Firestar’s Quest

Chapter 19

Firestar’s heart thudded so hard it felt as if it would burst out of his chest. He could hardly breathe, and the words he wanted to say tumbled out in a rush. “Were you once a warrior of SkyClan?”

“I was not,” the old cat replied. Before Firestar had time to feel disappointed, Sky went on. “My mother’s mother was born into the Clan. By the time I was born, SkyClan was no more, but my mother taught me the ways of a Clan warrior.”

Firestar exchanged an excited glance with Sandstorm. Her eyes were stretched wide. “We were right!” she mewed to Firestar. “This was SkyClan’s home.”

“Go on, Sky.” Firestar took a step toward the old cat. “Tell us more about SkyClan.”

To Firestar’s dismay, Sky recoiled. “Why do you want to know?” he demanded. “What is it to you?”

“We want to help you,” Firestar explained. “We come from the forest where SkyClan once lived.”

“We’re cats of ThunderClan,” Sandstorm added. “My name is Sandstorm, and this is Firestar, the Clan leader.”

The old cat’s ears flattened, as if his ingrained mistrust 2 3 5

were fighting with the respect that a true warrior would show for a Clan leader. Firestar realized that he must be the first leader Sky had ever met.

“I had a dream.” Firestar sat down, his tail wrapped over his paws to make him look as unthreatening as possible. After a moment’s hesitation Sky sat down too, and listened while Firestar told him everything that had happened since his very first vision of the gray-and-white cat in the ravine outside the ThunderClan camp. “I’m sure he was the leader of SkyClan when it was driven out of the forest,” Firestar finished. “He begged me to come and find his lost Clan.”

“And you came all this way because of a dream?” Sky asked.

“I came because I had to.”

Sky sprang to his paws again, the thin gray fur on his shoulders bristling. “Do you think it’s as easy as that?” he spat. “Do you think the wrongs of the past can be forgiven so easily?”

“What do you mean?” Sandstorm mewed, bewildered.

“It was thanks to the four Clans left in the forest that my ancestors were driven out of their home. When they came here, they thought they would be safe, but later they found it was as terrible as the territory they had left. Your ancestors destroyed my Clan!”

For a few heartbeats Firestar was afraid that the old cat would leap on him with teeth and claws bared. He braced himself, knowing that he could never raise a paw against this noble old warrior.

Then Sky drew in a deep breath and sat down again. “This is a time of truce. I will not seek revenge while the moon is full for the wrongs done to my ancestors.”

Firestar was beginning to feel alarmed. What was wrong with the gorge that meant SkyClan hadn’t been able to stay there? With some prey at least, freshwater and shelter, and little threat from Twolegs, the cliffside camp seemed to be a perfect refuge for cats.

“What happened?” he prompted. “Why did they all leave?”

Sky turned his head away. A low keening came from his throat, as if he were mourning for all the cats of SkyClan, driven out, lost, or dead.

Sandstorm padded forward and gently touched his shoulder with her tail. “Tell us why you’re called Sky,” she urged.

The old cat looked up at her. “My mother gave me that name,” he rasped, “so that I would never forget my ancestors.

And I never have. That’s why I come here every full moon.”

“That must get very lonely sometimes,” Sandstorm murmured.

Sighing, Sky looked up at the glitter of Silverpelt. “I don’t know if my warrior ancestors listen to me, but I will keep the way of the warrior alive until my last breath.”

“We know you stay in one of the caves on the night of the full moon,” Firestar began hesitantly, not wanting to upset the old cat any more. “Sandstorm and I have been sleeping there. I hope you don’t mind.”

Sky let out a disgusted snort. “Then you’ve met those two kittypets. That’s how you knew the stupid name they gave me.”

“Yes, we’ve seen them,” meowed Sandstorm.

“They live in a Twoleg nest and eat pap!” the old cat exclaimed. “And they say I’m mad!”

Firestar caught a glance from Sandstorm, as if she were trying to warn him not to mention that he had once been a kittypet. He certainly didn’t intend to; Sky’s opinion of him was low enough without that.

“We scared them away,” he told Sky. “You shouldn’t have any more trouble with them.”

Sky twitched his ears; for a moment Firestar thought he looked almost disappointed. “Did you notice anything…

unusual about them?” he asked.

Firestar cast his mind back to the encounter with the kittypets. He couldn’t remember anything distinctive, except for their rudeness, and he didn’t think Sky meant that. Then he pictured the two of them as they ran back to the Twoleg nest. “Cherry jumped into a tree,” he recalled. “Is that what you mean?”

Sky nodded. “I think those two kittypets are descended from SkyClan cats.”

Sandstorm’s ears pricked with surprise. “Those two mouse-brains?”

