#accept i’m brambleclaw’s mate‚ not yours. you can’t keep trying to punish brambleclaw for something that was always meant to be. as: i have

[splashtailstar]

I can recite the entire fire scene from memory

And by that, I mean I literally recite it out loud as I drive to school

[billymayslesbian]

Before Lionblaze could argue, another shape burst through the billowing smoke to stand beside Squirrelflight. His eyes glared; his gray fur was matted together and stuck with bits of burnt leaf and twig. Confused by the smoke and flames, Hollyleaf almost thought she was seeing one of her warrior ancestors, until she recognized Ashfur.

Squirrelflight dropped the branch. “Help me push it into the fire!” she yowled.

Grabbing the branch in strong jaws, Ashfur thrust it past the wall of flame and into the ever-narrowing patch of ground where Hollyleaf and her brothers huddled. But Hollyleaf didn’t feel any sense of relief. There was a look in Ashfur’s eyes that she didn’t understand: the look of a cat who had just spotted an unexpected juicy bit of prey.

The branch made a bridge through the flames, but Ashfur stood at the other end of it, blocking the way to safety. Lionblaze nudged Jayfeather to his paws; Hollyleaf took a step toward the branch, then paused. She felt a cold weight in herbelly when she looked into Ashfur’s glittering blue eyes.

“Ashfur, get out of the way.” Squirrelflight’s voice was puzzled. “Let them get out!”

“Brambleclaw isn’t here to look after them now,” Ashfur sneered.

Hollyleaf felt her fur beginning to rise. What did Ashfur mean?

Lionblaze’s golden pelt was bristling, too. “What have you done with my father?” he howled through the flame.

Ashfur looked at him pityingly; his eyes were twin points of fire amid the burning forest. “Why would I waste my time with Brambleclaw?”

The main branch was too solid to catch fire easily, but the leaves on it had shriveled and the twigs were beginning to smoke. Hollyleaf realized that they didn’t have much time before their bridge to safety would be ablaze.

Squirrelflight staggered up to Ashfur. Hollyleaf had never seen her mother so angry. Her fur bristled with fury; she looked like a warrior of TigerClan. Yet it was obvious that the climb to the top of the cliff, followed by her struggle with the branch, had weakened her, and she was exhausted.

“Your quarrel with Brambleclaw has to stop,” she hissed. “Too many moons have passed. You have to accept that I’m Brambleclaw’s mate, not yours. You can’t keep trying to punish Brambleclaw for something that was always meant to be.”

Ashfur’s ears flicked up in surprise. “I have no quarrel with Brambleclaw.”

Hollyleaf exchanged a shocked glance with Lionblaze. “That’s not how it looks to me,” he muttered.

“I couldn’t care less about Brambleclaw,” Ashfur continued. “It’s not his fault he fell for a faithless she-cat.”

Faithless? A growl began to build in Hollyleaf ’s throat, but then she stopped and watched the cats on the other side of the blazing branches. Something ominous was taking place in front of her, and even with flame roaring around them she felt a sudden chill. She shrank closer to Lionblaze and Jayfeather, whose head was up, his sightless eyes intent, as if he could see the confrontation between his mother and Ashfur.

“I know you think I’ve never forgiven Brambleclaw for stealing you from me, but you’re wrong, and so is every cat that thinks so. My quarrel is with you, Squirrelflight.” Ashfur’s voice shook with rage. “It always has been.”

Horrified, Hollyleaf took a step back and felt her hind paws begin to slip on the edge of the cliff. Her head spun as lightning stabbed out and thunder drowned all other sounds, even the roaring fire. For a heartbeat she dangled over empty air, and she let out a strangled yowl.

Then she felt firm teeth meet in her scruff; blinking against the smoke, she realized that Lionblaze was hauling her back to safety. But there was no safety: only the hungry flames, and Ashfur blocking the end of the branch with fury in his eyes. Fiery sparks floated down on all three young cats, scorching their fur, and flames licked the underside of the branch; fear flooded afresh through Hollyleaf when she saw that it was already beginning to smolder.

Ashfur has to let us get out! But Hollyleaf couldn’t find any words to plead with him. What was happening here didn’t have anything to do with them, even if they died because of it.

“All this was moons ago.” Squirrelflight sounded puzzled. “Ashfur, I had no idea you were still upset.”

“Upset?” Ashfur echoed. “I’m not upset. You have no idea how much pain I’m in. It’s like being cut open every day, bleeding onto the stones. I can’t understand how any of you failed to see the blood. . . .”

