Shattered Sky

Chapter 17

Alderheart’s pads prickled with nervousness, his heart thumping in his chest as he padded along the edge of the lake, a leaf wrap of herbs in his jaws. He was bringing up the rear of the group of cats who had been chosen to attack the rogues in RiverClan territory. Bramblestar was in the lead, with Rowanstar and Mistystar, followed by many of Alderheart’s Clanmates and warriors from ShadowClan and RiverClan.

I hope Violetpaw managed to sneak those poppy seeds into the prey for Darktail and his Kin.

Before they’d left camp, Bramblestar had called out to Alderheart and beckoned him over. “I want you to come with us,” he meowed. “We don’t know what shape the prisoners will be in, and we’ll need to get them to safety quickly. And if the rogues fight back, things become much more complicated. We’ll need to hold them off long enough to get the prisoners away.” He sighed. “I’ll feel better if we have a medicine cat close by.”

Alderheart had nodded. “I’m happy to come with you,” he’d agreed. “I’ll get some herbs ready.”

“Good.” Bramblestar had blinked in satisfaction. “We leave at sunset.”

The last streaks of scarlet had faded from the sky by the time the cats reached the halfbridge and the small Thunderpath that separated ShadowClan territory from RiverClan. They slipped across the hard surface, silent as moving shadows, and crept into hiding in the bushes on the far side, well out of scent-range of the rogues’ camp.

“Right,” Bramblestar mewed when every cat was crouched around him; his amber eyes glowed in the near darkness. “Remember, as much as we want Darktail’s group out, our goal tonight is to free the prisoners.”

“And any ShadowClan warriors who are regretting the choice they made to stay with Darktail,” Rowanstar reminded him. The ShadowClan leader’s tone was faintly resentful; Alderheart guessed he was annoyed that Bramblestar had taken the lead.

Bramblestar dipped his head; if he had noticed the edge to the ShadowClan leader’s voice, he gave no sign of it. “Of course,” he responded. “The point is, we have come to bring all those cats to safety in the ThunderClan camp. Don’t get distracted by the fighting; it’s a means to an end. We’ll deal with Darktail later. It’s a long walk back through ShadowClan territory, so every cat will need their full strength.”

“Curse WindClan for closing their borders,” Mallownose of RiverClan grumbled. “If they were still talking to us, we could use their camp—it’s closer than ThunderClan’s.”

Alderheart saw Bramblestar’s jaws tighten as if he was biting back a sharp retort, and he heard Cloudtail, who was sitting near him, mutter, “Mouse-brain,” under his breath.

“There’s no point in going over all that again,” Mistystar told her warrior with an irritated twitch of her whiskers. “It’s just wasting time.”

“Besides,” Bramblestar added, “it’s not too much farther to ThunderClan. And whichever direction we go, we will have to cross a stream.”

“I guess so,” Mallownose mumbled, giving his chest fur a couple of embarrassed licks.

“So,” Bramblestar continued briskly, “we only fight if the rogues resist. I’m hoping that the ShadowClan cats will join us, and without Darktail and his most loyal fighters, the rogues will be outnumbered.”

There was a snort of amusement from Cloudtail. “Wouldn’t that be lovely,” he commented. “But things haven’t exactly gone the easy way since Darktail showed up.”

Alderheart tended to agree with the senior warrior. Everything he had heard about Darktail—everything he had seen for himself—told him that the rogue leader and his Kin were relentless. We might pull this off, he told himself, but it won’t be easy.

The one thing he was looking forward to was seeing Needletail again. I hope she’s coping okay with being a prisoner.

“Any questions?” Bramblestar asked, rising to his paws, ready to lead his cats into enemy territory.

Before any cat could reply, a fierce commotion ripped through the quiet of the night. Alderheart could hear yowls, shrieks, and hisses, as if a fight had suddenly broken out. Angling his ears, he could tell that it was coming from the direction of the RiverClan camp.

All the cats sprang up, exchanging startled glances, their neck fur beginning to rise.

“That doesn’t sound good,” Lionblaze said.

“They shouldn’t be fighting yet,” Tigerheart meowed. “They were supposed to wait for our move. Something’s gone wrong!”

Bramblestar flattened his ears and let out a growl. “Then we need to go!”

Plunging out of the bushes, the attacking cats raced along the lakeshore, then veered inland toward the RiverClan camp. Alderheart grabbed his leaf wrap of herbs and followed.

The cats splashed through the stream that bordered the camp and thrust their way through the fringe of reeds at the water’s edge. Scrambling up the slope into the camp, Alderheart spotted the four RiverClan prisoners locked in furious combat with some of Darktail’s rogues. A small tabby she-cat was fighting alongside them.

