"Shouldn't we discuss it with the senior warriors first?"

Firestar shook his head. "No. The whole Clan is involved in this. I want them to know about Sol right now, before some of these hotheads manage to sneak off and attack WindClan."

He bounded across the clearing toward the tumbled rocks, but before he reached them Hazeltail spotted the returning warriors and leaped to her paws. "Hey!" she yowled. "Firestar's back!"

Heads popped out from between the branches of the warriors' den. The queens sat up and pricked up their ears, while al five kits tumbled out of the nursery, tripping over one another's paws.

Jayfeather poked his head out from behind the bramble screen, a bundle of herbs in his jaws. By the time Firestar reached the Highledge, there was no need for him to summon the Clan; every cat in the camp had gathered to hear what WindClan had to say. Lionblaze, with Brambleclaw and the rest of the patrol, padded over to sit at the back of the crowd.

"What did you find out?" Thornclaw cal ed from where he sat at the foot of the tumbled rocks. "When do we attack?"

"We don't," Firestar replied. "WindClan did not murder Ashfur."

An uneasy muttering spread among the cats, but Firestar didn't wait for an argument to break out.

Quickly he went on: "Onestar and his warriors knew nothing about Ashfur's death until I told them. And Ashfoot gave me one very useful piece of information: She saw Sol a few sunrises ago, by the stream near the lake."

Spiderleg shot upright, his tail waving. "That's where Ashfur's body was found!"

Yowls of shock and anger broke out; several cats leaped up, eyes blazing and fur bristling, as if they wanted to attack the rogue cat right away.

"Sol kil ed Ashfur!"

"Filthy murderer!"

"We should find him and teach him what happens when rogues attack a warrior!"

Firestar raised his tail for silence. "We stil have no proof," he went on when he could make himself heard. "But-"

"What proof do we need?" Mousefur rasped.

"Look at what he did to ShadowClan!"

"He didn't kil any ShadowClan cats," Dustpelt reminded her. "What reason would he have for kil ing Ashfur?"

Mousefur let out a disgusted hiss. "I wouldn't put anything past that mangy piece of crow-food."

"But he must have had a reason," Brackenfur meowed, backing up Dustpelt. "Not many cats kil just for fun."

Lionblaze recal ed the stories he had heard about Scourge, the leader of BloodClan who had tried to take over in the old forest. He sounded like a cat who had enjoyed kil ing. But Lionblaze didn't think Sol was like that.

"Maybe Ashfur caught Sol on our territory,"

Brightheart suggested. "They could have fought-"

"But Ashfur hadn't been fighting," Sandstorm interrupted. "There were no wounds on him except for the marks on his throat. Isn't that right, Leafpool?"

Heads turned to look at the medicine cat, who was sitting outside her den, away from the crowd around the Highledge. She replied to Sandstorm with a curt nod, but said nothing.

"Wel , then," Cloudtail meowed, "maybe Sol caught Ashfur unawares, and took the chance to stir caught Ashfur unawares, and took the chance to stir up trouble between ThunderClan and WindClan."

"That sounds like Sol," Squirrelflight agreed with a flick of her tail. "Set cat against cat, and then step in to seize power for himself."

"I think we need to know more," Graystripe mewed quietly. "It's useful to know that Ashfoot spotted Sol, but that doesn't set Sol's teeth in Ashfur's neck."

"You're right." Firestar nodded toward his former deputy. "Can any cat tel us more about Sol?"

To Lionblaze's surprise, Hol yleaf tentatively raised her tail. "I...I saw him, Firestar. By the lake, not long after he was driven out of ShadowClan."

She never told me about that! Uneasiness stirred in Lionblaze's bel y. But he and Jayfeather hadn't told their sister about the catmint they had fetched from WindClan, either. When did we start keeping secrets from one another?

"Tel us what happened," Firestar prompted.

"Nothing much," Hol yleaf replied. "He said the Clans needed him, and he promised he'd be back."

Cloudtail lashed his tail. "That's a threat, if ever I heard one!"

"Why didn't you report this?" Firestar asked Hol yleaf.

Hol yleaf ducked her head. "I didn't think it mattered," she told him. "I thought it was just talk because he was angry about losing control of ShadowClan. And he was heading along the lakeshore toward WindClan territory. I thought he was leaving."

"You stil should have mentioned it," Firestar told her, though his voice was mild. "I could have told the patrols to keep a lookout for him."

Hol yleaf studied her paws. "I'm sorry, Firestar."

"Is there anything else we ought to know?" the Clan leader asked.

"I-I'm not sure," Hol yleaf meowed hesitantly. "Sol mentioned that he had met Midnight the badger, but I can't see what that has to do with kil ing Ashfur."

"It might tel us how to find him," Brambleclaw pointed out. "If Sol knows Midnight, he might have come from the sun-drown-place!" The Clan deputy's eyes were glowing; Lionblaze could tel that he was remembering his heroic journey from the old forest to find the badger who would tel the Clans where they would live from now on.

"So what are we going to do?" Dustpelt asked Firestar.

"Why are you even asking?" Thornclaw growled.

"We go and deal with Sol, of course!"

Lionblaze remembered how certain Thornclaw had been that morning that a WindClan cat had murdered the gray warrior. It hadn't taken much to change his mind. But at least no cat was suggesting that a ThunderClan cat was the kil er anymore.

They're glad to accuse Sol because he's a rogue, he realized.

