"No!" Hol yleaf yowled. "Hazeltail, run!"

Hazeltail was too panic-stricken to move. With a snarl of fury, Brambleclaw darted back onto the Thunderpath and grabbed her by the scruff, almost under the paws of the oncoming monster.

"It'l kil them both!" Birchfal wailed.

The monster's blazing eyebeams raked across the two warriors as Brambleclaw dragged his Clanmate across the black surface. Hazeltail's legs dangled at first, as if she were dead; then in a heartbeat she scrambled to her paws and fled.

Brambleclaw dashed after her, the monster almost on top of his haunches. For a heartbeat, Hol yleaf was certain that he would be crushed under the monster's whirling paws; then it was roaring past them, and Brambleclaw was stil running. Hazeltail col apsed onto the grass and Brambleclaw skidded to a halt beside her.

He let out a disgusted snort. "That was an example of how not to cross a Thunderpath."

"I'm sorry." Hazeltail sounded like a frightened kit.

"I'm so sorry!"

The rest of the cats flopped down, panting. Even Lionblaze looked ruffled. Sol must be braver than any of us realized, Hol yleaf thought as she tried to calm her breathing. He made this journey all by himself!

Brackenfur padded up to Hazeltail and gave her a comforting lick. "It's okay," he murmured. "We al make mistakes."

"But I could have gotten Brambleclaw kil ed!"

Hazeltail's eyes were wide with horror. "Thank you, Brambleclaw. You saved my life!"

The fury in Brambleclaw's eyes faded, and he blinked. "Just make sure I don't have to do it again."

"I promise you won't."

After al owing them a few moments to rest, Brambleclaw urged the patrol members to their paws again. "We can't stay here," he meowed. "Let's paws again. "We can't stay here," he meowed. "Let's head for the trees. There might be some prey there."

The cats fol owed him as he struck out across the prickly grass. The snow had stopped, but it stil lay thickly on the ground, clogging Hol yleaf's paws as she limped after her Clan deputy. My fur's so cold I think I'm turning into an ice cat, she thought, trying to shake the cold white clumps off her feet. A cold wind was blowing into their faces, catching up the loose snow and flinging it into her eyes. "Mouse dung, that stings!" she muttered.

As they drew closer to the copse, she could see that the trees were shorter than the ones on ThunderClan territory, and twisted into strange shapes. They looked like the bushes on WindClan's moorland territory, bent double like hunched Twolegs. But as she tasted the air, Hol yleaf realized that the smel s were more familiar than anything she had scented since she left the forest. The reek of the Thunderpath was dying away, and in its place she could pick up the scents of leaf and bark; water flooded her jaws as she recognized mouse, rabbit, and squirrel.

"We'l stay here to eat and rest," Brambleclaw announced when the cats reached the edge of the trees. "We won't find anywhere better to spend the night."

Birchfal 's ears perked up, and Hol yleaf exchanged a hopeful glance with Lionblaze at the thought of not having to plod any farther through the snow.

"It can't be sunset yet," Brackenfur objected, eyeing the gray clouds that stil shouldered their way across the sky.

"No, but we're al tired and cold," Brambleclaw replied. "And when we can't see the sun, we can't be sure that we're heading the right way to the sun-drown-place."

Brackenfur shrugged, agreeing, and al six cats headed deeper into the copse. There wasn't as much snow under the shelter of the trees, and Hol yleaf felt her paws starting to warm up. The ground was uneven, sloping roughly down to where a smal stream trickled among the roots of the trees.

"Catch your prey and then rest," Brambleclaw ordered. Hol yleaf thought he sounded tense- perhaps he was unhappy about where their journey would take them next. Does he know there's something dangerous up ahead?

Brackenfur vanished into the undergrowth, and Lionblaze and Birchfal headed off together.

"Would you like to hunt with me?" Hol yleaf asked Hazeltail; her Clanmate stil looked shocked by her panic at the Thunderpath.

"That would be great!" Hazeltail's ears flicked up.

"Where should we start?"

"Right here's as good as anywhere."

Both she-cats tasted the air; Hol yleaf picked up a strong scent of squirrel, and a moment later she spotted one scuffling among the debris at the foot of a twisted thorn tree. Angling her ears, she pointed it out to Hazeltail. Her friend nodded, eyes gleaming.

