Forest Of Secrets

Thistles and thorns, he thought. Now she won’t hear another word against Tigerclaw. I blew it!

Chapter 7

Confused and unhappy, Fireheart made for the warriors’ den. Before he reached it he hesitated. He did not want to risk meeting Tigerclaw, and he wasn’t in the mood for sharing tongues with his friends.

Instead, almost unconsciously, he headed for the tunnel of ferns that led to Yellowfang’s den. Cinderpaw limped out and almost collided with him. Fireheart fell back on his haunches with a thump, and Cinderpaw skidded to a halt, spraying him with snow.

“Sorry, Fireheart,” she puffed. “I didn’t see you there.”

Fireheart shook the snow off his coat. His heart felt suddenly lighter at the sight of Cinderpaw, her blue eyes sparkling with mischief, and fur sticking out in all directions. This was how she used to look, when she was his apprentice; for a while, after the accident, Fireheart had been afraid that this Cinderpaw had vanished forever. “What’s the hurry?” he asked.

“I’m going out to look for herbs for Yellowfang,” Cinderpaw explained. “So many cats have been ill, what with all this snow, that her stocks are getting very low. I want to find as much as I can before it gets dark.”

“I’ll come and help you,” Fireheart offered. Bluestar had told him to do something useful, and not even Tigerclaw could find fault if he went to collect herbs for the medicine cat.

“Great!” Cinderpaw meowed happily.

Side by side, they headed across the clearing toward the gorse tunnel. Fireheart had to slow his pace to match Cinderpaw’s, but if she was aware of it she didn’t seem to mind.

Just before they reached the tunnel, Fireheart heard the shrill voices of kits. He turned and stared at the branches of a fallen tree, close to the elders’ den. A group of kits had surrounded Brokentail, who had been given a nest among the branches.

Ever since Bluestar had offered shelter to Brokentail, he had lived alone in his den, with warriors to guard him. Not many cats passed that way, and the kits had no reason to be anywhere near him.

“Rogue! Traitor!” That was Cloudkit’s voice raised in a jeering meow. Fireheart watched in alarm as the white kit darted forward, jabbed Brokentail in the ribs with one paw, and scrambled back out of range. One of the other kits copied him, squealing, “Can’t catch me!”

Darkstripe, whose turn it was to guard the blind cat, made no attempt to send the kits away. He sat a fox-length away, watching with his paws tucked under him and a gleam of amusement in his eyes.

Brokentail swung his head from side to side in frustration, but with his cloudy, unseeing eyes he could not retaliate. His dark tabby fur looked dull and patchy, and his broad face was scored with scars, some of them from the clawing that had ruined his eyes. There was no trace of the former arrogant and bloodthirsty leader now.

Fireheart exchanged a worried glance with Cinderpaw. Many cats, he knew, thought Brokentail deserved to suffer, but seeing the former leader so old and helpless, he could not help feeling a scrap of pity. Anger began to burn inside him as the taunting went on. “Wait for me,” he mewed to Cinderpaw, and hurried over toward the edge of the clearing.

He saw Cloudkit pounce on the blind tom’s tail, worrying it with needle-sharp teeth. Brokentail scrabbled away from him on unsteady legs and swiped one paw in his direction.

In an instant, Darkstripe jumped to his paws, hissing, “Touch that kit, traitor, and I’ll flay your skin in strips!”

Fireheart was too angry to speak. Leaping toward Cloudkit, he grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and swung him around, away from Brokentail.

Cloudkit wailed in protest. “Stop it! That hurts!”

Fireheart dropped him roughly into the snow and let out a low growl through bared teeth. “Go home!” he ordered the other kits. “Go home to your mothers. Now!”

The kits stared at him, wide-eyed with fear, and then scuttled off, to disappear into the nursery.

“As for you—” Fireheart hissed to Cloudkit.

“Leave the kit alone,” Darkstripe interrupted, padding up to stand beside Cloudkit. “He’s not doing any harm.”

“Keep out of this, Darkstripe,” growled Fireheart.

Darkstripe shouldered past him, almost knocking him over, before stalking back to his prisoner. “Kittypet!” he sneered over his shoulder.

Fireheart’s muscles tensed. He wanted to leap at Darkstripe and force the insult back down his throat, but he stopped himself. This was no time for Clan warriors to start fighting each other. Besides, he had to deal with Cloudkit.

“Did you hear that?” he demanded, glaring down at the white kit. “Kittypet?”

“So?” Cloudkit muttered mutinously. “What’s a kittypet?”

Fireheart gulped as he realized that Cloudkit had not yet learned what his origins meant to the Clan. “Well, a kittypet is a cat who lives with Twolegs,” he began carefully. “Some Clan cats don’t believe that a cat who’s born a kittypet will ever make a good warrior. And that includes me, because like you, I was born in Twolegplace.”