Erin Hunter - Sunset

Sorreltail swallowed a bite of the thrush Leafpool had brought for her. “I am, but I’m sure they’ll be into all kinds of mischief when they’re a little bigger. Worse than Daisy’s, even.” Her amber eyes gleamed with amusement. “Cinderkit needs watching already.”

Leafpool looked down at the kits, where they lay in a purring, drowsy heap. Warmth flooded over her as she remembered what Spottedleaf had shown her. How long would it be before the Clan realized the truth about Cinderkit? Leafpool longed to share the joy of her knowledge with them, but she knew that time had not come yet.

“You’ll need to get all the rest you can, then,” she mewed to Sorreltail. “And keep your strength up. Four kits at once are a big responsibility.”

“I know. I’m really glad you’re here, Leafpool.”

Leafpool shut her eyes for a moment, trying to remember the feelings that had made her consider abandoning her Clan. It was like a shadow inside her, just out of reach. But now it swelled, filling her mind; she tried to shake it off, but the dark feelings seemed to build and build inside her, the guilt changing into a vision of blood and roaring, drowning the soft sounds of Sorreltail’s kits and the warm, milky scents of the nursery.

Something terrible is happening—oh, StarClan, what can it be?

She stumbled blindly out into the clearing, ignoring Sorreltail’s startled exclamation behind her. Once in the open, she realized that everything was peaceful. The clearing was almost deserted, with most cats out on patrol. Bright sunlight shone down from a blue sky streaked with a few fine wisps of cloud.

But Leafpool knew that something was horribly wrong—if not here, then out in the forest. She raced across the clearing, ignoring the puzzled looks from Cloudtail and Brightheart at the fresh-kill pile. Bursting out of the thorn tunnel, she almost crashed into Squirrelflight.

“Hey!” her sister exclaimed. “Take it easy. What’s the matter?”

“Something dreadful,” Leafpool panted. “Badgers—Twolegs—I don’t know. Have you seen anything?”

“No.” Squirrelflight rested her tail on her sister’s shoulder to calm her. “Everything’s fine. I’ve just been looking for Brambleclaw. The annoying furball went off without me. I tried to follow his scent, but I lost it.”

“No, everything’s not fine.” The certainty of her terror rippled through Leafpool’s pelt and struck cold into her bones.

“ThunderClan is in great danger. Will you come with me?”

“Of course, but where are we going?”

“I don’t know!” Leafpool’s voice rose. “Oh, StarClan, show us the way!”

She had hardly finished speaking before she heard the sound of a cat blundering through the undergrowth. Fronds of bracken waved wildly as Ashfur dashed into the open. His fur stood on end and his blue eyes were wild with fear.

“Leafpool!” he gasped. “It’s Firestar… he’s caught in a fox trap.”

“Where? Why didn’t you get him out?” Squirrelflight demanded, her green eyes blazing.

“Because he’s… Brambleclaw is there too.” Ashfur was gasping for air as if he’d just dragged himself out of deep water. “And Hawkfrost is with him—a RiverClan cat on our territory. I couldn’t take on both of them at once. I had to come for help.” He pointed with his tail toward the lake.

“That way. Hurry!”

Brambleclaw stared down at his Clan leader. He still couldn’t move.

He knew that all he had to do was tighten the noose around Firestar’s neck, and he would lose his remaining six lives at once. His gaze met Firestar’s, where his leader lay helpless in front of him. But there was no pleading in the green eyes, only a fierce, proud question: What will you do, Brambleclaw? It’s your choice .

Brambleclaw thought of how Firestar and Tigerstar had confronted each other, time after time. Each hated the other for what they stood for, the plans they had for their Clan. But Firestar had never needed to fight Tigerstar to the death.

Scourge, the vicious leader of BloodClan, whom Tigerstar himself had invited into the forest, had killed him with a single blow.

This time it looked as though Tigerstar would win.

Brambleclaw was aware of his father’s spirit close beside him, urging him on. Fool! Kill him now!

Closing his eyes, Brambleclaw remembered the clearing at Fourtrees, the blood pouring out onto the grass as Tigerstar lost all nine lives at once. He saw Scourge looking down at his twitching body with cold triumph. Was that what Hawkfrost and Tigerstar wanted him to become?

“Six lives…” he murmured. Six lives stood between him and the leadership of ThunderClan.

“That’s right,” Hawkfrost hissed. “This is our chance to take revenge on Firestar for our father’s death. He could have tried to stop Scourge, but he just stood there and watched Tigerstar die, over and over and over.”

Revenge? Brambleclaw wrenched his gaze from Firestar to stare at his half brother. This wasn’t about revenge. He knew very well that Tigerstar had willingly set his own paws on the path that led to his violent death.

All I want is to lead my Clan , he thought. But not like this . His loyalty was not to ThunderClan alone, but to Firestar too—the cat who had mentored him, accepted him in spite of his father, and in the end had trusted him enough to make him Clan deputy. He had thought that loyalty to the Clan didn’t necessarily mean loyalty to the Clan leader. That wasn’t true.

Firestar was ThunderClan.

“No,” he meowed to Hawkfrost, amazed to hear his voice come out strong and steady. “I won’t do it.”

He recalled how Brook and Squirrelflight had freed Berrykit when the kit caught his tail in a fox trap. Leaping over to Firestar’s side, he began scrabbling in the earth, trying to dig up the stick that held the tendril taut around his leader’s neck. “Keep still, Firestar,” he panted as the earth flew. “I’ll have you out of this in a heartbeat.”

A yowl of protest battered his ears; he couldn’t be sure whether it came from Hawkfrost or from the vengeful spirit of Tigerstar. Hawkfrost sprang at him, slamming into his side and knocking him off his paws. Brambleclaw was pinned under him. Hawkfrost’s ice-blue eyes glared into his.

“Coward!” Hawkfrost snarled. “Keep away and I’ll kill him myself if I have to.”

Never! Brambleclaw thrust his hind paws hard into Hawkfrost’s belly, throwing him off. While his half brother lay winded, he hurled himself at the stick again, grabbing it in his jaws. His earlier digging had loosened it; now it came free altogether, and the tendril around Firestar’s neck slackened.

He heard his Clan leader draw a single gasping breath.

A fierce snarl behind him made him spin around to see Hawkfrost springing at him. Brambleclaw dodged to one side, letting the stick fall. He felt the sting of Hawkfrost’s claws raking through his fur as his half brother leaped past him.

Spinning around, Brambleclaw faced Hawkfrost again, and saw a cold flame in the RiverClan cat’s ice-blue eyes.

“Traitor!” Hawkfrost spat. “You’re a traitor to everything our father planned! You were never strong enough to be like him.”

“I don’t want to be like him,” Brambleclaw retorted.

“Then you’re a fool,” Hawkfrost sneered. “And stupid too.

You never realized that this was a test. It was Tigerstar’s idea.

He said that if you really deserved power, you would do anything to get it.”