Dark River

Chapter 17

Jaypaw plucked at the moss in the bottom of his nest, softening it before he curled up for a good night’s sleep. Cinderpaw was already snoring, worn out by her game with Hollypaw. She would be moving back to the apprentices’ den before long, and the medicine den would be quiet again. Good. Outside, the thorn barrier rustled. The last patrol was returning, their unhurried paw steps a signal that everything was fine.

Jaypaw heard water sloshing. Leafpool was soaking a wad of moss in the pool to leave beside Cinderpaw’s nest in case the apprentice woke thirsty in the night. “I think we should take a look at the catmint by the old Twoleg nest tomorrow,” she meowed. “I want to see if there’s much new growth.”

“Are we going to pick any?”

“Not yet.” Leafpool’s paws scuffed across the ground as she carried the dripping moss to Cinderpaw’s nest. “But I want to know whether there’ll be a good harvest this year.”

“There’s been enough rain.” Jaypaw tucked his nose between his paws and closed his eyes. “Good night.”

“Sleep well.” Leafpool’s nest crunched as she climbed into it and started washing. The gentle lapping of her tongue began to lull Jaypaw to sleep.

“Leafpool?”

Firestar’s mew woke him with a start. The ThunderClan leader was pushing his way through the bramble entrance.

Jaypaw lifted his head, instantly alert and trying to sense what pulsed beneath their visitor’s pelt.

Unease.

Leafpool jumped out of her nest. “What is it?”

“This concerns both of you,” Firestar meowed.

Jaypaw got up too, not bothering to pretend he hadn’t been listening.

“Is something wrong?” Leafpool whispered anxiously.

Firestar shifted his paws. “I want you both to travel to the WindClan camp tomorrow.”

“The WindClan camp?” Leafpool echoed. “Do you want us to speak to Barkface?”

“No.” Firestar was choosing his words carefully. “Onestar.”

“Why us?”

“Only you can make the journey. If I send warriors, they’ll be seen as a threat.”

“What do you want us to say to him?” Leafpool sounded puzzled.

“I need you to find out what’s going on in WindClan.”

A spying mission! Jaypaw felt a surge of excitement. He wants us to find out their weaknesses. But something wasn’t right. He could detect no scheming in Firestar’s mind. Only honest anxiety.

“I’ve just been speaking with Mousefur,” Firestar explained. “She seems to think Hollypaw is right and that all this talk of battle has grown out of gossip and guesswork. I need you to find out whether RiverClan has actually invaded WindClan territory.”

Jaypaw blinked. “What difference does that make?”

“If there’s going to be a battle with WindClan, I want it to be for a good reason,” Firestar replied.

Leafpool swished her tail over the ground. “But if they cross our border, isn’t that reason enough?”

“Yes,” growled Firestar, “but we might be able to stop them from crossing the border from now on.”

“They’ve already done it once and gotten away with it,” Jaypaw pointed out. He ignored Leafpool’s hiss of warning; apprentices weren’t meant to speak to the Clan leader in that way.

“That could have just been a mistake.” Jaypaw felt Firestar’s amber gaze warm his pelt. “Their apprentices would not be the first to stray onto another Clan’s territory.”

He means Hollypaw!

Firestar went on. “It makes sense for WindClan to invade us if RiverClan has taken their territory. But what if Onestar leads an attack just because he’s afraid that RiverClan might take his territory? Blood would be shed for no reason.”

“I don’t understand what you think we can do.” Leafpool plucked at the ground. “If we find out that RiverClan hasn’t invaded, do you want us to ask Onestar not to fight? Won’t that make us look weak?”

Firestar stiffened. “You must make it clear that we are ready to fight if we have to,” he meowed. “I’d just rather fight a battle driven by real need, not empty fears.”

“But still, you want us to persuade Onestar not to attack us unless he has no other option?” Leafpool pressed. “Won’t we look like cowards?”

Anger flashed from Firestar’s pelt. “We’re not cowards,” he snapped, “but why should we fight pointless battles to prove it?”

Dawn was bright but cold. A pale sun peeped over the forest at the top of the hollow but Jaypaw could smell rain on the wind. He waited at the camp entrance while Firestar gave his final orders to their escort. Brambleclaw and Dusltpelt were going to accompany them to the WindClan border and wait for their return.

Leafpool pressed against him. Jaypaw could still sense doubt darkening his mentor’s thoughts. “Are you ready?” she asked.

“Yes.” Jaypaw’s tail twitched with excitement. There was more to being a medicine cat than picking herbs and looking after sick cats after all. The future of the Clan could depend on what he and Leafpool found out.

