The Lost Prophecy: Book 1: Ravenpaw's Secret

Chapter 11

The cats burst into the camp. Frostfur immediately raced across the camp to the nursery. Bluestar bounded to the top to the Highrock, while Tigerclaw and Darkstripe crossed the camp with purpose, heading directly toward the fallen oak.

"What do you think will happen to Yellowfang?" Graypaw meowed in Ravenpaw's ear.

"I don't know." Ravenpaw was still not comfortable with the acerbic old she-cat, but was she really capable of hurting kits? The image of Yellowfang's vicious gaze flashed in his mind's eye. Yes.

He and his friend looked up at the Highrock, waiting for Bluestar to start the Clan meeting. Ravenpaw kneaded his paws on the ground. The cats all around him were pacing and he hoped they would soon settle down to calmly discuss the events of the Gathering.

He spun around as a sharp shriek pierced the camp. Tigerclaw and Darkstripe had confronted Yellowfang. Snarling furiously, Tigerclaw dragged the elderly she cat to the Highrock by her scruff, with Darkstripe close behind.

"What is going on?" Bluestar growled, leaping down from the Highrock. "I gave no order to attack our prisoner."

At the sound of the commotion, Dustpaw and Sandpaw emerged from the apprentices' den. Ravenpaw saw his brother look around, and then bristle when he saw Yellowfang on the ground next to Darkstripe and Tigerclaw. Confusion clouded Dustpaw's face as he bounded across the camp to Yellowfang's side.

"What are you doing?!" Dustpaw asked the surrounding cats. But Frostfur had returned from the nursery before any cat could respond.

"We got back in time. The kits are safe," Frostfur announced to the Clan.

Bluestar lashed her tail irritably. "Of course they are!"

"But. . ." Frostfur stared, appearing bewildered, "you are going to throw Yellowfang out, aren't you?"

"Throw her out? We should kill her now!" Darkstripe snarled. Dustpaw looked back and forth between his mentor and Yellowfang, his eyes wide.

"What? Kill Yellowfang?!" Dustpaw gasped, his eyes wide with shock. "What in the name of StarClan happened at this Gathering?" Bluestar looked as though she was about to speak when a crescendo of yowls rose from the ThunderClan cats.

"Brokenstar said one of their cats left ShadowClan to live as a rogue!" Darkstripe explained to his apprentice.

"He said she was a danger to kits!" Longtail put in.

"So it must be Yellowfang!" Speckletail finished. In the rising frenzy, the cats didn't seem to notice Bluestar's objections. The cats circled around Yellowfang, hissing menacingly.

"Stop!" Bluestar's furious yowl radiated through the camp. Bluestar leaped through the crowd to stand between them and Yellowfang, and the cats that had been advancing on the elderly she-cat stopped dead in their tracks. "Did you not hear me before?! You are not to attack this cat!"

The cats stood frozen; Bluestar blocking the way to Yellowfang, with Darkstripe, Speckletail, Longtail and Tigerclaw in position where they had been about to attack. Yellowfang crouched behind Bluestar, her orange eyes flitting back and forth between ThunderClan's leader and the surrounding cats, while Dustpaw looked on in surprise at the sudden turn of events. A long silence spread through the camp.

Finally, Speckletail dared to speak: "But, Bluestar, she must have been the cat Brokenstar was speaking of . . ."

"And how do we know that?" Bluestar's meow was slow and deliberate. She closed her eyes and flattened her fur; she seemed to be trying to calm herself. "He did not mention her by name. She has done nothing wrong. And as long as Yellowfang is in my Clan, she will not be harmed in any way." She rested her warning gaze on each of the attacking cats.