CHAPTER TWELVE

Blacktail flinched away as a monster came crashing down the thunder path, leaving a stinking trail of its breath after. He was in the twolegplace, searching for Juliet. He'd tried to track her scent, but their were so many unfamiliar smells distracting him, it soon proved impossible.

And so far, wandering around aimlessly, hoping to run into her again, was also proving to be a bad strategy. But, at last, he wandered upon another kittypet, sitting atop the gate of his garden.

Frankly, Blacktail was surprised that the wooden fence post could support the fat brown tabby tom. Now there's an attractive sight. "Excuse me, kittypet?" he called up.

The tabby glanced around, then spotted him, blinking from wide, friendly looking yellow eyes. "Hello! I haven't seen you around. Did your housefolk just move in?"

"StarClan, no! I'm not a kittypet!" Be friendly, Blacktail, he reminded himself. "Um. Nice to meet you. Do you happen to know where Juliet's housefolk live?"

"Juliet…oh yes, the pretty tabby cat! She's seven houses down from this one."

Blacktail smiled, relieved. "Thank you. Um. Bye." he scurried off hastily.

"Goodbye now!" the fat tabby called.

He padded down the houses, noticing how each one was a different color, with different decorations adorning them. He counted as he passed each one, and finally came to the seventh.

It was a pale brown, with a slightly shabby white fence around a wild garden with tall pale green grass and brightly colored flowers. Underneath the cloying flowery smell, and the twoleg stench, of course, he could detect her scent, faint but fresh.

This was definitely the place. He was happy to find that the gate was open, and he slipped into the wild garden, trying to pick up her scent again. But the flowery smell was even stronger in the actual garden, so he had to rely on sight alone.

Then, just ahead of him, past a sweet-smelling pink flower, was Juliet, sitting and admiring an exotic-looking orange and purple flower with wide petals. She leaned up and pushed her face into it, her tail twitching with delight.

He padded up to her, unsure how to greet her. But, as it turns out, her nose was sharper than he thought. She whirled around suddenly, her fur bristling.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Listen, Juliet. I know you're mad, and you have every right to be, but-"

She cut him off. "You're right, I do. Thanks for the information. I think you can find your way out on your own."

She started to stalk off again, but he stopped her this time, running in front of her. She scowled.

"Hear me out, okay? I was just confused. I've never had friends out of the clans, and I didn't understand…things…and anyway, I don't know how to say this…but, um, I want to be your friend…and I'm sorry."

"Really?"

"Yes! Really, really sorry."

She kneaded her paws on the grass. "How did you find my house, anyway?"

"I asked that fat tabby up their." He pointed in the vague direction with his tail.

"Oh. Charlie. He's nice."

"Yea." he blinked at her apprehensively. She sighed loudly.

"Okay, okay. I forgive you. And I suppose we can be friends again."

Blacktail jumped up and ran over to her, burying his face in her dark striped pelt. "Thank you, Juliet." underneath her strong twoleg scent, he could smell many different flowers and grasses and spores, all embedded in her fur.

He paused, feeling awkward suddenly. She was sitting perfectly still. He extracted his face from her fur and sat up, inching a few claw-lengths away from her.

"Um, sorry."

She shook her head as though dislodging a fly. "See you later, Blacktail." she dipped her head to him, then ran up the wooden stairs and into the twoleg den. Blacktail took that as his cue to leave. And as he did, he felt an immense relief wash over him.

-x-

Finally, Sparrowheart got his chance. Brightflower padded past, bringing up the rear of a border patrol. "Psst! Brightflower!" he hissed. She swung her head around, locking onto Sparrowheart in a second. He beckoned to her with his tail urgently.

"Um…Silverfoot, I'll catch up to you guys. I think I see an, um, mouse."

The silver tom leading the patrol glanced at her. "Okay. See you." She waited until the patrol was out of sight before sitting hesitantly on the border line.

"Sparrowheart? What's going on?"

"Listen, Brightflower," he said, getting up from his crouch. "This is important. Has StormClan been stealing prey from WoodClan?"

She bristled. "No! Who said that?"

"No one's said it just yet, but everyone's thinking it. We've found five mice total in our territory, along the border, all of them smelling of StormClan."

Brightflower blinked. "Oh, wow. Sparrowheart, I promise you, no one in StormClan is stealing your prey. We have plenty of our own! No need to steal anyone else's. You have to believe me!" her yellow-green eyes glistened with sincerity.

