There was a soft hiss from Sharpclaw as the patrol reached the edge of the clearing and halted under the trees opposite the Twoleg nest. It was dark and silent; Leafstar could almost believe the nest had been abandoned. That would make everything much easier.
“Right, this is it,” Sharpclaw whispered. “You all know what you have to do. Waspwhisker, Shorty, and Cherrytail, go collect dead branches and brambles, and drag them outside the nest door as quietly as you can. We don’t want to wake the dog and warn the Twoleg.”
The three warriors, already primed from the earlier planning, twitched their ears in acknowledgment and melted into the shadows.
“Cora, Bouncefire, Rockshade.” Sharpclaw beckoned the next group of cats with his tail. “You’re the fastest runners, so you’re going to lead the dog away. Get into position now.”
“And make sure you have a good escape route,” Leafstar added before the three cats could move. “Climb a tree if you need to. I don’t want any cat getting hurt tonight.”
“We know all this,” Bouncefire muttered as he led the others away.
“We’ll be careful, Leafstar,” Cora mewed; her eyes were full of sympathy, as if she shared her Clan leader’s misgivings.
“The rest of you, spread out around the clearing,” Sharpclaw went on. “And don’t so much as twitch a whisker until you hear Leafstar’s signal.”
Leafstar crouched beneath the bushes at the edge of the Twoleg garden, her nose quivering at the rank smells that came from the den; scents of dog and rotting Twoleg waste drowned out the sweet night scents of grass and herbs. Moonhigh was close, and the silver light cast sharp-clawed shadows on the walls of the den.
There was a thick whispering sound. Cherrytail, Waspwhisker, and Shorty crept across the open space, dragging branches and tendrils of bramble behind them. Her paws tingling with tension, Leafstar watched them make several trips back and forth from the edge of the wood until they had built a dense, bristling mound outside the door of the nest. Then they melted silently into the bushes. Now the only sounds Leafstar could hear were the faint rustling of leaves and the distant bark of a fox. Her warriors were in position. For a heartbeat her belly cramped as if she had eaten crow-food.
This is it.
“Attack!” she yowled, bunching her hindquarters underneath her and springing forward.
All around her the warriors of SkyClan burst out of the undergrowth and raced toward the Twoleg den. Their yowls split the still night air and sent birds crashing out of the trees with shrieks of alarm. Sharpclaw was the first to reach the den. He leaped up onto the narrow ledge outside the gap in the wall; his paws rattled the hard, transparent barrier as he battered at it. Leafstar, a pace behind him, jumped up to the gap on the other side of the door and hurled herself against it, feeling the transparent stuff shift in its crumbling wooden frame.
Sparrowpelt sprang up beside her, while Tinycloud and Petalnose bounded over the thorn barrier and raked their claws down the door in long, whistling scratches. Leafstar saw the light of battle in Petalnose’s eyes; the gray she-cat’s nerves had vanished now that the attack had begun. The rest of the Clan gathered close to the nest, wailing as they lashed their tails and dug their claws into the ground. Leafstar’s misgivings returned; these looked like cats just waiting for a chance to slash at their enemy with claws and teeth. Would they be able to resist getting dangerously close to the Twoleg or his dog?
Her gaze met Sharpclaw’s; the deputy gave her a swift nod, and jumped down to join the warriors on the ground. “Remember we’re only trying to scare the Twoleg,” he yowled. “We don’t want any injuries.”
Suddenly light appeared in one of the gaps high up in the den wall, throwing a hard-edged yellow square onto the grass that trapped Mintpaw and Sagepaw in the glare. The two apprentices crouched, frozen in shock.
“Get back!” Sharpclaw screeched, waving his tail to urge his Clanmates away from the nest.
Leafstar repeated the signal. “Keep back! Hide!” she ordered.
The cats dashed for cover on either side of the nest, leaving a clear space in front of the door. Leafstar found herself crouching in a clump of ferns with Shorty beside her. The brown tom was shivering, his eyes wide and his gaze fixed on the light in the wall of the Twoleg den. Leafstar could hear crashing inside the nest and shouts from the Twoleg. The door flew open and the dog stood on the step, its tongue lolling. Leafstar shuddered. The dog’s legs were long and bony, its muscles hard and stringy under its smooth pelt. Its small eyes glittered with moonlight as it stared around.
The cats beside the Twoleg nest fell silent, leaving a single eerie wail that came from the far end of the garden. Every hair on Leafstar’s pelt prickled. It even scares me, and I know what it is! Poking her head out of the ferns she spotted Bouncefire, Cora, and Rockshade, blurry black shapes at the edge of the garden. There was a glint of pointed white teeth as Bouncefire stopped wailing and snapped shut his jaws.
“Come on, flea-pelt!” Rockshade dared the dog. “See if you can catch us!”
The Twoleg—still invisible inside the den—barked out what sounded like a command. The dog leaped over the thorn barrier and hurtled across the garden toward the three warriors.
Run! Now! Leafstar willed them silently.
To her horror, all three cats stayed still, hissing a challenge, until the dog was almost on them. Then they whipped around and raced through the broken-down fence toward the edge of the forest, with the dog hard on their paws.
StarClan, keep them safe! Leafstar prayed, losing sight of them as they led the dog deeper into the brambles.
When the dog had vanished, the remaining SkyClan warriors started yowling again. A heavy, shuffling movement in the doorway caught Leafstar’s attention and she narrowed her eyes with cold anger as the old Twoleg who had tormented Petalnose and her kits loomed into view. Gathering his ragged pelts around him, the Twoleg let out an irritable snarl and stepped forward, right into the barrier of thorns. With a screech he toppled over as the branches snagged on his hind feet and sprawled forward onto his face. His hind paws got more and more tangled in the brambles while he flailed around with his forepaws, trying to get up.
When he managed to struggle upright, he held a branch clutched in one forepaw. Leafstar flinched from his anger and fear-scent as he glared around the clearing. Sparrowpelt slipped out from the shelter of a bush; the Twoleg staggered forward, swiping at him with the branch. Sparrowpelt dodged easily to one side. Then more cats began to appear from their hiding places, racing over the grass with their ears flattened and their lips curled to show pointed teeth.
Not too close! Careful!
Petalnose, Mintpaw, and Sagepaw stood directly in front of the Twoleg with their backs arched, hissing. Leafstar doubted the Twoleg would recognize them as the half-starved she-cat and her terrified kits who’d escaped from him two seasons ago. Petalnose spat vengeance and fury, and the apprentices beside her looked ready to tear the throats from a whole pack of foxes. Behind them, Waspwhisker ripped at the grass with his claws, his lips drawn back in a snarl. Stick and Coal stood close together; Leafstar could see the uncertainty in their eyes, and guessed that it wouldn’t take much for them to turn tail and flee back to the safety of the trees. Cherrytail and Tinycloud advanced side by side, hissing out their hatred as the Twoleg swung the branch at them.
With a growl from deep in her throat, Petalnose took one step forward. The Twoleg paused with the branch held high in the air and looked at her. Petalnose didn’t blink. Instead, she took another step forward, this time lowering her front paws slowly so that the Twoleg could clearly see her long claws. A strange noise came from the Twoleg, a bit like a cough. He let the branch fall onto the ground beside him.