“When the Clan was forced out of the gorge,” Sky explained, “most of the cats, including my mother’s mother, became rogues or loners. But some of them, those who were too old or too young to hunt, went to live with Twolegs.” He stared across the scrubland to where the harsh orange lights of the Twolegplace stained the sky. “Strange… ,” he murmured. “So many of those cats must share my blood, yet none of them knows who I really am.” He bowed his head again.

“What happened?” Firestar asked. “Why did SkyClan have to leave the gorge?”

The old cat did not reply; Firestar wasn’t even sure if he had heard the question.

“You look tired,” Sandstorm mewed. “Would you like me to hunt for you?”

Sky tensed; Firestar was afraid that Sandstorm’s offer had offended him. Then he looked up, blinking gratefully. “Thank you. It’s been a long night.”

Immediately Sandstorm leaped across the rift and disappeared down the trail into the gorge. Firestar followed more slowly with Sky. He was ready to help the old cat cross the gap, but leaping down from the rock was easier than leaping up, and Sky landed with all four paws firmly on the trail.

Firestar let him take the lead to the cave.

As he padded behind, Firestar realized that Sky reminded him of Yellowfang. He had the same proud reserve as the former medicine cat; he was clearly uncomfortable and prickly around other cats, yet he shared Yellowfang’s strength and her deep commitment to her Clan. Sky had all the qualities of a true warrior: courage, faith, and loyalty to his Clan. Yet everything he was had been based only on tales told to him by his mother. SkyClan from his nose to the tip of his tail, he had never been part of a real Clan.

Sky clambered up to the mouth of the cave and paused, whiskers twitching. Firestar was nervous that he would feel insulted that he and Sandstorm had brought in bedding, when he must have slept on the bare sandy floor. The old cat let out a faint snort, then padded over to one of the hollows and curled up without any comment in a nest of ferns and feathers.

He was barely settled when Sandstorm appeared in the entrance, a mouse dangling from her jaws. She crossed the cave to Sky and laid it down in front of him.

The gray cat reached out one paw and prodded it. “A bit skinny, isn’t it?” Before Sandstorm could defend her catch, he dragged the mouse closer and began devouring it in rapid gulps.

Sandstorm glanced at Firestar, her eyes glimmering with laughter, and mouthed, Yellowfang!

Sky finished off the last scrap of mouse, swiped his tongue around his jaws, and let out a long sigh. Then he curled up again and was asleep almost at once, his snores echoing around the cave.

Firestar and Sandstorm squashed up together in the remaining lined nest. Sleep refused to come to Firestar.

Bracken pricked against his fur, and Sky’s snoring echoed off the sandy walls. Sandstorm was restless too, shifting among the bedding.

But that wasn’t what kept Firestar awake. His mind buzzed with troubled thoughts. He wondered whether the SkyClan ancestor was watching him, or his former leader Bluestar. Neither of them had sent him any signs since he came to the gorge. Could the SkyClan leader be trapped somewhere else, unable to watch over his former home?

Eventually he slipped into a disturbed sleep. Sunlight streaming into the cave woke him the next morning.

Sandstorm was already sitting up beside him, grooming herself, while Sky snored in his nest opposite.

“Are you ready to go and hunt?” Sandstorm asked.

Firestar heaved himself out of the nest with a huge yawn.

His legs were stiff but he knew he wouldn’t sleep again. He gave himself a brisk shake to dislodge scraps of bracken from his fur. “Lead on,” he mewed.

By the time they reached the riverside, he was beginning to feel better. He waded through the shallows for a few paces, enjoying the sensation of cool water on pads that were still sore from scrambling up and down the cliff. Then he and Sandstorm headed downstream, to where the trees and undergrowth sheltered prey.

It was good to hunt side by side like this, Firestar thought, without having to worry about organizing patrols or keeping a watch on the borders. The forest suddenly seemed very far away.

Could I stay here forever? he wondered. Could I live without a Clan?

Then he heard Sandstorm let out a faint sigh. She was gazing down at an eddy in the river, where the current had scoured out a hollow under the bank beneath a hazel bush. It looked almost exactly like the place where ThunderClan crossed the stream on the way to Fourtrees.

Firestar’s thoughts went winging back to his own territory.

How had ThunderClan fared at the Gathering the night before, and what did the other Clans think when they heard he had left the forest?

The idea that he might choose not to go back seemed as remote as the stars. He was ThunderClan’s leader; the forest was where he belonged. Except for Sky, all the SkyClan cats were long gone. There was nothing more that Firestar could do for them. Once he had listened to the rest of Sky’s story, and found out why the SkyClan cats had left the caves, it would be time to go home.

He and Sandstorm hunted and carried their fresh-kill back to the cave. But when he reached the entrance, Firestar stopped in surprise. The hollow in the cave floor was empty.

Sky had gone.