His eyes clouded and his voice took on a wild, distant tone, as if he could see the blood spilling out of him now, sizzling on the burning ground. Terror burst through Hollyleaf and she pressed closer to her brothers. This cat was more dangerous than the storm or the fire, or the fall lurking perilously close to her hind paws.

Desperately she tried to step onto the end of the branch. At once Ashfur rounded on her, fully conscious again, his teeth bared in a snarl.

“Stay there!” Turning to face Squirrelflight but keeping one paw on the branch, he hissed, “I can’t believe you didn’t know how much you hurt me. You are the blind one, not Jayfeather. Who do you think sent Firestar the message to go down to the lake, where the fox trap was? I wanted him to die, to take your father away so you’d know the real meaning of pain.”

Hollyleaf ’s shocked gaze met Lionblaze’s. “He tried to kill Firestar?” she gasped. “He’s mad!”

Determination glittered in Lionblaze’s eyes, and he bunched his muscles for a giant leap. “I’m going to fight him.”

“No!” Hollyleaf fastened her teeth in his shoulder fur. “You can’t!” Her words were muffled now. “He’ll just push you into the fire.”

“Brambleclaw saved Firestar then,” Ashfur went on to Squirrelflight. “But he’s not here now. He’s not here—but your kits are.”

Squirrelflight’s eyes blazed. For a heartbeat Hollyleaf thought she was going to pounce on the gray warrior, but she knew that exhausted and in pain, her mother would have no chance. Squirrelflight seemed to realize it, too. She drew herself up, head high; she was trembling, but her voice was clear and brave.

“Enough, Ashfur. Your quarrel is with me. These young cats have done nothing to hurt you. Do what you like with me, but let them out of the fire.”

“You don’t understand.” Ashfur looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time; his voice was puzzled and petulant. “This is the only way to make you feel the same pain that you caused me. You tore my heart out when you chose Brambleclaw over me. Anything I did to you would never hurt as much. But your kits . . .” He looked through the flames at Hollyleaf and her brothers, his eyes narrowing to dark blue slits. “If you watch them die, then you’ll know the pain I felt.”

The flames crackled threateningly closer; Hollyleaf felt as if the heat was about to sear her pelt into ashes. She edged backward, only to feel the edge of the hollow give way under her hind paws. The three of them were pressed tightly together, so close that if one of them lost their balance, all three would be dragged off the cliff. Hollyleaf couldn’t control the trembling that shook her whole body as her glance flickered between the cliff and the fire.

Jayfeather was crouched close to the ground, looking tinier than ever with his pelt slicked flat by the rain. Lionblaze’s claws were unsheathed, glinting as the lightning flashed out again, but the tension in his haunches didn’t come from preparing to leap at Ashfur; it came from the effort of keeping himself on the top of the cliff.

Squirrelflight raised her head, her gaze locked on Ashfur’s crazed eyes. “Kill them, then,” she meowed. “You won’t hurt me that way.”

Ashfur opened his jaws to reply, but said nothing. Hollyleaf and her brothers stared at their mother. What was Squirrelflight saying?

Squirrelflight took a step away from them, and glanced carelessly over her shoulder. Her green eyes were fiercer than Hollyleaf had ever seen them, with an expression she couldn’t read.

“If you really want to hurt me, you’ll have to find a better way than that,” Squirrelflight snarled. “They are not my kits.”

[thistleclaws-hatred]

Ashfur’s Revenge - Novella - Chapter Six

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This novella is inspired by @dark-rose-designs ’s post.

This is the infamous fire scene. I really tried my best with this one! Some of the dialogue has been taken straight from “Long Shadows” chapters 22-23, so that way it seemed more like canon. I only took dialogue though, nothing else, and most of the dialogue in this is mine. The parts that are from the book though, are obviously not mine and I do not claim them to be.

The lightning strike had been enough to wake everyone up. Warriors streamed out of the den, queens poked their heads out of the nursery and Firestar’s voice sent chills down Ashfur’s spine. “Fire! Evacuate the camp!”

“Meet at the old twoleg nest!” Brambleclaw called to everyone as he ran out of the camp, Thornclaw, Brightheart, and Cloudtail right behind him. Dustpelt paused to get Ferncloud, Daisy, and Millie out of the camp. He and Ferncloud helped Millie with her three kits. Spiderleg pushed them aside to grab Toadkit, while Daisy gripped onto Rosekit and they all ran off. Graystripe raced over to Millie, thanking Duspelt and Ferncloud as the group exited the camp.

