A Dangerous Path Read Free Page B

pressed her muzzle against his neck.
    Fireheart gave her cheek a quick lick. “It’s time to go,” he meowed. “Say your good-byes, and if any cat asks, tell them that ThunderClan is doing fine.”
    Throughout the clearing, the groups of cats were breaking up as all four Clans prepared to leave. Fireheart began looking around for the rest of his warriors. He caught sight of a familiar blue-gray shape and bounded across the hollow to join her.
    â€œHi, Mistyfoot,” he meowed. “How are you? How’s Graystripe? I didn’t see him here tonight.”
    Graystripe had been Fireheart’s first friend in ThunderClan; they had trained together as apprentices. But then Graystripe had fallen in love with Silverstream, a young RiverClan warrior, and she had died bearing his kits. Graystripe had left his ownClan to go with them to RiverClan, and though seasons had passed, Fireheart still missed him.
    â€œGraystripe didn’t come.” The RiverClan queen sat down and curled her tail neatly around her paws. “Leopardfur wouldn’t let him. She was furious about the way he behaved during the fire. She says that in his heart, he’s still loyal to ThunderClan.”
    Fireheart had to admit that Leopardfur was probably right. Graystripe had already asked Bluestar if he could come back to ThunderClan, but she had refused. “So how is he?” Fireheart repeated.
    â€œHe’s fine,” Mistyfoot meowed. “So are the kits. He asked me to find out how you were doing after the fire. Bluestar’s not seriously ill, you say?”
    â€œNo, she’ll be better soon.” Fireheart tried to sound confident. It was true that Bluestar was recovering from the effects of breathing smoke, but for some moons now the ThunderClan leader’s mind had been clouded. She had begun to doubt her own judgment, and even to question the loyalty of her warriors. The discovery of Tigerstar’s treachery had shaken her to her core, and Fireheart couldn’t help worrying about how she would react to the news that the deputy she had exiled was now leader of ShadowClan.
    â€œI’m glad to hear that she is recovering.” Mistyfoot’s mew broke into his thoughts.
    Fireheart twitched his ears. “How’s Crookedstar?” he asked, changing the subject. The RiverClan leader had seemed frail when he had allowed ThunderClan to shelter in his camp, andtonight, next to Tigerstar, he looked even older than Fireheart remembered. But maybe that wasn’t surprising. The RiverClan leader had had to cope with floods that had driven his cats out of their camp and with a shortage of prey because Twoleg rubbish had poisoned the river. More than all that, Graystripe’s beloved Silverstream had been Crookedstar’s daughter, and her death had caused him much grief.
    â€œHe’s okay,” meowed Mistyfoot. “He’s been through a lot recently. Mind you, I’m more concerned about Graypool,” she added, naming the cat who had raised her from kithood. “She seems so old now. I’m afraid she’ll go to StarClan soon.”
    Fireheart would have liked to give the young queen a comforting lick, but he was not sure how the RiverClan cat would take that from a cat of another Clan. Apart from Graypool, Fireheart was the only cat who knew that the frail RiverClan elder was not the real mother of Mistyfoot and her brother, Stonefur. Their father, Oakheart, had brought them to RiverClan when they were tiny kits, and Graypool had agreed to take care of them. Their real mother was Bluestar.
    As Fireheart murmured sympathetically and said his good-byes to Mistyfoot, he couldn’t help feeling that trouble was still in store for both Clans because of Bluestar’s secret.

CHAPTER 2
    The sky was growing pale with the first light of dawn when Fireheart and his warriors returned to the ThunderClan camp. Although Fireheart knew what he would find, it was still a