Tigerheart could taste rain on the wind. Thick clouds darkened the sky above the pines, casting the forest into gloom. Not good traveling weather. His chest tightened as he thought about meeting Dovewing. Sunhigh had passed long ago. He must leave soon. She’d be waiting.
He reached up and tucked a stray tendril into the bramble wall of the ShadowClan nursery. Rowanstar had given orders that all the dens be repaired and strengthened. Rain was coming, and he wanted the Clan to be warm and dry in their nests. Grassheart and Strikestone were working on the warriors’ den. Flowerpaw, Snakepaw, and Whorlpaw poked wads of moss into the holes in side of their own den, while Tawnypelt and Snowbird wove extra brambles into the walls of the elders’ den.
Tigerheart’s throat tightened. Could he really leave? This was the only life he’d known. Sadness jabbed at his heart. He might never see these cats again. He’d be leaving the forest to live in a Twolegplace! His pelt prickled nervously.
Around him, his Clanmates were working together, following Rowanstar’s orders without question. He pushed his doubts away. Dovewing needs me more than they do.
Rowanstar was padding around the camp, inspecting the work. He nodded approvingly as he passed Whorlpaw, slowing to point out a gap near the bottom of the wall that still needed filling. Whorlpaw dipped his head to the ShadowClan leader and quickly reached for another wad of moss to plug it. Tigerheart’s chest ached with hope. The Clan would be fine without him.
“Tigerheart!” Rowanstar was crossing the clearing.
Tigerheart tensed. What did Rowanstar want? He glanced at the darkening treetops. He’d been hoping to slip away soon. Keeping his fur smooth, he tugged two strands of bramble closer together before dropping onto all four paws to face his father. “Yes?”
“Take out a hunting party.” Rowanstar had stopped beside the fresh-kill pile. A thrush and a vole were all that was left from the morning’s catch.
Tigerheart relaxed. Perfect. I can slip away easily while I’m in the forest.
“Take Grassheart, Snowbird, Juniperclaw, and Scorchfur.” Rowanstar’s green gaze scanned the camp.
Tigerheart followed it. Where were Juniperclaw and Scorchfur? Hadn’t they been helping Grassheart and Strikestone fix up the warriors’ den? Perhaps they were outside camp, fetching bracken to weave into the den walls. “I’ll find them,” he told Rowanstar. He beckoned Grassheart and Snowbird with his tail as he headed for the camp entrance.
He ducked outside and stopped a few tail-lengths from the camp. Opening his mouth, he let the musky scents of leaf-fall bathe his tongue. He could taste the fresh scent of his missing Clanmates, but in the misty air it was hard to tell which way they’d headed.
Grassheart stopped beside him.
“Can you tell which way Scorchfur and Juniperclaw went?” he asked her.
“Don’t worry,” she mewed quickly. “We can hunt without them.”
It’ll be easier for me to slip away from a bigger patrol. Tigerheart looked at the pale brown she-cat and saw her pelt prickling self-consciously. “Do you know where they are?”
“Who? Me?” Grassheart glanced at Snowbird as the white she-cat reached them. Guilt flashed between them. “They were helping with the dens last time I saw.”
Tigerheart pricked his ears. Grassheart and Snowbird were hiding something. “What’s going on?”
Snowbird shot Grassheart a warning look.
Grassheart flicked her tail. “We promised we wouldn’t tell,” she mewed apologetically.
“Promised who?”
“Scorchfur and Juniperclaw.” Grassheart dropped her gaze.
“What are they doing?” Tigerheart thrust his muzzle closer, his pelt rippling with foreboding.
“They’re . . . on their way to join SkyClan.”
Join SkyClan? Tigerheart could hardly believe his ears. The shock that his Clanmates could be so disloyal was undercut by guilt, and a thought so selfish it made him feel sick. ShadowClan’s supposed to be losing one warrior today, not three. “When?”
“Now.” Grassheart didn’t look at him.
“But they hate SkyClan.” Scorchfur and Juniperclaw had always made it clear that they disliked having SkyClan anywhere near ShadowClan’s territory.
“They said they wanted to be part of a real Clan.” Grassheart shifted her paws.
Snowbird stepped forward. “It’s not just that they’re unhappy here,” she mewed. “Scorchfur was really upset that he nearly blinded Tawnypelt. He’s scared what will happen if he stays in ShadowClan.”
