Dovewing’s Silence

Chapter 10

The Moonpool gleamed like a single silver eye, reflecting starlight and the empty night sky. Dovewing caught her breath as she padded down the spiraling path, feeling her paws slot into the impressions left by cats from countless moons before. “It’s beautiful!” she breathed.

Lionblaze shivered. “It’s creepy.”

Jayfeather led them to the edge of the water, as still as polished stone. “Lie down and close your eyes,” he meowed.

“What’s going to happen?” Lionblaze asked warily.

“StarClan will come to us,” Jayfeather answered. “They alone know why we have lost our powers, and what this means for the prophecy.” He settled himself on the smooth stone and tucked his paws underneath him.

Dovewing lay down beside him, then Lionblaze on his other side. Dovewing took one last look at the starlit water and closed her eyes. Her pelt prickled with excitement. StarClan, are you there?

The sound of rushing wind filled her ears, and she opened her eyes with a start. She was standing on top of a mountain surrounded by dark, starless sky. The wind tugged at her fur and cold seeped into her paws from the hard stone. Lionblaze and Jayfeather were beside her, leaning into the gale to keep their balance.

“Is this StarClan?” Dovewing yowled above the wind. Somehow she had expected it to be more… peaceful.

“No!” Jayfeather yowled back. “I don’t know where we are!”

Great StarClan! This isn’t the Dark Forest, is it? Dovewing thought in alarm.

Lionblaze pointed with his tail to the edge of the rocky plateau. “Look!”

Two figures were walking toward them out of the darkness. Not ancient cats lit with the light of stars, but mismatched, lumpen figures, unsteady in their gait and with fierce glowing eyes. One shape loomed over the other, broad-shouldered and narrow-snouted. The other lurched over the stony ground, its hairless skin gleaming in the half-light.

“Midnight and Rock!” Dovewing whispered. She felt the fur along her spine lie down. Not the Dark Forest, then.

The badger and the blind, bald cat stopped in front of them. Midnight dipped her head. “Welcome you are,” she barked. “Come far you have, after difficult time. Something to ask, I think?”

“Why can’t I hear anymore?” Dovewing blurted out. “Or see?”

Rock turned his cloudy blue gaze on her. “Oh, I think you can still see,” he murmured softly.

Dovewing felt hot with embarrassment. “Yes, of course, but it’s not the same. I used to be able to see everything! Now I can only see what’s right in front of me. And it’s the same with my hearing.”

“We’ve lost our powers,” Jayfeather put in. “The powers given to the cats in the prophecy. There will be Three, kin of your kin, who will hold the power of the stars in their paws.”

“Jayfeather thought StarClan might know why we’ve changed,” Lionblaze meowed.

Midnight turned her striped muzzle toward him. “Not from StarClan came these powers. But from older forces, from earth and water and stone and air. Losing your gifts you are, yes. That I cannot change. But losing them you are because they are not needed now.”

Dovewing struggled to untangle the badger’s words. “You mean, the Clans are safe now? They don’t need us anymore?”

“Your Clan will always need you,” rasped Rock in a voice that seemed to come from the wind itself. “And sometimes, so will the other Clans. But you will never face a battle that needs these powers again. The greencough that afflicts you now? That will be hard, but your medicine cats have the knowledge to treat you. You will still fight with your neighbors, but you have the skills to deal with them. Sometimes you’ll win, sometimes you won’t. That is the way of things.”

Midnight lumbered forward and rested her muzzle on Lionblaze’s head. “Brave warrior, do not lose faith. To enter battle when injuries are certain, that is true courage.” She shuffled along to Jayfeather. “Medicine cat, wise you are, and such you know. Care for your Clanmates you can without walking in their thoughts and dreams. Let those hidden be from your sight.” Midnight reached Dovewing, and she felt a blast of stinking breath around her muzzle. “Small warrior, many dangers there are in a world when you are blind and deaf. But eyes and ears you have still. Use them as your Clanmates do. Weaker than them you will never be.”

The badger stepped back and heaved a great breath, as if so much talking had tired her. Dovewing wondered just how old she and Rock were. As old as the stars?

“Your powers helped the Clans to win the Great Battle,” Rock told them. “That is what the prophecy promised, and that promise has been fulfilled. You will feel lesser warriors without the powers, but you are not. Find strength in the courage and skills shared by your Clanmates. The Great Battle has been fought and won. A new time for the Clans lies ahead.”

“Remember also, Great Battle was not won by you alone,” Midnight warned them. “All Clans, all warriors, all queens and elders and kits and medicine cats fight together. To protect them all is not for you, powers or not. More has been lost than gift of sight or strength or dreams. But power of warrior code forever lasts.”

There was a crackle of lightning overhead, making Dovewing flinch and close her eyes. When she opened them again, Midnight and Rock had vanished and for a moment a ginger cat stood in front of her, his green eyes glowing with love.

“Firestar?” Dovewing breathed, but then the vision was gone and she was standing at the edge of the Moonpool with Jayfeather and Lionblaze. The water was as still as it had ever been.

Lionblaze turned to her. “Are you all right?”

Dovewing nodded. “Better than before,” she mewed.

Beside them, Jayfeather flicked his tail impatiently. “I have sick cats waiting for me. Come on, let’s see if we can get back before dawn.” He trotted up the spiral path, his gray pelt merging with the stone. Lionblaze followed but Dovewing hung back for a moment, staring into the pool. She felt a surge of hope welling up inside her.

The Great Battle has been won. We will survive the greencough. She turned to head after her Clanmates. Suddenly her paws felt lighter. And the warrior code will last forever!