Wind buffeted her fur and plastered her whiskers to the side of her face.

Not wanting to let Jingo know how uneasy she was, she forced herself to look up from her clinging claws. Instantly she forgot to be scared. She could see forever! Al the way across the tumbled roofs of the Twolegplace, to the flat stretch of rough grass the Twolegplace, to the flat stretch of rough grass that covered the cliffs above the sun-drown-place.

And beyond that, over the gray, heaving waves as far as the horizon.

"Look!" Lionblaze yowled, dragging himself up to balance on the ridge beside Hol yleaf. "You can see the mountains!"

Hol yleaf twisted around to stare in the opposite direction. After the edge of the forest, the mountains lay like a smudge of cloud on the horizon. She could make out gray slopes and cliffs, and peaks tipped with snow reaching up to the sky.

"Do you think we're as high as we were in the mountains?" she asked wonderingly.

"Of course not." There was a hint of scorn in Lionblaze's voice. "It took us ages to climb up to the waterfal ."

Hol yleaf realized he was right, and yet the mountains seemed so close she could almost imagine leaping off the roof and landing on the ledge that led behind the waterfal to the cave where the Tribe of Rushing Water lived.

"I wonder what they're doing," she murmured, half to herself. "Wil we ever see Stormfur and Brook again?"

No cat answered her. As soon as the rest of the patrol had reached the roof ridge, Jingo rose to her paws. "For this next bit, you have to be extra careful,"

she warned. "Going down is far harder than going up. If you slip...wel , just don't slip, that's al ."

Cautiously, in a half-crouch, Jingo led the way down the other side of the roof. Hol yleaf's paws skidded on the smooth stone of the roof; there was nothing to hold on to, and the downward slope seemed to end in empty air. When she was halfway down, a big white bird swooped past her, letting out a raucous cry and fil ing the air with the beating of its wings. Hol yleaf froze, trying to dig her claws into the stone, until it was gone.

" I' m never doing this again!" Birchfal hissed behind her.

Hol yleaf was shaking by the time they reached the edge of the roof and perched on a narrow channel half choked with leaves and other debris. A couple of fox-lengths below was a flat roof, and just beyond that, a narrow Thunderpath.

"Is that another monster nest?" Hazeltail asked.

Jingo nodded. "We'l have to come down to the ground here," she meowed, "because we have to cross that Thunderpath. But I think we're safe now.

The wild dogs don't often come this far."

When she reached the grass beside the Thunderpath, Hol yleaf tasted the air. She could pick out the mingled scents of several dogs, but none of them were close by. And no monsters appeared as Jingo paused to listen, then waved her tail for the Clan cats to cross.

Once on the other side, Jingo jumped up onto another wal , this one built of gray stone. Padding along it, Hol yleaf saw that the Twoleg nests here were smal er, with narrower strips of grassy territory behind them. A couple of tiny Twoleg kits were playing on one of the patches of grass, but they didn't notice the cats as they padded past.

"Is it much farther to Purdy's nest?" Brackenfur asked. "I think every cat is getting tired and hungry."

Hol yleaf muttered agreement. Every muscle in her body was aching, and her bel y felt like a giant hole.

The sky was covered with cloud, but she sensed it was long past sun-high, and no cat had eaten since the fresh-kil in the abandoned Twoleg nest the night before.

"Not far now," Jingo responded. "We can-"

She broke off as a gust of wind swept across them, bringing with it a slap of icy rain. Birchfal let out a yowl of alarm. Hol yleaf flattened herself to the top of the wal , terrified that the wind would blow her off.

"This way!" Jingo ordered.

She ran along the top of the wal to the fence dividing the Twoleg territories. A bushy pine tree grew close to the wal ; Jingo sprang up onto the nearest branch and forced her way in among the needles. Peering out, she cal ed, "Come on! We need to shelter."

Unbalanced by the buffeting wind, the Clan cats stumbled along the wal and climbed into the tree.

Hol yleaf's pelt was soaked by the time she reached it. The pine needles raked through her fur as she plunged into the branches, clawing for paw holds so she could climb higher.

