Starlight

Chapter 6

Brambleclaw shifted uneasily among the dead leaves. A branch was digging into his flank, but that wasn’t what had woken him. He couldn’t get used to sleeping alone, without the warmth of Squirrelflight’s body beside him. He thought she had gone to sleep next to Ashfur, but he wasn’t sure. She certainly wasn’t anywhere near him.

There was another prod in his side. Brambleclaw looked up blearily to see that it wasn’t a branch after all, but a paw.

Barkface was standing over him.

“Where’s Firestar?” the WindClan medicine cat demanded.

Brambleclaw scrambled up, yawning. Above his head the sky was just beginning to grow light. “Most of ThunderClan are over there, under the trees.”

“Find him for me, will you?” Barkface’s voice sounded close to breaking. “Tallstar is asking for him.”

Brambleclaw knew the WindClan leader must be close to losing his last life. “I’ll fetch him,” he promised.

“Thanks. We’re under that gorse bush over there.”

Barkface pointed with his tail. “I’ve got to find Onewhisker.”

He dashed off.

Brambleclaw bounded toward the nearest ThunderClan warriors. Tallstar was the eldest of the leaders, and his death would be a great loss to all four Clans, not just WindClan.

For a few heartbeats he despaired of finding Firestar in the dim predawn light, but then he spotted him sharing tongues with Sandstorm near the tree stump.

“Firestar, Barkface says Tallstar wants to see you,” Brambleclaw meowed as he raced up to them.

Firestar stiffened, and exchanged a glance with Sandstorm. “I’ll come at once,” he replied.

“Does Barkface need any help?” Sandstorm asked.

“Cinderpelt was here a moment ago. Tell Barkface to send a cat with a message if he wants her.”

Brambleclaw nodded, and followed Firestar across the open ground to the gorse bush where Tallstar lay dying. Its outer branches swept the ground, and there was no sign of any cats at first, but as Brambleclaw approached he heard the sound of harsh, uneven breathing. Ducking down, he peered through a gap to see Tallstar stretched out on his side in a nest of dead leaves.

“Firestar’s here,” he meowed, stepping back to let his leader enter the makeshift den. “I’ll wait outside,” he added to Firestar.

“Is that Brambleclaw?” Tallstar’s voice came weakly from beneath the bush. “Don’t go. You should hear what I have to say, too.”

Brambleclaw glanced hesitantly at Firestar, and when his leader nodded he flattened himself against the ground to creep under the low branches beside him.

Tallstar was alone; Barkface hadn’t come back yet with Onewhisker. The WindClan leader’s chest heaved as he fought for breath, and Brambleclaw winced at the effort it cost him to raise his head.

But in the faint moonlight that filtered through the branches, Tallstar’s eyes shone with the light of StarClan.

“Firestar, I must thank you,” he rasped. “You have saved my Clan.”

Firestar gave a murmur of protest.

“And Brambleclaw…” Tallstar went on. “You journeyed a long way to find this place for us, facing dangers no cat has seen before. Even Graystripe, may he walk with StarClan, would agree you will make a worthy deputy for ThunderClan.”

Brambleclaw gasped. He didn’t dare look at his leader, who stiffened beside him. He knew that Firestar had never stopped grieving for Graystripe, and clung to the belief that his friend was still alive. He had refused to name another deputy so far, even though it seemed extremely unlikely that Graystripe would escape from the Twolegs who had taken him away from the forest.

Ambition gripped Brambleclaw like an eagle’s talons.

Hard as it was to admit it, he knew that he wanted to be deputy, and then leader, of his Clan. Was this what Tigerstar had felt? he wondered. His father’s hunger for power had been so strong that he was prepared to lie and murder and betray to achieve it. I could never do that, Brambleclaw thought.

If he became deputy it would be through loyalty to his Clan, hard work, and respect for the warrior code.

But Tigerstar’s dark heritage would always be with him, overshadowing all he tried to do. They look at me and see Tigerstar.

He recovered himself in time to dip his head to Tallstar and murmur, “It wasn’t just me. It was all of us together.”

“You’re tiring yourself, Tallstar.” Firestar’s voice was gentle. “You need to rest.”

“Rest will do me no good now,” the WindClan leader meowed.

Firestar did not try to pretend that there was any hope he would get better. “You will be a noble addition to the ranks of StarClan,” he told him. He crouched down so he could press his muzzle to Tallstar’s.

“Before then… before then I must say…” Tallstar started to choke, and his paws scrabbled in the dried leaves.