There will be three, kin of your kin, who hold the power of the stars in their paws.

“Come on, then.” Brambleclaw padded through the thorn tunnel. Leafpool headed after him and Jaypaw followed, leaving Dustpelt to fall in behind. He could feel the warrior’s dark pelt bristling with uncertainty. Dustpelt thought that Firestar was being hasty, that it was too soon to let WindClan know they would rather avoid a battle. Brambleclaw’s thoughts were harder to read, his mind clouded by doubt one moment, brightened by hope the next.

The patrol padded wordlessly over the ridge and down into the open moorland, which stretched into WindClan territory. Dustpelt was the first to voice his disquiet as they reached the border. “Are we just going to sit and wait for a WindClan patrol to ask us if we need help?” His mew was scathing.

“Yes,” Brambleclaw growled.

Dustpelt paced up and down, re-marking the bushes, irritation flashing from him so fiercely that it made Jaypaw’s fur stand on end. How humiliating to wait for permission from WindClan to go any farther.

“Perhaps Jaypaw and I should go on by ourselves,” Leafpool suggested. “That’s what we’d do if we needed to speak with Barkface.”

Jaypaw nodded. They were medicine cats. They might as well take advantage of their special freedom to travel.

“No.” Brambleclaw’s mew was firm. “You’re not going to speak with Barkface, and it’s too soon after our run-in with that WindClan patrol for you to walk into their territory without them knowing. My duty is to make sure you’re safe.”

His fur brushed the grass as he sat down. “We’ll wait.”

Jaypaw sniffed the air. The sun was warming the earth and he could smell heather budding and young rabbits. Suddenly, he stiffened: A musky tang edged the wind. “WindClan cats are coming.” He recognized the scents of Harepaw and Tornear. There were two more cats with them. Their scents were familiar but he couldn’t yet name them.

“It’s Nightcloud.”

Jaypaw felt tension spiking from Leafpool as she identified the WindClan she-cat. He knew there was some connection between his mentor and Nightcloud, who was the mate of Crowfeather. He had felt it thicken the air between them before, but he had no idea what it could be. As he probed Leafpool’s mind, his paws pricked with surprise. Was that jealousy?

“Tornear, Harepaw, and Owlwhisker are with her,” Dustpelt murmured. “Not bad, though I would have preferred it if Tornear had stayed in his nest.” Dustpelt’s pelt tickled Jaypaw’s flank as the warrior fluffed out his fur defensively.

“Relax,” Brambleclaw ordered. “They mustn’t think we’re showing any sign of aggression.”

“Because we’re begging a favor,” Dustpelt muttered under his breath.

“Silence!” Brambleclaw hissed. Then he raised his voice.

“Tornear!”

Hostility slammed against Jaypaw like a wave as the WindClan cats spotted the ThunderClan patrol. The air seemed to crackle around him and he tensed, suddenly afraid.

“What do you want?” Tornear’s mew was accusing.

Fur brushed heather as the WindClan patrol approached.

Jaypaw sensed Brambleclaw squaring himself to meet the WindClan cats. “Leafpool and Jaypaw wish to speak with Onestar.” Brambleclaw’s mew was calm, neither hostile nor yielding.

Surprise pulsed from Tornear’s pelt. “What for?”

“They wish to speak with Onestar,” Brambleclaw repeated.

Jaypaw felt suspicion wake in the WindClan cats’ minds.

He guessed they were looking at one another, wondering how to respond. Could they turn away medicine cats?

“Just Leafpool and Jaypaw?” Owlwhisker growled.

“We will wait here for them,” Brambleclaw assured him.

Silence hung in the air, like a hawk stalling before a dive.

“Then Owlwhisker and Harepaw will wait with you,” Tornear meowed slowly.

He’s going to let us cross the border! Jaypaw dug his claws into the grass, eager to get going.

“Can I trust you to see them safely to the camp and back?”

Brambleclaw asked.

Tornear snorted. “Of course you can!”

“Leafpool,” Brambleclaw meowed, “if you’re not back by sunhigh, we’ll fetch a patrol and come looking for you.” His mew was thick with warning aimed at the WindClan cats.

“She’ll be back,” Tornear growled.

Jaypaw heard Leafpool’s fur brush the heather as she crossed the border. He padded quickly after her and pressed against her. It was exciting to be traveling to the WindClan camp, but he suddenly felt vulnerable. An icy chill swept his fur as clouds blocked out the sun.

“Keep your chin high,” Leafpool whispered. She let her pelt brush his all the way to the camp, guiding him over the unfamiliar ground. Jaypaw only stumbled once when Leafpool didn’t warn him in time about a trailing branch of gorse.

