The Forgotten Warrior

“It’s what kept me away for so long,” Hollyleaf admitted. “I can’t bear the whispers, the gossip…”

The compassion Lionblaze felt faded into a flash of annoyance. Jayfeather and I have had to put up with whispers and gossip for a very long time. But he realized that Hollyleaf felt genuinely uncomfortable, and pushed aside his resentment. Wrapping his tail around her shoulders, he stared straight ahead, ignoring the whispers.

The atmosphere seemed to be growing more and more hostile. Lionblaze was relieved when Mistystar rose to her paws on her branch of the Great Oak and announced that the Gathering would begin.

“We have had a few problems with Twolegs,” she reported. “As always in greenleaf, they come to fish in the lake and the streams around our camp. But we have managed to stay out of their way, and they didn’t catch enough fish to threaten our stocks of fresh-kill.”

“Huh!” Mistystar’s deputy, Reedwhisker, exclaimed. “Twolegs couldn’t catch a fish if it leaped out of the water and begged them.”

Mistystar gave her deputy an amused glance from glimmering blue eyes, and sat down again.

Firestar rose in his turn and advanced along his branch, carefully avoiding a cluster of oak leaves. “I have good news to report from ThunderClan,” he began, gazing down into the clearing. “Our warrior Hollyleaf has returned, after we believed she was dead for so many moons.”

Murmurs and gasps rose from the other Clans. “Where has she been?” some cat called out loudly. Beside him, Lionblaze felt Hollyleaf grow tense.

Firestar ignored the question. “We welcome her back,” he continued, turning his warm green gaze onto Hollyleaf. “We are glad to have her in ThunderClan once again, and I look forward to patrolling alongside her for many future moons.”

Lionblaze was relieved that Firestar had kept to his earlier intention of saying nothing about Sol or WindClan. But now he braced himself for cats from the other Clans to mention Ashfur and the time that Hollyleaf had disappeared, just after she revealed the terrible truth about Leafpool and Crowfeather at a Gathering.

But no cat asked the crucial questions, only murmured comments as they reacted to Firestar’s announcement.

“I’m surprised she showed her face after what she told us!”

“I bet Crowfeather isn’t pleased to see her.”

Nightcloud rose and lashed her tail, raking Hollyleaf with an icy gaze. “Does she think she’s welcome?” she snarled.

Firestar still refused to react to any of the comments; he dipped his head to Hollyleaf and retreated to sit down again farther back on his branch. Immediately Onestar took his place.

“This is surprising news, Firestar,” he mewed smoothly. “But I’m sure that any Clan leader would welcome back a trained and loyal warrior.”

Is he suggesting that Hollyleaf isn’t loyal? Lionblaze wondered, beginning to bristle.

“My patrols are as vigilant as ever,” Onestar continued. “We will do anything to defend our territory from rogues and strays.”

Lionblaze’s belly churned. Now he’s insulting all of us! He’s suggesting that ThunderClan is a bunch of rogues and strays! Glancing up at Firestar, half-hidden by the leaves of the Great Oak, Lionblaze could see that his Clan leader was struggling to keep his fur flat and his mouth closed.

With a triumphant glance at Firestar, Onestar sat down again. When Blackstar stood up, Lionblaze could see that he looked puzzled by the hostility between ThunderClan and WindClan, but after a moment’s hesitation he gave a tiny shrug and began to speak.

“Like RiverClan, we have had problems with Twolegs by the lake,” he began. “The warm weather brings them out like earthworms after rain. But they haven’t come into the forest far enough to bother us close to our camp.”

When he had finished he was about to sit down again, only to check as a voice rose up from among the cats in the clearing. “Blackstar, may I speak?”

Lionblaze glanced across to where the ShadowClan cats were sitting, and saw that Dawnpelt had risen to her paws, her cream-colored fur luminous in the moonlight. Blackstar blinked in surprise, then dipped his head. Instantly Dawnpelt leaped up onto a tree stump. Her neck fur was bristling and her tail fluffed up to twice its size.

“There is a murderer among us!” she yowled.

Silence crashed down on the clearing. Lionblaze tensed, and wrapped his tail more firmly around his sister’s shoulders. Oh, Great StarClan! How could she have found out about Hollyleaf?

But Dawnpelt raised a paw and pointed toward the pine tree where the medicine cats were sitting. “Jayfeather killed Flametail!”