“Brambleclaw, find Barkface,” Firestar ordered.

“No.” Tallstar managed to catch his breath again, and signaled with his tail for Brambleclaw to stay. “Nothing… any medicine cat can do for me now.” His eyes half closed and he took several gasping breaths before continuing. “There’s something important I have to say. Where’s Onewhisker?”

Firestar glanced at Brambleclaw, who shook his head.

“Barkface went to get him,” he meowed. “I’ll go and look too.”

“Quickly…” Tallstar rasped as Brambleclaw backed out.

“Tell them… that it is time…”

When Brambleclaw straightened up and looked around, the dawn light was strengthening, but he still couldn’t see any more than dark shapes and the occasional blur of a pale-colored pelt. Most cats were still sleeping in hastily flattened dens among the long grass, roughly divided among the four Clans. He was trying to work out which of the shadowy groups was WindClan when he spotted a solitary cat racing up from the direction of the lake. To his relief he recognized Onewhisker.

“Barkface said Tallstar’s dying.” The WindClan warrior gasped as he halted beside the bush, dropping his mouthful of dripping moss. “I only went to the lake to get him a drink.”

“He wants to see you,” Brambleclaw meowed.

Onewhisker slid under the branches into Tallstar’s den, and Brambleclaw followed him in time to see the warrior place the moss beside Tallstar’s head. The dying leader feebly licked up a few drops, then raised his head again.

“Before I go to StarClan, there is something I must do.”

His voice was stronger now. “Firestar, Onewhisker, listen.

Mudclaw is a brave warrior, but he is not the right cat to lead WindClan. In these last moons we have learned that the future of our Clans lies in friendship. I want no rivalry between WindClan and ThunderClan after I am gone. We must have no enemies. But this will not happen if Mudclaw rules the Clan.”

Brambleclaw saw Firestar exchange a glance with Onewhisker; both cats seemed uncomfortably aware that Tallstar’s ideal of lasting friendship wouldn’t happen, who-ever was in charge of the Clan. It was natural for Clans to be rivals—that was part of the warrior code.

“I can still choose the cat who will lead WindClan after me,” Tallstar rasped. “From this moment Mudclaw is no longer deputy of WindClan.”

Three pairs of eyes stared at him in astonishment.

“I say these words… before StarClan,” Tallstar gasped out. “WindClan must have… a new deputy. Onewhisker, you must lead the Clan when I am gone.”

Brambleclaw and Firestar exchanged a swift, startled glance. These were not the right words to choose a deputy, even though it was clearly what Tallstar intended.

Brambleclaw felt an icy tingle in his fur. Would StarClan accept Onewhisker as the leader of WindClan if he had not been appointed as deputy in the way demanded by the warrior code? He opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again when he caught sight of the expression on his leader’s face. Firestar seemed even more shocked than Brambleclaw, his neck fur bristling and his claws digging into the ground, but he said nothing.

“Tallstar, no.” Onewhisker sounded horrified, but Tallstar took no notice. His glittering, star-filled gaze traveled from his new deputy to Firestar and then to Brambleclaw.

“I am grateful to have brought the Clan this far,” he murmured. “Onewhisker, treat our friends well when you lead our Clan. Remember everything ThunderClan has done for us.”

“Tallstar, I’ll do my best, but…” Onewhisker stretched out a paw to touch his leader’s shoulder, but Tallstar’s head had slipped down into the leaves. His eyes closed, and his breathing became quick and shallow.

Brambleclaw felt a faint breeze touch his fur and heard the murmur of pawsteps. Something brushed his pelt, and he thought he saw starlight reflected for a moment in Firestar’s eyes. It suddenly felt as if the tiny den was packed full, with sleek-furred flanks sweeping against him on every side.

Brambleclaw jumped at a scuffling sound behind him, and in a heartbeat the den was empty once more. He turned to see Barkface squeezing under the branches.

Dropping a packet of leaf-wrapped herbs beside Tallstar, he meowed, “Cinderpelt gave me these.”

He broke off, staring at his leader.

“It is too late for herbs,” Firestar mewed quietly.

Onewhisker crouched down and pushed his nose into Tallstar’s fur. The WindClan leader’s black-and-white flank had stopped rising and falling now, stilled forever with the departure of Tallstar’s spirit.

“He walks with StarClan now,” Barkface murmured.

Brambleclaw felt his throat swell with grief. Tallstar had not been his leader, but he had been a noble cat, and nothing would be the same now that he was dead.

