Firestar hesitated. He was looking increasingly harried, but he kept his claws sheathed. "I haven't decided," he admitted. "We're stil trying to find out exactly what happened."

Onestar's nostrils flared and he narrowed his eyes. "Sol is too dangerous to keep anywhere near the lake. You should send him away now."

"You should have left him where he was,"

Leopardstar growled. "Any cat with a flea's worth of sense would see that."

"Then Ashfur's murder would have gone unpunished," Firestar argued.

"Vengeance isn't everything," Onestar spat. "You have put al our Clans in danger by bringing Sol back. Whatever happens next, you wil not have our support."

The other two leaders nodded in agreement, and a threatening murmur came from their three fol owers. A chil ran through Lionblaze, though hot blood was pounding in his veins; he wanted to slice his claws through the fur of these arrogant cats. They have no right to interfere in ThunderClan's business like this!

Blackstar raised his chin. "Sol must be gone from Clan territory by the next Gathering," he insisted. "Or we wil unite our three Clans to get rid of him ourselves."

CHAPTER 19.

Jayfeather padded in Leafpool's paw steps as she climbed to the ridge where the trees thinned out and pine needles prickled under paw. He felt the ground grow damp and his paws slipped as he scrambled down the other side into a tangle of undergrowth. As he regained his balance, he picked up the tang of yew bark and berries.

"Here we are," Leafpool meowed. "I'm going to climb the tree and bend down a branch so you can reach it." She nudged him forward a couple of paw steps. "Stand just there."

Jayfeather listened to his mentor scramble up the tree, and a few heartbeats later felt the touch of the yew branch on the top of his head. His fur bristled at the overwhelming scent of deathberries.

"Reach up as high as you can." Leafpool's voice came from just above him. "There's a stem with berries just there. Be very careful."

Like you need to tell me! Jayfeather thought.

He stretched upward, his front paws lifting from the ground, until a feathery twig poked him in the face and he felt the heavy clump of deathberries touch his fur. He managed to fasten his teeth into the stem where it met the branch, and felt Leafpool's muzzle press close to his as she helped him bite it through.

Waves of unhappiness were flooding from the medicine cat, shocking Jayfeather so much that he almost lost his balance. He had to shuffle his hind paws, wedging them more firmly among the damp pine needles, before he could go on nibbling at the twig with its deadly load. Leafpool was fil ed with gnawing anxiety about bringing more death into the hol ow; she was saturated with sorrow, so ful of grief that she could hardly move.

Yet her voice was steady as she mewed, "That's it," and Jayfeather felt the twig fal to the forest floor just beside his paws. He relaxed, rol ing his shoulders to get rid of the strain of stretching, then picked up the clump of berries by the end of the twig, careful not to let any of the deathberries touch his mouth.

A light thump beside him told him that Leafpool had leaped down from the tree. "If you carry that,"

she told him, "I'l fol ow behind and make sure that none of the berries fal off. It doesn't matter so much up here, but I don't want to scatter any of them near the camp."

When they emerged from the thorn tunnel, the clearing seemed ful of cats, their voices buzzing like an angry swarm of bees. Jayfeather located Lionblaze and padded up to him, setting the deathberries down for a moment to ask, "What in StarClan's name has happened now?"

"The other three Clan leaders were here."

Lionblaze's voice was a low, furious growl. "They told Firestar he has to get rid of Sol by the next Gathering, or they'l get rid of him themselves."

"What?" Jayfeather lashed his tail. "What right do they have to tel ThunderClan what to do?"

He could feel sparks of anger coming from Lionblaze. "They don't care that Ashfur was kil ed,"

his brother snarled. "They're like scared rabbits, convinced that Sol is going to leap out and tear them apart. Firestar can't give in to them!"

Jayfeather murmured agreement, but his paws tingled with unease. He didn't like that the other Clans knew al about Ashfur's murder. The ripples of the gray warrior's death were spreading farther and farther, and there was no sign that the effects would fade away.

He tried to shrug off the uneasy feeling as he heard Leafpool cal ing him. "Jayfeather, put the berries on this leaf. We have to make sure that al the kits know how dangerous they are."

She set a flat leaf down in front of Jayfeather, who laid the clump of deathberries on top of it. Then he fol owed his mentor as she dragged the leaf across the camp to the nursery. "Fetch Foxpaw and Icepaw, too," she added.

Jayfeather tasted the air and located the two apprentices near the cliff where Dustpelt was building the barrier. "Foxpaw! Icepaw!" he cal ed, jerking his head. "Leafpool wants you."

"Coming!" Icepaw cal ed.

Jayfeather caught a grumble from Dustpelt. "I suppose we'l get this barrier built this side of greenleaf. Come right back when Leafpool's finished with you!" he ordered the two apprentices.

"Mil ie! Daisy!" Leafpool cal ed when Jayfeather caught her up outside the nursery. "Bring the kits out here, please."

"Why?" Daisy's voice was drowsy from the poppy seeds.

"There's something I need to show al of you."

Leafpool and Jayfeather waited while the two queens herded their kits outside; Whitewing fol owed them, crouching in the entrance tunnel.

"Now," Leafpool began, "do you see these berries?"

Jayfeather could feel the kits' curiosity, though they were stil subdued and didn't answer Leafpool.

"They look tasty," Bumblekit ventured after a heartbeat.

"No! They're not tasty!" Leafpool's voice quivered with anger and disgust. "These berries are evil.

They're cal ed deathberries, and if you eat just one of them, you won't just get a bel yache, you'l die. There won't be anything a medicine cat can do for you."

Jayfeather knew that wasn't entirely true. Mousefur had told him that Cinderpelt had saved Sorreltail after she ate deathberries by making her sick, but it had been a close cal . Leafpool had to scare the kits thoroughly, though, so they wouldn't dream of going near the deathberries.

