“Well, we’ve met fierce kittypets in our time,” Sandstorm pointed out from her place just inside the tunnel. “And ShadowClan is weakened by the floods.”
“So are we,” Rosepetal retorted. “Why should we risk injury to help ShadowClan? What have they ever done for us?”
“Yes, we didn’t survive the Great Battle to fight on behalf of ShadowClan,” Brackenfur agreed.
Bramblestar glanced down and caught Jessy’s eye. She looked shocked by the strength of the objections to the plan. He noticed that Squirrelflight was watching Jessy, too; then she fixed her green gaze straight on him. She hadn’t spoken yet.
One by one the warriors turned to look at their deputy, waiting for her to give her opinion. Squirrelflight kept her eyes fixed on Bramblestar for a long moment, then rose to her paws. Bramblestar found himself holding his breath as he waited for her to speak.
“I think we should take action,” she meowed. “We can’t let a bunch of kittypets force ShadowClan onto our territory. If ShadowClan isn’t strong enough to deal with them, then we’ll have to!”
Bramblestar saw a ripple of enthusiasm pass through the Clan in response to his deputy’s rousing words. Loud caterwauls rose into the air from almost all the cats, Mousewhisker and Rosepetal among them.
“That makes sense,” Graystripe declared.
“Yes! Let’s drive them off!” Thornclaw yowled.
Blossomfall worked her claws into the ground. “The forest is for warriors, not for kittypets!”
Bramblestar noticed that Frankie and Minty were looking a bit unnerved by the protests against kittypets. Millie leaned over to them and Bramblestar heard her whisper, “Don’t worry, they don’t mean you. They get like this sometimes.”
“Then that’s settled,” Bramblestar announced. “Warriors who are prepared to fight, join me now.” He slithered down from the mudfall, with mud sticking to his fur and clogging his claws. At the foot of the pile he met Cloudtail, Thornclaw, Cinderheart, Lionblaze, Blossomfall, Ivypool, and her apprentice, Snowpaw, all pressing forward to volunteer.
“I can’t let apprentices come,” Bramblestar meowed with a glance at Snowpaw.
Snowpaw took a pace back, looking hurt.
“Why not?” Ivypool asked Bramblestar. “They have to fight sooner or later, and a battle against kittypets won’t be as dangerous as fighting another Clan.”
Bramblestar tipped his head on one side. “Good point. Okay, Snowpaw, you can come.”
Snowpaw let out a squeal of delight and leaped straight into the air, while his sister, Amberpaw, slid out of the tunnel and ran forward. “Me too!” she begged.
Jayfeather snaked his tail around her neck and hauled her back. “Don’t even think about it. You’re far too sick.” He ignored Amberpaw’s protests and herded her back into the tunnel.
“What about you, Dewpaw?” Bramblestar prompted, seeing the third of the litter hovering close by. His eyes were wide and his gray-and-white fur looked ruffled.
“I’m going to stay and help guard the camp,” Whitewing announced before her apprentice could reply. “Dewpaw can come with you if he likes,” she added, glancing at the little cat beside her.
Dewpaw shook his head. “It’s okay, I’ll stay and help you, Whitewing. You might need me.”
Bramblestar noticed that Lilypaw had crept closer to the front of the crowd of warriors, and he shook his head firmly at her mentor, Poppyfrost. Lilypaw is still too vulnerable to fight, so soon after Seedpaw’s death. Poppyfrost nodded agreement and bent her head to speak gently to Lilypaw.
Squirrelflight thrust her way through the crowd of warriors around Bramblestar. “When do we leave?”
“You don’t,” Bramblestar told her. “I need you to stay and take charge here.”
Squirrelflight’s green eyes widened in surprise. “You mean you’re going yourself? This is just a minor skirmish. It doesn’t need the Clan leader!”
“It was my suggestion,” Bramblestar reminded her. “I have to take part and share the risks with my Clanmates.”
Squirrelflight nodded reluctantly. “All right, I’ll stay.”
Bramblestar glanced around until he spotted Jessy sitting with Frankie and Minty. “Jessy,” he called to her, “will you come with us, please? We need you to show us where to go.”
Jessy nodded and rose to her paws to make her way over to Bramblestar.
“A kittypet fighting kittypets?” Squirrelflight hissed into Bramblestar’s ear.
“Actually, this was Jessy’s idea,” Bramblestar whispered back. “She knows these kittypets.”
Squirrelflight’s eyes narrowed to green slits. “Why does she want to help ShadowClan?” she asked suspiciously. “Are we settling an old score for her against her enemies?”
Bramblestar realized that was a fair question. “No, I trust her,” he replied. “And I respect her for having the courage to suggest it.”
Squirrelflight let out a snort. “Just be careful, and remember that we don’t really know her at all.”
Frankie had followed Jessy over to the Clan leader, and now he spoke up. “I’ll come too, Bramblestar, if you like.”
Bramblestar looked at him, and at Minty, who was peering around his shoulder, her eyes wide with horror at the thought of going into battle. “No,” he meowed. “Thanks for offering, but you stay here and go on with your training. You too, Minty.” His gaze swept around his assembled warriors. “The rest of us leave at dawn!”
Chapter 21
Thin, gray light covered the forest. Long before the sun would crest the ridge, Bramblestar led his cats out of camp and brushed through the dew-soaked undergrowth, straight up the slope to the top border. His paws tingled with anticipation as he and his Clanmates passed their own scent markers and entered the unknown forest.
Crossing the ridge, Bramblestar let Jessy take the lead along the downward slope, well outside ShadowClan territory. None of them had ever set paw in this part of the forest before. They padded warily among huge oak trees, their gnarled roots stretched out as if to trip careless paws. Everything was silent in the dawn chill.
Gradually the oaks thinned out, to be replaced by dark, slender pines. The ground was thick with fallen needles that gave way slightly under every paw step. Blossomfall sprang a tail-length from the ground at the loud alarm call of some hidden bird, then licked her chest fur in embarrassment and tried to look unconcerned.
“Don’t worry,” Bramblestar told her. “We’re all getting nervous. This is new for all of us.”
“I don’t like the way we can be seen at such a distance,” Cloudtail meowed, waving his tail at the ranks of pine trees, the ground between them clear of undergrowth. “I’ll stick out like a mushroom.”
“So will I,” Snowpaw added worriedly.
“You could try rolling in mud and pine needles,” Thornclaw suggested. “Then these kittypets might think that you’re a couple of bushes.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Cloudtail responded. He spotted a muddy hollow underneath a tree and led Snowpaw over there. Bramblestar and the others watched as the two cats rolled over in the mud until their fur stood out in sticky spikes.
“That’s so weird!” Jessy exclaimed, intrigued and with a glint of amusement in her eyes. “The lengths you warriors will go to in order to stalk an enemy!”
Thornclaw gave her a defensive look. “We’re not kittypets, you know!”
As the cats set out again, Bramblestar began picking up traces of ShadowClan scent, but they were all stale, and though at one point the scent was mixed with a tang of squirrel blood, he didn’t think that ShadowClan had been this way for some days.