Final y Leafpool nodded. "She'l be fine," she told Mil ie. "I'l give her a poppy seed so she gets a good night's sleep."

"But what about the snake?" Daisy wailed. "We've never had one in the camp before."

"Yes, what about it?" Mil ie added. "We've got to do something. More cats might die."

Graystripe turned to Lionblaze. "Show me exactly where the snake struck."

Hol yleaf fol owed her brother and Graystripe across the clearing toward the basking rocks. She admired the way the gray warrior had taken over; he must have been a good Clan deputy back in the forest, she realized.

"That's the crack that the snake came out of."

Lionblaze pointed with his tail toward a deep cleft in the cliff face. "I didn't see if it went back in there."

Very cautiously, Graystripe approached and sniffed along the cliff, peering into every crack. "No sign of it," he reported, returning to Lionblaze. "But it could be anywhere. Some of these cracks are very deep. There's plenty of room for it to hide."

Hol yleaf's paws tingled with fear. How could they go on living in the stone hol ow, when death might come sliding silently out of the cliff at any moment and strike down another cat?

"Mil ie's right," she meowed. "We have to do something."

Before Graystripe could reply, there was a flash of flame-colored fur at the entrance to the tunnel, and Firestar raced back into the camp. Graystripe bounded over to meet him. Hol yleaf watched as her leader's expression changed from anxiety to horror, and he padded over to Honeyfern's body, where he crouched down beside her grieving kin.

Hol yleaf was just close enough to hear what he said. "I'm so sorry." Firestar's voice was shaking.

"Honeyfern should have been safe here. I promise you I'l never let anything like this happen again."

But how can you stop it? Hol yleaf wondered. It's not your fault. You couldn't have known there was a snake hiding under the cliff.

Mousewhisker had fol owed Firestar into the camp, along with Dustpelt and Birchfal , the rest of Firestar's patrol. They were soon joined by Brightheart and Jayfeather, each carrying a bunch of catmint. Their dazed expressions told Hol yleaf that Mousewhisker must have met them, too, and passed on the terrible news. Last of al , Brambleclaw's patrol returned from checking the WindClan border; their cries of shock and anguish echoed around the hol ow. Hol yleaf longed to go back to her nest in the warriors' den and bury herself in the moss and bracken with her eyes shut tight. Perhaps Honeyfern's death would turn out to be just a terrible dream.

Before her paws could carry her there, she saw Firestar bounding up the rocks to stand on the Highledge. "Cats of ThunderClan!" He raised his voice to carry to every part of the stone hol ow. "A dreadful thing has happened, but we must stay calm.

Honeyfern died a warrior's death, protecting a kit of her Clan. We wil mourn her, not just tonight, but for al the moons to come. And we must make sure that the snake doesn't come back to hurt any other cats."

"Tel us what to do, and we'l do it," Brambleclaw cal ed out.

Firestar dipped his head to his deputy. "To begin with, we'l make a barrier of brambles across that part of the cliff. Dustpelt, wil you take charge of that?" The brown tabby warrior gave a curt nod. "No cat must go near it. Mil ie and Daisy, make sure that your kits understand. And it's best we don't use the basking rocks anymore. Snakes usual y sleep during leaf-bare, but I think this one must have been disturbed by cats sunning themselves on the stones."

Hol yleaf saw Purdy and Mousefur exchanging a shocked glance. "That might have been us!" Purdy exclaimed.

Mousefur hung her head, and her eyes fil ed with sorrow. "Better it had been me, than that poor young cat," she murmured.

"Okay," Firestar meowed. "Get on with your duties, al of you. Tonight we wil keep vigil for Honeyfern." He ran lightly down the rocks again and bounded across to Brambleclaw.

"Lionblaze!" Dustpelt cal ed. "Help me with the barrier, please. You can take Foxpaw and Icepaw into the forest to col ect brambles."

"Coming," Lionblaze replied. He paused briefly to touch noses with Hol yleaf, then raced off to round up the two apprentices.

Daisy and Mil ie were gathering their kits together and bundling them back toward the nursery. "Don't any of you dare go near that part of the cliff," Mil ie any of you dare go near that part of the cliff," Mil ie meowed sternly. "You heard what Firestar said."

