Erin Hunter - Twilight

Brightheart had gone by the time she backed out again; Squirrelflight caught a glimpse of her tail whisking behind the bramble screen in front of Cinderpelt’s den. Trusting Brightheart to report about Sorreltail to the medicine cat, Squirrelflight headed for the fresh-kill pile to find a piece of prey.

Firestar was there, sharing a squirrel with Sandstorm, while Brambleclaw devoured a thrush a tail-length away.

“I want you to lead the dawn patrol tomorrow,” Firestar was meowing to Brambleclaw as Squirrelflight came up.

“Have a good look along the WindClan border. It’s possible you’ll come across more traces of Leafpool.”

Brambleclaw swallowed a mouthful. “I’ll take Cloudtail.

He’s one of our best trackers.” Hesitantly, he added, “But we followed her trail quite a long way into the hills. I don’t think we’ll find anything else now.”

“You might,” Firestar insisted. It was as if he couldn’t admit they might never see Leafpool again.

Like Graystripe ? Squirrelflight suddenly wondered.

Sandstorm lifted her head. “You might meet her coming back,” she mewed. “If you do, don’t be angry with her.”

Brambleclaw nodded. “Don’t worry. If I see her I’ll make sure she feels safe to come home.”

Squirrelflight could tell he didn’t hold out much hope of setting eyes on the missing medicine cat. She was beginning to agree with him. Even though she clung to the hope that her sister would come back, she knew how hard it would be for Leafpool once she had made the impossible decision to leave.

She chose a magpie from the pile and settled down to eat it.

“Are you okay?” Brambleclaw asked quietly.

“Not really,” she replied.

“You shouldn’t blame yourself,” Sandstorm assured her.

“But it’s my fault!” All Squirrelflight’s worries spilled over and she had to stop herself from wailing like a lost kit. “I knew Leafpool was leaving the camp at night and I didn’t do anything.”

Firestar leaned over to give her ear a comforting lick. “We should all have seen that there was something troubling Leafpool.”

“Yes,” Brambleclaw put in unexpectedly. “If you had done anything, you might have driven her away sooner. No cat knows.”

His gaze slid past her to the camp entrance, where Ashfur had just appeared with his apprentice. They headed for the fresh-kill pile; Brambleclaw finished his prey, swiped his tongue around his jaws, and stalked off before the gray tomcat came up.

“That was good work,” Ashfur meowed as he and Birchpaw approached. “Take some fresh-kill to the elders, and then you’re done for today.”

Birchpaw grabbed some prey from the pile and dashed off across the clearing, while Ashfur padded over to Squirrelflight. Firestar and Sandstorm got up and left the two of them together.

“I just gave Birchpaw a training session,” Ashfur told Squirrelflight. “He learns really fast.”

“That’s good,” Squirrelflight replied, trying to feel pleased that Ashfur’s mentoring was going well.

“You look exhausted.” Ashfur touched his nose to her ear.

“This time you are going to rest, so don’t try to argue.”

Squirrelflight felt as though ants were crawling through her pelt; the last thing she wanted to do was lie down, unable to sleep. But seeing the concern in her Clanmate’s eyes, she sighed and gave in. Finishing her prey, she padded over to the sunny spot near the wall, where she stretched out on her side and let the rays of the setting sun soak into her fur.

Ashfur crouched close beside her and began to lick her shoulder soothingly. In spite of the thoughts that buzzed in her mind, Squirrelflight began to drift into sleep. But the buzzing grew louder, and she realized it wasn’t inside her head after all. A low, grumbling roar was approaching through the trees.

Irritated, she raised her head. “What in StarClan’s name is that?”

Before she had finished speaking, the startled wail of a cat came from outside the clearing. The thorns rustled violently and Whitepaw skidded out of the mouth of the tunnel, her ears flat to her head and her eyes huge with fear. Brackenfur was hard on her paws.

Squirrelflight jumped up. The roaring grew clearer: it was the sound of many creatures, growling and snarling. It became louder still, until it seemed to fill the whole forest, and with it came snapping noises of breaking twigs, as if something were trampling down the barrier across the entrance to the hollow. Suddenly Squirrelflight saw an enormous creature thrust its way through the branches. The dying sunlight showed her a broad head with a narrow, striped snout, massive shoulders, and strong, blunt claws.

“Badger!” she yowled.

Cats ran out from all around the clearing. Firestar emerged from his den on the Highledge and launched himself down the rockfall. Brambleclaw pushed his way out of the warriors’ den, closely followed by Sandstorm and Cloudtail.

Cinderpelt and Brightheart brushed past the bramble screen in front of the medicine cat’s den; Brightheart’s good eye narrowed and she snarled at the intruder.

The badger had paused just inside the barrier, swinging its head from side to side as it scanned the clearing with small, bright eyes. Squirrelflight was about to hurl herself on it when more trampling noises kept her paws frozen to the ground in horror. Other badgers were breaking their way into the camp, more than she could count, crushing the thorn bushes like blades of grass.

With a roar that seemed to come from all their throats at once, the badgers surged forward. In an instant, the hollow was filled with gaping jaws and slashing claws. Squirrelflight glimpsed Rainwhisker being caught by one leg and tossed into the air; he landed with a dull thud a fox-length away, and didn’t get up.

Suddenly a striped face loomed in front of her.

Squirrelflight backed up against a clump of brambles, hissing as she lashed out with both front paws. The badger’s rank scent stung in her throat. “Get out, or I’ll claw your fur off!” she rasped.

Then she felt herself shouldered aside, stumbling to keep her balance as a streak of gray fur flashed past her. Ashfur had thrown himself between her and the badger.

“I can take care of myself!” she hissed, but Ashfur had already leapt forward, plunging his claws into the attacker’s pelt while he fastened his teeth into its ear. The badger let out a hoarse bellow, shaking its head from side to side to dislodge him.

“Squirrelflight!” a voice meowed in her ear. It was Brambleclaw, bleeding from a long scratch down one shoulder. “Help me—we’ve got to get Daisy and the kits out of the hollow. Sorreltail, too.”

Without waiting for her response he turned and raced toward the nursery, skirting the edge of the clearing.

Squirrelflight darted after him, dodging a couple of screeching cats—Spiderleg and Sootfur—who darted in from opposite sides to claw one huge female badger; the great beast swung her head to and fro, jaws snapping, frustrated that she couldn’t catch either of them.

Brambleclaw plunged into the nursery while Squirrelflight waited at the entrance, ready to defend it. The clearing heaved with cats fighting for their lives, and badgers fighting to kill them. Squirrelflight realized that the walls of the stone hollow, which had seemed to offer such good protection when they first found the camp, were trapping her Clanmates now. They couldn’t run away, or avoid their enemies by climbing trees. Squirrelflight watched Birchpaw scrabble a few tail-lengths up the rock wall, only to fall back into the claws of a badger. The apprentice saved himself by squeezing into a narrow crack at the foot of the cliff, just out of reach of the swiping black paw.