“I’ll send warriors to help them,” Tawnypelt promised. The ferns rustled as she hesitated. “Wait,” she hissed. “Take Mousewhisker with you. His eye’s hurt.” She leaped away and returned a moment later with the young warrior.

“I want to stay and fight,” Mousewhisker was protesting.

“Not with that eye,” Tawnypelt told him.

“I can see out of the other.”

“That’s not good enough.”

Jaypaw smelled blood. “You can come back when I’ve cleaned it up, and fight even better,” he promised.

Mousewhisker hesitated. “Okay,” he agreed. “But we have to be quick.”

Tawnypelt plunged back into battle.

“Come on,” Mousewhisker prompted.

Side by side, they ran along the edge of the Twoleg path, back toward camp. Mousewhisker pressed against him, steering him through the undergrowth spilling from the edge of the forest. Jaypaw’s head was full of the sounds of horror and spilling blood. The whole forest seemed alive with wailing and clawing and the ripping of fur.

All four Clans were fighting, and StarClan had told him nothing.

CHAPTER 15

Lionpaw lunged at the last RiverClan warrior. The other three had fled wailing into the forest already, but this one was cornered, backed up against a bramble so tangled that even a ThunderClan cat would think twice about trying to escape through it.

Mosspelt. Lionpaw recognized the blue-eyed tortoiseshell from Gatherings. But this wasn’t a Gathering, and he was going to make her sorry she’d ever set paw on his land.

She crouched, trembling, in front of him as he padded toward her, rage darkening his vision until all he could see was her round, frightened eyes.

“Lionpaw!” Firestar’s sharp mew made him freeze.

Mosspelt darted past him and disappeared into the trees.

“Now look what you’ve done!” Lionpaw turned on his leader. “I could have finished her off.”

Wariness glittered in Firestar’s eyes. “I think she knew she was beaten.”

Lionpaw glanced down at his fur, clumped with blood, some fresh, some drying. What had he done? In the heat of battle he wasn’t always sure how he fought. He simply smelled blood and felt flesh tear beneath his claws.

“What about WindClan?” Lionpaw wondered if the rest of the invaders had been beaten yet.

“We’ve just seen the last one back over the border,” Firestar told him.

Ashfur and Berrynose slid from the undergrowth, Spiderleg and Poppyfrost beside them. Ashfur was sticky with blood. One of Berrynose’s ears was shredded at the tip. Spiderleg was limping badly, and Poppyfrost, ruffled and bleeding, was round eyed with shock.

“What about the other patrols?” Lionpaw insisted. “We should go help them now that we’ve finished here.”

Firestar flicked his tail. “Spiderleg’s got a bad belly wound. We need to get him back to camp before we check the rest of the territory.”