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  “Thank you.” Twigpaw gave the dark brown tabby cat a grateful glance, though she noticed her mentor’s tail-tip twitching back and forth in irritation. I wonder why Ivypool doesn’t seem to like Tigerheart.

  Bramblestar waved his tail as a signal for the assembled cats to move. His muscles rippled under his dark tabby pelt as he led the way. Padding forward as one cat, the combined forces of the four Clans slid silently after him through the long grass and crossed into ShadowClan territory. Twigpaw shivered as the reek of the border markers wafted over her.

  Every cat kept quiet under the shadow of the trees, paw steps soundless on the thick layer of pine needles that covered the ground. They spread out as they headed toward the ShadowClan camp.

  But before the bushes that surrounded the camp came into view, Twigpaw spotted movement among the trees ahead. A patrol emerged: four of the ShadowClan cats who had chosen to remain on their own territory with the rogues. Sleekwhisker was in the lead.

  The patrol halted as they spotted the crowd of cats stalking purposefully toward them. They stared as if they could not believe what was in front of them.

  Sleekwhisker was the first to recover from the shock. “Intruders!” she screeched. “We’re under attack! All cats—back to camp, now!”

  She whirled around and vanished into the trees, her patrol hard on her paws.

  Harespring, the WindClan deputy, looked at his paws and shook his head. “There goes our chance of surprising them,” he muttered.

  “Into your groups!” Bramblestar ordered.

  Before they’d left the ThunderClan camp, every cat had been assigned to a group that would fight together in the battle. Now Twigpaw knew exactly where she was supposed to be. Still nervous, and amazed at how fast everything was happening, she raced forward, following Lionblaze. Her paws hardly touched the ground as wind flowed through her fur. Ivypool, Dovewing, and Tigerheart pelted along beside her.

  The mingled scents of many cats told Twigpaw that they were now very close to the ShadowClan camp. At the same moment, cats began to stream out of the bushes ahead. Twigpaw’s eyes widened, and for a heartbeat her flying paws faltered, as she realized just how many rogues there were now that former ShadowClan cats had joined them—far more than she had seen or heard of before.

  The silence of the forest was split by yowls and caterwauling as the two groups of cats clashed. Twigpaw found herself face to face with Juniperclaw. For a moment she hesitated, unsure what to do, until the ShadowClan tom swiped at her, claws extended and jaws gaping in a snarl. Instinctively Twigpaw ducked underneath his outstretched leg and raked her claws across Juniperclaw’s underbelly, her fighting lessons with Ivypool echoing in her mind.

  Juniperclaw let out a hiss of fury and reared back to pounce on top of Twigpaw, who dodged to one side, swiping at his flank. But Juniperclaw jumped back quickly enough that Twigpaw’s blow never landed. Growling fiercely, Twigpaw leaped toward her adversary, throwing up a paw to block the ShadowClan warrior as he slashed at her shoulder.

  Excitement flooded through Twigpaw as her body remembered all the fighting moves she’d learned in training. This feels natural . . . it feels right. I’m fighting for my Clan!

  She dashed at Juniperclaw again, bunching her muscles to leap upon his back. But at the last moment Juniperclaw reared onto his hind legs and twisted to one side, pinning Twigpaw to the ground. The ShadowClan warrior’s glaring eyes and sharp teeth were less than a mouse-length from her face.

  “You’re good, apprentice,” he hissed. “But not that good.”

  Unable to breathe under his weight, Twigpaw tried to bring up her hind paws to bat at the ShadowClan cat’s belly, but Juniperclaw was too heavy; Twigpaw couldn’t push him far enough away to get any strength behind her blows.

  What do I do now? she wondered, fighting off panic.

  Suddenly a silver-and-white blur flashed across Twigpaw’s vision as Ivypool leaped right over her, knocking Juniperclaw away. The ShadowClan cat fell to the ground, paws flailing, while Ivypool followed up her leap with a couple of hard blows across his shoulders.

  “Scram, flea-pelt!” she snarled.

  Juniperclaw scrambled to his paws and fled; Twigpaw lost sight of him among the battling cats.

  “Thanks, Ivypool,” she gasped, forcing herself upright again.

  “My pleasure,” Ivypool mewed swiftly; then she hurled herself toward Lionblaze and Dovewing, who were battling three of the rogues.