They’ve risen up! he thought, his heart pounding with excitement. They weren’t meant to fight before we got here—but maybe they’re stronger than we thought! Then he looked more closely and realized that one particular cat was missing from the fight. Wait—where’s Violetpaw?

He felt a prickle of unease beneath his pelt.

The prisoners were fighting hard, though. They looked desperately skinny and frail, but their eyes glared and their fur was bristling; all their rage against the rogues was pouring out in well-trained Clan battle moves. With a fearsome yowl, the rest of the Clan cats hurled themselves to fight by their side.

As Alderheart hovered at the edge of the fray, ready to drag out any cat too badly wounded to go on fighting, he was pleased to see that Darktail’s forces seemed smaller—just as they’d planned. But then he spotted Nettle and one or two others of Darktail’s closest Kin, and his excitement ebbed away, to be replaced by bewilderment.

Why are they awake? he asked himself. They were supposed to get poppy seeds. But Darktail is missing. And so is Violetpaw.

Had her attempt to drug the cats failed? He searched the screeching crowd of battling cats but couldn’t see the young she-cat anywhere. Needletail was missing, too—and she was one of the prisoners. Darktail must have taken her somewhere. Fear weighed Alderheart’s belly down like a heavy stone. Does that mean…? He felt himself tremble as he wondered what would happen if Darktail had caught Violetpaw trying to sneak the poppy seeds into his food. But he forced himself to shake off the fear. No—I won’t believe it. I’ve lost Twigpaw. I can’t bear to lose Violetpaw as well!

A heartbeat later, Roach and Sleekwhisker appeared from outside the camp and flung themselves into the battle with shrieks of fury. More of the former ShadowClan cats had joined in the fight, too, but Alderheart noticed they were fighting on the side of the prisoners and the other Clan cats. He spotted Scorchfur and a young black tom that he didn’t recognize, and Puddleshine hovering behind them, waiting to deal with injuries just as he was.

The rogues are outnumbered, Alderheart thought, his heart racing again. We’re going to win!

Already the battle was beginning to wane, some of the rogues breaking away and fleeing out of the camp. But Roach, Sleekwhisker, and Nettle kept on fighting furiously, and then at last Darktail appeared, racing up from the direction of the lake.

Alderheart stared at him incredulously. Deep scratches furrowed Darktail’s fur, and his white pelt was heavy with water and dotted with blood.

What in the name of StarClan happened to him?

As soon as Darktail appeared, several Clan cats broke away from the main battle to pile on top of the rogue leader, striking out with teeth and claws. For a few moments, Darktail fought back, but he was too badly outnumbered. Struggling free, he yowled, “Kin! Retreat!” and fled out of the camp in the direction of the border with ShadowClan.

His Kin streamed after him. Bramblestar followed at the head of the Clan cats, only to halt at the edge of the camp.

“Let them go,” he panted. “They won’t be back in a hurry.”

“No, those maggot-ridden excuses for cats will be infesting my territory,” Rowanstar growled.

“We’ll clear them out soon,” Bramblestar asserted confidently. “After all, you’ve got most of your warriors back now.”

“That’s if I let them come back.” Rowanstar turned to stare balefully at the former ShadowClan warriors, who were clustered together a couple of tail-lengths away, gazing uncertainly at their Clan leader.

“We’re sorry, Rowanstar,” Scorchfur meowed. “Most of us have wanted to come back for a long time, but Darktail wouldn’t let us leave.”

“Mouse-hearts!” Rowanstar snorted.

“Oh, come on!” Tawnypelt padded up to her mate and nudged him with her shoulder. “We all know what Darktail and his Kin were like. And none of us realized how much of a threat he was at first—even you.”

Rowanstar glared at his mate for a moment longer, then shrugged. “Very well, they can come back,” he meowed. “But if they put one paw out of line…”

A relieved chorus of sighs came from the ShadowClan cats.

“We won’t!”

“Thank you, Rowanstar!”

Alderheart watched with satisfaction as the returning warriors gathered around their leader, then turned to examine the RiverClan prisoners. All four of them lay on the ground, their chests heaving and their paws limp with exhaustion. Alderheart was surprised they had been able to fight so bravely.

Mistystar was crouching beside them, and she looked up anxiously as Alderheart approached. “Are they badly hurt?” she asked.

It was her deputy, Reedwhisker, who replied. “We’re fine,” he croaked, managing to raise his head a little. “That was the best thing we’ve ever done, sinking our claws into those mange-pelts.”