Tigerheart blinked at her. “Scared of his own Clanmates?”
Grassheart shifted her paws. “Scared he might lose his temper again, or that Tawnypelt and Rowanstar might want revenge.”
“But we’re Clanmates!” Tigerheart blinked in disbelief. “We take care of one another!”
“Juniperclaw says that ShadowClan cats have forgotten what loyalty means,” Snowbird mewed.
Tigerheart’s hackles lifted. “But Juniperclaw left his Clan to join the rogues!” How dare he accuse his Clanmates of disloyalty when he’d been one of the first to betray them? Anger pulsed beneath Tigerheart’s pelt. He pushed it away. This was no time for recriminations. ShadowClan was already dwindling. How could he leave if they lost two strong warriors like Scorchfur and Juniperclaw? Puddleshine’s warning would come true; ShadowClan would disappear completely. “I have to stop them.” He bounded toward the SkyClan border.
Pine needles swished behind him as Snowbird and Grassheart gave chase.
“Go and hunt!” He waved them away with a lashing tail. “I’ll take care of this.” He wanted to sort this out as quickly as possible. Nightfall was closing in. He had to persuade Scorchfur and Juniperclaw to return to ShadowClan, and then slip away and meet Dovewing before she left without him.
I’m a snake-heart. He ignored the voice ringing in his head. I’m only going to persuade them to stay so that I can leave.
No. He was doing the best he could, for Dovewing and his Clan. With him gone, ShadowClan would need Scorchfur and Juniperclaw more than ever.
Heart pounding, he raced between the trees. He could smell Scorchfur’s scent trail now. Juniperclaw’s was beside it. He followed it easily over the ditches and to the rise that lifted to the SkyClan border. As he neared the bottom, he glimpsed their pelts slipping around a stretch of brambles. “Stop!” His yowl rang through the damp forest. He saw them stop and pulled up as their faces turned toward him. “Let me talk to you!”
He climbed the slope, fixing them with an urgent glare. “Grassheart told me you’re planning to join SkyClan.”
They looked at each other, then padded toward him. Their gazes were distrustful.
“Please don’t go.” He stopped in front of them, panting.
Scorchfur narrowed his eyes. “Why not?”
“You’re ShadowClan!” Tigerheart stared at him imploringly. “You can’t just forget that. It’s where you were born and raised. You think like ShadowClan cats; you hunt like ShadowClan cats; you fight like ShadowClan cats. You don’t even know what SkyClan is like! You’ll never feel you really belong there.”
Juniperclaw glanced nervously at Scorchfur. “Maybe he’s right.”
Scorchfur frowned. “ShadowClan isn’t the Clan it used to be. SkyClan might be better. We can teach them some useful skills.”
“‘Teach them some useful skills’?” Tigerheart fought to keep his claws sheathed. “If SkyClan learns how we fight and hunt, think how easy it would be for them to defeat us.” He turned his gaze on Juniperclaw desperately. “They might take over the whole forest. You don’t want that, do you?”
Juniperclaw’s eyes widened with alarm. “I hadn’t thought of that.” He looked anxiously at Scorchfur.
Scorchfur snorted. “I thought you said SkyClan cats were our friends.”
“Friends can have a falling-out.” Tigerheart leaned closer. “What if there was a border skirmish with ShadowClan? Could you fight against us for SkyClan?”
Scorchfur’s pelt prickled uneasily. “ShadowClan won’t be fighting any battles for a while. We’re hardly a Clan anymore.”
We won’t be if you leave. Tigerheart scrabbled for another reason for the warriors to stay. “If you join SkyClan, you’ll probably have to retrain. Like Twigpaw did. She’d already passed her ThunderClan warrior assessment when she joined, and she’s still training to be a SkyClan warrior.”
Juniperclaw pricked his ears. “You don’t think they’d make me a ’paw, do you?”
Tigerheart shrugged, trying to appear calm even as he felt each moment slip away like escaping prey. Time was passing. He had to get to Dovewing. “They might, once they found out that rogues gave you your warrior name.” He was bluffing, but he could sense Juniperclaw wavering.
“You’re just trying to scare us,” Scorchfur grunted.
“Even if they don’t make you ’paws, do you think they’re going to treat you with respect?” Tigerheart countered.
