Warriors but Wolves: Into the Wild

Chapter 24

     Yellowfang turned and pushed her way into the bracken. Whitestorm and the others followed her. Firepaw was tingling with excitement. He didn't feel the damp chill in the air, and his weariness was long forgotten.

Yellowfang guided them to a small hollow surrounded by thick undergrowth and pointed out the

entrance to the ShadowPack camp. The tangled mass of brambles looked very different from the neat gorse tunnel that led into the ThunderPack camp. The camp boundary was full of holes and gaps and the stench of rotting meat wafted toward them.

"You eat crow food?" whispered Ravenpaw, curling his lip.

"The warriors are used for attacking, not hunting," replied Ashfur. "They eat whatever they can find."

"ThunderPack, hide in that clump of bracken over there," whispered Yellowfang. "It's full of toadstools that will disguise your scent. Wait here till you hear me call." She stepped back to let the other ShadowPack wolves lead the way, tucking herself into the center of their group as though she were their prisoner. They headed silently into the camp.

The ThunderPack wolves settled themselves among the toadstools, tense and alert. Firepaw could feel his coat prickling. He looked at Ravenpaw beside him. The fur on the back of his friend's neck was standing on end, and Firepaw could hear him panting with suppressed excitement.

Suddenly howling erupted from the ShadowPack camp. Without hesitating, the ThunderPack wolves sprang from their hiding places and raced through the entrance.

Yellowfang, Ashfur, Dawncloud, and Nightpelt were in a well-trodden, muddy clearing, wrestling with six vicious-looking warriors. Firepaw recognized Brokenstar and his beta, Clawface, among them. The warriors looked hungry and battle-scarred, but Firepaw could see the hard muscles pounding beneath their patchy fur.

Around the edge of the clearing, groups of scrawny wolves stared uncertainly at the mayhem. Their skinny bodies seemed to recoil at the violence, while their dull eyes looked on, shocked and confused. Out of the corner of his eye, Firepaw saw Runningnose back away and hide beneath a bush.

At Whitestorm's nodded signal, the ThunderPack wolves leaped into the battle. Firepaw grasped a light brown he-wolf with his jaws, but was shaken loose. He tumbled over and the ShadowPack warrior turned on him and gripped him with claws as sharp as blackthorns. Firepaw managed to twist and sink his teeth deep into the wolf's flesh. The warrior's howl told him he had found a tender spot, and he bit harder. The warrior screeched again, ripping himself free, and ran off into the bushes.

Firepaw stood up. A young ShadowPack apprentice leaped at him from the edge of the camp, its soft puppy fur fluffed up with fear. Firepaw batted him away easily. "This is not your battle," he snarled, and the pup ran away.

Whitestorm already had Clawface pinned to the ground. He gave him a vicious bite and the injured beta raced away toward the camp entrance and out into the safety of the forest.

"Firepaw!" Firepaw heard Dawncloud screech his name. "Watch out! Blackfoot is—" He didn't hear the rest. A heavily built white wolf crashed into him. Blackfoot! Firepaw dug his claws into the ground and whirled around to fight. The warrior that killed Bluefur! Rage surged through him and he flung himself onto the white wolf.

Firepaw pushed the warrior to the ground and pressed his head into the dirt. Blinded by fury, he

prepared to sink his teeth into Blackfoot's neck. But before he could deal his death blow, Whitestorm knocked him aside and grasped the ShadowPack warrior.

"ThunderPack warriors do not kill unless they have to," he growled in Firepaw's ear. "We just need to let them know not to show their faces here again!" He gave Blackfoot a fierce bite that sent him screaming out of the camp.