River Of Fire

CHAPTER 8

“You have to do something.”

This wasn’t the first time Violetshine had heard those words from her Clan leader. A quarter moon had passed since Leafstar had turned Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf away from SkyClan, and Tree still hadn’t decided what his place in the Clan should be. The Clan leader was losing patience; she had asked Violetshine to bring Tree to her den, and now her tail-tip twitched to and fro as she confronted the yellow tom.

“If you don’t want to be a medicine cat, you must train to be a warrior. You can’t just sleep in the sun all day.”

Like we’ve had much sun lately, Violetshine thought as she listened to the argument. But she could see Leafstar’s point. No Clan cat had the right to sit around and do nothing.

“But it’s not right for me to be a medicine cat or a warrior,” Tree objected. “Why do I have to fit into a specific position?”

“Because that’s how Clans work,” Leafstar retorted, her voice tense and her neck fur beginning to bristle. “If you don’t want to be part of the Clan—”

“No,” Tree interrupted. “I do want to stay here. I just haven’t found my place. . . .”

“Then it’s time you did,” Leafstar snapped, “and stop all this dithering around. We’re not going to keep you here if you don’t contribute.”

A pang of fear shook Violetshine like a gust of icy wind. She mustn’t send Tree away. . . .

“Tree, why don’t you come hunting with me?” she suggested desperately. “While you try to figure it all out, you might as well learn some warrior skills, right?”

Tree blinked, hesitating, then reluctantly mewed, “Okay.”

“Well, thank StarClan for that!” Leafstar exclaimed, still looking irritated. “And thank you, Violetshine. Maybe if Tree tries the warrior way of hunting, he’ll get to like it.”

And maybe hedgehogs fly, Violetshine thought. She knew that she had to find a place for Tree, but she couldn’t imagine what that would be.

As Violetshine led the way across the camp to the fern tunnel, she spotted the group of former ShadowClan cats, all of them glaring after Leafstar as she returned to her den. Scorchfur muttered something to Snowbird with a hostile lash of his tail.

Violetshine suppressed a sigh, reflecting how much tension there had been in the Clan since Leafstar had turned Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker away. Juniperclaw, Scorchfur, and Snowbird had been all but ignoring orders from the leader and deputy, or being as slow and uncooperative as they could. Every one of them had been criticizing Leafstar, loudly and openly where the whole Clan could hear them. Only rebukes from Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt had kept them from outright defiance; they were listening to Rowanclaw as if he were their leader still.

I’m not sure how I would feel if Leafstar had turned my kin away, Violetshine thought. But she wasn’t sure either if she trusted Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker. Perhaps Leafstar is right, and this is a time for caution. But then, Tree wondered if they might be good cats . . . .

“Let me show you the hunter’s crouch,” Violetshine mewed when she and Tree were out in the forest. “It’s like this. Keep your paws well tucked in, and your tail close to your side so you don’t alert the prey.”

“Like this?” Tree asked.

Staring at him, Violetshine had to let out a loud mrrow of laughter. Tree had taken up an almost perfect hunter’s crouch, except that he was lying on his back, with his paws in the air.

“What do you expect to catch like that?” she asked. “Low-flying blackbirds?”

Tree rolled over and sprang to his paws. “Well, it’s a bit different from how I usually hunt,” he remarked.

“It’s how we do things out here in the wild.” Violetshine was glad that Leafstar couldn’t see Tree messing around. “Now try it the right way up.”

Tree crouched down, impressing Violetshine this time with how quickly he had mastered the position.

“That’s very good,” she told him. “Now creep forward, setting your paws down as lightly as you can. Remember that a mouse will feel the vibrations of your paws on the ground long before it hears you coming.”

Tree pressed his belly to the ground and began to creep with long, slow movements of his legs. Watching his muscles rippling underneath his pelt, Violetshine realized that he would be a formidable hunter and fighter if he could be bothered to learn.

Tree went on creeping until he came to the top of a steep bank. Instead of stopping, he launched himself downward and rolled head over paws until he landed with a crunch in a heap of dead leaves.

“I think your mouse just escaped,” Violetshine meowed drily, peering down at him from the top of the bank.

Tree sat up with a leaf stuck to the top of his head. “You never told me to stop.” His voice was reproachful, but his eyes were sparkling with mischief.

