Leafpool brushed past him. "Leave that! I'l do it."

She almost snatched the herbs out of his jaws; fury rol ed off her as she carried them into the cave.

Jayfeather backed out of the den and padded across to the fresh-kil pile. But he had eaten earlier, and even a freshly caught mouse couldn't tempt him.

There were pangs in his bel y sharper than hunger: Already he missed Lionblaze and Hol yleaf more than he would have thought possible. They had never been separated for this long before.

In the dream Midnight had said that the patrol was chasing wild geese and Rock had told him that the answers lay inside ThunderClan itself. But Jayfeather didn't know how he was going to find them on his own. What kind of power was it, to walk in other cats'

dreams, when you woke up stil blind? There was no way he was going to find out anything when he was trapped in darkness at every step.

CHAPTER 8.

Lionblaze forgot to breathe as he stared across the vast gray water. Sharp, cold wind buffeted his fur; he felt as though it could sweep him off his paws at any moment and hurl him down the cliffs to the rocks far below.

"This way," Brambleclaw ordered. He led the patrol along the edge of the cliff to a narrow gul y lined with scrubby grass. Lionblaze gasped in relief as he stepped out of the wind.

"Midnight the badger lives near here,"

Brambleclaw went on, once the patrol was clustered around him at the bottom of the gul y.

"How did you know where to find her?" Hol yleaf asked curiously.

"We didn't," the Clan deputy admitted. "We didn't even know we were looking for a badger." He twitched his tail-tip. "I found Midnight's den by fal ing into it."

Hazeltail's eyes stretched wide. "Were you hurt?"

"Weren't you scared of Midnight?" Birchfal added.

Brambleclaw flicked one ear as if he were trying to get rid of a fly. "This isn't the time for stories. We have to keep going."

He led his patrol through the gul y, every so often climbing the slope to pop his head out and see how far along the cliff they were. Lionblaze and the others stayed crouching in the dip, listening to the blast of wind overhead.

At last Brambleclaw beckoned them with his tail to join him at the top. "We're almost there," he told them. "Fol ow me closely."

Lionblaze and the rest of the patrol flattened their bel ies to the short, bristly grass as they padded after Brambleclaw toward the edge of the cliff.

Is he going to jump over? Lionblaze wondered, as each paw step took them closer to the sheer drop.

But just before the land vanished from under their paws, Brambleclaw jumped down into a much deeper, narrower gul y, sloping steeply through a dip in the cliffs. Brackenfur and the other cats fol owed him, with Lionblaze bringing up the rear. The sharp stones that covered the bottom of the gul y dug into his pads or skidded from under him, nearly carrying him off his paws. Birchfal slipped, crashing into Hazeltail, and Brackenfur had to block the two younger cats before they hurtled down any farther.

"Thanks!" Birchfal gasped.

"Just watch where you're putting your paws,"

Brackenfur mewed.

The gul y led down to a rocky shore, the sand almost completely covered with pebbles. Lionblaze had seen waves on the lake when the wind blew hard, but these waves were much bigger, crashing onto the rocks with spurts of foam. Hazeltail stared at them, wide-eyed, so scared that she could scarcely put one paw in front of another.

"I hate this," Hol yleaf muttered, backing away toward the cliff face. "My fur's getting al wet and sticky." She turned her head to give her shoulder a lick. "Yuck!"

Lionblaze felt the same stickiness in his pelt; his nose wrinkled at the unfamiliar tang in the air. This is no place for cats, he told himself.

With a wave of his tail, Brambleclaw jumped onto a rocky outcrop and instantly disappeared under the edge of the cliff.

"Where did he go?" Birchfal asked, bewildered.

Lionblaze spotted the deputy's amber eyes glowing from the shadows at the bottom of the cliff.

"Come on!" Brambleclaw cal ed.

Reluctantly the rest of the patrol fol owed him beneath the jagged, teethlike rocks and into a low-roofed cave. Lionblaze gazed around at the pale sandy wal s and the floor strewn with large, smooth stones. High above them, gray light slanted down from a smal hole in the roof.

"Is that where you fel ?" Lionblaze guessed, remembering how Brambleclaw had said he first found Midnight.

Brambleclaw nodded. "The cave was ful of water, and I nearly drowned. Your mother saved my life."

A cold pang swept through Lionblaze, harsh as the booming water outside. She's not my mother.

