Warriors: Power Of Three 1 - Sight (19 page)

“True.” Ashfur nodded.

“And Graystripe is going to take another moon to recover,”

Jaypaw put in. “He still smells of crow-food.”

“He’ll be strong soon,” Hollypaw mewed defensively.

“Soon isn’t good enough,” Lionpaw argued. “We need a strong deputy now. Leaf-bare’s clearly not finished with us, and ShadowClan is never going to make our life easy. We can’t afford to wait for Graystripe to recover.”

“But he was deputy first!” Hollypaw protested. “Has everyone forgotten? When Mistyfoot was taken by Twolegs, Hawkfrost replaced her only until she returned. Because according to the warrior code she never stopped being the deputy!”

“Your sister has a point,” Ashfur commented.

“I know, but”—Lionpaw was surprised at Hollypaw’s fierceness—“Firestar has to be practical.”

“If we start ignoring the warrior code, then we are no longer warriors!” Hollypaw declared. The fur along her spine was bristling, and her eyes glittered with anxiety.

“What if StarClan told Firestar to choose Brambleclaw?”

Jaypaw asked softly.

Brambleclaw was padding toward them, with Berrypaw beside him. “We’re going hunting.”

“Can we join you?” Ashfur asked.

“Of course. Brightheart and Jaypaw are coming too. But if you don’t mind a crowd—”

“Of course not.” Ashfur narrowed his eyes. “I just thought it might be fun for Lionpaw and Berrypaw to have a little competition.”

Brambleclaw’s eyes glittered. “Good idea.”

Berrypaw clawed the ground excitedly. “Oh, yes!”

“Great!” Lionpaw mewed.

“Okay,” Brambleclaw decided. “The first apprentice to catch three pieces of prey gets first pick from the fresh-kill pile tonight.”

Lionpaw glanced at Berrypaw. His denmate was larger than he and more experienced. He would have to rely more on senses than speed if he was going to win.

Brightheart and Jaypaw joined them.

“Why do we need to go with them?” Jaypaw was complaining. “I’m perfectly capable of hunting on my own.”

Pity flashed in Brightheart’s eye, and Lionpaw winced.

Jaypaw glared at his mentor as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“We’ll go in a moment,” Brambleclaw meowed. “First, I want to ask Dustpelt and Birchfall to patrol the ShadowClan border. I’ll meet you at the entrance.” Before he padded away, the ThunderClan deputy glanced at Hollypaw. “Shouldn’t you be helping Leafpool?”

“Um, yes,” Hollypaw mewed hastily. She turned and slunk away, the tip of her black tail dragging over the ice-white clearing.

“So you think you can beat me, do you?” Berrypaw hissed in Lionpaw’s ear.

“I caught a vole on my first hunting expedition,” Lionpaw reminded him.

“Good,” Berrypaw mewed. “I’d hate to win too easily.”

“You’ll be lucky to win at all!” Lionpaw growled.

“How’s a tiny scrap like you going to catch three bits of prey in one morning?”

Lionpaw wasn’t going to let his denmate get away with that. He crouched into attack position, wriggling his hindquarters. “Say that again!” he challenged.

“You’re hardly bigger than a mouse!” Berrypaw purred.

Lionpaw launched himself at the young tom, and the two apprentices bundled toward the thorn barrier.

Berrypaw’s weight took Lionpaw by surprise. He scrabbled to push the larger apprentice off, but Berrypaw heaved him toward the prickly spines of the thornbush. Thinking quickly, Lionpaw let himself go limp, becoming so slippery that it was easy to wriggle out of Berrypaw’s grip. Quick as a flash, he sprang onto Berrypaw’s back and nipped his friend’s scruff with his teeth. Berrypaw tried to shake him off, but even with his claws sheathed, Lionpaw found that he had the strength to hold his grip on Berrypaw’s broad shoulders.

“Lionpaw!”

He looked up to see his sister charging back toward them, and, in that instant, Berrypaw threw him off and pinned him to the ground.

“You’re my first catch of the day,” Berrypaw mewed triumphantly.

“Hollypaw put me off!” Lionpaw complained.

“A good warrior is never distracted,” Ashfur meowed. The pale gray warrior had stopped to watch the two apprentices.

Lionpaw scrambled to his paws, prickling with embarrassment.

Hollypaw was trotting around them in circles. “Leafpool wants me to collect some tansy in case this cold weather brings whitecough,” she panted excitedly. “She says there’s a clump by the old Thunderpath, and she asked if I could join your patrol to fetch some.” She looked around. “Where’s Brambleclaw?”

“Giving orders to Dustpelt,” Ashfur answered.

