The Darkest Hour (19 page)

Dismay kept Firestar's paws rooted to
the ground as he watched the newcomers approach. He noticed that some of them were wearing collars.

“Collars?”
Ashpaw spat behind him, echoing his thoughts. The apprentice's voice was sharp with disgust. “Look at them—they're
kittypets
! We won't have any trouble beating them.”

“Keep quiet,” his mentor, Dustpelt, warned quietly, “until we have the full measure of our enemy. We don't know anything about these cats yet.”

Firestar remained silent until all the strange cats had moved into the clearing and gathered around TigerClan. A huge black-and-white tom stepped out of their ranks and went to stand beside Tigerstar. Firestar presumed this was the leader of the new comers. He was almost as big as Tigerstar himself, and he was muscular and battle-scarred. Even though they wore collars, Firestar knew these cats were far from being pampered kittypets.

Behind the black-and-white warrior appeared a much smaller black cat, who stalked light-footed through the grass
to stand on Tigerstar's other side. Firestar could not imagine who he was; he looked more like a medicine cat than a warrior.

Firestar could feel every hair in his pelt tingling, and the air tasted thick, as if a storm were about to break. “So, Tigerstar,” he meowed, forcing his voice to remain steady. “Do you want to tell us who your new friends are?”

“This is BloodClan,” Tigerstar announced. “They come from Twolegplace. I have brought them to the forest to persuade you foolish cats to join with me. I knew you wouldn't have the sense to agree on your own.”

A hiss of outrage rippled through ThunderClan and WindClan. Firestar heard Thornclaw whisper, “Remember those rogues we scented the day I was made a warrior? I bet they came from BloodClan.”

He could well be right, Firestar thought. A patrol of these rogues from Twolegplace, checking out the forest to see what Tigerstar had to offer them. And what exactly had he offered? To share the forest in return for their help in battle?

“You see, Firestar?” Tigerstar's voice was exultant. “I am even more powerful than StarClan, for I have changed the Clans in the forest from four to two. TigerClan and BloodClan will rule together.”

Firestar stared at his enemy in alarm. There was no possibility of reasoning with Tigerstar now. His hunger for power had twisted him so that in his mind his own huge figure dominated everything, blotting out even the light of StarClan.

“No, Tigerstar,” he answered quietly. “If you want to fight, let us fight. StarClan will show who is more powerful.”

“You mouse-brained fool!” Tigerstar spat. “I was prepared to come here and talk with you today. Just remember that it was you who drove us to this. And when your Clan mates are dying around you, they will blame you with their last breath.” He swung around to face the mass of cats ranged behind him. “BloodClan, attack!”

Not a cat moved.

Tigerstar's amber eyes widened and he screeched, “Attack, I order you!”

Still none of the warriors moved, except for the small black cat who took a pace forward. He glanced toward Firestar. “I am Scourge, the leader of BloodClan,” he meowed, his voice cold and quiet. “Tigerstar, my warriors are not yours to command. They will attack when
I
tell them, and not before.”

The look Tigerstar gave him was incredulous and glittered with all the hatred he had ever shown to Firestar, as if he couldn't believe that this scrap of a cat was defying him. Firestar seized his opportunity. He paced forward until he stood right in front of the two leaders. Behind him, he heard Graystripe hiss, “Firestar, be careful!”

But this was no time for being careful. The very future of the forest was at stake, balanced on the breadth of a hair between Tigerstar's bloodthirsty quest for power, and the whims of the unknown BloodClan.

Now Firestar could see that the collar Scourge wore around his neck was studded with teeth—the teeth of dogs,
and…
cats'
teeth, too. Great StarClan! Did they kill their own kind and wear the teeth as trophies?

Others of the cats were wearing the same grisly ornaments. Firestar's belly clenched and his mind reeled with a vision of blood flowing down the sides of the hollow, washing around the cats' paws in a sticky, reeking tide. His terror was not just for himself and his own Clan, but for every cat in the forest, friends and enemies alike.

Would blood truly rule the forest, as Bluestar had prophesied? Had she meant that Blood
Clan
would rule? Firestar shot a scorching glance at Tigerstar, wanting to express all the hatred he felt for the cat who had brought them to this.

