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Springing to his paws, he whirled around. Sitting on the fence at the end of her Twoleg garden was his sister, Princess. Instantly Fireheart raced across to the fence and leaped up beside her.
Princess broke into a deep, throaty purr and rubbed the side of her face against his. “Fireheart, you’re so thin!” she exclaimed, pulling away from him. “Are you getting enough to eat?”
“No, nor is any cat in the Clan,” Fireheart admitted. “Prey is scarce in this weather.”
“Are you hungry now?” his sister asked. “There’s a bowl of food in my Twolegs’ nest. You can have it if you like.”
For a couple of heartbeats Fireheart was tempted. His mouth watered at the thought of filling his belly with food he hadn’t had to catch first. But common sense won. He couldn’t possibly return to camp with Twoleg scents all over him, and the warrior code forbade him to eat before feeding the rest of the Clan. “Thanks, Princess, but I can’t,” he meowed.
“I hope you’re feeding Cloudkit,” Princess mewed anxiously. “I’ve been watching for you for days, so you can tell me how he is.”
“He’s doing well,” Fireheart replied. “He’ll be made an apprentice soon.”
Princess’s eyes shone with pride, and Fireheart felt a prickle of uncertainty in his fur. He knew how much it meant to his sister to have given her firstborn to the Clan. There was no way he could let her have any doubts about how the kit was settling into Clan life. “Cloudkit’s strong and brave,” he told her. “And intelligent.” And nosey, spoiled, disrespectful, he added to himself. But surely Cloudkit would learn soon enough, when he grew used to Clan ways. “I’m sure he’ll make a fine warrior,” he meowed.
Princess purred. “Of course he will, with you to teach him.”
Fireheart’s ears twitched with embarrassment. Princess thought he found it easy being a warrior. She didn’t know the problems he had inside the Clan, or how difficult it was to decide what was the right thing to do when he discovered things that affected the Clan.
“I’d better go,” he mewed. “I’ll come to visit you again soon. And when newleaf comes, I’ll bring Cloudkit with me.” He gave Princess an affectionate lick in farewell and left her purring even harder at the thought of seeing her beloved kit again.
Fireheart padded back along Tigerclaw’s scent trail, keeping a lookout for prey as he went. After telling Tigerclaw he was hunting, he knew he had better return to camp with a respectable catch. Gradually he became aware of an unfamiliar sound. He had to pause and think before he realized what it was. Somewhere, water was dripping. Glancing around, he saw a silver globule bulging at the end of a thorn twig. The droplet swelled and glittered in the sunlight before falling to melt a tiny hole in the snow.
Fireheart raised his head. The patter of water was all around him now, and a warm breeze ruffled his fur. With a surge of joy he realized that the harsh season of leaf-bare was drawing to an end. Soon newleaf would come, and prey would be plentiful again. The thaw had begun!
CHAPTER 10
Back in the camp, Fireheart spotted Bluestar leaving the nursery. Quickly he dropped his catch on the pile of fresh-kill and padded over to her.
“Yes, Fireheart, what is it?” the leader asked. Her voice was calm, but with a sinking feeling, Fireheart knew that the lack of warmth meant she had not forgiven him for asking about the missing ThunderClan kits.
He lowered his head respectfully. “Bluestar, I was hunting near Twolegplace, and—”
“Why there?” Bluestar interrupted. “Sometimes I think you spend too much time near Twolegplace, Fireheart.”
“I—I just thought there might be prey there,” Fireheart stammered. “Anyway, while I was there, I smelled some strange cats.”
At once Bluestar was alert; her ears flicked up and she fixed her eyes intently on Fireheart. “How many cats? What Clan were they from?”
“I’m not sure how many,” Fireheart admitted. “Five or six at least. But they didn’t have the scent of any Clan.” He wrinkled his nose as he remembered. “They smelled of crowfood, which made me sure they weren’t kittypets.”
Bluestar looked thoughtful, and to Fireheart’s relief her hostility toward him seemed to ebb away. “How recent was the scent?” she asked.
“Quite recent. But I didn’t see any cats there.” Except Tigerclaw, he added silently. But Fireheart decided not to tell Bluestar that part of the story. The leader was in no mood to listen to any more accusations against her deputy, and he had no evidence anyway that Tigerclaw had had anything to do with the unknown cats.
