Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18 "Disappeared?" Firestar echoed in alarm. "What happened?" "We're not sure." Whitestorm was calmer than Brackenfur, but his eyes gave away his concern. "It was Bramblepaw who first said he couldn't find her. I thought he was making a fuss about nothing, but we searched the camp. She isn't here, and no cat saw her leave." "It's my fault!" Brackenfur broke in. "I'm her mentor." "It's not your fault," Whitestorm assured him. "I sent you on hunting patrol. No cat expects you to be in two places at once." Brackenfur shook his head despairingly. "Fetch Bramblepaw," Firestar ordered; Thornclaw bounded off at once to the apprentices' den. While he waited, Firestar sent Ravenpaw and the three RiverClan cats to see Cinderpelt; Graystripe went with them to explain what had happened, and to assure himself that his kits would be all right. Though the gray warrior was cold and drenched from the icy river, all his

concern was for his kits, and as they crossed the clearing he stuck close to their side like a bulky shadow. "I don't know what to think," meowed Whitestorm when they had gone. "Maybe Tawnypaw got some idea into her head and went off by herself. She could be trapped or injured somewhere—" "Or she could be in ShadowClan," Brackenfur interrupted, his fur bristling. "Tigerstar could have stolen her!" "But Tigerstar was over in RiverClan territory," Firestar told them quietly. "So were Blackfoot and Darkstripe." He saw Whitestorm's ears twitch in surprise, and he knew he would have to explain every thing to his deputy as soon as possible. "He could have sent some other cat to do his dirty work," Cloudtail put in. "Have you scented ShadowClan cats around the camp?" Firestar asked Whitestorm. "Or RiverClan?" The white warrior shook his head. "No cats but our own, Firestar." "Then it sounds as if she left willingly," Firestar

meowed. "Perhaps she just felt like hunting by herself for a change." But he couldn't help remembering the incident before he left the camp, when Tawnypaw had been furious with Smallear for comparing her with her father. Firestar wondered if he had misjudged how hurt she had felt. He broke off his thoughts as Bramblepaw came up. "Tell me what Tawnypaw did before she disappeared," Firestar ordered. "Just the usual apprentice chores." Bramblepaw sounded anxious; his amber eyes were wide and confused. "We changed the elders' bedding and brought them fresh-kill, and I went to get some mouse bile from Cinderpelt to put on a tick in Smallear's fur. When I came back Tawnypaw had gone, and I haven't seen her since." "Where have you looked so far?" "I went back to where we got the moss for the bedding, but she wasn't there," his apprentice replied. "And I checked the training hollow." Firestar nodded. "Did you ask the elders if she said anything to them?"

"I did," replied Whitestorm, "but they couldn't remember anything out of the ordinary." "And what about Goldenflower?" Firestar went on. "Did Tawnypaw say anything to her?" Whitestorm shook his head. "She was frantic. I sent her with Mousefur to search toward Tallpines. They aren't back yet." "Did you try to track Tawnypaw?" Firestar asked. "Yes, of course," Brackenfur replied. "We tracked her to the top of the ravine, but after that we lost the scent." Firestar hesitated. More than anything he wanted to believe that there was an easy explanation for Tawnypaw's absence. StarClan forbid he should wish a young cat to be lying injured somewhere, but even that would be preferable to his worst fears, that Tawnypaw had gone willingly to join her father. "I'll try again," he decided. "It's probably too late, but—" "I'll come with you," Cloudtail offered. Firestar gave him a nod of gratitude; Cloudtail was one of the best trackers in the Clan. "Okay,"

he meowed. "Sandstorm, Thornclaw, you come too." Firestar led the way out of the camp again. Exhaustion dragged at his paws; the night was half-over, and so far he had not slept. He would have liked nothing better than to settle down in his den with a piece of fresh-kill, but he guessed it would be a long time before he could do that. It was not difficult to pick up Tawnypaw's scent in the ravine, even though it was fading by now, but toward the top he lost it, as Brackenfur had done. Firestar began to suspect that the young cat had leaped from rock to rock, where her scent would not linger, so as to confuse any cats who might try to follow her. Firestar's worst fears flooded back; had Tawnypaw really been so unhappy in ThunderClan that she felt she had to leave? His thoughts were interrupted by a yowl from Cloudtail among the bushes at the top of the ravine. "Over here! She went this way!" When Firestar bounded up to join him, he too could distinguish the faintest trace of Tawnypaw's scent. He and Cloudtail followed it into the trees,

noses to the ground as they focused on the traces of cat among all the stronger, distracting scents of prey. No other cat's scent joined Tawnypaw's. This far, at least, she had been alone. Then, at the edge of a clearing, they lost the scent trail again, and not even Cloudtail's sharp nose could pick it up. A cold wind had sprung up, driving clouds across the moon and ruffling the cats' fur, and as Firestar cast back and forth across the clearing in a last effort to find the scent again, a thin, icy rain began to fall. "Mouse dung!" Cloudtail spat. "That just about finishes us." Reluctantly Firestar agreed. Calling Sandstorm and Thornclaw back from their own searches, he meowed, "Let's get back. We can't do any more." Sandstorm stood still for a moment, gazing in the direction that the scent trail had seemed to lead. "It looks as if she was heading for Fourtrees." That made sense, Firestar reflected. Fourtrees was the obvious place to go if Tawnypaw wanted to meet with a cat from another Clan, or to cross into another Clan's territory. Every hair on his