The Last Hope

Chapter 11

The sun slid behind the trees, washing the hollow with shadow. Sitting outside the medicine den, Jayfeather felt the light disappear and shivered as his Clanmates shared tongues around him.

“They must have been rogues.” Brambleclaw’s tail flicked against the ground beneath Highledge.

“But Spiderleg said there were Clan scents among them,” Firestar pointed out.

Sandstorm shifted beside her mate. “Have the other Clans formed an alliance against us?”

“Why would they?” Jayfeather heard tension in the ThunderClan leader’s growl.

Graystripe must have heard it too. “It’s something we should be prepared for,” he cautioned gently.

Despair pressed at the edges of Firestar’s thoughts. Jayfeather felt him push it away. “Then we will be prepared.” Firestar shifted his paws. “Brambleclaw, organize more patrols in the daytime. And make sure the borders are checked at moonhigh.”

Surprise sparked from Brambleclaw’s pelt. “You want the whole Clan to get involved in night patrols? Won’t that alarm them?”

“If the Clan faces danger, it should know.” Firestar’s tone was grim.

Jayfeather let his attention drift away and sweep the rest of the Clan. He felt a stab of pain prick from his brother’s pelt. Lionblaze was eating a mouse, flinching with every mouthful as the wounds on his cheek stung. You chose to get hurt! But Jayfeather’s irritation with Lionblaze’s decision faded in a flash. He understood why his brother had tried to veer from the path he’d been given.

Claws scraped the ground. Briarlight was hauling herself toward him, her powerful forepaws digging hard into the earth. “I’m going to my nest,” she told Jayfeather as she passed.

She’s very tired. With a prickle of concern, he sensed weariness in her broken body. “I’ll come, too.”

Irritation flashed from her pelt. “I can manage!”

“I know,” Jayfeather replied. “But I’m sleepy.”

He nosed into the medicine den after her. “Why are you so tired?” He tried to hide concern from his mew.

“Millie thought of a new exercise for me.” Briarlight yawned. “She and Whitewing hoisted me up to a low branch sticking out of the beech and I hung on with my forepaws for as long as I could.”

“That sounds tough.” Jayfeather was impressed.

“It was good to feel the breeze on my belly,” Briarlight mewed.

“If you keep trying, you may be able to haul yourself right up onto the branch.”

“I’m going to practice until I can.” Briarlight tipped herself over the edge of her nest and slithered inside.

Jayfeather crossed the den, stopping when he felt the twigs of her nest poke his forelegs. “Comfortable?” He leaned down and tugged moss up around her, secretly feeling for any fever with his muzzle. She felt cool, her muscles limp with fatigue. Satisfied, he leaned back. “Sleep well, Briarlight.”

“Are you okay?” Briarlight’s question surprised him. “It seems like there’s something on your mind.”

“It’s nothing,” he lied. “I’m just tired.” He turned away and padded to his nest. He felt Briarlight watching him for a moment, then heard her rustle deeper into her bed. Climbing into his own pile of soft moss, Jayfeather circled down and tucked his tail over his nose.

The Dark Forest flashed in his mind. Eyes blinked from the shadows. He imagined the army massing beyond his vision.

Borage leaves cure fever. Catmint cures greencough. He began listing remedies in his head to block out the nightmarish thoughts. Dock soothes scratches. Feverfew cools fever.

“Can’t StarClan guide you?”

Mapleshade’s sneer flooded his thoughts. Comfrey mends broken bones.

“We shall taste victory soon!”

He could still feel where Hawkfrost had shoved him into the mud. Mouse bile treats ticks.

“All the power of the stars in your paws?”

Jayfeather flattened his ears as though he could block out the memory of Tigerstar’s jibe.

Marigold stops infection. Coltsfoot eases breathing. Poppy seed soothes pain and shock and brings sleep. Jayfeather fixed his thoughts on the neatly stacked herbs lining the wall of his store, repeating their names over and over until the words grew hazy and jumbled and he slipped into sleep.

