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Lionblaze had been out of camp when the rain began to fall, and when thunder and lightning shook the ground. It wasn’t long before frenzied cats were pelting past him towards the abandoned Twoleg den, shrieking of fire in camp. His first instinct was to run with them, but he steeled himself, identifying the cats as they ran past. Thornclaw, Graystripe--Hollyleaf might still be out hunting with Ashfur, he thought, but Jayfeather is probably in camp. He’ll need help getting out!
Lionblaze burst into a run, heading as fast as his legs would take him. Cats continued to run past him--Brambleclaw, Daisy, her kits, and Millie’s--Mousefur and Longtail--Whitewing, Sandstorm, Icepaw, and Foxpaw--even Leafpool and Firestar, but still no Jayfeather. Lionblaze finally burst into camp, spotting Hollyleaf and Jayfeather by the medicine den.
Lionblaze felt his shoulders sag with his relief. “You’re here,” he said breathlessly. “Let’s go.”
The three headed for the tunnel out of camp. Burning sticks littered the ground; Hollyleaf guided Jayfeather past them, his jaws clamped shut around her tail. Rain poured in torrents over the forest, and the air blew wild and hot, although neither was strong enough to put out the powerful fire as lightning continued to strike, its great claws setting the trees surrounding the camp ablaze with a frightening crack, and sending down more fiery fragments of wood from the canopy above. The three could do naught but watch as the camp tunnel was swallowed up by the ravenous fire as the storm raged on.
“We’re trapped!” Hollyleaf wailed. She began looking around frantically. “The apprentices’ cave…” she gasped, her desperate gaze settling upon it. Lionblaze nodded; out of all of their options, it would give them the best protection from the flames. He just hoped that the smoke wouldn’t choke them all out.
“No. Over here,” a voice said suddenly from behind them--Squirrelflight! Lionblaze took comfort in his mother’s presence as she led them to some bramble bushes growing on the edge of the hollow. Behind them, a great stone making up part of the gorge wall had crumbled, straggling grass and brush growing in its cracks.
“It’s a secret way out of camp!” Hollyleaf exclaimed. “And we never knew about it!”
“Thank StarClan,” Squirrelflight replied wryly. “You were enough trouble as kits and apprentices, without this.” Lionblaze’s fur grew warm with mild embarrassment as he was reminded of his past mischief. He gave his chest a quick, awkward lick as Squirrelflight continued speaking, her voice becoming tense. “Jayfeather, you come first. Follow my voice. It’s not a difficult climb,” she said.
Lionblaze hoped Jayfeather wasn’t too scared. If he was blind and trying to climb an unfamiliar slope slick with rainwater, during a fire no less, he certainly would be. “We’ll come behind and catch you if you fall,” he reassured his brother.
“I’m not a kit!” Jayfeather snapped in reply, but Lionblaze could see how his brother was trembling with fear. He knew Jayfeather needed his words, whether he’d admit it or not.
Squirrelflight began the climb, guiding Jayfeather up the slope, who slipped and nearly fell once, but managed to make it. Lionblaze and Hollyleaf followed close behind. “Well done!” Squirrelflight said as Hollyleaf reached the top first. Squirrelflight pulled her up by her scruff before reaching back down for Lionblaze. As Lionblaze stumbled to the top, he spotted Jayfeather, who was lying on his side, eyes closed and panting heavily. The trip must’ve been difficult for him, since he was so used to the less physically taxing work of medicine cats.
“Come away from the edge,” Squirrelflight warned. “The rock is crumbling.” The three complied, and she turned, pushing her way through the bushes that lined the top of the gorge.
Lionblaze watched as Hollyleaf nudged the weary Jayfeather to his paws. “Just a bit farther and then you can rest,” she spoke in a gentle tone. Jayfeather bared his teeth, snarling feebly, unwilling to admit any form of weakness.
“You can lean on my shoulder if you’d like,” Lionblaze offered, moving to stand by Jayfeather’s other side.
Jayfeather glared at him. “Look, mouse-brain--”
Jayfeather was cut off by a massive roar as the whole sky was set alight brighter than the clearest day for a jarringly fleet moment as lightning’s claws set the bushes angrily aflame. Lionblaze heard Hollyleaf yowl in fear. A great heatwave rolled over them, and then smoke from the dwindling rain’s failed attempts to put out the fire. It clawed at their throats, forcing wheezing coughs out of Jayfeather and Hollyleaf.
