Path Оf А Warrior

Chapter Four

“Ugh.” Mud Paws wrinkled his nose in disgust. “I hate the way it smells over here. I wouldn’t mind giving this bit of our territory to SkyClan.”

“You’ll be glad of those rats if we have a hard leaf-bare,” Shadowstar reminded him firmly.

Near the edge of ShadowClan’s territory was a spot where Twolegs in yellow monsters left crow-food and debris in rotting heaps behind a shining silver fence. It smelled horrible, but it was crawling with rats. Usually, the ShadowClan cats left them alone—rats were fierce fighters, and hunting them was bound to leave a warrior with bites and scratches—but it was good to have the prey to fall back on in the harshest leaf-bare.

Shadowstar led Pebble Heart, Mud Paws, and Raven Pelt past the fence now, resisting the impulse to wrinkle her own nose.

“Anyway,” Raven Pelt meowed, “we’re not planning to give up any territory. That’s the whole point, right, Shadowstar?”

“I hope so,” Shadowstar murmured. “If there’s a likely looking territory, past our borders but not too far away, maybe we can convince Skystar that it’s an option.”

She had spent the previous day on SkyClan’s territory, watching Twolegs tromp, noisy and careless, through the woods. They had seemed more focused and intent than the few Twolegs she’d seen before, examining the land as if they were in fact marking out territory, leaving bright patches of shiny Twoleg stuff on some of the trees.

She still wasn’t sure what the Twolegs had been doing. But now she understood Skystar’s alarm.

And so she’d brought Pebble Heart and two loyal warriors—ones who hadn’t been fighting or trying to impress her with what good deputies they would be—to help look for unclaimed land that might make a good SkyClan territory.

It doesn’t seem likely that we’ll find it here, to be honest.

“I forgot how bleak this place is,” she muttered to Pebble Heart, looking up at the Highstones ahead as they crossed out of ShadowClan territory. The medicine cats traveled to the cliffs every half-moon to visit the Moonstone, but Shadowstar hadn’t come here since she’d been given her nine lives many moons before. ShadowClan’s own territory was fine, if smelly in places, but once you crossed the border, the grass grew thinner and coarser and the land became more and more rocky. There was little shelter—and very little prey.

The sky was heavy and gray, ominous clouds hanging overhead. The weather didn’t make the territory look any more appealing.

“I don’t like leaving ShadowClan territory,” Mud Paws muttered, glancing around nervously.

“The Moonstone cannot be on any one Clan’s territory,” Pebble Heart said, tipping his head back to gaze up toward the entrance to the Moonstone. “To keep that from happening, SkyClan’s territory would have to stretch a long way from Fourtrees and the other Clans.”

Poor hunting, little shelter, far from Fourtrees. There’s no way Skystar is going to accept this as his territory. Shadowstar’s tail drooped, but then she lifted it again and spoke briskly.

“Pebble Heart, I want you to scout and see if any useful herbs grow around here.” She glanced about, sniffing the air. She didn’t smell any dangerous animals or rogues, but you never knew. There were no nearby trees to climb, and only scrubby, thin bushes to shelter beneath. “Mud Paws and Raven Pelt, go with him. I’ll look at the land across the Thunderpath.” The two warriors should be able to protect the medicine cat if anything happened.

Mud Paws and Pebble Heart nodded, but Raven Pelt paused. “What if you run into something dangerous? Maybe one of us should stick with you.”

Shadowstar hesitated a moment. “I’ll be fine,” she replied eventually. “I’ll yowl if anything happens.” This was her last life, but she had to keep her nerve. She had never needed other cats to look after her before.

Flicking her tail in farewell, she strode toward the Thunderpath as her warriors followed Pebble Heart toward a scraggly clump of bushes.

Her steps slowed as she got closer, and she sniffed the air again, searching this time for any sign that other cats were in the area. If rogues had claimed the territory, it wouldn’t be worth going any farther without reinforcements.

But all she could smell was the stink of the Thunderpath. A huge monster roared by, and she flinched back, flattening her ears and trying not to remember the time she lost a life beneath one of its huge black paws.

