“I’ll check,” Brook offered.
“Are you injured?”
“Just a torn ear.”
“Then take Spiderleg with you and search beyond the brambles,” Firestar ordered. “Make sure no cat went farther into our territory.”
Spiderleg and Brook hared away through the trees.
Ashfur flicked Lionpaw’s shoulder with his tail. “Thank StarClan you got help so quickly.”
“You held out well till we came,” Firestar praised him.
“Hollypaw fought like a warrior!” Birchfall commented.
“And Jaypaw never gave ground,” Brightheart added.
“We couldn’t let ShadowClan drive us from our own territory!” Graystripe growled.
Brambleclaw gazed across the clearing where the ShadowClan cats had fled. “We’re going to have to do something about ShadowClan before the next Gathering,” he vowed.
“Let’s start by remarking the correct boundary,” Firestar ordered. “Brambleclaw, you stay here with Ashfur and Birchfall and mark every tree twice along the border.”
Brambleclaw nodded.
“I’ll take the rest back to camp.”
“Can’t I stay with Ashfur?” Lionpaw begged.
Ashfur shook his head. “Go back to camp and get some ointment on those scratches. I want you back in training as soon as possible.”
Reluctantly, Lionpaw turned and followed his Clanmates.
Sandstorm was limping, and Stormfur kept stopping to lick at the blood welling from the wound on his shoulder. Millie’s pelt was missing clumps of fur along her flank, but she was buzzing with the excitement that came from winning a battle, her ears pricked and her tail twitching.
Lionpaw caught up with Jaypaw and Hollypaw. “Did you see me jump on Oakfur?” he mewed proudly.
“I wish I had!” Hollypaw sounded even more excited than he felt. “I was too busy seeing to that tabby warrior.” Her eyes were glowing. “I used a move Cinderpaw taught me the other day. It was brilliant doing it for real!”
“And you showed Owlpaw that he’s no match for a ThunderClan apprentice,” Lionpaw mewed to Jaypaw. The mottled apprentice was padding along quietly, tail down.
“Yeah, right,” he muttered.
“Hollypaw!” Leafpool had come out to meet the returning warriors. “Are there any serious injuries?”
Hollypaw blinked. “S-Stormfur has a scratch . . .” she stammered.
“Haven’t you checked?” Leafpool asked anxiously.
“Everyone can still walk,” Hollypaw offered.
“What about the tansy?” Leafpool pursued. “Did you find any?”
“Oh, yes,” Hollypaw mewed.
Leafpool looked at her questioningly. “Where is it?”
Hollypaw looked crestfallen. “We were going to pick some on our way back from hunting, and then Birchfall arrived to warn us that ShadowClan had moved the border, and Brambleclaw ordered us to—”
“It’s okay,” Leafpool meowed. “I’m proud that you fought with your Clanmates. But keep a lookout for any healing herbs on the way back to camp. There’ll be plenty of bites and scratches to treat when we get home. I’m going to check on the others.”
Hollypaw gazed at the undergrowth. “Do you think that juniper would do?” she murmured as they passed a large bush dotted with dark berries.
“The horsetail growing next to it would be better,” Jaypaw advised.
Hollypaw closed her eyes. “Horsetail—good for infec-tions,” she recited. Then she hurried over to the clump of spindly plants and tore one out by its roots.
Lionpaw could feel his scratches beginning to sting. His muscles ached from the battle, and when they reached the camp he padded to the halfrock and collapsed beside it.
Jaypaw climbed onto the smooth, low rock and hung his head over the side, while Hollypaw dropped the horsetail she’d been dragging and flopped down beside them.
“I still can’t believe we fought real warriors,” she breathed.
Jaypaw just stared blankly at the ground.
“Why are you looking so miserable?” Lionpaw asked him.
“You fought brilliantly.”
“Only with
“Every warrior needs help—that’s what being in a Clan is all about!” Hollypaw reminded him.
“We had to work together to drive off one of ShadowClan’s warriors,” Lionpaw added.
“I couldn’t even manage an apprentice by myself,” Jaypaw mewed, flicking the tip of his tail. “They called me a worthless kit. Perhaps they’re right. Perhaps I’m just kidding myself, thinking I could ever be a real warrior.”
“Hollypaw!” Leafpool called from the clearing where the rest of the patrol were licking their wounds. “I can’t see to all the injured warriors by myself.”
Hollypaw leaped to her paws. “Coming, Leafpool,” she mewed. “Sorry!” She stripped a leaf from the horsetail and scampered over to where Millie and Graystripe lay.
Lionpaw longed to cheer Jaypaw up, but this was one battle his brother would have to fight by himself. However much he prayed to StarClan, there was nothing Lionpaw could do to help Jaypaw see.
At least Hollypaw had enjoyed the fight with ShadowClan. Lionpaw watched her, letting his weary paws rest, as she chewed up the horsetail leaf and began licking the juice into Millie’s scratches. Every time Millie flinched, Hollypaw leaped away, screwing up her face. A small worry began to flutter like a trapped bird in Lionpaw’s belly. Hollypaw
seemed so ill at ease now, her awkward movements nothing like the fluid grace with which she fought. She’d raced into battle, her eyes glowing at the challenge, but here she was fumbling among her injured Clanmates, her gaze shadowed by uncertainty. A strange thought pricked Lionpaw like a thorn in his bedding:
Chapter 16
Jaypaw dangled his tired paws over the edge of the halfrock, feeling the cold stone soothe his aching body. The battle had left him battered and scratched, but he could tend to his own wounds.
Leafpool left a trail of marigold scent in her wake as she went to apply a salve to the scratches on Stormfur’s shoulder.
Hollypaw was busy treating Millie, though Jaypaw was confused when he detected revulsion rather than concern pulsing through his sister’s paws as she applied the pungent horsetail balm. Something was upsetting her, but he was too busy with his own thoughts to probe Hollypaw’s much further.
He kept wondering if he could have beaten Owlpaw without Lionpaw’s help. Stubbornly he told himself that he could.
He’d been able to pinpoint the ShadowClan’s apprentice by scent and sound. But a nagging doubt gnawed at his belly.
The battle had been so fast, he just hadn’t been able to keep up. The sound of Owlpaw’s breath in one ear had not warned him of the fierce jab that had raked the other. The thud of the ShadowClan apprentice’s paws on the leaves had been drowned by the cries of the other warriors, and Jaypaw had twisted and spun, only to find
