Instead she yearned for the days when everything had seemed so simple, and al she had to do was make herself the best warrior she could.

"How's that brother o' yours?" Purdy asked.

"He's Jayfeather now," Hol yleaf replied. "He's a ful medicine cat."

Purdy shook his head again. "Who'd have thought it?" he repeated.

Brambleclaw padded forward and dipped his head to the old loner. "Greetings, Purdy. It's good to see you again. Come and meet my other Clanmates. This is Birchfal , and this is Hazeltail and Brackenfur."

"Good to know you," Purdy mumbled, looking a bit embarrassed to be among so many strangers.

"I'm sorry, Purdy." Sol stepped forward, to stand in front of the old cat. "I have to go."

Purdy blinked in astonishment. "What? Why?"

When Sol didn't reply, he added, "I know you've only been here a couple o' days, but I reckoned we were getting on fine. This old nest don't feel half as empty wi' you around. And look-" He waved his tail toward the rabbit he had dragged in. "I found us some prey.

It's a bit old and scrawny, but it could make a good meal...." His voice trailed off, and he hunched his shoulders.

"You enjoy the rabbit, Purdy," Sol mewed gently, his amber eyes glowing. "I think the ThunderClan cats want to leave at once."

"What's al the rush?" Purdy turned to Brambleclaw. "Why do you need Sol to leave with you right now? Couldn't you al stay here a bit longer? You'd be right welcome."

Let Sol stay here. Hol yleaf wanted to speak the words aloud. We don't need to take him back.

words aloud. We don't need to take him back.

Purdy needs him more than we do. But she knew that was impossible.

"We'l stay for the night," Brambleclaw decided.

"But we'l have to leave at dawn."

"Fine!" Purdy's ears perked up. "Have some o'

this rabbit," he invited proudly.

"Thank you," Brambleclaw replied, his voice gentle, "but we can catch our own to add to your fresh-kil pile."

"I brought you a mouse," Hol yleaf added, snatching up her prey and dropping it at Purdy's paws.

The old tabby's eyes shone. "That's right kind of you." He crouched down and tucked in.

The Clan cats headed for the entrance to the den.

Brackenfur glanced back at Sol, who was stil standing in the middle of the den.

"Don't worry," Sol meowed. "I'l be here when you get back."

Brackenfur stil looked uncertain; as they padded through the entrance, Brambleclaw shouldered his way toward him and murmured into his ear. "Stay on guard. But keep out of sight."

Brackenfur gave him a relieved nod and crept underneath the low-growing branches of a nearby bush, where he crouched with his gaze firmly fixed on the den.

Darkness had fal en while the cats were inside.

The harsh orange light of the Twolegplace covered the sky, blotting out the stars. Hol yleaf wished she could have seen the spirits of the Clan's warrior ancestors, to know that they were stil watching over her.

Once outside, she headed for the thicket of shiny green leaves where she had caught her mice.

Hazeltail padded along beside her.

"I'm so glad we found Sol," she murmured. "Now we can go home."

Hol yleaf nodded. "I feel bad about taking Sol away from Purdy," she confessed.

"But Sol is a murderer!" Hazeltail halted, her eyes wide with shock. "What if he kil s Purdy, too?"

"He wouldn't do that," Hol yleaf replied.

"How do you know?" Hazeltail persisted. "We need to get him back to the camp fast, before he does any more damage. Firestar wil know what to do with him."

Hol yleaf shook her head helplessly. There was no way to reply to Hazeltail's questions. Besides, if Sol didn't come back to ThunderClan with them, what would happen in the hunt for Ashfur's kil er? Would Firestar be forced to look closer to home?

Hol yleaf's bel y felt cold at the thought of accusations flying around her Clan.

She plunged into the thicket to hunt, but this time prey didn't come so easily to her paws. In the end she had to be content with a single shrew; she padded back to Purdy's den feeling embarrassed, but the rest of the patrol had only found thin pickings, too.

"Prey's pretty scarce 'round here," Purdy admitted as they crouched down to eat. "But I can find enough to feed me and Sol through leaf-bare. I ain't never starved before!"

