The Forgotten Warrior

Millie gave her a brisk nod. “Ivypool, head that way,” she directed, flicking her tail at a narrow path around a clump of elder bushes. “I’ll go this way.”

Ivypool obeyed, setting down her paws with all the stealth she had learned in the Dark Forest as she skirted the elder clump, then ducking low to avoid brambles that trailed across the path. Soon she picked up the cat’s scent and the sound of its paw steps. It was heading confidently toward the border, seeming not to care whether any cat spotted it or not. Ivypool recognized the scent at once.

Sol!

She crept forward until she could see him brushing through the undergrowth. He halted as Millie appeared from his other side.

“Is everything okay?” the gray tabby she-cat called.

For a heartbeat Sol seemed startled, then he recovered his poise. “Am I being followed?” he meowed. “Look, I’m not stealing any prey. You fed me too well last night for that.”

“Then where are you going?” Millie prompted.

Sol arched his back and relaxed. “I thought I’d visit ShadowClan,” he explained. “Catch up for old times’ sake.”

“You won’t be welcome there,” Millie warned him.

“I had friends there.” Sol’s eyes flashed at her. “And it was a long time ago. I come in peace!”

Ivypool bristled with distrust, but there was no way she or Millie could stop him from going. Looking after him as he strode away, she muttered, “Maybe you can eat their fresh-kill, then.”

Toadstep and Hazeltail arrived in time to hear what she said.

“That’s a bit unfair,” Toadstep protested.

“Yes,” Hazeltail agreed. “Don’t forget that Sol saved the apprentices from the fox. He must have changed.”

Millie gave a disdainful sniff. “Tabbies don’t change their stripes,” she growled.

Ivypool stared at Sol’s vanishing hindquarters and wondered just how much he knew about the Dark Forest. Has he been sent here to stir up trouble?

When the patrol returned to camp, Ivypool spotted Firestar and Brambleclaw beside the fresh-kill pile. Millie padded straight across the clearing to join them, the rest of the patrol following her.

“We met Sol while we were out,” she reported. “He said that he was going to pay a visit to ShadowClan.”

“What?” Brambleclaw sprang to his paws, his neck fur bristling and an angry look in his amber eyes. “The treacherous mange-pelt! What is he going to tell them about ThunderClan?”

Firestar calmly finished his mouthful of vole and twitched his ears at his deputy. “Take it easy, Brambleclaw. We’ve got no proof that he’s going to betray us. Anyway, what can he tell them that we would want to keep secret?”

“I still don’t like it,” Brambleclaw muttered. “Every time I set eyes on Sol my paws itch and I want to claw his pelt off.”

Firestar blinked in surprise. “I don’t want to encourage Sol to stay here in ThunderClan,” he meowed, “but if we persecute him without reason, he could go to the other Clans and cause trouble.”

“I’m not afraid of Sol or the other Clans,” Brambleclaw growled.

“Neither am I,” Firestar told him. “But if we have a chance to keep our enemies close, let’s not turn that down.”

Some of the other cats had drifted up to listen. Dovewing came up to Ivypool and gave her a prod with one paw. “What was all that about?” she asked.

Ivypool told her sister what Sol had said when they met him near the border.

“That cat is bad news,” Dovewing hissed. “Ivypool, do you know if he’s connected to the Dark Forest?”

Ivypool twitched her tail. “I’m not sure. I’ve never seen him there, but when I asked Hawkfrost about him, he said he was pleased that Sol was here in ThunderClan.”

Dovewing’s neck fur began to fluff up, and her eyes reflected Ivypool’s own uneasiness. “That proves it’s bad to have him here,” she mewed.

Ivypool nodded. “But we can’t do anything about it as long as Firestar lets him stay. We’ll just have to keep an eye on him. I’ll tell you one thing, though,” she added. “Even if we find out he’s chased every fox in the woods out of our territory, I wouldn’t trust Sol a single mouse-length.”

Chapter 11

The sun was beginning to descend as Lionblaze led Graystripe, Spiderleg, and Blossomfall into the forest.

“I want to check the WindClan border,” Lionblaze meowed. “And we’ll keep a lookout for any more signs of fox, too.”

Golden sunlight was pouring through the branches, and the trees rustled gently in a fresh breeze. The fresh scents of grass and leaves surrounded the patrol. But all Lionblaze could see were the shadows under the trees, and his mind was filled with imagining the day when they might spread and engulf everything.