Pain shot through Mothwing. She didn’t want to lose Sasha. But … she belonged in RiverClan.
Hawkfrost drew back. “I’m a RiverClan cat now,” he meowed. “One day I’ll be leader.”
Sasha’s bright eyes dimmed. “No,” she insisted. “You won’t.” Brushing past him, she padded toward the watching cats. Hawkfrost and Mothwing followed, Mothwing’s belly churning uneasily.
There was hostility in the eyes of the ShadowClan and ThunderClan cats, and several of them hissed softly as Sasha got closer. But Leopardstar dipped her head in greeting. “I didn’t think we’d see you again,” she meowed.
“Nor I you,” Sasha replied calmly. “I have come to ask Hawkfrost and Mothwing to leave RiverClan and come with me.” Leopardstar bristled, but Sasha went on. “I’ve seen what the Twolegs are doing to your homes. It is no longer safe for them to stay with you.”
Mothwing’s heart beat faster. Leopardstar wouldn’t just let them go, would she? But it was Leafpaw, her fellow medicine-cat apprentice, who pushed out of the crowd toward Mothwing, her gaze outraged. “You wouldn’t really go, would you?” she asked.
Mothwing blinked. Sasha had turned to face her, and she could see pain in her mother’s eyes. “I—I don’t know,” Mothwing mewed.
“Your Clan needs you,” Leafpaw hissed. She turned to Hawkfrost. “You wouldn’t abandon your Clanmates, would you?”
Hawkfrost’s eyes narrowed; he didn’t like being questioned by a ThunderClan cat. Before he could answer, Firestar spoke up, cutting off Leafpaw’s anger. “The choice is theirs. But I agree they should remain with their Clan.”
Sasha’s ears flattened, and Mothwing knew what she was going to say. “You want them to stay?” she snarled. “In spite of the fact that Tigerstar was their father?”
There was a moment of silence from the gathered cats. The RiverClan cats were staring at Mothwing and Hawkfrost, their eyes wide. All Mothwing could hear was the steady beat of the rain. She braced herself. Would the other cats rip them to pieces? Or just chase them out of the Clans?
Firestar answered, his voice calm. “I want them to stay because Tigerstar was their father,” he meowed, and Mothwing’s pelt prickled in surprise. Beside her, Hawkwing flexed his long claws, distrustful. “Tigerstar was a great warrior,” the ThunderClan leader went on, “and these cats have proved they have inherited his courage.”
He was looking at Brambleclaw, Mothwing realized, and remembered that the ThunderClan warrior, the cat every cat thought would be Firestar’s next deputy, was Tigerstar’s son too. And Tawnypelt, Tigerstar’s daughter, was a respected ShadowClan warrior. Of course, they were born in the Clans, she thought. Their mother was a ThunderClan cat. Things are different for them.
“Their Clan needs them more than ever,” Firestar continued. “Tigerstar’s kits have earned their place in the Clans many times over.”
Brambleclaw’s eyes were wide. Mothwing knew Firestar wasn’t talking about her and Hawkfrost, not really, but she warmed a little with hope—maybe the fact of their parentage wouldn’t turn the Clans against them after all. She looked up at the faces of her Clanmates, hoping for their approval.
Leopardstar held her gaze. “RiverClan needs all our warriors,” she meowed. “And we certainly need our medicine cat.”
“But they’re Tigerstar’s kits!” Dawnflower hissed. Her pale gray tail was bushed in horror. Mothwing lifted her chin and stared the she-cat down. I gave you catmint for your cough, she thought. When Minnowkit had an infected cut on her paw, I healed it.
“Hawkfrost is one of our best warriors,” Stormfur countered, the fur along his back bristling. He looked to the rest of RiverClan. “Have any of you ever doubted his loyalty?”
“Never,” Mistyfoot replied firmly, and other warriors nodded their agreement.
“Will you stay?” Leopardstar asked, looking at Mothwing and Hawkfrost.
“Of course,” Hawkfrost told her. He didn’t even look at Sasha.
Mothwing did. Tail drooping, rain plastering her fur to her sides, Sasha looked sad and utterly alone. “I have to stay with my Clan, too,” Mothwing explained. “I’m their medicine cat now. They need me.” She gazed at her mother pleadingly. Please understand. Forgive me.
Sasha nodded once, then lifted her tail high. “Very well,” she answered. “Firestar is right. I see your father in both of you.” Dawnflower growled, and Sasha glared at her sharply. “Tigerstar never knew about these kits,” she went on, “but he would have been proud of them.” She looked around at the rest of RiverClan. “You’re lucky to have them.” She turned and padded over to Mothwing and Hawkfrost.
Mothwing tensed. Was Sasha going to walk away without a word? Or would she give them some last bit of motherly wisdom? Sasha’s blue eyes met hers steadily, but she only brushed her pelt against them, first Mothwing, then Hawkfrost.
“I wish you well on your journey,” she told them, then padded away into the forest.
Mothwing stared after her, her mouth dry and her heart heavy. I’ll never see her again, she thought. We don’t even know where we’re going.
“Let’s go,” Firestar mewed quietly, and the Clans began to pad forward once more. Mothwing looked up at Hawkfrost, but he was staring straight ahead, his eyes narrowed.
“We made the right choice, didn’t we?” she asked.
He nodded. “RiverClan is our home.”
Hawkfrost was right. But Mothwing shivered, looking at the land stretching out in front of them. They were part of RiverClan, and she had to trust that they were going where they belonged.
Chapter 5
Mothwing curled up more tightly in her mossy nest, and pushed her nose between her paws, letting the sound of the stream nearby soothe her aching heart. Heavystep, who had become an elder at the end of their journey to the Clans’ new territory, had died yesterday. I wish I could have saved him.
Mothwing had known how to treat him. Greencough was a disease every medicine cat dreaded, because it could spread through a Clan as fast as a river overflowing its banks and was often fatal. If she had given Heavystep catmint in time, he would have recovered. She’d searched the territory around the lake. She’d gotten Leopardstar to send out patrols. But none of them had been able to find catmint. And Heavystep had suffered the consequences.
At least she had been able to stop the disease from spreading throughout RiverClan. At the first sign that Heavystep’s mild whitecough was developing into greencough, she had isolated him in the elders’ den. Not one other cat was showing symptoms.
But that didn’t make losing a cat she could have saved any easier.
Willowpaw, Mothwing’s new apprentice, hesitated at the entrance to the medicine den. “Should I …” She trailed off.
Mothwing sat up and twitched her ears at the small gray cat, trying to look reassuring. Willowpaw was just starting to learn the ways of a medicine cat. Mothwing had to guide her, no matter how she was feeling. “I’d like you to try to find some cobwebs for us,” she told the younger cat, as cheerfully as she could. “If we have them here in the den, we’ll be ready if any cat is injured. You don’t even have to leave camp—there are probably some webs between the reeds behind the warriors’ den.”
“Okay,” Willowpaw replied.
“After that, I’ll teach you some more herbs,” Mothwing told her, and the apprentice nodded eagerly.
“Yes, please,” she meowed. She started out of the den, then turned back. “It wasn’t your fault,” she added quietly. “I saw how hard you worked to save Heavystep.”
Startled, Mothwing hesitated, then dipped her head to Willowpaw. “Thank you,” she told her. I feel like it was my fault, though, she added silently as Willowpaw slipped out of the medicine den.