Outcast

A shadow drifted over the rocks and Lionpaw looked up to see a cloud covering the moon. A chill crept through him, as though his pads had touched ice. Did that mean that StarClan was angry because they were breaking the full moon truce? But StarClan doesn’t walk these skies, he remembered. Jaypaw had warned them that they would be alone. Besides, a moment later the cloud had drifted away and the moon shone brightly again. Sometimes a cloud is just a cloud.

The moon floated high in the sky by the time the battle-hungry cats reached the intruders’ camp. Everything was quiet. Lionpaw gazed at the narrow cleft between the tilted rocks, but he could make out nothing in the darkness inside.

“I can’t see any sign of guards,” Hollypaw whispered.

“They probably don’t think they need them,” Lionpaw murmured. “After all, Tribe cats are too weak to give any trouble, right?”

Hollypaw’s green eyes gleamed with amusement. “We’ll see about that!”

Brambleclaw gathered the cats around him with a gesture of his tail and led them into the shadow of a rock. “Crag and I will divide you into attacking patrols,” he mewed. “Tribe and Clan, apprentices and to-bes, in each group. That way we’ll have the best spread of skills. The plan is to lure the trespassers out here and then attack them, otherwise we’ll be fighting in the dark on enemy ground.”

Lionpaw glanced again at the dark cleft and then back at Brambleclaw. “That can’t be right,” he objected.

Brambleclaw cocked his head. “No?”

“No, because the cleft can’t be totally dark. Their dens are in there—they can’t be stumbling around blind, can they?”

Brambleclaw narrowed his eyes. “You’re right. There must be a shaft that lets in light and air.”

“We should go look for it!” Lionpaw’s pads were tingling with excitement.

His father thought for a moment longer, then nodded.

“Okay. We shouldn’t attack without knowing exactly what we’re up against. If there’s another entrance, they might be able to get out that way and attack us from behind.” He angled his ears toward the rocks. “Let’s go. Hollypaw, Breezepaw, you come too.”

“And me!” Pebble sprang up. “I know rocks,” she added. “I might be able to help.”

“Come on, then,” Brambleclaw meowed. “Crag, you start dividing up the patrols. And every cat keep as quiet as if you were stalking prey. This attack will start when we’re ready and not before.”

Cautiously the five cats crept across the open ground in front of the cleft and onto a narrow trail that led upward beside one of the tilted rocks. Lionpaw was poised to spring into battle if there was any movement from the cleft, but it remained dark and silent.

The tilted rocks were set against a boulder-strewn slope leading to a ridge. The trail wound between the boulders until it emerged at the top, close to where the two rocks joined. Lionpaw crept toward them, his belly fur brushing the ground.

“Breezepaw, keep watch below,” Brambleclaw whispered.

“Tell me if there’s any sign of the intruders.”

Looking pleased to be singled out, Breezepaw wriggled forward on his belly until he could overlook the ground at the bottom of the slope. Brambleclaw and the apprentices spread out, examining the area around the tilted rocks.

Lionpaw sniffed around the boulders piled along the ridge. There was a strong scent of cat, the scent he was beginning to recognize as the intruders’. But he couldn’t see where it was coming from. Then he spotted a gap between two rocks; the scent was especially strong there.

“I think I’ve found something!” he called softly.

Brambleclaw, Hollypaw, and Pebble joined him, brushing against his flanks. Thrusting his head into the gap, Lionpaw saw a shaft leading down through the rock. At the very bottom was a circle of sand, with the shadow of his own head outlined on it in moonlight. There was no sign of cats, but the scent was stronger still.

“Let me look,” Pebble mewed impatiently.

Lionpaw stepped back to let the Tribe to-be into the gap.

She stared down for a few heartbeats, then raised her head, her blue eyes glittering. “They’ll never be able to get out this way. But I could climb down.”

“Yes!” Lionpaw wanted to bounce up and down like an excited kit. “We could all go. We could chase the cats out into the open where our warriors are waiting.”

Brambleclaw shook his head. “Not a chance. It’s far too dangerous.”

“No, it isn’t.” Hollypaw butted his shoulder with her head.

“They won’t be expecting us. They’ll be too scared to do anything but run.”

“Then I’ll go,” Brambleclaw countered.

Lionpaw let out a small mrrow of laughter. “Think you would get those shoulders through that hole? This is a job for small cats. Hey, Breezepaw!”

He beckoned the WindClan apprentice over and explained the plan. Breezepaw swallowed nervously. “I’m in.”

“I haven’t said you’re going yet,” Brambleclaw pointed out.

“It’s a good plan, but you could fall and break your necks. Not to mention what the intruders might do to you.”