He must be so lonely if he's willing to share this much prey with a stranger, Hol yleaf thought sadly, swal owing her morsel of shrew.

Once she had eaten, she settled down to sleep.

The stone floor of the den was damp and cold, and wind whistled through the gaps in the wal s. Huddling next to Lionblaze for warmth, Hol yleaf wished for the thick moss and bracken of her nest in the camp, and for the sheltering branches of the warriors' den.

Hol yleaf slept fitful y, and woke to see the cold light of a leaf-bare dawn angling across the floor.

Brambleclaw and Brackenfur were already on their paws; Hazeltail and Birchfal were stirring drowsily, while Purdy slept in a rumpled heap in the opposite corner.

Sol was curled up in a sheltered niche where a couple of stones had fal en from one of the inner wal s of the den. Brambleclaw padded over and prodded him awake.

"It's time to leave," he meowed.

Sol lifted his head, his amber eyes blinking, then rose to his paws. "If you wish."

"He creeps me out," a voice whispered in Hol yleaf's ear.

Hol yleaf started and turned to see Birchfal . "Don't sneak up on me like that!" she snapped, annoyed with herself because Sol was spooking her, too.

"He's just a cat."

As she finished speaking, Sol padded past her toward the entrance to the den. "I told you I would come back," he murmured, quietly enough that she was the only cat to hear.

Struggling to shrug off her feelings of uneasiness, Hol yleaf roused Lionblaze, and the sound of voices woke Purdy, who stumbled sleepily over to the remains of the rabbit. "You got to eat something before you go," he meowed.

"But you need it more than we do," Brackenfur protested.

"I can catch another," Purdy retorted, his neck fur beginning to bristle. "You need to keep your strength up if you're goin' on a long journey."

The ThunderClan cats exchanged glances; clearly Purdy would be insulted if they refused, so they crowded around the last of the prey and forced down a few gristly scraps. Purdy watched them, while Sol just waited in the entrance, his gaze lifted to the sky.

"Don't go near them monsters," Purdy instructed.

"They'l flatten you as soon as look at you. And there's dogs give trouble sometimes. They know not to mess wi' me, but youngsters like you..."

"We met the dogs, Purdy," Hazeltail told him.

"You're right, they are dangerous. We'l be careful."

The old tabby tom gave his chest fur a lick, as if he was pleased to have been helpful. Every mouthful of prey felt like dust to Hol yleaf. She wished there was something they could do, so that Purdy wouldn't be left alone.

When al the cats had finished eating, Hol yleaf said good-bye to Purdy. The old cat was stil trying to stay cheerful, but Hol yleaf could see the loneliness and fear in his eyes. She touched noses with him gently. "May StarClan be with you, Purdy," she murmured. "I hope we'l meet again."

"Mebbe we wil ." But Hol yleaf could tel Purdy didn't believe they would. "You take care now, you hear?"

Brambleclaw led the way to the entrance of the den. Sol rose to his paws and fel in beside the Clan deputy as the cats emerged into the garden. By this time the sun was up; the sky was the clear, pale blue of leaf-bare, and a faint breeze rustled the leaves on the bushes.

Halfway to the fence, Brambleclaw stopped and looked back at Purdy, who stood watching them from the nearest gap in the wal .

"Come with us, Purdy," he meowed urgently.

"There's room for you in the elders' den. Firestar wil welcome you."

Purdy stared at him. "Wel , I...I dunno what to say."

As sorry as she felt for the old cat, Hol yleaf felt herself bristling inside. This can't be right! Purdy isn't a Clan cat. What will the other Clans say? Then she suppressed a shiver. I might not be a Clan cat, either. Does that mean I should live alone, without any friends to help me hunt?

any friends to help me hunt?

Sol was looking on expressionlessly. Does he care about Purdy at all? Hol yleaf wondered.

"Wel ?" Brambleclaw prompted the old cat.