  Her chest heaving as she fought to catch her breath, Twigpaw took a moment to look around. Everywhere cats were locked in combat. Her spirits rose as she realized that the Clan cats seemed to be winning the fight. She saw Bramblestar knock Rain to the ground, while Cherryfall was darting to and fro, slashing at Sleekwhisker, whose efforts to defend herself grew feebler with every heartbeat.

  Twigpaw was about to leap back into the fray when she spotted Onestar, who had Darktail pinned to the ground. Onestar’s forepaws pummeled at Darktail’s face, leaving bloody slashes across his cheeks. Darktail barely struggled, gasping for breath.

  Onestar must be taking revenge for his lost life, Twigpaw guessed.

  But as she watched the two leaders fight, Darktail heaved himself up and tumbled Onestar to the ground. He staggered toward Onestar and murmured something, his mouth close to the WindClan leader’s ear. Onestar’s eyes widened into a horrified stare as he rose to his paws and drew away from the rogue. His message—whatever it was—delivered, Darktail sagged to the ground again. Twigpaw could see that his white fur was smudged with red from injuries on his sides and chest.

  She tensed, expecting Onestar to lunge at Darktail and deliver a killing blow. But the WindClan leader backed away. Why doesn’t Onestar finish Darktail off? Twigpaw wondered. That’s the whole point of this battle!

  Instead Onestar raised his head to let out a loud yowl. “Cats of WindClan! Retreat! Back to the camp!”

  Twigpaw let out a gasp. She couldn’t understand why Onestar would call his cats out of the battle, especially when he had been so adamant that they drive the rogues out at last.

  What could Darktail possibly have said to him?

  “WindClan! Retreat!” Onestar yowled again.

  Twigpaw caught no more than a glimpse of the WindClan cats breaking off their tussles with the rogues before something hard hit her in the back and bowled her over, knocking the breath out of her. Too late she realized that she shouldn’t have been staring at Onestar instead of paying attention to the battle around her.

  Summoning every scrap of her strength, Twigpaw twisted around to see Yarrowleaf glaring balefully down at her, the hostile she-cat’s breath riffling Twigpaw’s whiskers while her claws dug into her shoulders. Twigpaw heaved upward and managed to dislodge the ShadowClan cat so that she could rake her hind paws across her belly. But Yarrowleaf still kept a grip on her and bent down, jaws parted to sink her teeth into Twigpaw’s throat.

  Twigpaw strained away from her, bracing herself for pain. Then Ivypool appeared once again, fastening her claws into Yarrowleaf’s neck and hauling her bodily away.

  After flinging Yarrowleaf to one side, Ivypool crouched to pounce on top of her, but before she could move, Tigerheart appeared, thrusting himself between the two cats and giving Yarrowleaf the chance to scramble away.

  Ivypool straightened up, glaring at Tigerheart. “What in StarClan’s name do you think you’re doing?” she snarled. “Yarrowleaf isn’t your Clanmate now. You’re supposed to be on our side!”

  Tigerheart cast an anguished glance after the fleeing Yarrowleaf. He opened his jaws to answer, but before he could speak he was interrupted by an angry yowl from Lionblaze. The WindClan cats were streaming away from the ShadowClan camp in the paw steps of their leader, leaving the remaining warriors at a serious disadvantage.

  “Stop!” Bramblestar yowled.

  “You can’t leave us! We agreed!” Mistystar added.

  Rowanstar was tearing up clumps of grass with his claws, his fur bristling with rage
. “Traitors!” he screeched after the departing WindClan cats. “Cowards!”

  While the leaders were distracted, Twigpaw spotted one of the rogues looming up behind Mistystar. Her belly clenched in anxiety and she let out a screech, but her warning came too late. The hulking tom barreled into Mistystar and knocked her to the ground in a whirl of waving paws. Several RiverClan cats raced up to defend their leader, and more of the rogues piled in, viciously swiping at the RiverClan warriors.

  Ivypool and Tigerheart exchanged a swift glance, their argument forgotten for now, and dived back into the battle.

  Twigpaw glanced from side to side, anxiously watching her battling Clanmates. Even she, an apprentice fighting in her first battle, could see clearly that the tide had turned. The Clan cats were losing. WindClan had fled, the RiverClan warriors were giving way under the pummeling of the rogues, and like Tigerheart, the ShadowClan cats were hesitant to attack their own former Clanmates.

  This is a disaster! she thought despairingly. And we planned it so carefully! How did it all go wrong?

