Dismay keeps Graystar's paws rooted to the ground as he watches the newcomers approach. He notices that some of them are wearing collars.
"Collars?" Ashpaw spits behind him, echoing his thoughts.
The apprentice's voice is sharp with disgust. "Look at them—they're kittypets! We won't have any trouble beating them."
"Keep quiet," his mentor, Dustpelt, warns quietly, "until we have the full measure of our enemy. We don't know anything about these cats yet."
Graystar remains silent until all the strange cats have moved into the clearing and gathered around Shadowclan. A huge black-and-white tom steps out of their ranks and goes to stand beside Tigerstar. Graystar presumes this is the leader of the newcomers.
He is almost as big as Tigerstar himself, and he is muscular and battle-scarred. Even though they wear collars, Graystar knows these cats are far from being pampered kittypets. Behind the black-and-white warrior appears a much smaller black cat, who stalks light-footed through the grass to stand on Tigerstar's other side.
Graystar can not imagine who he is; he looks more like a medicine cat than a warrior. He can feel every hair in his pelt tingling, and the air tastes thick, as if a storm is about to break.
"So, Tigerstar," he meows, forcing his voice to remain steady. "Do you want to tell us who your new friends are?"
"This is Bloodclan," Tigerstar announces. "They come from Twolegplace. I have brought them to the forest to persuade you foolish cats to join with me. I knew you wouldn't have the sense to agree on your own."
A hiss of outrage ripples through all three clans.
"You see, Graystar?" Tigerstar's voice is exultant. "I am even more powerful than Starclan, for I have changed the clans in the forest from four to five. Soon we will be one and Tigerclan and BloodClan will rule together."
Graystar stares at his enemy in alarm. There is no possibility of reasoning with Tigerstar now. His hunger for power has twisted him so that in his mind his own huge figure dominated everything, blotting out even the light of Starclan.
"No, Tigerstar," he answers quietly. "If you want to fight, let us fight. Starclan will show who is more powerful."
"You mouse-brained fool!" Tigerstar spits. "I was prepared to come here and talk with you today. Just remember that it was you who drove us to this. And when your clanmates are dying around you, they will blame you with their last breath."
He swings around to face the mass of cats ranged behind him.
"BloodClan, attack!"
Not a cat moves.
Tigerstar's amber eyes widen and he screeches, "Attack, I order you!"
Still none of the warriors move, except for the small black cat who took a pace forward.
He glances toward Graystar.
"I am Scourge, the leader of BloodClan," he meows, his voice cold and quiet.
"Tigerstar, my warriors are not yours to command. They will attack when I tell them, and not before."
The look Tigerstar gives him is incredulous and glittered with all the hatred he has ever shown to Graystar, as if he can't believe that this scrap of a cat is defying him. Graystar seizes his opportunity. He paces forward until he stands right in front of the two leaders.
Behind him, he hears Sandstorm hiss, "Graystar, be careful!"
But this is no time for being careful. The very future of the forest is at stake, balanced on the breadth of a hair between Tigerstar's bloodthirsty quest for power, and the whims of the unknown Bloodclan.
Now Graystar can see that the collar Scourge wears around his neck is studded with teeth—the teeth of dogs, and…cats' teeth, too.
Great Starclan!
Did they kill their own kind and wear the teeth as trophies? Others of the cats are wearing the same grisly ornaments. Graystar's belly clenches and his mind reels with a vision of blood flowing down the sides of the hollow, washing around the cats' paws in a sticky, reeking tide.
His terror is not just for himself and his own clan, but for every cat in the forest, friends and enemies alike.
Would blood truly rule the forest, as Bluestar had prophesied? Had she meant that BloodClan would rule?
Graystar shoots a scorching glance at Tigerstar, wanting to express all the hatred he fee;s for the cat who has brought them to this. But Graystar knows he has to hold on to his self-control if he is to make any impression on the Bloodclan cats.
Dipping his head toward their leader, he meows clearly, so all the cats could hear him, "Greetings, Scourge. I am Graystar, leader of Thunderclan. I wish I could say you are welcome in the forest. But you would not believe me if I did, and I have no wish to lie to you. Unlike your supposed ally here, I am a cat of honor."
