Disclaimer: Warriors by Erin Hunter

Chapter 35

The RiverClan cats accepted Raven, Thorn, and Hollyleaf back into their territory. They must have thought the ThunderClan cats were just an escort and were irritated when the three young cats insisted they were coming too, but the RiverClan warriors let the cats come to the camp.

Leopardstar confronted the ThunderClan cats while Raven went to speak with his cats. He found some of them sitting where he'd left them. Others seemed to be missing.

"Where are Spark and the others?" he asked them.

"They went on a patrol," Stub answered.

"With RiverClan?"

"Who else," the silver tom answered somewhat sarcastically.

Hollyleaf noticed Raven ignored the tone. Instead he seemed worried. She realized he wanted to leave quickly. Probably before RiverClan found out the reason Hollyleaf had been cast out of ThunderClan.

"I have some news for you," Raven finally meowed. "When the others come back we're going back to our forest."

The cats seemed happy about that. They didn't seem overjoyed that Raven was back, but they weren't disappointed either. Much as RiverClan would have grown tired of these cats in their camp, Raven's band would have grown tired of being provided for and looked at suspiciously. They were probably eager to be away as RiverClan was to see them go.

"I do have to talk to you about something," Raven continued. "We are having extra cats come with us." He twitched an ear at the ThunderClan cats. "Also, I want us to follow the warrior code more than we have."

The cats stared at them. One bristled.

"I've come to realize the code is efficient for large groups of cats. We are becoming bigger and more cats will want to join us. I promise that I won't force you to follow this code if you don't want to. I won't be that kind of leader. My word will not be law."

"But we'll take care of each other?" a tom asked.

"Yes," Raven answered.

"We'll being prey back in a pile and feed everyone? Will we have mates and kits?" Riddle insisted.

"Yes," Raven promised.

"Good," Riddle looked over at a black and white she-cat. They blinked at each other.

Hollyleaf noticed the she-cat was starting to show her pregnancy. Well, it looked as if Redstrike wouldn't be the only cat to benefit. Hollyleaf was already proving to be a good influence on Raven and their new Clan.

The rogues eventually left RiverClan after Raven thanked Leopardstar for taking care of his cats. She asked for news from ThunderClan since the only things the cat who came from there would say was that they were leaving the Clan. Raven told her that Dewstep was recovering from an injury and that the rest of the Clan was fine. He didn't say how the Clan was split into fractions and that he'd taken one of the fractions with him. Hollyleaf made sure of that. She might hate what ThunderClan had done to her, but she would not let RiverClan take advantage of their turmoil.

As they left, a few young RiverClan cats joined them. They thought they might like to be in another Clan. Because they came along, it meant Raven's rogues would have to follow the code more closely. These cats weren't willing to get rid of everything. Not every cat that had originally been with Raven was happy. But many were willing. They'd lived in RiverClan long enough to take on the same views as Raven about Clan life with the code. They saw the benefits.

Hollyleaf was actually looking forward to living in a new unnamed Clan. They might not follow the code correctly, but she was sure she could get them to eventually. She still didn't understand how Raven could be a leader without his nine lives. He told Hollyleaf, on the way to RiverClan, that they wouldn't tell his experience with StarClan to his cats. They wouldn't understand and they didn't have to know what he was giving up. Little did he know they'd follow him for anything.

Hollyleaf led the way with Raven. She'd confessed to him there was a quicker way to their forest. She told him she'd lead him there. So they walked to the Horseplace. On the way, Hollyleaf was scanning the horizon. She saw a cat in the distance. It was sitting, watching them.

Hollyleaf scented the breeze to see if she could identify it. A familiar smell came to her and she could finally recognize the brown-and-white pelt. It was Sol.

Hollyleaf growled low. Too low for Raven to hear. She didn't like that tom. He'd told her what to do, how to control the Clans. His advice hadn't worked. As always, the rogue lied. She wished him pain when the Clans caught him. She turned away and walked beside her mate to their home.

-Line-

Darkfire was home. The familiar trees soared above, their leaves changed and falling. The air was colder, but it was still the familiar place he knew. Darkfire padded through the trees to Hollyleaf's camp. On the way he caught a mouse. For the first time since he hurt his brother, he relished his meal.

Darkfire licked his lips and continued to walk. He made it to the camp. No one was there. Darkfire paused. She could have been on a patrol. He waited as sunhigh became evening. She should have been back now. He got off of the grass and went to the bramble bush they called their nest. She wasn't there.

Darkfire sniffed the bedding. It was old and no longer soft. He couldn't smell anything. There was a faint smell of Hollyleaf, but nothing was recent. She hadn't been here for a while. Darkfire suddenly felt alone. She wasn't here. He'd run back to her, but she wasn't here. He couldn't tell her about Dewstep. He couldn't tell her her hopes of restoring the code was finished.

The black tom felt worried. What if she'd gone back to the Clans? She could have passed him on the way and she could have already been there. He looked back to the direction he'd come. Should he go back? Should he make sure the Clans knew what she was doing.

Darkfire felt guilty. For almost killing his brother (who he didn't know if he was still alive), for leaving Dewstep to face the Clan cats alone. Dewstep would have to explain everything to them. About Hollyleaf and about what Darkfire was doing. Darkfire didn't want to go back to that, even to be with his brother. He didn't want to have them staring at him with hate. He didn't want them distrusting him for trying to take over the Clans and for being a killer's son.

"Oh, StarClan," Darkfire meowed, staring up into the darkening sky. Silverpelt was starting to show. "I don't know what to do."

That was Darkfire's last appearance. If he was your favorite character and was the only reason you read this fanfic, you can say how mean I was to not have him as a main character anymore. Read more of his adventures in "Burning Darkly".

This was also Hollyleaf's and Raven's last appearance until the epilogue.