Dark River

why you’ve been hunting so close to our border? Are you being forced into ThunderClan territory or do you simply want to take our land because you are foolish enough to believe you can?”

Jaypaw was shocked by her fierceness. He felt Onestar freeze; Leafpool had surprised the WindClan leader too.

Angry whispers darted between the watching cats. The air seemed to crackle like greenleaf lightning as the rising wind drove the rain harder into the camp. Jaypaw tensed, waiting for Onestar’s answer.

“RiverClan has not invaded our lands,” Onestar began slowly. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t. Does Firestar

expect us to wait until they do? Does he think we should sit around like fat voles waiting to be pounced on?”

“But you are not voles,” Leafpool snapped. “Why not defend your RiverClan border instead of threatening ours?”

“We will defend what borders we have to,” Onestar retorted. “And take what territory we need.”

“You don’t even know that RiverClan is going to invade,”

Leafpool pressed. “Why threaten us?”

Tornear growled. “You sound like a blackbird singing the same song over and over again!”

“Barkface could speak to Mothwing at the next Moonpool gathering,” Leafpool suggested, her mew suddenly coaxing.

“He can find out exactly what RiverClan intends. It may turn out you have nothing to be afraid of.”

“We aren’t afraid!” Crowfeather hissed.

“Then why won’t you listen to reason?” Leafpool pressed.

“You are honorable warriors. Why let yourselves be driven by suspicion instead of truth?”

“Listen to her!” Weaselfur sneered. “Trying to steal time for her Clan with clever words.”

“WindClan fights with claws not words,” Tornear warned.

Jaypaw bristled. “It’s like trying to show worms to moles!”

he hissed. “They’re too blind to see beyond their own noses.”

“We’re too blind?” Weaselfur mocked.

“Wait!” Onestar ordered. “Perhaps she’s right. Perhaps we should give RiverClan a chance to explain what’s going on before we do anything.”

“A chance to invade, more like,” Tornear growled.

“You saw how desperate RiverClan looked at the Gathering,” Crowfeather argued. “And every patrol we see looks hungrier than the last. We can’t trust them!”

“But they haven’t invaded yet,” Onestar pointed out.

“They crossed the border,” Tornear reminded him.

“Only once.”

Jaypaw sensed the WindClan leader’s mind slow. He was thinking.

“We can’t let them drive us into unnecessary bloodshed,”

Onestar murmured.

Suddenly, a panicked yowl split the air beyond the camp wall. The dripping brambles shook and a WindClan queen skidded into the clearing. “My kits are gone!” she screeched.

“Sedgekit?”

“Thistlekit?”

Alarmed mews filled the camp.

“Sedgekit, Thistlekit, and Swallowkit!” panted the queen.

“All of them! Disappeared!”

“When did you last see them?” Onestar demanded.

The queen was fighting for breath. “I left them in the nursery and went to stretch my legs. They weren’t there when I came back, so I went looking for them. They’ve wandered out before, but not far. But this time there’s no sign of them. Their trail heads toward the RiverClan border and then just disappears. A hawk’s carried them off, I know it!”

“Calm down, Gorsetail.” Onestar was bristling but his mew was steady. “You can’t be sure. No hawk’s ever taken more than a single kit before. We must send out a search party.”

Suddenly, paws pounded through the entrance tunnel.

“Onestar!” Ashfoot pelted into the clearing. Jaypaw scented Breezepaw and Heatherpaw behind the WindClan deputy. “We’ve just seen a RiverClan patrol heading back into their territory.”

“They’ve been on our land!” Breezepaw spat.

“And there was rabbit blood where they’d been,” Heatherpaw added.

Terror flared from Gorsetail. “Are you sure it was rabbit blood?”

“What?” Confusion clouded Heatherpaw’s mind.

“My kits have disappeared!” Gorsetail wailed.

“You think the RiverClan patrol might have taken them?”

Heatherpaw sounded horrified. Her thoughts began whirling like leaves caught in a wind. Jaypaw tried to read them but they were moving too fast. He only knew that at their center something dark hovered, a sense of blackness that made his blood turn to ice. She knew more than she was letting on.

“You must leave.” Onestar had turned back toward Leafpool.

“You’re not going to attack RiverClan, are you?” Leafpool gasped.

“We’ll do what we must to get our kits back!” Onestar hissed.

“But you don’t know they’ve taken them,” Jaypaw objected. “A moment ago you thought it was a hawk.”

“That was before RiverClan crossed the border.”

“But they may have had good reason!”

Ashfoot growled. “To steal our kits!”

“But why—”

Onestar cut Leafpool off with a snarl. “Go home!” Jaypaw flinched as the WindClan leader leaned in close. “You can tell Firestar that it’s too late. You’ve wasted your time trying to protect RiverClan. We’ll attack at once!”

,

Chapter 18

Lionpaw shivered. The rain had reached right to his skin. He dropped his vole on the fresh-kill pile and shook the water from his pelt.

“Good hunting,” Ashfur congratulated him. “You’ve improved a lot these past days. It seems like your mind is on your training again.”

Lionpaw blinked at his mentor. I had

t

been a good hunting

patrol. He, Ashfur, Stormfur, and Brook had caught nearly enough to feed the whole Clan and it was great to feel ener-getic again, a little faster, a little sharper than his Clanmates, as though StarClan guided his paws. But his heart still ached when he thought of Heatherpaw. He missed being a DarkClan warrior.

Stormfur tossed a wet blackbird onto the pile.

“Something’s wrong.” The gray warrior glanced anxiously around the clearing. Beside him, Brook narrowed her eyes.

Cinderpaw was tugging twigs toward the thorn barrier where Cloudtail was stuffing them into gaps. Poppypaw and Mousepaw were hurriedly patching the nursery with fresh brambles. Their rain-soaked pelts were spiked, their tails