But Firestar knew he had to hold on to his self-control if he were to make any impression on the BloodClan cats. Dipping his head toward their leader, he meowed clearly, so all the cats could hear him, “Greetings, Scourge. I am Firestar, leader of ThunderClan. I wish I could say you are welcome in the forest. But you would not believe me if I did, and I have no wish to lie to you. Unlike your supposed ally here, I am a cat of honor.” He flicked his tail toward Tigerstar, trying to put all the contempt he felt into the single gesture. “If you've believed any promises he made to you, you're mistaken.”

“Tigerstar told me he had enemies in the forest.” There was all the cold of leaf-bare in the black cat's voice. When Firestar looked into his eyes it was like gazing into the deep places of the night, unrelieved by the smallest gleam of light from StarClan. “Why should I believe you instead of him?”

Firestar took a breath. This was the chance he had wanted all along, the chance he had missed at the last Gathering, when thunder and lightning had interrupted the meeting. At last he could stand in front of all the Clans of the forest and bring Tigerstar's dreadful history into the open. But now it was not just a matter of tarnishing Tigerstar's reputation, but of saving the whole forest from destruction.

“Cats of all Clans,” Firestar began, “and especially cats of BloodClan, you have no need to believe or disbelieve me. Tigerstar's crimes speak for themselves. When he was still a warrior of ThunderClan, he murdered our deputy, Redtail, hoping to be made deputy himself. First Lionheart was chosen as deputy, but when that noble warrior died in a fight with ShadowClan, Tigerstar achieved his ambition at last.”

He paused; a grim silence gripped the whole clearing, broken only by a contemptuous rumble from Tigerstar. “Mew away, little kittypet. It won't change anything.”

Firestar ignored him. “Being deputy wasn't enough,” he went on. “Tigerstar wanted to be leader of the Clan. He set a trap for Bluestar by the Thunderpath, but my own apprentice strayed into it instead. That's how Cinderpelt came by her crippled leg.”

A shocked murmur swept through the clearing. Except for BloodClan, they all knew Cinderpelt, and she was popular even with cats of other Clans.

“Then Tigerstar conspired with Brokentail, the former leader of ShadowClan, who was ThunderClan's prisoner,” Firestar told the listening cats. “He brought a pack of rogues
into ThunderClan camp, and tried to murder Bluestar with his own claws. I stopped him, and when ThunderClan had beaten off the attack we drove him into exile. As a rogue, he slaughtered yet another of our warriors, Runningwind. Then before we knew what he was up to, he had made himself leader of ShadowClan.”

Firestar paused and looked around him. He was not sure how BloodClan and their leader Scourge were taking all this, but he could see that he had the horrified attention of every other cat in the clearing. He steadied himself, wanting to be sure they heard the last, most dreadful part of his story.

“But Tigerstar still wanted revenge on ThunderClan. Three moons ago, a pack of dogs got loose in the forest. Tigerstar caught prey for them, then laid a trail of dead rabbits between the dogs' lair and the ThunderClan camp to lead them to us. He murdered one of our queens, Brindleface, and left her near the camp to give the dogs a taste for cat blood. If we hadn't found out in time to escape, the whole of ThunderClan would have been torn to pieces.”

“Good riddance,” Tigerstar growled.

“As it was,” Firestar forced himself to go on, “our leader, Bluestar, died the bravest death of any cat, saving me and all her Clan from the pack.”

He expected yowls of outrage, but only silence greeted him as his story came to an end. The eyes of every cat were fixed on him, stunned with shock.

Firestar glanced at Leopardstar, still standing with Blackfoot and Darkstripe a little way behind Tigerstar. The River-
Clan leader looked horrified. For a few heartbeats Firestar hoped that she might immediately break her agreement with Tigerstar and withdraw her Clan from his leadership, but she remained silent.

“This is Tigerstar's history,” Firestar meowed urgently, turning back to Scourge. “It all shows one thing—that he'll do anything for power. If he promised you a share of the forest, don't believe him. He won't give up one pawprint, not to you or any cat.”