Firestar and Sandstorm were helping Mousefur and Longtail out of the clearing. Foxpaw and Icepaw had been given important herbs by Leafpool to carry safely out of camp. Ashfur froze, where was Squirrelflight?

Another bolt of lightning struck a tree and a large branch came crashing down into the camp. Ashfur squinted through the flames. He could see the remaining warriors managing their way out, but saw Hollyleaf slowly getting Jayfeather out of the medicine den with Lionblaze right next to them. Another branch crumbled into the clearing, blocking the entrance and exit to the camp. Ashfur froze. Now’s my chance!

It was like StarClan sent him a way to punish Squirrelflight. He could pick off her kits one-by-one during the fire and no one would be the wiser as their bodies burned to dust. All his moons of planning, all his failed attempts, everyone that he had lost. Firestar lived and Hawkfrost died. Lionblaze, Lionpaw at the time, survived the battle with ShadowClan, leaving Ashfur wounded. Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw flaunted their love in front of everyone, for everyone and especially Ashfur to see. Now all of his hatred came to the surface. He felt free, free at last. The flames didn’t even bother him as he looked around for his victims.

Ashfur saw that Squirrelflight was still in the camp, trying desperately to get her kits out of the clearing before they turned to ash. Ashfur watched them as they scaled the side of the cliff, with Squirrelflight leaping to safety. Only her three precious kits remained. He saw that they were trapped and moved to help them.

Ashfur moved his way over to them, seeing Hollyleaf drag Lionblaze back. That mouse-brain was going to try to jump the gap. He pushed one of the thick branches in between the gap, hauling himself up to partial safety and moving the branch better into position.

Lionblaze flashed him a look of gratitude and tried to move across, but Ashfur stood in his way. “No.”

“Ashfur, what are you doing? Let me cross!” Lionblaze growled over the crackling flames.

“No!” He spat, turning around to face Squirrelflight. The ginger she-cat was blending in with the flames, but there was no mistaking those green eyes.

“Ashfur, let them through!” She meowed, her voice high.

“Never! You will learn what it’s like to suffer! Your kits will die!” Ashfur snarled, arching his back.

“Let them through Ashfur, this is between us. Do whatever you want to me!” She was begging now. Her pleads reached his ears and he purred. He liked her begging. 

“No matter what I do to you, it will never compare to what you’ve done to me! You and your precious Brambleclaw!”

"Your quarrel with Brambleclaw has to stop. Too many moons have passed. You have to accept that I'm Brambleclaw's mate, not yours. You can't keep trying to punish Brambleclaw for something that was always meant to be." Squirrelflight meowed, her voice turning softer. “I’m sorry that things didn’t go the way you wanted, but this is not how warriors should act. Let them go, they are innocent!”

“They are as much innocent as you are dear Squirrelflight. I tried for so long to get you to notice me. I brought you the best fresh-kill, I protected you during battle, I did everything for you!” Ashfur spat.

“I never needed that! Brambleclaw understands that I am my own cat, not just his mate. You can’t seem to understand that I don’t need protecting, you’re so wrapped up in your own fantasy you can’t see how insane you look!” Squirrelflight retorted, taking a step forward. “I never knew how upset you were.”

“Upset?” Ashfur echoed. “I’m not upset. You have no idea how much pain I’m in. It’s like being cut open every day, bleeding onto the stones. I can’t understand how any of you failed to see the blood.” He looked off in the distance, he could see something. Waves of blood covering every inch of the camp. His blood. He had trekked all over these woods, all over the camp, he had left his blood everywhere. It was in the nursery and the fresh-kill pile, all over the warriors’ den, his fellow clanmates were soaked red with his blood. How could no one see it?

Ashfur spun around to face the three warriors, and felt pleased as they pressed closer together. Hollyleaf had a look of pure terror in her eyes. He felt powerful and strong, nothing could stop him now! He dragged his claws along the rocks, hearing them screech as they sharpened.

“Ashfur this is ridiculous! Let them go now. You can kill me, have your way with me, do whatever you want with me, just let them go! I’ll bear your kits, drown myself, none of this has to happen!” Squirrelflight stepped onto the branch.

Ashfur spun around and roared, “Have my kits now will you? Now you will? Now do you see how much of a mate I would be for you? Brambleclaw is nothing! You are nothing! These kits will die slowly and painfully and it will be all your fault.”

