Long Shadows

Chapter 5

Jaypaw slid out through the thorn tunnel and stalked into the forest.

The night scents and noises seemed sharper than ever, just because he was on his own. There were no other cats to fuss over him, and if he tripped over a branch or put his paw into a hole, he could recover just fine by himself.

By now the territory was familiar, especially since he had taken part in the battle. Soon he had left ThunderClan territory behind and was climbing the rocky ridge. Ahead of him he scented other cats, and identified them as Willowshine from RiverClan and Barkface from WindClan with his apprentice, Kestrelpaw. Littlecloud wasn’t with them.

The scents quickly grew stronger, and Jaypaw realized that the other medicine cats were waiting for him to catch up. He halted in front of them, dipping his head. “Greetings.”

“Greetings, Jaypaw,” Barkface meowed. “How’s the prey running?” He sounded awkward, and Jaypaw picked up a strong sense of regret, as if the WindClan medicine cat wanted to apologize for the hostility between their Clans.

Jaypaw dipped his head in acknowledgment of what the older cat couldn’t say out loud. “Fine, thanks.”

“And where’s Leafpool?” Willowshine added.

“She couldn’t come,” Jaypaw replied. “She had stuff to do.”

Even though medicine cats lived by different rules, he didn’t want to tell the other Clans that ThunderClan had greencough in the camp. It made them sound weak.

Surprise came from all three cats, with an edge of annoyance from Willowshine.

“I had to wait until I had my name before Mothwing allowed me to come here alone,” she mewed.

I bet Mothwing lets you come alone all the time now. It’s a wasted journey for her. Jaypaw itched to make the retort, but he stopped himself. The RiverClan medicine cat didn’t believe in StarClan; she could spend the night of the half-moon in her den without all the trouble of the journey to the Moonpool.

“It doesn’t look as if Littlecloud is coming,” Barkface muttered. “I thought he at least would stay faithful to StarClan.”

He’s trying, Jaypaw wanted to tell him, but there was no way he could reveal his expedition into ShadowClan territory. Littlecloud had protested against what Sol was telling his Clan, but it hadn’t made any difference. ShadowClan had turned their back on their warrior ancestors, and Blackstar must have forbidden his medicine cat to come to the meeting.

“Perhaps he can share tongues with StarClan from his own territory,” Willowshine murmured.

“And maybe StarClan will show us what to do about Sol,” Jaypaw suggested, though privately he didn’t think it was likely.

Barkface grunted agreement. “We’d better go on without him. We’re wasting moonlight.”

Jaypaw could hear the sound of falling water and the soft pad of paw steps as he followed the others down the spiral path to the Moonpool. He felt very close to Rock and Fallen Leaves and the other ancient cats as he felt his paws slip into the hollows they had made so long ago.

I hope I get a good dream tonight, he thought. It’s about time.

Ever since his vision in ShadowClan territory and his talk with Leafpool he had hoped to meet the strange badger Midnight again. If she didn’t come here, in this special place under the half-moon, then maybe she didn’t mean to come at all.

The other cats were settling down at the edge of the pool.

Jaypaw took his place beside Barkface. Kestrelpaw crouched on the other side of his mentor, while Willowshine found a spot farther around the rim of the water.

Jaypaw stretched out his neck and dipped his nose into the Moonpool; its cold touch shivered through him. Curling up, he let sleep take him.

When he opened his eyes he found himself on a rough stretch of open ground; a precipice plunged down at his paws and he took a pace back, dizzy from his glimpse of the depths.

Wind whined among the rocks, and Jaypaw dug his claws into the gritty soil, scared that he might be blown away. Dim light illuminated the mountaintop; peering around him, Jaypaw couldn’t decide whether it was twilight or early dawn. He thought at first he was alone until something moved on top of one of the boulders, and he recognized the bald, distorted body and unseeing eyes of Rock.

“You’re here!” Jaypaw gasped. “Do you have something to tell me?”

Rock shook his head. “I have brought someone who wishes to meet you.”

A black shape loomed up behind Rock, moving slowly into the open. Jaypaw gripped even harder with his claws, and his neck fur began to bristle. He was gazing into the berry-bright eyes of the badger.

“Midnight?” he meowed, furious that he couldn’t stop his voice from quivering. “You’re the badger who helped ThunderClan?”

The huge creature dipped her head; the pale stripe down her head gleamed in the half-light. “Is nothing to fear, small one. Speak with me you will?”

“Yes, I… I wanted to ask why you appeared to me the night we went to ShadowClan. It was you, wasn’t it?”

