Crowfeather's Trial

Then Crowfeather became aware of movement behind him, distracting him from Larkwing, and glanced over his shoulder to see Breezepelt rising to his paws. Other cats were turning their heads to look at him as he leaped forward and charged straight at Spiderleg. Some of the cats instinctively darted aside, and those who stayed in Breezepelt’s way were thrust aside with powerful strokes of his paws. Crowfeather sprang up to intercept him, terrified that he was going to attack Spiderleg and break the Gathering truce.

But instead Breezepelt halted in the middle of the crowd, a tail-length away from the black ThunderClan tom. The cats nearby turned around to stare, shaking their ruffled pelts.

“If so many cats have a problem with me,” Breezepelt snarled, “they should say so directly, not prowl around it like little mouse-hearts!”

Onestar gazed down at him from the Great Oak, lashing his tail in frustration and anger. “Breezepelt, stop now!” he commanded.

But Crowfeather could see that his son wasn’t looking at their leader, either unaware that he had spoken or determined to ignore him.

“I know very well what you might think about me,” Breezepelt continued. “But in my opinion, some warriors in other Clans are just looking for a reason to fight. Doesn’t that make them just as much of a threat to our day-to-day lives as the cats who once trained with — or even fought for — the Dark Forest?”

“Oh, you’d like to pass the blame on elsewhere?” Berrynose sneered. He paused to lick one cream-colored paw and draw it over his ear. “The difference is, Breezepelt, that even after you found out what the Dark Forest was up to, you stayed with them. You were prepared to kill Lionblaze — prepared to kill your own kin! How can we just accept your word if you tell us that you’d never hurt Nightcloud?”

“Because Nightcloud was the only cat who ever cared about me!” Breezepelt flashed back at him.

Crowfeather knew his son’s answer was too honest and came too quickly to be a lie. He could see the hurt in his eyes, and his instant regret at revealing such a vulnerable part of himself to hostile cats without meaning to.

At Breezepelt’s pain, Crowfeather felt a piercing within his own heart. I should have cared, he thought helplessly. I should have tried to understand earlier. Instead I let Nightcloud handle it all…

“There’s no way I’d ever want my mother to come to harm,” Breezepelt continued. “I was there, you weren’t, and I know what really happened. It wasn’t my fault that Nightcloud disappeared. It was the fault of the StarClan-cursed stoats that have taken over the tunnels! Why is no cat doing anything about them? Because it’s easier to sit here and accuse me? Well, fox dung to that!”

He began to back away, then turned and headed for the bushes that surrounded the clearing.

“Breezepelt! Where are you going?” Crowfeather asked.

Breezepelt halted and glanced over his shoulder, giving his father one scathing look. “Back into the tunnels to kill stoats,” he snapped. “Since no other cat is doing it!”

Spiderleg twitched his whiskers. “Is that so? Or are you going to eavesdrop on ThunderClan some more?” he mewed.

Breezepelt whirled to face the ThunderClan warrior, his muscles tensed and his claws extending. “How dare you, you mangy—”

Crowfeather’s belly lurched as he saw that once again the Gathering truce was within heartbeats of being broken. Quickly he stepped between the two hostile warriors, breaking their furious glare.

“Calm down,” he began. “This isn’t—”

Berrynose interrupted him, his voice ringing out clearly. “No, that’s a good idea. Why not let Breezepelt go into the tunnels and take on the stoats by himself? If he succeeds, he’ll have helped us all and proven his loyalty. And if he doesn’t, the stoats will make him pay for his treachery. Maybe StarClan is nudging us that way.”

Crowfeather remembered hearing the cream-colored tom suggest that all the Dark Forest cats should be tested, to prove that their loyalties lay with the Clans. I used to think he might have a point… But could that really be what StarClan wants? For the Dark Forest cats to risk their lives to show their loyalty?

“Are you still meowing on about testing the Dark Forest cats?” he growled, reluctant to agree, even partly, with Berrynose in public.

Berrynose faced him, undeterred by his aggressive tone. “That could be the only way to make sure of their loyalty,” he responded. “I haven’t changed my mind since the day we caught you WindClan cats spying.”