Shattered Sky

Chapter 20

Alderheart crouched at the edge of the Moonpool, ready to touch his nose to the water. The sky was still streaked with the last light of sunset, and there was a reddish tinge to the surface of the pool. He hoped that was not a bad omen.

This may be too soon for us to visit StarClan again, he thought. But we have to try.

After Bramblestar and the others had returned to the ThunderClan camp, word of Onestar’s confession had spread rapidly through the rest of the Clans. Every cat knew that they would soon be advancing into ShadowClan territory to confront Darktail and his Kin.

This time we’ll defeat him, Alderheart mused, but even so, Clan cats will be injured… Some of us may be killed.

But before that battle could take place, all the medicine cats from the four lakeside Clans had gathered at the Moonpool to show StarClan that they had carried out their last instructions. All five Clans had reunited.

It’s a pity SkyClan has no medicine cat, Alderheart reflected. That’s something we’ll have to deal with as soon as possible.

His thoughts were interrupted by Jayfeather, who shook out his pelt irritably. “Well, what are we waiting for?”

Alderheart closed his eyes and touched his nose to the surface, bracing himself against the chill. But this time the water was warm and caressing, and when he opened his eyes, he found himself sitting in a forest glade, with sunlight dappling the ground.

All the other medicine cats stood there with him, except for Mothwing. Around the edges of the clearing, under the trees, the cats of StarClan were assembled, their pelts shining with a frosty light and their eyes gleaming. A shiver of mingled relief and excitement passed through Alderheart as he gazed at them: relief because he sensed that they approved of what the Clans were doing, and excitement because there were many cats among them whom he had never seen before.

Can this be…?

“SkyClan ancestors!” Leafpool’s delighted mew answered for him. “Now that SkyClan has returned to us, the spirits of their warrior ancestors can walk these skies with our own StarClan.”

Alderheart’s gaze devoured the newcomers; he knew that each of them would have a story to tell, and he wondered whether he would ever know what those stories were. In particular, he noticed a mottled she-cat who fixed him with an intent look, as if she wanted to ask him something, though she didn’t speak.

The air tingled with the happiness that surged through his fellow medicine cats, and for a few moments Alderheart relaxed, content just to enjoy it.

Firestar padded into the middle of the clearing, beckoning with his tail for the medicine cats to join him there. As he stepped forward, Alderheart saw that the flame-colored tom was standing beside a five-pointed leaf that had the same flame color as his pelt. One of the points of the leaf was bent backward.

“Do you know what this means?” Firestar asked, pointing to the bent point with one paw.

“I’m not sure,” Alderheart mewed hesitantly when he had studied the leaf for several heartbeats. “The five points stand for the five Clans, right? But why is that point bent?”

“That point stands for ShadowClan.” It was Yellowfang who replied, bounding up to stand beside Firestar. “The five Clans must live together, peacefully, on your shared territory. But part of that territory—my old Clan’s home—is lost. It must be reclaimed. Do you understand now?”

A murmur of agreement came from all the medicine cats. “Yes, now I do,” Alderheart meowed, speaking for them all. “Before we can decide how to live peacefully in the territory we have, we must secure all of that territory. We must reclaim ShadowClan’s land.”

Firestar nodded. “Exactly. And to do that,” he added, “the Clans must remember their names.”

Alderheart stared at the former ThunderClan leader, trying to work out what that meant. But when he looked to the other medicine cats, he could see that they were just as bewildered as he felt.

Does Firestar mean we should remember our own names? Or does he mean the names of the StarClan cats? Is that where the answer is?

Already the StarClan cats were beginning to fade, their outlines blurring until they looked like patches of mist among the trees, and then were gone. The sunlight in the clearing faded too, and the rustling of the leaves died into silence, until the medicine cats were standing in a dark void.

Alderheart opened his eyes to find himself once more beside the Moonpool, with the other medicine cats waking around him, blinking at one another in a mixture of hope and confusion.

It was Jayfeather who broke the silence, rising to his paws with an impatient lash of his tail. “They’ve done it again!” he snarled. “Why does StarClan have to be so vague?”

A pale sun shone down into the stone hollow, though it gave little warmth, and the air felt damp; Alderheart thought there might be rain to come. It was the day after the medicine cats had met at the Moonpool, and at the first glimmering signs of dawn, Bramblestar had sent out as many hunting patrols as he could muster, with instructions to bring back all the fresh-kill they could find.

“Every cat will need strength today,” he had meowed. “Because today… this ends.”

Now the hunting patrols had returned, and the cats of ThunderClan, ShadowClan, RiverClan, and SkyClan were finishing their prey. Alderheart could feel the excitement thrumming through the camp. Now that the Clans were united again, every cat was hopeful that this time Darktail and his rogues could be dealt with for good.

