enough about the Twolegs’ traps not to be scared by them? No, Jaykit decided, it wasn’t anxiety, but something else, some darker emotion Jaykit did not recognize.
Thornclaw’s answer broke into his thoughts. “The trap is lakeside of the camp, not far from the Sky Oak.”
“The cubs must be near,” Brambleclaw guessed. “Their mother will not have wandered far from them.”
“What should we do?” Ferncloud had emerged from the nursery. “We can’t let the forest be overrun by foxes! What about my kits?”
“We must find the den,” Brambleclaw replied without hesitation.
“If the cubs are very young, they’ll starve without their mother,” Firestar meowed. “It would be best to kill them quickly.”
There was nothing malicious in the ThunderClan leader’s voice; Firestar had to do what was best for the Clan.
“What if they’re old enough to survive alone?” Hollykit asked curiously.
“Then they must be driven out,” Firestar told her. “They can’t be allowed to settle in our territory.”
“The cubs will be hungry by now,” Ashfur pointed out.
“What if they’ve ventured out of their den already?”
“They might find the camp!” Ferncloud gasped.
“The camp will remain well guarded,” Firestar promised.
“I’ll take Sandstorm and check the old Thunderpath up to
the empty Twoleg nest. Brambleclaw, you sort out the other patrols.” The ThunderClan leader and his mate raced away through the prickly thorn barrier that shielded the camp from the forest.
“Stormfur, Brook!” Brambleclaw called. “Patrol outside the hollow! Ashfur, guard the entrance.”
Brightheart and Cloudtail paced in front of him. “What do you want us to do?”
“Head toward the ShadowClan border,” Brambleclaw told them. “The earth is sandy there, ideal for a den. Squirrelflight will lead you. Do whatever she tells you. There may be more traps, and Squirrelflight is the best at springing them. Take Cinderpaw, but keep her close to you.”
Cloudtail called his apprentice’s name, but the young gray tabby was already charging across the clearing.
Squirrelflight headed toward the entrance. Jaykit felt her warm pelt brush past him.
Brambleclaw called to Thornclaw and Spiderleg, “Go back to where you found the fox. See if you can trace its scent back to her den.”
Sorreltail’s kit Poppypaw and Mousepaw were waiting expectantly, hardly able to stand still.
“Can we go with them?” Poppypaw called.
“Yes, but do everything your mentors tell you,”
Brambleclaw warned.
Jaykit felt their excitement crackle in the air like lightning as they headed out of the camp after Spiderleg and Thornclaw. His paws itched with frustration. Nearly all the
apprentices were out hunting down the fox cubs. It wasn’t fair! He might be small, but he could still fight a cub.
“We’re not going to be left behind!” Lionkit announced, echoing Jaykit’s thoughts. “Brambleclaw!”
“What?” Brambleclaw’s voice was impatient.
“Can’t we do something to help?” Lionkit begged. “We’re nearly apprentices.”
“
“Okay,” Lionkit mewed eagerly.
He hurried back to his brother and sister. “We’ve got to guard the camp,” he told them. “In case the fox cubs try to get in.”
“You don’t think the fox cubs would really get this far, do you?” Jaykit mewed grumpily. “There must be a ThunderClan apprentice behind every tree out there. Brambleclaw’s just trying to keep us busy.”
Lionkit sat down with a bump, like a leaf that had been dropped by the breeze. “I thought he really wanted us to help.”
“You never know,” Hollykit mewed. “The fox cubs might head this way, and if they do I bet we could smell them first—
especially with Jaykit helping.”
A surge of anger pulsed in Jaykit’s paws. “You’re just as bad
as Brambleclaw,” he snapped. “Stop trying to pretend we’re important to the Clan when we’re not.”
Hollykit kneaded the ground with her forepaws. “We will be important one day,” she vowed.
Lionkit suddenly stood up and turned in an excited circle, his tail fluffing out. “We’ll be important today!” he declared.
“We’re going to chase those fox cubs off ThunderClan territory ourselves!”
Hollykit gasped. “But if we leave the camp without permission, we’ll be breaking the warrior code!”
“We’ll be doing it for the good of the Clan,” Lionkit argued. “How can that be against the warrior code?”
Jaykit thought of something else. “We’re not warriors yet—we’re not even apprentices! So why do we have to obey the warrior code?”
A purr rose in Hollykit’s throat. “If we did chase off those fox cubs, Icekit and Foxkit would be safe,” she mewed.
“Exactly.” Lionkit turned and padded to a shady part of the thorn barrier that cut the camp off from the forest. Jaykit knew where he was heading. There was a small tunnel there that led to the place where the cats made their dirt. No one would question them using that way out. He doubted if anyone would even notice them slipping away. The clearing was deserted as the warriors and their apprentices went about their guarding and patrolling duties. The elders, Mousefur and Longtail, were tucked away in their den, and Ferncloud was hiding with Daisy in the nursery. Leafpool was busy with the two whitecough patients in her den.
His heart pounding, Jaykit followed Lionkit through the narrow tunnel.
“No one saw us,” Hollykit whispered, close behind him.
He smelled the dirt place and veered away from it, following Lionkit up the sloping bank away from the camp. Ashfur’s pawsteps rustled the leaves outside the thorn barrier, where he was keeping guard.
“Can he see us?” Jaykit hissed.
“Not from where he is,” Hollykit reassured him. “The barrier’s blocking his view.”
“And the other patrols won’t see us if we stay off the main paths,” Lionkit meowed.
“But we don’t know where the main paths are,” Jaykit pointed out. The ground beneath his paws felt strange, littered with leaves and twigs, unlike the smooth, clear ground inside the hollow.
“We can guess where they are by where the scents are strongest,” Hollykit mewed. “There’s hardly any scent coming from up ahead. The slope is steep, and there aren’t any tracks through the bracken.”
“Let’s go that way, then,” Lionkit meowed.
“What do you think?” Hollykit asked Jaykit.
“Thornclaw said they’d found the fox lakeside of the camp, which is over there.” He flicked the tip of his tail away from the slope.
“How do you know which way the lake is?” Hollykit mewed, sounding puzzled.
“I can smell the wind from the water,” Jaykit explained. “It
tastes fresher than the wind from the hills or the forest.”
The three kits ran back down the slope and began to climb a thickly wooded rise. The ground here felt damper underpaw, and Jaykit guessed it had less sunshine than the other slope. He shivered.
“Not scared, are you?” Hollykit teased.
“Of course not,” he mewed. “It’s just cold out of the sun.”
They carried on up the slope until they reached the crest where the trees thinned out. Jaykit felt the warmth of dappled sunlight flickering through the branches.
His nose flared in alarm. “Stop!” he warned. He stretched to sniff a bracken frond, trying to distinguish the