  As Twigpaw turned around, wondering what she could do now to help her Clan, she spotted a small black-and-white cat emerging from the shadows underneath a bush. “Violetpaw!” she gasped.

  Her sister halted, and the two she-cats stared at each other for a moment. Twigpaw could see that Violetpaw looked thinner and taller than when she had seen her last. Blood trickled from a scratch on one of her ears, but to Twigpaw’s relief she looked mostly unhurt.

  “Are you okay?” Twigpaw blurted out after a moment.

  Violetpaw’s eyes widened at the question. She didn’t reply, and for a couple of heartbeats neither cat moved. Twigpaw knew that she should spring into attack, but every hair on her pelt shrank from the thought of hurting her sister.

  “I miss you,” she whispered.

  Violetpaw’s jaws parted as if she was about to speak, but just then a snarl came from behind her.

  “What are you waiting for?”

  The long-furred gray rogue, Rain, ducked out from beneath the same bush, followed by Needletail, who had grown larger and more formidable since Twigpaw had last seen her. They separated, moving to either side of Twigpaw, their eyes menacing. Twigpaw flinched back, trying to keep all three cats in view.

  “She’s the enemy,” Needletail hissed to Violetpaw.

  Twigpaw could hardly believe what she was hearing. Is this the same cat who used to bring Violetpaw to play with me when we were kits?

  Rain draped his tail over Violetpaw’s shoulders. “We’re your kin now,” he growled.

  Violetpaw gave one desperate glance from Needletail to Rain and back again. Then she gathered herself and sprang at Twigpaw, claws outstretched to slash at her shoulder.

  For a heartbeat, Twigpaw could do no more than stare at her, stunned; then she recovered enough to stumble backward, out of range. But before she could take more than a couple of paw steps, one of her hind paws caught in a hole behind her. She fell heavily onto her side, wrenching her leg, and she let out a screech as hot pain clawed through her body. Violetpaw stood over her, staring down with her teeth bared.

  Twigpaw knew that she couldn’t fight anymore. This is when I go to hunt with StarClan. Oh, Violetpaw, how did we end up like this? Are you really going to strike the blow that kills me?

  Then a yowl rang out from behind her and Lionblaze raced past, flinging himself on Rain and the ShadowClan cats. All three of them flinched backward in the face of his ferocious attack.

  Twigpaw stared after her sister’s retreating form. Violetpaw doesn’t care about me anymore, she realized miserably. She thinks I’m her enemy! She attacked me!

  All around Twigpaw, the battle was still raging. She could see that the Clan cats were being driven back, but she could hardly bring herself to care. Guilt flooded over her; she knew she ought to be panicking at the defeat of the Clans. But all she could think about was her sister.

  CHAPTER 2

  The sun was dipping behind the trees at the top of the hollow, the slanting rays filtering into the medicine cats’ den, as Alderheart laid one last piece of cobweb on Birchfall’s shoulder wound. “It will heal well,” he reassured the older warrior. “Do you want a poppy seed for the pain?”

  “No.” Leafpool turned from where she was tucking fresh moss around Twigpaw’s drowsing form. “We need to save the poppy seeds for the cats with more serious injuries.”

  “That’s okay,” Birchfall meowed. “It doesn’t hurt much anyway. Thanks, Alderheart,” he added. “I’ll be fine.” He brushed past the bramble screen at the entrance to the den and headed out into the camp.

  Alderheart joined Leafpool beside Twigpaw, who was dozing uncomfortably in her nest of moss and bracken close to the sleeping Briarlight. The apprentice’s fluffy gray fur was barely visible among the thick bedding. Occasionally she let out little murmurs of pain.

  “I’m worried about her,” Alderheart confessed to Leafpool. “Her leg was twisted badly.”

  “At least it’s not broken,” Leafpool responded. “And the stick you and Jayfeather bound onto it will give it some support. She’ll just have to stay off the leg completely until it gets better.”

  “That’s going to take a few days,” Alderheart mewed gloomily.

  He was concerned about Twigpaw’s other injuries, too, the long scratches on her sides and face that he had treated with marigold to protect against infection. But what worried him most of all was the heartbroken expression on Twigpaw’s face before the poppy seeds had helped her to drift into sleep. He remembered her anguish as she’d told him how Violetpaw had attacked her. He knew how terrible he would feel if Sparkpelt had turned on him like that.

