Long Shadows

Chapter 24

On the morning after the storm, Lionblaze was chosen for the dawn patrol with Brackenfur, Sorreltail, and Cinderheart. Strengthening daylight shone down through the trees as they padded away from the stone hollow. There was scarcely a breeze to disturb the leaves that still remained on the trees. Lionblaze could almost pretend that he had dreamed the storm, if it wasn’t for the litter of twigs and branches on the forest floor, and the blackened husks of the trees struck by lightning.

His pelt itched all the time he was away from the stone hollow, as he wondered what he would find when he returned, what accusations and gasps of shock would greet him. But the camp was peaceful, with Brambleclaw directing the repairs to the dens. Thornclaw and Mousewhisker were busy patching the last gaps in the brambles around the nursery; Foxpaw and Icepaw were carrying in huge bundles of fresh bedding.

Cloudtail and Brightheart worked together, dragging burnt branches away from the warriors’ den, while Whitewing, Birchfall, and Berrynose cleared debris from the floor of the clearing. Lionblaze overheard Berrynose grumbling that this wasn’t a job for a warrior.

Nothing’s changed! he thought. He couldn’t spot Ashfur among the cats in the clearing, but obviously the gray warrior hadn’t revealed the secret yet.

Lionblaze tried to believe that the storm of the discovery had passed away like the rain and thunder, leaving calm behind, but he knew in his heart that the damage from Squirrelflight’s revelation would last for moons and moons.

“We need to talk about this,” Hollyleaf muttered in his ear while they helped Dustpelt drag thorn branches into place to make a new barrier at the entrance to the camp. “Meet me in the forest. I’ll fetch Jayfeather.”

She bounded across to the medicine cats’ den and emerged a moment later with Jayfeather following her. Lionblaze watched them go out at the edge of the barrier where the dirtplace tunnel used to be. He waited for a few moments, then padded over to Dustpelt.

“I think I’ll go hunt,” he meowed. “The fresh-kill pile needs restocking.”

“There are hunting patrols out already,” Dustpelt grumbled. “Is fetching branches a bit boring for you? Oh, go on then,” he added, flicking his tail at Lionblaze. “But you’d better bring back something worth eating.”

Lionblaze headed out at a fast trot, before the senior warrior could change his mind. He picked up his littermates’ scent trail, and followed them into the forest.

Pausing at the edge of a clearing, he looked around, tasting the air. An urgent hiss sounded from under the trees. “Lionblaze! Over here!”

Lionblaze spotted Hollyleaf peering out from a clump of bracken. “What took you so long?” she demanded.

“I thought it best to wait a bit,” Lionblaze explained as he padded over to her and slid in among the bracken stalks. “I didn’t want any cat suspecting we were meeting in secret.”

Behind the bracken, the ground fell away into a shallow scoop where Jayfeather was sitting; he raised his head as Lionblaze scrambled down to join him. “Okay,” he meowed. “Now we’re all here, we have to decide what we’re going to do.”

“There’s only one thing we can do.” Hollyleaf’s claws worked furiously in the soft earth. “We have to find out who our real parents are. Squirrelflight won’t tell us, but we need to know!”

“No, I don’t agree,” Lionblaze argued.

“What? But you said—”

Lionblaze raised his tail to silence her. “I want to know who our mother and father are, just as much as you do. But that’s not the most important thing right now. Our biggest problem is what to do about Ashfur.”

“I hate Ashfur!” Hollyleaf lashed her tail; she was working herself up into another storm of fear and frustration.

Lionblaze laid his tail across her shoulders. “He’s madder than a fox in a fit, but that’s not the point.” Suddenly he remembered the fight he had once had with Ashfur when the gray warrior was his mentor. Ashfur’s blue eyes had blazed with battle fury. Was he trying to kill me then, to hurt Squirrelflight?

“Somehow we have to come up with a plan to keep him quiet.

Squirrelflight will be in big trouble if this gets out.”

Hollyleaf flicked her ears dismissively. “That’s Squirrelflight’s problem, not ours.”

