River Of Fire

Twigpaw’s heart swelled with happiness. I’ve had so many challenges, these last few moons, but I’m so lucky to have found Finpaw and to have him in my life.

“Come here,” Lilyheart meowed to her, stepping forward again. “I think you’ve got half the forest in your pelt.”

“Yes, you can’t be made a warrior looking like that,” Violetshine agreed, combing a dead leaf out of Twigpaw’s fur.

Twigpaw ducked away. “Paws off!” she protested. “I’m not a kit!” She gave her pelt a shake and her chest fur a couple of quick licks. “There. Happy now?”

“I think you look fine,” Hawkwing purred.

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a Clan meeting!”

The yowl startled Twigpaw. While she had been talking to her kin, she hadn’t realized that her Clanmates had begun to gather around. Now she looked up to see Bramblestar leave the Highledge and leap down the tumbled rocks into the camp. Sparkpelt and Larksong followed close behind him.

“I hear that I have to make two new warriors,” Bramblestar meowed.

He padded forward to take his place at the center of the circle of cats and beckoned with his tail for Twigpaw to join him.

Twigpaw felt her paws tingling with excitement as she joined her Clan leader. She was finding it hard to breathe. She had heard the words of the warrior ceremony so many times, and now, at last, they were to be spoken for her.

“I, Bramblestar, leader of ThunderClan, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice. She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn.”

Now Bramblestar rested his amber gaze on Twigpaw; she raised her head to look at him without blinking.

“Twigpaw,” the Clan leader continued, “do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend this Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

All Twigpaw’s heart was in her words as she replied. “I do.”

“Then by the powers of StarClan,” Bramblestar declared, “I give you your warrior name. Twigpaw, from this moment you will be known as Twigbranch. StarClan honors your energy and the way you have carefully thought out where you belong. You have proven over and over that your heart is in ThunderClan, but I’m also impressed by the way you care for all the Clans, and for how they function together. Having such a wide view will make you a stronger warrior.

“I give you the name Twigbranch in memory of the way you came to our Clan as a small, fragile kit, and have grown into a strong warrior, just as a twig grows into a branch. We welcome you as a warrior of ThunderClan.”

Twigbranch shivered with happiness as Bramblestar rested his muzzle on her head. She gave his shoulder a respectful lick, then withdrew to stand again beside her kin and Finpaw.

“Twigbranch! Twigbranch!”

As the rest of her Clan acclaimed her, Twigbranch looked around at their shining eyes and waving tails and knew that, at last, she belonged.

She watched as Finpaw had his warrior ceremony, nodding in agreement as Bramblestar praised his courage and his dedication to his new Clan, and joined in joyfully to chant his warrior name, Finleap.

The clamor was still continuing when a sharp cry rang out over the camp from Brightheart, who was standing guard at the mouth of the thorn tunnel.

“Bramblestar!”

Every cat whirled to face the camp entrance. A jolt of alarm ran through Twigpaw as she recognized Grassheart and Strikestone, who had burst into the camp and were racing across to the crowd of ThunderClan warriors. Their eyes were wild and their fur bristling.

Brightheart bounded after them. “I couldn’t stop them!” she gasped.

Bramblestar thrust himself to the front of the crowd, sliding out his claws and letting his shoulder fur bristle up. “What does this mean?” he demanded with a lash of his tail. “What are you doing here?”

Grassheart and Strikestone skidded to a halt in front of him. “I’m sorry, Bramblestar,” Grassheart panted. “We haven’t come to attack you. But the missing ShadowClan cats are back—along with Tigerheart. We need Hawkwing.”

Shocked caterwauls rose up from the assembled ThunderClan cats.

“Tigerheart!”

“Where has he been?”

“Is Dovewing with him?” That was Ivypool, pushing her way through the crowd to face the two intruders with anxiety in her blue eyes.

The intruders didn’t seem to be listening to the questions of the cats who were pressing around them.

“Hawkwing, you have to come now,” Strikestone meowed urgently. “Tigerheart is dead!”

CHAPTER 20

Violetshine whisked out of the thorn tunnel behind her father and the two ShadowClan warriors. Alderheart brought up the rear; after Strikestone’s shattering news that Tigerheart was dead, he had insisted on coming with them—with Bramblestar’s permission—to see if he could help.