Warriors: Omen of the Stars #6: The Last Hope Read Free Page A

his tail lashing. “Where will we strike first?” he demanded.
    Brokenstar slid from the boulder and scratched a line in the muddy earth. “This is where the lake meets the land.”
    Slash.
    Slash.
    Slash.
    With deft claws he sliced more shapes into the ground. “We will come at them from here and here.” He stabbed the ground. “And while they are fighting there, another patrol will strike here.”
    Ivypool stretched forward, desperate to see where he was pointing at, but Tigerstar and Shredtail blocked her view as they crowded close. Her heart pounding in her throat, Ivypool listened for clues instead.
    “They’ll be weaker where the hill slopes down to the brook,” Brokenstar growled. “We can come at them from higher ground and drive them backward.”
    “What if we approach from here instead?” Tigerstar jabbed the map with a claw.
    Ivypool jumped as Brokenstar’s eyes lit up with interest. “At the very heart of the Clan!”
    “Once the kits are dead, their mothers will have less to fight for,” Mapleshade pointed out.
    “You’re right.” Brokenstar sat back on his haunches. “It’s decided, then.”
    Hawkfrost looked over his shoulder, his gaze grazing the tree where Ivypool was hiding. She flattened herself to the ground, relief swamping her as Hawkfrost’s gaze swept past, missing her, and the Dark Forest warriors began to pad away from the river. As soon as the shore was deserted, she slid out from her hiding place and crept toward Brokenstar’s map. Tense as a rabbit, she glimpsed lines scored in the mud.
    Suddenly, paws shook her violently. She jerked around, hissing, and lashed out at her attacker.
    “Ivypool!”
    Dovewing’s shocked mew brought her to her senses. Ivypool was in her nest. “You woke me up!” she snarled at her sister.
    Dovewing stared at her, terror glittering in her eyes. “Ivypool? Are you okay?”
    “I was dreaming!” Frustration tightened Ivypool’s throat. She was about to see Brokenstar’s plans!
    “You’re awake now, though?” Dovewing asked uncertainly.
    “Yes,” Ivypool muttered. “I’m awake.”
    Dovewing met her gaze. “You never would have tried to shred me for waking you up before.”
    “You know what happens when I dream.”
    “That’s why I woke you. Your fur was on end. I was scared something was…” Dovewing suddenly narrowed her eyes. “Did you want to stay in the Dark Forest?”
    Ivypool lifted her chin. Here, in the safety of her nest, the terror that had sharpened her dreams ebbed away. But the sense of danger still thrilled beneath her pelt. “I was doing something important!”
    Dovewing leaned closer. “What?”
    Ivypool turned away. “It’s too late now.” Brokenstar’s plans would be scuffed or washed away by tonight.
    Dovewing suddenly wrinkled her nose. “You smell foul.”
    Ivypool glanced down at her muddy paws and tucked them tighter beneath her. “Don’t worry. I’ll wash.”
    “Good.” Dovewing squeezed past her and headed out of the den.
    Ivypool glanced at Molepaw’s empty nest and Cherrypaw’s beside it. They’d already left for apprentice duties. Flexing her claws, she shouldered her way out of the den.
    “Ivypool!” Bumblestripe called from the fresh-kill pile. The well-muscled gray tom had a fat blackbird at his paws.
    Ivypool ignored him and ducked through the thorn tunnel, into the forest. How could she stay in camp, confined by the hollow, trapped with her Clanmates while her head still spun with the scents and sounds of the Dark Forest?
    She bounded up the slope toward the ridge. Strength surged through her body. The Dark Forest had given her that power. It had trained her to be a more skillful warrior than her Clanmates, given her tactics that she would use against the Dark Forest cats when the final battle came. Ivypool’s claws sliced through brambles as she crested the slope and burst from the tree line. Below, the lake glittered beneath a pale dawn sky. Leaf-fall was beginning to tinge