Scorchfur met his gaze challengingly. “After I fought with Tawnypelt, why would ShadowClan treat me with respect?” He sounded angry, but the anger was clearly directed at himself. “I wish I’d never gone for her eye. It was a fox-hearted move. But I was so mad.”
“I should have intervened earlier,” Tigerheart admitted.
“Rowanstar should have intervened earlier,” Juniperclaw remarked pointedly.
“And he would, if it happened again,” Tigerheart promised. “It just took him by surprise. It took us all by surprise.” He tried to think of something more to say. He could feel they were relenting. Just a few words more. Perhaps it was best just to admit the truth. “We need you. ShadowClan is in trouble, and without you we may not survive. You’re both great warriors, and I know we can all put our differences aside and work together as a Clan again. We survived Darktail. We survived the Dark Forest. We can survive this. We just have to try.” He didn’t hide the desperation pulsing in his chest. If he was going to leave, he had to make them stay.
Scorchfur’s ears twitched. “Okay.” He glanced toward the border. “I’ll stay.”
“Me too.” Juniperclaw sounded relieved.
Joy washed Tigerheart’s pelt like a soothing wind. His chest expanded as he turned toward camp and began to lead the way through the forest. He just had to get them halfway there—far enough that they wouldn’t change their minds—and then he could make an excuse and go to Dovewing. “You won’t regret it.”
“I’m still worried about Rowanstar.” Scorchfur fell in beside him. “When he first became leader, he seemed so strong. But now, whenever we face trouble, he doesn’t know what to do.”
“He reunited the Clan after Darktail, didn’t he?” Tigerheart reminded him. “That took strength.”
Scorchfur huffed. “He didn’t reunite all the cats. Some of our Clanmates are still missing.”
“Didn’t they die?” Juniperclaw murmured darkly.
“Why did we never find their bodies?” Scorchfur argued.
Juniperclaw shot his denmate an anxious look. “Do you think some of ShadowClan is still roaming beyond the forest?”
“Of course not.” Tigerheart meowed quickly. “Why would any warrior stay away from their Clan?” As he spoke, the words felt like thorns on his tongue. I’m about to leave my Clan. Guilt seemed to freeze his heart until it stung. This is different, he told himself. He focused on the trail ahead. Soon he’d be with Dovewing. Then he wouldn’t have to think about ShadowClan anymore. No more guilt.
Bracken rustled at the edge of a ditch. Prey? Tigerheart pricked his ears. Scorchfur turned, his gray fur twitching excitedly. Juniperclaw tasted the air.
“Is it a rabbit?” As Tigerheart spoke, he saw Juniperclaw’s eager gaze sharpen into horror. A rank stench rolled across the ditch. It wasn’t prey. As Tigerheart tried to recognize the smell, he glimpsed black-and-white fur through the bracken. A roar sounded as a cruel snout thrust out.
Badger!
The great creature scrambled clumsily over the ditch and lunged at them, its beady black eyes glittering wildly. What was a badger doing here? No Clan had reported a set near their territory!
Tigerheart, numb with surprise, recoiled as its fetid breath bathed his muzzle. The badger turned. Its rump knocked Tigerheart into the ditch. As he scrabbled breathlessly to his paws, the badger snapped at Juniperclaw. Juniperclaw screeched with pain. The badger had the black tom’s paw in its mouth. Pelt bushing, Tigerheart leaped onto the badger’s back, dug his claws in hard, and bit down on the back of the creature’s thick neck.
Releasing Juniperclaw, the badger spun heavily beneath him. It lifted its snout and glanced over its shoulder at Tigerheart. Rage sparked in its eyes. With a growl, it threw itself onto its side and rolled. Tigerheart squawked as the badger’s weight fell on top of him. “Get its belly!” he puffed at Scorchfur. But the gray tom had already flung himself, claws slashing, at the badger’s exposed underside. With a roar, the badger’s limbs closed around Scorchfur.
It heaved itself upright. Tigerheart still clung to its back. Scorchfur wailed, trapped beneath it, his muzzle dangerously exposed to the badger’s snarling jaws.
Juniperclaw slashed at its nose. The badger threw its head up, howling with pain as claws sliced its snout. Tigerheart thrust his muzzle forward and snapped at one of the badger’s ears, sinking his teeth into the leathery flesh. The badger jerked as though hit by lightning. Rearing, it threw Tigerheart from its back with a desperate howl of pain.
