Forest Of Secrets

“Er…” Fireheart shot a desperate glance at Graystripe. “We’re going the long way around,” he improvised quickly. “Mudclaw from WindClan told us about a warren of young rabbits just inside our territory. We thought we’d bring back some fresh-kill.” Suddenly alarmed by the thought that Sandstorm might offer to come with them, he added, “Tell Bluestar, will you, if she asks where we are?”

“Sure.” Sandstorm yawned, showing a mouthful of sharp white teeth. “I’ll think about you, dashing after rabbits, when I’m curled up in a nice warm nest!” She padded off with a flick of her tail.

Fireheart was relieved; he didn’t like lying to her. “Let’s go,” he meowed to Graystripe. “Before any other cat sees us.”

The two young warriors slid into the shelter of the bushes and crept up the slope. At the top, Fireheart paused for a moment, looking back to make sure they had not been followed. Then he and Graystripe bounded over the rim of the hollow and raced toward the moorland and, beyond that, the Twoleg farm.

This is the only way, Fireheart repeated to himself as he ran. He had to find out the truth. Not just for Redtail and Ravenpaw, but for the sake of the whole Clan. Tigerclaw had to be stopped…before he had the chance to kill again.

Chapter 2

Fireheart sniffed warily at a path where the snow had been trampled down by Twolegs. Lights shone from the Twoleg nest, and somewhere close by he could hear a dog barking. He remembered Barley telling him that the Twolegs let their dogs off the chains at night. He just hoped that he could locate Ravenpaw before he and Graystripe were noticed.

Graystripe slipped through the fence and padded up to him. The icy wind flattened his gray fur against his body. “Smell anything?” he asked.

Fireheart lifted his head to taste the air, and almost at once he caught the scent he was searching for, faint but familiar. Ravenpaw! “This way,” he mewed.

He crept along the path, the hard surface icy under his paws. Cautiously he followed the scent to a gap at the bottom of a barn door where the wood had rotted away.

He sniffed, drinking in the smell of hay and the strong, fresh scent of cats. “Ravenpaw?” he whispered. When there was no reply, he repeated, louder, “Ravenpaw?”

“Fireheart, is that you?” A surprised mew came from the darkness on the other side of the door.

“Ravenpaw!” Fireheart squeezed through the gap, thankful to be out of the wind. The scents of the barn flowed around him, and his mouth began to water as he detected the smell of mouse. The barn was dimly lit by moonlight filtering through a small window high under the roof. As his eyes adjusted, Fireheart saw another cat standing a few tail-lengths away.

His friend looked even sleeker and better fed than when Fireheart had seen him last. Fireheart realized how scrawny and bedraggled he must look in comparison.

Ravenpaw purred happily as he padded over to Fireheart and touched noses with him. “Welcome,” he mewed. “It’s good to see you.”

“It’s good to see you,” Graystripe meowed, pushing his way through the gap in the door after Fireheart.

“Did you get WindClan back to their camp safely?” Ravenpaw asked. Fireheart and Graystripe had stayed with him during their journey to bring WindClan home.

“Yes,” mewed Fireheart, “but it’s a long story. We can’t—”

“Well, what’s going on here?” Another cat’s meow interrupted them.

Fireheart spun around, flattening his ears, ready to fight if this newcomer was a threat. Then he recognized Barley, the black-and-white loner who had willingly shared his home with Ravenpaw. “Hi, Barley,” Fireheart meowed, calming down. “We need to talk to Ravenpaw.”

“So I see,” Barley mewed. “And it must be important, to bring you across the moors in this weather.”

“Yes, it is,” Fireheart agreed. He glanced at the former ThunderClan apprentice, the urgency of his mission prickling through his fur. “Ravenpaw, we haven’t any time to waste.”

Ravenpaw looked puzzled. “You know you can talk to me as much as you want.”

“I’ll leave you to it, then,” Barley offered. “Feel free to hunt. We’ve plenty of mice here.” He gave a friendly nod to the visiting cats, and squeezed out under the door.

“Hunt? Really?” meowed Graystripe. Fireheart felt sharp pangs of hunger grip his belly.

“Of course,” mewed Ravenpaw. “Look, why don’t you eat first? Then you can tell me why you’re here.”

“I know Tigerclaw killed Redtail,” Ravenpaw insisted. “I was there, and I saw him do it.”