As he spoke, Brambleclaw bounded over from halfrock.

Graystripe was with him.

“Mind if I join you?” the gray warrior asked Ashfur. “I want to get familiar with the territory and see how the prey runs here.”

“That’s fine with me,” Ashfur agreed. He nodded at Hollypaw. “We’ve got an extra apprentice, too.”

Lionpaw hadn’t been out with both Hollypaw and Jaypaw since their attempt to track down the fox cubs. They quickly fell into their familiar grouping: Hollypaw a pawstep ahead, and Lionpaw letting his pelt brush against Jaypaw’s just enough to help him through the trees.

They headed deep into the forest, picking up the clearest route along the old Thunderpath. Lionpaw had been along it before, when Ashfur had shown him around ThunderClan territory. But he had never followed it all the way past the abandoned Twoleg nest.

Hollypaw was scanning the undergrowth on either side of the track.

“It looks a lot like yarrow,” Jaypaw whispered to her. “But it tastes more like grass than mouse bile.”

“I know!” Hollypaw snapped.

Why was Jaypaw helping her? Lionpaw wondered. Hollypaw was the medicine cat apprentice, not him.

She flicked her tail toward a clump of long-stemmed plants with thin, spiky leaves. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

“Have you found some?” Brambleclaw halted in the mid-dle of the path.

The cats waited as Hollypaw bit into a leaf. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then swallowed.

“Not bitter at all,” she reported. “It’s tansy.”

“You’d better collect some and take it back to camp,”

Brambleclaw meowed.

Hollypaw’s eyes clouded with disappointment. “Leafpool doesn’t need it right away.”

“It might not be safe for her to go back to camp on her own,” Lionpaw pointed out, guessing his sister wanted a chance to stay out for a while. “Not with the fox cubs about.”

“And don’t forget the competition,” Ashfur meowed. “We don’t want to waste time escorting her back.”

“If you’re sure Leafpool doesn’t need it urgently . . . ?”

Brambleclaw prompted Hollypaw.

Her eyes brightened. “It was only for the store.”

“We’ll collect some on our way back, then,” Brambleclaw agreed. He leaped away, heading into the shadowy woods.

Lionpaw waited on the Thunderpath for Jaypaw and Brightheart to disappear among the trees with the others before following them in. Even in leaf-bare, the undergrowth here was thick. But without their leafy covering the plants looked like tall, thin skeletons littering the forest floor.

Lionpaw’s breath came in clouds as the patrol padded quietly over the frozen ground. Graystripe turned back to face them. “There’s no scent of fox here,” he meowed. “And not too much cover for prey. This looks like a good spot to start the hunt.”

Ashfur looked from Berrypaw to Lionpaw. “Who wants to go first?”

“There’s a mouse over there,” Jaypaw announced casually.

For the first time Lionpaw wondered if his brother felt left out of the hunting contest. But Jaypaw held his chin high and flicked his tail toward the base of an oak tree several fox-lengths away. Ashfur jerked his head around in surprise.

“It’s dug under the frozen leaves into the ground,” Jaypaw told them.

Lionpaw pricked his ears. Sure enough, he could hear the scrabble of tiny paws against cold earth, though very faintly.

And there was the musty scent of freshly turned leaf litter in the air.

“Lionpaw,” Brambleclaw hissed quietly. “You have a try.”

One stealthy pawstep at a time, Lionpaw crept toward the scuffling noise. He let each pad sink slowly onto the hard ground, so that his steps made no sound. The scuffling carried on as Lionpaw drew close enough to drop into a hunting crouch. Squatting with his muzzle outstretched, he let his tail rest on the earth behind him. He could smell the mouse now, and saw a slight movement in the leaves.

“Brambleclaw!”

The mouse scuttled out of the leaves and disappeared among the roots of a tree. Hissing with anger, Lionpaw spun around to see who had ruined his catch.

Birchfall exploded from the undergrowth and skidded to a halt. “ShadowClan have moved the border! They’ve put a new line of scent marks inside ThunderClan territory!”

“Where?” Brambleclaw demanded.

“I’ll show you.” Without waiting, Birchfall headed away through the trees.

“Where’s Dustpelt?” Brambleclaw called after him.

“Heading back to camp to warn Firestar,” came the reply.

Brambleclaw turned to Brightheart. “You’d better come with us. I’m not risking leaving you while those fox cubs are still around.”

Brightheart narrowed her eyes. “What about Jaypaw? Will he be able to keep up?”

“Don’t let him out of your sight, and keep as close to us as you can,” Brambleclaw ordered. He glanced at Ashfur. “Stay near them.” Then he nodded to Graystripe. “Come with me.”