Looking more closely at each of the RiverClan warriors in turn, Alderheart was relieved to see that none of their injuries were serious. One of Reedwhisker’s ears was bleeding, Mintfur and Brackenpelt were both missing small clumps of fur, and Icewing had a long scratch on one shoulder, but it was reassuringly shallow.

“They’ll be okay,” Alderheart reassured Mistystar. “We’ll get those scratches cleaned up and then put on a poultice of marigold.”

“But what happened?” The voice was Bramblestar’s; he came padding up with Squirrelflight, Scorchfur, and the young tabby she-cat who was a stranger to Alderheart.

“It looked like Violetpaw had planned to put Darktail and his closest kin to sleep with poppy seeds,” Scorchfur replied. “But I guess you know all about that. Anyway, her plan didn’t work. Darktail got wind of it somehow and dragged her over to the prisoners’ den.”

“He dragged Needletail out,” the tabby she-cat continued. “Then he took both of them—Violetpaw and Needletail—down toward the lake. I… don’t know what happened to them after that.”

Cold dread began to gather in Alderheart’s belly. He wanted to race off right away and look for his friends, but he knew he had duties here.

“We heard Darktail say that he was going to punish Needletail for what Violetpaw had done,” Reedwhisker mewed hoarsely. “When they’d left, we decided it was time to act. We knew we had to do something to stop Darktail’s evil. So we broke out of our den. Zelda here”—he gestured with his tail toward the young tabby she-cat—“was on guard with Nettle. When we started to fight, Zelda joined in on our side. And so did most of the ShadowClan cats. Then you arrived,” he finished with a nod to Bramblestar. “I have never been so glad to see any cats in all my life.”

“That’s right,” Icewing added. “Thanks to you, we’ve driven Darktail and his rogues out of our territory!”

Alderheart admired the courage of the RiverClan cats, but he felt like he was choking on his worry for Violetpaw and Needletail. Darktail was covered with scratches. He had blood on his pelt. Whose blood was it?

His stomach turned.

“Does any cat know what happened to Violetpaw and Needletail?” he asked.

Reedwhisker shook his head, studying his paws. “Darktail said that Needletail would pay the price for Violetpaw’s betrayal. He dragged them off—and as far as we know, neither of them has come back to camp.”

Alderheart’s legs felt weak with foreboding. They could both be dead! They probably are… And all because I asked Violetpaw for her help!

Squirrelflight gave him a sympathetic look from deep green eyes, as though she could read his thoughts, and pressed her flank against his. “Stay strong,” she encouraged him. “You couldn’t have known what would happen, and giving up now will put all these cats at risk.”

“We have to look for them,” Alderheart whispered.

Squirrelflight gently shook her head. “There’s no time right now,” she mewed. “We have to get these cats back to ThunderClan, to let the medicine cats treat them properly.”

“Excuse me?” Mistystar rose to her paws, looking annoyed. “This is RiverClan territory. There’s no way we’re going to leave it for Darktail to take over again.”

“I don’t think you need to worry about that,” Bramblestar told her with a respectful dip of his head. “Darktail will have other things on his mind; he’ll know we’ll be coming for him in ShadowClan next. Besides, your cats need more care than you can give them here, and your medicine cats are still in our camp.”

“He’s right,” Reedwhisker agreed hoarsely. “There’s so much work to be done before RiverClan can live here again.”

Mistystar hesitated for a moment, a look of deep thought in her blue eyes. “Very well,” she meowed at last. “But only for a day or two, until my warriors are fully recovered.”

She whisked her tail, beckoning to some of her other Clanmates to help the former prisoners to their paws. Glancing around the camp, Alderheart saw that every cat was getting ready to leave.

The tabby she-cat, Zelda, padded up to Bramblestar and dipped her head politely. The young black tom was with her. “I’m Zelda,” she mewed, “and this is Loki. We’re kittypets.”

Bramblestar’s ears angled forward in surprise. “You fight pretty well, for kittypets,” he told her, then added, “But what are kittypets even doing here?”

“Darktail brought us into camp,” Zelda explained, “and then he wouldn’t let us go. We thought it was fun at first, until we found out what he was really like.”

“There was another of our friends with us too,” Loki added. “But he was killed when Darktail made us attack RiverClan.” He shivered, his eyes full of sorrow.

Bramblestar nodded understandingly. “And now you’d like to go home?”

“Not yet,” Zelda meowed. “We want to stay until Darktail is defeated. He’s so cruel… We want to be sure that he’s gone for good.”

Loki nodded vigorously. “Can we come with you?”

“Of course.” Bramblestar’s eyes gleamed with approval. “Any cat is welcome who wants to fight against Darktail.”