The words almost forced themselves out of his jaws, but he bit them back. If Brambleclaw didn't know, this wasn't the place to tel him.

Hol yleaf hadn't heard the exchange between Lionblaze and Brambleclaw. She was sniffing curiously around the cave, padding over to where the floor sloped upward at the back, turning soft and floor sloped upward at the back, turning soft and sandy. Some branches were tucked in it at the top.

"What are those doing there?" Hol yleaf asked.

"This is Midnight's den," Brambleclaw explained.

For the first time Lionblaze noticed the scent of badger underlying the smel of the water. His neck fur bristled, but he made himself relax. The scent was stale, and besides, Brambleclaw had told them that Midnight was friendly to cats.

"Wil she come and find us?" Hazeltail mewed nervously.

"I hope she does," Hol yleaf replied. "Jayfeather told us al about her. She knows so much."

Her green eyes flashed at Lionblaze from the shadows. Is that what she really wants? he wondered. Does she think Midnight can tell us who our parents are?

"Midnight isn't here." Brambleclaw sounded disappointed. "And her scent is stale, so there's no point in waiting for her. She's been gone for several days. We'd better get back."

When they emerged from the cave, the water had risen even farther up the shore. A wave crashed onto the rocks and licked over the pebbles; Lionblaze jumped back as water swirled around his paws before retreating with a rattling hiss.

"Back to the gul y, quickly," Brambleclaw ordered.

He took the lead as the patrol scrambled back across the rocks. Lionblaze staggered as water foamed around him as high as his bel y fur, but he managed to stay on his paws and drag himself to safety, up the steep slope of the gul y where Brambleclaw and Hazeltail had already taken refuge.

Hol yleaf dragged herself after him, her black pelt soaked and flattened to her sides from the spray.

"I hate this place!" she spat as she tried to shake herself dry. "Midnight must be mouse-brained to live here."

A sharp cry of alarm cut through her words. As Birchfal tried to leap up into the gul y, a huge wave crashed over him. Hol yleaf stretched out a paw, but before she could grab him, the wave swept him back out of reach. Lionblaze caught a glimpse of him struggling in the gray water, his jaws wide in a yowl of terror, before his head went under.

"He'l drown!" Hol yleaf screeched.

At the same instant a dark shadow flashed over Lionblaze's head; Brambleclaw had leaped down into the water and was swimming strongly to where Birchfal had disappeared.

Brackenfur, stil precariously balanced on the rocks below, launched himself after the Clan deputy.

Lionblaze bunched his muscles to leap down and join them, only to find Hol yleaf blocking his way. "You can't," she rasped. "More cats wil die!"

"There must be something we can do," Lionblaze meowed desperately.

Glancing around, he saw a straggling bush growing between the rocks a couple of tail-lengths above them.

"Hazeltail," he cal ed. "Can you break a branch off that bush?"

The young she-cat was staring at the sun-drown water, frozen with horror as she watched her Clanmates struggling in the waves. She started as Lionblaze spoke, then turned and began tugging at the longest branch.

Lionblaze scrambled up to help her. To his relief the bush was dry; the branch cracked away from the main trunk, so that he and Hazeltail could claw it free and drag it down the gul y to the edge of the water.

Lionblaze let out a gasp of relief when he saw that Birchfal had resurfaced; Brambleclaw had his teeth fastened in the younger warrior's neck fur, while Brackenfur swam on his other side, trying to push him toward the cliff.

Dropping the branch at the bottom of the gul y, Lionblaze beckoned his sister with his tail. "Grab the end," he directed. "Sink your teeth and claws in, and don't let go."

Hol yleaf obeyed, pushing the branch so that it stuck out into the water as far as it would go.

Lionblaze and Hazeltail crouched beside her, al three cats hanging on to the end of the branch, trying to keep it steady among the crashing waves. More water swirled around them.

We can't keep this up for long, Lionblaze thought grimly. We'll be swept away as well.

He narrowed his eyes to peer across the roaring water and spotted his Clanmates bob above the surface as a wave drove them inshore. The short leaf-bare day was drawing to an end; the sinking sun flooded the surface of the water with scarlet so that the cats' heads were just shadows bobbing in a sea of blood.

The wave swept them closer stil ; Brackenfur The wave swept them closer stil ; Brackenfur reached out and managed to sink the claws of one paw into the end of the branch. "Grab it!" he yowled to Birchfal .