"We can't be sure that Sol kil ed Ashfur," Firestar meowed over the chorus of agreement that met Thornclaw's words. "But we need to find out. We'l send a patrol to the sun-drown-place, to get Sol and bring him back here. Then we can question him, and if he did kil Ashfur, he'l be punished."

Prickles ran up and down Lionblaze's spine at the thought of confronting Sol. He didn't know whether he wanted to go on the patrol or not. The rogue cat knew more than was natural-more about him than any other cat had ever seemed to know; maybe the answers to Firestar's questions would be things no cat wanted to hear.

"Brambleclaw, you know the way to the sun- drown-place," Firestar announced. "You'l lead the patrol. Brackenfur, Hazeltail, and Birchfal can go with you."

Lionblaze spotted Birchfal giving Whitewing a regretful look and leaning over to lick her ear. He guessed that Birchfal didn't want to leave his mate when she was so close to giving birth to her kits.

"This could be dangerous," Brambleclaw meowed to Firestar. "It might be better to have one or two more cats."

"True." The Clan leader glanced around.

"Lionblaze and Hol yleaf, then. You can leave at dawn."

Lionblaze glanced at his sister; Hol yleaf's neck fur was standing on end and her green eyes glittered, but whether it was from fear or excitement, he couldn't tel .

Hazeltail leaped to her paws and padded across to Hol yleaf. "Isn't this great?" she mewed. "We're real y going to do something to help our Clan."

Hol yleaf flicked her ears; Lionblaze couldn't hear what she said in reply. The rest of the Clan were crowding around the chosen cats, congratulating them and offering advice. Every other cat seemed them and offering advice. Every other cat seemed fired up to track down and destroy a murderer; he was the only one reluctant to avenge Ashfur's death.

A few moments before, he had been relieved that suspicion had moved away from ThunderClan. But laying the blame at Sol's paws was no better. He didn't want to be reminded of the Clan cats'

instinctive mistrust of outsiders, of cats who weren't Clanborn.

What if I'm a rogue, too? Will they all turn against me?

CHAPTER 3.

Jayfeather sat still while the rest of the Clan swirled around him, buzzing with tension and excitement.

"I'm scared." Jayfeather recognized Bumblekit's voice close by. "What if Sol comes into the camp and gets us?"

Jayfeather heard the rasp of a tongue, and pictured Mil ie giving her son a comforting lick. "Sol is far away, little one," she murmured.

"And there are big, strong warriors here to guard us," Daisy added. "Do you think that your father would let any cat lay a claw on you?"

Bumblekit's tone brightened. "No! Graystripe is the best!"

Jayfeather wished he could be reassured as easily as the kit. He knew bad times were coming.

Fear, suspicion, and accusation crashed over him from al sides, as if his Clanmates were hurling rocks at him. He felt sick and dizzy, and the ground under his paws didn't seem solid anymore.

Beside him, he heard Mousefur heaving herself to her paws with a gusty sigh. "If Ashfur's kil er meant to stir up trouble, mission accomplished. That cat has stuck a nose into a nest of bees by taking one of our warriors."

And that cat will get stung. But Jayfeather didn't want to think about what might happen to Ashfur's murderer.

He picked out Lionblaze from the mingled scents of ThunderClan cats, but his brother didn't slow down as he padded past.

"So you're going to find Sol," Jayfeather cal ed to him.

Lionblaze halted. "Yes."

Jayfeather was desperate to talk to his brother as they always did: easily, with nothing left unspoken.

But the secret they had shared since the night of the storm made it impossible.

The awkward silence was broken by Hol yleaf padding up to them.

"You never told us you'd seen Sol," Jayfeather meowed.

He could imagine his sister's shrug. "It didn't matter then."

"Even so, you should have said something."

Lionblaze sounded upset. "You know Sol was supposed to help us with the prophecy."

"What prophecy?" Hol yleaf snapped. "There isn't a prophecy, as far as we're concerned."

"You didn't know that when you saw Sol."

Jayfeather winced as he listened to them bicker.

There was no point to their argument, except that it stopped them from discussing the only thing that mattered: whether any of them believed that Sol had kil ed Ashfur.

I'm glad I'm not going, he told himself. I don't want to listen to them all the way to the sun-drown-place and back!

Leafpool's voice cut across his thoughts.

"Jayfeather, there you are! I want you to come help me prepare herbs for the patrol."

"Okay, coming."

He rose to his paws and fol owed his mentor back to the medicine cats' den, leaving Hol yleaf and Lionblaze to their squabbling. As soon as he brushed past the bramble screen, his mouth fil ed with the scent of the traveling herbs.

"I've laid everything out," Leafpool told him. "We just have to make them into leaf wraps."

It was a relief to have something to distract him, but the task was soon done, and he emerged into the clearing again with a leaf wrap for Brambleclaw clamped between his jaws. By now the excitement over the patrol was beginning to die down, and the over the patrol was beginning to die down, and the cats were returning to their dens. Distinguishing Brambleclaw's scent from the tang of the herbs he carried was difficult, but Jayfeather final y located him with Squirrelflight near the fresh-kil pile.

"I wish you were coming with us," Brambleclaw was mewing to his mate as Jayfeather padded up.

"We have so many good memories from that journey."

Jayfeather caught the wistful note in his voice. It was as if the Clan deputy was looking back to a good time that was over, and regretting everything that had gone wrong since.

I wonder if he knows how wrong?

"I wish I was coming, too," Squirrelflight replied, her voice subdued. "But I'm probably not fit enough for a long journey, after the wound I took in the battle."

"There's no need to worry about Sol, you know,"