Эрин Хантер - Veil Of Shadows

“Some cat is going to pay for what has happened,” she vowed. “And I want that cat to be whoever is inside Bramblestar.”

At that moment, Rootspring caught a glimmer in the corner of his eye and turned his head to see Stemleaf’s ghost staring at Spotfur, his gaze full of love and sadness. He stood close to her for a heartbeat, then turned away and was lost among the ferns.

“You’re right, Spotfur,” Tigerstar mewed. “And now we have proof that the cat who now leads ThunderClan is not the real Bramblestar.”

Rootspring listened with renewed apprehension as Tigerstar told the rest of the cats about how Shadowsight had visited Bramblestar as a spirit and had seen another spirit cat emerge from within the Clan leader. By the time Tigerstar had finished, a horrified silence had fallen over the rebel group.

Lionblaze was the first cat to break it. “That’s what I’ve feared all along,” he stated. “But now that we’re sure it’s true—how does that help us decide what to do about it?”

“We have to defeat whoever is inside Bramblestar’s body,” Squirrelflight responded.

Lionblaze twitched his ears. “But how?”

“That depends on who the cat is,” Squirrelflight told him. “Who—or what —has stolen Bramblestar’s life?”

“You would be best placed to know,” Tigerstar pointed out. “He’s your mate; you know the real Bramblestar better than any cat.”

Squirrelflight blinked thoughtfully; a few moments passed before she spoke again. “Whoever is inside him now is lazy,” she replied at last. “He wants the glory of leading the Clan, but he doesn’t want to do the work. And he clearly wants to disrupt the peace between the five Clans.”

“Tigerstar?” Lionblaze asked, then shot a guilty look at the ShadowClan leader. “I mean the first Tigerstar,” he added hastily. Tigerstar gave him an awkward nod.

“Tigerstar was many things,” Crowfeather meowed, “but not lazy . Besides, the cats who were defeated in the battle with the Dark Forest are gone for good—those of us who fought saw them destroyed.”

“I believe that’s true,” Squirrelflight agreed. “When Leafpool and I spent time in StarClan, we were told that the Dark Forest was nearly empty.”

“Then what about Darktail?” Mothwing asked. “He certainly wanted to disrupt the peace when he was alive. Disrupting the peace was what he was good at!”

A shudder passed through Squirrelflight from ears to tail-tip, every hair on her pelt rising. “The time I spent with the false Bramblestar didn’t fit with what I remember of Darktail,” she responded. “Darktail was hungry for power—but he seemed to have strict control of his Kin, too. Half the time, this Bramblestar was almost indifferent to the rest of ThunderClan.”

Rootspring was becoming more despondent with every word spoken by the senior warriors. His hopes had been so high when he joined the rebel group, but now everything was going wrong. Tigerstar seemed angry . . . and cats were dying ! And even worse— no, not exactly worse, Rootspring had to admit—it was possible that Bristlefrost was a traitor, in league with whatever ghostly presence was inside Bramblestar.

How could this be?

Glancing around at the trees, Rootspring spotted a ghost emerging from the darkness again. Once more it was Stemleaf; Rootspring nodded at him, and Stemleaf nodded in response before passing close to Spotfur, brushing against her side.

And I’m seeing ghosts again, Rootspring thought, but not the one I really want to see. Bramblestar’s spirit was still missing.

Tree, who was standing beside Rootspring, touched his nose to his son’s shoulder, then angled his ears toward Stemleaf as the dead ThunderClan tom melted back into the shadows.

So he can see him, too.

Meanwhile, the meeting had broken down into an argument.

“Be quiet and listen!” Squirrelflight’s challenging yowl cut through the commotion. “Every cat needs to admit that we have a problem worse than all the others: If Bristlefrost has betrayed us, we have been exposed. I still believe that she was only doing what I asked of her, but we can’t take that chance.”

“You’re right.” Lionblaze straightened, gazing around with the commanding air of a leader. “We have to put aside our disagreements and come together now, if we’re to have any hope of survival.”

“Then how long are we going to let this go on?” Tigerstar asked. “I’ve heard rumors that Bramblestar is sending his so-called deputy from Clan to Clan now, demanding that they exile any cats involved in the attack.”

Breezepelt nodded. “Harestar has listened, and he wants to encourage other leaders to do the same. He truly believes this will bring StarClan back, and bring prey back to the moor.”

“Bramblestar has already exiled all the codebreakers in ThunderClan, not to mention any cat who’s annoyed him,” Spotfur added. “He’s thrown out both his medicine cats. Are we going to let this false Bramblestar remake all the Clans? Who knows what he wants?”

“To figure that out,” Squirrelflight responded, “we have to find out who he is. And to do that, we need a cat close to him on our side.”

“Bristlefrost?” Tigerstar suggested.

Spotfur shook her head. “Bristlefrost can’t be trusted now.”

No! Rootspring thought, anguished. If Bristlefrost could betray us, then I never really understood her. The thought made his heart ache.

“But I think Flipclaw is getting fed up with being stuck as a medicine cat,” Spotfur continued. “He might be prepared to pass on information.”

“Speaking of Flipclaw,” Puddleshine meowed, “we’ll all need to discuss Shadowsight’s return at the next half-moon meeting. I’m sure the others won’t be happy about Alderheart’s exile, or the way that Flipclaw was forced to take his place with scarcely any training. Of everything the false Bramblestar has done to break the warrior code, this might be the worst! The life of the whole Clan is in danger with an untrained medicine cat working alone.”

“That’s all well and good,” Lionblaze commented, “but the last I heard, Kestrelflight and Willowshine still hadn’t even shared the information about Bramblestar’s ghost with their leaders.”

Several voices spoke up from the WindClan and RiverClan cats. “That’s true.”

“If the leaders knew that,” Crowfeather added, “not to mention the new information about what Shadowsight saw, surely they would back any effort to get rid of this impostor.”

“That’s far from certain,” Tigerstar argued. “Mistystar and Harestar have hung their hopes for reconnecting with StarClan on Bramblestar and his so-called leadership. This news might not be enough to change their minds.”

“But we have to try,” Frecklewish insisted.

Tigerstar took control again, gathering the cats around them with a commanding glance. “Then we will wait and see what the medicine cats decide,” he announced. “If Mistystar and Harestar can be convinced that Bramblestar is not a true leader, that will make it much easier to get rid of him.”

Murmurs of agreement rose from the assembled cats, though Rootspring thought that some of them sounded reluctant. But after the death of the rebels who had attacked the false Bramblestar, he guessed that no cat wanted to risk another disaster.

Following Tree and Frecklewish back to the SkyClan camp, Rootspring wondered what the future held for all the Clans. But he couldn’t help his thoughts flying especially to ThunderClan. The idea that Bristlefrost might be a traitor to the rebels had struck him as hard as if a falling tree had slammed down on his body and crushed out his life.