River Of Fire

CHAPTER 5

“Sandynose, I want you to lead a border patrol,” Leafstar meowed. “And you can take a look at the old ShadowClan camp on the way. Violetshine, you can go with him.”

Pleased to be chosen, Violetshine stepped up beside her Clanmate, while Leafstar fixed Tree with a serious gaze. “Tree, it’s been half a moon, and Frecklewish tells me you don’t seem too interested in learning the ways of a medicine cat,” she continued. “So I think you’d better join this patrol, too. Let’s see how the life of a warrior suits you.”

The muscular yellow tom was sitting at the edge of the group, watching the clouds drift by. He didn’t respond when his Clan leader addressed him.

“Tree,” Leafstar repeated. “Are you with us?”

Tree gave a sudden start. “Uh . . . sorry, Leafstar, what did you say?”

“I told you to join this patrol,” Leafstar replied, flicking her tail toward Sandynose and Violetshine.

Tree looked uncertain. “But that sounds like a warrior task,” he protested, “and I’m not a warrior.”

Violetshine studied Leafstar anxiously, afraid that the Clan leader would lose patience with Tree. He had been living with SkyClan for more than a moon now, and he still hadn’t decided where he fit into the Clan, or even whether he wanted to stay.

“Even if you don’t think of yourself as a warrior,” Leafstar responded, her eyes and her voice calm, “you must contribute if you’re going to stay here. That rule applies to all cats.”

Her final words held a challenge, or even a taunt, making Violetshine uneasy for a completely different reason. Maybe Tree will just say, “No thanks,” and then leave. I really don’t want that to happen. She couldn’t imagine not seeing Tree anymore. But if he became a loner again, how could he fit into her life?

“Well . . . okay.” Tree was still looking unsure. “But won’t I slow down the patrol if I haven’t been on one before?”

“Every cat has to start somewhere,” Leafstar told him briskly. “Your instincts will probably serve you well. And you’ll be with Violetshine. It’ll be a good way for you to see what the warrior life is all about.”

“Yes, I’ll help,” Violetshine mewed eagerly. Then he might be convinced to stay for a little while. . . .

The sun, barely visible through a layer of cloud, was skimming the tops of the trees when Sandynose led his patrol out through the fern tunnel. By the time they reached the border, the previous day’s scent markings had started to fade.

Tree had already irritated Sandynose by wandering off, then stopping to yawn and groom himself. Violetshine heard Sandynose muttering to himself, “StarClan knows why Leafstar puts up with this cat!”

Violetshine had to admit that Tree’s behavior was annoying. He’ll cost himself a place in the Clan, if he’s not careful. Hoping to help him act more like a warrior, she showed Tree how to renew the markers, aware all the time of Sandynose keeping a watchful eye on them. She felt a little wary of the stocky brown tom: he had been Twigpaw’s mentor, and spent a lot of time grumbling about her defection to ThunderClan. Not only that, but he was Finpaw’s father. Violetshine knew how much he missed the energetic young tom since he had made the decision to go with Twigpaw.

And maybe Sandynose thinks it was my fault somehow, because Twigpaw’s my sister, Violetshine thought. But I miss Twigpaw too.

She tried not to dwell on how it felt to be abandoned by kin, but as she brushed her pelt against Tree’s, she felt a hollow ache in her chest.

If even my littermate doesn’t belong with me, then why would Tree?

Violetshine left Tree to set a scent marker on a boulder while she sniffed around the entrance to a dark hole in a nearby bank, picking up only the stale scent of rabbit.

“Oh, for StarClan’s sake!”

Sandynose’s exclamation made Violetshine turn back, to see that instead of setting the marker, Tree had climbed on top of the boulder and was stretched out in a shaft of sunlight that broke through the clouds.

“Tree, get down off there!” Sandynose continued. “Honestly, the smallest kit in the Clan has more sense!”

Unoffended, Tree slid down from the boulder. “Keep your fur on,” he meowed. “What’s the rush? We’ve got all day.”

“There are other duties—” Violetshine began, only to be interrupted by a growl from Sandynose.

