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Spinning around, he turned his back on the ShadowClan leader and paced to the front of the rock, where he could look down on all the assembled cats. The time had come for him to speak. When he had finished, Tigerstar would be revealed for what he was—a murderer who would wade through the blood of countless cats to get what he wanted. Let Leopardstar see the kind of cat she had trusted!
“Cats of WindClan, RiverClan, and ShadowClan!” Firestar yowled. “I can stay silent no longer. You cannot trust Tigerstar any more than you would trust a cornered badger.”
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a swift movement from Tigerstar, a bunching of muscles under the rippling tabby pelt, but then the ShadowClan leader glanced at the sky again, controlled himself, and went on listening with a look of deliberate indifference.
“I know many of you must have wondered why Tigerstar left ThunderClan,” Firestar went on. “You want to know the truth? This cat is power-hungry and dangerous, and he is willing to murder other cats to get what he wants.”
He broke off as lightning stabbed down from the sky, a blazing claw of white fire that raked the forest. Thunder crashed overhead, drowning Firestar’s words; it sounded as if the Great Rock itself were being torn up.
“A sign! A sign!” Tigerstar yowled. He gazed up at the sky, his yellow eyes glowing in the light of the moon that still shone between the gathering clouds. “I thank you, StarClan, for showing us your will. This Gathering is over.”
Calling a command to his cats to follow him, he bunched his muscles to leap down from the Great Rock. Before he sprang he turned his head, eyes narrowed with hatred. “Bad luck, kittypet,” he spat. “Think about my offer. It’s your last chance to save those miserable cats.”
Before Firestar had the chance to respond, the ShadowClan leader launched himself from the Great Rock and disappear e d into the bushes that lined the hollow. ShadowClan cats poured after him. Leopard star jumped down in her turn and gathered the warriors of RiverClan.
Firestar and Tallstar faced each other, shocked and bewildered, as lightning stabbed down again. A gust of wind buffeted the rock, almost carrying Firestar off his paws, and rain poured from the sky as the storm broke.
Almost blinded by the lashing rain, Firestar half jumped, half slithered down the side of the rock and streaked across the open ground to the shelter of the bushes, calling to his warriors as he went. Moments later he found himself crouching beneath a hawthorn bush with Graystripe and Sandstorm huddled close to him. Shaking rain from his pelt, he looked around for Tallstar, but the WindClan leader had not followed him.
The rain was striking the ground so hard that the drops scattered into a mist of spray. The four oaks thrashed and groaned in the wind. Grasses and ferns were flattened in the fury of the storm. But the chaos in the clearing was no worse than the chaos in Firestar’s mind.
“I can’t believe this!” he meowed, raising his voice above the howling wind. “I didn’t think even Tigerstar would dare to claim power over all the forest.”
“But what can we do about it?” asked Graystripe. “You didn’t get to tell the truth about Tigerstar.”
“It’s not Firestar’s fault that the storm broke,” Sandstorm pointed out, her hackles rising.
“Too late to worry about it,” Firestar told them. “That prey’s killed and ea t en now. We have to decide what we do next.”
“What is there to decide?” snarled Sandstorm. The light of battle shone in her green eyes. “We fight, of course—until we’ve driven that piece of crowfood out of the forest for good.”
Firestar nodded. Though he said nothing, he couldn’t help thinking of Bluestar’s prophecy during his dream at the Moonstone.
Four will become two. Lion and Tiger will meet in battle.
“Tiger” must mean the new TigerClan, but who or what is “Lion”? Firestar pushed the question aside as he remembered Bluestar’s ominous parting words.
Blood will rule the forest.
CHAPTER 13
The squall was soon over. Firestar led his cats home through a forest where every twig and fern dripped water under a clearing sky. Silverpelt glittered brightly, and Firestar raised his eyes to utter a silent prayer: Great StarClan, show me what to do.
He began to worry about whether Tigerstar had sent warriors to attack the camp while Firestar and the others were away. It would be one way to weaken ThunderClan so that Firestar had no choice but to ally his surviving cats with TigerClan. Relief flooded over him as he emerged from the gorse tunnel to see that everything was peaceful.
