A Dangerous Path/Chapter 7

==Chapter description==
:Fireheart peers out from behind his rock while Tigerstar spots Graypool and walks towards her. As the tom comes closer, the gray elder rears back in surprise and falls, only to face the ShadowClan leader who says something that Fireheart can't hear. The ThunderClan deputy prepares in case he has to interfere. Graypool, confused, thinks that Tigerstar is Oakheart and asks where has he been these last moons. The dark tom answers her question making her believe that he is in fact who she thinks. The elderly she-cat complains to him, saying that he must have come at least once to see the kits. Tigerstar, interested, asks what kits is she talking about. Graypool begins telling him, but then she realizes Oakheart wouldn't ask that at all. The tom keeps insisting, so the elder takes a step back and slips, rolling down the slope and landing hard against one rock. She doesn't move again.
:Tigerstar goes down to the motionless body and sniffs it, and Fireheart races across the slope. Before he could reach the leader of ShadowClan, the other tom turns around without seeing his former enemy, and walks away in the direction of Fourtrees and his own territory. Fireheart reaches Graypool, noticing that a trickle of blood coming from her small, gray head and her eyes are staring sightlessly at the sky. He lowers his head and says that StarClan will honor her. His grief is interrupted by the voices of two cats- Mistyfoot and Graystripe. The RiverClan she-cat wails at the moment she sees the dead elder, asking what had happened. Fireheart lies, telling them that he saw the gray she-cat climbing the slope, and slipping. The tom does not mention the part about Tigerstar. Mistyfoot looks up from the body, and tells Fireheart it isn't his fault, then she and Graystripe take it back to their camp. The ThunderClan cat offers his help, but the blue-gray warrior says that he has done enough. 
:Back near the entrance of his camp, Fireheart stops to catch a rabbit and then he sees Goldenflower with her kits Bramblekit and Tawnykit, who are trying to catch Brightpaw. As the ginger warrior gets closer, Bramblekit goes to him and lays a mouse in his paws, boasting that he had caught it all by himself. The deputy suggests to take it to the elders, as they might think it's worth a story. The kit, along with his sister, walk into the camp. Goldenflower looks fiercely at the deputy and tells him that her kits are no harm to the Clan, and that they are all loyal.
:Fireheart takes his prey to Cinderpelt, who is sitting outside of the nursery with Speckletail. The medicine cat is watching Snowkit, who is playing a few tail-lengths from his mother. The gray she-cat thanks him, and tells him that they were talking about Speckletail's son, then asks the queen to call her kit. The pale tabby the mutters that there in nothing to talk about, but obediently calls her son. While summoning him, she beckons with her tail. The white kit gets up, and pads to his mother. Cinderpelt asks Fireheart to stand away and call the kit without moving. Only using his voice, he calls Snowkit, but he doesn't seem to notice. Speckletail gives him a nudge, and the white kit goes to Fireheart. Cinderpelt gives the queen the news that her son is deaf, however, she claims to have already known. Dappletail interferes by saying that white cats with blue eyes are often deaf, and she recalls a kit of her first litter who was deaf, also saying that the Clan thinks a fox might have taken him. 
:Speckletail protectively says that no fox is going to take Snowkit, and that she is going to take care of him. Bluestar, who had appeared moments before Cinderpelt had confirmed the kit's deafness, says that she is sure that kit can be taken care of, but he will never be a warrior. The kit's mother, in denial, asks why. ThunderClan's leader gives the reason that a mentor couldn't teach him commands in battle, or how to catch prey. After the pale tabby vanishes with her kit into the nursery, Bluestar tells Cinderpelt to talk to her and make her see that the Clan must come first. She agrees, but suggests to give Speckletail some time alone with her kit, so she can adjust to the idea that the whole Clan knows about his deafness. Fireheart's fur prickles as he realizes that his leader had hardly cared about the deaf kit or his mother.
==Characters==
===Major===
===Minor===
===Mentioned===
==Important events==
===Deaths===
*Graypool
==Notes and references==
de:Gefährliche Spuren/Kapitel 7es:Huellas peligrosas/Capítulo 7fr:Sur le sentier de la guerre/Chapitre 7nl:Gevaar!/Hoofdstuk 7
Category:A Dangerous Path
Category:Chapter subpages
Category:The Prophecies Begin arc