“I give up! Tree, you can come with us or not, but I’m not standing around waiting for you to rearrange your whiskers. Violetshine, set the marker, and then we’ll go and have a look at the old ShadowClan camp.”

He swung around, hardly giving Violetshine time to obey, then stalked off between the pine trees. Violetshine hastily set the marker and bounded after him; to her surprise, she heard Tree padding after them.

Just as she caught up to Sandynose, the brown tom halted suddenly and lifted his head, beginning to taste the air.

“What is it?” Violetshine asked, keeping her voice low in case Sandynose had detected an attack. “Is it rogues?”

Sandynose tasted the air again. “I’m not sure,” he replied. “But there are definitely cats up ahead. They’re inside the border here, and that means they’re trespassing.”

Violetshine drew in the air for herself. They were not far away from the ShadowClan camp, and a stiff breeze was blowing from that direction, carrying the scent toward them.

“Don’t you think those scents are familiar?” she asked Sandynose.

Sandynose shook his head. “Not to me. If they are, there’s probably nothing to worry about—but there has to be a reason why cats are crossing borders and snooping around the old ShadowClan camp.” He drew back his lips in the beginning of a snarl. “And that’s unlikely to be anything good, right?”

Violetshine pricked her ears like she was trying to pinpoint prey. Her muscles tensed as she braced herself for trouble. “We ought to go and check it out,” she whispered.

Sandynose gave a curt nod. “Follow me.”

As he set off, flattening himself to the ground and setting his paws down as lightly as if he was creeping up on a mouse, Violetshine turned to Tree.

“You’d better stay back,” she told him. “We don’t know what we’re getting into here.”

“Certainly not!” Tree hissed. “I’m not going to run and leave you to fight by yourselves.”

There was no time to argue. Violetshine headed after Sandynose, thankful for the thick covering of pine needles that silenced her paw steps, and the breeze still carrying their scent away from the camp and the intruders. Tree padded alongside her.

When they reached the rocky slope that led up to the ShadowClan camp, Sandynose raised his tail to halt the others. “From now on, absolute silence,” he whispered, with a hard look at Tree. “And Violetshine, if there is trouble, I want you to run back to camp and fetch help. You’re the fastest,” he added, as Violetshine opened her jaws to protest.

“Okay, Sandynose.”

Together the three cats crept up the slope until they reached the top and could look down into the shallow dip that had been the ShadowClan camp. The scent of cats was even stronger here, and Violetshine felt more than ever that she ought to recognize it.

As they watched, a golden-furred she-cat appeared at the far side of the hollow, a mouse dangling from her jaws. She bounded down into the camp and disappeared into the bramble thicket that had once been the nursery.

“Sleekwhisker!” Violetshine breathed out. “She was a ShadowClan cat, but she joined Darktail.” She suppressed a shudder as she remembered how viciously Sleekwhisker had supported the rogue leader. “She helped kill Needletail.”

“Not a cat we want around, then,” Sandynose responded. “Let’s go and deal with her.”

He led the way, paw step by careful paw step, down into the hollow and across to the bramble thicket. A narrow tunnel led inside; Sandynose plunged into it and Violetshine followed, with Tree bringing up the rear.

“Watch our backs,” Violetshine instructed him. “There might be more of them.”

Before she finished speaking, she heard a yowl of alarm from up ahead. Pressing forward, she emerged into the old nursery and halted in amazement at what she saw. Sleekwhisker was there, and so was Yarrowleaf, another former ShadowClan cat who had been part of Darktail’s Kin, stretched out in a nest of moss. Her rounded belly showed that she was close to having kits.

Sandynose stood over them. His claws were out and his tail lashing, but he was obviously reluctant to attack a cat so near to kitting. Sleekwhisker crouched between him and Yarrowleaf, her fur bristling and her lips drawn back as she hissed defiance.

“Violetpaw!” Yarrowleaf exclaimed, her yellow eyes wide and frightened. “What’s happening? Where is ShadowClan?”

“Are these both ShadowClan cats?” Sandynose asked Violetshine.