Violetshine skidded down the bank to join him. “You daft furball!” she exclaimed, butting his shoulder with her head. “Honestly, how did you ever manage to feed yourself when you were a loner?”

“Ah, I had a special move for that,” Tree explained. “I turned myself into a bush.”

Violetshine rolled her eyes.

“No, really. Shall I show you?”

“Go on, then,” Violetshine responded with a sigh.

“Okay. You start by crouching down like this,” Tree instructed her, tucking his paws underneath him in something like the hunter’s crouch. “That’s right,” he mewed as Violetshine copied him. “Now think bush!”

Violetshine stared at him. “Do what?”

“Think bush. Like your legs are branches and your claws are twigs, and you have leaves opening up all over your pelt. You’ve got to keep really still, and then your prey will come to you.”

While Tree was still speaking, incredibly, a mouse went skittering past. The yellow tom lazily stretched out one paw and slammed it down on top of the prey. “Like that,” he finished.

Violetshine snorted with laughter. It feels so good to have fun, when everything in camp is so tense. “Tree, no cat but you could hunt like that!”

“It works,” Tree mewed smugly. “Do you want to share?”

“No, we’re a hunting patrol,” Violetshine responded. “The Clan must be fed first. We’ll bury your mouse and then—”

She broke off as Tree stretched out a paw to silence her. He pointed with his tail, and Violetshine spotted movement in the undergrowth. A flash of black fur showed her Juniperclaw, slinking through the bushes in the direction of the old ShadowClan camp.

“What’s going on?” murmured Tree. “Why is he out here alone?”

“Maybe he just wants some herbs or something from his old camp,” Violetshine suggested. But in that case, why does he look so furtive?

“I think we should follow him,” Tree mewed.

Violetshine nodded, and quickly scraped some earth over Tree’s mouse so they could collect it later. Then, side by side, the two cats slipped through the undergrowth, following Juniperclaw’s scent trail.

They caught sight of him again as he climbed the rocky slope up to the ShadowClan camp and disappeared into the brambles at the top. Tree and Violetshine crept up in his paw steps until they could look down into the hollow of the camp.

Down at the bottom of the hollow, where the fresh-kill pile used to be, Yarrowleaf lay stretched out, grooming herself, while Sleekwhisker, beside her, rose to her paws to welcome her brother Juniperclaw.

Violetshine let out a cry of surprise. Alerted, all three cats turned to face her and Tree, as they paced down the slope to join them. Violetshine forced herself not to flinch under the hostile glares from Juniperclaw and Sleekwhisker. Yarrowleaf simply looked terrified.

“Oh, no!” she yowled, while Sleekwhisker asked, “How did you find us?”

“A more important question is, What are you doing here?” Violetshine retorted. “This is SkyClan territory, and Leafstar ordered you to leave.”

Sleekwhisker stretched out her neck and hissed at Violetshine. “You don’t understand. This is our home!”

“Oh, really?” Violetshine refused to be intimidated; she could feel her back fur beginning to bristle. “You think I don’t understand what it was like to grow up in ShadowClan?”

“You didn’t grow up as a real ShadowClan cat,” Sleekwhisker sneered, narrowing her eyes. “You proved that when you ran off to SkyClan!”

Fury throbbed through Violetshine. She bunched her muscles, ready to spring forward and confront Sleekwhisker, only to find Tree’s tail held across her path as a barrier.

“Sleekwhisker, Yarrowleaf,” Tree meowed, “give me one good reason why we shouldn’t tell Leafstar you’re here right now.”

Violetshine gave him a disbelieving stare. We have to tell Leafstar! Before she could speak the words aloud, Tree gave her a tiny shake of his head, as if he was telling her to let him continue.

“I can’t be wandering the wilderness when I’m about to have kits,” Yarrowleaf mewed sorrowfully. “And I desperately wanted to return to ShadowClan. I’ve changed—I want to come home.”

“That’s true,” Sleekwhisker agreed. “Violetshine, I’m sorry. I’m just so desperate to stay. Will you help us?”

“Please,” Juniperclaw added. “Violetshine, you grew up with all of us. You must remember how close we were.”

I don’t remember that at all, Violetshine thought, but she wasn’t going to say it out loud. You were never my friends.