Tigerheart hit a tree with a thump that sent the forest spinning around him. His head cracked against the bark with such force that for a moment he thought his skull had split. White pain flared behind his eyes. Tree roots jabbed his ribs as he dropped like dead prey. Dazed, he glimpsed a flash of black-and-white fur at the edge of his vision. He felt the ground shake.
“Tigerheart!”
He heard Juniperclaw’s panicked cry and felt a tug of loyalty. His Clanmates were in danger. Blindly he staggered to his paws and shook out his fur. Juniperclaw and Scorchfur were dodging around the badger, lashing out in turns at its hefty flanks. The badger spun and snapped at them, its eyes frenzied.
Struggling from his stupor, Tigerheart smelled its fetid stench once more and felt heat pulsing from its pelt. This badger was sick. He could hear it wheezing. Was this why it was foraging so far from its home? Had its denmates driven it away?
The badger staggered as Scorchfur struggled from beneath it and leaped, quick as a squirrel, to Juniperclaw’s side. The black tom’s paw was oozing blood where the badger had bit it, but he was still standing. The warriors faced the badger as it eyed them murderously.
“It’s sick!” Tigerheart yowled, ignoring the throbbing behind his eyes. “We can win if we work together!” He scrambled past the flailing badger and slid between his Clanmates. They lined up beside him and faced the stinking creature, ears flat. Tigerheart dug his claws into the earth. Juniperclaw bared his teeth. Scorchfur lowered his head, eyes like slits. Slowly, they crept forward, hissing together like snakes.
Confusion glistened suddenly in the badger’s eyes, and it froze. The heat from its stinking fur rolled over Tigerheart. For a moment he remembered the stench of Puddleshine’s medicine den when yellowcough had gripped the Clan.
Scorchfur lifted his head and snarled menacingly.
Confusion turned to fear in the badger’s fevered gaze. With a grunt, it backed away. It knows it’s beaten. Triumph surged in Tigerheart’s chest as the badger turned and lumbered heavily in the opposite direction. It stumbled into the ditch and floundered there for a moment.
“Let’s give it some scars to take away,” Scorchfur growled.
Tigerheart blocked him with a paw. “It’s already sick,” he meowed. “Let it go. We can send out a patrol later to check that it’s left our land for good.” Actually, you can send out a patrol, he thought. I won’t be here.
The badger hauled itself from the ditch and shambled through the bracken, disappearing into the shadowy pines.
Tigerheart looked at the sky and realized with a jolt how late it was. Sunset had passed and left the forest in darkness. Dovewing! She might be gone already! The thumping in his head made him wince. He flicked his tail toward Juniperclaw. “How’s your paw?”
Juniperclaw was licking his wound gingerly. Pain sparked in his eyes as he met Tigerheart’s gaze. “No bones broken, but the wound’s deep.”
“Get him to the medicine den,” Tigerheart ordered Scorchfur. “Tell Puddleshine the badger was sick. The bite might be infected.”
Scorchfur blinked at him. “Aren’t you coming with us?”
“There’s something I need to do.” Tigerheart turned and leaped the ditch, heading toward the meeting place. He had to do it now. Before Dovewing left. Before he lost his nerve.
Juniperclaw looked puzzled. “I thought you hit your head.”
“It was nothing.” Tigerheart’s head was throbbing, but he tried to ignore it.
“Will you be gone long?” Scorchfur called after him.
Tigerheart didn’t answer. He didn’t even look back. He didn’t want to see the Clanmates he was leaving. He didn’t want to think about them. But he could feel their surprised gazes burning his pelt.
I don’t care. He had to reach Dovewing before she left. Panic drove him faster through the forest. He scrambled around brambles, fighting the dizziness that swayed him one way and then the other. He leaped fallen trees clumsily. He’d done one last deed for ShadowClan before he left. But did it cost me the one cat I love best? He thought of Dovewing’s green eyes, her gentle wisdom, her open heart that loved without limit. She’d said she would leave at sunset and, as darkness enfolded the forest, he knew that it was long past. His heart beat in his throat as he raced on. I’m coming! You’re the most important cat in my life. . . . I can’t lose you.
Please, Dovewing . . . wait for me, just a little bit longer.