This Thunderpath seemed much busier than the one closer to ShadowClan’s camp. Another reason for Skystar to reject the territory. Approaching it, Shadowstar’s pelt prickled as she felt suddenly vulnerable—as though a predator was watching her.

I’m nervous because I know it’s my last life. She reminded herself that she couldn’t let that fear control her.

Shaking her pelt as if to throw off her apprehension, Shadowstar craned her neck to watch for monsters. One was racing toward her, but once it passed, she should be able to cross. Its terrible scent was overwhelming.

And then, for just a moment, she caught another scent. A cat?

A hard, sudden blow hit her hindquarters. Caught completely by surprise, Shadowstar staggered forward, directly into the path of the Twoleg monster.

There was no time to run. The monster’s face with its round blank eyes filled Shadowstar’s vision. She squeezed her eyes shut against the oncoming pain and crouched low, her belly pressed against the Thunderpath as she prayed that it would be only her who perished today, and not the five Clans.

A hot wind rushed over her, ruffling her fur; the growl of the monster was deafening.

And then the noise and the wind stopped.

Shadowstar lay still, her eyes tightly shut. Am I dead?

She could still smell the foul monster scent, and her belly felt sore and scraped from pressing against the Thunderpath. If this was StarClan, it was very different than it had been before. A raindrop hit the top of her head, and Shadowstar opened her eyes. She was still on the Thunderpath. She was alive. Turning, she saw the monster disappearing in the distance. Had it passed right over her?

A fine drizzle had begun to fall, and it quickly soaked through her fur. She shook the raindrops out of her eyes, feeling dazed. I have to get off the Thunderpath.

She got to her paws with difficulty, her legs weak and shaky, and headed back toward ShadowClan territory.

It wasn’t until she reached the grass at the edge of the Thunderpath that she realized: I was pushed… . It was the only possible explanation.

The cat I scented was trying to kill me!

Before she had quite gotten her bearings, a heavy weight slammed into her side, rolling her onto the ground. Shadowstar’s heart was pounding, her blood roaring in her ears, and she kicked out with her hind paws, trying to throw off the attacker above her.

Pain shot through her as a claw sliced at the skin above her eyes. Half-blinded by blood, Shadowstar howled with rage and swiped her front paw across her attacker’s side. Shaking the blood from her face, she glimpsed gray-and-white fur.

“Shadowstar!” Her Clanmates had heard her howl.

At the sound of their voices, the cat on top of her leaped away. Gasping for breath, Shadowstar rolled onto her belly and tried to wipe the blood away from her eyes with one paw.

Mud Paws and Pebble Heart were running toward her. Raven Pelt was veering away from them, chasing after the rapidly fleeing cat. It was hard to see through the rain and through the blood running down her face, but Shadowstar recognized her attacker.

Quick Water?

Shadowstar felt a sharp pang of betrayal and disbelief. She and the SkyClan warrior had always gotten along well… . Quick Water had been one of the cats who had come down from the mountains with Shadowstar and Skystar, looking for a better life. They’d known each other all their lives.

Had Shadowstar’s old friend really become her enemy?

Pebble Heart and Mud Paws reached Shadowstar, and the medicine cat immediately began to pat her over with soft paws—“Does this hurt? Does this?”—and to clean the blood from her fur. It was not until he finally nodded in approval that Shadowstar was able to question them.

“Did you see who I was fighting?” she demanded.

Pebble Heart and Mud Paws exchanged frightened looks.

“It was hard to tell, but it looked like—”

“I wasn’t sure, but it looked like—”

“It was Quick Water.” Raven Pelt was trotting back toward them, looking tired. “I’m sorry, Shadowstar, I lost her by the carrionplace, but I’m sure it was her.”

“I’m glad you made sure,” Shadowstar told him. “You’ve done well.” Raven Pelt’s yellow eyes brightened at her praise. He’s brave and loyal, Shadowstar thought, and he doesn’t lose his head in a crisis. Maybe I’ve finally found my deputy.

But there was a more pressing matter now. A SkyClan cat—Quick Water—had just tried to kill her. Thinking back on the dogs that had tracked her and Sun Shadow through the woods, and the amber eyes that had watched them die, Shadowstar wondered if maybe this hadn’t been the first time.