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Below contains in-depth information for chapter twenty-one of Twilight. If you are looking for a shorter summary of the entire book, please check the main article.
Much to her ire, Squirrelflight fails to catch a starling, too distracted thinking about Leafpool and her disapperance. Ashfur suggests calling it a day, and she agrees; both head back to the thornbush containing their catches, along with Spiderleg. Upon the patrol's return to the stone hollow, Ashfur reassures Squirrelflight that Leafpool will be okay and proposes that she should catch some much-needed sleep. The ginger she-cat refuses, instead wanting to check on Cinderpelt, and she enters the medicine catden, finding Cinderpelt seemingly fixiated on nothing. Seeing Squirrelflight, she inquires if there is any news relating to Leafpool, but Squirrelflight replies with a no and gives her a vole to eat. Cinderpelt declines it, not feeling hungry and appearing to be drained of any confidence or motivation. Squirrelflight urges her to eat, stating that ThunderClan needs her with Leafpool vanishing, and praising her abilities as a medicine cat in an effort to raise her spirits.
Cinderpelt gazes deeply at Squirrelflight, almost wanting to tell her something, but responding that she doesn't want things to change. When Squirrelflight murmurs that Leafpool will return, the gray she-cat only shakes her head, but sniffs the vole and tells her to check on Sorreltail. The latter had just been told about Leafpool last night, making her distraught, and Cinderpelt had given her poppy seeds to calm her down. Squirrelflight agrees to see Sorreltail if Cinderpelt eats the vole, and with a spark of humor in her, the medicine cat jokes that she never gives up on a challenge. As Squirrelflight approaches the nursery, Brightheart plucks a thorn out of Berrykit's paw, and he addresses her as a medicine cat, even though Brightheart affirms she isn't one. Squirrelflight greets her, asking about Sorreltail, and Brightheart replies that she is fine, bringing up how close she is to kitting. While she tries to summon strength, Squirrelflight finds it hard to do so being concerned about Leafpool and Cinderpelt. She peers into the nursery, finding Sorreltail sleeping, and Daisy and Ferncloud quietly greet her.
When Squirrelflight backs out of the nursery, she catches Brightheart going into the medicine den, presumably about to report to Cinderpelt on Sorreltail. She heads to the fresh-kill pile, finding Firestar ordering Brambleclaw to lead the next day's dawn patrol along the WindClanborder, as they could find more traces of Leafpool. Brambleclaw agrees to the idea, opting to take Cloudtail along, but questioning if they'll even find the missing medicine cat at this point. Both Firestar and Sandstorm remain hopeful that they'll come across her, and Squirrelflight begins to share Brambleclaw's doubts that Leafpool will ever return, grabbing a magpie and settling down to eat it. At once, she lets out her concerns about Leafpool and blames herself for her leaving, though Firestar and Brambleclaw reassure her otherwise. Ashfur returns to camp with Birchpaw, who is told to take some prey to the elders, and he dashes off to do so. Ashfur approaches Squirrelflight, commenting on how well Birchpaw's training is going, and telling her not to argue about sleeping anymore. Despite her not wanting to sleep, Squirrelflight swallows down her objections and lays down in a sunny spot.
Ashfur licks her shoulder soothingly, but before Squirrelflight can catch any sleep, she hears a roaring noise and questions what it is. Without warning, a terrified Whitepaw speeds through the thorn tunnel, causing the warrior to jump up. Squirrelflight hears snarling and twigs snapping; a large creature breaks through the branches, and she realizes that it is a badger. The entire ThunderClan camp descends into chaos, and just before Squirrelflight manages to hurl herself at the badger, more badgers crash through the thornbushes, beginning an all-out siege on the stone hollow. Rainwhisker is viciously attacked, and he is thrown up into the air, impacting the ground seconds later and being knocked unconscious. Squirrelflight faces a badger and lashes out at it, but her fight is interrupted by Ashfur, who shields her. Irritated, she retorts that she can protect herself, though the gray tom has already started attacking the badger. Brambleclaw frantically informs Squirrelflight that they need to evacuate the queens and the kits from the camp, and both run to the nursery, passing Spiderleg and Sootfur battling a frustrated female badger.
While Brambleclaw enters the nursery, Squirrelflight stands guard outside, watching the unfolding battle and discovering that the camp has now trapped them. Birchpaw tries to climb up and out, but he falls back into the sea of badgers and only manages to escape into a narrow crack where he can't be reached. Squirrelflight attempts to figure out how the queens can escape, ruling out Highledge, as badgers can easily climb up there. Firestar, Dustpelt, Sandstorm, and Thornclaw fight the badgers pouring in through the thorn tunnel entrance, though Thornclaw is tossed into a clump of nettles and vanishes in them. Cloudtail inquires where Daisy is, and Brambleclaw nudges the cream she-cat out of the nursery seconds later, Berrykit in her jaws. Horrified, Daisy wonders about her kits, and Brambleclaw and Cloudtail go to retrieve them. Suddenly remembering how Leafpool snuck out to see Crowfeather, Squirrelflight exclaims that she knows a way and urges everyone in the nursery to hurry. Brightheart then dashes up to her, but instead of having a kit, she announces that Sorreltail has started kitting and needs Cinderpelt beside her.
Panicking, Squirrelflight scans the clearing and finds Brackenfur fighting a badger. She leaps toward him and urges him to find Cinderpelt, as Sorreltail is delivering her kits. Hesitantly obliging, Brackenfur finds the medicine cat, and both rush back to the nursery just as Brambleclaw and Cloudtail emerge from it with the twoother kits in their jaws. Cinderpelt instructs one cat to guard the nursery while the others protect themselves and the kits. Squirrelflight tries to find the safest way to get to Leafpool's escape route, finding the camp covered in shadows and hoping the badgers are too distracted in their onslaught to see them. As Daisy follows the ginger she-cat, her kits mew while badgers screech all around the stone hollow. Daisy tells her kits that they are being carried because of the risk of badgers stomping on them, and hiding her fear, she warns them to stop wiggling. A badger treads past them, furiously trying to shake Thornclaw off of it, and Mousefur, Goldenflower, and Longtail band together outside of the elders' den.
Squirrelflight calls for Mousefur to join them, but she refuses to leave Longtail, and she chooses to not argue further with the elder. The others catch up to Squirrelflight, and she suggests that Mousefur can hide in Firestar's den on Highledge, should she be able to guide Longtail up there. The group is forced to stop when Sandstorm runs in front of them, chasing a bloodied badger and snarling at it to stay out. When they are halfway around the hollow, Ashfur appears from the shadows with a torn ear and scratched flank. He offers to come with Squirrelflight, but she orders him to guard the nursery with Brackenfur, which he reluctantly agrees to do. A cat shrieks in pain, and as she moves, Squirrelflight sees her Clanmates fighting, dashing to and fro whilst landing blows on multiple badgers. Worried, she wonders if this is the end of ThunderClan.
