Veil Of Shadows

“I know she will,” Finleap responded, “but that doesn’t make it all right. Why should we expel our Clanmates like this? Why should I have to lose the cat I love because Bramblestar says so?”

His voice rose on the last few words; Bristlefrost felt all her muscles tense, and she glanced around to see if any cat might have overheard him. She touched her nose to his shoulder in a warning gesture, but Finleap hardly seemed aware of her.

“Why would StarClan want this?” he asked, growing even more impassioned. “I did the same thing—I left the Clan I was born in—and I wasn’t named as a codebreaker!”

“For StarClan’s sake, be quiet!” Bristlefrost hissed. She didn’t want to sound so fierce, but for Finleap’s own sake he had to stop protesting so loudly. “Remember, it’s Bramblestar’s order, and the code tells us we have to do what he says.”

Finleap gave her a long, melancholy stare. “I’m disappointed in you,” he mewed. “We might not know each other well, but I always thought you had a mind of your own.”

Before Bristlefrost could respond to the accusation, an irritated yowl came from the Highledge above. “What cat is screeching down there when I’m trying to rest?”

Horrified, Bristlefrost leaped to her paws. She had forgotten how close she and Finleap were to the Clan leader’s den; now she looked up to see Bramblestar peering blearily down from the Highledge. Beside her, Finleap was standing stiff-legged, his ears laid back and his shoulder fur bristling. Bristlefrost was terrified that he would challenge their leader.

“I’m sorry, Bramblestar!” she called quickly. “It’s okay. Finleap and I were just having a stupid argument.” She paused for a moment, then added, “May I please speak to you in private?”

Bramblestar hesitated, then replied with a grunt and jerked his head to invite her to come up. Finleap relaxed his hostile stance and gave Bristlefrost another disappointed look before turning his back on her and heading toward the warriors’ den.

Bristlefrost climbed up the tumbled rocks and onto the Highledge. I’d better think of something to talk about—and fast, she told herself, her thoughts whirling uselessly like a startled nest of bees.

Bramblestar had returned to his den; when Bristlefrost reached the entrance, she saw that he was sprawled out on the heap of moss and bracken against the back wall.

“Come in,” he growled. “What do you want?”

Bristlefrost had only asked for the meeting to separate Bramblestar and Finleap.

“I just wanted to ask if you’re okay,” she meowed. “It’s great that StarClan will be back with us soon.”

Bramblestar flexed his claws. “I’m doing fine,” he rumbled. “But what can you tell me about the rest of the Clan?”

“Oh, they’re doing fine, too,” Bristlefrost assured him, desperately eager. In reality she was finding it hard to carry on the conversation—she was too distracted by the terrible state of the den. “You know, they’re all a little wet, but in good spirits.”

Bramblestar’s bedding was lumpy and smelled stale. It looked as if it hadn’t been changed for a moon, and there were prey bones and scraps of fur scattered everywhere. They were giving off a reek, too.

It was never like this before Squirrelflight left, Bristlefrost thought. Has Bramblestar been forbidding the apprentices to clean it up? Why would he do that?

Even while Bristlefrost was talking to him, the false Bramblestar seemed listless and lethargic, stretching his jaws in a massive yawn instead of paying attention to her.

Bristlefrost couldn’t think of any reason for this unknown spirit cat to have taken over Bramblestar’s body, except to become leader of ThunderClan. But now that he had achieved what he wanted, he didn’t seem to be hopeful or pleased about it. Instead he seemed depressed, like he had lost interest in what it meant actually to be a leader.

Most of the ThunderClan warriors hadn’t noticed Bramblestar’s apathy, because Berrynose had made sure that the routine duties of the Clan were taken care of.

He may be a real pain in the tail, but he’s not a bad deputy.

Several times Bristlefrost had overheard Berrynose giving orders to other warriors, claiming that they came from Bramblestar, when she knew that Bramblestar hadn’t given any orders at all. Stemleaf, Spotfur, and Alderheart had noticed the change, too, but what could so few cats do about it?