"What does she think we are, squirrels?"

Lionblaze gasped as he struggled upward. The branches dipped and swung under his greater weight, and Hol yleaf suddenly felt the whole tree spinning around. She drove her claws hard into the spinning around. She drove her claws hard into the branch and closed her eyes until the dizzy sensation faded.

"I thought you came from a forest," Jingo meowed, a tail-length above where Hol yleaf was clinging.

"Aren't you used to trees?"

"We don't climb that often," Brambleclaw replied.

He had stayed lower down in the tree, just above the spot where it overhung the wal . "If we're caught in the rain in the forest, we'd rather shelter among the roots of a tree, or under a bush."

"Wel , you learn something new every day," Jingo responded, sounding amused.

By the time the rainstorm was over, Hol yleaf could tel that the daylight was beginning to fade. I hope we reach Purdy's den before nightfall. I don't want to be wandering around this Twolegplace in the dark.

Scrambling out of the tree after her Clanmates, she tried to groom the pine needles from her fur, but the whole of her pelt was clumped and messy. I might as well be a rogue, she thought crossly, not a Clan cat at all.

Then a deeper pang shook her. Maybe that's what I am.

The patrol fol owed Jingo along more wal s and fences, and over the roofs of another set of monster nests, until twilight began to spil from the shadows.

Eventual y Jingo halted at the corner of a wal .

"See that hol y bush?" she meowed, waving her tail in the direction of a dark, bushy mass poking over a fence on the other side of a smal Thunderpath. "Purdy's den is just beyond it."

"Thank you, Jingo," Brambleclaw meowed. "We would never have found it without you."

"You're welcome," the she-cat replied. "You'l be able to hunt and spend the night there. But be careful," she added more seriously. "Sol has a way of making cats believe in him. I know, because I believed in him, too. Enough to leave my housefolk, where I was happy." In the gathering dusk, her eyes shone with sadness.

"Why don't you go back to your housefolk?"

Birchfal asked.

"Because the other cats need me," Jingo replied.

"Every cat needs a leader-someone to fol ow, someone to make the hard decisions. That's why we listened to Sol. But it's my job now. I can't leave them."

Loneliness throbbed in her voice. Hol yleaf felt desperately sorry for her. A Clan leader was chosen through the warrior code and given nine lives by StarClan. It was a huge honor, and the leader had the support of the Clan deputy, the medicine cat, and the senior warriors. But Jingo had no one.

The tabby she-cat gave herself a shake, as if getting rid of useless regrets. She touched noses with each of the Clan cats. "Good-bye and good luck," she meowed. "Come and see us if you ever pass our nest again."

"We wil ," Brackenfur promised. "Good-bye and good luck to you, too."

Jingo dipped her head as the other cats added their good-byes, and turned to pad along the wal , back the way she had come. Her head and her tail were lifted high.

"Good-bye, Jingostar," Brambleclaw whispered, too softly for the retreating she-cat to hear him. "May StarClan light your path."

Hol yleaf crouched just behind Brambleclaw in the shadows underneath the hol y bush. The Twoleg den beyond looked even more abandoned than the one where Jingo and the others lived. Dark holes gaped in the wal s and roof.

"Remember when we met Purdy on the way to the mountains?" Lionblaze murmured into his sister's ear. "He said his Upwalker had died."

"Maybe Purdy won't be here at al ," Hol yleaf suggested. She wasn't sure whether she would be glad or sorry. She looked forward to meeting the cranky old cat again, but she was afraid of what the encounter with Sol would bring.

"There's only one way to find out," Brambleclaw meowed. He began to pick his way through the straggling bushes that surrounded the nest.

Hol yleaf's jaws flooded as she picked up a strong smel of mouse.

"Prey!" Hazeltail's voice was sharp with hunger.

"Brambleclaw, may we hunt?"

The Clan deputy hesitated for a heartbeat. "Okay,"

he mewed. "But let's make it quick. And don't leave this bit of territory."