"Then why have you brought them into the camp?"

Daisy fretted.

"Because Firestar wants to use them to kil the snake," Leafpool replied. "I need to make sure that every cat knows not to go near them."

"Did you hear that?" Mil ie asked the kits sharply.

"Take a good look, so you'l recognize them again."

"We'l be careful," Rosekit mewed, sounding scared. The rest of the kits murmured agreement.

"Foxpaw? Icepaw?" Leafpool prompted.

"We'l remember," Foxpaw meowed. "We won't touch them."

"We'l keep a lookout for them when we're out in the forest, too," Icepaw added.

"Good. Then you can go. But don't forget what I said." Leafpool began to drag the leaf with its deadly load back across the camp, but halted and turned to Jayfeather. "Bring me a mouse from the fresh-kil pile, please."

pile, please."

Jayfeather bounded off, returning with the mouse to the medicine cats' den. "It's a good plump one,"

he meowed.

"I'm not going to eat it," Leafpool told him. "This is for the snake. I'm going to stuff it with deathberries.

Put it down and keep your paw on it to hold it steady."

"You'l get poison on your paws!" Jayfeather exclaimed.

"No, I'm going to use a stick to push the berries down the mouse's throat."

As he clamped his paw firmly over the mouse, Jayfeather could feel his mentor's revulsion at what she was doing. He could almost read her thoughts.

I'm a medicine cat! I'm supposed to cure, not kill!

But he said nothing while Leafpool went on shoving the deadly berries into the body of the mouse.

I'll only get my fur clawed off if I try to talk to her.

Final y Leafpool let out a sigh. "There, that should do. I've poked some thorns in there, too. They'l cut the snake from inside and send the poison more quickly around its body."

Jayfeather nodded. He was surprised by how much his mentor hated using her skil s like this, seeing as her victim was the snake that had kil ed Honeyfern. He had been fascinated to discover that there were plants that would harm instead of heal. I wonder if there are others....

Leafpool laid the prepared mouse back on the leaf and dragged it out into the clearing again, over to where Dustpelt was building the bramble barrier around the snake's hole. Lionblaze and the two apprentices were helping him.

Jayfeather padded over to his brother, while Leafpool explained to Dustpelt what she had done.

"Good idea," the brown tabby warrior grunted. "I'l put it behind the barrier near the hole."

"Be careful," Leafpool warned him.

"I'l be fine," Dustpelt meowed, sounding unusual y gentle as he reassured the medicine cat. "Look, I'm picking it up by the tail." Jayfeather heard him leap across the barrier and a moment later leap back.

"There," he meowed. "Al done. Right, what are you waiting for?" he added, swinging around to face his helpers. "Let's get this barrier finished."

Back in their den, Jayfeather and Leafpool wrapped the rest of the deathberries in the leaf.

"We'd better store them in case the mouse doesn't work the first time," Leafpool explained. "I don't like it, but-"

A loud wail interrupted her. "Leafpool! Leafpool!"

"What now?" Jayfeather groaned.

He picked up Birchfal 's scent as the young warrior crashed past the bramble screen. "Leafpool, you've got to come at once!" he panted. "Whitewing has pains in her bel y."

"Al right, don't panic." Leafpool rose to her paws.

"I'm sure it's nothing serious. Maybe her kits are coming. Jayfeather, put that leaf wrap away," she instructed as she brushed past him. "Right at the back of the store where no cat wil pick it up by mistake."

Gingerly Jayfeather pushed the leaf wrap in front of him and crept al the way to the back of the store, among a litter of old folded leaves and piles of shriveled herbs. "We need to clear this lot out," he muttered as he pushed the deathberries into the farthest corner.

Crawling back into the den, he twitched his whiskers with disgust. His pelt was covered with herb dust and clinging stems. He had just begun to groom one shoulder when Leafpool returned.

"Whitewing's fine," she reported. "It's just a bel yache. I'l take her a couple of juniper berries."

She ducked quickly into the store and out again with the berries in a leaf wrap. "I've just remembered,"

she mumbled around her mouthful. "With al this trouble, I forgot to check on Purdy's sore pads. Can you go and do it now?"

"Sure," Jayfeather sighed, resigning himself to putting up with a messy pelt for a bit longer. He fetched the ointment of yarrow from the store and padded over to the elders' den.

As he crawled under the outer branches of the hazel bush, he heard Purdy's voice. "What I don't understan' is why you're al against Sol. Those other leaders who came here today, they want Firestar to get rid of him!" The old tabby sounded flustered.

"Why won't any of you listen when I tel you he's a good cat?"

"Purdy, you're not listening when other cats tel you what Sol did here." Mousefur sounded as if her patience was wearing thin.

And there was never that much of it anyway, Jayfeather thought as he paused at the edge of the Jayfeather thought as he paused at the edge of the den.

Purdy snorted. "Some nonsense about tel in' other cats what to believe in. They didn' have to listen if they didn' want to."

True!

Jayfeather suppressed a mrrow of amusement. Purdy's not as stupid as some cats seem to think!

"StarClan is very important to us, Purdy," Longtail murmured. "You'l understand if you stay with us."

"Cats in the sky!" Purdy snorted again.

"Hedgehogs wil fly before I believe that. Anyway," he went on, "that's nothin' to do with how Firestar is treatin' Sol now. It's not natural, keepin' a cat penned up like that. Firestar needs to come to his senses an' let Sol live with the rest of the Clan."

Jayfeather padded forward; he could sense Mousefur's anger growing and wanted to prevent a quarrel. Spotting him, Mousefur let out a hiss of annoyance and went to crouch in the farthest corner of the den.

"Hi, Purdy. I've come to look at your pads,"

Jayfeather announced.