Midnight nodded. “I went that way, find out what Sol say to Clans.”

“You know Sol?” Jaypaw was astonished.

“Past my den near the sea he came. He had heard of cats by the lake, and many questions he asked.”

“And you answered him?” Was this how Sol had known so much about the Clans? “Why? Leafpool told me you were our friend!” Jaypaw protested.

Midnight shrugged her heavy shoulders. “Is more than one way to be friend. True, I give Sol knowledge. But knowledge not always bring power.”

“It’s brought Sol enough power,” Jaypaw mewed bitterly.

“He’s already convinced one Clan to give up their faith in StarClan.”

“Perhaps will be StarClan’s task to restore faith of ShadowClan.”

Jaypaw blinked. He thought Rock had been teaching him that StarClan didn’t have that kind of power. “How can they?”

Midnight’s eyes shone with black light. “Faith is strong enough, it achieve anything,” she assured him.

“That’s no answer!” Jaypaw cried, frustrated. “Why did you talk to Sol and not to me?”

There was no reply. Midnight’s bulky body was fading, melting into the shadows. Her white stripe glimmered for a heartbeat longer, and she was gone.

Jaypaw glanced wildly around. Rock had vanished as well, and he was alone on the bleak mountaintop. He struggled to wake up, blinking in the hope of opening his eyes to darkness, but it was no use. Am I stranded here? he wondered, beginning to panic.

Then he spotted two other cats approaching him across the open ground, the wind buffeting their fur. The first was a muscular tabby with one shredded ear; the cat who followed him was a small gray-and-white tom with a drop of moisture gleaming on his nose. The shimmer of stars at their paws was very faint; both of them were advancing nervously, casting swift glances into the shadows as if they expected enemies to leap out at them.

The tabby halted in front of Jaypaw and dipped his head.

“Greetings, Jaypaw,” he meowed. “My name is Raggedstar; once I was leader of ShadowClan. And this is Runningnose, who was our medicine cat.”

Jaypaw stared at the two of them; Leafpool had told him about Runningnose, and it looked as if even in StarClan the former medicine cat couldn’t cure his own cold. “Why have you come to speak to me?”

“For the sake of our Clan,” Raggedstar replied, his voice hollow with sadness. “If no cat can help them, then Sol will tear them apart. They will scatter and become rogues! All their honor and pride will be gone!”

“I have spoken to Littlecloud in dreams,” Runningnose added, resting his tail-tip on his leader’s shoulder. “He keeps faith, but few cats will listen to him, and now Blackstar has forbidden him to speak of StarClan. He is not allowed to leave the camp to share tongues with us at the Moonpool.”

“But… what do you expect me to do about it?” Jaypaw asked, bewildered. “I can’t go into ShadowClan to talk to Blackstar, and if I did he wouldn’t listen. He would send me back to ThunderClan one piece at a time.”

“I can’t tell you what to do,” Raggedstar admitted. “I just know my heart tells me you might be the cat to save my Clan.”

He shared a look of despair with Runningnose. Seeing it, Jaypaw realized that not only had ShadowClan rejected StarClan, but their warrior ancestors were almost ready to give up on them, too.

Anger pierced his belly like a thorn, and set his neck fur bristling again. All right, he snarled silently. If they won’t do anything, I will! There must be some way to defeat Sol and restore ShadowClan’s faith in their warrior ancestors. And then Sol can keep his promise and help us fulfill our prophecy.

“I’ll try,” he promised, not bothering to keep his fury and contempt out of his voice. “At least I’m not sitting back and wailing like a lost kit.”

“Thank you.” Raggedstar dipped his head once more. “Your warrior ancestors…”

His voice began to die away, as if the vision was fading, though Jaypaw could still see him and Runningnose clearly.

Bewildered, he glanced around and down, and froze with terror; he could see the rough surface of the rock through his own paws.

I’m fading!

His eyes snapped open on darkness; he was curled up beside the Moonpool, with the gentle plash of falling water in his ears and the other medicine cats waking around him.

Following Barkface, Kestrelpaw, and Willowshine down the ridge once more, Jaypaw thought about what he had seen.

Midnight had told him next to nothing, except that it was she who had given Sol his knowledge about the Clans. Had she told Sol that the sun would vanish, too? Jaypaw wouldn’t be surprised. But Midnight hadn’t said anything that would help him with the problem of ShadowClan now. She seemed to think that StarClan would be able to restore their faith, but StarClan obviously wasn’t going to do anything, except plead for help from a medicine cat apprentice.