Scourge's eyes narrowed; Firestar could see that he was thinking carefully about what he had heard, and hope flared inside him like a tiny flame. “Tigerstar told me what he was planning to do with the dogs when he visited me two moons ago.” The black cat turned his head so that his gaze rested on the leader of ShadowClan. “He did not tell me that his plan failed.”

“None of that matters now,” Tigerstar broke in roughly. “We have an agreement with you, Scourge. Fight beside me now, and you'll have all I offered you.”

“My Clan and I fight when I choose,” Scourge meowed. To Firestar he added, “I will think about what you have said. There will be no battle today.”

Tigerstar's fur bristled with rage and his tail lashed from side to side. His muscles bunched as he dropped into a crouch. “Traitor!” he screeched, and leaped at Scourge with claws extended.

Watching with horror, Firestar expected to see the smaller cat torn apart. He knew from bitter experience the strength
in Tigerstar's muscles. But Scourge whipped to one side, avoiding Tigerstar as he landed. When the massive tabby turned to face him, Scourge lashed out with his front paws. The pale leaf-bare sun glinted unnaturally on the tips of each talon. Firestar felt his blood run cold. Scourge's claws were reinforced with long, sharpened dogs' teeth.

One blow to his shoulder unbalanced Tigerstar. He fell on his side, exposing his belly, and Scourge's vicious claws sank into his throat. Blood welled out as the smaller cat ripped him down to the tail with a single slash.

A desperate scream of fury erupted from Tigerstar, then broke off with a ghastly choking sound. His body convulsed, limbs jerking and tail flailing. For a heartbeat a stillness settled over him, and Firestar knew he was falling into the trance of a leader who loses a life, to wake after a little while restored to strength and with the rest of his lives intact.

But not even StarClan could heal this terrible wound. Scourge stood back and watched coldly as Tigerstar's body convulsed again. The dark red blood kept on flowing, spreading across the ground in a ceaseless tide. Tigerstar let out another shriek; Firestar wanted to cover his ears so he didn't have to listen anymore, but he was frozen to the spot.

Again the massive tabby's body grew still for a heartbeat, but again the wound was too terrible to yield to the healing trance. Another spasm seized Tigerstar's body. His claws tore up clumps of grass in his agony, while his screeches turned from fury to terror.

He's dying nine times
, Firestar realized.
Oh, StarClan, no…

It was a death he would not have wished on any cat, not even Tigerstar, and he thought it would never be over.

When they saw what was happening to the leader they had believed was invincible, horrified yowling came from the warriors of TigerClan. Firestar realized that they were all breaking rank; several cats pushed roughly past him in their mad haste to flee from the clearing. From somewhere behind him he heard Tallstar call out to his own warriors, “Wait! Hold the line!”

Firestar knew he did not have to give his own warriors the same order. They would stand with him to the end.

Tigerstar was panting now, his fight for life exhausting him. Firestar caught a glimpse of his amber eyes, glazed with pain and fear and hatred. Then his body gave one last jerk and lay still.

Tigerstar was dead.

Frozen in disbelief, Firestar stared down at the lifeless body. His oldest enemy, the most dangerous cat in the forest, the cat he had expected to fight to the death—gone, just like that.

Firestar was left facing Scourge. The small black cat looked unmoved. Now Firestar knew not to underestimate him due to his size. He knew he had never faced a cat more dangerous than this, who in a single blow could destroy a leader with nine lives.

Behind Scourge, the cats of BloodClan moved forward as if they were about to attack, and Firestar shot a glance at his own warriors to make sure they were ready. They stood in line with the warriors of WindClan, and Firestar braced him
self to leap forward with them, but when he looked back at the enemy, Scourge raised one blood-soaked paw.

The cats behind him stopped.

“You see what happens to cats who defy BloodClan,” the black cat warned calmly. “Your friend here”—he gave a contemptuous flick with his tail toward Tigerstar's motionless body—“thought he could control us. He was wrong.”

“We don't want to control you,” Firestar rasped. “All we want is to lead our lives in peace. We're sorry that Tigerstar brought you here with lies. Please feel free to hunt before you go home.”

“Go home?” Scourge widened his eyes in scornful disbelief. “We're not going anywhere, forest fool. In the town where we come from, there are many, many cats, and live prey is scarce. Here in the forest we won't need to depend on Twoleg rubbish for our food.”