“Yes. This is Yarrowleaf.”

Uneasiness stirred in Violetshine’s belly. Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf were two of the cats who had been closest to Darktail. What do they want here? she asked herself.

Sandynose still didn’t sheathe his claws. “That’s all well and good,” he meowed, “but they’ve still crossed our borders without permission.”

“But you’re not going to attack a pregnant queen, are you?” Tree asked; his eyes were warm with sympathy for Yarrowleaf, who looked so scared and confused.

Sandynose hesitated for a moment, then relaxed with a sigh. “No, I can’t do that. But don’t expect me to welcome them. Not if they’re the ShadowClan warriors who betrayed Rowanclaw.”

“Not only that,” Violetshine told him, “but they were both really loyal to Darktail when he made them part of his Kin. They helped drown cats.” She shivered, remembering how Sleekwhisker had flung herself at Needletail, trying to force her underwater. Needletail was one of the first friends I ever had.

“We’ve left Darktail,” Sleekwhisker told them. “We realized what a mistake we’d made, and we came back looking for ShadowClan, to come home again. Where is ShadowClan?”

“The ShadowClan cats have a different camp now,” Sandynose said shortly. “And you aren’t part of their Clan anymore.”

“Oh, please let us stay,” Yarrowleaf begged. “We just want to be ShadowClan cats again.”

“You were fine letting your Clanmates die when Darktail was in charge,” Violetshine accused Yarrowleaf. “Is it because you’re expecting kits that now, all of a sudden, you see the value in a Clan?”

Yarrowleaf cringed away from her. “It’s not like that,” she protested. “Sleekwhisker and I have been living with the remains of Darktail’s group, but it bothered us more and more, the way that none of the cats seem to care about one another.”

“That’s right,” Sleekwhisker growled, her muscles still tensed to spring as she glared up at Sandynose. “Now that Darktail is gone, they don’t even have the idea of Kin anymore. It’s every cat for themselves.”

“Spikefur died.” Yarrowleaf’s voice was shaking. “He was sick. We tried to help him, but the other cats wouldn’t forage for herbs, or . . .” She gave way altogether, and buried her nose in her forepaws, her whole body shaking.

“No cat would help treat him, or fetch him fresh-kill,” Sleekwhisker went on. “I did my best, but I couldn’t look after him and Yarrowleaf as well. So he died,” she finished bleakly.

“I took Nettle as a mate,” Yarrowleaf began again, clearly making a massive effort to control herself. “These are his kits, but I was so scared about the idea of raising my kits among the rogues. I kept remembering what it was like when I was a kit, here in the nursery, safe and surrounded by cats who cared about me. I want that for my kits. I want ShadowClan.”

For a moment none of the SkyClan cats responded, gazing warily at one another. Violetshine didn’t know how to find the words, to break the news to Yarrowleaf that what she wanted didn’t exist anymore. She noticed, too, that Tree looked deeply disturbed, as if he had begun to realize how serious the loss of ShadowClan was.

The silence seemed to stretch out for moons, until Sleekwhisker sat up, flattening her bristling fur, a look of concern in her eyes. “Violetpaw, what did he mean”—she glanced at Sandynose—“when he said Rowanclaw? He meant Rowanstar, surely?”

“I’m Violetshine now,” she replied. She glanced at Sandynose, but his gaze was fixed on his paws; she was obviously not going to get any help from him in explaining. “SkyClan has returned to the lake,” Violetshine went on, “and ShadowClan . . . Rowanstar decided he couldn’t go on leading a Clan that hardly existed anymore. So now he’s Rowanclaw again, and what’s left of ShadowClan has joined SkyClan.”

Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf exchanged a stunned glance. “But—but how can ShadowClan not exist anymore?” Yarrowleaf stammered.

Violetshine couldn’t think of any way to answer that.

“You both need to think long and hard about what you want to do now,” Sandynose meowed sternly. “Leafstar, the leader of SkyClan, is in charge, and I’m not sure what she’ll say about allowing you into the Clan. If it was ShadowClan you wanted . . . perhaps you should think again.”

Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker were silent for a moment, looking deeply troubled. “Then we want to join SkyClan,” Yarrowleaf declared at last.

“Yes, we’ve been through a horrible time since we left,” Sleekwhisker mewed. “We had no idea that things would turn out like this. We’re not here to cause trouble.”

Her voice was so fervent that Violetshine was almost convinced, yet she found it hard to forget what Sleekwhisker had done when she was one of Darktail’s Kin.

“Any Clan is a Clan,” Sleekwhisker continued. “That’s the only kind of life we want.”

“That’s right,” Yarrowleaf agreed. “I’m so sorry for turning my back on ShadowClan. I know now this is where I need to be.”

Violetshine was doubtful about whether they ought to trust either of these cats. I can’t believe that Yarrowleaf is having a rogue’s kits. Should we really be bringing half rogues into Clan territory?

At the same time, she couldn’t deny that the ShadowClan cats looked sincere when they said all they wanted to do was get back to normal.

I wonder if anything will ever be normal again, for ShadowClan cats.

“I suppose we can start by bringing them to Leafstar,” Violetshine suggested to Sandynose. As the brown tom nodded a curt agreement, she realized that she had no idea what the SkyClan leader would say.

Sandynose led the way into the SkyClan camp, with Violetshine and Tree bringing up the rear behind the two ShadowClan she-cats. Yarrowleaf was quickly exhausted; Violetshine was impressed by her resolve to keep going, when the weight of her kits must be dragging at her.

As soon as she emerged from the fern tunnel, Yarrowleaf halted, her legs shaking as she gazed around. Violetshine could see she was finding it hard to accept how things had changed, and that she was making her way into a totally strange camp and strange Clan.

At the far side of the camp, in a quiet corner near the nursery, Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt were sharing tongues, not looking like leaders or senior warriors at all. Yarrowleaf stared at them for a moment, then let her head droop.

“This is terrible . . . ,” she hissed to herself. “I feel so responsible. . . .”

As she spoke, Tawnypelt lifted her head and spotted the two ShadowClan cats. Instantly fury flooded her green eyes and she sprang to her paws. “I thought I smelled a traitor!” she snarled.

Before any cat could react, Tawnypelt raced across the camp and came to a halt in front of Yarrowleaf. Her claws were out, with one paw raised to strike. For a heartbeat she froze, as if she had just realized that Yarrowleaf was expecting kits. Then she lowered her paw, but her gaze still glittered angrily. “This is all your fault!” she spat. “You and the other deserters. It’s because of you that ShadowClan fell!”

The other ShadowClan cats in the camp also rose to their paws. Snowbird and Scorchfur bounded across to Yarrowleaf and stood beside her, supporting her. Violetshine remembered that she was their kit. Juniperclaw padded up and touched noses with his littermates, Sleekwhisker and Strikestone. More of the lost Clan gathered around and stood in shocked silence, waiting for what would happen.

“Things were so bad with the rogues,” Yarrowleaf began hastily, as if she was desperate to explain. “Spikefur, who was my mentor, is dead, and I realized that I wanted to come home to ShadowClan to have my kits.”

“But this isn’t ShadowClan anymore.” Leafstar’s voice joined the debate. “It’s SkyClan.”

Every cat turned to see Leafstar standing at the entrance of her den in the hollow cedar tree. Calm and unhurried, she jumped down and padded over to the group of cats surrounding the newcomers.

Before she reached them, Tawnypelt broke away and raced across to confront her. “Don’t let them in!” she meowed. “They’re traitors who attacked and killed their own Clanmates. They’re unforgiveable! They—”

Leafstar raised a paw to silence Tawnypelt. As she joined the group, Yarrowleaf thrust her way through the cats who surrounded her and stood trembling in front of the SkyClan leader.

“Please take us in,” she begged. “We’ve nowhere else to go, and we have kin here.”

“You should have thought of that before you betrayed your Clanmates,” Tawnypelt growled.