After a few moments Firestar curled his tail to touch Onewhisker on the shoulder. “Onewhisker, you need to tell your Clan. Remember what Tallstar said: he… he appointed you deputy, and he wants you to be leader now.”

Onewhisker raised his head, his eyes filled with a chaos of grief and confusion. “Firestar, I can’t do this,” he pleaded. “I can’t take over as leader!” More hesitantly, he asked, “Do we have to tell them what he said? I… I know that wasn’t the right way to choose a new deputy. Tallstar was dying, he couldn’t think clearly…”

“Tallstar knew exactly what he wanted, whether he used the right words or not,” Firestar told him firmly, though his eyes were sympathetic. “He wanted you to be deputy instead of Mudclaw, and he wanted you to succeed him as Clan leader.

Would you betray his trust, and the honor he has given you?”

Brambleclaw saw Barkface’s eyes stretch wide, and he remembered that the medicine cat had not arrived until after Tallstar had finished speaking.

“He said what?” Barkface demanded. When Firestar explained, the medicine cat looked troubled. “I can understand what he said was a shock,” he mewed to Onewhisker, “but you can’t do anything about it. If that’s what Tallstar wanted, it means that you’re Clan leader in the sight of StarClan. Do you think they would give nine lives to Mudclaw now, knowing that Tallstar changed his mind?”

“Mudclaw!” Onewhisker stared at the other cats in dismay.

“What am I going to say to him?”

Firestar pressed reassuringly against his side. “If you like, I’ll make the announcement to the Clans while you figure out what to say to individual cats.”

Onewhisker’s eyes flooded with relief. “Would you, Firestar? Thanks.”

Firestar nodded, but Brambleclaw felt a flicker of unease.

He knew that the two cats had been friends long before Firestar became Clan leader, but surely this was a time when Onewhisker should be acting on his own, however hard it was. There was going to be enough shock from WindClan without suggesting that Firestar, a cat from a completely different Clan, had been involved.

The ThunderClan leader pushed his way out through the branches. Brambleclaw and the others followed as Firestar padded across and leaped up on the stump at the edge of the deserted clearing.

Onewhisker was about to sit among the roots when Firestar gestured with his tail to a spot beside him. “You should be up here,” he meowed. “What is your Clan going to think if you sit down there like an ordinary warrior?”

Brambleclaw could see exactly what Firestar meant, and he fought down a prickle of impatience. It was time Onewhisker got over his shock and started behaving like a leader. “Go on,” he urged.

Onewhisker gave him a doubtful look, then jumped up to stand beside Firestar.

The ThunderClan leader let out a yowl. “Cats of all Clans!

Gather to hear the news I have to tell you.”

All around the clearing, Brambleclaw watched the cats stir in their makeshift nests, like a ripple in long grass when wind passed over it. From close by he heard some cat mutter crossly, “What does he want now?”

Firestar repeated his yowl until one by one the cats slipped out of their makeshift dens and crept forward until they surrounded the stump.

Squirrelflight padded sleepily over to Brambleclaw, her jaws gaping in a huge yawn. “What’s happening? What does Firestar want?”

“It’s best you hear it from Firestar,” Brambleclaw meowed.

He couldn’t begin to put into words what had happened before Tallstar lost his ninth life.

Too late, he remembered his quarrel with Squirrelflight; she obviously hadn’t forgotten, however, and interpreted his guarded response as reluctance to speak to her at all.

“Fine,” she mewed. She glanced coolly at him, then padded a couple of tail-lengths away before sitting down.

“Cats of all Clans, I have some very sad news,” Firestar began. “Tallstar has gone to hunt with StarClan.”

“Tallstar dead!” exclaimed Tornear. “He became leader before I was born. What will happen to WindClan without him?”

Beside him, his apprentice, Owlpaw, bowed his head, too overcome to speak. Mosspelt, a RiverClan queen, touched the young cat on his shoulder with the tip of her tail. “He was a noble cat,” she murmured. “He will be welcomed by StarClan, and walk with the best of them.”

From somewhere near the back a single voice rose up in a wail of grief. Brambleclaw echoed it in his heart.

“I was there when he died,” Firestar went on, with a glance at Brambleclaw, “and he said—”

He broke off as a mottled brown warrior thrust his way forward and halted at the foot of the stump. “What’s that?” he demanded, his eyes flashing anger. “Tallstar is dead? Why did no cat tell me?”

It was Mudclaw.