STARLIGHT

Brambleclaw angled his ears in the direction they had been going. “Up ahead.”

“They must be rogues or loners.” Crowfeather sounded concerned. “Or maybe some other Clan has already staked a claim here.”

The suggestion worried Brambleclaw for a moment; then he comforted himself with the memory of stars shining in the lake. If StarClan had brought them here, then there could be no other warrior ancestors watching over this territory. StarClan had been silent and invisible while the Clans travelled through the mountains, where the Tribe of Endless Hunting watched over their former home.

“Maybe they’re just passing through,” he meowed. “But we ought to check it out.”

“I don’t think it’s important now.” Mistyfoot waved her tail as Brambleclaw opened his jaws to protest. “All right, all right. But you can tell the leaders why it took us so long to get back.”

“Fine,” Brambleclaw agreed, before heading through the trees in the direction of the scent. Soon they came to a low wall of rough grey stone with a Twoleg nest beyond it.

“Twolegs!” Tawnypelt sounded disgusted. “Those must be kittypets we can smell.”

Squirrelflight rolled her eyes. “All this fuss about kitty pets!”

“You stay here,” Brambleclaw mewed softly. “I’m going to take a closer look.”

“What for?” Mistyfoot’s tail twitched impatiently, but she didn’t say anything else when Brambleclaw crept forward.

With his belly close to the ground, he got as close to the wall as he could before leaping to the top. The sunlight was almost gone by now, and shadows were gathering in the Twoleg garden. Nothing stirred. Brambleclaw was about to jump down for a closer look when he heard the sound of claws on the stone beside him, and Squirrelflight’s voice exclaimed, “Catmint!”

“I thought I told you to stay back there,” Brambleclaw hissed.

Squirrelflight gave him an innocent look. “Did you? Sorry. Anyway, the medicine cats will be interested to hear that we’ve found a supply of catmint.”

“That was well scented,” Brambleclaw admitted grudgingly. “Now if you must come, stay with me, and for StarClan’s sake keep quiet!”

He dropped into the garden behind a clump of whiskery Twoleg plants. Squirrelflight landed softly beside him, and together they crept closer to the Twoleg nest. The scent of kittypets was very strong: two of them, Brambleclaw thought. He was about to suggest going back when a light flashed on in the nest and he found himself blinking in the yellow glow. Instinctively he slid to one side, back into the shadows, and watched as a Twoleg appeared and began to pull pelts across to hide the light.

“Squirrelflight?” he whispered. “Where are you? Let’s get out of here.”

Squirrelflight’s voice came from the other side of the patch of light. “Er . . . Brambleclaw, you might want to rethink that.”

At first Brambleclaw couldn’t see her in the fast-gathering darkness. Then as the Twoleg hid the last of the light he spotted her, close to the wall of the nest. Her back was arched and her fur fluffed out so she looked almost twice her size. Two angry kittypets faced her, trapping her against the wall.

Brambleclaw stared in disbelief. In spite of their hostile encounter with a kittypet at the start of their journey, he still expected most kittypets to be small and soft—no danger to a trained warrior. But these two looked lean and dangerous, their muscles sharply etched beneath sleek pelts. The nearest to him, a big black-and-white tom, had one ear that was torn jaggedly, proving he was no stranger to fights.

In the moment that Brambleclaw stood frozen, the tom lashed out at Squirrelflight. She shrank back with a furious hiss. “Leave me alone, kittypet!”