one side, he raked his claws down Darkstripe’s side, and followed up with a blow to his back leg as the dark warrior crashed past him. Stonefur staggered from the force of the impact, but by the time Darkstripe regained his paws, he had recovered. This time the RiverClan warrior went on the attack, bowling Darkstripe over and fastening teeth and claws in his neck.

  Firestar heard Graystripe’s intake of breath. His yellow eyes were blazing; on his other side Ravenpaw was sinking his unsheathed claws into the ground. Firestar felt hope burn in his bel
ly. Was it possible that Stonefur could win?

  But Tigerstar had no intention of letting Stonefur escape. As Darkstripe struggled vainly to break free, the massive tabby flicked his ears at Blackfoot. “Finish it,” he ordered.

  The ShadowClan deputy flung himself into the battle. He bit Stonefur in the shoulder and dragged him off Darkstripe, ducking to avoid his flailing paws. Darkstripe sprang on Stonefur to hold his hindquarters down, while Blackfoot scored his claws across the blue-gray warrior’s throat.

  Stonefur let out a gurgling cry that was cut short. Both TigerClan cats released him and stood back. Stonefur’s body convulsed as blood welled from his throat.

  A thin wailing noise went up from the watching cats, strengthening into a cry of triumph. Even Leopardstar, after a brief hesitation, joined in. The two apprentices were the only cats to remain silent, their terrified eyes fixed on the warrior who had died to save them.

  Firestar could only stare in horror as Stonefur went limp and the last breath left his body.

  CHAPTER 16

  “No.” Graystripe’s voice rasped in his throat.

  Firestar pressed closer to his friend, sharing his grief at Stonefur’s death and his anger that the RiverClan warrior’s courage had been worth nothing in an unfair fight.

  Blackfoot looked down at Stonefur’s body in satisfaction.

  Darkstripe whirled to confront the two apprentices. “Tigerstar,” he meowed, “let me kill them.”

  Graystripe would have sprung forward then, in spite of anything Firestar could do, but before he could move Tigerstar shook his battle-scarred head. “Really, Darkstripe? A prisoner can defeat you, but you think you could take on two apprentices?”

  Darkstripe bowed his head in shame. His leader’s eyes narrowed coldly as he stared at the two young cats. They were huddled together, trembling with shock. They hardly seemed to realize that their own lives were hanging by a hair.

  “No,” Tigerstar meowed at last. “For now I will let them live. They may be useful to me alive.”

  Firestar flashed a look at Graystripe, who returned his glance with mingled relief and apprehension in his eyes.

  Tigerstar summoned Jaggedtooth. “Take the apprentices back to their prison.”

  The ShadowClan warrior dipped his head and herded the two stunned cats away through the reeds. Graystripe’s hungry gaze followed them out of sight.

  “The meeting is at an end,” Tigerstar declared.

  At once the cats in the clearing began to slip away. Tigerstar leaped down from the Bonehill and vanished into the reeds, flanked by Blackfoot and Darkstripe. Eventually only Leopardstar was left. She padded forward until she stood over the broken body of her former deputy. Slowly she bent her head and nosed Stonefur’s torn gray pelt. If she meowed a last farewell, Firestar did not hear it, and after a moment she turned and followed Tigerstar through the reeds.

  “Now!” Graystripe sprang to his paws. “Firestar, we’ve got to rescue my kits.”

  “Yes, but don’t go rushing off,” Firestar warned him. “We have to make sure all the cats have gone.”

  His friend’s body was quivering with suppressed tension. “I don’t care!” he spat. “If they try to stop us, I’ll rip them all apart.”

  “The kits are safe for the moment,” murmured Ravenpaw. “There’s no need to take risks.”

  Firestar cautiously raised his head above the level of the reeds. By now it was quite dark; the only light came from Silverpelt and a pale glow from the moon low in the sky. The ShadowClan and RiverClan scents were rapidly fading. The only sound was the dry rustle of wind in the reeds.

  Crouching down again, Firestar murmured, “They’ve gone for now. This is our chance. We’ve got to find where they’re keeping the apprentices, and—”

  “And get them away,” Graystripe interrupted. “Whatever it takes.”

  Firestar nodded. “Ravenpaw, are you up for it? It will be dangerous.”

  The loner’s eyes widened. “You think I’d leave, after we saw that? No way. I’m with you, Firestar.”

  “Good.” Firestar blinked in gratitude. “I thought you would be.”

  Beckoning his two friends with his tail, he led the way into the clearing, his pawsteps growing hesitant as he left the shelter of the reeds. He knew what he was doing was against the warrior code, but what Tigerstar had done had left him no alternative. He did not know how his warrior ancestors could have watched the slaughter of Stonefur without doing anything to save him.

  Creeping close to the ground, the three cats reached the stream where rotting fresh-kill lay strewn along the bank. In the midst of his cold fury, Firestar spared a moment to be angry at the waste of prey in such a hard season.

  “Look at that!” he hissed.

