Long Shadows

by Erin Hunter

  “Everything will be fine now,” Lionblaze went on quickly as if he wanted to avoid any questions. “The catmint here is starting to sprout again, so there’s enough for Millie and Briarkit. They’re getting stronger every day.”

  “That’s good. But what—”

  “Hollyleaf!” Ashfur’s impatient yowl cut off her question. The gray warrior had turned back, and was waiting for her a few tail-lengths along the old Twoleg path.

  “I’ve got to go,” she meowed to Lionblaze, certain that she spotted a flicker of relief in his eyes as she spoke.

  “See you later,” he replied, and headed back to camp beside Honeyfern, with Rosekit frisking ahead of them.

  Hollyleaf watched them go, then padded along the path to join Ashfur.

  “You’re going to hunt today and not tomorrow?” he asked scathingly as she approached.

  “Sorry,” she muttered. “I just wanted a word with Lionblaze.”

  Not that it did me any good, she thought, as Ashfur snorted and led the way deeper into the forest, after the rest of the patrol. She was still no closer to finding out what Lionblaze and Jayfeather were hiding from her.

  The air had grown heavier still by the time the patrol returned to camp. A hot breeze had sprung up, folding back the leaves that still remained on the trees. Hollyleaf’s pelt was fluffed the wrong way and the scents of the prey she was carrying choked her as if she had a mouthful of crow-food.

  Huge, tepid raindrops began to fall as Ashfur led his patrol through the tunnel. One of them splashed onto Hollyleaf’s nose when she emerged into the camp; she twitched her whiskers irritably to shake it off. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

  Good, Hollyleaf thought as she carried her prey to the fresh-kill pile. The air will be fresh again after a storm.

  She glanced up, only to squeeze her eyes tight shut as a jagged bolt of lightning split the sky. Thunder crashed right overhead and suddenly rain started to pound down, splattering on the earth floor of the hollow and plastering Hollyleaf’s pelt to her sides within a couple of heartbeats.

  A wail went up from the warriors’ den, and Cloudtail stuck his head out. “What’s happening?”

  Too terrified to run for shelter, Hollyleaf flattened herself to the ground. She caught a glimpse of Spiderleg streaking through the rain to the warriors’ den with Mousewhisker hard on his paws.

  Another bolt of lightning crackled across the sky. Hollyleaf stared in shock as a tree on the edge of the hollow burst into flames, red tongues of fire roaring upward. Even the torrents of rain couldn’t quench it. Blackened leaves fell into the hollow; with a terrible groaning sound a blazing branch tore itself free and plummeted down to land with a crash a tail-length from Hollyleaf. Yowling in fright, she leaped to one side, cannoning into Thornclaw.

  “The forest is on fire!” he screeched.

  Yet another claw of lightning tore the sky apart. An earsplitting crack sounded above the roar of the thunder, and Hollyleaf saw a tree begin to topple, its roots ripped out of the earth as flames devoured its branches. Blazing leaves and twigs rained down into the clearing.

  Panic-stricken caterwauling rose around Hollyleaf. She spotted Brambleclaw racing across to the nursery, and Sandstorm splashing water with her paws over a burning branch, trying to stop the flames from reaching the warriors’ den.

  Graystripe yowled, “Millie!” and shot into the tunnel on his way to the Twoleg nest.

  The moment his thick gray tail vanished, Firestar appeared at the mouth of the tunnel and raced into the center of the clearing. His flame-colored pelt was darkened by the rain and streaked with mud, but he held his head high and let out a commanding yowl.

  “Get out! All of you get out! You’ll be trapped if you stay in here!”

  Cats began to emerge from their dens. They splashed across the clearing, weaving or jumping aside to avoid the fiery debris that still rained down around them.

  “Head for the Twoleg nest,” Firestar ordered. “We can shelter there.”

  Brambleclaw emerged from the nursery, carrying Bumblekit; Daisy followed him with Blossomkit. Rosekit and Toadkit stumbled along beside their mother. Mousefur padded out of the elders’ den with her tail over Longtail’s shoulder to guide him. Icepaw and Foxpaw, their eyes wild with terror, were shoved toward the barrier of thorns by their mentors.

  Hollyleaf looked around for Lionblaze and Jayfeather, but she couldn’t see either of them among the fleeing cats. Jayfeather would need help to get out, she thought, trying to control her fear. And what about Squirrelflight? Her wound was still hurting, and she hadn’t regained her full strength yet.