“No—stop.” Violetshine hadn’t noticed Rowanclaw approaching, but now he stood beside his mate and curled his tail across her shoulders. “Whatever Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker have done in the past, I forgive them. It will do no good for Clans to hold grudges. That’s a sure way to drag every cat into trouble again. We should—”

Rowanclaw suddenly broke off and gave his chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks. He had obviously just realized that he was making a speech like a Clan leader. With a guilty look at Leafstar, he added, “Of course, this is SkyClan now. It’s your decision about whether these cats are welcome or not.”

Leafstar stepped forward and gazed at the two newcomers with narrowed eyes. “Give me one reason why I should trust you,” she meowed, “after everything that’s happened.”

Violetshine could hear several cats murmuring agreement, while beside Yarrowleaf, Snowbird and Scorchfur exchanged anxious looks.

“We’re ready to dedicate ourselves to SkyClan,” Sleekwhisker assured Leafstar, her eyes wide and pleading. “We’ll do whatever we need to prove ourselves.”

Leafstar seemed unimpressed. “It seems you were willing to dedicate yourselves to ShadowClan, not to SkyClan,” she mewed with a sniff. “And I’m not even sure I believe that, if what I understand about you is true. You did leave ShadowClan to join Darktail’s group?”

The two she-cats nodded, looking wretched.

“Are you aware,” Leafstar went on, her tone suddenly as icy as a wind in leaf-bare, “that before Darktail came to the lake, he wormed his way into SkyClan, posing as our friend? And that then he and his rogues attacked us in the dead of night and drove us out of the gorge—out of our home?”

Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf exchanged horrified glances. This was the first they had heard of SkyClan’s story.

“We were left homeless,” Leafstar went on inexorably, “wandering for moon after moon, searching for the other Clans. It’s only recently that we arrived here at the lake and were given this territory. Have you any idea how many cats died because of Darktail’s treachery?”

The two cats shook their head. “No,” Sleekwhisker responded.

“Too many,” Leafstar meowed grimly. “And Darktail is responsible for the deaths of many of your ShadowClan Clanmates, too. I’m not sure I could ever trust a cat who chose to leave a Clan to follow Darktail. Why in the name of StarClan would you do that?”

“I was young and stupid!” Yarrowleaf wailed. “I blamed Rowanstar for things that weren’t his fault. Now I know my life would have been better if I’d been loyal to my Clan.”

“I thought our leader was weak,” Sleekwhisker added simply as Leafstar’s cold gaze turned to her.

Her words brought a gasp of outrage from Tawnypelt and some of the others, but Rowanclaw looked unsurprised, dipping his head in acceptance.

For a few heartbeats, silence fell. Violetshine felt herself holding her breath as she waited for Leafstar’s decision. I don’t know whether I want them to go or stay.

Leafstar’s steady gaze rested on the two cats as if she was trying to read their thoughts. Then she lowered her eyes. “I’m sorry,” she mewed. “But this is a difficult time for the Clans, and I can’t welcome into my Clan any cat I don’t completely trust. Knowing you followed Darktail—knowing what you did while you were with him—I can never trust you completely. You can never be part of SkyClan.”

Yowls of protest came from many of the assembled cats. Snowbird and Scorchfur drew closer to Yarrowleaf as if to protect her, while Juniperclaw’s fur bushed up and he looked ready to attack any cat who came near his sister.

“I’m sorry,” Leafstar meowed decisively. “But I want the two of you off SkyClan territory right away. If you’re so keen on joining a Clan, perhaps you should talk to ThunderClan or WindClan . . . but I cannot have you here.”

Even before she had finished speaking, Yarrowleaf let out an anguished yowl. “But this is my home! These are my kin!” More quietly she added, “I could never be a ThunderClan or WindClan cat.”

“You will never be a SkyClan cat, either,” Leafstar responded calmly. “Sandynose, Macgyver, escort them to the border.”

The two warriors she had named stepped to the side of the two ShadowClan cats. Sandynose jerked his head toward the fern tunnel, while Macgyver gave Sleekwhisker a shove. She responded with a furious hiss but didn’t try to resist.

For a moment Violetshine was afraid that the former ShadowClan cats would attack. Scorchfur in particular was growling with rage, his tail lashing. But he did nothing as his daughter and Sleekwhisker were led away.

