“What could happen here?” Rosepetal flicked her ears dismissively as she looked around at the peaceful forest, the trees covered by the green mist of approaching newleaf. “Even the bees are sleepy!”

Her last few words were drowned by the screech of a cat from somewhere close by. “Help! Dog!”

Lionblaze froze. “That’s Bumblestripe!”

“Go!” Cinderheart urged him. When he cast a worried glance at the two younger cats she added, “I’ll keep them safe. Just go!”

Lionblaze leaped over the fallen tree and plunged through the undergrowth, back in the direction of the camp. His heart began to pound as he heard the deep-throated barking of a dog, a defiant cat-shriek cutting across it. Bursting out of a clump of bracken, Lionblaze halted at the edge of a clearing where Bumblestripe, his back arched and his pale fur bristling, stood nose-to-nose with a huge black dog.

“Stay back!” Bumblestripe yowled, stretching out one paw with claws extended. “Stay back or I’ll shred your ears!”

The dog’s mouth gaped, its tongue lolling out between sharp white fangs. It sprang at Bumblestripe; before Lionblaze could do anything, the young tom darted forward, away from the cover of the brambles behind him, and fled across the clearing with the dog snapping at his paws. Bumblestripe clawed his way up the nearest tree and balanced on the lowest branch, looking down. The dog jumped up at him, yelping; Bumblestripe’s dangling tail was no more than a mouse-length away from the deadly paws.

Lionblaze charged forward, letting out an earsplitting yowl. The dog stopped jumping and whipped around, fixing its yellow-eyed glare on him.

“Over here, mange-pelt!” Lionblaze jumped as a voice rang out beside him and he turned his head to see Toadstep scrambling to his side. “Come and get us!”

“You were supposed to stay with Cinderheart!” Lionblaze snapped.

Toadstep’s eyes were blazing. “I want to help you!”

“Get back!” Lionblaze shouldered the black-and-white tom back into the bracken. “Bumblestripe, you’ll be okay,” he called to his other Clanmate. “Try to climb a bit higher.”

He didn’t look to see if Bumblestripe obeyed. All his attention was on the dog. For a moment it had paused, looking baffled, its head swinging from Lionblaze to Bumblestripe and back again. Now it hurtled across the clearing, its jaws wide; Lionblaze could hear its panting breath.

“Stay there!” he hissed at Toadstep, who had lost his balance after Lionblaze shoved him, and was struggling to his paws in the middle of the bracken clump. Leaping out in front of the dog, Lionblaze swerved toward the other side of the clearing, hoping that he could draw it away from his Clanmates.

“No!” Bumblestripe screeched, bouncing on his low branch. “Don’t go that way—Briarlight is there!”

“What?” How could a crippled cat be out in the forest? He couldn’t see Briarlight, but the dog’s breath was hot on his tail, and there was no time to ask questions. Lionblaze knew that he could attack the dog and not be hurt, but that would give away too much with Toadstep and Bumblestripe watching. Especially Toadstep: He has to learn to be more defensive, not just blindly copy me.