Whitestorm got up from sentry duty outside the warriors’ den and padded over. “You’re back early. I wondered if those stormclouds would cover the moon.”
“Yes, but it was worse than that,” Firestar replied.
“Worse?” Whitestorm’s eyes widened in astonishment as Firestar told him what had happened at the Gathering just before thunder and lightning prevented his revealing words. More cats joined them, and Firestar was aware of shocked mews as his Clan learned what Tigerstar was planning.
“When the storm broke,” Firestar finished, “Tigerstar said it was a sign from StarClan that he had their favor. He and Leopardstar left, so the Gathering broke up.”
“It might well have been a sign,” mewed Whitestorm thoughtfully. “But one that shows StarClan are angry with Tigerstar.”
“Cinderpelt, what do you think?” Firestar asked the medicine cat, who had listened to the story with deep foreboding in her blue eyes.
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “If it was a sign, it would mean StarClan stopped you from telling the truth about Tigerstar, and I find that hard to believe.” She shrugged. “There are times when a storm is just a storm.”
“It was an unlucky one for ThunderClan, then,” muttered Longtail.
“I wish I’d been there,” Cloudtail growled. “I’d have torn Tigerstar’s throat out. No more problem.”
“In that case, it’s a good thing you weren’t there,” Firestar retorted. “Attacking a Clan leader at a Gathering? That would have made StarClan angry.”
Cloudtail narrowed his eyes at Firestar, the challenge clear in his blue gaze. “Why don’t StarClan do something to help us, then, if they’re so powerful?”
“Maybe they will,” Brightheart suggested gently.
“So what are we going to do?” asked Mousefur. She was shifting from paw to paw as if she wanted to race out of camp and confront her enemies right away. “You’re not thinking of joining this…TigerClan, are you?”
“Never,” Firestar assured her. “But we need time to think, and rest.” He yawned and stretched. “For now, we’ll need extra patrols. Any volunteers to go out at dawn?”
“I will,” Mousefur offered instantly.
“Thanks,” meowed Firestar. “Keep a lookout along the border with ShadowClan. And if you come across any of Tigerstar’s warriors, you know what to do.”
“Oh, yes.” Cloudtail lashed his tail eagerly. “I’ll come with you, Mousefur. I could do with some ShadowClan fur to line my nest.”
Firestar didn’t try to check the young warrior’s hostility. No cat could doubt Cloudtail’s loyalty to ThunderClan, however scornful he was about StarClan and the warrior code.
Whitestorm named Brackenfur and Thornclaw to join the patrol as well, and all four cats padded off to get some rest before dawn. One by one, the other Clan cats headed for their dens. Firestar was aware of their shock, and the fear they did not quite succeed in hiding.
Eventually he was left alone with only Cinderpelt by his side. He let out a long sigh. “Will there ever be any end to this?” he murmured.
Cinderpelt pressed her muzzle comfortingly against his. “I don’t know. It’s in the paws of StarClan.” She narrowed her eyes. “But sometimes I don’t believe there’ll be any peace in the forest until Tigerstar is dead.”
“Right,” Firestar meowed. “Attack me.”
A few foxlengths away, Bramblepaw crouched on the floor of the hollow. Firestar wait
ed as the apprentice began to creep toward him, his amber eyes darting from side to side as if he was choosing the best place to strike.
A heartbeat later Bramblepaw launched himself into the air. But Firestar was ready for him. Slipping rapidly to one side, he butted Bramblepaw in the flank as he came down, and the young cat lost his balance and rolled over, his paws scuffing up dust.
“You’ll have to be quicker than that,” Firestar told him. “Don’t give your enemy time to think.”
Bramblepaw scrambled up, spitting out sand, and immediately sprang again. His outstretched paws caught Firestar on the side of the head, thrusting the older cat sideways so that his paws slid out from under him. Bramblepaw held him down, his nose almost touching Firestar’s.
“Like that?” he asked.
