Mud Paws and Pebble Heart were running toward her. Raven Pelt was veering away from them, chasing after the rapidly fleeing cat. It was hard to see through the rain and through the blood running down her face, but Shadowstar recognized her attacker.
Quick Water?
Shadowstar felt a sharp pang of betrayal and disbelief. She and the SkyClan warrior had always gotten along well… . Quick Water had been one of the cats who had come down from the mountains with Shadowstar and Skystar, looking for a better life. They’d known each other all their lives.
Had Shadowstar’s old friend really become her enemy?
Pebble Heart and Mud Paws reached Shadowstar, and the medicine cat immediately began to pat her over with soft paws—“Does this hurt? Does this?”—and to clean the blood from her fur. It was not until he finally nodded in approval that Shadowstar was able to question them.
“Did you see who I was fighting?” she demanded.
Pebble Heart and Mud Paws exchanged frightened looks.
“It was hard to tell, but it looked like—”
“I wasn’t sure, but it looked like—”
“It was Quick Water.” Raven Pelt was trotting back toward them, looking tired. “I’m sorry, Shadowstar, I lost her by the carrionplace, but I’m sure it was her.”
“I’m glad you made sure,” Shadowstar told him. “You’ve done well.” Raven Pelt’s yellow eyes brightened at her praise. He’s brave and loyal, Shadowstar thought, and he doesn’t lose his head in a crisis. Maybe I’ve finally found my deputy.
But there was a more pressing matter now. A SkyClan cat—Quick Water—had just tried to kill her. Thinking back on the dogs that had tracked her and Sun Shadow through the woods, and the amber eyes that had watched them die, Shadowstar wondered if maybe this hadn’t been the first time.
Chapter Five
They needed to talk to Skystar immediately, Shadowstar decided. The scratch across her forehead still stung, and she ached all over from the fight, but this couldn’t wait. She led Raven Pelt, Mud Paws, and Pebble Heart across ShadowClan’s territory toward SkyClan.
“What if Skystar knew Quick Water was going to attack you?” Raven Pelt asked. “What if he told her to? Should we be going onto SkyClan territory with so few cats?”
Shadowstar twitched her tail, thinking. “Skystar may have had his troubles with the other Clans in the past,” she told him, “but I can’t believe he’d want to kill me, or hurt ShadowClan, no matter how angry he was with me.” Raven Pelt began to speak, but Shadowstar went on. “I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt for now. Skystar wants me as his ally; killing me makes no sense. There has to be another explanation for what Quick Water was doing.” She wasn’t sure if she was trying to convince Raven Pelt or herself. I don’t want to believe it about Skystar. I won’t believe it.
She had known Skystar since they were kits together, back in the mountains so long ago. He’d made trouble for the other Clans when he’d felt threatened, but he had grown out of those ways. After the Clans had been formed, he—as much as any leader—had been devoted to the code they’d agreed to follow, in order to avoid any more terrible battles, like the one that had claimed the lives of so many cats of all five Clans. Shadowstar was sure she knew him well enough to trust he was not planning to murder other cats… .
I’ve known Quick Water for a long time, too.
Shadowstar pushed the thought away. “We’ll talk to Skystar,” she said firmly. “He deserves a chance to make this right.”
The moist soil of ShadowClan’s territory felt comfortingly soft under her tired paws, but it became firmer and grassier as they approached the Thunderpath dividing their territory from ThunderClan’s.
Standing at the edge of the Thunderpath, they watched as one Twoleg monster, then another, sped by. The sound of their round black paws made the fur on Shadowstar’s back prickle. For a moment she remembered her belly pressed to that other Thunderpath, the monster rushing toward her, and her mouth went dry. If she had stumbled a few tail-lengths farther, she would have been crushed beneath those round paws.
No. That’s not how I’m going to die. Suddenly she was sure of it. The way that StarClan had saved her when she was pushed in front of that monster convinced her: There was too much happening between the Clans right now. She would not die, not before ShadowClan was safe.
Recklessly, she charged onto the Thunderpath. Her heart was thudding, but she kept running, even as a small, two-footed monster with a Twoleg on its back swerved around her, screeching.
It took the others a few heartbeats to catch up with her. “Are you mouse-brained?” Mud Paws gasped, too frightened to show his leader the usual respect.
Shadowstar brushed her tail over his back in a silent apology but said nothing. How could she explain?
On this side of the Thunderpath—ThunderClan territory—the trees were mostly oaks and birches, their branches spreading wider and letting through more sunlight than the pines and occasional oaks of ShadowClan’s territory. Shadowstar felt exposed, and she could tell that her Clanmates felt the same. They walked closer together, their pelts brushing.
Shadowstar was glad they didn’t run into a ThunderClan patrol. She didn’t want to drag any other Clan into this until she had spoken to Skystar. At the edge of SkyClan territory, she hesitated. “Let’s wait for a patrol,” she said. “If we’re going to accuse one of Skystar’s warriors of trying to kill me, let’s at least go in with his permission.”
Mud Paws and Raven Pelt glanced at each other and nodded. Pebble Heart sat down to wait patiently, his gray tabby tail curled around his paws.
It wasn’t long before Blossom and Red Claw appeared, Red Claw with a mouse dangling from his mouth.
“Hello,” Blossom mewed, looking startled. She dipped her head respectfully to Shadowstar. “Are you—”
“We’d like to see Skystar, please,” Shadowstar told her. “Would you escort us to your camp?”
“Have you had any luck finding us another territory?” Blossom asked. Her tortoiseshell tail curved excitedly over her back.
“We want to see Skystar,” Shadowstar repeated. She made sure to sound polite, but there must have been a coldness in her tone, because Blossom’s eyes went wide.
“Of course,” she meowed. “Follow us.” Beside her, Red Claw nodded and gestured with his tail to Shadowstar’s Clanmates.
When they reached SkyClan’s camp, it seemed both busy and peaceful. Skystar and his mate, Star Flower, were sharing tongues near the entrance to their den. Shadowstar noticed that Star Flower’s sides were slightly rounded with a new litter of kits. No wonder he’s so anxious to make sure their home is safe, she thought. She saw Pebble Heart nod to his sister, SkyClan’s deputy, Sparrow Fur, who was sharpening her claws on a birch, and to Acorn Fur, the Clan’s medicine cat. Dew Petal and Flower Foot, two of Skystar’s grown kits, were changing the bedding in the warriors’ den. And Quick Water, looking as calm and relaxed as if she’d spent all day lazing in the sunshine, was sharing a vole with Honey Pelt, another of SkyClan’s warriors. She raised her head and gave Shadowstar a long, cool glance. Shadowstar glared back, rage rising in her chest.
“Do you have any news?” Skystar demanded, getting to his paws. “What did you think of the territory near Highstones?”
Shadowstar pulled her attention away from Quick Water with difficulty. “It might work,” she mewed, but she knew she sounded doubtful. “We didn’t get much of a chance to look properly.”