Sunrise (book)/Chapter 11

"Sol never gets his paws dirty. If something has happened, another cat did it-maybe at Sol's bidding, maybe not. You won't be able to accuse him of anything.”

— Speckle to Lionblaze and Hollyleaf about Sol in Sunrise, page 137

Sunrise (book)
Chapter number:	11 (of 28)
Page numbers:	120-138
Point of View:	Lionblaze
Chronology

Below contains in-depth information for chapter eleven of Sunrise (book). If you are looking for a shorter summary of the entire book, please check the main article.

Chapter Number: 11 (of 28)

Page Numbers: 120-139

Chapter description

Lionblaze is confident he can fight the dogs. They appear to move forward in slow motion to the warrior's eyes, and he strategizes a plan to take each of them out, one by one. His Clanmates yowl from behind, but Lionblaze ignores them, believing this is his fight and he is the only one who can save them. He taunts, as he notices a flash of surprise in the lead dogs eyes when he does not retreat, but his voice is drowned by a crash as one of the silver boulders behind falls, leaving a silver disk flying into the pack of dogs, delaying their attack.

A dark brown tabby she-cat appears from behind the boulder close to the fence. She calls to the Clan cats to help push another boulder down. Brambleclaw assists her, and together, they send it over. The dogs grow frustrated as they try to maneuver around the obstacles, and the she-cat urges the patrol to follow her. She leads them through a gap in the hedge that had been hidden by the boulders. They race away, two of the dogs push through the gap and close in on them. The stranger leads them through a jagged hole in a fence, Brackenfur trailing in last after receiving a bite to his tail.

The fence bends and creaks as the dogs throw themselves at it, and lights flicker on inside the Twoleg nests around them, followed by the angry yelling of a Twoleg inside. The dogs continue the pursuit, one pushing its head through the gap, and the stranger rakes her claws across its nose. It yelps and retreats, and she urges the others to follow her and she leads them to the entrance of a Twoleg nest. Brambleclaw argues they can't go in there, but the patrol is left with little options and follow the she-cat inside. Lionblaze looks back to see one of the dogs has managed to work its shoulders through the hole and braces himself to fight, but at the sound of a crash and a Twoleg's shout, much closer this time, leave the dogs frightened and they retreat. Lionblaze is vaguely disappointed he hadn't gotten to try his battle skills on the dogs and jumps in surprise when Brackenfur gives him a nudge, urging him into the safety of the nest.

The Clan cats huddle nervously in the middle of the den, but any Twoleg scent is stale, however the scent of cat is strong. The she-cat leads them through an archway into a larger area where a group of cats are gathered. The strange she-cat introduces herself as Jingo, and points to a gray tom, Hussar, and a wary looking queen with four kits named Speckle, along with Pod and a black and white tom named Fritz, who they had already met the previous night. Brambleclaw asks Fritz who he thought they were, and when he does not respond, he explains to Jingo that Fritz had seemed to think they were connected to some other cat who had apparently caused her group trouble.

Jingo states that they no longer trust strangers after Sol, explaining that the tom had been there last leaf-bare, he had invited other cats without housefolk to join him in the abandoned Twoleg nest. Lionblaze asks if he acted as their leader, and Jingo replies that he didn't exactly, meowing that life was good. Pod snaps that life wasn't good and they had to do whatever Sol told them to do, and he would tell the scared cats they would die without him. Jingo protests it wasn't that bad, that he is only thinking of what happened later. After introductions are finished and Brambleclaw gives Jingo his thanks, she offers to let them stay as long as they need. The deputy asks what Sol did to her group. As they settle down to tell the story, Lionblaze notices most of the cats of Jingo's group bear scars.

Jingo explains that Sol didn't cause trouble at first and had offered sanctuary to lone cats, claiming he wanted to keep them all safe. Pod interrupts with a snort that he was a lazy lump of fur who just wanted to use them, and Speckle gets defensive that they were safer here than wandering around. Jingo continues that she used to have housefolk but left to join Sol, and explains how Sol taught them how to avoid any Twolegs who occasionally came into the den, and Lionblaze realizes that what Sol did for these cats wasn't all bad. Jingo goes on that the dogs eventually found them and would wait for them to leave the nest to attack and would steal their prey when they went hunting. Jingo grows sorrowful as she says they killed Flower, who used to live next to her housefolk and she had convinced her to leave them and join the group. She carries on that Sol told them they needed to show the dogs this was their place, and he made a plan to lure them into a monster den where he predicted they wouldn't be able to escape while they confronted them. Jingo says he picked Pepper to lure the dogs into the den.

She is interrupted by a new cat, a black tom named Jet, who is defensive that the topic of Sol is being discussed, then angrily retreats. Hazeltail apologizes if they upset him. Jingo assures them they're fine, and explains that Pepper was Jet's littermate, and Hussar picks up the story that Pepper died as Sol's plan went wrong. They are cut off as barking sounds from outside the nest and the cats grow defensive. Jingo assures them that they can't get in, and a moment later a ginger and white she-cat named Merry arrives with a mouse, along with Chirp. Jingo continues the story of Sol's plan going wrong, how they were attacked and also lost Frosty along with Pepper, and Jester was badly wounded and died shortly after. Pod angrily says Sol didn't help them fight and wasn't even there to watch.

Jingo meows it could have been different if he had just admitted he was wrong, but instead he claimed it wasn't his fault they decided to fight and lost, then proceeded to ask Jet to bring him food. She says they told him to leave, and he did, but he told them they were making a mistake. Brambleclaw and Brackenfur tell Jingo's group the Clans own experiences with Sol around the lake, and Birchfall nearly tells them how they suspect Sol killed Ashfur, but Brambleclaw cuts him off before he gets to it and states they just need to talk to him and wonders if the group has seen him.

Chirp tells them that there are rumors he is back on the other side of Twolegplace where a cat named Purdy used to live. Brambleclaw thanks them for the information and they stay the night and share prey. Lionblaze and Hollyleaf play with Speckle's kits after their meal. Speckle says whatever they think Sol has done, they're wrong, explaining that he never got his own paws dirty, they wouldn't be able to accuse him of anything. They notice a yearning in her tone, it's clear she loved him despite everything that happened. Hollyleaf asks if he is the father of her kits, and Speckle says that their father left when the dogs became a problem, but she wanted them to be Sol's. She says that the others may hate Sol, but they did decide to fight on their own, he never forced them and that she would be happy to see him if he came back.

Characters

Major

• Lionblaze
• Jingo

Minor

• Hollyleaf
• Brambleclaw
• Birchfall
• Hazeltail
• Brackenfur
• Hussar
• Speckle
• Fritz
• Three unnamed kits
• Frisk
• Pod
• Jet
• Merry
• Chirp

Mentioned

• Sol
• Ashfur
• Flower
• Pepper
• Frosty
• Jester
• Purdy