Outcast

Stoneteller took a pace toward the ginger she-cat, his neck fur bristling. Lionpaw tensed his muscles to spring if the Tribe’s leader tried to attack his mother.

Then the old cat’s tail drooped and the fur on his shoulders began to lie flat again. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting has sent me no signs about accepting help from the Clans.”

Turning to Brambleclaw, he added, “I mean no disrespect to you or your Clanmates. I know how much we owed you in the past, and I believe you mean well now.”

Brambleclaw opened his jaws to speak, but Stoneteller raised his tail for silence. “You should not have come,” he continued. “This is not your battle. You may stay here for tonight, but in the morning you will be escorted to the edge of the mountains, and you must not return.”

“And how do you mean to stop us?” Breezepaw growled from just behind Lionpaw.

For once, Lionpaw agreed with the WindClan apprentice.

The Tribe didn’t have the strength to back up Stoneteller’s orders. But he guessed that Brambleclaw wouldn’t stay where the Clans weren’t wanted.

“And what about us?” Brook demanded.

Stoneteller turned his amber gaze on her. “We cannot feed two more hungry bellies.”

Is that it? Shock froze Lionpaw’s paws in place and shivered through every hair on his pelt. Do we just turn around and go home without lifting a claw to help? He opened his jaws to protest, only to close them again when he caught Brambleclaw’s warning glance.

“We’re guests of the Tribe.” Brambleclaw padded over and fixed all four apprentices with a stern gaze. “We mustn’t cause trouble.”

“Not even when that stupid—”

“No.” Brambleclaw sighed. “I’m as disappointed as you are, but we mustn’t make things worse. Do you all understand that?”

“If you say so…” Lionpaw mewed reluctantly. Hollypaw and Jaypaw nodded agreement, and even Breezepaw growled, “Suppose so.”

A gray-brown Tribe she-cat trotted across the cave toward them. “Hi, Brambleclaw,” she greeted him. “Remember me?”

Brambleclaw put his head on one side. “Bird That Rides the Wind. You were with Talon when we first met.”

“That’s right,” Bird purred. “It’s good to see you again.

Stoneteller asked me to find you somewhere to sleep for the night. You and your warriors can come with me to the cave-guards’ place”—she flicked her tail toward one side of the cave—“and your apprentices can sleep with our to-bes.”

Lionpaw stiffened, wondering if Stoneteller wanted to split up the Clan cats so they could be attacked more easily.

But Brambleclaw agreed calmly, and common sense told Lionpaw that the Clans would have done exactly the same if a large group of cats had arrived to stay in their camps.

As Bird led the apprentices farther into the cave, Lionpaw craned his neck to look around. By now night had fallen and the moon had risen, turning the waterfall to a sheet of tumbling silver and shedding a soft, wavering light throughout the cave. He could see scattered rocks around the edges of the cave, and here and there cracks in the walls that led up to narrow ledges. From the roof, high above his head, talons of stone pointed down to the cave floor.

His belly rumbled as the scent of fresh-kill tickled his nostrils. At one side of the cave, Gray and his hunting party had brought in their eagle and were tearing it apart. I hope they give us some, Lionpaw thought. His last meal had been in the forest, which seemed like seasons ago now. There wasn’t much else on the fresh-kill pile: a couple of mice and a rabbit. No wonder they’re all so skinny!

Bird took them to the back of the cave, where a pair of tunnels led off into darkness. A few tail-lengths away two young cats were wrestling while three or four others looked on.

“These are our to-bes,” Bird announced.

The wrestling cats broke apart and sat up to stare at the newcomers. “Who are they?” a pale gray she-cat asked. “Are they prisoners?”

“No, Pebble, they’re guests,” Bird replied. “They’ll be staying with us tonight. Look after them and find them somewhere to sleep.”

“What, all four of them?” a black tom exclaimed. “There isn’t room.”

The gray she-cat gave him a hefty shove. “Don’t be so rude!” To the Clan apprentices she added, “Don’t pay any attention to Screech. He’s beetle-brained.”

“Beetle-brained yourself!” Screech muttered.

“You’ll be fine for one night,” Bird mewed briskly. With a friendly nod to the Clan cats she bounded back across the cave to where Brambleclaw and the others were waiting for her.

Lionpaw felt embarrassed as the to-bes crowded around him and the others, sniffing at them curiously. “I’m Lionpaw,” he meowed, trying to sound confident. “This is my sister, Hollypaw, and my brother, Jaypaw, and that’s Breezepaw.”