Warriors #6: The Darkest Hour (Warriors: The Prophecies Begin) by Erin Hunter

Author:Erin Hunter [Hunter, Erin]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2009-10-13T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

“No.” Graystripe’s voice rasped in his throat.

Firestar pressed closer to his friend, sharing his grief at Stonefur’s death and his anger that the RiverClan warrior’s courage had been worth nothing in an unfair fight.

Blackfoot looked down at Stonefur’s body in satisfaction.

Darkstripe whirled to confront the two apprentices. “Tigerstar,” he meowed, “let me kill them.”

Graystripe would have sprung forward then, in spite of anything Firestar could do, but before he could move Tigerstar shook his battle-scarred head. “Really, Darkstripe? A prisoner can defeat you, but you think you could take on two apprentices?”

Darkstripe bowed his head in shame. His leader’s eyes narrowed coldly as he stared at the two young cats. They were huddled together, trembling with shock. They hardly seemed to realize that their own lives were hanging by a hair.

“No,” Tigerstar meowed at last. “For now I will let them live. They may be useful to me alive.”

Firestar flashed a look at Graystripe, who returned his glance with mingled relief and apprehension in his eyes.

Tigerstar summoned Jaggedtooth. “Take the apprentices back to their prison.”

The ShadowClan warrior dipped his head and herded the two stunned cats away through the reeds. Graystripe’s hungry gaze followed them out of sight.

“The meeting is at an end,” Tigerstar declared.

At once the cats in the clearing began to slip away. Tigerstar leaped down from the Bonehill and vanished into the reeds, flanked by Blackfoot and Darkstripe. Eventually only Leopardstar was left. She padded forward until she stood over the broken body of her former deputy. Slowly she bent her head and nosed Stonefur’s torn gray pelt. If she meowed a last farewell, Firestar did not hear it, and after a moment she turned and followed Tigerstar through the reeds.

“Now!” Graystripe sprang to his paws. “Firestar, we’ve got to rescue my kits.”

“Yes, but don’t go rushing off,” Firestar warned him. “We have to make sure all the cats have gone.”

His friend’s body was quivering with suppressed tension. “I don’t care!” he spat. “If they try to stop us, I’ll rip them all apart.”

“The kits are safe for the moment,” murmured Ravenpaw. “There’s no need to take risks.”

Firestar cautiously raised his head above the level of the reeds. By now it was quite dark; the only light came from Silverpelt and a pale glow from the moon low in the sky. The ShadowClan and RiverClan scents were rapidly fading. The only sound was the dry rustle of wind in the reeds.

Crouching down again, Firestar murmured, “They’ve gone for now. This is our chance. We’ve got to find where they’re keeping the apprentices, and—”

“And get them away,” Graystripe interrupted. “Whatever it takes.”

Firestar nodded. “Ravenpaw, are you up for it? It will be dangerous.”

The loner’s eyes widened. “You think I’d leave, after we saw that? No way. I’m with you, Firestar.”

“Good.” Firestar blinked in gratitude. “I thought you would be.”

Beckoning his two friends with his tail, he led the way into the clearing, his pawsteps growing hesitant as he left the shelter of the reeds. He knew what he was doing was against the warrior code, but what Tigerstar had done had left him no alternative.

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