The Darkest Hour (14 page)

“I can't see my kits,” Graystripe whispered, a breath of sound close to Firestar's ear.

Mistyfoot and Stonefur weren't there either, Firestar realized. In fact, most of the cats in the clearing came from ShadowClan, though he spotted the RiverClan warriors Mudfur and Heavystep. There was no sign of either
medicine cat, and Firestar wondered if that was significant.

He was still watching, too stunned to know what to do next, when Tigerstar rose to his paws. A few small bones rattled down the side of the hill. The dark tabby's eyes blazed in the fading light as he let out a triumphant yowl.

“Cats of TigerClan, gather here around the Bonehill for a Clan meeting!”

Immediately the cats in the clearing approached the hill, crouching low in respect. Others appeared from the reeds.

“He must have built that hill to look like the Highrock,” Ravenpaw murmured. “So he can look down on his Clan.”

The dark tabby waited until his warriors were all in place and then announced, “It is time for the trial to begin. Fetch the prisoners!”

Firestar exchanged a bewildered look with Graystripe. Where had Tigerstar found prisoners? Had he already mounted an attack on WindClan?

At Tigerstar's order, a ShadowClan warrior—Jaggedtooth, who had been one of Brokentail's rogues—vanished into the reeds. He returned a few moments later dragging another cat with him. At first Firestar did not recognize the skinny gray warrior, his fur unkempt and one ear shredded and bleeding. Then, as Jaggedtooth pushed him into the circle of cats beneath the Bonehill, Firestar realized it was Stonefur.

Firestar felt Graystripe stiffen beside him, and put out a warning paw for his friend not to give them away. Graystripe's ears twitched but he stayed still and silent,
watching.

The reeds parted again. This time Firestar knew at once the cat who stepped into the clearing, his fur sleek and his head raised proudly. It was Darkstripe.
Traitor!
Firestar thought, his belly clenching in anger.

More movement in the reeds heralded the arrival of another ShadowClan warrior who was shepherding two smaller cats, one a silver-gray tabby and the other with thick, gray fur. They were as thin as Stonefur, their steps unsteady as they staggered into the clearing. Huddling together in the shadow of the Bonehill, they looked around them with wide, scared eyes.

An icy chill gripped Firestar's muscles. The two young cats were Graystripe's kits, Featherpaw and Stormpaw.

Graystripe growled deep in his throat
and gathered himself to spring.

“No!” Firestar gasped, leaping on his friend before he could leave the shadow of the reeds. “If Tigerstar sees us, we're crowfood!”

On Graystripe's other side Ravenpaw grabbed him by one shoulder. “Firestar's right,” he hissed. “What chance would we have against all these cats?”

Graystripe writhed desperately, as if he hadn't heard. “Let me go!” he snarled. “I'll flay that piece of fox dung! I'll rip his heart out!”

“No!” Firestar repeated in an agonized whisper. “We'll be slaughtered if we show ourselves now. We won't leave your kits, Graystripe, I promise we won't, but we've got to wait for the right moment to rescue them.”

Graystripe went on struggling for a moment longer, then subsided with a grunt of agreement. Firestar let him go, nodding to Ravenpaw to do the same.

“Listen,” he murmured. “Let's find out what's going on.”

While they had been holding Graystripe down, Tigerstar
had begun to speak, his voice drowning the noise of their scuffle among the reeds.

“Cats of TigerClan,” he began, “you all know the hardships that we have to face. The cold of leaf-bare threatens us. Twolegs threaten us. The other two Clans in the forest, who have not yet realized the wisdom of joining with TigerClan, are a threat to us.”

Firestar's tail-tip twitched in anger and he flashed a look at Graystripe.
Tigerstar
was the threat! All that ThunderClan and WindClan wanted was to get on with their lives in peace, according to the ancient traditions of StarClan and the warrior code.

But Graystripe's burning gaze was fixed on his two kits, cowering at the base of the Bonehill; he was unaware of Firestar's glance.

“Surrounded as we are by enemies,” Tigerstar went on, “we must be sure of the loyalty of our own warriors. There is no room in TigerClan for the halfhearted. No room for cats who might waver in battle, or worse still, turn on their own Clan mates. TigerClan will not tolerate traitors!”

Except the traitor who leads it
, Firestar thought.
Or Darkstripe, who would have watched his own Clan be devoured by dogs.