The patrol scattered among the bushes. Hol yleaf soon pinpointed a mouse scurrying through dead leaves, and kil ed it with a swift blow. "Thanks, StarClan," she mumbled through the first delicious mouthful. It felt as if she hadn't eaten for a moon. She had just finished gulping down her fresh-kil when she heard Brambleclaw cal ing the patrol together. As she slipped through the bushes, another mouse practical y ran across her paws. She held it down and bit its throat, then carried the limp body back to her Clanmates.

The others were waiting for her. Lionblaze was swal owing the last of his prey while Birchfal swiped his tongue around his jaws with a satisfied expression.

"Everyone fed?" Brambleclaw asked. "Hol yleaf, are you going to eat that?"

Hol yleaf shook her head. "I already ate," she explained around the mouse. "I thought we could give this to Purdy."

Brambleclaw nodded approvingly. "Good idea.

Let's go, then."

Cautiously, stopping every few paw steps to listen and to taste the air, he led the way up to the Twoleg nest and through the dark, gaping entrance hole.

Hol yleaf shivered as she stepped inside. It was even colder here than outside: a raw cold that struck upward from the damp stone floor. Brambles grew through the gaps in the wal s, as if the territory outside was invading the nest. There was a musty smel made up of stale prey, rotting leaves, and mold. But there was a smel of cats, too, stronger and fresher than the other scents.

"Purdy?" Brambleclaw cal ed.

There was no reply. The deputy padded forward, with the patrol clustered tightly together behind him.

Every hair on Hol yleaf's pelt prickled. There was something strange about this place, something chil y and unwelcoming.

Then a new voice spoke behind them. "Are you looking for me?"

CHAPTER 14.

Hollyleaf whirled around. Behind her, in an arched opening, a tal , wel -muscled cat was outlined against the dusk. The white patches on his pelt shone very brightly.

"Sol!" Hazeltail's gasp was amazed and terrified al at once.

She really thinks Sol is the killer! Hol yleaf thought.

She was aware of bristling pelts and stiff limbs around her. But as soon as she looked into Sol's glowing amber eyes, Hol yleaf felt herself relaxing.

How could she have forgotten how wise he was, how calm and certain he was about the future? Nothing troubled him, because he already knew what to expect.

"Greetings, Sol." Brambleclaw stepped forward.

"Yes, we're looking for you. You need to come back to ThunderClan."

Sol looked into the eyes of each cat in turn.

"Something has happened."

Hol yleaf felt a jolt in her bel y, as if a stone had struck her. What does he know about Ashfur?

"We just need you to come with us," Brambleclaw meowed. "Firestar wants to talk to you."

Sol's eyes narrowed. "Something has happened that you think concerns me. Something bad. You wouldn't come al this way to thank me." He paused thoughtful y. "A cat has died...."

Behind Hol yleaf, Birchfal caught his breath.

"No," Sol corrected himself. "A cat has been kil ed. And you think I'm responsible." The tip of his tail twitched, but he betrayed no other emotion.

I'd be terrified if any cat accused me, Hol yleaf thought, scraping her claws against the cold stone.

But Sol just surveyed the patrol calmly and waited for them to speak.

"He must be guilty!" Hazeltail whispered to Hol yleaf. "He didn't even ask who died!"

"Sol? Is that you?" A frail voice broke the silence, and Purdy appeared in the entrance, dragging a scrawny rabbit behind him. He was thinner than when Hol yleaf had last seen him, and his tabby pelt looked messier than ever.

"Look what I got!" Purdy dropped the prey and looked up. He blinked in astonishment as he recognized the Clan cats. "If it ain't Brambleclaw!" he exclaimed. "And Hol ypaw and Lionpaw! I hope you two young 'uns are behaving yourselves."

"Yes, we are," Lionblaze replied, padding forward to touch noses with the old loner. "And we're warriors now. Lionblaze and Hol yleaf."

"Wel , who'd have thought it?" Purdy's eyes gleamed. "Wel done, youngsters."

For a few heartbeats, Hol yleaf felt like an apprentice again. She should have been insulted, that Purdy stil thought of her and her brother as young cats who were always getting into mischief.