When he blinked open his eyes, he could see dense green forest crowded around him, thick with familiar scents. I’m dreaming. Birchfall and Spiderleg’s musky odor still clung to the bushes they must have passed on patrol. This was ThunderClan territory. Jayfeather looked up and saw stars twinkling beyond the canopy of leaves. An owl screeched nearby and branches shivered as it swooped through the forest.

The ferns behind Jayfeather rustled. He turned, tasting the air. “Dovewing? Is that you?”

The young gray she-cat slid out from between the fronds.

“Dovewing?” A second mew echoed Jayfeather’s. Lionblaze was padding along the trail toward him.

The three cats stared at one another uncertainly.

“How did I get here?” Dovewing glanced at the trees. “I was in my nest.”

“Me too.” Lionblaze halted beside Jayfeather.

“We’re dreaming,” Jayfeather explained.

Lionblaze frowned. “So you’re in my dream?”

“We’re sharing one.”

“Why?” Dovewing peered through the shadows.

Jayfeather nodded toward the short steep slope beside them. A hole yawned in the earth, and the scent of stone and water, of endless dark tunnels, drifted out. “I think we’re supposed to go down there.”

“Are you sure?” Lionblaze sounded doubtful.

Dovewing padded forward and sniffed the tunnel entrance. “Why else would our dream bring us to this part of the forest?” She padded inside and was swallowed up by the shadows.

“Wait.” Lionblaze was staring hard at Jayfeather. “You looked at the tunnel like you could actually see it.”

“I can,” Jayfeather answered evenly.

“How?” Lionblaze’s eyes widened.

“I always see in dreams.”

“So you know what I look like?” The idea seemed to shock the golden warrior.

Jayfeather narrowed his eyes. “You looked better when you weren’t covered in scratches.”

Lionblaze flicked his tail. “I’ll heal.” He ducked into the hole after Dovewing.

Jayfeather darted after them, pushing past his Clanmates in the crowded space. “I’ll lead,” he told them. “I’m used to the dark.” The floor of the tunnel was damp and muddy beneath his paws. It turned to freezing stone as he headed deeper into blackness. His pads began to ache with cold. He let his whiskers guide him along the twists of the jagged walls. “Are you two okay?” he called over his shoulder.

“Fine.” Lionblaze’s mew echoed from the stone. “Dovewing?”

“I’m right on your heels,” she answered.

Lionblaze’s muzzle touched Jayfeather’s tail-tip. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“No.” But Jayfeather felt sure-pawed as he led them farther into the tunnels. Curiosity was tempting him onward. Behind him, he heard Lionblaze tasting the air, his tongue flicking against his lips. The warrior’s mind was crowding with images of claws and blood.

“There are no WindClan cats here this time,” Jayfeather promised.

“Listen!” Dovewing halted. Fear flashed from her pelt.

Jayfeather pricked his ears. The sound of water rippled ahead of them, echoing around stone walls. Jayfeather felt his brother’s pelt slide past him as Lionblaze rushed ahead.

“I know where we are!” Lionblaze called.

Jayfeather caught up to him. Light silhouetted the warrior’s broad shoulders as the narrow tunnel beyond him opened into a wide cavern. Moonlight was seeping through a hole overhead, lighting the tall stone walls and glinting on the fast-flowing stream that cut the wide, sandy floor in two.

Dovewing padded out of the tunnel, blinking. She stopped at the edge of the stream and touched it with one paw. The black water flowed around her claws.

“You came.”

She leaped back as a voice rasped from high above them. Jayfeather jerked his head up to the ledge that jutted from the wall of the cavern. The moon illuminated a grotesque tom crouching on the stone, hairless and white-eyed, his pale skin wrinkled, his blind eyes bulging.

“What is it?” Dovewing squeaked.

Jayfeather flicked his tail. “It’s Rock.” He gazed up at the Ancient cat. After such a long silence, why had he summoned them now? Anger flared in his belly. The last time Rock had appeared, it had been to tell him to let Flametail drown. Jayfeather glared up at Rock, ears flat.

“You made me leave Flametail in the lake! Did you want the other Clans to think I was a murderer?”

