Erin Hunter - Sunset

Leafpool felt her neck fur bristling. How dared Ashfur suggest that she would invent a sign to help her sister’s mate become deputy! Even if he was bitter at losing Squirrelflight to Brambleclaw, he should know that a medicine cat would never lie.

“Ashfur, you—” she began.

Her words were drowned in a furious yowl from Squirrelflight. “Say that to my face, fox dung!”

The ginger warrior lunged at Ashfur, but Brambleclaw thrust her to one side and wrapped his tail around her neck.

He was saying something to her, speaking fast and urgently, too low for Leafpool to hear.

“Do any other cats agree with Ashfur?” Firestar demanded calmly.

Leafpool saw Spiderleg glance uneasily from side to side; he opened his jaws to speak and then obviously thought better of it.

“None of us agree,” Brackenfur called out. “Leafpool is an honest cat. If StarClan chose Brambleclaw, that’s enough for us. I think he’ll make a great deputy.”

Brambleclaw stepped away from Squirrelflight with a last warning glance. He dipped his head to Brackenfur and then, more deeply still, to Firestar. “Thank you,” he meowed. “I know I can never fill Graystripe’s place, but I’ll do my best to be a good deputy for ThunderClan.”

The tension within Leafpool faded as the Clan crowded around Brambleclaw to congratulate him, pressing up against him and calling out his name. Stormfur and Brook were among the first, and even Mousefur was among them. The only cat to hold back was Ashfur, who stalked off alone to the warriors’ den.

As the cats began to leave the clearing, some to their dens, some to continue the vigil for Graystripe, Leafpool thought she saw another cat twining itself around Brambleclaw. A muscular tomcat, broader in the shoulders, but with the same dark tabby fur. The shape was gone almost at once, but not before Leafpool had seen its powerful, curved claws and the gleam of triumph in its amber eyes.

Tigerstar still haunted the paw steps of his son, and had been beside him when Firestar made him deputy.

Brambleclaw raced through the dark forest. He felt as though every limb, every hair on his pelt, was bursting with energy. He couldn’t wait to tell his father and Hawkfrost the news. Clan deputy! When Firestar made the announcement, he hadn’t been able to believe it. But it was true. Not only Firestar, but StarClan themselves had chosen him. Now he had the chance to show the whole of ThunderClan what he could do.

He pelted into the clearing where Tigerstar waited on his rock with Hawkfrost sitting on the ground below. “Tigerstar!” he panted. “Great news!”

Tigerstar fixed him with an amber gaze that brimmed with pride and satisfaction, and Brambleclaw realized that he already knew. “ThunderClan deputy,” he meowed. “You have done well.”

“Deputy!” Hawkfrost exclaimed. Brambleclaw caught the glitter of jealousy in his ice-blue eyes. “Without an apprentice?”

“I was StarClan’s choice,” Brambleclaw explained. “They sent Leafpool a sign.”

Tigerstar spoke sharply. “Do not speak of StarClan here. You have gained your position through your own skills and through everything you have learned from me. And yet when power was within your paws you almost threw it away.” His gaze darkened, so that Brambleclaw had to brace himself not to flinch. “Why did you remind Firestar that you hadn’t had an apprentice?”

“I’m sorry,” Brambleclaw meowed. “I was so shocked I couldn’t believe what he was saying.”

To his relief, Tigerstar nodded. “Perhaps it was not so foolish after all,” he decided. “Now none of your Clan can accuse you of seeking power unfairly.” He swiped his tongue around his jaws and turned to Hawkfrost. “As for you, your time will come.”

Hawkfrost’s lip curled, showing his sharp teeth. “I doubt it. It sometimes seems like Leopardstar and Mistyfoot will live forever.”

Tigerstar lashed his tail. “No son of mine admits defeat.

Leopardstar is the oldest of the Clan leaders, and when she goes to join StarClan, who else could Mistyfoot appoint as deputy? Don’t forget that you have already been deputy once.”

Hawkfrost nodded and seemed to make an effort to shrug off his ill temper. “Congratulations,” he mewed to Brambleclaw.

“Thanks,” Brambleclaw replied. “I’m sure you won’t have to wait long for your turn.”

“Enough of this,” Tigerstar meowed with a flick of his tail.

“There are more plans for us to make. The two of you are destined to rule the whole forest, and every cat will do as you command. Not one bite of prey will be eaten by any cat unless you say so.”

Hawkfrost’s eyes gleamed, but Brambleclaw took a pace back. What was Tigerstar talking about? It was a huge step from being Clan deputy to ruling the entire forest.

“What do you mean?” he asked. “How can—?”

Tigerstar silenced him with a snarl. “Once you are both leaders, Hawkfrost will take over ShadowClan as well as RiverClan. They will welcome him because I was their leader once, and he is my son. And you, Brambleclaw, will lead WindClan alongside ThunderClan.”

“But Onestar leads WindClan!” Brambleclaw pointed out.

“And they’ve been ThunderClan allies for many seasons.”

Tigerstar’s tail-tip twitched. “Which is why taking control of their Clan won’t be a problem. Those weak fools in WindClan are so used to taking orders from ThunderClan that they’ll hardly notice the difference.”

Brambleclaw stared up at his father, daunted by the blaze of certainty in his amber eyes. “But there have always been four Clans,” he objected, knowing how feeble his words must sound.

“There used to be, in the forest.” Tigerstar flicked his ears, dismissing the Clans’ former home. “But now that everything else has changed, perhaps it’s time for that to change too. It will change, if you have the strength.”

For a few heartbeats, Brambleclaw let himself get swept up in his father’s vision of the future. It was tempting to imagine himself controlling a vast swath of land, with two Clans of strong, powerful warriors at his command. He could lead them well, he knew. StarClan had chosen him to be ThunderClan’s deputy; perhaps this was just the first tiny paw step on his way to a glorious destiny.

“Of course we have the strength,” Hawkfrost meowed. “At the next Gathering we should start making friends in our future Clans, so that we’ll have their support when we take over.”

Tigerstar nodded, but Hawkfrost’s words disturbed Brambleclaw. He already had friends in WindClan. They wouldn’t support him if he tried to take over; they would think he had betrayed them. He glanced at Hawkfrost, who was obviously waiting for him to respond, and gave a non-committal murmur. He wasn’t going to agree to anything until he’d had time to think this through.

“A Gathering would be the perfect opportunity to take power,” Hawkfrost went on, his eyes gleaming. “Brambleclaw, when you and I are leaders of our Clans, we could choose our strongest cats to come with us to the Gathering—”

“Cats who will carry out your orders without question,” Tigerstar put in, dipping his head to Hawkfrost as if he already guessed his son’s plan and approved of it.

“Of course. And then we simply kill the other two leaders and take over their Clans while they’re all trapped on the island.”

“What?” Brambleclaw felt his neck fur rising. He couldn’t believe what he had heard. “At a Gathering ?”