Moonrise

Chapter 4

At Skystar's yowl of command, Brackenfur and the brown ShadowClan warrior broke apart. Graystripe looked up from the tabby, but still kept a paw firmly on his neck.

"Let him go," Skystar ordered. "We're not here to fight."

"It's hard to do anything else when they jump us like that," Graystripe hissed. He stepped back, and the skinny tabby scrambled to his paws and shook his ruffled fur.

Leafpaw bounded across the marshy ground to stand beside Cinderpelt, half afraid that Russetfur might still attack the medicine cat. ShadowClan's deputy was not likely to take orders from the leader of a rival Clan.

Russetfur flicked her tail toward the brown speckled warrior. "Seedshine, get back to camp. Warn Blackstar that we have been invaded, and fetch more warriors."

The brown warrior streaked off into the bushes.

"There's no need for that," Skystar pointed out, keeping her voice mild. "We're not invading your territory, and we're not trying to steal prey."

"Then what do you want?" Russetfur demanded bad-temperedly. "What are we supposed to think when you trespass on our territory?"

"I'm sorry about that." Skystar leaped down from the tree trunk and padded across to her. "I. . I know we shouldn't be here. It's just that I have to speak to Blackstar. Something has happened, something that's too urgent to wait for the next Gathering."

Russetfur sniffed disbelievingly, but sheathed her claws. Leafpaw felt her racing heart begin to slow down. The ShadowClan deputy was too badly outnumbered to launch another attack, especially when she had sent away the brown she-cat, Seedshine.

"What's so urgent then?" she growled.

Skystar gestured with her tail through the sparse trees, toward the swath of destruction that the Twoleg monster had left on this side of the Thunderpath. "Isn't that enough?" she asked desperately.

Russetfur silenced her with a furious hiss. "If you think ShadowClan is weakened. . ."

"I didn't say that," Skystar protested. "But you must have seen that we've had the same trouble in our territory. Now, are you going to drive us off, or are you going to let us talk to Blackstar?"

Russetfur narrowed her eyes, then gave a curt nod. "Very well. Follow me."

She led the way through the bushes. The ThunderClan cats bunched together behind her, and the tabby ShadowClan warrior brought up the rear. Leafpaw's heart began to pound again as the scents of the strange territory flowed around her. Even the day had grown darker, clouds covering the sun so that their path was shadowed. She tried to stop herself from jumping at every sound, or staring around as if there might be a ShadowClan warrior lurking behind every tree.

Soon Leafpaw became aware of a stronger ShadowClan scent coming from up ahead. Russetfur led the way around a thick clump of hazel; following her, Leafpaw stopped dead in front of a long line of cats—lean warriors with their muscles tensed and the light of battle in their eyes. Behind them rose a tangled wall of brambles.

"That's the ShadowClan camp," Cinderpelt muttered close to Leafpaw's ear. "It doesn't look as if Blackstar is going to invite us in."

The ShadowClan leader stood in the middle of his warriors. He was a huge white cat with black paws; his pelt showed the scars of many battles. As the ThunderClan cats appeared he stepped forward and faced Skystar with narrowed eyes.

"What is this?" His voice was rough. "I understand you're worried about your kits, Skystar, but that gives you no right to traipse wherever you like."

Skystar's ears flicked back at the mention of her missing kits, but she straightened up and tilted her chin to meet Blackstar's gaze. "I have come to talk to you about what the Twolegs are doing," she began. "We have to decide what we're going to do if it carries on."