  Struggling through the pelting rain, the glare of flame all around her, Hollyleaf splashed across to the medicine cats’ den. She met Leafpool by the bramble screen, her jaws full of herbs; Jayfeather was just behind her.

  “Go and help the others!” Hollyleaf gasped to the medicine cat. “I’ll bring Jayfeather.”

  Leafpool gave her a nod of acknowledgement and raced for the tunnel.

  “I can bring myself, thanks,” Jayfeather muttered furiously.

  “Don’t be a mouse-brain!” Hollyleaf spat back at him. “There’s fire out there. Now stop complaining and grab my tail.”

  Wincing as her brother’s jaws closed around her tail-tip, Hollyleaf turned toward the tunnel. Suddenly Lionblaze loomed up out of the rain.

  “You’re here,” he panted with relief. “Let’s go.”

  Together the three cats headed for the tunnel. By now the clearing was empty; it looked as if the rest of the Clan, even Firestar, had already left. Will they make it to the Twoleg nest? Hollyleaf wondered. Or will they scatter into the forest? Is Thunder-

  Clan going to break up after all?

  She and her brothers were halfway across the clearing when lightning clawed across the sky from top to bottom. The barrier across the entrance to the camp crackled and burst into flame. The tunnel vanished in a throat of fire.

  Hollyleaf stopped, frozen in horror. “We’re trapped!”

  Staring around wildly, she tried to think what to do. The camp was littered with blazing branches, and more were cascading down from the lightning-struck trees around the hollow. The warriors’ den was already smoldering; there was no shelter there.

  “The apprentices’ cave…” she gasped, even though she knew it was too shallow to give any real protection if the fire spread.

  “No. Over here.” Squirrelflight’s voice spoke behind her; Hollyleaf whirled around to see her mother waving her tail urgently toward the rock wall. “There’s another way out.”

  Hollyleaf was ashamed of the relief that swept over her, as if she was still a kit who needed her mother to look after her. Leading Jayfeather, she followed Squirrelflight around a clump of brambles that grew against the wall of the hollow. Lionblaze brought up the rear.

  To Hollyleaf’s surprise, the rock behind the brambles had crumbled away. Peering up through the rain, she saw straggling bushes and grass growing in cracks, all the way to the top.

  “It’s a secret way out of the camp!” she exclaimed. “And we never knew about it!”

  “Thank StarClan,” Squirrelflight retorted drily. “You were enough trouble as kits and apprentices, without this.” Then her voice changed, growing tense again. “Jayfeather, you come first. Follow my voice. It’s not a difficult climb.”

  “We’ll come behind and catch you if you fall,” Lionblaze assured his brother.

  “I’m not a kit!” Jayfeather snapped, though Hollyleaf could see he was shaking with fear.

  Squirrelflight scrambled up through the bramble thicket and clung there, calling out to Jayfeather so he could follow. Jayfeather struggled up behind her, swinging out on a tendril of ivy when his hind paws lost their grip.

  “Mouse dung!” he spat, scrabbling to get his balance again.

  Squirrelflight went on guiding him upward, her voice calm now, even though she must have been terrified that one of them would fall as they climbed higher.

>   Hollyleaf and Lionblaze followed. Though Squirrelflight had said the climb was easy, Hollyleaf was convinced that the pounding rain was about to wash her off the rock face, or lightning would strike the thorns she clung to. Darkness, the glare of flame, and the crash of thunder surrounded her. She lost sight of her Clanmates, and thought she would never reach the top.

  But at last she heard her mother’s voice again. “Well done!” Teeth met in her scruff as Squirrelflight dragged her onto the top of the cliff. She lay there panting for a moment, watching her mother helping Lionblaze to scramble up beside her. Jayfeather was lying on his side, his eyes closed and his sides heaving.

  “Come away from the edge,” Squirrelflight warned. “The rock is crumbling.” She turned, leading the way through the bushes.

  Hollyleaf nudged Jayfeather to his paws. “Just a bit farther and then you can rest.”

  Her brother bared his teeth in a feeble snarl; she could see that he would never admit how hard he had found the climb.

  “You can lean on my shoulder if you like,” Lionblaze offered, coming to stand on Jayfeather’s other side.

