River Of Fire

“That’s right,” Sleekwhisker growled, her muscles still tensed to spring as she glared up at Sandynose. “Now that Darktail is gone, they don’t even have the idea of Kin anymore. It’s every cat for themselves.”

“Spikefur died.” Yarrowleaf’s voice was shaking. “He was sick. We tried to help him, but the other cats wouldn’t forage for herbs, or . . .” She gave way altogether, and buried her nose in her forepaws, her whole body shaking.

“No cat would help treat him, or fetch him fresh-kill,” Sleekwhisker went on. “I did my best, but I couldn’t look after him and Yarrowleaf as well. So he died,” she finished bleakly.

“I took Nettle as a mate,” Yarrowleaf began again, clearly making a massive effort to control herself. “These are his kits, but I was so scared about the idea of raising my kits among the rogues. I kept remembering what it was like when I was a kit, here in the nursery, safe and surrounded by cats who cared about me. I want that for my kits. I want ShadowClan.”

For a moment none of the SkyClan cats responded, gazing warily at one another. Violetshine didn’t know how to find the words, to break the news to Yarrowleaf that what she wanted didn’t exist anymore. She noticed, too, that Tree looked deeply disturbed, as if he had begun to realize how serious the loss of ShadowClan was.

The silence seemed to stretch out for moons, until Sleekwhisker sat up, flattening her bristling fur, a look of concern in her eyes. “Violetpaw, what did he mean”—she glanced at Sandynose—“when he said Rowanclaw? He meant Rowanstar, surely?”

“I’m Violetshine now,” she replied. She glanced at Sandynose, but his gaze was fixed on his paws; she was obviously not going to get any help from him in explaining. “SkyClan has returned to the lake,” Violetshine went on, “and ShadowClan . . . Rowanstar decided he couldn’t go on leading a Clan that hardly existed anymore. So now he’s Rowanclaw again, and what’s left of ShadowClan has joined SkyClan.”

Sleekwhisker and Yarrowleaf exchanged a stunned glance. “But—but how can ShadowClan not exist anymore?” Yarrowleaf stammered.

Violetshine couldn’t think of any way to answer that.

“You both need to think long and hard about what you want to do now,” Sandynose meowed sternly. “Leafstar, the leader of SkyClan, is in charge, and I’m not sure what she’ll say about allowing you into the Clan. If it was ShadowClan you wanted . . . perhaps you should think again.”

Yarrowleaf and Sleekwhisker were silent for a moment, looking deeply troubled. “Then we want to join SkyClan,” Yarrowleaf declared at last.

“Yes, we’ve been through a horrible time since we left,” Sleekwhisker mewed. “We had no idea that things would turn out like this. We’re not here to cause trouble.”

Her voice was so fervent that Violetshine was almost convinced, yet she found it hard to forget what Sleekwhisker had done when she was one of Darktail’s Kin.

“Any Clan is a Clan,” Sleekwhisker continued. “That’s the only kind of life we want.”

“That’s right,” Yarrowleaf agreed. “I’m so sorry for turning my back on ShadowClan. I know now this is where I need to be.”

Violetshine was doubtful about whether they ought to trust either of these cats. I can’t believe that Yarrowleaf is having a rogue’s kits. Should we really be bringing half rogues into Clan territory?

At the same time, she couldn’t deny that the ShadowClan cats looked sincere when they said all they wanted to do was get back to normal.

I wonder if anything will ever be normal again, for ShadowClan cats.

“I suppose we can start by bringing them to Leafstar,” Violetshine suggested to Sandynose. As the brown tom nodded a curt agreement, she realized that she had no idea what the SkyClan leader would say.

Sandynose led the way into the SkyClan camp, with Violetshine and Tree bringing up the rear behind the two ShadowClan she-cats. Yarrowleaf was quickly exhausted; Violetshine was impressed by her resolve to keep going, when the weight of her kits must be dragging at her.

As soon as she emerged from the fern tunnel, Yarrowleaf halted, her legs shaking as she gazed around. Violetshine could see she was finding it hard to accept how things had changed, and that she was making her way into a totally strange camp and strange Clan.

At the far side of the camp, in a quiet corner near the nursery, Rowanclaw and Tawnypelt were sharing tongues, not looking like leaders or senior warriors at all. Yarrowleaf stared at them for a moment, then let her head droop.

“This is terrible . . . ,” she hissed to herself. “I feel so responsible. . . .”

As she spoke, Tawnypelt lifted her head and spotted the two ShadowClan cats. Instantly fury flooded her green eyes and she sprang to her paws. “I thought I smelled a traitor!” she snarled.