"I do, Brightflower. But someone's stealing the prey, and we have to figure out who it is before our clans go to war!"

She nodded. "You're right. It's up to us. But what can we do?"

"You said you have a sister, right?"

"Yes. Bluefeather."

"Tell her what's happening, and I'll tell my littermates. Spread the word that a rogue in your territory is stealing WoodClan's prey, and they think that you're responsible. Hopefully, Wildstar will be willing to make peace with my leader."

"Okay, sounds like a plan. What are you going to tell your clanmates?"

"I'll tell them I saw a rogue hanging around the border with you. I'll suggest maybe he could be stealing the prey. That's probably the truth, anyway."

Brightflower smiled. "Good plan, Sparrowheart. And I'm glad everything's okay with you, now. I'll see you later."

Sparrowheart paused. "Wait, Brightflower? Why don't we, um, meet here later tonight? So you can, you know, tell me how it went with your clan, and stuff."

Her eyes twinkled faintly. "Okay. Bye." she turned and broke into a run, disappearing to catch up with her patrol.

Now, it was up to Sparrowheart to carry out his part of the plan.

-x-

When they returned from their hunt, Dovepelt went to drop off both their catches. Shadowstream padded off to the Medicine Den, probably to check up on Infinity. Funny, but Dovepelt hadn't even met the supposed 'savior' yet. In fact, she was more worried about the alleged thefts of StormClan than some unknown enemy.

Sparrowheart appeared from behind her. "Dovepelt, good. I've found you." Blacktail padded into camp just then, looking rather cheerful and not nearly as jumpy as this morning. "And Blacktail! Come on." he beckoned to Dovepelt, walking up to Blacktail.

"Okay, you two, I've got something important to tell you."

"Oh, great. Another message from StarClan?" Blacktail asked.

"No, this is about the StormClan thing. Where's Shadowstream?"

"In the Medicine Den with Infinity, I think," Dovepelt said, curious.

"Well, lets go and get her." he led them into the den. In the back, Shadowstream was sitting by Infinity. He looked much better than he had before. His thick, fluffy black coat was clean again, and his eyes were bright but not glassy with fever. He still looked pretty small and underfed, though. That must be his natural look.

"Yes, I know. But-" Shadowstream broke off as they entered. "Oh, hey. Infinity, these are my littermates, Blacktail, Sparrowheart, and Dovepelt. Guys, this is Infinity."

He smiled. "It's nice to meet you. Shadowstream speaks highly of you."

Dovepelt laughed. "Well, what can I say."

Sparrowheart looked impatient. "Shadowstream, I have to tell everyone something important."

"Okay, what is it?"

He frowned. "In private, Shadowstream."

She looked around. "Don't worry, Mousewhisker's out getting more juniper."

Infinity flicked his tail. "I think he means me, actually, Shadowstream."

Shadowstream laid down. "Whatever you can tell me, you can tell Infinity." Dovepelt understood what she was saying. The cat sent by StarClan could surely be trusted. But she wasn't sure she like the way Infinity was looking at her sister… She shook the thought from her mind. Sparrowheart had important news to tell them.

Sparrowheart rolled his eyes. "Okay, okay, fine. I suppose a loner like him can be trusted. Now, I talked to Brightflower, and I found something out."

"Brightflower?" Blacktail asked, confused. Dovepelt narrowed her eyes.

"That StormClan she-cat? Getting awfully chummy with her, aren't you, Sparrowheart?"

Sparrowheart hissed faintly. "I had too. She's the only StormClan cat I know. Anyway, I found out that StormClan isn't stealing prey."

"And you think we can trust the word of a she-cat from StormClan? Really, Sparrowheart?" Blacktail said sharply.

"He has a point, you know." Dovepelt said.

Shadowstream just flicked her ears quietly. Infinity nudged her pointedly. "Okay, fine. Listen, I'm with Sparrowheart. I never really believed that StormClan was stealing prey like that. I mean, it just doesn't make sense."

Dovepelt thought. "Actually, you're right. Why would they just leave the evidence lying around for anyone to find?"

Blacktail nodded. "And why steal prey at all? It's new-leaf, for crying out loud!"

Sparrowheart smiled. "Exactly. But no one else in the clan seems to see the logic in this. So it's up to us to spread the word. I'm going to tell everyone I saw a rogue on the border. You tell cats that you don't think it makes sense that StormClan would steal prey…get it?"

They nodded. Sparrowheart felt hopeful. A battle just might be evaded after all.