Moonrise

Chapter 20

Willowpelt growled at Hawkfrost. Twisting under his paw, she raked her claws over his leg, but days of hunger had weakened her. The warrior hardly flinched as he cuffed her over the ear with his other paw.

"What did you think you were doing?" he snarled. "You're coming with me to Leopardstar, then you can explain to her why ThunderClan is stealing prey."

"Let her go!" Leafpaw meowed. "She was hardly in your territory before you hit her."

Hawkfrost gave her an unfriendly stare. "Oh, it's you again."

"Yes, me again." Leafpaw drew herself up and met Hawkfrost's icy-blue eyes, summoning all her courage. "You were glad enough when I came to help with Mistyfoot's kitting." Persuasively, she added, "You owe ThunderClan a favor. Let Willowpelt go."

Hawkfrost's lip curled in a sneer. "Clans do not owe each other favors. You did nothing for Mistyfoot, anyway. The warrior code says we should respect boundaries, which she"—he gave Willowpelt a contemptuous flick with his tail—"clearly does not."

Leafpaw felt her fur bristle and her muscles tense, as if her body were telling her to fight with Hawkfrost. Together she and Willowpelt had a chance of beating him. . . But she forced herself to stay calm and not move from where she stood on the border. She could just imagine what Skystar would say if she found out she had attacked a cat from another Clan on his own territory.

It was hard to beg such an obnoxious cat, but she had to make one more effort. "Please—it's not as if she was doing any harm."

Hawkfrost's blue eyes were chips of ice. "She was stealing prey."

"She was not!" Leafpaw's eyes flew wide. "That was a ThunderClan squirrel."

Willowpelt, who had been lying limp under Hawkfrost's paw, suddenly heaved herself upward. Hawkfrost let out a screech as her teeth met in his leg. For a moment they writhed together on the ground, but for all her bravery Willowpelt was no match for Hawkfrost's size and strength. Soon she lay panting under his paws again.

"I will go nowhere with a stuck-up warrior like you," she hissed. "Does RiverClan not teach their cats to respect older warriors?"

Hawkfrost looked bored. "Not warriors from other Clans."

Desperately Leafpaw looked around; why wasn't Skystar or Cinderpelt here? They might be able to persuade Hawkfrost. There were no cats at all on her own side of the border, but she caught sight of a flash of gold in the reeds on the other side of the river, and a heartbeat later saw Mothwing running across the Twoleg bridge. The RiverClan apprentice bounded up the slope and halted beside her brother.

"What's going on?"

"You can see for yourself." Hawkfrost tapped Willowpelt with his tail. "I've caught a trespasser. I'm going to take her to Leopardstar."

"She didn't mean it," Leafpaw pleaded, feeling more hopeful now that Mothwing had turned up. "She was chasing a squirrel—one of ours—and she didn't even cross the border until Hawkfrost hit her."

Mothwing looked from her brother to Leafpaw and back again. "Let her go," she meowed. "It's not important. She didn't catch anything. If you take her to Leopardstar you could start a war between our Clans."

Hawkfrost fixed his cold blue stare on his sister. "And why is that such a bad thing? Every cat knows that ThunderClan is in trouble. This could be our chance to move in and take their territory."

Leafpaw gasped. Was that what Hawkfrost really wanted?

Mothwing returned her brother's stare. "Don't be fish-brained," she mewed frostily. "Remember what Leopardstar owes Skystar. She sheltered RiverClan when Tigerstar took over and strengthened them. Leopardstar would never go to war against her when she hardly has any respect from her own Clan."