Hol yleaf signaled to Hazeltail to stay where she was, then dropped into a hunter's crouch and worked her way in a wide circle around to the other side of the tree. She had carried out this hunting move so often in ThunderClan territory that it almost felt as if she were home again. Approaching the squirrel from the other side, she crept closer and closer, sliding her paws through the rough grass.

When she thought she was close enough, she let out a fearsome yowl and leaped. Panicked, the squirrel darted away, only to run straight into Hazeltail's claws. Hazeltail dispatched it with a swift bite to the neck.

"Great catch!" Hol yleaf exclaimed.

"You set it up," Hazeltail mewed; she looked a lot more cheerful now.

As Hol yleaf padded over to her friend, Lionblaze came bounding out from behind a bramble thicket.

"Birchfal and I got a real y fat rabbit."

Birchfal appeared as he spoke, staggering as he dragged the rabbit between his forepaws. Dropping it with a gusty sigh, he stumbled into the low-growing branches of a hazel bush. A load of snow slid down and covered him; he emerged hissing with disgust, shaking snow from his pelt.

Hol yleaf couldn't suppress a smal mrrow of laughter. "Watch out, or we'l have to cal you Snowfal ," she purred.

The four young cats dragged their prey into a sheltered hol ow beside the stream, where the ground was covered with a drift of dead leaves.

Soon Brackenfur appeared with another squirrel, and Brambleclaw with a couple of mice. As they ate, the warmth of their bodies spread throughout the the warmth of their bodies spread throughout the hol ow; with the branches of the bushes straggling overhead, Hol yleaf thought it almost felt like a den.

Ful and comfortable, she swept her tongue around her jaws. "I could sleep for a moon," she announced drowsily.

"Fine," meowed Brambleclaw, "but we'd better set a watch."

"I'l go first," Lionblaze offered.

"Okay." Brambleclaw stretched his jaws in an enormous yawn. "Wake me when you're ready, and I'l take the next one."

As Hol yleaf settled down to sleep, the last thing she saw was her brother's golden tabby shape, his ears pricked as he stared through the trees.

A paw prodding into her side woke Hol yleaf.

Blinking in confusion, she thought at first she was in the warriors' den. But where's all the moss and bracken? And why can I hear running water?

Then she remembered she was on the journey to the sun-drown-place, with Brambleclaw and the others. The ThunderClan camp lay a day's travel behind them, and everything here was new and strange.

Hazeltail was gazing down at her. "It's your watch,"

she mewed. "You're the last."

Hol yleaf staggered to her paws and arched her back in a stretch. Lionblaze, Birchfal , and Brackenfur were al curled up close by. "Where's Brambleclaw?" she yawned.

"He woke up while I was on watch," Hazeltail explained. "He said he was going to scout ahead."

She settled herself comfortably among the leaves and wrapped her tail over her nose. "I'm going to get some more sleep while I can," she murmured.

Hol yleaf groomed the scraps of dead leaf out of her pelt, then padded the two or three paw steps to the edge of the stream. Before she bent to lap, she let her gaze travel over the trees that surrounded her; she could just make out their branches against the sky, which was beginning to fade from black to gray.

Everything was quiet.

She took a long drink of the icy water; as she shook the drops from her whiskers, she heard a loud alarm cal and caught a glimpse of a blackbird shooting upward. A moment later Brambleclaw came stalking through the trees, carrying a rabbit in his jaws.

"The hunting is good here," he remarked, dropping his prey at Hol yleaf's paws.

The rich scent of the fresh-kil made Hol yleaf's mouth water. "Should I catch some more?" she suggested. "One rabbit won't go far between six of us."

"Fine," Brambleclaw replied. "But don't go out of the copse. I'l wake the others. Next time, you can take first watch," he added. "But right now we need to keep moving."

Hol yleaf fol owed the stream, bounded up beside a smal waterfal , and practical y fel over a vole just before it could slip into its hole in the bank.

Scratching earth over its limp body, she climbed the bank and stood tasting the air, her ears alert for the tiny sounds of prey. Soon she spotted a mouse nibbling seeds under a bush. Her paws lighter than air, Hol yleaf glided over the ground and broke the mouse's neck with a swift blow of her paw. Then she went back to col ect the vole, and returned to the hol ow with both pieces of fresh-kil .