  “Look, mouse-brain—”

  Jayfeather’s annoyed hiss broke off as the whole sky was lit up by a crackling bolt of lightning, stabbing down as if it was going to impale all three cats on its claws. Thunder rolled overhead as the bushes burst into flame.

  Hollyleaf let out a yowl of terror. Greedy scarlet tongues licked toward her and her littermates, blocking their path away from the edge of the cliff. Smoke billowed up as rain fell on the bushes; Hollyleaf choked on it and began to cough, but the downpour was easing off, and the remaining flurries weren’t enough to put the fire out.

  A wave of heat rolled over Hollyleaf; instinctively she moved back, and felt the rock begin to crumble beneath her paws. Scrambling away, she glanced down, to see the clearing patched with flame and darkness. There was no escape that way, even if they could manage to climb down safely amid the fire and rain.

  “What’s happening?” Jayfeather was cowering down under the searing heat. “Which way should we go?”

  “We can’t go anywhere. We’re trapped.” Lionblaze’s voice was calm. Flame reflected from his golden pelt and shone in his eyes. “Squirrelflight!” he called. “Are you there? Help us!”

  As he spoke a branch edged with flames crashed down from one of the bushes; Hollyleaf dragged Jayfeather out of its path just in time. The littermates huddled together at the very edge of the cliff.

  “I’m here!” Squirrelflight’s voice was high-pitched with terror. “I’m going to push a branch through to you. You can run along it to escape before it catches fire.”

  “Right. We’ll be ready,” Lionblaze replied.

  Hollyleaf felt a jolt of gratitude for her brother’s courage. Without him, she was certain she would have panicked, trapped between the fire and the long drop into the camp. But they would stick together, the three of them, protected by the prophecy as they had always been.

  Hollyleaf could hear the sound of something heavy being dragged through the undergrowth beyond the flames. Her burst of confidence blew away like ash.

  “She’ll never manage it,” she muttered to Lionblaze. “What about her wound? She’s not strong enough.”

  “Squirrelflight will always do what she has to,” Lionblaze replied.

  Small tongues of flame were creeping through the grass now; rain hissed down on them, leaving the ground blackened and smoking, but there were always more flames, and the acrid scent of burning filled the air. A blazing leaf floated down onto Jayfeather’s pelt; Lionblaze knocked it off with one paw, adding the reek of scorched fur to the smoke-filled air.

  Beyond the red-and-orange flames, Hollyleaf caught a glimpse of Squirrelflight, struggling to drag a branch up to the fire. Already she looked exhausted. Lionblaze’s muscles tensed as if he was going to try leaping over the bush to help her.

  “No!” Hollyleaf choked out. “It’s too far.”

  Before Lionblaze could argue, another shape burst through the billowing smoke to stand beside Squirrelflight. His eyes glared; his gray fur was matted together and stuck with bits of burnt leaf and twig. Confused by the smoke and flames, Hollyleaf almost thought she was seeing one of her warrior ancestors, until she recognized Ashfur.

  Squirrelflight dropped the branch. “Help me push it into the fire!” she yowled.

  Grabbing the branch in strong jaws, Ashfur thrust it past the wall of flame and into the ever-narrowing patch of ground where Hollyleaf and her brothers huddled. But Hollyleaf didn’t feel any sense of relief. There was a look in Ashfur’s eyes that she didn’t understand: the look of a cat who had just spotted an unexpected juicy bit of prey.

  The branch made a bridge through the flames, but Ashfur stood at the other end of it, blocking the way to safety. Lionblaze nudged Jayfeather to his paws; Hollyleaf took a step toward the branch, then paused. She felt a cold weight in her belly when she looked into Ashfur’s glittering blue eyes.

  “Ashfur, get out of the way.” Squirrelflight’s voice was puzzled. “Let them get out!”

  “Brambleclaw isn’t here to look after them now,” Ashfur sneered.

  Hollyleaf felt her fur beginning to rise. What did Ashfur mean?

  Lionblaze’s golden pelt was bristling, too. “What have you done with my father?” he howled through the flame.

  Ashfur looked at him pityingly; his eyes were twin points of fire amid the burning forest. “Why would I waste my time with Brambleclaw?”

  The main branch was too solid to catch fire easily, but the leaves on it had shriveled and the twigs were beginning to smoke. Hollyleaf realized that they didn’t have much time before their bridge to safety would be ablaze.