Lionblaze felt a strange calmness rush over him, along with a burst of adrenaline. He glanced back at the slope they’d climbed; they couldn’t get back down that way.
Jayfeather cowered under the searing heat. “What’s happening?” he cried. “Which way should we go?”
“We can’t go anywhere,” Lionblaze explained, keeping his voice as neutral as possible. “We’re trapped.” But Squirrelflight was surely on the other side of the bushes--she’d help them. “Squirrelflight! Are you there?” Lionblaze called. “Help us!”
As he spoke, a flaming branch fell from one of the bushes, crashing down towards the three. Hollyleaf pulled Jayfeather back just in time as the three were forced farther from the bushes to the very edge of the cliff.
“I’m here!” Squirrelflight’s voice rang across the fire, shrill with terror. “I’m going to push a branch through to you. You can run along it to escape before it catches fire.”
Lionblaze nodded even though his mother couldn’t see him. “Right. We’ll be ready.” He heard the sound of something heavy being dragged through the undergrowth on the other side of the flames.
“She’ll never manage it,” Hollyleaf muttered. “What about her wound? She’s not strong enough.”
Lionblaze understood why Hollyleaf would think that. Two moons later, Squirrelflight was still struggling to recover from the near-fatal stomach wound she’d received during the battle where StarClan had made the sun vanish. However, he had faith in their mother. “Squirrelflight will always do what she has to,” he replied.
Small tongues of flame began to creep through the grass towards the three; the rain hissed down on them, leaving them blackened and smoking, but there were always more flames, and the acrid scent of burning filled the air. A blazing leaf landed on Jayfeather’s pelt; Lionblaze quickly knocked it away before it could truly hurt Jayfeather, but it still managed to add the reek of scorched fur to the cacophony of suffocating smells.
Lionblaze caught a glimpse of Squirrelflight through the bushes, clearly struggling to drag a large branch. She needs help, he realized. He bunched his muscles under him. Maybe I can make the jump--
“No!” Hollyleaf choked out, cutting through his thoughts. “It’s too far.” Lionblaze opened his mouth to argue with her, but before he could, a gray shape burst through the billowing smoke to stand beside Squirrelflight. Lionblaze recognized his mentor, Ashfur, immediately. His fur was matted together and stuck with bits of burnt leaf and twig. His face was characterized by his signature contemptuous glare, and Lionblaze found himself taking comfort in it in that moment.
Squirrelflight dropped the branch, turning to Ashfur. “Help me push it into the fire!” Ashfur complied, taking the branch in his jaws and effortlessly thrusting it past the wall of flame and into the ever-narrowing patch of ground where Lionblaze and his littermates huddled.
Lionblaze expected to feel relief as the branch came through, but the fur on his spine rose as he felt a strange, instinctive dread. He watched as Hollyleaf took a hesitant step towards the branch; she felt it too. She stopped, and Lionblaze knew why. Ashfur was still standing at the other end. And the look in his eyes was…
“Ashfur, get out of the way,” Squirrelflight said, her tone mostly puzzled, but with just a hint of… fear? “Let them get out!” she added more desperately when Ashfur didn’t move.
“Brambleclaw isn’t here to look after them now,” Ashfur sneered, and Lionblaze’s heart dropped. What was Ashfur--what was his mentorsaying?
Lionblaze felt anger rush through him as he realized the implications of what Ashfur had said. “What have you done with my father?” he howled.
Ashfur looked at Lionblaze with a strange pity that unnerved him. “Why would I waste my time with Brambleclaw?” he replied.
Lionblaze eyed the branch. The main trunk wouldn’t burn so easily, but the twigs and leaves were starting to smolder. They didn’t have much time.
Squirrelflight’s eyes were filled with a terrifying rage that Lionblaze had never seen before and hoped he’d never see again. Her fur bristled with fury, and she looked more dangerous than she ever had. But at the same time, it was clear that her climb to the top of the cliff, followed by her struggle with the branch, had weakened her, and she was exhausted.
