He bounded across the clearing toward the tumbled rocks, but before he reached them Hazeltail spotted the returning warriors and leaped to her paws. “Hey!” she yowled. “Firestar’s back!”

Heads popped out from between the branches of the warriors’ den. The queens sat up and pricked up their ears, while all five kits tumbled out of the nursery, tripping over one another’s paws. Jayfeather poked his head out from behind the bramble screen, a bundle of herbs in his jaws. By the time Firestar reached the Highledge, there was no need for him to summon the Clan; every cat in the camp had gathered to hear what WindClan had to say. Lionblaze, with Brambleclaw and the rest of the patrol, padded over to sit at the back of the crowd.

“What did you find out?” Thornclaw called from where he sat at the foot of the tumbled rocks. “When do we attack?”

“We don’t,” Firestar replied. “WindClan did not murder Ashfur.”

An uneasy muttering spread among the cats, but Firestar didn’t wait for an argument to break out. Quickly he went on: “Onestar and his warriors knew nothing about Ashfur’s death until I told them. And Ashfoot gave me one very useful piece of information: She saw Sol a few sunrises ago, by the stream near the lake.”

Spiderleg shot upright, his tail waving. “That’s where Ashfur’s body was found!”

Yowls of shock and anger broke out; several cats leaped up, eyes blazing and fur bristling, as if they wanted to attack the rogue cat right away.

“Sol killed Ashfur!”

“Filthy murderer!”

“We should find him and teach him what happens when rogues attack a warrior!”

Firestar raised his tail for silence. “We still have no proof,” he went on when he could make himself heard. “But—”

“What proof do we need?” Mousefur rasped. “Look at what he did to ShadowClan!”

“He didn’t kill any ShadowClan cats,” Dustpelt reminded her. “What reason would he have for killing Ashfur?”

Mousefur let out a disgusted hiss. “I wouldn’t put anything past that mangy piece of crow-food.”

“But he must have had a reason,” Brackenfur meowed, backing up Dustpelt. “Not many cats kill just for fun.”

Lionblaze recalled the stories he had heard about Scourge, the leader of BloodClan who had tried to take over in the old forest. He sounded like a cat who had enjoyed killing. But Lionblaze didn’t think Sol was like that.

“Maybe Ashfur caught Sol on our territory,” Brightheart suggested. “They could have fought—”

“But Ashfur hadn’t been fighting,” Sandstorm interrupted. “There were no wounds on him except for the marks on his throat. Isn’t that right, Leafpool?”

Heads turned to look at the medicine cat, who was sitting outside her den, away from the crowd around the Highledge. She replied to Sandstorm with a curt nod, but said nothing.

“Well, then,” Cloudtail meowed, “maybe Sol caught Ashfur unawares, and took the chance to stir up trouble between ThunderClan and WindClan.”

“That sounds like Sol,” Squirrelflight agreed with a flick of her tail. “Set cat against cat, and then step in to seize power for himself.”