The Darkest Hour

A heartbeat later Bramblepaw launched himself into the air. But Firestar was ready for him. Slipping rapidly to one side, he butted Bramblepaw in the flank as he came down, and the young cat lost his balance and rolled over, his paws scuffing up dust.

“You’ll have to be quicker than that,” Firestar told him. “Don’t give your enemy time to think.”

Bramblepaw scrambled up, spitting out sand, and immediately sprang again. His outstretched paws caught Firestar on the side of the head, thrusting the older cat sideways so that his paws slid out from under him. Bramblepaw held him down, his nose almost touching Firestar’s.

“Like that?” he asked.

Firestar pushed him off. “Let me up, you great lump!” Shaking sand out of his pelt, he added, “Yes, just like that. You’re shaping up well, Bramblepaw.”

The apprentice’s eyes glowed and Firestar suddenly felt as if he were looking at a young Tigerstar—but this was Tigerstar as he should have been: strong, skillful, brave and, yes, ambitious, but in Bramblepaw all the ambition seemed to be focused on becoming the best warrior that he could be in the service of his Clan.

Firestar couldn’t resist letting out a purr of satisfaction. Amid all the troubles that beset ThunderClan, it was a relief to escape for a short time for a training session with his apprentice.

But Bramblepaw’s next words reminded him of his weightier responsibilities. “Firestar, I wanted to ask you…why does every cat think it would be so bad to be part of TigerClan?”

“What?” Firestar felt a surge of anger; he could hardly believe his apprentice had asked the question.

Bramblepaw flinched, but he went on, steadily meeting his mentor’s eyes. “Ashpaw told me what Tigerstar said. It’s true that times are hard. Every cat’s always complaining about the shortage of prey, and how there are more Twolegs in the forest than ever before. Besides, TigerClan will be the strongest Clan in the forest if RiverClan joins with ShadowClan. Wouldn’t it make sense to join them?”

Firestar took a deep breath. After all, he had asked questions like these when he first came to the forest, not understanding why there should be rivalry and battle between the Clans. He sat down beside Bramblepaw. “It’s not as simple as that,” he meowed. “For one thing, there have always been four Clans in the forest. For another, it would mean the end of ThunderClan.”

“Why?”

“Because we cannot believe Tigerstar when he says the four leaders would rule jointly.” Firestar tried to speak gently, remembering he was talking about the young cat’s father, but there was no hiding the stark truth. “Tigerstar would take control. We would lose every thing that makes us ThunderClan.”

For a few heartbeats Bramblepaw was silent. Then he meowed, “I see. Thank you, Firestar. That’s what I wanted to know.”

“Then let’s get on.” Firestar sprang to his paws. “There’s a move I think you might find useful…”

But as he continued with the training session, he found that his optimism about Bramblepaw’s loyalties had started to fade.

When the training session was over, Firestar sent Bramblepaw to hunt for the elders. He was about to return to camp w h en Cloudtail bounded over the top of the training hollow, closely followed by Brightheart.

“Firestar! We’re going to practice Brightheart’s fighting moves. Do you want to see how she’s coming on?”

“Yes, of course—go ahead.” Even though Brightheart’s wounds were healed, Firestar found it hard to think of her as a fighting cat. He couldn’t imagine she would ever be able to go into battle with her Clan. But since her change of name she looked much happier and more confident, and he wanted to encourage her as much as he could.

Cloudtail and Brightheart ran into the middle of the hollow. For a few heartbeats they prowled around each other; then Cloudtail darted in and gave Brightheart a couple of blows with sheathed paws on the blind side of her head. Brightheart rolled with the impact and Firestar tensed, imagining the damage an enemy cat might have done with his claws out and all his strength behind the blow.

But instead of rolling away from Cloudtail, Brightheart propelled herself toward him, tangling her paws with his and throwing him off balance. Firestar pricked his ears with interest as the two cats writhed together on the ground, and suddenly Brighthear pinning Cloudtail down with one paw on his neck.

“I’ve never seen that before,” Firestar meowed, padding over to join them as Brightheart released Cloudtail and the young white warrior jumped up and shook sand out of his pelt. “Brightheart, try it on me.”

Looking nervous, Brightheart faced him. Firestar found it harder than he had expected to come up on her blind side; the young she-cat kept weaving back and forth so that he had to change his position. When at last he leaped at her, she slid under his outstretched paws and tripped him in the same way that she had surprised Cloudtail. For a few heartbeats they wrestled together until at last Firestar managed to hold her down.