Soon he smelled brambles and a stronger scent of WindClan. He sensed space beneath him as the ground dipped away in front of them. They had reached the camp.

“Stay close,” Tornear warned.

Jaypaw walked step-by-step with Leafpool as the WindClan warrior led them into a swath of bramble, through a twisting, turning tunnel that led down into a hollow. He could hear Nightcloud’s breath behind him as she brought up the rear. Then wind stroked his whiskers; they were out of the tunnel. For a moment he felt overwhelmed by the jumble of scents that filled his nose and mouth: warriors, apprentices, kits, nursing queens, herbs, rabbit…

They must be in the center of the camp. A fresh wind tugged Jaypaw’s fur. Watchful gazes stabbed his pelt.

“It’s that blind cat from ThunderClan.”

“What are they doing here?”

“Shall I fetch Barkface?”

The WindClan cats were emerging from their dens.

Jaypaw could feel curiosity, hostility, and even fear throbbing in the air.

Tornear was whispering to a young tom. Jaypaw strained to hear but before he could make out the words, the tom hared out of the camp.

“Onestar is out hunting,” Tornear announced. “You’ll have to wait.” He raised his voice to address his curious Clanmates.

“They’ve come to see Onestar!”

“Onestar?”

Alarm and suspicion rippled around the clearing. Jaypaw pricked his ears. This was not a Clan determined to expand their territory. They were frightened and confused. His belly tightened. Frightened cats were unpredictable. “Should we speak to Barkface instead and leave?” he murmured to Leafpool.

But Leafpool didn’t seem to hear. Her attention was flitting around the camp, as though she were searching for something or someone. Suddenly, an intense emotion sparked from her, almost making Jaypaw flinch. Excitement?

Grief? Anger? He couldn’t tell.

“You look well, Crowfeather.” Leafpool’s calm mew didn’t betray the storm raging in her mind.

Jealousy spiked behind Jaypaw. Nightcloud’s pelt was bristling.

“What are you doing here, Leafpool?” Crowfeather’s mew was curt and quiet. What is he feeling? Jaypaw studied the warrior’s mind but found it barbed with wariness.

“Firestar sent us to speak with Onestar,” Leafpool explained.

“He’s not here.”

“We know.” Leafpool sat down.

Jaypaw felt the first drop of rain dab his nose.

The brambles rustled and a few moments later paws pounded into the clearing. Onestar. Jaypaw recognized Whitetail and Weaselfur with him.

“What’s this about?” the WindClan leader demanded.

“Firestar sent us,” Leafpool meowed.

“Why?” Onestar paced warily around them. “Are you in trouble?”

“No.”

“Then why come here?” Onestar halted so close to them that Jaypaw could smell the rabbit blood on his breath. “Does Firestar still think there’s some kind of special relationship between our Clans? Because there isn’t!”

“Firestar understands that.”

Jaypaw was impressed with how calm Leafpool sounded, even though he could feel her trembling against him.

“Firestar doesn’t want to shed blood over our shared border,” she went on.

“Why did he attack our apprentices, then?” Onestar’s tail swished through the air.

“WindClan warriors unsheathed their claws first,” Leafpool meowed. “We were only defending the border they crossed.”

“It was our prey!” Tornear hissed.

Yowls of agreement rose around the clearing.

“Not once it’d crossed the border,” Jaypaw hissed.

Leafpool’s tail brushed his mouth. She shifted, her pads squelching against the slippery earth. The rain was beginning to fall steadily. “We didn’t come here to argue!”

“Then why did you come?” Onestar growled.

“To talk.”

Tornear tore at the ground. “Was Firestar too mouse-hearted to come himself?”

“Firestar didn’t want to provoke you by sending a warrior patrol,” Leafpool explained. “He wants to soothe the situa-tion, not inflame it.”

Crowfeather was circling them. “Then he shouldn’t have sent anyone!”

Anger surged through Leafpool; Jaypaw felt it hot against his pelt. “Not every cat hides from his responsibilities!” she hissed.

Crowfeather halted. “Are you saying that’s what I would do?” His whiskers brushed Jaypaw’s face as the WindClan warrior leaned in toward Leafpool.

“Get out of the way!” Onestar hissed, nudging Crowfeather aside. “What do you want to talk about?”

“Firestar wants to know if RiverClan has invaded your territory.” Leafpool was growing impatient. “Is that why you’ve been hunting so close to our border? Are you being forced into ThunderClan territory or do you simply want to take our land because you are foolish enough to believe you can?”