"We won't." Blossomkit's mew was high-pitched with fear, and al the kits looked unusual y subdued.

Whitewing was fol owing them back to the nursery when Birchfal bounded over to her and pressed his nose into her shoulder. "You wil be careful, won't you?" he fretted.

The white she-cat blinked at him, her eyes ful of love. "Of course I wil . You don't have to fuss."

Birchfal angled his ears toward Berrynose, stil crouched silently over the body of Honeyfern. "I won't lose you to StarClan," he insisted. "Not for a long, long time."

Whitewing and Birchfal leaned into each other, their pelts brushing and their tails twined together.

Hol yleaf stood stil as the rest of the cats moved away. She didn't know what to do. She wanted to go and comfort Cinderheart, but she didn't dare disturb Honeyfern's grieving kin. She had begun to pad uncertainly toward the warriors' den when Leafpool trotted up to her.

"Hol yleaf, could you help Brightheart to put the herbs away?" she asked. "Jayfeather and I are going to check the queens and kits for signs of shock."

"Sure." Hol yleaf was relieved to have something to do. She retrieved Jayfeather's share of the catmint and carried it to the medicine cats' den, where Brightheart was already sorting through her bundle of stems. Hol yleaf joined her; it was good to breathe in the scent of herbs that drifted around the den; it reminded her of when she had been Leafpool's apprentice. I used to get worried when I couldn't remember which herb was which. If only that was all I had to worry about now!

"I wish we knew a herb to cure snakebite,"

Brightheart murmured sadly as her forepaws flicked through the leaves, deftly stripping off any that were shriveled or damaged.

Hol yleaf nodded, but she knew that no amount of wishing would bring Honeyfern back. Her ears flicked up at the sound of a cat brushing past the bramble screen; she glanced over her shoulder to see Leafpool coming in.

"I need some poppy seeds for Daisy," the medicine cat explained. "She's getting hysterical."

"I can't say I blame her," Brightheart mewed. "If I had kits now, I'd be terrified."

Leafpool col ected the seed in a leaf wrap and was about to leave the den when Firestar put his head around the brambles.

"Yes?" Leafpool asked; there was an edge to her tone that Hol yleaf didn't understand.

"We need to make sure the snake isn't a threat to us," Firestar meowed quietly.

Leafpool blinked, puzzled. "What do you want me to do? I can't summon the snake out of its hole."

"No," Firestar replied, "but you can make sure that it never reaches the main part of the camp. I want you to put deathberries around the place where the snake came from."

Hol yleaf felt her paws freeze to the ground as soon as the Clan leader mentioned deathberries.

She exchanged a shocked glance with Brightheart.

Every cat knew that Leafpool refused to have deathberries in the camp because they were so dangerous.

"Firestar, you know-" the medicine cat began.

"Explain to the kits, and to every single cat, what the berries are and why they mustn't be touched or eaten," Firestar interrupted her. "They'l understand.

We have to do this. I wil not lose another cat this way."

Leafpool hesitated, then nodded reluctantly. "Very wel . Jayfeather and I wil col ect some today. But I don't like it," she added more forceful y. "If the deathberries don't kil the snake within one moon, we'l have to try something else."

CHAPTER 18.

Lionblaze led Foxpaw and Icepaw into the forest to col ect brambles. He felt numb; the terrible scene kept repeating itself endlessly behind his eyes.

Was there anything I could have done? If I'd been quicker...maybe if I'd leaped for the snake I could have killed it first.

Both the apprentices were stil trembling with fear, spooking at every leaf rustle, as if they thought that a snake might be hiding in every hol ow. And for all I know, they're right....

"I can't believe we've got Sol and a snake in the camp," Icepaw mewed, jumping aside with her fur bristling as an oak leaf drifted to the ground beside her.

"I wonder if Sol summoned the snake to kil Honeyfern," Foxpaw added, his voice shaking.

"Don't be ridiculous!" Lionblaze's voice came out louder than he'd intended; both apprentices jumped backward. "The snake was just there. It could easily have bitten Sol instead of Honeyfern."

"I wish it had," Foxpaw muttered.

Lionblaze didn't say anything. Hadn't there been enough death in the Clan already?