She would have been proud of her hunting skil s once, especial y when she could show Brambleclaw how fast she could bring back prey. Now she couldn't even meet the deputy's gaze as he congratulated her. Al her training, everything she thought she knew, was nothing but dust if she wasn't even a real Clan cat.

Al six cats were awake. They ate quickly and fol owed Brambleclaw to the edge of the copse.

"We're not far from Midnight's home now," he meowed. "Be careful, and keep close to me."

The land ahead was flat and empty, except for the Twoleg nests, with no shelter in sight. The sky was clear but for a few ragged, scudding clouds, and behind the patrol it shone milky-pale with dawn. The wind hit Hol ypaw in the face as soon as she left the shelter of the trees. It felt cold and sharp, with an unfamiliar tang, like the scent of frozen blood.

"It's going to blow my fur off!" she heard Birchfal complain.

Hol yleaf's eyes and mouth stung, and her pelt felt sticky. She screwed up her eyes and ducked her head, keeping close to Lionblaze as they trekked on and on across the brittle grass until, beneath the whistling of the wind, Hol yleaf could make out a dul roaring, like nothing she had ever heard before.

Suddenly Lionblaze halted; unable to stop in time, Hol yleaf bumped into him. Hissing in annoyance, she staggered as Hazeltail col ided with her from behind. Raising her head, Hol yleaf saw that Brambleclaw and Brackenfur were standing side by side at the head of the patrol, staring at something.

Hol yleaf padded up to them, the rest of the cats Hol yleaf padded up to them, the rest of the cats fal ing into a line alongside.

Great StarClan! They had reached the very edge of the land! At their paws, the ground fel away into a tumble of rocks. Stretching in front of them, as far as Hol yleaf could see, was an endless expanse of heaving, roaring gray water.

"Welcome to the sun-drown-place," Brambleclaw meowed.

CHAPTER 7.

Jayfeather stood in the clearing after the Sol patrol had left, sniffing the tang of snow on the dawn wind.

He could hear rustling as several cats pushed their way through the branches of the warriors' den. There was a strange sense of tension among his Clanmates.

"Dawn patrol." Graystripe's voice came from close by Jayfeather. "Sandstorm, you can lead. Take Foxpaw and Squirrelflight with you. And take care along the WindClan border."

"Do I have to go with them?" Jayfeather heard the dismayed voice of Foxpaw. "I don't like WindClan."

"Shh." Ferncloud sounded shocked. "You know there's nothing to be frightened of anymore."

Jayfeather winced; it sounded as if most of the Clan believed that Sol was the murderer, and there was nothing more to worry about. But they're wrong!

They're completely wrong!

"Foxpaw, you're my apprentice," Squirrelflight meowed with an edge of annoyance in her voice. "Of course you come with me. Or if you'd rather, you can go and search the elders for ticks."

"Uh...no, I guess I'l come."

"You'l be fine," Firestar assured the apprentice; Jayfeather hadn't heard him come down from the Highledge. "Who have we got for hunting patrols, Graystripe?"

"I thought I'd lead one," the gray warrior meowed.

"I'l take Sorreltail and Mousewhisker." In a lower voice he added to Firestar, "If you or I do the border patrols, every cat wil think there's something to be scared of."

"Good thinking," Firestar agreed.

"Dustpelt, wil you lead another hunting patrol,"

Graystripe went on more loudly. "Cloudtail and Brightheart can go with you. Try the ShadowClan border, but remember what Brambleclaw said about being careful not to cross it."

"I wasn't born yesterday, thanks," Dustpelt snapped, irritation sparking from him.

"Should we take Icepaw?" Brightheart asked.

"She doesn't get out much, now that Whitewing is in the nursery."

"Sure," Graystripe meowed. "Icepaw! Stop batting that bark around and come over here."

Jayfeather heard the scampering of paws and excited mews as the other apprentice bounded up.

"You're going hunting with Dustpelt, Cloudtail, and Brightheart," Graystripe told them. "We're counting on you to bring back a lot of fresh-kil ."

"I'm sure you wil ," Firestar assured her. "You're doing so wel ."

Jayfeather could feel the apprentice's happy pride as she padded over to join the senior warriors.

"It won't be long before we'l be holding another warrior ceremony," Firestar remarked to Graystripe.

Although his words sounded cheerful, Jayfeather picked up the doubt buzzing beneath them. He knew that his Clan leader's thoughts were with the patrol of Clanmates who were heading off to find Sol.