Warriors Super Edition: Yellowfang’s Secret by Erin Hunter Read Free Book Online Page B

mewed in relief.
    “Mostly they don’t,” Deerleap responded. “They keep to the Thunderpath, and don’t bother us provided we stay away from it. But cats have died trying to cross, so don’t even think about it.”
    “ That’s the Thunderpath?” Yellowpaw asked. “Then that must have been a monster! Brackenfoot told us about them when we were in the nursery. He said the monsters have Twolegs in their bellies, but I thought that was just a tale for kits.”
    “No, it’s true,” Deerleap meowed.
    “Those things eat Twolegs?”
    “Not exactly.” Deerleap sounded puzzled. “The Twolegs get out of them again, and they seem okay. I don’t know what it’s all about, but then, Twolegs are strange.”
    The stink of the monster was dying away, and as she tasted the air Yellowpaw could pick up another scent she didn’t recognize. It was the scent of cats, but harsher than the warm, comforting ShadowClan scent she was used to.
    “What’s that yucky smell?”
    “That’s ThunderClan,” Deerleap explained, waving her tail toward the trees on the other side of the Thunderpath. “Their territory is over there.”
    “Really?” The scent marks seemed so close; Yellowpaw imagined a patrol of hostile ThunderClan cats charging across the Thunderpath, invading her territory. Her neck fur started to bristle and she dug her claws into the ground.
    They’d better not try it!
    But there was no movement among the trees on the opposite side of the Thunderpath, nothing to suggest an enemy patrol was lurking there. Feeling slightly disappointed, Yellowpaw turned away.
    “Where do we go next?”
    “Follow me.” Deerleap led the way alongside the Thunderpath and stopped at a point where the ground fell away into a deep cleft that became a tunnel leading into darkness. The sides were lined with squared-off stones.
    “Did Twolegs make that?” Yellowpaw mewed.
    “They did.” Deerleap sounded pleased and a little surprised that Yellowpaw had guessed right. “Don’t ask me why. It leads under the Thunderpath and up on the other side.”
    “Into ThunderClan territory? They could come right through it and attack us!”
    “No, it’s still our territory on the other side, all the way to the hollow at Fourtrees. It’s the way we go for Gatherings.”
    Yellowpaw’s paws tingled. Now that I’m an apprentice, I’ll get to go to Gatherings! When she was three moons old, she had begged and begged to go to a Gathering. Silverflame had promised to tell her everything that happened, and the day after, she had kept her promise.
    She made it sound so exciting … I hope she’ll be better by the next full moon, so we can go together .
    She was dragged abruptly out of her memories as Deerleap flicked her on the shoulder with her tail-tip. “Wake up!” her mentor chided. “We’ve still got a long way to go.”
    They walked on, sticking close to the Thunderpath with the Twoleg dens fading into the trees behind them. “Over there,” Deerleap continued, “is another tunnel. That one leads straight into WindClan territory. What do you think that means?”
    “Trouble!” Yellowpaw exclaimed.
    “Right. So what should we do about it?”
    “Patrol really carefully?” Yellowpaw suggested. “And … er … put really strong scent markers around our end?”
    Deerleap nodded. “Exactly. Good thinking, Yellowpaw.”
    A few fox-lengths farther on, Yellowpaw spotted Rowanpaw trotting toward them with her mentor, Finchflight.
    Rowanpaw waved her tail. “Isn’t this great?” she called. “Our territory is awesome!”
    Yellowpaw mewed agreement, but there wasn’t time to stop and chat. Deerleap was forging ahead, and Yellowpaw had to scurry to keep up. By now the sun was starting to go down, staining the snow as red as blood. Shadows began to gather under the trees, and the monsters that swept past on the Thunderpath had glaring yellow eyes that cut through the darkness.
    Eventually Deerleap veered away from the Thunderpath and headed