Into The Wild

“Yellowfang!” hissed Tigerclaw. “I always knew she was a traitor. Now we know how she managed to fight off the ShadowClan deputy. It was a setup to let her trick her way into our Clan!”

Lightning crackled overhead, punctuating Tigerclaw’s words with a glaring white flash, and a clap of thunder rolled around the woods.

Firepaw couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Dazed with grief, his mind whirled. Could Yellowfang really have killed Spottedleaf?

Above the shocked murmurings, Darkstripe meowed loudly, “Bluestar! What do you say?”

The cats fell silent as they turned to look at their leader.

Bluestar’s gaze moved across the crowd of cats, and settled finally on Spottedleaf’s body. The first drops of rain began to fall, sparkling like dewdrops on the medicine cat’s still-glossy fur.

Bluestar blinked slowly. Grief clouded her face, and for a moment Firepaw was afraid that this new death would overwhelm her. But when her eyes opened they glittered with a fierceness that showed her determination to seek revenge for this cruel attack. She lifted her head. “If Yellowfang has killed Spottedleaf and stolen Frostfur’s kits, she will be hunted down without mercy.” The crowd meowed approvingly. “But we must wait,” Bluestar went on. “There is a storm coming, and I am not prepared to risk more lives. If ShadowClan has our kits, they will come to no immediate harm. I suspect Brokenstar wants them as recruits for his own Clan, or as hostages-to force us to let him hunt in our territory. As soon as the storm has passed, a patrol will follow Yellowfang and bring back our kits.”

“We cannot waste time, or the scent will be lost in the rain!” Tigerclaw protested.

Bluestar flicked her tail impatiently. “If we send out a hunting party now, our efforts will be wasted anyway. In this weather the scent will already be lost by the time we are ready. If we wait until after the storm, we stand a better chance of success.”

There were murmurs of agreement among the Clan. Even though it was barely sunhigh, the sky was growing much darker. The cats were unsettled by the lightning and thunder, and seemed willing to listen to their leader’s advice.

Bluestar looked at her deputy. “I’d like to discuss our plans with you, please, Tigerclaw.” Tigerclaw nodded and stalked away toward Bluestar’s den, but the leader hesitated. She glanced at Firepaw, signaling with a flick of her tail and a ripple of her whiskers that she wanted to speak to him alone.

The other cats gathered around Spottedleaf and began to share tongues with her, their wails of grief sounding above the thunder. Bluestar wound her way through them and went toward the fern tunnel that led to Spottedleaf’s den.

Firepaw quietly skirted the mourning cats and followed her inside. It was very dark beneath the ferns. The storm had blotted out the morning sun so that it seemed as if night had fallen. Rain was falling more heavily now, spattering noisily against the leaves, but at least it was sheltered in Spottedleaf’s clearing.

“Firepaw,” Bluestar meowed urgently as he arrived at her side, “where is Yellowfang? Do you know?”

Firepaw hardly heard her. He couldn’t help remembering the last time he had come to this clearing. An image of Spottedleaf, trotting out of her den with her coat gleaming in the sunlight, burned in his mind, and he closed his eyes to preserve it.

“Firepaw,” snapped Bluestar, “you must save your grieving for later.”

Firepaw shook himself. “I…I saw Yellowfang go through the camp boundary after the kits went missing. Do you really think she killed Spottedleaf and took the kits?”

Bluestar gazed steadily at him. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “I want you to find her and bring her back-alive. I need to know the truth.”

“You’re not sending Tigerclaw?” Firepaw couldn’t help asking.

“Tigerclaw is a great warrior, but in this case his loyalty to the Clan may cloud his judgment,” Bluestar explained. “He wants to give the Clan the vengeance it desires. No cat can blame him for that. The Clan believes Yellowfang has betrayed us, and if Tigerclaw thinks he can reassure the Clan by handing them the dead body of Yellowfang, that’s what he will do.”

Firepaw nodded. She was right-Tigerclaw would kill Yellowfang without question.

Bluestar looked stern for a moment. “If I find that Yellowfang is a traitor, then I will kill her myself. But if she is not…” Her blue eyes burned into Firepaw’s. “I will not let an innocent cat die.”

“But what if Yellowfang won’t come back?” Firepaw meowed.

“She will, if you ask her.”

Firepaw felt stunned by Bluestar’s faith in him. The enormity of what she was asking him to do weighed down on him, and he wondered if he had enough courage to carry it through.

“Go at once!” she ordered. “But be careful; you will be on your own and there may be enemy patrols about. This storm will keep our own warriors in camp for a while.”