Jayfeather touched his muzzle to hers. “Did you forget about our meeting?”
“Oh!” Her eyes widened with alarm. “Oh, I’m so sorry, all of you. Things have been so busy here . . . it just completely slipped my mind.”
A prophecy slipped your mind? Alderheart thought indignantly. Is every cat too distracted to take this message seriously?
But Jayfeather didn’t seem bothered. “Well, it’s not as though you haven’t had enough to do here,” he said cheerfully. “How are Tinycloud’s kits?”
“They were born just before the patrol left for the gorge,” Leafpool purred. “Two she-kits and a tom.”
Alderheart kneaded the ground impatiently. He was pleased to hear about Tinycloud’s kits, but there were more important things to discuss. “What about the prophecy? Have you had any thoughts about what it might mean?”
“I haven’t. I’ve tried to think it through, but . . . well, we’ve been so busy.” Leafpool echoed Leafstar’s answer apologetically.
Kestrelflight padded forward. “Harestar has stepped up patrols.”
“So has Rowanstar,” Puddleshine told her.
Leafstar pricked her ears. “Does he have enough warriors?”
“He’s only patrolling your border,” Jayfeather told her bluntly. “He thinks the dark sky means SkyClan, of course. ShadowClan never did have much imagination.”
Puddleshine glanced sharply at the blind medicine cat. “Are you surprised Rowanstar’s being cautious?” he snapped. “After everything we’ve been through?”
Leafstar’s ears twitched. “We can’t change what the other Clans do. For now, we must take care of ourselves, and that means finishing our camp and finding our lost Clanmates so that we can be a real Clan again.”
Alderheart felt a pang of sympathy for the Clan leader. Until SkyClan had found their paws in their new home, they could do little except keep going.
Movement caught his eye. A brown-and-ginger tom with a short tail, still raw at the tip, shot out from the ferns. Finpaw. He was pleased to see that the tom was recovering from his accident.
Twigpaw bounced after the apprentice, her whiskers twitching happily as she knocked a pinecone ahead of her. “I found it!”
“Only because I told you where it was.”
Twigpaw! Happiness rippled through Alderheart’s pelt. It was a relief to see that she seemed at home here.
Her eyes shone as she spotted him. “Alderheart!” Racing across the camp, she cleared the stream with one jump and skidded to a halt beside him. “How are you?”
“I’m fine.” Alderheart purred. “Are you settling in okay?”
“Yeah.” She glanced back at Finpaw. “It’s great.”
“You must be getting your warrior name soon.”
Twigpaw’s pelt ruffled self-consciously. “I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to wait. But the other apprentices are great.”
Alderheart frowned. How strange that Leafstar was keeping her an apprentice. “I imagine you’re bored with training,” he meowed. “I’m surprised you’re not with Hawkwing’s patrol. Didn’t you want to go?”
Leafstar answered for her. “Twigpaw wanted to help her Clan build their camp.” The SkyClan leader flashed Alderheart a stern look.
He shifted his paws. Clearly the SkyClan leader didn’t want him stirring up discontent.
Finpaw called across the camp. “Hurry up, Twigpaw! It’s your turn to hide the pinecone.”
Twigpaw looked anxiously from Finpaw to Alderheart. “I’ll see you soon, okay?” she mewed to Alderheart.
He blinked at her. “Sure.” Did she want to end their meeting so quickly? Wasn’t she as eager to talk as he was? Disappointment pricked his belly. She must be settling into SkyClan better than he’d imagined.
She turned and hurried away, leaping the stream and grabbing the pinecone between her jaws before disappearing among the ferns.
Alderheart watched her go. He was glad to see her happy, but he had secretly hoped she was missing ThunderClan more.
Jayfeather whisked his tail. “Thank you for your time, Leafstar.” He nodded to his mother. “Do you still want to come with us to RiverClan? Remember, we’re going to tell Mistystar about the prophecy.”
Leafpool narrowed her eyes. “Do you think you’ll be allowed to cross the border?”
“We have to try,” Jayfeather answered. “Remember what she said at the Gathering: ‘if there is trouble, you may send a patrol to ask for help.’ Well, we’re asking for help.”
Leafpool glanced at a half-finished nest outside the apprentices’ den, and then at her medicine den, where herbs were drying outside. “I appreciate your coming, but if you four can handle it, then I’d better stay here. There’s so much to do, and with four cats gone, there aren’t enough paws to do everything.”
“Of course.” Jayfeather nodded curtly. He headed for the entrance, letting Puddleshine guide him out of the unfamiliar camp.
Alderheart hurried after them, Kestrelflight at his heels. “Do you think RiverClan will stop us from seeing Mistystar?”
“If I could predict the future, we wouldn’t need StarClan to guide us.” Jayfeather ducked through the fern tunnel that led into the forest. The browning fronds slicked his fur.
The medicine cats headed back to the shore, skirting the water where it crossed ShadowClan’s shore before heading into the marshy reed beds of RiverClan territory.
Jayfeather took the lead. Alderheart guessed that his whiskers guided him along the meandering route between the rushes, for his paws seemed to find the driest paths and the wind was always behind them. Alderheart tasted the air. The musky fish-scent of RiverClan was strong. The camp must be close. He was eager to meet Willowshine and Mothwing. Their absence from the half-moon meeting had felt strange. The bond between medicine cats felt almost stronger than the bond between Clanmates. They shared knowledge and visions warriors would never experience. Their connection with StarClan tied them to one another almost like kin.
He lifted his muzzle, peering through a clump of bulrushes. Their heads bobbed around him like birds. A heron stalked through shallow water a few tail-lengths away. Its feathers rustled as it lifted suddenly and wheeled into the air.
Jayfeather halted. “Wait.” With a flick of his tail, he signaled them to stop. Ahead, the reeds swished as a cat pushed through. Duskfur hopped onto the path ahead of them. Sneezecloud and Shimmerpelt followed. The RiverClan cats glared at them with open hostility.
“What are you doing here?” Duskfur’s greeting was a snarl.
Alderheart’s pelt prickled uneasily. Why was she being so hostile?
Jayfeather ignored the she-cat’s aggression. “We’ve come to see Mistystar.” He faced them unblinking. “We have news from StarClan.”
“What news?” Duskfur tipped her head, a sneer on her face.
Jayfeather’s tail twitched. “If StarClan wanted to share with warriors, they would.”
Shimmerpelt thrust her muzzle forward. “The border is closed!”
“Is it closed to StarClan too?” Jayfeather shot back.
Sneezecloud looked past the medicine cats, scanning the path behind them. “I don’t see any StarClan cats with you.”
Puddleshine stepped forward and stood beside Jayfeather. “They sent us.”
“We have to speak with Mistystar,” Alderheart chimed.
“Or Willowshine,” Kestrelflight added.
“Mothwing will want to speak with us,” Jayfeather meowed evenly.
Duskfur narrowed her eyes. “My orders are to stop any cat from crossing into our territory. RiverClan is rebuilding. We don’t need any distractions.”