The sky was growing pale with dawn, and the last warriors of StarClan were fading from the sky, when Alderheart followed Bramblestar and the rest of the warriors back to the ThunderClan camp.

As they crossed ShadowClan territory, they were careful to stay close to the lake, and every cat was alert for any sign or scent of Darktail and his remaining rogues. But the pine forest remained dark and silent.

I wonder if it’s too much to hope for, that the rogues have simply fled, Alderheart thought. It would be great if they never bothered us again! They’ve already given us enough trouble.

But the whereabouts of the rogues weren’t Alderheart’s main concern. Padding along at the rear of the group, he couldn’t put Violetpaw and Needletail out of his mind.

Why would Darktail have taken them to the lake? he asked himself. Was he going to drown them? Alderheart halted for a moment, his breath catching in his throat. Could that be what happened to Dawnpelt and the other missing cats?

Alderheart didn’t feel much relief as he and the rest of the cats splashed through the stream that marked the border with ShadowClan. It was good to be back on familiar territory, but his worries still crowded everything else out of his mind. He wondered whether he should ask Bramblestar if he could take out a patrol and go to search for Violetpaw and Needletail.

I could ask him… but I don’t think he’ll agree. He’ll want every cat to concentrate on getting ready to drive out the rogues.

Alderheart padded through the thorn tunnel into the camp, surrounded by a fog of misery. Their victory seemed less important than his fears that Violetpaw had sacrificed herself—because of the plan that he had made.

But as Alderheart entered the clearing, he halted, gazing around in sudden bewilderment. Surely there are far more cats here than when we left for RiverClan territory?

Then he spotted a small gray she-cat, her brilliant green eyes widening as she noticed him.

Twigpaw… How can it be?

Alderheart rushed toward her and plunged his muzzle into her shoulder fur, nuzzling her affectionately. “Twigpaw… Is it really you?” he choked out. “We all thought you were dead!”

“Oh, Alderheart!” Twigpaw purred. “I’m so glad to see you again. I’m sorry—you must have been so worried about me.”

Scolding her for running off was the last thing on Alderheart’s mind. He was too pleased to see her. “Where have you been all this time?” he asked.

“I went to find SkyClan, in the barn you saw in your dream,” Twigpaw explained. “Because I wanted to know if the cat you saw was really my kin.”

She settled herself on the ground, and Alderheart sat down beside her, reveling in the warmth of her pelt and the scent he had thought never to smell again.

“And you found them?” he asked, hearing the surprise and admiration in his voice. After all the time I’ve spent wishing we could find them and bring them back… “You found SkyClan, and you brought them here?”

Twigpaw nodded, beaming with pride. “It wasn’t easy,” she said, “but I did.”

Hovering a tail-length away was the dark gray tom he had seen in his dream. He looked exactly like Twigpaw, except that his eyes were warm amber—like Violetpaw’s.

Alderheart rose to his paws. “Are you…?” he began.

The gray tom took a pace toward him and dipped his head politely. “I am Hawkwing,” he meowed. “I’m Twigpaw’s father.”

“And he’s deputy of SkyClan!” Twigpaw announced proudly.

Alderheart dipped his head in response. “Welcome to ThunderClan,” he mewed.

“Thank you.” Hawkwing nodded. “It’s nice to get a warm welcome,” he added hastily.

Alderheart glanced around at the assortment of RiverClan, ShadowClan, and ThunderClan cats. He realized for the first time that many of them were eyeing Hawkwing and the other SkyClan cats suspiciously. I guess this is a bit of an awkward time to welcome another Clan into our camp… , he thought. But he was quickly distracted by Twigpaw.

“Isn’t it great?” she asked excitedly, bouncing on her paws. “I’ve never seen so many cats together before! I was surprised to find RiverClan cats here when I got back. And ShadowClan is still staying with us, I see. But—” She broke off, her excitement fading. “Is Violetpaw still with the rogues?”

Alderheart couldn’t hide his anxiety and grief at Twigpaw’s question, and decided that he couldn’t lie to her. I tried that with Violetpaw, and look how well that worked.

“I don’t know where Violetpaw is right now,” he admitted. “It looks like Darktail took her and Needletail out of the RiverClan camp—”

“What?” Twigpaw interrupted. “Why was Darktail in the RiverClan camp?”

“Darktail and his rogues raided RiverClan and drove the Clan out. We just got back from attacking the rogues and taking back the territory.”

“So why isn’t Violetpaw with you?” Twigpaw asked, deep anxiety in her voice.