He flicks his tail toward Tigerstar, trying to put all the contempt he feels into the single gesture.
"If you've believed any promises he made to you, you're mistaken."
"Tigerstar told me he had enemies in the forest." There is all the cold of leaf-bare in the black cat's voice.
When Graystar looks into his eyes it is like gazing into the deep places of the night, unrelieved by the smallest gleam of light from Starclan.
"Why should I believe you instead of him?"
Graystar takes a breath. He needs to tell this Scourge who Tigerstar is even if the other clans already know. Now when he tells it this time it is not just a matter of bringing the truth to light, but of saving the whole forest from destruction.
"Cats of all clans you have already heard this but Bloodclan has not," Graytar begins, "I believe they need to hear the truth of their ally and who he really is. You have no need to believe or disbelieve me. Tigerstar's crimes speak for themselves. When he was still a warrior of Thunderclan, he murdered our deputy, Redtail, hoping to be made deputy himself. First Lionheart was chosen as deputy, but when that noble warrior died in a fight with Shadowclan, Tigerstar achieved his ambition at last."
He pauses; a grim silence gripped the whole clearing, broken only by a contemptuous rumble from Tigerstar.
"Mew away, little code-breaker. It won't change anything."
Graystar ignores him.
"Being deputy wasn't enough," he goes on. "Tigerstar wanted to be leader of the clan. He set a trap for Bluestar by the Thunderpath, but Fireheart's apprentice strayed into it instead. That's how Cinderpelt came by her crippled leg."
A shocked murmur sweeps through the clearing, he guesses he didn't tell them that at the Gathering when he and Crookedstar had exposed Tigerstar. Except for Bloodclan, they all know Cinderpelt, and she is popular even with cats of other clans.
"Then Tigerstar conspired with Brokentail, the former leader of Shadowclan, who was ThunderClan's prisoner," Graystar tells the listening cats. "He brought a pack of rogues into ThunderClan camp, and tried to murder Bluestar with his own claws. I stopped him, and Riverlcan helped us but not before Fireheart was killed in the attack. And when Thunderclan had beaten off the attack, with the help of Riverclan, we drove him into exile. As a rogue, he slaughtered yet another of our warriors, Runningwind. Then before we knew what he was up to, he had made himself leader of ShadowClan."
Graystar pauses and looks at the cats gathered around Tigerstar. He is not sure how BloodClan and their leader Scourge are taking all this, but he can see that he had the horrified attention of every other cat in the clearing, even though they've heard this story before. He steadies himself, wanting to be sure Bloodclan heard the last, most dreadful part of his story.
"But Tigerstar still wanted revenge on Thunderclan. Three moons ago, a pack of dogs got loose in the forest. Tigerstar caught prey for them, then laid a trail of dead rabbits between the dogs' lair and the Thunderclan camp to lead them to us. He murdered one of our queens, Brindleface, and left her near the camp to give the dogs a taste for cat blood. If we hadn't found out in time to escape, the whole of Thunderclan would have been torn to pieces."
"Good riddance," Tigerstar growls.
"As it was," Graystar forces himself to go on, "our leader, Bluestar, died the bravest death of any cat, saving me and all her clan from the pack."
Silence greets him as his story comes to an end.
"This is Tigerstar's history," Graystar meows urgently, turning his focus back to Scourge.
"It all shows one thing—that he'll do anything for power. If he promised you a share of the forest, don't believe him. He won't give up one paw print, not to you or any cat."
Scourge's eyes narrow; Graystar can see that he is thinking carefully about what he has heard, and hope flares inside him like a tiny flame.
"Tigerstar told me what he was planning to do with the dogs when he visited me two moons ago."
The black cat turns his head so that his gaze rests on the leader of Shadowclan.
"He did not tell me that his plan failed."
"None of that matters now," Tigerstar breaks in roughly. "We have an agreement with you, Scourge. Fight beside me now, and you'll have all I offered you."
"My Clan and I fight when I choose," Scourge meows.
To Graytar he adds, "I will think about what you have said. There will be no battle today."