The cats in the clearing broke out into yowls of agreement. Tigerstar allowed the clamor to continue for a moment before signaling with his tail for silence. The noise died and he began to speak again.

“Especially we will not tolerate the abomination of half-Clan cats. No loyal warrior would ever take a mate from
another Clan, diluting the pure blood that our warrior ancestors decreed for us. Bluestar and Graystripe of ThunderClan both flouted the warrior code when they took mates from RiverClan. The kits of such a union, like the ones you see in front of you now, can never be trusted.”

He paused, and his deputy Blackfoot yowled out, “Filth! Filth!”

Darkstripe took up the cry, and a chorus of yowls and screeches echoed his words. This time Tigerstar let them fall quiet in their own time, gazing out over the cats below him with a look of calm satisfaction.

He and Blackfoot must have rehearsed all this
, Firestar realized in horror.

He noticed that it was the ShadowClan warriors who yowled the loudest. The RiverClan cats joined in less enthusiastically; Firestar guessed they might not all fully agree with the ShadowClan leader, but they did not dare stay silent.

The two half-Clan apprentices flattened themselves close to the ground, as if they were afraid of being swept away in the gale of the Clan's fury. Stonefur crouched over them as if he could protect them, gazing around with defiance in his eyes.

Where is Mistyfoot?
Firestar wondered.
Tigerstar knows she's half-Clan too. What has he done with her?

Tigerstar spoke again. “Half-Clan cats have been tolerated until now, but the time for tolerance has passed. There is no place in TigerClan for warriors who owe allegiance to two Clans. How can we trust them not to betray our secrets, or
even turn on us and kill us? Can we expect StarClan to fight on our side if we allow those who are not pure in heart and blood to walk freely among us?”

“No!” Darkstripe screeched, flexing his claws and lashing his tail from side to side.

“No, my friends. We must get rid of the abominations in our midst! Then our Clan will be clean again and we can be sure of the favor of StarClan.”

Stonefur sprang to his paws. He was so weak that he stumbled and almost fell, but he managed to stay upright and face Tigerstar.

“No cat has ever questioned my loyalty,” he snarled. “Come down here and tell me to my face that I'm a traitor!”

Firestar wanted to wail aloud at the blue-gray warrior's hopeless courage. Tigerstar could have swatted him aside with one paw, and yet Stonefur still remained defiant.

“Mistyfoot and I never even knew that Bluestar was our mother until a couple of moons ago,” Stonefur insisted. “We have been loyal RiverClan warriors all our lives. Let any cat who thinks different come out here and prove it!”

Tigerstar angrily swept his tail toward Leopardstar. “You showed poor judgment when you chose this cat as your deputy,” he growled. “RiverClan is choked by the weeds of treachery, and we must root them out.”

To Firestar's dismay, Leopardstar bowed her head. The gesture showed just how far Tigerstar's power extended, that the once-formidable RiverClan leader was unable or unwilling to protect her own deputy.

Yet the dark tabby's words gave Firestar hope. It sounded as if Tigerstar was about to banish Stonefur and the two apprentices. If he did, then Firestar and his friends could wait for them at the border, ready to take them back to ThunderClan, where they would be safe.

When Tigerstar spoke again, his voice was measured and cold. “Stonefur, I will give you a chance to show your loyalty to TigerClan. Kill these two half-Clan apprentices.”

An eerie silence spread through the clearing, broken only by Graystripe's gasp of outrage. Luckily the TigerClan warriors were so intent on the scene in front of them that no cat heard him.

“Firestar!” Graystripe whispered. “We
must
do something!” His claws dug into the ground and his muscles bunched, ready to spring, yet his eyes were fixed on Firestar as if he would not attack without his leader's order.

Ravenpaw's eyes, bright with distress, turned to Firestar. “We can't just watch them die!”

Firestar could feel his fur prickling with tension. He knew he could not stay crouching here in hiding while Graystripe's kits were slaughtered a few foxlengths away. If all else failed, he was ready to give up his life in a battle to save them.

“Wait just a moment,” he murmured. “Let's see what Stonefur does.”

The blue-gray warrior had turned to face Leopardstar. “I take orders from
you
,” he growled. “You must know this is wrong. What do you want me to do?”

For a heartbeat Leopardstar looked uncertain, and again
Firestar began to hope that she would take a stand against Tigerstar and stop the destruction of her Clan. But he had underestimated the strength of her ambition, and her misguided faith that Tigerstar offered an invincible future. “These are difficult times,” she meowed at last. “As we fight for survival we must be able to count on every one of our Clan mates. There is no room for divided loyalties. Do as Tigerstar tells you.”

