Blackstar thrust his face closer. “What can we do?”
“We must prepare to fight. StarClan was right. We are alone, and we must fight for our lives!”
Smokefoot leaned forward. “Who? Who must we fight?”
Flametail shook his head. “I couldn’t see.”
“It must be the other Clans,” Blackstar snarled. “If StarClan says we fight alone, it must be them that we fight!”
Kinkfur trembled beside Ivypaw and swept her kits closer with her tail. The brambles shivered. Ivypaw turned to see Tigerheart pad into camp. Rowanclaw, Shrewfoot, and Crowfrost followed.
Flametail straightened up, calmness flooding his mew. “The greatest battle in the history of the Clans is coming, and we must prepare to meet it.”
Tigerheart’s broad shoulders stiffened. He glanced backward, catching Ivypaw’s eye. We are being prepared already, he seemed to say.
Ivypaw didn’t feel comforted. Flametail’s prophecy of doom had scared her; she wanted her Clanmates around her, and Firestar to decide which battles should be fought and which could be left for another day.
If the greatest battle ever was coming, Ivypaw wanted to be home before it arrived.
Chapter 22
Dovepaw paced outside the thorn barrier with her ears pricked. She could hear the patrol heading back from the ShadowClan border with Brambleclaw in the lead. Brackenfur and Graystripe padded after, their paws heavy on the snow. Ivypaw was with them, tailed by Squirrelflight.
Dovepaw was unnerved by the patrol’s silence. They didn’t scold Ivypaw for her carelessness in getting caught. They didn’t ask her what had happened in ShadowClan’s camp. Her pelt itched with anticipation. Would Ivypaw forgive her for letting ShadowClan take her prisoner?
The patrol appeared at the top of the slope and headed down toward the camp. Dovepaw tried to catch Ivypaw’s eye, but her sister’s gaze followed her paws, dark with worry.
“Are you okay?” Dovepaw fell in beside Ivypaw. “They didn’t hurt you, did they?”
“She’s fine,” Squirrelflight told her. “Let her rest.”
“Won’t Firestar want to speak to her?”
Squirrelflight shook her head. “What’s done is done.” She sighed. “Ivypaw knows she made a stupid mistake. She won’t do it again.”
Dovepaw paused. Didn’t they want to question Ivypaw about what she’d been doing on the border in the middle of the night?
Ivypaw headed straight for her den.
“Please talk to me!” Dovepaw pleaded.
Ivypaw stopped and looked at her with clouded eyes. “I’m fine. Don’t worry. I’m just tired.”
“Really?” Dovepaw leaned closer.
Ivypaw nodded and turned away.
Stones cracked on the pile of rocks beside the cliff. Firestar’s orange pelt glowed in the twilight as he bounded down from Highledge. “Did everything go okay?” he asked Brambleclaw.
“We gave them the herbs; they gave us Ivypaw,” the deputy reported.
“Any idea how they caught her?” Firestar prompted.
“She said she was trying night hunting on the border and strayed over the scent line.”
Thornclaw was frowning outside the warriors’ den. “You shouldn’t have sent such senior warriors to fetch her,” he grumbled. “It shows too much respect.”
Dustpelt paced around him, tail whipping. “If any ThunderClan cat dies because we have no herbs, ShadowClan will have blood on their fur.”
Guilt clawed at Dovepaw as she stared after her sister.
“Come on,” Squirrelflight murmured in her ear. “Leave Ivypaw to rest. It’s time to leave for the Gathering.”
Dovepaw spun around. “I’d completely forgotten!” She glanced up at the fat white moon. If she saw Tigerheart tonight, what would she say to him?
Thornclaw and Dustpelt were already waiting by the tunnel. Firestar’s tail disappeared through the brambles at the medicine den entrance. Dovepaw guessed he was checking on Sandstorm before he left. Sorreltail padded across the clearing with Blossomfall and Rosepetal, fur fluffed against the cold. Berrynose, Foxleap, and Lionblaze emerged from the shelter of the warriors’ den.
Squirrelflight waited beside the nursery until Leafpool slid out of the entrance. “How’s Cherrykit?” the orange warrior asked.
“Her breathing’s a little rough, but she still has her appetite,” Leafpool answered. They headed for the barrier.
Brambleclaw glanced over to the medicine den, breath billowing at his nose, as Firestar and Jayfeather padded out. “Let’s go.”
They headed for the lakeshore. Jayfeather stuck close to Lionblaze’s side as the patrol headed down the bank. The snow had drifted deep in places, but Lionblaze guided his littermate through a gap and dug a channel to where the breeze from the lake had blown the snow thin enough to cross easily.
“Dovepaw?” Lionblaze called to her softly.
She hurried to catch up to him. “What?”
“Do you know what Ivypaw was doing on the border?” Lionblaze hissed. Beside him, Jayfeather’s ears were pricked.
“It didn’t have anything to do with the Dark Forest,” Dovepaw whispered. “She was just…” She groped for a reason. “Practicing her night hunting, like she said.” Jayfeather’s tail twitched, and Dovepaw focused hard on believing that was what Ivypaw had been doing. She didn’t want Jayfeather spying on her thoughts and discovering the truth.
“Look!” Squirrelflight was staring up the hillside. They were crossing WindClan’s shore, and high on the moorland, the silhouettes of WindClan warriors were lined along the crest.
“What are they waiting for?” Thornclaw growled.
Foxleap shook snow from his tail. “Perhaps they don’t want to arrive first.”
The moon glinted on the WindClan warriors, sending long shadows spilling down the smooth, white hillside.
“Come on.” Firestar quickened the pace. “The sooner we get into the shelter of the island, the better.”
Dovepaw waited for Rosepetal and Blossomfall to catch up, then matched their pace. Blossomfall was fretting. “I hope they’ll be okay.”
“Briarlight will be happy being left in charge of the medicine den,” Rosepetal pointed out.
“But Bumblestripe’s been coughing all day,” Blossomfall sighed. “What if he takes a turn for the worse?”
“Jayfeather put Brightheart in charge,” Rosepetal reminded her. “She’ll know what to do.”
Dovepaw reached out with her senses, up the WindClan slopes where the heather creaked under the layers of snow. The warriors waiting at the top made no sound, only watched. Unease began to prick Dovepaw’s belly. She stretched her senses farther, back to ShadowClan territory.
“It could be a trap.” Crowfrost’s mew was sharp with worry.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t go.”
Blackstar cleared his throat. “We must not show fear,” he meowed. “They won’t attack under the full-moon truce.”
“Can you be sure?” Snowbird demanded.
“It’s a Gathering!” Tawnypelt declared. “They wouldn’t dare!”
Who are they frightened of? Had StarClan warned them about the Dark Forest warriors? Dovepaw turned her ears toward RiverClan.
“Are you coming?” Mothwing was calling across the camp.
Willowshine’s reply was firm. “I’m staying here.”
“Will they obey the truce?” Reedwhisker muttered.
Mosspelt’s paws pattered over the snow. “Perhaps we should hide the kits and elders until they’ve left the island.”
Fear was darkening every Clan like clouds across the moon.
Dovepaw could hear RiverClan warriors pacing the clearing when ThunderClan reached the island. She nosed her way past Blossomfall and Rosepetal and crouched on the shore beside Jayfeather and Lionblaze. “They know!” she whispered.