“Ashfur, please,” Squirrelflight was begging again. That felt good. 

“So many moons I spent trying to get you to feel my pain. You’re a mouse-brained fool Squirrelflight! I can't believe you didn't know how much you hurt me. You are the blind one, not Jayfeather. Who do you think sent Firestar the message to go down to the lake, where the fox trap was? I wanted him to die, to take your father away so you'd know the real meaning of pain."

“You...You plotted with Hawkfrost?” She was in disbelief.

“We used to meet almost every night. That tom had my heart more than you ever would! And he actually cared about me, unlike you. You wouldn’t have cared if I turned to crowfood!” Ashfur snarled.

“Ashfur, that’s not true. You’re a warrior of ThunderClan and my friend, I would’ve fought beside you in battle after battle,” Squirrelflight retorted, “But you’re so blinded by hatred you cannot see your own failures.”

The fire burned closer, almost scorching his fur. Ashfur felt alive. “I’m going to fight him,” he heard Lionblaze behind him.

“He’ll just push you into the fire,” Hollyleaf reasonsed.

Ashfur looked at them over his shoulder and laughed dangerously, “I would love to fight you Lionblaze, to tear at your throat and watch you bleed! Brambleclaw isn’t here to save you or anyone else here. Let’s have some fun.”

He faced Squirrelflight once more. He saw the she-cat prepare to pounce and smirked, bunching his muscles. Embers began to fall all around them. Green eyes met blue and Squirrelflight stopped. She stood up, exhausted by her wound and smoke inhalation and tried once more to reason with Ashfur, “Enough, Ashfur. Your quarrel is with me. These young cats have done nothing to hurt you. Do what you like with me, but let them out of the fire.”

“You don’t understand.” Ashfur looked at her as if he was seeing  her for the first  time;  his voice was puzzled and petulant. “This is the only way to make you feel the same pain that you caused me. You tore my heart out when you chose Brambleclaw over me. Anything I did to you would never hurt as much. But your kits...” He looked through the flames at Hollyleaf and her brothers, his eyes narrowing to dark blue slits. “If you watch them die, then you’ll know the pain I felt.”

Time seemed to slow down. Ashfur spun around again and began stalking towards Hollyleaf, Lionblaze, and Jayfeather. His claws made a sickening noise and drool dripped from his jaws. His eyes were wild, more wild and crazy than the fire that surrounded them. His fangs gleamed in the raging flames, and he shook his head back and forth, sending strands of saliva all over the cliff.

Ashfur saw Lionblaze’s claws were unsheathed, glowing with another crack of lightning. The storm raged on above them, slicking back all of their fur. “Poor little Lionblaze, always so brave, but now...Now you’ll blaze for sure!” Ashfur took another step forward as a strike of lightning illuminated his crazed gaze and glistening teeth.

Hollyleaf had her front leg in front of Jayfeather, as if she could protect him. Ashfur laughed again, tilting his head back and letting out a sickening roar of triumph. From behind him, Squirrelflight spoke once more, “Kill them, then,” she meowed. “You won’t hurt me that way.”

Ashfur turned around, “Is this some kind of joke? Because I’m not laughing and it won’t save your kits.”

“If you really want to hurt me, you’ll have to find a better way than that,”  Squirrelflight  snarled. “They are not my kits.”

Ashfur felt his whole world stop. Not her kits? What did she mean? He shook his head, sending water flying, “You’re lying.”

“Did you see me kit them? Nurse them? Show any signs of bearing kits? Did I stay with them until they were apprenticed?” Squirrelflight asked. 

Ashfur felt his eye twitch. “Who else knows?” He snarled, dragging his claws acros the rock once more.

“No one. I fooled everyone, even Brambleclaw,” her voice broke as she mentioned his name, “They are not my kits!”

“Then who’s are they?” Ashfur spat. When Squirrelflight hesitated, he began stalking towards her. If the kits were not hers, then they were of no use to him. He raised a paw, letting his claws shine in the raging flames.

“Leafpool’s...” She whispered, just loud enough for Ashfur to hear. Ashfur twitched, tilting his head to the side and lashing his tail.

“And what will the clan think when I tell them? Do you really think that Brambleclaw will remain by your side? That Firestar and Sandstorm will ever look at you the same?” Ashfur’s voice had turned dark once more. He felt ripe with power, like a leader who just got their nine lives.

