“Ouch!” Hazeltail protested.

“We really need some water to rinse the blood away and close the wound,” Hollyleaf meowed.

Lionblaze glanced around, ready to fetch some for her, but there was no sign of any streams….

“Press your muzzle into the snow,” Hollyleaf instructed Hazeltail. “That will stop the bleeding.”

Blinking doubtfully, Hazeltail dipped her head and buried her nose in a patch of clean white snow. “It’s very cold!” came a muffled meow.

“Stay there a bit longer,” Hollyleaf urged. “I promise it will help.”

I hope it will, Lionblaze thought, or Hollyleaf could just be freezing Hazeltail’s nose off. He could see how worried his sister looked as she watched her Clanmate.

Hazeltail kept her face pressed into the snow for several long moments, then lifted her head. Clumps of white clung to her face, making her look as if she were turning into Cloudtail, with his long, snow-colored pelt. “I-it doesn’t h-hurt so much now,” she reported through chattering teeth.

Hollyleaf bent forward to inspect the wound left by the thorn. Carefully she brushed the snow away with her paw. The injury looked like a neat, clean hole, almost sealed up already. “I think that did the trick,” she meowed.

“Well done.” Brambleclaw’s rumbling purr sounded behind Hollyleaf. Lionblaze saw him blinking warmly at her with the same fatherly pride in his eyes that Smoky had shown when he was watching Hazeltail.

Hollyleaf turned away; Lionblaze knew how much she must want to respond, but she couldn’t. Once Brambleclaw’s approval had meant so much to all of them. But not anymore. Whatever skills we have, they didn’t come from you.

The snow was starting to ease off, but the cloud covering the sky made it impossible to tell where the sun was. Maybe it’s nearly sunset, Lionblaze thought, shivering. Straight ahead lay the huge Thunderpath, and beyond it the land stretched flat as far as they could see, unbroken except for a small copse in the middle of the openness. Beyond it, over to one side, Lionblaze made out a mass of twinkling lights.

“What’s that?” he asked, pointing with his tail. “It looks as if a lot of stars have fallen down to earth.”

“No, that’s lots and lots of Twoleg nests, all together,” Brackenfur explained.

Hazeltail gasped. “I didn’t think there were as many Twolegs as that in the whole world!”

“I hope we don’t have to go near them,” Birchfall added.

Hazeltail nodded, while Lionblaze muttered, “We’re not kittypets.” He felt as if he was trying to convince himself.

Brambleclaw and Brackenfur led the way down to the Thunderpath and crouched at the edge, one at each end of the line of cats. Monsters growled past, their blazing lights reflecting off the wet black surface.

“This time we’ll all cross together, once there’s a big enough gap,” Brambleclaw decided. “When I say run, run as if a whole tribe of badgers was after you.”

Lionblaze tried desperately to hide his fear as he waited for the deputy’s signal. This was far worse than the Thunderpath they had crossed earlier. It seemed as if the stream of monsters would never end!