The young tom looked frozen with fear, his eyes staring vacantly, but as Brambleclaw let go his scruff, he clutched wildly at the branch and dragged himself along it until he could scramble onto the rocks at the bottom of the gul y. Lionblaze let go of his end of the branch to haul Birchfal 's limp body up higher; water streamed from his pelt and he vomited up a huge mouthful of liquid.

Brackenfur clawed his way along the branch to safety, and stood shaking the water out of his ginger fur. "Brambleclaw!" he yowled. "Brambleclaw, where are you?"

Cold horror flooded over Lionblaze as he realized that the deputy had disappeared. He can't have drowned. What will we do without him?

Then he spotted Brambleclaw's dark head break the surface a couple of fox-lengths away from the end of the branch. He was trying to swim, but his efforts were much feebler now.

Waves were tugging at Hol yleaf and Hazeltail as they clung to the branch. Hol yleaf's tail streamed out into the water.

"Get back, but don't let go!" Lionblaze ordered, his heart pounding as hard as the waves on the shore. Then he raised his voice to a yowl.

"Brambleclaw! Over here!"

The deputy heard him and seemed to find new strength. Struggling to keep afloat, he let the next wave carry him up to the branch, then struck out toward it. He managed to fasten his claws into it and haul himself out before the retreating wave swept him back again.

"Fox dung!" he spat, standing on the stones of the gul y with water eddying around his paws. "I thought I was on my way to StarClan for sure."

The cats began to retreat from the hungry water.

Brambleclaw scrambled up the gul y until he stood beside Birchfal , who was stil slumped on the stones with his eyes closed. Only his heaving chest showed that he was alive.

Brambleclaw prodded him with one paw.

"Birchfal ?"

The young tabby's eyes opened and he let out a shuddering sigh. "I might have drowned." His voice shook with fear. "I might never have seen Whitewing again-or our kits!"

"But you're fine now." Brambleclaw's voice rasped in his throat, rubbed raw by the bitter water. "It's time we started moving."

The Clan deputy didn't al ow his patrol to rest until they reached the shal ow gul y that ran along the top of the cliff. Out of the wind, with the waves booming against the cliffs below, they could col apse and try to groom the water out of their fur. Lionblaze winced at the bitter taste of salt, and saw that his Clanmates were making faces as they licked.

"Thanks, Brambleclaw and Brackenfur," Birchfal mumbled. "You saved my life back there."

Brackenfur touched the young tom's shoulder with the tip of his tail. "It's al over, and thank StarClan, no cat died. Brambleclaw, what do you think we should do next, seeing that Midnight isn't here?"

Brambleclaw accepted his Clanmate's tactful change of subject with a flick of his ears. "We'l keep looking for Sol. There'l be cats in the Twolegplace who have seen him."

The hair on Brackenfur's neck lifted at the mention of Sol's name. "Yes, he had a look of kittypet about him."

That cat's no kittypet. Lionblaze didn't dare say the words out loud, in case some cat asked him how he knew so much about Sol. He exchanged a doubtful glance with Hol yleaf. He wasn't sure that he wanted to visit the Twolegplace, and he could tel that his sister felt the same. Hazeltail was looking nervous, too, but it was Birchfal who spoke what they were al thinking.

"Do we have to go so close to Twolegs? It's not right for Clan cats."

"We've got no choice," Brambleclaw growled.

"We're not going back to ThunderClan without Sol!"

I wonder whether Brambleclaw would be so keen to hunt down Ashfur's killer if he knew that Ashfur had tried to destroy Squirrelflight? Lionblaze thought.

But Brambleclaw also didn't know that Squirrelflight had lied to him. She let him believe he was our father. Would he be so loyal to her if he found out the truth?

Lionblaze shook his head, trying to clear it of al the lies. He had to fix his mind on the one thing he could control: being the best warrior for ThunderClan that he could possibly be. I know I can still fight without being hurt. I just need a chance to prove it....

"What's the matter?" Hol yleaf muttered into his ear. "Have you heard something?" Her black pelt was bristling.

Lionblaze realized that he had sunk his claws into the ground as if he were about to attack. "No, it's okay," he replied, forcing himself to relax. "I was just thinking about Sol."

Brambleclaw hadn't heard their exchange. "This is what we're going to do," he announced. "There's nowhere for cats to live near the edge of the cliff, and nowhere to catch prey. So we'l have to head for the outskirts of the Twolegplace and look for any cats who might have seen Sol."