Outcast

“Firestar wants us to do the evening patrol with him,” the golden tabby tom mewed. “Are you ready?”

“Sure.”

Hollypaw’s heart began to race and she felt every hair on her pelt rise with excitement. Apprentices didn’t often go on patrol with the Clan leader. This was her chance to show Firestar what she had learned! Twisting her neck, she gave her shoulders a few swift licks. She would have liked to give herself a thorough grooming, but there wasn’t enough time. As Firestar padded over to join her and Brackenfur, she just hoped her fur wasn’t sticking up and she hadn’t collected any burrs in her pelt.

“Let’s go,” the Clan leader meowed. “We need to renew the scent markers along the ShadowClan border.”

The sun was going down as Hollypaw followed the two toms through the thorn tunnel and into the forest. Scarlet light washed over the ground, barred with the long shadows of trees. Only the wind rustling in the branches broke the silence, along with the faint scuffling of prey in the undergrowth.

Hollypaw ignored the enticing prey-scents; this wasn’t a hunting patrol. She concentrated on looking and listening, and when she tasted the air it was to make sure that there were no unusual scents—especially not the scent of ShadowClan warriors on ThunderClan territory.

Firestar halted. “Listen!”

Hollypaw froze, ears straining. Her neck fur bristled when she heard, faint in the distance, the yowls and shrieks of fighting cats.

“That way!” Firestar mewed, sweeping his tail around to point. “Come on!”

He bounded off through the ferns with Brackenfur hard on his paws. Hollypaw raced after them. Grass brushed her belly fur and brambles clawed at her pelt as she sped past.

The noise of squalling and spitting grew louder.

For a heartbeat she lost sight of her leader as the cats rounded a hazel thicket. She heard Firestar yowl, “Stop!”

Bursting into the open, she halted at the top of a bank. Below, in a hollow lined with bracken, five cats writhed viciously.

Powerful scents of ShadowClan and ThunderClan flooded over her. Horrified, Hollypaw spotted Berrynose’s cream-colored pelt and Birchfall’s tabby one. The two ThunderClan warriors were clearly outmatched by the three hefty ShadowClan cats.

Hollypaw sprang forward, eager to help her Clanmates, only to find Firestar’s tail barring her way.

“No,” he mewed. “That’s ShadowClan territory.”

Hollypaw dug her claws into the ground as she stared down at her Clanmates. What were Berrynose and Birchfall doing in another Clan’s territory? Opening her jaws to draw in air, she picked out both ThunderClan and ShadowClan scent markings, faint and mingled together. She realized she was standing right on the border.

Raising his voice again, Firestar repeated, “Stop!”

To Hollypaw’s relief, the cats sprang apart. She recognized Russetfur, the ShadowClan deputy, with warriors Oakfur and Rowanclaw, who gave Birchfall a last cuff around the ear before facing Firestar.

“What’s going on here?” Firestar demanded.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Russetfur retorted.

“Why are your warriors trespassing on our territory?”

“We know why,” Oakfur added, with a lash of his tail.

“ThunderClan never cared about boundaries.”

“That’s not—” Hollypaw began to protest, but Brackenfur slapped his tail across her mouth to keep her quiet.

Firestar’s gaze raked over Berrynose and Birchfall. Though his voice was quiet, it was cold as the lake in leaf-bare, and Hollypaw realized that he was furious. “Well?” he asked.

Berrynose scrambled to his paws and gave his pelt a shake.

He was bleeding from one ear, and several clumps of his fur had been clawed out. “We didn’t know it was ShadowClan territory,” he defended himself. “You should tell these warriors to renew their scent markers.”

“I don’t tell warriors of another Clan to do anything,” Firestar responded, while Russetfur bristled with rage.

“Berrynose, Birchfall, if you had checked carefully, you would have noticed the scent markers up here.”

Berrynose looked furious; he couldn’t excuse himself by contradicting his Clan leader.

“We’re sorry, Firestar,” Birchfall meowed, hanging his head.

“The markers are faint,” Firestar acknowledged. He glanced at the other cats. “Ours and ShadowClan’s.”

“We’re the evening patrol,” Oakfur put in. “We’re here to renew the scent markers.”

“And then we found ThunderClan warriors on this side of the border,” Rowanclaw added. “They were stealing prey.”

“Is that true?” Firestar demanded.

Birchfall nodded; Hollypaw was glad to see he looked thoroughly ashamed of himself.

But Berrynose didn’t seem to realize how much trouble he was in. “I was stalking a mouse,” he explained, “until they came along and frightened it off.”

“A good thing they did,” Firestar commented. “Russetfur, I’m very sorry this has happened. They are inexperienced warriors, and I’m sure they’ll be more careful from now on.”

“I hope you’ll punish them,” Rowanclaw mewed sharply.

“Of course I will,” Firestar replied.

“I’m glad to hear it.”