“You would tell them?” Squirrelflight looked up in disbelief.

“That is an excellent way to hurt you Squirrelflight,” Ashfur growled. “If you thought I would keep this secret, then you are just as dumb as Scourge when Tigerstar promised him equal hunting rights! I will break your spirit, make you lose everything you love. I will take away your clan, Brambleclaw, your sister, your parents...Everything!”

Ashfur ran away, letting all four cats live. He ran as fast as he could, his mind reeling. He roared, leaping up and knocking down an entire branch from a tree with a powerful strike. He landed and huffed, sucking in as much clear air as he could. “Not her kits!” he hissed to himself.

He ran around in circles a few times, letting the fact settle in his mind. He heard their voices, their stupid voices. They didn’t come towards him though, they went towards the abandoned twoleg house. Ashfur had the power to destroy all of them. If they really were Leafpool’s kits, then they were medicine cat kits and that would hurt Leafpool as well, further damaging Squirrelflight.

Ashfur felt giddy, he was sure his pelt and paws were scorched, but he could feel no pain, only pure unadulterated bliss. He walked down to the lake and went in, cooling off his paws and pelt. Squirrelflight will pay a thousand times over. She will know what it is like to suffer!

[billymayslesbian]

Before Lionblaze could argue, another shape burst through the billowing smoke to stand beside Squirrelflight. His eyes glared; his gray fur was matted together and stuck with bits of burnt leaf and twig. Confused by the smoke and flames, Hollyleaf almost thought she was seeing one of her warrior ancestors, until she recognized Ashfur.

Squirrelflight dropped the branch. “Help me push it into the fire!” she yowled.

Grabbing the branch in strong jaws, Ashfur thrust it past the wall of flame and into the ever-narrowing patch of ground where Hollyleaf and her brothers huddled. But Hollyleaf didn’t feel any sense of relief. There was a look in Ashfur’s eyes that she didn’t understand: the look of a cat who had just spotted an unexpected juicy bit of prey.

The branch made a bridge through the flames, but Ashfur stood at the other end of it, blocking the way to safety. Lionblaze nudged Jayfeather to his paws; Hollyleaf took a step toward the branch, then paused. She felt a cold weight in herbelly when she looked into Ashfur’s glittering blue eyes.

“Ashfur, get out of the way.” Squirrelflight’s voice was puzzled. “Let them get out!”

“Brambleclaw isn’t here to look after them now,” Ashfur sneered.

Hollyleaf felt her fur beginning to rise. What did Ashfur mean?

Lionblaze’s golden pelt was bristling, too. “What have you done with my father?” he howled through the flame.

Ashfur looked at him pityingly; his eyes were twin points of fire amid the burning forest. “Why would I waste my time with Brambleclaw?”

The main branch was too solid to catch fire easily, but the leaves on it had shriveled and the twigs were beginning to smoke. Hollyleaf realized that they didn’t have much time before their bridge to safety would be ablaze.

Squirrelflight staggered up to Ashfur. Hollyleaf had never seen her mother so angry. Her fur bristled with fury; she looked like a warrior of TigerClan. Yet it was obvious that the climb to the top of the cliff, followed by her struggle with the branch, had weakened her, and she was exhausted.

“Your quarrel with Brambleclaw has to stop,” she hissed. “Too many moons have passed. You have to accept that I’m Brambleclaw’s mate, not yours. You can’t keep trying to punish Brambleclaw for something that was always meant to be.”

Ashfur’s ears flicked up in surprise. “I have no quarrel with Brambleclaw.”

Hollyleaf exchanged a shocked glance with Lionblaze. “That’s not how it looks to me,” he muttered.

“I couldn’t care less about Brambleclaw,” Ashfur continued. “It’s not his fault he fell for a faithless she-cat.”

Faithless? A growl began to build in Hollyleaf ’s throat, but then she stopped and watched the cats on the other side of the blazing branches. Something ominous was taking place in front of her, and even with flame roaring around them she felt a sudden chill. She shrank closer to Lionblaze and Jayfeather, whose head was up, his sightless eyes intent, as if he could see the confrontation between his mother and Ashfur.

“I know you think I’ve never forgiven Brambleclaw for stealing you from me, but you’re wrong, and so is every cat that thinks so. My quarrel is with you, Squirrelflight.” Ashfur’s voice shook with rage. “It always has been.”

