The Forgotten Warrior

Sol dipped his head. “Yes, but I gave it back again.”

“Wow!”

Lionblaze didn’t move as more of his Clanmates bounded across the clearing and surrounded him and Sol. He glanced around for Jayfeather and Dovewing, but couldn’t see either of them.

“What do you want?” Graystripe growled, pushing himself to the front of the crowd. “Every time you set paw in our territory, it means trouble.”

“Right.” Dustpelt came to stand beside Graystripe, his neck fur bristling. “If I were you, Sol, I would turn around again and go back where you came from.”

“So good to meet old friends,” Sol purred, raising one paw and giving it a lick. “There’s always such a warm welcome in ThunderClan.”

Before any cat could respond, Firestar shouldered his way forward and halted in front of Sol, looking him up and down with suspicion in his green eyes.

“Why are you here, Sol?” he asked, his flame-colored pelt fluffing up.

Sol blinked. “I was just passing through. I couldn’t go on without stopping to greet my friends in ThunderClan.”

Passing through… huh! Lionblaze thought. He’s been around for several sunrises, at least.

Firestar seemed to consider Sol’s answer for a moment, the tip of his tail flicking slightly. “ThunderClan has no quarrel with you now,” he mewed at last. “But I can’t say the same about Blackstar. And you’ve already caused enough trouble by hanging around on the WindClan border. All in all, it would be better if you just left.”

Sol’s only response was to twitch an ear.

“We can make him go, Firestar,” Cloudtail growled, taking a pace forward. “Just say the word.”

But at the same moment, a loud cry of “Sol! Sol!” came from the direction of the warriors’ den. Poppyfrost came pelting across the camp and wriggled through the crowd of cats surrounding Sol.

“Sol, you saved my kits, didn’t you?” she meowed, gazing wide-eyed at him. “Above the hollow, when the fox cornered them? It was you, wasn’t it?” she went on insistently when Sol didn’t reply. “They didn’t get a good look at you, but they’d have known if it was a ThunderClan warrior.”

Lionblaze’s heart sank. Realizing that Sol must have been the cat under the hazel bush who scared away the fox didn’t change his opinion at all. He wanted Sol gone.

“And what was Sol doing, wandering around ThunderClan territory?” Dustpelt muttered.

“Yeah.” Cloudtail glared at the newcomer. “Why didn’t he come straight here if he wanted to visit, or make himself known to a patrol?”

Poppyfrost’s head swiveled and she returned Cloudtail’s glare. “He probably wasn’t sure about what sort of a welcome he’d get,” she retorted, then turned back to Sol with a deep-throated purr. “Oh, Sol, thank you so much! You’ll always be welcome here.”

“Thank you, Poppyfrost,” Sol replied. “But really, it was nothing.”

“Fighting off a fox isn’t nothing,” Berrynose meowed, coming up behind Poppyfrost and dipping his head respectfully to the visitor. “Firestar, he can stay the night, can’t he?”

Firestar looked disconcerted. Lionblaze could see that he didn’t want to let Sol back into the camp, but he could hardly turn him away now. “Very well,” he agreed, with a curt nod.

“Come over here and take your pick of the fresh-kill pile,” Berrynose invited.

The cream-colored warrior escorted Sol across the camp, and most of the other cats followed. Cherrypaw and Molepaw were already asking excited questions about Sol’s travels.

“Later,” Poppyfrost told them. “Let Sol eat and rest first.”

Lionblaze stayed where he was, near the camp entrance. I can’t believe this! Sol’s back in ThunderClan as an honored guest. He spotted Jayfeather, who had been listening at the edge of the crowd, and padded over to join him. “We were wrong,” he mewed.

Jayfeather nodded, his head turned toward the fresh-kill pile as if he could see his Clanmates gathering around Sol. “I was so sure…” he murmured.

“I don’t care how many apprentices Sol saved,” Lionblaze went on after a moment. “I don’t trust him, and I don’t think Firestar trusts him, either.”

“Neither do I.” Jayfeather gave a disdainful sniff. “There’s no way he was just passing by. He’s here for a reason, and that reason is bound to be trouble.”

Chapter 8

Dovewing followed Brambleclaw through the thorns with a squirrel clamped in her jaws. Hazeltail and Thornclaw followed, also carrying prey. It had been a good hunt.

At the end of the narrow tunnel, Dovewing almost bumped into Brambleclaw, who had halted abruptly just inside the camp. “Sorry,” he muttered, moving out of the way.

When Dovewing emerged, she saw that the Clan deputy was gazing across the clearing at a strange cat who was sitting beside the fresh-kill pile, eating a piece of prey and chatting to the ThunderClan warriors who surrounded him. He looked sleek and well-fed, his pelt mottled brown and black, patched with white.