“It’s a problem for all of us.” Lionblaze couldn’t help a pang of sympathy for Squirrelflight. True, she had lied to them, but she had always done her best for them, as if she really was their mother. “As long as Ashfur knows our secret, he has power over all of us.” Every hair on his pelt tingled as he tried to imagine what that might mean.

“You don’t get it, do you?” Hollyleaf snapped. Her gaze burned with green fire. “Don’t you realize—we might not be Clan cats!”

Lionblaze opened his jaws to reply, but said nothing, too taken aback by what Hollyleaf was implying.

“We might have been born outside the Clan—outside the warrior code.” She sounded as if she couldn’t think of anything worse. “What if Squirrelflight took pity on a passing loner or a kittypet?”

“But—but we’re the three,” Lionblaze stammered. “The prophecy is about us. We have the power to be greater than the stars. How can we not be Clan cats?”

“I think you’re both forgetting something,” Jayfeather broke in, speaking for the first time; his voice was cool and detached. “The prophecy told Firestar that ‘There will be three, kin of your kin…’ If Squirrelflight isn’t our mother, then we’re not Firestar’s kin, are we?”

Lionblaze and Hollyleaf stared at their brother. The small tabby was sitting calmly with his tail wrapped around his paws. “Well, are we?” he repeated.

“Cloudtail’s Firestar’s kin…” Lionblaze began confusedly, but Hollyleaf’s shriek drowned his words.

“I knew it! There’s nothing special about us! You’re just really good at fighting, and as for Jayfeather—well, he’s a medicine cat, of course he’s going to have dreams!”

Lionblaze felt the blood chill and slow in his veins.

Could it be true? But what about the way I feel in battle? I know I can never be hurt. I know I could take on a whole Clan of enemies single-pawed! He couldn’t even consider the thought that he might not be part of the prophecy. Because if I’m not, then I owe my fighting skills to Tigerstar, and he was right all along about my stupid dreams.

Then another thought invaded his mind, even more worrying than the first. If Brambleclaw isn’t my father, then I’m no kin to Tigerstar. What will he do to me if he ever finds out?

Days slipped by. The repairs to the camp were finished and at last Millie and Briarkit returned from the Twoleg nest, with Graystripe pacing proudly alongside them. Briarkit bounced ahead; Lionblaze could hardly believe she was the same kit who had been carried out of the camp, so limp that she looked as if she were dead. Millie was still thin and shaky on her paws, but her tail twined lovingly with Graystripe’s and her eyes shone with returning health. Daisy welcomed her back into the nursery while the other kits leaped on Briarkit and wrestled with her joyfully.

Winds swept the forest, carrying the bite of approaching leaf-bare. The last of the leaves spiraled down from the trees.

Prey became harder to catch, but the Clan was back to full strength again, able to keep the fresh-kill pile well-stocked.

Squirrelflight returned to light warrior duties, and even the warriors who had been injured in the storm left the medicine cats’ den.

Lionblaze noticed that Whitewing was growing plump, and Birchfall went around with a proud expression on his face.

So there would be more kits for ThunderClan! Outwardly, everything was going well.

But Lionblaze no longer enjoyed patroling with his Clanmates. Ashfur’s knowledge hung over him like a storm cloud.

While Hollyleaf still fretted over who their true parents were, Lionblaze worried constantly about how they could persuade Ashfur not to reveal the secret. Often he caught Ashfur looking at him, a dark promise in his blue eyes. What was the gray warrior waiting for? Lionblaze couldn’t believe that he had thought better of his threat to tell every cat what Squirrelflight had done.

On a morning of sun and brisk wind, Lionblaze pushed his way out of the warriors’ den to see Ashfur and Firestar together by the fresh-kill pile. His belly lurched. Trying to look nonchalant, he padded over and chose a mouse for himself. Even though he didn’t think he could choke down a single mouthful, he settled down to eat it with his back to his Clan leader and his ears pricked.

“There’s a Gathering in a few sunrises,” Ashfur meowed.

“Is it okay if I go?”

Firestar sounded faintly surprised. “I don’t usually choose warriors until the same day, but if you want to…”

“Thanks, Firestar.”

Lionblaze dared to glance around, to see the gray warrior padding off toward the thorn tunnel. The scant mouthful of mouse felt heavy in his belly and every hair on his pelt tingled.

