Night Whispers

As they neared the narrow stream that separated the territories, Lionblaze tasted the air, making sure that no WindClan cat had strayed over the scent line. The stream was hardly more than a frozen ditch filled with snow that left nothing except a dent in the forest floor, but the scent line was fresh, pungent with both WindClan and ThunderClan markers.

“Should I take Cinderheart and hunt up past the brambles?” Leafpool offered.

“We’ll cover more ground if we split up,” Cinderheart put in.

“Okay.” Lionblaze felt relieved. “Take Dovepaw, too.” She was yawning again. He’d be better off hunting alone.

As the patrol headed away, bounding past the brambles, Lionblaze sniffed a hawthorn bush on the edge of the ditch, hungry for signs of prey, watchful for WindClan scent.

Frosted snow cracked beyond the ditch, and Lionblaze jerked his head up. Breezepelt was snuffling his way along a trail of small paw prints. Crowfeather followed, ears pricked, fur bristling along his spine.

Lionblaze ducked lower behind the bush. They didn’t know he was there. Through the bare stems of the hawthorn, he watched the WindClan cats, skinny and shivering, as they followed the tracks. They weren’t even trying to keep low. Did they imagine they were hidden by heather here? Mouse-brains!

A shower of snow spattered from the branches overhead. The WindClan cats looked up, their eyes gleaming. Lionblaze could hear the flicker of feathers, and without looking he knew that a thrush was near. He opened his mouth and let the scent bathe his tongue. More snow dropped. Then the thrush fluttered down. It landed beside a larch cone and began to peck for bugs between the bracts. Crowfeather stiffened. Breezepelt tensed. Only their tail-tips twitched. The thrush carried on pecking.

Then Breezepelt leaped. His paws thrust snow out behind him. The thrush exploded into the air, squawking an alarm. Breezepelt shot after it, paws outstretched. He leaped into the air, batting the thrush with a deadly swipe. It bounced from his grasp and shot across the ditch.

Lionblaze sprang out to meet it and swatted at the thrush mid-flight. It fell to the ground, dead.

“Hey!” Breezepelt’s outraged mew shrieked across the ditch. “That was mine!”

“It’s on my territory.” Lionblaze crouched over his catch, his mouth watering. One less piece of fresh-kill for WindClan, one more for ThunderClan. He looked at Crowfeather, the cat who’d made Leafpool betray her Clan. Lionblaze would never admit that this cat was his father. Your WindClan son couldn’t even keep hold of his catch.

“I killed it.” Breezepelt’s growl sounded like a challenge.

“Are you sure?” Lionblaze lifted his chin and stared at the WindClan warrior. “Why don’t you come and fetch it, then?”

Breezepelt flicked his tail. In one jump, he had crossed the ditch and slammed into Lionblaze.

Lionblaze suddenly felt alive. His fur bushed up as he fell under the WindClan warrior’s weight. When Breezepelt’s claws tried to hook into his flesh, Lionblaze reared and shook him off like a fly. Then he turned and leaped on top of him, trapping him between his front paws.

“ThunderClan slime!” Breezepelt slithered out of his grip, swiping wildly with all four feet.

Lionblaze’s whiskers twitched. This was too easy. Swinging a paw, he thumped Breezepelt heavily across the cheek. The WindClan warrior staggered and fell, then heaved himself up. “That was my thrush,” he spat. With a lightning-fast swipe, he knocked Lionblaze’s hind paws from under him.

Lionblaze gasped, taken by surprise, and collapsed into the snow. He felt Breezepelt’s teeth land in his shoulder. Raging, Lionblaze thrashed like a fish on the slippery snow. Finding a paw hold, he heaved himself to his paws and thrust Breezepelt clear with another hefty blow. Blood spattered onto the snow like crimson rain.

“Stop it!”

Leafpool’s high-pitched shriek shattered the freezing air as she plunged through the bracken with Cinderheart and Dovepaw behind her. “How can you watch your sons fight?” she screeched at Crowfeather.

Before Crowfeather could reply, his mate, Nightcloud, stalked from the shadows beyond the border. Her black pelt matched Breezepelt’s, and her amber eyes glittered with the same venom. “He only has one son.” Hatred laced her hiss. “Crowfeather is Breezepelt’s father. No one else’s!”

Breezepelt crouched down. Lionblaze could see his muscles bunching beneath his pelt, ready for another attack.

“Stop!” Leafpool shot between them.

Breezepelt’s lunge hit her square in the side. His claws tore her pelt as he dragged her to the ground. Another jet of blood sprayed the snow. Lionblaze stared in shock. Before he could reach for Breezepelt, Crowfeather had crossed the ditch and hauled his son off Leafpool.

He tossed him aside like prey and leaned over Leafpool. “You chose your Clan, remember?” he hissed.

She stared up at him. “That doesn’t mean I didn’t love you.”