"No, I'l be fine." Purdy gave his rumpled pelt a shake. "There ain't no need to feel sorry for me. I've survived more than one leaf-bare on my own."

"We'd appreciate your help getting around this Twolegplace, you know," Brackenfur meowed, padding back toward the den. "You know the area far better than we do."

"And once we're back in the camp, you'd have a lot to teach our apprentices," Brambleclaw put in. "I don't suppose Hol yleaf and Lionblaze have forgotten how you saved them from the dogs."

Lionblaze nodded, while Hol yleaf suppressed a shudder at the memory of the dogs who had trapped them in a barn on their way to the mountains. Without Purdy's quick thinking, she and her brother and Breezepelt would al have been torn to pieces.

"Elders have a lot of influence in the way the Clan is run," Brambleclaw went on. "It would be an honor to have you live with us, with al your experience, and al you know about Twolegs-I mean, Upwalkers."

Hol yleaf dug her claws into the earth. She knew that the two senior warriors were lying. Bringing another loner into the Clan wouldn't be easy, and they didn't need to know about living among Twolegs, because there were so few of them by the lake. Why not leave Purdy where he is, if he's happy? Why do Clan cats always think they know best?

"Wel , okay." Purdy scrambled through the gap in the wal and padded over to join the patrol. "I'l come along as far as the edge of Twolegplace, at least.

Reckon you might need a bit o' help findin' your way." Turning to Sol, he added, "I never finished tel in' you that story about the fox...."

Brambleclaw led the way to the gap in the fence where the patrol had entered the night before. Here he paused, his head raised and his ears pricked, while he tasted the air. The rest of the patrol waited in silence; Hol yleaf closed her eyes, concentrating until she felt the tug at her paws that told her the direction of the lake.

"Do you know which way to go?" Hazeltail fretted, obviously not trusting her own inner guide.

Brambleclaw nodded. "I think so. I'm trying to remember what we saw from that rooftop."

"I'm not going up there again!" Birchfal wailed.

"No, there's no need," Brambleclaw assured him.

"But one of us can climb a tree soon to check whether we're going the right way. Let's get moving."

Hol yleaf squeezed through the gap in the fence, hard on the Clan deputy's paws, and found herself on a grass shoulder beside a Thunderpath. They had crossed here the night before, when al was dark and quiet. Now monsters were rushing up and down.

Their bright colors dazzled Hol yleaf's eyes; the air was fil ed with their growling and their acrid stink.

"I hate this," she muttered to Lionblaze. "I don't care how many times we've done it, I'm stil afraid some cat wil get squashed."

Brambleclaw padded up to the very edge of the Thunderpath until his fur was ruffled by the wind of passing monsters. "When I say run, run as if a whole pack of dogs were behind you."

Lionblaze sighed. "Wel , we've had plenty of practice."

Hol yleaf noticed that Brackenfur had positioned himself next to Purdy, as if he intended to keep an eye on the old cat when the time came to cross. Sol stood on Purdy's other side, his gaze fixed on the opposite side of the Thunderpath.

A huge monster swept by, the rumbling from its bel y louder than a whole Clan of cats growling at once. As it faded into silence, Brambleclaw glanced sharply up and down the Thunderpath. "Now! Run!"

Hol yleaf leaped forward, aware of Lionblaze on one side of her and Birchfal on the other. The surface of the Thunderpath was hard under her flying paws. Then she was across, stumbling thankful y onto the grass on the other side.

Turning, she saw that al the cats had crossed safely, except for Purdy, who was weaving erratical y across the middle of the Thunderpath, and Brackenfur, who padded beside him, trying to urge him on.

"Take it easy, youngster," Purdy meowed. "There ain't no monsters coming."

"But-" Brackenfur began desperately.

He broke off at the sound of a monster approaching. As it roared into sight around the corner, he gave Purdy a massive shove from behind.

The old tabby stumbled forward with a startled yowl and flopped safely onto the grass as the monster and flopped safely onto the grass as the monster swept past, snarling, barely a mouse-length away.

Brackenfur had sprung to safety beside him with a heartbeat to spare.