I know what Ashfur is going to do! He’ll announce Squirrelflight’s secret to every cat at the Gathering!

Hollyleaf was slipping out of the warriors’ den; Lionblaze padded over to her. “Usual place,” he hissed. “I’ll fetch Jayfeather.”

When he peered around the brambles that hung in front of the medicine cats’ den, Jayfeather was on his paws, arching his back in a long stretch. Leafpool was still curled up asleep in her nest.

“Lionblaze?” Jayfeather looked up. “What’s the matter?”

“We’ve got to talk,” Lionblaze told him.

He led the way to the gap behind the warriors’ den, where Hollyleaf was waiting, her green eyes full of fear. “What’s happened?” she demanded as soon as Lionblaze appeared.

“I’ve just overheard Ashfur asking Firestar if he can go to the next Gathering.”

Hollyleaf’s claws flexed in and out and her neck fur began to bristle. “No! He can’t!” she wailed.

“Be quiet,” Jayfeather snapped. “Do you want every cat to hear us?”

“We’ve got to stop him somehow.” Hollyleaf lowered her voice, but it was still full of desperation. “Otherwise he’ll tell all four Clans about us.”

Lionblaze nodded. “Squirrelflight will be shamed in front of every cat. And they might drive us away from the lake.”

“Firestar wouldn’t let them!” Hollyleaf sounded shocked.

“Firestar might not have a choice,” Jayfeather pointed out.

“You know how the other Clans are always blaming Firestar for taking in loners. Some of our Clanmates agree; they think it weakens ThunderClan. Firestar might have to send us away for the good of his Clan.”

Firestar’s Clan—not theirs. His brother’s calm assessment of the risk chilled Lionblaze from ears to tail-tip. He couldn’t trust anything anymore. He had tried to be the best warrior in the Clan, and now all that was threatened because of what Ashfur knew. “Maybe we should tell Squirrelflight,” he suggested at last.

“Why?” Hollyleaf spat, her claws leaving deep scars in the earth. “What can she do? I don’t want to talk to that lying cat ever again!”

“But it sounds as if she’s the only cat who might have a chance of influencing Ashfur,” Jayfeather pointed out.

“You talk to her, then!”

“We’ll all talk to her.” Lionblaze was trying to stay calm.

“Show some sense, Hollyleaf. We have to do anything we can to stop Ashfur.”

Without waiting for his sister’s agreement he wriggled out of the narrow gap behind the den and scanned the clearing.

His littermates followed, Hollyleaf’s green eyes still sparkling with anger.

Lionblaze couldn’t see Squirrelflight anywhere in the clearing. Thrusting his head through the branches of the warriors’ den, he spotted her dozing in her mossy nest.

“Squirrelflight!” he hissed.

The ginger she-cat’s head snapped up, hope flooding into her eyes. Lionblaze felt a pang of sympathy. This was the first time any of the three had spoken to her since the storm; she must be hoping they were ready to forgive her.

“Can I have a word with you?” Lionblaze whispered, aware of the other sleeping cats inside the den.

“Yes.” Squirrelflight leaped up eagerly and shook scraps of moss from her pelt. “Of course you can.”

As she emerged from the den, the hope in her eyes changed to wariness when she saw all three cats waiting for her. “What’s the matter?” she asked.

“I’ve just heard Ashfur asking Firestar for permission to go to the next Gathering,” Lionblaze replied.

He didn’t need to tell Squirrelflight what that meant. Her eyes stretched wide with dismay. “No…” she whispered.

“What are you going to do about it?” Hollyleaf challenged her. “Or are you fine with it? I don’t suppose you’d care if Firestar drove us all out of the Clan.”

The tip of Squirrelflight’s tail twitched and anger flashed in her eyes, but she spoke calmly. “Firestar won’t do that. Not to you.”

“How do you know, if we’re not Clan cats?” Jayfeather asked.

“You—” Squirrelflight broke off and began again. “I promise that you won’t be punished. The lie was mine, and mine alone.”