“Your quarrel with Brambleclaw has to stop,” she hissed. “Too many moons have passed. You have to accept that I’m Brambleclaw’s mate, not yours. You can’t keep trying to punish Brambleclaw for something that was always meant to be.”
Ashfur’s ears flicked up in surprise. “I have no quarrel with Brambleclaw,” he responded in a way that sounded surprisingly sincere.
Lionblaze exchanged a shocked glance with Hollyleaf. “That’s not how it looks to me,” he muttered.
“I couldn’t care less about Brambleclaw,” Ashfur continued. “It’s not his fault he fell for a faithless she-cat.”
Lionblaze heard Hollyleaf growl, but she stopped as a sudden chill descended over Lionblaze, and presumably his littermates as well. Hollyleaf pressed against him and Jayfeather, whose sightless eyes were intently focused on Squirrelflight and Ashfur. Something ominous was taking place in front of them.
“I know you think I’ve never forgiven Brambleclaw for stealing you from me, but you’re wrong, and so is every cat that thinks so. My quarrel is with you, Squirrelflight.” Ashfur’s voice shook with rage. “It always has been.”
Thunder rumbled across the land, drowning out all other sound. Lionblaze saw Hollyleaf’s jaws part in a drowned out yowl as her hind paws slipped, and she stumbled over the edge, dangling by her front paws. But Lionblaze grabbed her scruff, pulling her to safety.
As soon as he was sure Hollyleaf was safe, Lionblaze turned back to face the branch. Ashfur still stood on the other side, eyes filled with fury, and to Lionblaze’s horror, the branch was beginning to smolder. They needed to get across. Now.
“All this was moons ago,” Squirrelflight was saying with confusion. “Ashfur, I had no idea you were still upset.”
“Upset?” Ashfur echoed. “I’m not upset. You have no idea how much pain I’m in.” Lionblaze could only listen in shock as Ashfur rambled on, his eyes clouding and his voice becoming wild and distant. “It’s like being cut open every day, bleeding onto the stones. I can’t understand how any of you failed to see the blood…”
Lionblaze was horrified. Ashfur was clearly losing his mind, and it had made him much more dangerous than the fire or the lightning. Lionblaze watched as Hollyleaf tried to take a step onto the branch, and Ashfur whirled around in a wild rage. “Stay there!” he growled.
He turned back to Squirrelflight, keeping one paw on the branch. “I can’t believe you didn’t know how much you hurt me,” he hissed. “You are the blind one, not Jayfeather. Who do you think sent Firestar the message to go down to the lake, where the fox trap was? I wanted him to die, to take your father away so you’d know the real meaning of pain.”
Hollyleaf’s shocked gaze met Lionblaze’s. “He tried to kill Firestar?” she gasped. “He’s mad!”
I thought that was obvious already, Lionblaze though absentmindedly as anger and determination bubbled up inside of him. He bunched his muscles up for a giant leap. “I’m going to fight him,” he stated.
“No!” Hollyleaf exclaimed, fastening her teeth in the fur on his shoulder. “You can’t!” she added, her words muffled. “He’ll just push you into the fire.”
Lionblaze knew she was right. He listened to Ashfur as the tom continued on. “Brambleclaw saved Firestar then,” he said, “But he’s not here now. He’s not here--but your kits are.”
Lionblaze could see the bloodlust in Squirrelflight’s eyes; he knew she wanted nothing more than to tear her claws through the crazed gray tom until there was nothing left. But she couldn’t win a fight against Ashfur in her current state, and it was clear she knew it.
“Enough, Ashfur,” she managed. “Your quarrel is with me. These young cats have done nothing to hurt you. Do what you like with me, but let them out of the fire.”
“You don’t understand.” Ashfur looked at Squirrelflight as if he was seeing her for the first time, his voice puzzled and petulant. “This is the only way to make you feel the same pain that you caused me. You tore my heart out when you chose Brambleclaw over me. Anything I did to you would never hurt as much. But your kits…” He glared at Lionblaze and his littermates, eyes narrowed, with an expression that would haunt Lionblaze’s dreams if he survived the ordeal.
“If you watch them die,” Ashfur growled lowly, “thenyou’ll know the pain I felt.”