Rock met his gaze boldly, almost as though he could see Jayfeather’s bristling pelt. “What does it matter?” he hissed. “I couldn’t let you die trying to change another cat’s destiny!” The ugly cat curled his lip, his sightless gaze taking in all three of them. “Why do you keep straying from the paths we laid down for you?” Rage cracked his mew.

Jayfeather’s paws trembled. What did Rock mean?

“Who is this?” Lionblaze whispered.

Dovewing was staring up at Rock, frozen in horror. “Is he from StarClan?”

Rock growled. “Not StarClan! This was my home before StarClan was ever dreamed of.”

Jayfeather could feel confusion sparking from his brother. “How do you know this cat?” Lionblaze murmured as he peered up at Rock.

Rock leaned over the lip of the ledge, his head weaving from side to side like a snake about to strike. “Jayfeather and I have known each other for moons,” he snarled.

“Can he see us?” Dovewing’s gaze fixed on Rock’s bloated, white eyes.

Rock straightened up, his tail flicking ominously. “I never realized your companions were so mouse-brained. I summon them in a dream and they stand around asking questions like kits on their first day out of the nursery.”

Jayfeather stepped forward. “You summoned us?”

Rock blinked at him. “Did you think you were the only cat with power over other cats’ dreams?” Sneering, he showed his teeth. “You idiots!” Suddenly stretching onto his paw tips, Rock arched his back, spitting.

Lionblaze drew himself up in response, his tail bushing up, claws scraping against the rock.

“Just listen to him,” Jayfeather warned in a whisper.

“This is all your fault!” Rock yowled. “You are the Three. If you had never been born, the Dark Forest would not have risen!”

Jayfeather stiffened in shock. “We never asked to be born!”

“But you were!” Rock spat. “You fulfilled a prophecy written at the beginning of time and gave power to enemies who should long since have faded from the memories of all cats!” He paced the tiny ledge, twisting like a cornered rat, back and forth, his skin rippling with anger. “Now, because of your existence, the Clans face their darkest moment.” He froze suddenly, leaning forward from the ledge. “You Clan cats hold memories too long! You remember dead warriors and dwell on old enemies, passing on stories of battles that should be left behind, not picked over like rotting carcasses!”

Jayfeather swallowed, bristling with indignation that Rock should scorn the Clan’s heritage.

“The Clans have brought this battle upon themselves,” Rock snarled. “You bear grudges too long and refuse to let go of cats so cruel and unnatural they deserve to be forgotten! You keep them alive in your memories and let them find kindred spirits at the edges of StarClan where no star dares shine.” He shook his head, his spine softening. “Why couldn’t you just let them fade into the past?”

“Like you?” Dovewing stepped forward, hackles up. “Do you wish you’d been left to fade?”

Jayfeather tried to hook her back with a paw, but Dovewing pushed past him, her claws curling over the edge of the stream as she gazed unblinking up at Rock.

Rock sat down. “Even me,” he croaked quietly.

Jayfeather felt a rush of indignation. How could Rock blame them? “We thought we were doing the right thing by honoring our ancestors.”

“It was forged into the destiny of the Clans.” Rock’s shoulders drooped. “That you should remember those lost to you.”

Lionblaze lifted his chin. “It has made us strong.”

“And now it has become your greatest threat.” Rock shook his head. “We always knew this moment would come. Without darkness there is no light, and now the darkness between the stars is rising up to banish the light forever.” He thrust his muzzle forward, eyes widening once more. “You were our only hope, the Three joined with the fourth!”

Jayfeather swished his tail. “We still are!”

“Really?” Rock looked straight down at him, white eyes shining in the gloom. “Then why has each of you given up before the battle has begun?”

Dovewing flinched away from the stream and slunk back to join the others. Lionblaze dropped his gaze. Before he had time to guess what his Clanmates were thinking, guilt jabbed at Jayfeather’s belly. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting told me that we weren’t enough!” He flung the words at Rock. He hadn’t lost faith without reason! “They told us we couldn’t do it alone; that we needed a fourth cat.”

“And have you found this fourth cat?” Rock hissed.

Jayfeather shrunk back. “We didn’t know where to look.”