“Our real mother lied, too,” Hollyleaf pointed out, a snarl creeping into her voice. “Whoever she was…”

Lionblaze looked expectantly at Squirrelflight, but her expression was closed and her jaws tight shut. Clearly she wasn’t going to share all her secrets. “I’ll talk to Ashfur,” she meowed. “I’ll make him understand that this won’t just hurt me. It will damage the whole Clan. He’s still a loyal warrior; he won’t do anything to weaken ThunderClan.” She dipped her head. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

No cat answered her. After a couple of heartbeats Squirrelflight turned away and slipped back into the den.

“She might trust Ashfur not to harm the Clan,” Jayfeather mewed. “But I don’t. We have to do something.”

He turned and padded back toward the medicine cats’ den.

Lionblaze watched him go. That was easy enough to say, he thought, but harder to carry out. What could any cat do, to silence Ashfur?

That night, blood flowed through Lionblaze’s dreams.

His whole body quivered with power; he twisted and leaped against an unseen enemy until his claws were snagged with gray fur, and the reek of the sticky scarlet rivers clung to his pelt and filled the air around him.

He woke in the warriors’ den with pale light filtering through the branches. Most of the nests were already empty.

Scrambling up, Lionblaze felt his legs as stiff and his paws as heavy as if he had really spent the night battling his enemy.

His jaws gaped in a yawn and he stretched out his forepaws, flexing his claws and working the muscles in his shoulders.

Feeling more awake, Lionblaze pushed his way into the clearing. He tensed when he saw Ashfur a couple of tail-lengths away, beckoning to Cloudtail and Brightheart, who were sharing tongues by the fresh-kill pile.

“Come on,” he called. “Hunting patrol.”

Lionblaze padded over to him. “Mind if I join you?”

For a moment Ashfur looked startled. Then his eyes narrowed. “Sure.”

Cloudtail and Brightheart joined them, and the patrol headed out into the forest. Lionblaze brought up the rear. He knew that Ashfur must be suspicious; none of the three had spoken to him since the storm. But he wasn’t afraid of Ashfur, and somehow he had to confront him where no other cats could overhear them.

Lionblaze had no idea how to separate Ashfur from Cloudtail and Brightheart, but he had no need to worry. As they padded along the old Twoleg path toward the abandoned nest, Cloudtail stopped and sniffed the air.

“I think I’m going to try in the Twoleg garden,” he announced. “No cat has been there for a while.”

Ashfur shrugged. “I think you’re wasting your time, but go ahead if you want to. We’ll catch up to you.”

Cloudtail and Brightheart bounded off up the path. Ashfur watched them out of sight, then turned to Lionblaze. “Well?

What do you want? I don’t imagine you asked to come on this patrol for the pleasure of my company.”

“No,” Lionblaze replied steadily. He was finding it hard to separate his respect for Ashfur, as his Clanmate and his former mentor, from his feelings about the raving cat who had threatened them on the night of the storm and now was threatening them again with his knowledge of Squirrelflight’s lie. “I heard you ask Firestar to go to the next Gathering. I know what you’re going to do there.”

Ashfur’s whiskers twitched. “So?”

“I’m asking you not to. Not for our sake,” Lionblaze added, “but for the sake of ThunderClan. You hold its fate in your paws.”

Ashfur heaved a deep sigh. “Spare me the appeal to my Clan loyalty,” he sneered. “I’ve already had Squirrelflight mewling to me about that. I told her, and I’m telling you now—there’s nothing that any cat can do to stop me.”

Lionblaze felt his neck fur begin to rise. He slid his claws out of their sheaths. “I can beat you in a fight if I have to.”

Instantly Ashfur’s claws appeared, and his eyes narrowed, glittering with hostility. “You can try.” Then he relaxed, drawing in his claws again. “The noble Lionblaze? Attacking a fellow warrior? No, you would never risk your place in ThunderClan by doing that.”

With a snort of contempt, he began to walk away, then glanced back over one shoulder. “You’re bound by the warrior code, just like all of us.”

“And the warrior code lets you destroy our Clan?” Lionblaze challenged him as he stalked away.

Ashfur ignored him. Lionblaze watched him until he disappeared into the undergrowth. There was no way he was going to let this cat take away everything ThunderClan had fought for—everything he had fought for.

“Maybe I’m not as bound by the warrior code as you think…” he murmured.