they were just playing, not swapping Clan secrets. Lionpaw closed his eyes, anger like a hard knot in his belly, and buried himself in sleep. He began to dream.
Hollypaw blinked at him. Her eyes shone from the darkness of a burrow. They were full of warmth and excitement as they had been when they played as kits. Lionpaw crept closer to the entrance. What was she doing in there?
“Hollypaw?”
“I’m going to get you,” she mewed teasingly.
So that was it.
A game.
Lionpaw crouched and crept closer. Hollypaw twitched her whiskers mischievously, her amber eyes glittering in the darkness.
Lionpaw’s blood turned to ice.
Lionpaw stepped backward. The eyes had lost their play-ful glint. They fixed him with a vicious stare. This wasn’t Hollypaw. A growl sounded from the burrow. Fox! Lionpaw tried to run but his paws seemed to have turned to stone.
Snarling, the creature shot out at him, teeth bared and red with blood.
Lionpaw woke and leaped to his feet. Pale light filtered through the branches of the den, speckling the sleeping cats.
Hollypaw’s head shot up. “Are you okay?”
“Just a nightmare,” Lionpaw panted.
Hollypaw leaned toward him. “What about?”
“A fox,” Lionpaw breathed.
“There are no foxes in here.” Cinderpaw padded from her nest and blinked encouragingly at him.
Lionpaw bristled. Wasn’t anywhere safe from this prying pair? He barged past them. “I’m going to get some food,” he mewed, stalking out of the den.
Brambleclaw was watching the camp from Highledge.
Firestar must be on patrol, Lionpaw guessed. Jaypaw was washing himself beside the halfrock that jutted from the
earth on the farside of the clearing. He paused as Lionpaw crossed the camp.
“Are you okay?” Jaypaw tipped his head to one side.
“I had a nightmare, that’s all,” Lionpaw grumbled. He padded to the fresh-kill pile, picked up a small, stiff mouse and carried it back to Jaypaw.
They shared it in silence. At least Jaypaw didn’t seem to want to poke his nose into everything Lionpaw had done in the last moon.
“Lionpaw!” Ashfur padded out of the warriors’ den. “We’re training with Brackenfur and Hollypaw in the hollow this morning.”
The thorn barrier trembled as an early hunting patrol raced into camp. Firestar and Sandstorm were both holding prey in their jaws. Spiderleg and Mousepaw each carried a mouse, and Whitewing gripped a plump thrush between her teeth.
“Is everything all right?” Brambleclaw called down.
Firestar dropped his prey on the fresh-kill pile. “All quiet and as you can see, the prey is running.”
Berrypaw was already at the fresh-kill pile, sniffing the thrush Whitewing had dropped. He picked it up and carried it to the nursery.
“Hi, Jaypaw.” Hollypaw was bounding across the clearing with Cinderpaw. “Any food left?”
“You can eat later, Hollypaw!” Brackenfur was pacing up and down in front of the camp entrance. “Training first.”
Lionpaw gulped down the last of his mouse, feeling a twinge of satisfaction. Hollypaw had probably been gossiping about him.
“I’m starving!” Hollypaw complained, catching up.
“We’ll hunt after battle training,” Brackenfur promised.
The golden warrior darted through the tunnel. Lionpaw fell in beside Ashfur, leaving Hollypaw to hurry after them.
They padded to the training hollow in silence. Sun was slant-ing through the bright green leaves, and the air trembled with birdsong. Lionpaw saw Hollypaw lick her lips.
Ashfur sat down in the center of the hollow, his tail whisking over the mossy ground. “Today, we’re going to be thinking about how other Clans fight—their strengths and weaknesses, and the best way to exploit them.”
“So, what strengths do the other Clans have?” Brackenfur prompted.
“RiverClan can swim,” Hollypaw mewed, “which means they can approach from water.”
“WindClan is well camouflaged and small, so they are hardest to detect,” Lionpaw offered.
“Unless they’re upwind,” Hollypaw pointed out, “in which case their rabbity scent gives them away.”
Lionpaw bristled with indignation. Heatherpaw didn’t smell rabbity.
“What about ShadowClan?” Ashfur asked.
“Well, they are just evil,” Hollypaw growled, “so you never
know how low they’ll stoop in any attack. That makes them unpredictable.”
“And weaknesses?” Brackenfur pressed.
“ShadowClan is weak because they think they are braver than they actually are,” Hollypaw mewed. “And RiverClan is so well fed that they’re slower than us.”
Lionpaw shifted on his paws, searching for something to say. Hollypaw was answering everything first.
Ashfur glanced at him. “What about WindClan?”
Lionpaw’s mouth turned dry. Ashfur’s gaze seemed to be boring into him. Had Hollypaw told her mentor about his meetings with Heatherpaw? Lionpaw started to panic as he realized that all three cats were staring at him, waiting for his answer. His paws began to itch
Hollypaw rolled her eyes. “Lionpaw thinks WindClan has no weaknesses.” Her accusation made his ears burn with embarrassment. Why was she being so obvious? Was she reminding him she had the power to get him into big trouble?
Anger rose in his throat. “That’s not true!” he hissed.
“What’s not true?” Brambleclaw came padding down the slope toward them, Berrypaw at his side.
Lionpaw lifted his chin. “Hollypaw’s accusing me of favor-ing WindClan!”
“Why would she do that?”
“I was just teasing,” Hollypaw mewed. “Lionpaw’s being touchy. He had a nightmare.”
Lionpaw lashed his tail. Was Hollypaw determined to make him look like an idiot? He’d show her! “WindClan is
fast, but not as strong as us because they don’t have any trees to climb on the moorland,” he growled, glaring at her.
“Good.” Brackenfur nodded. “You seem to know the basics. Let’s practice some moves. First, let’s try one that will work on a RiverClan cat.”
Brackenfur darted under Ashfur’s belly and nipped him on his hind leg. Ashfur rounded on him ready for the counter-attack, but Brackenfur had already shot out of reach. Ashfur leaped toward him but Brackenfur rolled out of the way, sprang to his paws and launched himself onto Ashfur’s back, unbalancing the gray warrior and sending him rolling onto his side. The two warriors jumped to their paws, shook the earth from their pelts, and turned to face their apprentices.
“Now you two try it,” Ashfur meowed.
“Lionpaw.” Brackenfur touched Lionpaw’s flank with his tail. “You be the RiverClan cat because you’re bigger and more powerful. Hollypaw, you try and unbalance him like I did with Ashfur.”
Hollypaw nodded. “Don’t make it easy for me!” Her eyes were shining with determination.
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” Lionpaw hissed through gritted teeth. Didn’t she know how much she was annoying