Rock cut him off. “You’ve gossiped and guessed. There’s no time for that! Find this cat! Choose your destiny! That is the Clan’s last hope!”

The moonlight suddenly flickered as though clouds were passing over the hole in the roof, and Jayfeather noticed eyes blinking from the darkness below Rock’s ledge. Cats were crouched there, watching. Jayfeather crept closer to the stream and tasted the air. These weren’t StarClan cats. The scent of endless sky and wind-scorched stone clung to their fur, as though they came from more ancient times. Were these Rock’s Clanmates? Jayfeather stiffened as he tasted one scent among the others that made his heart quicken. Half Moon!

Now he could see her pale white pelt among the others. And then he noticed another shape, much larger than the others. A badger ambled forward out of the shadow.

Dovewing pressed against Jayfeather, her eyes sparking with surprise. “Is that Midnight?” she whispered. “From the nursery stories?”

Jayfeather nodded.

Lionblaze nudged his shoulder. “Who are the others?”

Jayfeather gazed at Half Moon. “They are Ancient cats.” Looking closer, he recognized Broken Shadow and Owl Feather among less familiar pelts. “Some are from the Tribe from long ago.”

“We have waited long.” Midnight’s rumbling growl sounded across the stream. The old badger’s round, black eyes fixed on Dovewing. “Learn who to trust. It is heart that knows truth.” She turned her wide, striped head toward Lionblaze. “Don’t close eyes and wait for path to choose you. Choose path and follow it.”

Jayfeather leaned forward, waiting to hear the words Midnight would share with him.

“You!” He flinched as her gaze pierced him. “When all cats have closed eyes, we gave the gift of sight to the cat who is blind. You see more than most, but look inside, too. See your own strength.”

Was that it? See your own strength. Frustration shot through Jayfeather. “Stop talking in riddles. Tell us how to save the Clans! At least, tell us who the fourth cat is!”

Rock growled from the ledge. “We have seen your weakness. Do you want us to make you weaker?” With a shove of his paw, he sent grit and stone showering down. Two pale shards—like broken bones—thudded onto the earth below. “You haven’t tried hard enough!” he snapped.

Jayfeather hardly heard him. His attention was fixed on the pieces of wood that had fallen from the ledge. He darted forward and leaped over the stream, weaving between the Ancient cats until he was standing beside the scattering of debris.

My stick!

His heart quickened as he saw the twin halves of the ancient branch. In the watery moonlight, he could still see the scratches that had recorded the lives and deaths of so many cats lost in the tunnels countless moons ago.

“All those brave warriors!” Rock hissed down to him. “They took their chance in the darkness and found their way back to the light.”

Jayfeather gazed at the half scratches etched in the wood. “Some didn’t,” he murmured. He felt Broken Shadow flinch beside him. Fallen Leaves’s death was marked there.

More grit showered down as Rock peered over the ledge. “But they tried!”

Broken Shadow moved closer. “So many cats have waited for you,” she whispered.

“Since before the dawn of the Clans!” Rock added.

Jayfeather looked up and saw Half Moon staring at him. “What gives you the right to abandon us?” she pleaded, and he saw many lifetimes of sorrow in her eyes. Jayfeather felt hackles rising around him. He backed away as growls rumbled in the throats of the Ancients. A screech rang around the cave.

“How dare you abandon us?”

Jayfeather sprang back across the stream and crouched beside Lionblaze. The Ancients were advancing on them, pelts bristling, eyes flaming.

“Would you let us all die again?” Rock screeched from the ledge.

Water washed Jayfeather’s paws. He jerked back but only splashed deeper into wetness. Was the stream flooding? Panic rose as he looked down. The river had broken its banks and was washing the cave floor, but it wasn’t black anymore. It was red.

Blood! It streamed around Jayfeather’s paws, drenching his fur. He swallowed back a yowl of terror. This is all my fault! Jayfeather blinked open his eyes and found himself blind and awake. His pelt was spiked with fear; his heart pounded so hard it seemed to shake his whole body.

Find the fourth cat! Rock’s voice wailed in his ear. Find the fourth cat!