Lionblaze watched as the flames crept ever closer. He and his littermates were barely on the edge of the cliff now. He unsheathed his claws, muscles tense. There was no choice now. It didn’t matter if Ashfur sent him into the flames. He had to make an opening so at least Hollyleaf and Jayfeather could survive. Hollyleaf looked to him, sensing his plans. He stared back. “You’re not talking me out of it this time.”
She looked away.
“Kill them, then,” Squirrelflight was calmly saying. “You won’t hurt me that way.”
Lionblaze didn’t have time to ponder his mother’s words as he took the distraction created by her strange statement, leaping mightily across the fire. He’d aimed to land on Ashfur, but he fell short, landing a tail-length behind him on the branch. Ashfur jerked around, snarling. Before Lionblaze could close the gap, Ashfur’s paws found their grip on the end of the branch. The silver tom gave a mighty heave, turning the branch on its side, and slamming Lionblaze directly into the burning brambles.
Squirrelflight screamed in terror and fury as her second-born burned alive. She heard Hollyleaf’s distressed wails as she called out for her brother, and Jayfeather’s fearful cries as he begged to know what had happened.
Blinded by rage, she flung herself at Ashfur. She clawed at his face and throat over and over again. “YOU KILLED MY SON!” she shrieked. She’d kill him. She’d tear him to pieces so that there was nothing left to recognize him by, and then she’d dump it all on the thunderpath for buzzards--
A powerful paw slammed into the side of her head, stunning her and momentarily filling her vision with stars. Ashfur knocked her to the ground, pressing her face into the burnt grass with one paw. She struggled underneath him, but he was so much stronger than her. There was nothing she could do.
“You’re going to lie, here, and watch,” he hissed into her ear, voice trembling with rage. Blood dripped from countless cuts on his face and neck. And yet, not one of them was deep enough to fatally wound.
Squirrelflight continued to struggle, but her strength had faded long ago. Surely there was something, anything--
Squirrelflight watched as fire crept up slowly behind Ashfur. At least he’d go with them, she resolved. But Ashfur noticed her gaze. He turned around, shrieking as he saw the flame. Squirrelflight scrambled to her feet, eyes wide as she saw what it really was.
Underneath the flames was Lionblaze.
Ashfur’s fur bushed out in fear. “How are you still alive?” he screeched.
“Have you ever wondered why I don’t get hurt in fights, Ashfur?” Lionblaze growled. The fire wreathed his body like a lion’s mane. Fire poured from his eyes, mouth, and ears, and smoke billowed from his nostrils.
In that moment, Squirrelflight felt nothing but intense relief and joy. He’s alive.
Lionblaze took a step towards them, his paws leaving smoldering prints in the grass. He stared silently at Ashfur, who stared back.
After what felt like an eternity, Ashfur caved. He made a strange, fearful noise before turning and fleeing into the forest.
Lionblaze turned to Squirrelflight. “Help Hollyleaf and Jayfeather,” he ordered calmly, though there was anger deep in his eyes. Lightning flashed and thunder boomed as Squirrelflight watched Lionblaze hurl himself after Ashfur, setting the ground below him alight as he did.
“HOW COULD YOU BETRAY ME?” Lionblaze roared as he pelted after Ashfur. “YOU WERE MY MENTOR! I LOOKED UP TO YOU!” Ashfur’s fear-scent streamed off of him in waves, only further fueling Lionblaze’s fury. “COWARD!” Lionblaze yowled, running even faster than before. The fire burned around him, inhim, but there was no pain, only a boiling-hot rage that fueled Lionblaze’s legs as he hared forward. Lightning struck again, and a smoldering tree fell towards him, but it burned away where it touched him, filling him with more energy.
He felt like he could run forever. And he was gaining.
Lionblaze gave a great leap as he neared Ashfur, slamming into the silver tom, who shrieked in terror, though his shrieks quickly turned to screams of agony as the flames began to consume him. Lionblaze held the tom down; Ashfur tried to resist, but his claws slid uselessly through Lionblaze’s fur.
“You should have DIED!” Ashfur wailed. “The fire should’ve KILLED YOU!”
Lionblaze leaned in until his muzzle was only a hair’s breadth from Ashfur’s. “I am the fire now,” he growled.
And he waited until Ashfur could no longer scream.
And he waited until Ashfur was dead.
And he waited until Ashfur became his namesake.
And he waited until there was nothing left.