Crookedstar’s Promise

As he yowled a warning, four huge rats raced squealing from the shadows. Sedgecreek squawked with surprise. “They’re attacking us!” She hopped into the air as a rat hurtled at her, but it grabbed her hind paw with its teeth and held on.

Crookedjaw pounced squarely on the rat’s back, killing it with a bite to its neck. “Are you okay?”

Sedgecreek whimpered with pain as blood welled thick and scarlet from her hind paw. Leopardfur raced over to help. She clawed another rat and sent it squealing away.

“There’s more!” Sedgecreek gasped.

Countless rats were streaming from the side of the barn. Their eyes burned and their sharp teeth glinted in the half-light.

“Get help!” Crookedjaw yowled at Petaldust.

“But—” Petaldust began to argue.

“Now!”

As the tortoiseshell warrior tore out of the barn, Crookedjaw braced himself. Trapped by her wounded hind leg, Sedgecreek was batting at the flood of rats with her front paws. Hailstar lunged wildly, rats on every side of him. Leopardfur shrieked as one bit her tail. She turned and sunk her teeth into its neck. Instantly another rat leaped on her back. “Help!”

Crookedjaw darted forward and hooked it off. Leopardfur wailed as it ripped out fur.

“Hailstar!” Sedgecreek’s screech made Crookedjaw whirl around.

Two rats were attacking the RiverClan leader, one clinging to his spine, the other dragging at his hind legs with its teeth. Crookedjaw hauled off the biggest rat and flung it to the edge of the barn.

“Wait!”

A snarl came from the shadows.

Mapleshade! Crookedjaw recoiled. “What are you doing here?” he growled.

“This is your chance.” Her voice rang inside his head. “Leave him to the rats. You can be the leader of RiverClan today, if you have the courage!”

“No!” Crookedjaw lunged at the rat clinging on to Hailstar’s pelt and clawed it away from the RiverClan leader. “I won’t let you kill my leader!” Crookedjaw hooked another rat and slapped it to the floor.

Mapleshade hissed. “But this is your destiny!”

Crookedjaw growled under his breath. “I decide my destiny, Mapleshade. Not you!” As Hailstar staggered to his paws, Crookedjaw knocked away another rat. Behind him, Sedgecreek had made it to her feet, leaning on Leopardfur. Crookedjaw glanced at the injured she-cat. She looked as if she could stand on her own for a short while.

It was too dangerous to race for the entrance. The moment they stopped fighting, the rats would overwhelm them. Their only hope was to work together.

“Warriors! Tail-to-tail!” he ordered.

The patrol backed toward one another and pressed their spines together. Rearing up on their hind paws and swiping with their front legs, they met the rats with a circle of flashing claws. Hailstar was gasping for breath, but he jabbed mercilessly at the flood of brown creatures. Leopardfur yowled in triumph at each rat she sent flying. Sedgecreek slammed her paws down again and again on writhing, squealing bodies. Crookedjaw’s nose and mouth filled with the musky tang of blood. Panic started to rise in his chest. Sedgecreek was starting to wobble on her injured leg, and Leopardfur sagged against his flank. They couldn’t hold out much longer. “Try and get to the entrance!” he yowled. As they edged back toward the hole, a pelt flashed at the corner of Crookedjaw’s vision.

“I’ve brought help!” Petaldust yelled across the barn.

Rippleclaw and Timberfur streaked toward them. Sunfish, Blackclaw, and Owlfur followed. They dived on to the sea of rats, hooking them with their claws and hurling them across the barn. Timberfur cracked a spine in his jaws. Rippleclaw grabbed a rat with each forepaw and smashed them both against the hard stone floor. The rats scattered, shrieking, to the edge of the barn and flowed back into the shadows and disappeared.

Crookedjaw dropped on to all fours. Leopardfur crouched beside him. She was panting, her pelt streaked red, but her eyes were bright. “We did it!” she gasped.

Crookedjaw lapped blood from between her ears. “Yes, we did.”

A weak groan sounded beside them.

“Sedgecreek!” Crookedjaw ran to her side and searched her glittering eyes. “How badly are you hurt?”

She groaned. Paws pounded across stone and a white pelt knocked Crookedjaw away. “Give me room!” Brambleberry snapped. The medicine cat crouched beside Sedgecreek. “Fetch cobwebs!” she ordered. Rippleclaw and Timberfur streaked away and leaped onto the huge piles of grass, stretching up to snatch cobwebs from the wall behind.

“Hailstar!” Owlfur’s shocked mew made Crookedjaw freeze.

Hailstar? Horror dropped like a stone in his belly. The RiverClan leader was lying stretched out on the stone floor. Blood pulsed from his throat.

“Brambleberry!” Crookedjaw yowled.

“Hold on!” she called back. “Sedgecreek’s bleeding badly.”