Shattered Sky

The rogues are outnumbered, Alderheart thought, his heart racing again. We’re going to win!

Already the battle was beginning to wane, some of the rogues breaking away and fleeing out of the camp. But Roach, Sleekwhisker, and Nettle kept on fighting furiously, and then at last Darktail appeared, racing up from the direction of the lake.

Alderheart stared at him incredulously. Deep scratches furrowed Darktail’s fur, and his white pelt was heavy with water and dotted with blood.

What in the name of StarClan happened to him?

As soon as Darktail appeared, several Clan cats broke away from the main battle to pile on top of the rogue leader, striking out with teeth and claws. For a few moments, Darktail fought back, but he was too badly outnumbered. Struggling free, he yowled, “Kin! Retreat!” and fled out of the camp in the direction of the border with ShadowClan.

His Kin streamed after him. Bramblestar followed at the head of the Clan cats, only to halt at the edge of the camp.

“Let them go,” he panted. “They won’t be back in a hurry.”

“No, those maggot-ridden excuses for cats will be infesting my territory,” Rowanstar growled.

“We’ll clear them out soon,” Bramblestar asserted confidently. “After all, you’ve got most of your warriors back now.”

“That’s if I let them come back.” Rowanstar turned to stare balefully at the former ShadowClan warriors, who were clustered together a couple of tail-lengths away, gazing uncertainly at their Clan leader.

“We’re sorry, Rowanstar,” Scorchfur meowed. “Most of us have wanted to come back for a long time, but Darktail wouldn’t let us leave.”

“Mouse-hearts!” Rowanstar snorted.

“Oh, come on!” Tawnypelt padded up to her mate and nudged him with her shoulder. “We all know what Darktail and his Kin were like. And none of us realized how much of a threat he was at first—even you.”

Rowanstar glared at his mate for a moment longer, then shrugged. “Very well, they can come back,” he meowed. “But if they put one paw out of line…”

A relieved chorus of sighs came from the ShadowClan cats.

“We won’t!”

“Thank you, Rowanstar!”

Alderheart watched with satisfaction as the returning warriors gathered around their leader, then turned to examine the RiverClan prisoners. All four of them lay on the ground, their chests heaving and their paws limp with exhaustion. Alderheart was surprised they had been able to fight so bravely.

Mistystar was crouching beside them, and she looked up anxiously as Alderheart approached. “Are they badly hurt?” she asked.

It was her deputy, Reedwhisker, who replied. “We’re fine,” he croaked, managing to raise his head a little. “That was the best thing we’ve ever done, sinking our claws into those mange-pelts.”

Looking more closely at each of the RiverClan warriors in turn, Alderheart was relieved to see that none of their injuries were serious. One of Reedwhisker’s ears was bleeding, Mintfur and Brackenpelt were both missing small clumps of fur, and Icewing had a long scratch on one shoulder, but it was reassuringly shallow.

“They’ll be okay,” Alderheart reassured Mistystar. “We’ll get those scratches cleaned up and then put on a poultice of marigold.”

“But what happened?” The voice was Bramblestar’s; he came padding up with Squirrelflight, Scorchfur, and the young tabby she-cat who was a stranger to Alderheart.

“It looked like Violetpaw had planned to put Darktail and his closest kin to sleep with poppy seeds,” Scorchfur replied. “But I guess you know all about that. Anyway, her plan didn’t work. Darktail got wind of it somehow and dragged her over to the prisoners’ den.”

“He dragged Needletail out,” the tabby she-cat continued. “Then he took both of them—Violetpaw and Needletail—down toward the lake. I… don’t know what happened to them after that.”

Cold dread began to gather in Alderheart’s belly. He wanted to race off right away and look for his friends, but he knew he had duties here.

“We heard Darktail say that he was going to punish Needletail for what Violetpaw had done,” Reedwhisker mewed hoarsely. “When they’d left, we decided it was time to act. We knew we had to do something to stop Darktail’s evil. So we broke out of our den. Zelda here”—he gestured with his tail toward the young tabby she-cat—“was on guard with Nettle. When we started to fight, Zelda joined in on our side. And so did most of the ShadowClan cats. Then you arrived,” he finished with a nod to Bramblestar. “I have never been so glad to see any cats in all my life.”

“That’s right,” Icewing added. “Thanks to you, we’ve driven Darktail and his rogues out of our territory!”

Alderheart admired the courage of the RiverClan cats, but he felt like he was choking on his worry for Violetpaw and Needletail. Darktail was covered with scratches. He had blood on his pelt. Whose blood was it?

His stomach turned.