Erin Hunter - Sunset

Onestar waved his tail. “It was no more than we owed you.”

“It grieves me to report the death of Sootfur,” Firestar went on, “and the death of our medicine cat, Cinderpelt.

Their Clan honors them.”

Most cats seemed to know already that Cinderpelt was dead; murmurs of grief rippled through the clearing like wind through grass. She would be greatly missed, for every cat respected and admired her.

“Leafpool is now ThunderClan’s medicine cat,” Firestar continued. “She has done an excellent job in caring for our injured warriors, and they are all recovering. We have rebuilt our dens and the entrance barrier to our camp. The badgers have not weakened ThunderClan in any way .”

He paused for a moment, letting his words sink in, then turned to where Blackstar was sitting among the thickly clustering oak leaves. His voice hardened. “Not long after the badgers attacked us, my warriors found a ShadowClan patrol setting scent markers well inside our territory. Have you anything to say about that, Blackstar?”

Brambleclaw couldn’t help glancing at his sister.

“Don’t blame me,” she hissed under her breath. “I told Russetfur she was a stupid furball even to think of invading ThunderClan, but would she listen?”

Brambleclaw rested the tip of his tail lightly on her shoulder. “It’s okay,” he murmured. “Every cat knows you’re an honorable warrior.”

Blackstar rose, his huge black paws balancing confidently on the narrow branch. Firestar’s accusation didn’t seem to bother him. “Since the weather has grown warmer,” he began, “Twolegs have brought their boats and water-monsters onto the lake at the edge of our territory. Their kits play in our woods and frighten the prey. Their monsters use the small Thunderpath and leave their reek in the air.”

“That’s true,” Leopardstar put in. “They’re in RiverClan territory too, leaving their rubbish everywhere. I’ve even spotted them here, on this island.”

“They lit a fire,” Mistyfoot added.

Brambleclaw’s fur stood on end, making him shiver. He could just remember the terrible fire that had swept through the old ThunderClan camp when he was a kit. It wasn’t hard to imagine hungry scarlet flames devouring the whole of the island, turning the Great Oak to a heap of brittle, charred sticks. What if the Twolegs built fires on the lakeshore, too?

ThunderClan had been safe so far, for no Twolegs had been seen on their side of the lake, but how long would that go on?

“What’s that got to do with stealing our territory?”

Squirrelflight called out.

“When we set the boundaries of our territories, back in leaf-bare,” Blackstar went on, “no cat knew what effect Twolegs would have on us. We never expected to see so many of them.

ShadowClan is finding it harder to catch enough prey—”

“And so is RiverClan,” Leopardstar mewed.

Blackstar dipped his head to her. “So it seems to me the only solution is to rearrange the boundaries. ThunderClan and WindClan should give up some of their territory to ShadowClan and RiverClan.”

As ThunderClan and WindClan broke out into yowls of protest, Onestar leaped to his paws, his neck fur bristling.

“Never!”

Firestar waved his tail for silence, but it was some time before the clamor in the clearing died down. Brambleclaw spotted Cloudtail on his paws, hissing defiance at Blackstar, while Dustpelt lashed his tail and Squirrelflight let out an outraged caterwaul. Crowfeather of WindClan stood with his neck fur bristling, his claws digging into the ground; beside him, Webfoot was yowling furiously at Blackstar.

Brambleclaw felt hot fury run through his body from ears to tail-tip, but he forced himself to keep silent and wait to hear how his Clan leader would reply.

“We can’t agree to that, Blackstar,” Firestar meowed as soon as he could make himself heard. “As the boundaries stand now, each Clan has the sort of territory they’re used to.

You can’t expect RiverClan cats to hunt on bare hillside like WindClan.”

“We can learn,” Hawkfrost insisted. “So much has changed since we came here, surely we can manage new hunting techniques?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Crowfeather shot back at him. “It’s not as easy as it looks. I know WindClan would find it difficult to hunt in thick woodland like ThunderClan.”

“Well, you would know about that,” Webfoot sneered.

“That’s enough,” Onestar hissed, glaring down at Webfoot.

Webfoot shot Crowfeather a resentful look, as though it were the dark warrior’s fault that he had received a public rebuke from his leader. Brambleclaw realized that some of Crowfeather’s Clanmates hadn’t forgiven him for being ready to abandon his Clan for the sake of the ThunderClan medicine cat.

“No cat wants trouble among the Clans,” Hawkfrost meowed, gazing up at the four leaders. “But ThunderClan and WindClan must be reasonable. What if it was your territory that was being invaded by Twolegs?”

While he spoke, Tawnypelt leaned close to Brambleclaw with a small snort of contempt. “I met Hawkfrost on the border once when I was patrolling with Blackstar and Oakfur,” she told her brother. “He was so concerned about the Twolegs, saying what a pity it was that the boundaries couldn’t be changed. I shouldn’t wonder if that was what put the idea into Blackstar’s head in the first place.”

Brambleclaw stared at her. Surely that couldn’t be true?

Hawkfrost would never encourage ShadowClan to attack ThunderClan. What he said could only have been a warrior’s natural anxiety that his Clan would have enough prey. And Blackstar certainly didn’t need any encouragement to attack another Clan.

“Hawkfrost isn’t like that,” he protested, only to meet a glint of disbelief in Tawnypelt’s green eyes.

“Really? And I suppose you’re going to tell me that birds don’t nest in trees,” she responded dryly.

Disturbed, Brambleclaw turned away. He had missed Firestar’s response, and now Hawkfrost was speaking again, looking up challengingly at the ThunderClan leader.

“Firestar, are you sure you’re not being too stubborn about the Clan boundaries? I’ve often heard you say that StarClan decreed there should be four Clans in the forest. How can that be, if two of them starve?”

He glanced across at Brambleclaw as if he expected his half brother to support him. Brambleclaw met his gaze, then looked away. Hawkfrost’s argument sounded persuasive, but Brambleclaw couldn’t believe that ShadowClan and RiverClan were in danger of starving, not in greenleaf when prey was plentiful. At most, they should wait a season or two before they discussed changing the boundaries, to discover exactly what changes the Twoleg invasion made to the territory around the lake.

“You don’t look like you’re starving to me, Hawkfrost,” Firestar meowed.

“RiverClan needs more territory!” Hawkfrost hissed. “If you don’t give it to us, we’ll take it anyway.”

“Hawkfrost, you don’t speak for RiverClan!” Mistyfoot snapped at him.

At the same moment Tornear of WindClan leaped to his paws. “Just try it, if you want a shredded pelt!”

Hawkfrost whirled on him, unsheathing his claws, and his Clanmate Blackclaw shouldered his way through the crowd to join him, his neck fur bristling and his tail fluffed up to twice its size. Three or four WindClan warriors, Crowfeather among them, jumped up to support Tornear.

“Stop!” Mistyfoot ordered, leaping from the root where she sat. “This is a Gathering! Have you forgotten that?”

One or two cats, including Crowfeather, stepped back, but most ignored the RiverClan deputy’s order. Brambleclaw spotted Cedarheart and Rowanclaw from ShadowClan on their paws as well, claws extended. Dustpelt and Thornclaw faced them, spitting defiance. As Brambleclaw stared in horror, the ShadowClan cats leaped at his Clanmates; all four rolled on the ground in a shrieking bundle of fur.