“You must understand it’s not okay to throw them out,” Juniperclaw continued. “Especially when they’re sorry.”

For a moment Violetshine hesitated. She could understand how the intruders felt, particularly Yarrowleaf, who was so close to kitting. “I’m sorry too,” she responded at last. “Yes, we grew up together,” she added, lifting her head proudly, “but I’m a SkyClan cat now. And Leafstar must know what’s happening on her territory.”

Yarrowleaf let out a terrified wail.

“Wait,” Tree put in. “Maybe we can work out a solution that will make every cat happy.”

Violetshine glared at him. “Have you got bees in your brain?”

“Yarrowleaf is clearly in distress,” Tree murmured to her. “Maybe Leafstar would let her hang around long enough to have her kits.”

“Oh, thank you!” Yarrowleaf had heard Tree’s low-voiced suggestion. “All I want is for my kits to be born in ShadowClan.”

“That doesn’t look likely,” Tree meowed, candid as ever. “But we’ll see what we can do. Violetshine, shall we go and talk to Leafstar now?”

Violetshine sighed. Tree is such fun, and I like him so much, but there are times I could cheerfully rip his pelt off! “Yes, Tree,” she responded. “We’ll go now.”

Most of the SkyClan cats seemed to be in camp when Violetshine led Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker through the fern tunnel. Yowls of outrage came from them as they gathered around to stare at the intruders. Violetshine spotted Scorchfur and Snowbird exchanging glances of shock and fear that their kit had been discovered.

“I’m going to tell Leafstar,” Plumwillow meowed, breaking away from the crowd and bounding toward the cedar tree.

When Leafstar shouldered her way through the cluster of cats, her amber eyes were sparking with fury. Her tail lashed, and her fur was bushed up so that she looked twice her size.

Puddleshine and Frecklewish followed her, and to Violetshine’s surprise they looked almost relieved. That’s odd, she thought. Something is going on with them.

Hawkwing appeared, too, and stood at his leader’s shoulder; his expression was unreadable as he gazed at the two intruders.

“Well?” Leafstar demanded in a voice as icy as the coldest winds of leaf-bare.

“We found these two cats in the old ShadowClan camp,” Tree explained. “They want to stay.”

“And I’ve already told them they can’t,” Leafstar retorted. Whirling around, her glance raked across her Clan. “How many of you are involved in this?”

“I am,” Juniperclaw admitted, stepping forward from where he stood behind Tree.

“So are we,” Snowbird added, with a glance at her mate, Scorchfur.

“And me.” Whorlpaw, Juniperclaw’s apprentice, came to stand beside his mentor. His legs were trembling, and Juniperclaw rested his tail on the young tom’s shoulder.

“I knew about it,” Strikestone confessed reluctantly.

“All of you went against my orders?” Leafstar snarled. “How can I trust you now? How can we be one united Clan when you only obey me when you agree?”

Violetshine could see the Clan leader’s anger reflected in Juniperclaw’s eyes. “With respect, Leafstar,” he began, “we only went against your wishes because you ignored all the ShadowClan cats when you sent Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker away.”

For a heart-stopping moment Violetshine thought that Leafstar would throw herself on the black tom in a whirlwind of screeching fury. Then she saw the Clan leader battling to hold on to calm.

“First, that’s not true,” she meowed. “Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt didn’t trust them either. And second, I don’t need your agreement. I am Clan leader. StarClan chose me to make decisions for this Clan. Or does ShadowClan not believe in StarClan?”

Juniperclaw and Scorchfur exchanged a glance; then each of them opened their jaws as if to yowl defiance at Leafstar.

Tree stepped forward quickly and spoke before they could get a word out. “Listen, surely there’s a way to solve this. Like it or not, you’re all one Clan now. You have to live together.” His glance traveled around the former ShadowClan cats. “Do you want to be in SkyClan?” he asked. “Or would you rather form your own Clan again?”

“It doesn’t actually work like that,” Leafstar muttered.

“We want to be here,” Rowanclaw responded swiftly, thrusting himself farther forward with Tawnypelt by his side. “That was my last decision as leader of ShadowClan—and it holds.”

“That’s right,” Tawnypelt agreed, glaring around as if she dared any of her Clanmates to contradict her.