He led the apprentices to a bramble thicket near the beginning of the old Thunderpath and crawled underneath to bite the long, thornless stems at the bottom. The two apprentices hesitated at the edge of the stone, blinking nervously.

"Come on!" Lionblaze urged them. "What's the matter?"

"Are there any snakes in there?" Icepaw whimpered.

"If there are, I'm dead," Lionblaze replied irritably.

"Okay," he added with a sigh. "I'l bite through the stems, and you drag the tendrils out."

For a while they worked steadily, and the pile of bramble tendrils began to grow. Then Foxpaw stopped with the end of a stem in his mouth.

"What's wrong?" Lionblaze asked. "I need you to get that out of the way so I can reach the next one."

Foxpaw dropped the tendril. "I can smel WindClan!"

Icepaw let go the stem she was dragging to the pile and tasted the air. "No, it's RiverClan!" she exclaimed.

Quickly Lionblaze wriggled his way out of the thicket and took a deep breath. "You're both right,"

he meowed, his neck fur beginning to rise. "And there's ShadowClan scent as wel ."

Foxpaw laid his ears flat and crouched low to the ground. "Are we being invaded again?" he shrieked.

"I don't think so." Lionblaze forced himself to stay calm. "The scents aren't strong enough for lots of cats." Gesturing with his tail, he added, "Stay behind me. And don't do anything unless I tel you."

The two apprentices huddled together, close to his hind paws, while Lionblaze faced the undergrowth from where the scents were undergrowth from where the scents were approaching. A clump of bracken quivered, and Blackstar of ShadowClan stepped into the open, fol owed by Rowanclaw. A heartbeat later Leopardstar and Reedwhisker appeared, and hard on their paws came Onestar and Turnear.

All three leaders! Lionblaze stared at them, his heart racing. What kind of patrol is this?

"Greetings, Lionblaze." Blackstar dipped his head. "We need to speak with Firestar."

"O-okay," Lionblaze meowed. "Fol ow me.

Foxpaw, Icepaw, bring back the brambles, please."

Leaving the apprentices to their task, he led the visitors back to the stone hol ow and through the thorn tunnel. The clearing was quieter than when he had left. Honeyfern's body stil lay in the shade. Her family crouched around it, keeping vigil alone until nightfal . Sol had disappeared; Thornclaw was back on guard duty outside his nest. The queens and kits had retreated into the nursery.

Firestar was standing in the middle of the clearing, talking to Graystripe and Brambleclaw. Al three cats looked up in surprise as Lionblaze emerged with his unusual patrol fol owing.

"Greetings," Firestar mewed, dipping his head courteously to the other Clan leaders. His tone was wary, and his neck fur had begun to bristle. "What can I do for you?"

Blackstar didn't bother to return his greeting. "Is Sol here?" he demanded.

"And is it true that he kil ed Ashfur?" Leopardstar added.

Onestar bared his teeth in a snarl. "When were you going to tel us that you're keeping a murderer captive?"

Firestar's ears pricked and his tail-tip twitched from side to side. Lionblaze could see shock in his green eyes. "How did you find out so quickly?" he asked.

"One of my patrols saw your cats returning with Sol along the edge of the lake," Onestar replied, his voice tense with anger. "They told a RiverClan patrol, and RiverClan passed on the news to ShadowClan."

Firestar's gaze flicked from one leader to the next.

"Since when was this any of the other Clans'

business?" he meowed icily.

"Since you put our Clans in danger," Leopardstar retorted.

"Yo u know how much of a threat that cat is,"

Onestar added, his forepaws kneading the ground.

"And yet you brought him back into our territories!"

Blackstar took a pace forward. Lionblaze could hardly believe that he would attack Firestar in the ThunderClan camp, but he braced his muscles ready to defend his leader if any of the other cats so much as raised a paw.

"Have you forgotten what Sol tried to do to ShadowClan?" Blackstar hissed. "He tried to force us to stop believing in StarClan!"

And I'm a mouse! Lionblaze thought cynical y. A look flashed between Graystripe and Brambleclaw, tel ing Lionblaze that the senior warriors shared his thought. Blackstar wasn't prepared to admit any responsibility, though at the time he had been only too wil ing to listen to Sol.

"What are you going to do with him?" Leopardstar demanded.