“Rogues from the Twolegplace, perhaps?” Bluestar guessed. “Thank you, Fireheart. I’ll tell the patrols to keep a lookout when they go that way. I don’t suppose they’re any threat to ThunderClan, but we can’t be too careful.”
Fireheart padded toward the camp with a vole clamped firmly in his jaws. The sun shone from a brilliantly blue sky, and already, two days after his meeting with Princess, most of the snow was gone. Buds were swelling and a mist of tiny green leaves was beginning to cover the trees. More important, prey was reappearing in the forest. Already it was easier to replenish the pile of fresh-kill, and for the first time in moons the Clan was full-fed.
Fireheart arrived in the clearing to find the queens raking old bedding out of the nursery. When he had dropped his prey on the pile of fresh-kill, he went across to give them a hand, pleased to see that Cloudkit was helping too.
“I’m going to show the other kits the good moss place!” the kit mewed proudly as he staggered past with a load of bedding.
“Good idea,” Fireheart agreed. He’d noticed that even after Tigerclaw relieved him of his duties with the elders, Cloudkit had gone on helping. Maybe at last the kit was feeling some spark of loyalty toward his adopted Clan. “Watch out for badgers, though!”
Just then he saw Goldenflower emerge from the nursery, pushing a ball of soiled moss in front of her. Her belly was round with the weight of the kits she was carrying.
“Hello, Fireheart,” she meowed. “Isn’t it great to see the sun again?”
Fireheart gave the queen’s shoulder a friendly lick. “Soon it’ll be newleaf,” he mewed. “Just in time for your kits. If you—” He broke off and spun around as he heard Tigerclaw’s voice behind him, speaking his name.
“Fireheart, if you’ve nothing better to do than stand gossiping with the queens, I have a job for you.”
Fireheart bit back an angry response. He’d been hunting all morning, and paused for only a few moments to talk to Goldenflower.
“I want you to take a patrol along the border of RiverClan,” the deputy went on. “No cat has been that way for a few days, and now the snow has gone we need to renew the scent markings. And make sure no RiverClan cats are hunting in our territory. If they are, you know what to do!”
“Yes, Tigerclaw,” Fireheart mewed. Hedgehogs must be growing wings, he thought, if Tigerclaw had chosen him to lead a patrol! Then he realized that Tigerclaw was too clever to behave hostilely toward him in public. The deputy would be careful to treat him just the same as any other Clan warrior, in case Bluestar noticed.
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nbsp; But I still don’t trust you! Fireheart thought. Aloud he meowed, “Whom shall I take with me?”
“Any cat you like. Or do you need me to hold your paw?” Tigerclaw added with a sneer.
“No, Tigerclaw.” By now Fireheart could barely keep his tongue curbed; he would have loved to swipe a claw over the deputy’s scarred muzzle. He mewed a hasty good-bye to Goldenflower, and headed for the warriors’ den. Sandstorm was there, lying on her side and energetically washing, while Graystripe and Runningwind shared tongues nearby.
“Who’s up for a patrol?” Fireheart called. “Tigerclaw wants us to check the RiverClan border.”
Graystripe scrambled to his paws right away at the mention of RiverClan, while Runningwind got up more slowly. Sandstorm paused in her washing and looked up at Fireheart. “Just when I was hoping for a bit of peace,” she complained. “I’ve been hunting since dawn.” But her tone was good-humored, not remotely as unfriendly as she was when he had first arrived in the Clan, Fireheart thought, and almost at once she got up and shook herself. “All right,” she mewed. “Lead on.”
“What about Brackenpaw?” Fireheart asked Graystripe. “Do you want to bring him along?”
“Whitestorm and Mousefur took the apprentices out,” Runningwind explained. “All of the apprentices—more fool them! They’re hunting fresh-kill for the elders.”
Fireheart led the way out of the camp, feeling a tingle in his paws as he leaped up the side of the ravine. It felt like moons since he’d had a good run without snow to freeze his paws off, and he wanted to stretch his muscles. “We’ll head for the Sunningrocks,” he meowed, “and then follow the border up to Fourtrees.”
He set a brisk pace through the trees, but not so fast that he failed to notice the brilliant green fronds of new bracken beginning to unfurl, or the first pale buds of primroses pushing out of their green coverings. Birdsong filled the air, and the fresh scent of growing things.