There was murmuring among the ShadowClan cats, with tail-twitching and doubtful glances at Leafstar, but finally they settled down.

“Yes, we want to be here,” Scorchfur declared, speaking for all of them.

Looking at them, Violetshine couldn’t help wondering, Do you, really? Or do you just not have any other choice?

“Leafstar, I’m sorry,” Rowanclaw began, stepping up to face the Clan leader and dipping his head respectfully. “I say that on behalf of all my Clanmates.”

“Yes, we’re sorry,” the others muttered. Juniperclaw’s fur still bristled angrily, and Scorchfur dropped his eyes rather than meet Leafstar’s gaze, but they joined in with the others’ meows.

Snowbird took a pace forward that brought her to Rowanclaw’s side. “Leafstar, I promise to be loyal to you in future,” she meowed. “Nothing like this will happen again.”

One by one, the others came up and made the same pledge of loyalty. Leafstar didn’t look appeased, but in the end she nodded curtly. “Very well. Make sure you act on the words you’ve spoken today.”

“Leafstar, we still have to decide what to do about Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker,” Tree reminded the Clan leader with a respectful dip of his head. “If you’ll allow me, I’d like to offer you an idea.”

Leafstar regarded him warily. “Go on,” she mewed eventually.

“It does seem sensible to allow Yarrowleaf to stay here,” Tree began. “At least until her kits are born.”

Violetshine cringed inwardly as Tree spoke, but Leafstar did not react at all, but merely waited for Tree to go on.

“Other cats who are here now did follow Darktail,” the yellow tom reminded her. “But they’ve changed. They’re loyal to you. The time it will take Yarrowleaf to have her kits and wean them will be a chance to test Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker—a time for them both to prove their loyalty to SkyClan. When the kits are weaned, they can be invited to join the Clan, or sent on their way with no hard feelings.”

Leafstar flexed her claws, looking torn; Violetshine could see that she would really have preferred to send the two intruders on their way right now. Then she relaxed a little, as if she could see the wisdom of Tree’s words.

While she still hesitated, Frecklewish stepped forward to Leafstar’s side. “Remember what Puddleshine and I told you,” she meowed.

Leafstar faced her medicine cat; unspoken words seemed to flow between them. “I remember,” Leafstar murmured after a moment.

“Oh, please,” Yarrowleaf begged, as if she sensed a softening in the Clan leader’s attitude. “I’ll do anything you ask to prove my loyalty. I just want to be part of a Clan again!”

“So do I,” Sleekwhisker added. “I promise we won’t let you down.”

Leafstar heaved a deep sigh. “Very well. But remember this, Tree,” she went on, swinging around to face the yellow tom. “They’re your responsibility. If they put a paw out of line, guess whose ears I’ll be clawing off.”

Violetshine gasped, then saw that there was a glimmer of amusement in Leafstar’s amber eyes.

“Then claw away, Leafstar,” Tree mewed easily. “But I’m sure it won’t be necessary.”

“Of course, that’s assuming that you’re staying with the Clan,” Leafstar added.

“I’d very much like to,” Tree responded with a glance at Violetshine. “I just need to find my place here.”

Leafstar nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps we just need to get creative . . . ,” she murmured.

With that, the meeting began to break up. Snowbird led Yarrowleaf across the camp to make a nest in the nursery. Frecklewish followed them.

“You’d better go in with the apprentices,” Hawkwing told Sleekwhisker curtly. “You’re not an official SkyClan warrior yet.”

Violetshine thought she caught a flicker of anger in Sleekwhisker’s eyes, but the yellow she-cat bowed her head meekly as she replied, “Of course, Hawkwing.”

“I’ll show you where,” Whorlpaw offered, and led her away.

Violetshine watched, troubled, as they padded toward the apprentices’ den. Hawkwing had taken no part in the debate, and she hadn’t paid much attention to him while it was going on. Now she could see that her father wasn’t happy about the decision—and he wasn’t the only one. Even Tawnypelt looked anxious, speaking to Rowanclaw in hushed tones, their heads close together.

What is happening to my Clan? Violetshine wondered. I thought Leafstar—with Tree’s help—had brought all the cats together. But now look at us. Will we ever be one Clan?