Skystar’s blue eyes widened in outrage. “You didn’t look?” he yowled. “If you didn’t bother, then why are you here?”
The fur rose on Shadowstar’s shoulders. “I’m here because one of your warriors tried to kill me,” she spat. “I’m more worried about that then whether you might need new territory.”
Around the clearing, every cat’s head shot up. Flower Foot dropped the moss she was carrying.
“Are you a mouse-brain?” Skystar asked. “What are you saying?”
“Something true,” Shadowstar told him dryly.
“None of my warriors would do anything like that,” Skystar protested, his tail slashing back and forth angrily. “Who are you accusing?”
Shadowstar’s eyes locked with Quick Water’s amber ones. “Her.”
Every SkyClan cat—except Quick Water herself—leaped to their paws, hissing angrily.
“Liar!” Sparrow Fur yowled.
“ShadowClan is just trying to make trouble for us,” Star Flower growled, showing her teeth. “We should chase them off our territory.”
Shadowstar purposefully kept herself from flinching as she wondered if her final death would be at the paws of an angry SkyClan.She continued staring at Quick Water until the gray-and-white cat dropped her gaze.
“Quiet!” Skystar mewed. He stalked closer to Shadowstar, his fur bristling. “If you’re coming onto my territory and accusing one of my Clanmates this way, you’d better have some proof.”
“I have the proof of my own eyes,” Shadowstar told him. “While we were scouting for new territory for your Clan, Quick Water pushed me into the path of a Twoleg monster. After I managed to escape, she attacked me by the side of the Thunderpath. When my Clanmates caught up to us, she ran away.”
Raven Pelt stepped up, shoulder to shoulder with her. “I saw Quick Water fighting with Shadowstar and then running away. I chased her. I’m sure it was her.”
“I only saw from a distance,” Pebble Heart added. “But it looked like Quick Water to me.” Beside him, Mud Paws nodded.
The SkyClan cats exchanged uncertain glances. Slowly, they turned to look at Quick Water, who was gazing down at her paws.
“And I don’t think this was the first time,” Shadowstar went on, her heart feeling heavy in her chest. “The dogs that killed Sun Shadow … I think maybe Quick Water led them there. I saw eyes like hers watching from the woods.” Quick Water raised her head to aim a blazing, amber glare at Shadowstar.
“Nonsense,” Star Flower snapped. She was standing beside Skystar, her tail high with indignation. “‘Eyes watching from the woods,’” she hissed scathingly, “and you’re accusing Quick Water of murder.”
“Why would she do something like that?” Skystar asked, sounding bewildered. “I don’t believe it. She’s been a Clan cat as long as there have been Clans. We all came down from the mountains together. She wouldn’t attack you.” He looked suddenly older, and tired.
Shadowstar hadn’t thought much about why: she hadn’t been able to wrap her mind around it, and she’d been concentrating on how to tell SkyClan about the attacks. But now she could see Quick Water’s reasoning laid out as clearly as a scent trail. “She did it because she’s a Clan cat,” she began slowly. “You’ve all been so worried about the Twolegs taking your territory. From the lives she knows I’ve lost, maybe she decided I could be close to my last.” She paused, pressing her paws into the earth to keep her forelegs from shaking as she tried to make her tone sound dismissive, like the idea of her being on her final life from StarClan was ridiculous. “Perhaps she thought the opportunity was worth breaking our new code. If Sun Shadow and I had both died, ShadowClan would have been without a leader. It would have been easy to move in and take our territory.”
Quick Water dropped her gaze again, working her claws in and out against the ground, and Shadowstar felt a thrill of vindication. I’m right. She knows I’ve seen the truth.
But then the gray-and-white cat looked up, defiant. “I didn’t,” she meowed. “I don’t know who you fought up by Highstones, but it wasn’t me.”
“Then what were you doing?” Shadowstar asked. “Where were you today?” With her tail, she gestured at Quick Water’s side. “That’s a nasty scratch you’ve got there, and I remember scratching the cat I fought.” Quick Water hunched, trying to hide the wound.
“She and Honey Pelt were hunting together,” Skystar meowed. “Weren’t you?”
Everyone looked at Honey Pelt, whose tail drooped. “No,” he answered softly. “We ran into each other outside camp, but we weren’t together before that.”
Every cat looked at Quick Water, and she seemed at a loss, ducking her head silently.
After a moment, Skystar said to Shadowstar, “I never would ask my warriors to attack another Clan’s leader. If I were going to steal territory, I wouldn’t be working so hard to convince the other Clans to change their borders.”
Shadowstar sighed. “I believe you,” she told him.
Skystar turned to Quick Water. “If you can’t prove where you were …” He paused, but Quick Water said nothing, staring back at him, holding very still. “If you can’t tell us what happened, then I have to believe you had some part in this,” he told her. His blue eyes dropped to the ground, his claws flexing like he was wrestling with his decision.
After a long moment, he lifted his head again. “You leave me no choice, Quick Water… . I must exile you.”
There were gasps from his Clanmates. Even Shadowstar was stunned. But Skystar drew himself up. “Go,” he ordered sharply. “You are no longer a SkyClan cat, and you are not welcome on our territory.”
Almost as if she didn’t understand, Quick Water stared at him for a few heartbeats; then she turned and ran out of camp. Even after she disappeared from sight, they could hear the cracks of branches as she forced her way recklessly through the brush.
Skystar looked at Shadowstar again, his gaze bleak. “You made a good case,” he meowed sadly. “I had to exile her, since she couldn’t explain herself. But I want to be clear that I do not like it.”
“I know,” Shadowstar told him. She pressed her cheek against his briefly, grateful that her old friend had listened, however unwillingly. “You did the right thing.”
As they crossed the border onto their own territory, Shadowstar felt as if a weight had been lifted off her back. ShadowClan is safer now.
“It’s been a long day,” Pebble Heart meowed as they approached their camp. The sun had almost set now, and deep shadows stretched beneath the pines.
Mud Paws and Raven Pelt yowled in agreement. “I can’t wait to eat some prey and go to sleep,” Mud Paws added.
“There’s one more thing before we can rest,” Shadowstar told them. Ducking to enter the thorn tunnel, she led them into camp. The rest of ShadowClan had gathered in the clearing and meowed cheerful greetings.
“What did you think of the territory?”
“Pebble Heart, can you look at my paw?”
“Raven Pelt, I saved a vole for you.”
The cats quieted as Shadowstar strode across the clearing and leaped up onto the Clanrock to look down at her Clan. A pale moon was rising over the camp, and it reflected in her Clanmates’ eyes as they gazed up at her.
“I’ve made up my mind,” she told them. She was quite sure of her choice. She looked around at them alclass="underline" Pebble Heart blinking up at her like he already knew what she would say and approved of it, Juniper Branch grooming Dangling Leaf as if he were still a kit and not a full-grown warrior. Bubbling Stream paused mid-step, carrying a mouse over to share with Dusk Nose. And all the others. She looked down at the upturned faces of the cats of her Clan, cats she had promised to lead and protect, and felt a swell of warmth in her chest. When she left them, she would not leave them alone.