Jaypaw paused to say good-bye to the other cats on the WindClan border. A soft breeze was blowing from the moor, bringing with it the scents of herbs and rabbits. Willowshine padded up to him and brushed his shoulder with her tail.

“StarClan walk with you, Jaypaw, until next time.”

“Thanks,” Jaypaw grunted. “You too.” She needn’t think he was going to start being friendly, not after that smart remark when they met. She was far too smug about receiving her name before him. Besides, he didn’t want to talk; he had to think.

The only way to defeat Sol was to make ShadowClan recover their belief in the power of their warrior ancestors.

How am I going to do that?

He thought back to when he had visited the Tribe of Rushing Water. He remembered how grief-stricken Stoneteller had been when he discovered that the Tribe of Endless Hunting had given up on the cats behind the waterfall. Jaypaw didn’t trust Stoneteller, but he had felt sorry for the old leader then.

Stoneteller had lied to the Tribe to persuade them to go on battling against the invaders. His lies had filled them with courage, and they had beaten the intruding cats. The Tribe of Rushing Water had been made stronger because they had faith in what their warrior ancestors wanted for them.

But there aren’t any easy lies that will convince ShadowClan, Jaypaw told himself. Or are there?

By the time he reached the stone hollow, Jaypaw could feel a freshening breeze that told him dawn was breaking, and hear birds beginning to twitter in the trees. I could do with a good fat blackbird, he thought hungrily.

His worries about Millie and Briarkit returned as he crossed the clearing, but when he entered his den he could hear the deep, regular breathing of all three cats. That’s good.

They all need sleep.

Instead of joining them, Jaypaw crept quietly out again.

He didn’t feel tired; instead, he was quivering with excitement. On the way home the beginnings of a plan had come to him, and he needed to talk to his littermates. He tasted the air, trying to find his brother and sister, and quickly tracked down Hollyleaf crouched beside the fresh-kill pile with Mousewhisker and Berrynose.

“Hey, Hollyleaf!” he called; he didn’t want to go over to her and get stuck talking to the others.

Hollyleaf came bounding over to him; his belly rumbled as he caught the scent of fresh mouse clinging to her pelt.

“Did something happen?” she asked; he could feel her urgency crackling like lightning.

“We’ve got to talk. Where’s Lionblaze?”

“Still asleep in the warriors’ den,” Hollyleaf mewed.

“Get him. I’ll meet you in back.”

Jaypaw slid into the gap behind the warriors’ den, his claws flexing impatiently until Hollyleaf and Lionblaze squeezed into the narrow space beside him.

“We’ve got to find a better place to meet,” Lionblaze grumbled. “If we get any bigger we’ll never fit in here.”

“Stop complaining,” Jaypaw snapped, wriggling to make sure he got his fair share of the space. “This is important.”

“Tell us, then!” Hollyleaf meowed.

Jaypaw told them about his dream at the Moonpool, his meeting with Midnight the badger and then with Raggedstar and Runningnose.

“StarClan asked you for help?” Hollyleaf queried, awe in her voice. “That’s amazing!”

Jaypaw gave a faint hiss of annoyance. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”

“Do you think you can do what they want?” Lionblaze asked. “We’ll help, you know that.”

“I had an idea,” Jaypaw began. “We have to make ShadowClan believe in their warrior ancestors, right? So what they need is a sign from StarClan—a clear sign that every cat can see.”

“If StarClan could do that, wouldn’t they have done it already?” Hollyleaf asked doubtfully.

“Yes, I think so.” Jaypaw’s pelt prickled with excitement.

“So, if StarClan can’t do it, we’ll have to do it for them.”

There was a short silence. Then Lionblaze mewed, “Make a sign from StarClan?”

“Why not?”

“I dunno.” Lionblaze sounded puzzled. “It just seems… wrong, somehow. Besides, if we’re more powerful than StarClan, why does it matter that ShadowClan believe in their warrior ancestors?”

“Of course it matters, mouse-brain!” Hollyleaf spat. Jaypaw felt all her muscles bunch as if she would have leaped on her brother for a couple of mouse tails. “All four Clans have to stick to the warrior code.”

“Okay, calm down,” Lionblaze muttered.

Hollyleaf ignored him. “Jaypaw, I don’t know how we’re going to do this, but I know we can. I’ll do whatever it takes to save ShadowClan from Sol!”

Her voice shook with intensity, and Jaypaw could imagine fire blazing in her green eyes. A shiver crept on mouse feet down his spine. It was clearer and clearer that nothing mattered to Hollyleaf more than the warrior code, and for the first time in his life he felt a little afraid of her.