Tigerstar's fur bristles with rage and his tail lashes from side to side. His muscles bunch as he drops into a crouch.
"Traitor!" he screeches, and leaps at Scourge with claws extended.
Watching with horror, Graystar expects to see the smaller cat torn apart. He knows from bitter experience the strength in Tigerstar's muscles. But Scourge whips to one side, avoiding Tigerstar as he lands.
When the massive tabby turns to face him, Scourge lashes out with his front paws. Leaf-bare sun glints unnaturally on the tips of each talon. Graystar feels his blood run cold.
Scourge's claws are reinforced with long, sharpened dogs' teeth. One blow to his shoulder unbalances Tigerstar. He falls on his side, exposing his belly, and Scourge's vicious claws sink into his throat.
Blood wells out as the smaller cat rips him down to the tail with a single slash.
A desperate scream of fury erupts from Tigerstar, then breaks off with a ghastly choking sound. His body convulses, limbs jerking and tail flailing. For a heartbeat a stillness settles over him, and Graystar knows he is falling into the trance of a leader who loses a life, to wake after a little while restored to strength and with the rest of his lives intact.
But not even Starclan can heal this terrible wound.
Scourge stands back and watches coldly as Tigerstar's body convulses again. The dark red blood keeps on flowing, spreading across the ground in a ceaseless tide. Tigerstar lets out another shriek; Gray wants to cover his ears so he doesn't have to listen anymore, but he is frozen to the spot.
Again the massive tabby's body grows still for a heartbeat, but again the wound is too terrible to yield to the healing trance. Another spasm seizes Tigerstar's body. His claws tear up clumps of grass in his agony, while his screeches turn from fury to terror.
He's dying nine times, Graystar realizes. Oh, StarClan, no… It was a death he will not have wished on any cat, not even Tigerstar, and he thinks it will never be over.
When they see what is happening to the leader they have believed is invincible, horrified yowling comes from the warriors of Shadowclan.
Graystar realizes that they are all breaking rank; several cats push roughly past him in their mad haste to flee from the clearing.
From somewhere behind him he heard Tallstar call out to his own warriors along with Lepoardstar, "Wait! Hold the line!"
Graystar knows he does not have to give his own warriors the same order. They will stand with him to the end.
Tigerstar is panting now, his fight for life exhausting him. Graystar catches a glimpse of his amber eyes, glazed with pain and fear and hatred. Then his body gives one last jerk and lay still. Tigerstar is dead.
Frozen in disbelief, Graystar stares down at the lifeless body. His oldest enemy, the most dangerous cat in the forest, the cat he has expected to fight to the death—gone, just like that. Graystar is left facing Scourge.
The small black cat looks unmoved. Now Graystar knows not to underestimate him due to his size. He knows he has never faced a cat more dangerous than this, who in a single blow can destroy a leader with nine lives.
Behind Scourge, the cats of BloodClan move forward as if they are about to attack, and Graytar shoots a glance at his own warriors to make sure they are ready. They stand in line with the warriors of Windclan and Riverclan, and Graystar braces himself to leap forward with them, but when he looks back at the enemy, Scourge raises one blood-soaked paw.
The cats behind him stopped.
"You see what happens to cats who defy Bloodclan," the black cat warns calmly. "Your friend here"—he gives a contemptuous flick with his tail toward Tigerstar's motionless body—"thought he could control us. He was wrong."
"We don't want to control you," Graystar rasps. "All we want is to lead our lives in peace. We're sorry that Tigerstar brought you here with lies. Please feel free to hunt before you go home."
"Go home?" Scourge widens his eyes in scornful disbelief.
"We're not going anywhere, forest fool. In the town where we come from, there are many, many cats, and live prey is scarce. Here in the forest we won't need to depend on twoleg rubbish for our food."
His gaze slides past Graystar to where Thunderclan, Riverclan and Windclan stand ready for battle.
"We are taking over this territory now," he continues on. "I shall rule the forest as well as the town. But I understand that you may need some time to reflect on this. You have three days to leave—or meet my Clan in battle. I shall wait for your decision at dawn on the fourth day."