Forest Of Secrets

Beneath the trees at the top of the hollow the snow was not so thick, and streaks of brown earth showed amid the white. As the three cats crept forward, Fireheart heard the scuttering of tiny paws, and scented mouse. Automatically he dropped into a hunting crouch and slid forward, barely putting any weight on his paws so as not to alarm his prey. The mouse remained unaware of the danger, its back to him as it nibbled on a fallen seed. When Fireheart was a tail-length away, he sprang, and turned back triumphantly to his friends with the prey in his jaws.

“Good catch,” called Sandstorm.

Fireheart scraped earth over his kill so he could collect it later. “The next one’s yours, Brackenpaw,” he meowed.

Brackenpaw raised his head proudly and began to stalk forward, his eyes darting from side to side. Fireheart spotted a blackbird pecking among the berries at the foot of a holly bush, but this time he held back.

The apprentice noticed the bird almost as soon as Fireheart did. Stealthily, paw by paw, he crept up on it. His haunches rocked from side to side as he readied himself to pounce. Watching, Fireheart thought he held back a heartbeat too long. The blackbird sensed him and fluttered upward, but Brackenpaw hurled himself after it with a mighty leap and batted it out of the air.

Keeping one paw on his prey, he turned to look at Fireheart. “I got the timing wrong,” he admitted. “I waited too long, didn’t I?”

“Maybe,” Fireheart replied. “But don’t look so upset. You caught it, and that’s what counts.”

“When you get back, you can take it to the elders,” meowed Sandstorm.

Brackenpaw brightened up at that. “Yes, I—” he began. He was interrupted by a shrill, terrified wailing that came from the direction of the hollow.

Fireheart spun around. “That sounds like a kit!”

With Sandstorm and Brackenpaw at his side, he raced toward the sound. Bursting out of the trees, he launched himself toward the crest of the hollow and looked down.

“Great StarClan!” Sandstorm gasped.

Just below the three cats loomed a bulky black-and-white animal; Fireheart picked up the rank scent of a badger. He had never seen one out in the open before, although he had often heard them shuffling noisily in the bushes. With one massive, hook-clawed paw, it was reaching into a gap between two rocks, where Cloudkit was cowering.

“Fireheart!” he wailed. “Help me!”

Fireheart felt as if every hair on his body was bristling. He launched himself down into the hollow, his front paws outstretched for the attack. He was dimly aware of Sandstorm and Brackenpaw at his heels. Fireheart raked his claws down the badger’s side, and the huge beast rounded on him with a roar, jaws snapping. It was fast; it might even have caught Fireheart if Brackenpaw hadn’t leaped from the side, clawing for its eyes.

The badger whipped its head around to where Sandstorm had sunk her teeth into one of its back legs. Kicking out strongly, it threw her off, and she rolled into the snow.

Fireheart dashed in again to claw the badger’s flank. Drops of scarlet blood fell onto the snow. The badger growled, but it was backing away now, and as Sandstorm got to her paws and advanced, spitting, it turned and lumbered off up the ravine.

Fireheart spun around to Cloudkit. “Are you hurt?”

Cloudkit crept out from the cleft in the rock, trembling uncontrollably. “N-No.”

Fireheart felt shaky with relief. “What happened? Where’s Brindleface?”

“I don’t know. We were all playing, and then I turned around and I couldn’t see any of the others. I thought I’d come and find you, and then there was the badger…” He let out a terrified mew, and crouched down with his head on his paws.

Fireheart was stretching his neck to give him a comforting lick when he heard Sandstorm say, “Fireheart, look.”

Fireheart turned. Brackenpaw was lying on his side, blood seeping from his hind leg into the snow.

“It’s nothing,” he grunted, bravely trying to get to his paws.

“Stay still while we look,” Sandstorm ordered.

Fireheart rushed over and examined the wound. To his relief, the slash on Brackenpaw’s leg was long but not deep, and the bleeding had nearly stopped. “You were lucky, thank StarClan,” he meowed. “And you saved me from a nasty bite. It was a brave thing to do, Brackenpaw.”

The apprentice’s eyes shone at Fireheart’s praise. “It wasn’t really brave,” he mewed shakily. “I didn’t have time to think.”

“A warrior couldn’t have done better,” meowed Sandstorm. “But what’s a badger doing out in daylight? They always hunt by night.”

“It must be hungry, like us,” Fireheart guessed. “Otherwise it wouldn’t attack something as big as Cloudkit.” He turned back to the kit and nudged him gently to his paws. “Come on; let’s get you back to camp.”

Sandstorm helped Brackenpaw to get up and padded beside him as he limped to the top of the hollow and toward the ravine. Fireheart followed with Cloudkit, who kept very close to him.