River Of Fire

Then, as she approached the fern barrier that surrounded the camp, Violetshine suddenly began to understand. Tree! I hope he’s okay!

She thrust her way into the camp, her pelt soaked as she brushed against the walls of the tunnel. Emerging into the open again, Violetshine felt a sudden rush of relief as she spotted the muscular yellow tom crouching in the shelter of a boulder, with Sparrowpelt and Blossomheart close beside him.

Around them the life of the Clan seemed to be carrying on as usual, with cats gathered around the fresh-kill pile and Hawkwing calling another patrol together, ready to go out. The rain had eased, but wind still buffeted the cats’ fur.

Violetshine bounded across to Tree, pausing only to drop her squirrel onto the fresh-kill pile. “Are you okay?” she asked.

Tree stretched his jaws in a yawn. “Fine,” he replied at last. “We’re all fine.”

“If this StarClan-cursed storm doesn’t get any worse,” Sparrowpelt muttered.

As if his words were a signal, a fiercer gust of wind hit the camp. It swept leaves, twigs, and debris into the air; Violetshine blinked at the sting of grit blowing into her eyes. Around the camp, the pine trees swayed and dipped with the force of the blast. Flowerpaw, the smallest of the apprentices, was knocked off her paws and lay on her back, waving her legs and tail in the air, until her mentor, Scorchfur, bounded over to her and hauled her upright again.

A frightened squeal came from the nursery. Puddleshine, who had just emerged from the medicine cats’ den, broke into a sudden dash across the camp to check on the three she-cats and their kits.

“Take cover!” Leafstar yowled, emerging from the mouth of her den. “No cat must leave camp!”

Her words were almost lost in the howl of the wind and the buffeting of pine branches. An even stronger gust pushed Violetshine under the boulder next to Tree, and was followed by a horrific crack from somewhere overhead.

Craning her neck out of shelter, Violetshine saw the top of one of the pine trees tear loose, whirl in the air for a heartbeat as if it were a twig, then come barreling down into the camp.

“StarClan, no!” she shrieked as the tree landed with a deafening thump on top of the apprentices’ den, shattering the bramble walls. A cloud of dust billowed into the air. For a couple of heartbeats the sight of the devastation was blotted out.

Thrusting down panic, Violetshine hurled herself across the camp toward the ruined den, with Tree, Sparrowpelt, and Blossomheart hard on her paws. With Hawkwing in the lead, more of her Clanmates converged on the den, too, yowling the names of the apprentices. “Flowerpaw! Whorlpaw! Snakepaw! Reedpaw! Dewpaw!”

Meanwhile Leafstar bounded into the center of the camp and let out a piercing caterwaul, rising above the noise of the wind. “Apprentices! Report to me!”

Violetshine glanced around to see the young cats scurrying up to their Clan leader, Flowerpaw still shaking dust out of her pelt. Breathlessly she counted, until she realized that all the apprentices were safely in the open. She saw Leafstar’s shoulders sag with relief.

“Thank StarClan!” she exclaimed. “Right, every cat take cover. Apprentices, you’ll have to go in with the warriors for now.”

“Yes!” Whorlpaw’s eyes stretched wide. “We’ll be great warriors, we promise!”

They won’t be so pleased when they have to rebuild their den, Violetshine thought.

She was heading for the warriors’ den, thrusting hard against the force of the wind, when Strikestone exclaimed, “Wait!”

Violetshine turned to see him staring out across the camp in the direction of the lake.

“I can smell smoke!” he announced. “And there’s a red glow in the sky!”

Violetshine parted her jaws to taste the air, and picked up an acrid tang flowing over her scent glands. Following Strikestone’s gaze, she spotted the dull red glow, and thought she could see wisps of smoke rising for a heartbeat before the wind whipped them away.

“Lightning must have struck and started a fire,” Hawkwing meowed. “Could it be in one of the other Clans?”

Panic stabbed through Violetshine at her father’s words. She remembered the vision her sister had told her about, of fire raging through a camp. Could ThunderClan be in danger? she asked herself. Oh no—Twigpaw!

“This isn’t the time to find out,” Leafstar replied to her deputy. “The storm is too dangerous! We must take cover and ride it out, and then when it’s over we can start to fix the apprentices’ den, and send out patrols to check on the other Clans.”

Several of the SkyClan cats had already retreated to their dens, and the rest hurried to obey their leader’s command. But the former ShadowClan warriors stayed where they were, shifting their paws uneasily. Sleekwhisker isn’t with them, Violetshine noticed.

“Get inside!” Leafstar yowled. “Have you got bees in your brain?”