Horrified, Hollyleaf took a step back and felt her hind paws begin to slip on the edge of the cliff. Her head spun as lightning stabbed out and thunder drowned all other sounds, even the roaring fire. For a heartbeat she dangled over empty air, and she let out a strangled yowl.

Then she felt firm teeth meet in her scruff; blinking against the smoke, she realized that Lionblaze was hauling her back to safety. But there was no safety: only the hungry flames, and Ashfur blocking the end of the branch with fury in his eyes. Fiery sparks floated down on all three young cats, scorching their fur, and flames licked the underside of the branch; fear flooded afresh through Hollyleaf when she saw that it was already beginning to smolder.

Ashfur has to let us get out! But Hollyleaf couldn’t find any words to plead with him. What was happening here didn’t have anything to do with them, even if they died because of it.

“All this was moons ago.” Squirrelflight sounded puzzled. “Ashfur, I had no idea you were still upset.”

“Upset?” Ashfur echoed. “I’m not upset. You have no idea how much pain I’m in. It’s like being cut open every day, bleeding onto the stones. I can’t understand how any of you failed to see the blood. . . .”

His eyes clouded and his voice took on a wild, distant tone, as if he could see the blood spilling out of him now, sizzling on the burning ground. Terror burst through Hollyleaf and she pressed closer to her brothers. This cat was more dangerous than the storm or the fire, or the fall lurking perilously close to her hind paws.

Desperately she tried to step onto the end of the branch. At once Ashfur rounded on her, fully conscious again, his teeth bared in a snarl.

“Stay there!” Turning to face Squirrelflight but keeping one paw on the branch, he hissed, “I can’t believe you didn’t know how much you hurt me. You are the blind one, not Jayfeather. Who do you think sent Firestar the message to go down to the lake, where the fox trap was? I wanted him to die, to take your father away so you’d know the real meaning of pain.”

Hollyleaf ’s shocked gaze met Lionblaze’s. “He tried to kill Firestar?” she gasped. “He’s mad!”

Determination glittered in Lionblaze’s eyes, and he bunched his muscles for a giant leap. “I’m going to fight him.”

“No!” Hollyleaf fastened her teeth in his shoulder fur. “You can’t!” Her words were muffled now. “He’ll just push you into the fire.”

“Brambleclaw saved Firestar then,” Ashfur went on to Squirrelflight. “But he’s not here now. He’s not here—but your kits are.”

Squirrelflight’s eyes blazed. For a heartbeat Hollyleaf thought she was going to pounce on the gray warrior, but she knew that exhausted and in pain, her mother would have no chance. Squirrelflight seemed to realize it, too. She drew herself up, head high; she was trembling, but her voice was clear and brave.

“Enough, Ashfur. Your quarrel is with me. These young cats have done nothing to hurt you. Do what you like with me, but let them out of the fire.”

“You don’t understand.” Ashfur looked at her as if he was seeing her for the first time; his voice was puzzled and petulant. “This is the only way to make you feel the same pain that you caused me. You tore my heart out when you chose Brambleclaw over me. Anything I did to you would never hurt as much. But your kits . . .” He looked through the flames at Hollyleaf and her brothers, his eyes narrowing to dark blue slits. “If you watch them die, then you’ll know the pain I felt.”

The flames crackled threateningly closer; Hollyleaf felt as if the heat was about to sear her pelt into ashes. She edged backward, only to feel the edge of the hollow give way under her hind paws. The three of them were pressed tightly together, so close that if one of them lost their balance, all three would be dragged off the cliff. Hollyleaf couldn’t control the trembling that shook her whole body as her glance flickered between the cliff and the fire.

Jayfeather was crouched close to the ground, looking tinier than ever with his pelt slicked flat by the rain. Lionblaze’s claws were unsheathed, glinting as the lightning flashed out again, but the tension in his haunches didn’t come from preparing to leap at Ashfur; it came from the effort of keeping himself on the top of the cliff.

Squirrelflight raised her head, her gaze locked on Ashfur’s crazed eyes. “Kill them, then,” she meowed. “You won’t hurt me that way.”

Ashfur opened his jaws to reply, but said nothing. Hollyleaf and her brothers stared at their mother. What was Squirrelflight saying?

Squirrelflight took a step away from them, and glanced carelessly over her shoulder. Her green eyes were fiercer than Hollyleaf had ever seen them, with an expression she couldn’t read.

“If you really want to hurt me, you’ll have to find a better way than that,” Squirrelflight snarled. “They are not my kits.”