  “But we could roll in it,” Ravenpaw suggested. “It’ll disguise our scent.”

  Firestar gave him a brief nod, approval calming his anger. Ravenpaw was thinking like a warrior. Firestar crouched down and pressed his fur into the decaying carcass of a rabbit. Graystripe and Ravenpaw followed. The gray warrior’s eyes were like chips of yellow flint.

  When all three cats were thoroughly covered with the scent of crowfood, Firestar headed into the reeds where he had seen Jaggedtooth disappear with the two apprentices. There was a narrow path along the frozen mud, as if cats regularly came and went that way. All Firestar’s senses were alert.

  As they headed away from the river toward the farmland on the other side of RiverClan territory, the reeds thinned out and the ground rose. When Firestar and his friends came to the edge of the cover, they saw a grassy slope in front of them with an occasional clump of gorse and hawthorn. About halfway up a dark hole yawned in the hillside. Jaggedtooth was crouched outside it.

  “There are pawprints leading into that hole,” Firestar murmured.

  Graystripe lifted his muzzle to taste the air and let out a faint sound of disgust. “Sick cats,” he meowed quietly. “You’re right, Firestar; this is the place.” He bared his teeth. “Jaggedtooth is mine.”

  “No.” Firestar’s tail whipped out, signaling his friend to stay where he was. “We can’t afford a fight. The noise would bring every cat in the territory. We have to get rid of him another way.”

  “I can do that.” Ravenpaw’s paws anxiously kneaded the ground, but his expression was determined. “He’ll recognize you two, but he doesn’t know me.”

  Firestar hesitated, then nodded. “How will you do it?”

  “I’ve got a plan.” Ravenpaw’s eyes shone with anticipation, and Firestar realized that the loner was almost relishing the danger, as if he had missed having a chance to use his warrior skills. “Don’t worry; it’ll be fine,” the black cat assured him.

  Straightening up, he strolled out of the reeds and up the slope, his head and tail held high. Jaggedtooth got up and paced forward to meet him, the tabby fur on his neck bristling.

  Firestar gathered himself, ready to spring if the ShadowClan warrior attacked. But though Jaggedtooth looked aggressive, he did nothing more than give Ravenpaw a suspicious sniff.

  “I don’t know you,” he growled. “Who are you and what do you want?”

  “Think you know all the RiverClan cats, do you?” Ravenpaw inquired coolly. “I’ve got a message from Tigerstar.”

  Jaggedtooth grunted and his whiskers twitched as he sniffed Ravenpaw again. “Great StarClan, you stink!”

  “You don’t smell so pleasant yourself,” Ravenpaw retorted. “Do you want this message or don’t you?”

  Firestar and Graystripe exchanged a glance as Jaggedtooth hesitated. Firestar felt his heart thud painfully against his ribs.

  “Go on, then,” the ShadowClan warrior meowed at last.

  “Tigerstar wants you to go to him at once,” mewed Ravenpaw. “He sent me to take your place guarding the prisoners.”

  “What?” Jaggedtooth lashed his tail in disbelief. “Only ShadowClan guards the prisoners. You RiverClan cats are all too soft. Why did Tigerstar send you and not one
of our own Clan?”

  Firestar flinched. Ravenpaw had made a potentially fatal mistake.

  But the loner didn’t seem bothered. Turning away, he meowed, “I thought we were supposed to be all one Clan now. But suit yourself. I’ll tell Tigerstar you wouldn’t come.”

  “No, wait.” Jaggedtooth twitched his ears. “I didn’t say that. If Tigerstar wants me…Where is he, then?”

  “Over there.” Ravenpaw pointed with his tail in the direction of the RiverClan camp. “He had Darkstripe and Blackfoot with him.”

  Jaggedtooth made up his mind. “Right,” he muttered. “But you stay out here till I get back. If I smell your stink inside the hole I’ll rip your fur off.”

  He headed down the slope. Ravenpaw watched him go, then padded up and sat down just outside the hole. Firestar and Graystripe crouched in the reeds as Jaggedtooth passed within a couple of tail-lengths of them. He was hurrying now, and did not even stop to scent the air as he vanished down the path.

  Once he had gone, Firestar and Graystripe bounded across the open ground to join Ravenpaw. Graystripe paused briefly to sniff and meowed, “Yes! They’re in there!” before he vanished inside the hole.

  Firestar stopped in front of Ravenpaw. “Well done!”

  Ravenpaw licked his paw and drew it over his ear two or three times to hide his embarrassment. “It was easy. He’s such a stupid furball.”

  “Yes, but he’ll know something’s up as soon as he finds Tigerstar,” Firestar pointed out. “Keep watch, and call out if you see any cat.” With a last glance behind him, he plunged into the hole after Graystripe.

  He found himself in a long, narrow passage carved out of the sandy soil. Thick darkness engulfed him after the first few tail-lengths. There was a lingering scent of fox, but it was faint and stale, as if the original occupant of the hole were long gone. Stronger by far was the fear scent rising from the darkness, the scent of cats who had given up all hope.