I don’t want the Clan to start thinking about those times again. I have to protect Hollyleaf ’s memory!

At last he heard the sound of paw steps hurtling through the undergrowth. Spiderleg reappeared at a run, with Cloudtail, Birchfall, and Foxleap just behind. Foxleap dashed up to the edge of the hole, leaning over to see his littermate.

“We’re here! We’ll get you out soon,” he encouraged her.

Icecloud blinked up at him. “Hurry!”

“We need something to pull her out with,” Birchfall thought out loud. “Maybe a long, thick tendril. Not bramble, but something like ivy or bindweed.”

“There’s ivy on that tree.” Cloudtail whisked his tail around to point at an ancient oak tree whose trunk was covered in glossy dark green leaves. Foxleap scrambled up the tree and bit off a long tendril; as soon as it was loose Cloudtail tugged it free and bounded back with it trailing behind him.

“Wrap one end around that sapling,” Birchfall directed, angling his ears toward a young ash tree that grew near the hole. “Then we can drop the other end down to Icecloud.”

When the ivy tendril was secure, Foxleap dangled the free end down to his sister. Icecloud gripped it in her teeth, but as soon as the other cats started to haul it up she let go and dropped back onto the mound of earth.

“I’m too heavy!” she gasped. “I can’t hold on.”

“Wrap it around yourself, then,” Lionblaze suggested.

Icecloud tried, but it was obvious that her injured shoulder was hampering her. “It’s no use!” Her voice rose to a wail. “I’ll be stuck down here forever!”

“Nonsense,” Lionblaze mewed. “We’ll think of something.”

“What if we drop more earth and stones down the hole?” Spiderleg suggested, peering down. “We could make that heap big enough so she can climb out.”

“It might work,” Birchfall murmured. “But we’d risk burying her….”

“No, please don’t!” Icecloud’s panicky mew came up from the bottom of the hole.

The sound of more paw steps approaching distracted Lionblaze. He turned to see Jayfeather and Blossomfall skirting the bramble thicket, and headed back up the slope to meet them.

“I heard Spiderleg telling the Clan what happened,” Jayfeather meowed as Lionblaze bounded up. He paused; Lionblaze could tell that he knew this was part of the same tunnel where Hollyleaf had disappeared.

Lionblaze waited until Blossomfall had joined the other cats around the hole. “There’s nothing there apart from Icecloud that I can see,” he whispered. “The mudfall is farther down the slope.”

“You can’t let any other cats go down!” Jayfeather hissed.

“I know that!” Lionblaze retorted. Belly churning again, he led Jayfeather the few paw steps to join the other cats.

“I’m going in,” Foxleap announced. “You can lower me into the hole, I’ll tie the tendril around Icecloud, and then you can pull her up.”

“No,” Lionblaze said as he stepped forward. “It’s too dangerous. I’ll go.”

“What?” Birchfall lashed his tail. “Don’t be mouse-brained! You’re too heavy.”