“Before we arrived, Darktail took her and Needletail out of the camp to punish them, and no cat knows what happened to them after that.”

Twigpaw’s eyes stretched wide with horror, and Hawkwing’s gaze was full of concern. “But why would he punish Violetpaw?” Twigpaw demanded. “What had she done? Why didn’t some cat help her? And why—”

“Twigpaw, it’s all so complicated—” Alderheart was beginning, when to his relief Bramblestar padded up, with Rowanstar and Mistystar beside him.

“Greetings,” Bramblestar meowed, introducing himself and the other Clan leaders. “This is a momentous day for the Clans. I never expected to see SkyClan here, reunited with the rest of us.”

“SkyClan never expected it either.” A brown-and-cream tabby she-cat joined Hawkwing and gave the leaders a respectful nod. “I am Leafstar, leader of SkyClan. We have come a long way to find you.”

More cats were gathering around to listen to the leaders, and Alderheart began to hear uneasy murmurs arising from the crowd.

“Another Clan? What does this mean?”

“Surely there are too many cats in the forest now?”

“Where are they all going to live?”

Bramblestar glanced around sternly, as if he wanted to quell the unwelcoming comments, but before he could speak, Jayfeather stepped forward, gazing at the newcomers with his sightless blue eyes.

“What’s the point of twittering like a nestful of blackbirds?” he demanded. “It’s obvious what we need to do.”

“It might be obvious to you, Jayfeather,” Bramblestar meowed.

Jayfeather gave a disdainful sniff. “If you weren’t Clan leader, Bramblestar, I’d call you a mouse-brain. We must seek the advice of StarClan.”

A stiff breeze blew into Alderheart’s face as he toiled up the last slope toward the Moonpool. Clouds were scudding across the sky where the warriors of StarClan were beginning to appear.

Ahead of Alderheart, Leafpool and Jayfeather scrambled from rock to rock, while Mothwing and Willowshine were just behind him. Puddleshine, once again ShadowClan’s medicine cat, brought up the rear.

I wish Kestrelflight could be with us, too, Alderheart thought sadly. But there’s no point even trying to fetch him from WindClan.

Thrusting his way through the bushes that surrounded the hollow, Alderheart began to follow the spiral path down to the water. His paws slipped easily into the paw marks left there by the ancient cats so many seasons ago.

The moon was only a thin claw-scratch; the water that poured out from the rocks, and the pool below, was dark except for the glimmer of starshine. Alderheart felt the hairs on his pelt rise at how strange and mysterious it seemed without the glow of reflected moonlight they saw at the regular half-moon meetings.

As he and his fellow medicine cats crouched at the water’s edge, Alderheart wondered what message the spirits of his warrior ancestors would have for them. He closed his eyes and touched his nose to the surface of the pool, barely biting back a yowl as the chill raced through him from nose to tail-tip.

When Alderheart opened his eyes, he seemed to be still in the hollow beside the pool, but now the surface of the water blazed with reflected light. He raised his head to see that the sides of the hollow were lined with glittering spirit cats, their pelts frosted with starlight and their eyes glowing like countless small moons. He took in a long, awestruck breath.

This is wonderful! he thought, relief bursting in on him like the sun appearing from behind a cloud. StarClan has barely appeared to any of us since they gave us the prophecy moons ago.

He waited confidently for the spirit cats to speak. After the long, horrible misadventure with Darktail and his rogues, the Clan cats had finally found SkyClan… Now they had to learn how to “clear the sky.”

Leafpool was the first to speak, rising eagerly to her paws. “They’re here, finally—we’ve found SkyClan! Are they ‘what you find in the shadows’?”

At the opposite side of the pool, a flame-colored tom also rose; Alderheart recognized Firestar. “They are,” he replied. “But there is more to be done.”

Alderheart glanced around at the other medicine cats. How strange for us all to be here together! He saw the same eagerness reflected in their eyes as they gazed at Firestar.

“What more should we do?” Leafpool meowed. “We found what lies in the shadows—the missing Clan. SkyClan! Now how do we clear the sky?”

“Not every Clan is present,” Firestar pointed out. “This was about restoring all five Clans, as it was long ago—long before I came to the forest. SkyClan has no medicine cat, but another Clan is missing from our group, too…”

The starry cats began to fade from Alderheart’s sight. As the light died, he and the other medicine cats exchanged uneasy glances.

Mothwing, who had been absent from the vision, looked on curiously. “What happened?”

As quickly as he could, Alderheart explained what they’d seen and heard.

“Of course,” murmured Mothwing, her eyes widening with recognition.

“I guess we know what we must do… ,” Jayfeather mewed reluctantly.