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a meeting of the Clans!”

Bramblestar’s voice rang out across the stone hollow. Rowanstar, Mistystar, and Leafstar sat beside him on the Highledge; the cats already in the clearing turned toward them. Leafpool and Jayfeather emerged from the medicine cats’ den, followed by Briarlight, who dragged herself into the open to listen. Graystripe, Ratscar, Oakfur, and Millie sat outside the elders’ den, while Snowbird and Blossomfall appeared at the entrance to the nursery, their kits frisking around them. Tinycloud, who still hadn’t given birth, sank down beside the two queens and tucked her paws underneath her.

Sparkpelt raced across the clearing and plopped herself down beside Alderheart. “This is it!” she exclaimed, her eyes shining with excitement. “Bramblestar must give the order to attack.”

“Wait and see,” Alderheart murmured. “We still don’t know what StarClan meant about ‘remembering our names.’”

Sparkpelt shrugged, working her claws impatiently into the ground. “Whatever. Now that WindClan has agreed to join us, we have plenty of cats to deal with Darktail!”

“Every time I lead my Clan into a fight,” Bramblestar began, when every cat was settled, “I hope that it will be the last that we ever have. And this time, I hope that I’m right. Every cat heard what the medicine cats reported from their journey to the Moonpool: all five Clans have the same problem, Darktail and his rogues. But this time, all five Clans are united against a common enemy. Today we will fight as friends, to protect our very way of life.”

A clamor of agreement broke out among the cats in the clearing, enthusiastic caterwauls ringing out to the sky.

“We’ll drive them out!”

“For the honor of the Clans!”

“Death to Darktail!”

“Death to the rogues!”

Bramblestar raised his tail for silence, and gradually the noise died down. “I hope you’re all fully fed,” he continued when he could make himself heard. “Now you need to take a short rest. Conserve your strength. We head out at sunset.”

Alderheart still felt a niggling doubt as he paced through the camp, watching the warriors preparing themselves, or concentrating on keeping themselves calm and relaxed.

If we don’t need to work out what StarClan meant, then why did they bother telling us?

He was uneasy, too, about his own role in the battle to come. Although he had long ago stopped dwelling on his failed apprenticeship under Molewhisker, he still felt guilty that he couldn’t fight alongside his Clanmates.

I’ll be there to help the warriors who are injured, he told himself, but it wasn’t enough.

Determined to throw off these thoughts, Alderheart padded over to where Violetpaw and Twigpaw were sitting with their father, Hawkwing. Whitewing and Birchfall were sharing tongues close by.

“I’m looking forward to this fight!” Twigpaw was mewing as Alderheart approached. “I’d like to claw Darktail’s fur off!”

“Me too,” Violetpaw agreed, her voice more somber than her sister’s. Her face clouded with a dark expression. “Darktail will pay for what he did to Needletail.”

“She was a brave cat,” Alderheart meowed as he sat down next to her.

His words seemed to give some comfort to Violetpaw. “We all need to watch out for Darktail,” she continued after a moment, “especially if the fight takes us anywhere near water. Darktail has a thing about water.”

There was a sudden mrrow of excitement from Whitewing, who sat erect, her eyes wide. “I have an idea!” she exclaimed.

She scrambled to her paws and raced off to where Bramblestar was curled up with Squirrelflight near the bottom of the tumbled rocks that led up to his den.

Her mate, Birchfall, stared after her. “What’s gotten into her?” he muttered.

Hawkwing extended his forepaws and arched his back in a long stretch. “This is enough rest,” he meowed. “In SkyClan, we always like to get straight into the fight. The longer you wait, the more time you have to get nervous—and nerves are never good for battle.”

Twigpaw blinked up at her father. “Do you know how SkyClan got its name?” she asked.

“We were named after a cat who lived a long time ago,” Hawkwing replied. “He was Skystar, the first leader of our Clan. He appeared to Echosong, our medicine cat, many times before she died.”

Alderheart felt a shiver of wonder to think that a cat from so long ago could still remain in StarClan to speak to a living medicine cat. “Is that really true?” he asked.

“We think so,” Hawkwing told him. “Anyway, however we got our name, we certainly live up to it. We launch attacks from above—from the trees, or tall rocks. Fighting SkyClan must feel like you’re being attacked from the sky!”

Understanding lit up Alderheart’s mind like a flash of lightning. Springing to his paws, he bolted across the stone hollow after Whitewing, heading toward his father, Bramblestar.

“Leafpool! Jayfeather! Puddleshine! Mothwing and Willowshine! Come here!” he yowled as he went. “I’ve figured out what StarClan meant!”