Long Shadows

Chapter 27

Lionblaze dug his claws into the bank of the stream, only just managing to suppress a wail of dismay. Yet he couldn’t feel any sense of grief for his dead Clanmate. Ashfur had been about to reveal something that would have destroyed them all; now those terrible words would never be spoken. Exchanging a glance with Hollyleaf, he could see that his sister felt the same.

He hoped no other cat would ever know how relieved they felt at Ashfur’s death.

“Get him out,” Firestar ordered.

Dustpelt slid into the stream, with water washing around his belly fur. He gripped Ashfur’s shoulder in his teeth and started tugging.

“Be careful,” Ferncloud mewed anxiously.

Graystripe leaped into the water on Ashfur’s other side, and together the two warriors freed him from the rock and hauled his body up the bank.

Leafpool crouched beside him, one paw on his chest as she gave him a rapid sniff. Jayfeather stood beside her, his whiskers quivering. Leafpool looked up. “He’s dead.”

“How did he die?” Cinderheart asked, her blue eyes wide.

“Did he fall in and drown?”

“I fell into the stream by ShadowClan,” Squirrelflight reminded them; Lionblaze wondered if she too shared his relief. “It’s easily done, when the water’s running as high as this.”

Cloudtail let out a snort. “Ashfur was a strong warrior. He wouldn’t drown like a kit. If we want to know how he died, we should be looking at WindClan.”

Firestar bent his head to sniff Ashfur’s sodden body.

“There’s no WindClan scent.”

“The water would wash it off,” Cloudtail pointed out.

“We’ll talk about this later.” Firestar glanced around swiftly. “Dustpelt, Graystripe, can you take Ashfur’s body back to camp? The rest of us must go on, or the other Clans will know something is wrong.”

“I’ll go, too,” Lionblaze volunteered. “Ashfur was my mentor.”

Firestar nodded. “Good. You others, follow me.”

As Firestar and the rest of his warriors half waded, half swam across the stream, Lionblaze and his Clanmates picked up Ashfur’s body. It hung between them, a dead weight, as they struggled back through the forest to the hollow.

Thornclaw was on guard at the entrance to the camp.

“What…?” His fur rose as they dragged Ashfur up to the tunnel. “What happened?”

Dustpelt explained, while Lionblaze and Graystripe carried the dead warrior into the middle of the clearing. The moonlight shone silver on his drenched gray fur; Lionblaze thought he looked strangely small in death. It was hard to imagine the power he had held in his paws, the power to drag down his Clan and bring shame on Squirrelflight and the kits who had believed they were hers.

Lionblaze flinched at the sound of a distraught wail behind him. Whitewing had emerged from the warriors’ den, followed by Birchfall. “Did a fox get him?” she cried.

Lionblaze shook his head. “We found him in the stream on the WindClan border. It looks as if he drowned.”

Whitewing shuddered. “That’s dreadful.”

Birchfall pressed his muzzle against hers. “You mustn’t upset yourself,” he murmured. “Think of the kits.”

Whitewing nodded. Slowly she padded up to Ashfur’s body and settled down beside it, her nose pushed into the cold, wet fur. Birchfall crouched protectively at her side, to keep vigil along with her. “He was a good mentor,” he mewed sorrowfully. “I’ll miss him.”

By now other warriors were coming out of their den, forming a ragged circle around Ashfur and questioning one another in hushed, shocked voices.

“WindClan will be at the bottom of this, mark my words,” Mousefur meowed as she padded up with Longtail.

“On the night of a Gathering, too.” Honeyfern’s voice shook. “StarClan will be angry.”

“Firestar doesn’t think any cat is to blame,” Graystripe told them. “Ashfur was just very unlucky.”

Mousefur snorted with disbelief as she bent her stiff joints to crouch beside Ashfur’s body. Lionblaze lifted his head to gaze up at the moon as it f loated above the treetops. The clouds had cleared away; perhaps Firestar was right, and there was no need for StarClan to show their anger.

Sighing, he crouched down in his turn and pushed his nose into his former mentor’s fur. There was nothing to scent there but mud and water. Closing his eyes, he hoped that none of his Clanmates could sense that instead of grieving, his mind was numb with relief.

Lionblaze stayed beside Ashfur until the sky began to grow pale with the first hints of dawn. Other cats came and went around him, mewing in hushed voices.

At last Lionblaze heard the sound of movement in the thorn tunnel as Firestar and the rest of the Clan began to return from the Gathering. He stretched his cramped muscles and looked around to see Hollyleaf bounding toward him. Her eyes shone with a fierce light.

“You wouldn’t believe what happened at the Gathering!” she hissed. “Firestar didn’t say a single thing about Ashfur.”

Lionblaze’s pelt prickled with surprise. “He didn’t?”

“Not a thing.”

One or two cats gave Hollyleaf a curious glance as she passed; Lionblaze touched her mouth with his tail to warn her to be quiet, and drew her a pace or two away from Ashfur’s body.

“He just passed on trivial bits of news about prey,” Hollyleaf went on in a furious whisper. “And he thanked our warrior ancestors for watching over us. And that was all.”

“Well… maybe he didn’t want ThunderClan to sound weak,” Lionblaze suggested.

“We’re not weak because one cat dies!” Hollyleaf spat.

Lionblaze couldn’t work out why she was so angry. “Every Clan leader reports stuff like that. It’s part of what Gatherings are for.”

“And none of the other cats noticed that something was wrong?”

Hollyleaf shook her head. “Obviously Squirrelflight isn’t the only cat who’s good at lying.”

“I don’t think it’s as bad as you’re making out. Firestar must have had his reasons. And clouds didn’t cover the moon, so StarClan can’t have been angry with him.”

Hollyleaf’s only reply was a disgusted snort.

Lionblaze pressed his muzzle against hers. “Come on. Let’s sit vigil with Ashfur for a bit.”

His sister’s eyes stretched wide. “Sit vigil for that mange-ridden excuse for a cat? I can’t believe you want to do that!

Ashfur would have destroyed the whole Clan if he’d lived for one more night.”

Without waiting for a reply, she whirled around and stalked toward the warriors’ den. Lionblaze watched her go, hoping she would sleep off whatever was troubling her so much, then padded back to Ashfur’s body and settled down beside it.