  Squirrelflight staggered up to Ashfur. Hollyleaf had never seen her mother so angry. Her fur bristled with fury; she looked like a warrior of TigerClan. Yet it was obvious that the climb to the top of the cliff, followed by her struggle with the branch, had weakened her, and she was exhausted.

  “Your quarrel with Brambleclaw has to stop,” she hissed. “Too many moons have passed. You have to accept that I’m Brambleclaw’s mate, not yours. You can’t keep trying to punish Brambleclaw for something that was always meant to be.”

  Ashfur’s ears flicked up in surprise. “I have no quarrel with Brambleclaw.”

  Hollyleaf exchanged a shocked glance with Lionblaze. “That’s not how it looks to me,” he muttered.

  “I couldn’t care less about Brambleclaw,” Ashfur continued. “It’s not his fault he fell for a faithless she-cat.”

  Faithless? A growl began to build in Hollyleaf’s throat, but then she stopped and watched the cats on the other side of the blazing branches. Something ominous was taking place in front of her, and even with flame roaring around them she felt a sudden chill. She shrank closer to Lionblaze and Jayfeather, whose head was up, his sightless eyes intent, as if he could see the confrontation between his mother and Ashfur.

  “I know you think I’ve never forgiven Brambleclaw for stealing you from me, but you’re wrong, and so is every cat that thinks so. My quarrel is with you, Squirrelflight.” Ashfur’s voice shook with rage. “It always has been.”

  Horrified, Hollyleaf took a step back and felt her hind paws begin to slip on the edge of the cliff. Her head spun as lightning stabbed out and thunder drowned all other sounds, even the roaring fire. For a heartbeat she dangled over empty air, and she let out a strangled yowl.

  Then she felt firm teeth meet in her scruff; blinking against the smoke, she realized that Lionblaze was hauling her back to safety. But there was no safety: only the hungry flames, and Ashfur blocking the end of the branch with fury in his eyes. Fiery sparks floated down on all three young cats, scorching their fur, and flames licked the underside of the branch; fear flooded afresh through Hollyleaf when she saw that it was already beginning to smolder.

  Ashfur has to let us get out! But Hollyleaf couldn’t find any words to plead with him. What was happening here didn�
��t have anything to do with them, even if they died because of it.

  “All this was moons ago.” Squirrelflight sounded puzzled. “Ashfur, I had no idea you were still upset.”

  “Upset?” Ashfur echoed. “I’m not upset. You have no idea how much pain I’m in. It’s like being cut open every day, bleeding onto the stones. I can’t understand how any of you failed to see the blood….”

  His eyes clouded and his voice took on a wild, distant tone, as if he could see the blood spilling out of him now, sizzling on the burning ground. Terror burst through Hollyleaf and she pressed closer to her brothers. This cat was more dangerous than the storm or the fire, or the fall lurking perilously close to her hind paws.

  Desperately she tried to step onto the end of the branch. At once Ashfur rounded on her, fully conscious again, his teeth bared in a snarl.

  “Stay there!” Turning to face Squirrelflight but keeping one paw on the branch, he hissed, “I can’t believe you didn’t know how much you hurt me. You are the blind one, not Jayfeather. Who do you think sent Firestar the message to go down to the lake, where the fox trap was? I wanted him to die, to take your father away so you’d know the real meaning of pain.”

  Hollyleaf’s shocked gaze met Lionblaze’s. “He tried to kill Firestar?” she gasped. “He’s mad!”

  Determination glittered in Lionblaze’s eyes, and he bunched his muscles for a giant leap. “I’m going to fight him.”

  “No!” Hollyleaf fastened her teeth in his shoulder fur. “You can’t!” Her words were muffled now. “He’ll just push you into the fire.”

  “Brambleclaw saved Firestar then,” Ashfur went on to Squirrelflight. “But he’s not here now. He’s not here—but your kits are.”

  Squirrelflight’s eyes blazed. For a heartbeat Hollyleaf thought she was going to pounce on the gray warrior, but she knew that exhausted and in pain, her mother would have no chance. Squirrelflight seemed to realize it, too. She drew herself up, head high; she was trembling, but her voice was clear and brave.

  “Enough, Ashfur. Your quarrel is with me. These young cats have done nothing to hurt you. Do what you like with me, but let them out of the fire.”