Jaypaw was shocked by her fierceness. He felt Onestar freeze; Leafpool had surprised the WindClan leader too.

Angry whispers darted between the watching cats. The air seemed to crackle like greenleaf lightning as the rising wind drove the rain harder into the camp. Jaypaw tensed, waiting for Onestar’s answer.

“RiverClan has not invaded our lands,” Onestar began slowly. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t. Does Firestar expect us to wait until they do? Does he think we should sit around like fat voles waiting to be pounced on?”

“But you are not voles,” Leafpool snapped. “Why not defend your RiverClan border instead of threatening ours?”

“We will defend what borders we have to,” Onestar retorted. “And take what territory we need.”

“You don’t even know that RiverClan is going to invade,” Leafpool pressed. “Why threaten us?”

Tornear growled. “You sound like a blackbird singing the same song over and over again!”

“Barkface could speak to Mothwing at the next Moonpool gathering,” Leafpool suggested, her mew suddenly coaxing.

“He can find out exactly what RiverClan intends. It may turn out you have nothing to be afraid of.”

“We aren’t afraid!” Crowfeather hissed.

“Then why won’t you listen to reason?” Leafpool pressed.

“You are honorable warriors. Why let yourselves be driven by suspicion instead of truth?”

“Listen to her!” Weaselfur sneered. “Trying to steal time for her Clan with clever words.”

“WindClan fights with claws not words,” Tornear warned.

Jaypaw bristled. “It’s like trying to show worms to moles!” he hissed. “They’re too blind to see beyond their own noses.”

“We’re too blind?” Weaselfur mocked.

“Wait!” Onestar ordered. “Perhaps she’s right. Perhaps we should give RiverClan a chance to explain what’s going on before we do anything.”

“A chance to invade, more like,” Tornear growled.

“You saw how desperate RiverClan looked at the Gathering,” Crowfeather argued. “And every patrol we see looks hungrier than the last. We can’t trust them!”

“But they haven’t invaded yet,” Onestar pointed out.

“They crossed the border,” Tornear reminded him.

“Only once.”

Jaypaw sensed the WindClan leader’s mind slow. He was thinking.

“We can’t let them drive us into unnecessary bloodshed,” Onestar murmured.

Suddenly, a panicked yowl split the air beyond the camp wall. The dripping brambles shook and a WindClan queen skidded into the clearing. “My kits are gone!” she screeched.

“Sedgekit?”

“Thistlekit?”

Alarmed mews filled the camp.

“Sedgekit, Thistlekit, and Swallowkit!” panted the queen.

“All of them! Disappeared!”

“When did you last see them?” Onestar demanded.

The queen was fighting for breath. “I left them in the nursery and went to stretch my legs. They weren’t there when I came back, so I went looking for them. They’ve wandered out before, but not far. But this time there’s no sign of them. Their trail heads toward the RiverClan border and then just disappears. A hawk’s carried them off, I know it!”

“Calm down, Gorsetail.” Onestar was bristling but his mew was steady. “You can’t be sure. No hawk’s ever taken more than a single kit before. We must send out a search party.”

Suddenly, paws pounded through the entrance tunnel.

“Onestar!” Ashfoot pelted into the clearing. Jaypaw scented Breezepaw and Heatherpaw behind the WindClan deputy. “We’ve just seen a RiverClan patrol heading back into their territory.”

“They’ve been on our land!” Breezepaw spat.

“And there was rabbit blood where they’d been,” Heatherpaw added.

Terror flared from Gorsetail. “Are you sure it was rabbit blood?”

“What?” Confusion clouded Heatherpaw’s mind.

“My kits have disappeared!” Gorsetail wailed.

“You think the RiverClan patrol might have taken them?”

Heatherpaw sounded horrified. Her thoughts began whirling like leaves caught in a wind. Jaypaw tried to read them but they were moving too fast. He only knew that at their center something dark hovered, a sense of blackness that made his blood turn to ice. She knew more than she was letting on.

“You must leave.” Onestar had turned back toward Leafpool.

“You’re not going to attack RiverClan, are you?” Leafpool gasped.

“We’ll do what we must to get our kits back!” Onestar hissed.

“But you don’t know they’ve taken them,” Jaypaw objected. “A moment ago you thought it was a hawk.”

“That was before RiverClan crossed the border.”

“But they may have had good reason!”

Ashfoot growled. “To steal our kits!”

“But why—”

Onestar cut Leafpool off with a snarl. “Go home!” Jaypaw flinched as the WindClan leader leaned in close. “You can tell Firestar that it’s too late. You’ve wasted your time trying to protect RiverClan. We’ll attack at once!”