Erin Hunter - Starlight

Instinctively he slid to one side, back into the shadows, and watched as a Twoleg appeared and began to pull pelts across to hide the light.

“Squirrelflight?” he whispered. “Where are you? Let’s get out of here.”

Squirrelflight’s voice came from the other side of the patch of light. “Er… Brambleclaw, you might want to rethink that.”

At first Brambleclaw couldn’t see her in the fast-gathering darkness. Then as the Twoleg hid the last of the light he spotted her, close to the wall of the nest. Her back was arched and her fur fluffed out so she looked almost twice her size. Two angry kittypets faced her, trapping her against the wall.

Brambleclaw stared in disbelief. In spite of their hostile encounter with a kittypet at the start of their journey, he still expected most kittypets to be small and soft—no danger to a trained warrior. But these two looked lean and dangerous, their muscles sharply etched beneath sleek pelts. The nearest to him, a big black-and-white tom, had one ear that was torn jaggedly, proving he was no stranger to fights.

In the moment that Brambleclaw stood frozen, the tom lashed out at Squirrelflight. She shrank back with a furious hiss. “Leave me alone, kittypet!”

With a yowl of rage, Brambleclaw launched himself across the garden, straight at the black-and-white kittypet.

Barreling into him, he swept the tom off his paws and tried to pin him down. The tomcat writhed under him, clawing at his face and pummeling his belly with his hindlegs.

Brambleclaw heard Squirrelflight let out a screech and caught a glimpse of her rolling over, locked together with the other kittypet, a light brown tabby.

Fear crashed over him like an icy wave. The journey had left them both thin and tired, and they were no match for strong, well-fed, battle-hungry cats.

He fought to sink his teeth into the kittypet’s throat, but the black-and-white tom heaved his shoulders and flipped Brambleclaw over before he could close his jaws on fur or flesh. Brambleclaw felt his weight land on top of him, and saw sharp white teeth snapping at his ear. He felt claws rake over his side, and battered vainly at his opponent’s belly with his hindpaws.

Suddenly the kittypet’s weight vanished. Brambleclaw scrambled up, panting, to see Mistyfoot swipe her claws down the black-and-white tom’s shoulder. She sprang out of reach before he had a chance to jump around and face her. While he was still unbalanced, she leaped onto his back and sank her teeth into the scruff of his neck.

Just beyond, the tabby broke away from Squirrelflight and raced around the side of the nest, yowling. Brambleclaw saw Tawnypelt and Crowfeather pelting across the garden, but before they reached the fight the door of the nest was flung open. A Twoleg stood in the doorway, letting out a loud screech. It flung something that skimmed over Brambleclaw’s head and landed with a crash in the bushes. The noise distracted Mistyfoot, and the black-and-white tom wrenched itself from under her paws and fled into the nest. The Twoleg advanced into the garden, casting a long, menacing shadow into the light shed through the doorway.

“Run!” hissed Mistyfoot.

Making sure that Squirrelflight was on her paws, Brambleclaw dashed for the wall. Something else slammed into the ground behind him, and there was another yowl from the Twoleg. Then he was leaping up, claws scrabbling on the rough stone, and landing hard on the other side. The others kept pace with him as he fled for the trees, and they didn’t stop until the Twoleg nest was out of sight.

“Well!” panted Mistyfoot. “Maybe you’ll listen to me next time, Brambleclaw, and think about just how far we need to explore.”

Brambleclaw bowed his head, shame scorching him from ears to tail-tip. It had been stupid to go so close to the nest.

He had been showing off, trying to prove what a good leader he could be. “Sorry, Mistyfoot,” he mumbled.

“So you should be. You could have been badly injured, or trapped by Twolegs.” The RiverClan deputy’s voice was tart.

Glancing around, she added, “Do you have any idea where we are now?”

Brambleclaw realized that they hadn’t fled from the nest in the same direction they had come. Tall pine trees stood all around them, with not a hint of where the lake might be. It was almost completely dark.

“No, I thought not,” Mistyfoot went on caustically. “Lost in strange woods, and it’s getting dark. We’d better look for somewhere to spend the night, and hope we can find our way back to the lake in the morning.”

This time she took the lead, stalking through the trees with her tail held high. Tawnypelt and Crowfeather followed; Tawnypelt gave her brother a sympathetic glance and murmured, “I know you were trying to help.”

Brambleclaw shrugged. He couldn’t defend his actions—it was only thanks to Mistyfoot that he had escaped from the kittypets with his fur intact. He kept to the rear of the group, his tail drooping, and hardly looked up when Squirrelpaw dropped back to give him an affectionate nuzzle.

“Cheer up!” she mewed. “It’s not that bad. We found out something that ShadowClan will need to be warned about if they decide to settle here.”

“Blackstar won’t want those two kittypets in his territory,” Brambleclaw muttered.

“Oh, I don’t know.” Squirrelflight’s eyes glimmered; she glanced at the others to make sure that Tawnypelt was out of earshot before adding, “They’d make pretty good recruits for ShadowClan, if you ask me.”

Brambleclaw let out a purr of amusement. “Come on; we don’t want to get left behind.” They bounded after the others, their pelts brushing as they swerved through the close-growing trees. The ground started to slope more steeply, with rocks jutting out here and there; Brambleclaw slowed down after snagging his claws painfully on a lump of stone.

Tussocks of grass and small bushes were rooted in the gaps between the rocks, and the scent of prey grew stronger.

Tawnypelt reached the top first. Halting on a flattened boulder, she called back, “Come and see this!”

Mistyfoot and Crowfeather sprang up beside her, with Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight just behind. Even though the last of the sun had gone and shadows were gathering, Brambleclaw could make out a wide, shallow dip in the ground, half-hidden under dense brambles. The half-moon, shining through thin cloud, cast watery beams of light onto the trees that surrounded the hollow, their gnarled branches almost sweeping the ground.

Squirrelflight rasped her tongue over Tawnypelt’s ear. “A camp for ShadowClan!” she whispered. “We’d never have found it if Brambleclaw hadn’t gone looking for those kittypets.”

Mistyfoot shot her a glance that was half-annoyed, half-amused.

“Maybe it would make a good camp.” Tawnypelt was trying to sound calm, though Brambleclaw could tell that she was excited. “But that will be for Blackstar to decide, if ShadowClan moves into this territory.”

“At least it’s possible,” meowed Mistyfoot. “You might find even better places, once you’ve had the chance to explore properly.”

“But it’s too late to go any farther tonight,” Crowfeather pointed out.

“You’re right,” Squirrelflight agreed. “My paws are dropping off! Where are we going to sleep?”

Brambleclaw thought it would be a good idea to shelter under the bushes in the hollow, but there was water at the bottom of the slope they had just climbed, and he was thirsty.

He picked his way carefully down again, and the others followed.

As Mistyfoot crouched beside him to lap at the tiny pool, she asked, “Do you want to hunt? Or shall we leave it till morning?”

“Morning,” Squirrelflight replied, though the question hadn’t been addressed to her. She gave a huge yawn. “I’m so tired I couldn’t catch a mouse if it sat on my paws. Besides, we’ve eaten enough today to feed a whole Clan!”