“What about my kits?” Yarrowleaf was wailing as she vanished into the tunnel with Sandynose hard on her paws. “I have nowhere to go. . . .”

Violetshine could feel tension in the air as the sounds died away, like the ominous sensation before a thunderstorm.

“How could you?” Snowbird turned on Leafstar, her eyes full of grief. “That was my daughter—the daughter I thought was dead! And you’ve driven her out to have her kits in the forest.”

Juniperclaw faced Leafstar at Snowbird’s side. “There are cats in SkyClan right now who followed Darktail,” he pointed out, his whiskers quivering with fury. “I’m one of them. Will you drive us out too, one day? Don’t you believe that a cat can change?”

“Obviously she doesn’t,” Scorchfur sneered. “I wanted to believe that this combination of Clans would work, but this has just made it clear that Leafstar has no business making decisions for ShadowClan cats. She didn’t grow up with us. She doesn’t understand our bonds!”

More than ever, Violetshine was afraid that the argument would grow into a full-scale fight. She glanced around for Hawkwing, knowing that her father would help, but there was no sign of him; clearly the SkyClan deputy wasn’t in camp.

Then, to Violetshine’s amazement, Tawnypelt turned on her Clanmates, standing at Leafstar’s side.

“Be quiet, all of you!” she snarled at them. “Like it or not, Leafstar is our leader now. She was chosen by StarClan. Do you want to go against StarClan?”

“Leafstar was chosen by StarClan to lead SkyClan,” Juniperclaw muttered. “Not us.”

Tawnypelt merely glared at him, and after a moment Juniperclaw turned his head away.

“Leafstar made the right decision,” Tawnypelt went on. “Those cats are traitors. If any of the rest of you want to be traitors, the way out of camp is right there.”

Violetshine half expected that some of the cats would leave. Snowbird took a hesitant step or two toward the tunnel, but Scorchfur shook his head, laying his tail comfortingly on her shoulder. Gradually, the tension subsided.

“Well, why are you standing around here?” Leafstar asked, fighting to take back control. Violetshine thought she sounded shaken, perhaps more by Tawnypelt’s unexpected defense than by the hostility of the other cats. “There’s work to be done.”

Gradually the group broke up, most of them heading for their dens. Frecklewish called to her apprentice, Fidgetpaw, and led him out of camp to collect herbs. Rowanclaw gathered a patrol and left camp to hunt.

Violetshine stood still, gazing at the fern tunnel where Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf had vanished, not sure what she should do. Did I mess up by bringing them here? she asked herself. What will happen to them now?

Then she felt a tail stroke gently along her flank, and turned to see Tree. He stood close to her, nuzzling her shoulder. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“I’m not sure how I feel,” Violetshine murmured. “I don’t really trust Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker. It was so terrible when Darktail was in control of ShadowClan, and it was Sleekwhisker who helped him kill Needletail.”

Tree rasped his tongue over her ear. “I know she meant a lot to you.”

“She was my best friend—my only friend. Sleekwhisker and Darktail tried to drown her in the lake, while Roach and Raven held me back so I couldn’t help her.” Violetshine shivered. “I still dream about it.”

“You never told me that before,” Tree mewed. “It must have been terrible. I can see I’ll have to stay and keep an eye on you.”

Oh, yes! Violetshine thought, warmed by his promise. “Tree,” she asked after a moment, “did you . . . did you see any ghost cats walking with Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker?”

“Yes,” Tree replied. “I saw a dark brown tom with a tuft of fur on his head.”

“That must be Spikefur. They said he had died.”

“I sense they tried to help him when he was alive,” Tree went on. “I think they might be good cats. . . .”

Violetshine didn’t know whether to be relieved by that, or horrified. She wanted to think that Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker were good cats, but if that was true, then Leafstar had just driven them out undeservedly, while their kin watched. They would struggle to survive with no Clan, no cat to help them.

I can’t imagine this ending well. . . . Oh, StarClan, is there any way you can look after two Clanless cats?