Stonefur held her gaze for a moment more, a moment that to Firestar seemed to last for several moons. Then he faced the two apprentices and they shrank away from him, their eyes glazed with terror.

Stormpaw gave his sister a comforting lick. “We'll fight him,” he promised. “I won't let him kill us.”

Brave words
, Firestar thought desperately. Stonefur was a skilled, experienced warrior, and even in his weakened state he was a formidable threat to two half-trained apprentices who had obviously been ill-treated and imprisoned as well.

The RiverClan warrior gave a little nod to Stormpaw, just like any mentor approving of his apprentice's courage. Then he turned to look up at Tigerstar again.

“You'll have to kill me first, Tigerstar!” he spat.

Narrowing his eyes, Tigerstar flicked his tail at Darkstripe. “Very well. Kill him,” he ordered.

The black-striped warrior crouched low, every hair on his pelt quivering with joy that Tigerstar had given him a chance to prove his loyalty to his new Clan. With a grunt of effort, he hurled himself at Stonefur.

Pity and fear throbbed through Firestar. He could see only one end to the fight. The blue-gray warrior was so weak that he would be no match for Darkstripe. Firestar wanted to leap into the clearing and fight on Stonefur's side, but he knew it would be suicidal in the presence of so many enemy cats. He knew that he had to hold back in the hope, however slight, of saving the apprentices. Firestar had scarcely known an ordeal worse than the one he faced now, remaining hidden while his friend was slaughtered.

Yet Stonefur's skills had not deserted him. Quick as lightning, he dropped backward so that instead of landing on his shoulders Darkstripe was faced with all four paws, claws extended to rip at his fur.

Firestar felt his throat tighten. He remembered a day during his apprenticeship when Stonefur's mother, Bluestar, had taught him that very move.
Bluestar, if you can see this, help him now!
he begged.

The two warriors were a clawing, screeching knot of fur on the floor of the clearing. The rest of the cats scrambled backward to give them space, still keeping the same eerie silence. They were so intent on the battle, Firestar wondered for a moment if this might be the best time to rescue the apprentices. But Tigerstar was still crouched on top of the Bonehill, with a clear view of the whole clearing, and he would easily see them coming.

Stonefur had fastened his teeth into Darkstripe's scruff and was trying to shake the dark warrior, but Darkstripe's greater size and strength were too much. He lost his grip and
the two warriors sprang apart, breathing hard. Blood was trickling from a scratch above Darkstripe's left eye, and clumps of fur were missing from his flank. Stonefur's pelt was even more ragged, and as he shook one forepaw spots of blood spattered on the ground.

“Get a move on, Darkstripe!” Blackfoot jeered. “You're fighting like a kittypet!”

With a hiss of fury Darkstripe launched another attack, but Stonefur was ready for him again. Slipping to one side, he raked his claws down Darkstripe's side, and followed up with a blow to his back leg as the dark warrior crashed past him. Stonefur staggered from the force of the impact, but by the time Darkstripe regained his paws, he had recovered. This time the RiverClan warrior went on the attack, bowling Darkstripe over and fastening teeth and claws in his neck.

Firestar heard Graystripe's intake of breath. His yellow eyes were blazing; on his other side Ravenpaw was sinking his unsheathed claws into the ground. Firestar felt hope burn in his belly. Was it possible that Stonefur could win?

But Tigerstar had no intention of letting Stonefur escape. As Darkstripe struggled vainly to break free, the massive tabby flicked his ears at Blackfoot. “Finish it,” he ordered.

The ShadowClan deputy flung himself into the battle. He bit Stonefur in the shoulder and dragged him off Darkstripe, ducking to avoid his flailing paws. Darkstripe sprang on Stonefur to hold his hindquarters down, while Blackfoot scored his claws across the blue-gray warrior's throat.

Stonefur let out a gurgling cry that was cut short. Both
TigerClan cats released him and stood back. Stonefur's body convulsed as blood welled from his throat.

A thin wailing noise went up from the watching cats, strengthening into a cry of triumph. Even Leopardstar, after a brief hesitation, joined in. The two apprentices were the only cats to remain silent, their terrified eyes fixed on the warrior who had died to save them.

Firestar could only stare in horror as Stonefur went limp and the last breath left his body.