  And Twigpaw has never had any kin but Violetpaw, he mused. I’ll do my best to look after her.

  Alderheart’s thoughts were interrupted as Bramblestar stuck his head around the bramble screen.

  “We’re getting ready to leave for the Gathering,” he meowed. “I want at least one medicine cat, but you can decide which of you is going.”

  He withdrew again without waiting for a reply.

  “You and Jayfeather should go,” Leafpool suggested immediately. “Jayfeather!” she called. “Do you want to go to the Gathering?”

  Jayfeather emerged from the cleft at the back of the medicine cats’ den, where he had been checking on the remaining herb stores. “I suppose,” he muttered, not sounding enthusiastic. “If you’re sure you can cope by yourself.”

  “I was coping before you were kitted,” Leafpool reminded him tartly. “I’ll check on the injured warriors, and I want to keep an eye on Blossomfall. Her kits are due any day now.”

  “Okay,” Jayfeather agreed. “Come on, Alderheart. Let’s see if Onestar has any excuse for what he did during the battle.”

  The sun was gone, and twilight filled the stone hollow as Alderheart followed Jayfeather out into the clearing. The other cats who were to go to the Gathering were emerging from their dens to join Bramblestar. The Clan deputy, Squirrelflight, was there, along with Lionblaze and Dovewing, all of them with minor injuries from the fight that morning. Alderheart’s former mentor, Molewhisker, a long gash running across his back, stood beside his sister, Cherryfall, whose tail was bound up with cobwebs. Sparkpelt trotted up to them, a clump of fur missing from her shoulder.

  We really are a battered group, Alderheart thought. A battered Clan . . .

  As he padded across the clearing to join his Clanmates, Alderheart spotted the three elders emerging from their den. Graystripe and Millie headed toward the crowd of cats around Bramblestar, but Purdy broke away from them and sidled up to Alderheart.

  “I’ve got a bit of a bellyache,” he confided in a low voice. “Do you reckon you could get me some chervil, or maybe a juniper berry, before we go?”

  “You should go see Leafpool,” Alderheart responded, angling his ears in the direction of the medicine-cat den. “She’s staying behind to keep an eye on Blossomfall and the injured warriors.”

&n
bsp; Purdy took a step back. “I won’t bother her if she’s busy,” he mewed. “Maybe I’ll just skip the Gatherin’ and sleep off the bellyache.”

  “If you’re sure . . .”

  “I’ll be fine, young ’un,” Purdy insisted. “You’ll tell me what I missed, right?”

  “Of course,” Alderheart promised. “Have a good rest, Purdy.”

  As the old tabby tottered back toward the elders’ den, Alderheart realized that Bramblestar was already heading for the thorn tunnel, leading his warriors out of the camp. The ShadowClan cats who were living with ThunderClan—Rowanstar, Tawnypelt, and Tigerheart—had joined the group and were padding along just behind Bramblestar.

  As Alderheart followed his Clanmates down to the lake and along the shore, he reflected on what he had heard about the battle that morning. No cat had expected so much blood to be shed, and most of the ThunderClan warriors were blaming Onestar, who had ordered the WindClan cats to retreat and given the rogues an unexpected advantage.

  Mistystar had suffered a serious wound, and many of the RiverClan warriors who had jumped in to defend her were in bad shape too. When Leafpool heard that, she had offered to go to RiverClan to help Mothwing and Willowshine treat the injured cats, but Bramblestar had forbidden it.

  “Mothwing and Willowshine can handle their own Clan,” he had meowed. “Leafpool, you’re needed here, in our camp, to care for your Clanmates.”

  Leafpool had dipped her head in acquiescence, though Alderheart had realized she was still deeply worried about the RiverClan cats. He wondered how bad their injuries were. Might Mistystar have lost a life?

  As he padded along the lakeshore, which was silent except for the lapping of waves against the pebbles, Alderheart could imagine the yowls and screeching of ferocious cats, the hot reek of blood, and the flashing of teeth and claws. So much blood—and we didn’t even achieve our goal.

  Still the rogues hold ShadowClan’s territory.

  The ThunderClan cats talked among themselves as they traveled around the lake, but they grew quiet as they approached the end of the tree-bridge that led to the island. Alderheart could see exhaustion in the faces and bodies of his Clanmates, though they raised their heads proudly as they padded along the tree trunk and jumped down on the opposite shore. He knew that they would do their best to hide any trace of weakness from the other Clans.