Brambleclaw bounded after Birchfall, Graystripe following. Lionpaw pelted after them, the mouse forgotten.

Hollypaw raced at his side. He could hear the pawsteps of Ashfur, Brightheart, and Jaypaw pounding behind. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw his brother weaving through the trees as easily as a sighted cat. He must be guided by StarClan! he thought in astonishment. He turned back to look ahead, his pelt bristling as he ran. Had ShadowClan really dared to move the border?

Birchfall led them back along the Thunderpath before veering into the forest and up the slope that led to the ShadowClan border. He skidded to a halt near the top.

“Here!” he gasped, flicking his tail to indicate the line of birches that followed the ridge.

Lionpaw sniffed the nearest trunk and wrinkled his nose.

It was true. ShadowClan had marked ThunderClan trees.

“Isn’t this the original border?” Graystripe asked.

“No!” Brambleclaw hissed. “The border is there.” He pointed his muzzle to the top of the rise where the trees gave way to the grassy clearing.

“Did they think we wouldn’t notice?” Hollypaw spat.

Ashfur raced out of the bracken behind them, followed by Brightheart and Jaypaw.

Jaypaw’s hackles rose. “ShadowClan warriors nearby!” he warned.

As he spoke, three ShadowClan cats stalked over the rise and stood staring down at the ThunderClan patrol.

“Oakfur!” Brambleclaw hissed, staring at the small brown tom who led the trio. Lionpaw recognized the two others from the Gathering—Owlpaw and his mentor, Smokefoot.

“A blind kit noticed us before the ThunderClan deputy knew we were here,” Oakfur sneered. “How humiliating.”

“Is ThunderClan so desperate for warriors that it needs to train even its most worthless kit?” snarled Smokefoot.

Jaypaw rushed forward, spitting. Brightheart grabbed his tail in her teeth and hauled him backward.

“A blind kit saved by a one-eyed warrior,” mocked Oakfur.

“ThunderClan isn’t what it used to be. Filled with kittypets and cripples and worn-out deputies.” He glared at Graystripe.

“You’ve moved the border,” Brambleclaw growled.

“We’ve taken what should be ours, and we will take more,”

Smokefoot told him.

“ThunderClan is hardly a real Clan anymore—it’s half kittypet,” Oakfur put in. “I’m sure StarClan agrees that only true warriors are entitled to hunt on Clan territory.”

“ThunderClan has nothing but true warriors!” Brambleclaw yowled. He flattened his ears and stepped over the new marker line until he was only a tail-length away from Oakfur.

“If you want our territory, you’ll have to fight for every step.”

Lionpaw’s fur stood on end. His first real battle! He sank his claws into the earth, imagining it was ShadowClan fur.

“Are you sure we won’t win?” Oakfur’s eyes glittered as more ShadowClan warriors began to appear over the rise, lining up like starlings on a branch. Lionpaw’s heart flipped over. It looked as though every ShadowClan warrior had come to fight. Their muscles bulged under their pelts, their claws glinting as they flexed them against the hard ground.

Lionpaw felt fur brush his flank. Hollypaw and Jaypaw had joined him.

“We fight as one,” Hollypaw vowed.

Lionpaw suddenly pictured the three of them—three half-grown apprentices, one of them blind, facing what looked like the whole of ShadowClan.

StarClan, help us!

“Get back to camp and tell Firestar to bring help.” Graystripe’s hiss sounded in Lionpaw’s ear. “Now!”

Lionpaw turned and pelted away into the trees. He hated leaving Jaypaw and Hollypaw, but without help the battle was already lost.

“Stop him!”

He heard Russetfur’s yowl, and the rustle of paws upon leaves.

Lionpaw glanced over his shoulder. Two ShadowClan warriors streaked toward him. Then he saw a flash of gray fur.

Graystripe had launched himself onto one of the cats. The ShadowClan warrior yowled and the air exploded as the two Clans charged screeching into battle.

Lionpaw forced himself to run faster till he thought his heart would burst. Paws pounded behind him. Only one set now, thanks to Graystripe. Lionpaw dodged through a thick bramble swath, hoping that his small size would let him escape the ShadowClan warrior. But as he slipped out of the other side and glanced backward, he saw a burly tom thrust-ing his way through the bush with terrifying strength.

Lionpaw hurtled down the steep slope to the training hollow and pelted across it. Just a short way through the trees and then a clear run to the camp entrance. The ShadowClan warrior’s pawsteps thundered ever closer as Lionpaw caught sight of the thorn barrier ahead.

“Help!” he wailed.

Claws raked his tail. The ShadowClan cat was at his heels.