Chapter 13
“Is Cloudpaw okay?” asked Ashpaw.
Fireheart blinked while he searched for the right words to explain Cloudpaw’s disappearance. “I believe Cloudpaw has left the Clan,” he murmured at last. There was no point trying to hide what had happened.
Ashpaw’s eyes grew wide with shock and bewilderment. “L-left?” he echoed. “But he…he would have told us. I mean, I never thought he’d stay there!”
“Stay where?” asked Runningwind sharply, sitting up. “What’s going on?”
Ashpaw glanced guiltily at Fireheart, knowing he had betrayed his friend’s secret.
“Go back to your supper,” Fireheart meowed gently. “You can tell Darkstripe that Cloudpaw has returned to his kittypet life. There’s no need for secrets anymore.”
“I just can’t believe he’s actually left,” mewed Ashpaw sadly. “I’ll really miss him.” He turned and plodded back to the apprentices’ den, where Darkstripe sat waiting like a hungry owl. The news would be all through the camp by sunset.
“Where has Cloudpaw gone?” demanded Runningwind, turning to Fireheart.
“He’s gone back to live with Twolegs,” Fireheart replied, each word dropping like a stone into the sultry forest air. His ears still rang with Cloudpaw’s heartbreaking cries for help, but Fireheart couldn’t see that it would do any good to start making excuses for his errant apprentice. How could he convince the Clan that Cloudpaw had been taken against his will, when they would all remember that the apprentice had been growing fat from Twoleg offerings?
Runningwind frowned. “Darkstripe is going to enjoy hearing that.”
The tabby warrior was already staring triumphantly across the clearing as he leaned down to listen to Ashpaw’s news. With a sinking feeling Fireheart watched as he trotted over to Longtail and Smallear, and the news of Cloudpaw’s disappearance began to spread through the Clan like tendrils of dark, clinging ivy. Smallear squeezed between the branches of the oak to share the news with the other elders, while Longtail nodded at his former mentor and headed toward the nursery. Just as Fireheart had feared, Darkstripe was making sure the whole camp knew that Fireheart’s kin had returned to his kittypet roots.
“Aren’t you going to do anything?” asked Sandstorm, her voice sharp with indignation. “Are you going to leave it to Darkstripe to tell the Clan about Cloudpaw?”
Fireheart shook his head. “How can I fight the truth?” he meowed sadly.
“You could speak to the Clan!” snapped Sandstorm. “Explain what really happened.”
“Cloudpaw rejected Clan life as soon as he started accepting kittypet food,” Fireheart pointed out.
“Well, you should at least tell Bluestar,” Sandstorm urged.
“Too late,” murmured Runningwind.
Fireheart followed the brown warrior’s gaze and saw Darkstripe padding toward Bluestar’s den. She was going to have her evening disturbed, when she needed peace more than anything else. Fireheart thrashed his tail at Darkstripe’s selfish spite, although he knew that most of his anger was directed at Cloudpaw.
“Come on; you might as well eat your supper,” meowed Sandstorm, more gently now. But Fireheart had no appetite left. He could only stare around the clearing, returning the glances of the other Clan cats—some anxious, some just greedily curious—as they learned of Cloudpaw’s desertion.
Runningwind’s tail flicked one of Fireheart’s hind legs. “Look out.”
Darkstripe was heading toward them with a smug expression he didn’t even try to hide. “Bluestar wants to see you,” he meowed loudly to Fireheart. With a resigned sigh Fireheart stood up and made his way to the ThunderClan leader’s den.
He hesitated at the entrance, feeling a flicker of anxiety. It seemed inevitable that Bluestar would see Cloudpaw’s disappearance as yet another betrayal by a ThunderClan cat. Did this mean she would start to doubt Fireheart as well, because of his kittypet origins?
“Come in, Fireheart,” Bluestar called. “I can smell you lurking out there!”
He pushed through the lichen. Bluestar was curled in her nest with Whitestorm beside her, his eyes wide with curiosity. Fireheart pricked his ears, trying to stop them from twitching and betraying his nerves.
“So that’s why you came to see me earlier,” meowed Bluestar. “‘Wondering if I was hungry, indeed!” Fireheart was caught off guard by the amused purr in her voice. “You only usually offer to bring food to my den if you think I’m dying. You had me thinking there was a rumor going around the camp that I was on my last legs!”
Fireheart couldn’t believe that she was taking the news about Cloudpaw so calmly. “I-I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I was going to tell you about Cloudpaw, but you seemed so…so peaceful. I didn’t want to upset you.”
“I may not have been feeling well lately,” Bluestar acknowledged with a dip of her head, “but I’m not made of cobwebs.” Her blue eyes grew serious as she went on. “I am still your leader, and I need to know everything that’s going on in my Clan.”
“Yes, Bluestar,” answered Fireheart.
“Now, Darkstripe tells me that Cloudpaw has gone to live with Twolegs. Did you know this might happen?”
Fireheart nodded. “But not until recently,” he added. “I only found out yesterday he was visiting a Twoleg nest for food.”
“And you thought you could sort him out by yourself,” murmured Bluestar.
“Yes.” Fireheart glanced at Whitestorm, who watched in silence, his old eyes missing nothing.
“You can’t tell a cat what his heart should feel,” Bluestar warned. “If Cloudpaw’s heart longed for a kittypet life, then not even StarClan could change him.”
“I know,” Fireheart agreed. “But it’s not as simple as that.” He didn’t want to excuse Cloudpaw’s behavior to the rest of the Clan, but he wanted Bluestar to know the whole story. Although whether that was for Cloudpaw’s sake or his, he wasn’t quite sure. “He was taken away by the Twolegs against his will.”
“Taken away?” echoed Whitestorm. “What makes you say that?”
“I saw him being carried off inside a monster,” Fireheart explained. “He was crying out for help. I chased after him, but there was nothing I could do.”
“But he’d been accepting food from these Twolegs for some time,” Bluestar reminded him, narrowing her eyes.
“Yes,” Fireheart admitted. “I spoke to him about that yesterday, and I’m not sure he really wanted to live a kittypet life. He seemed to still think of himself as a Clan cat.” Fireheart swallowed uncomfortably. “I don’t think Cloudpaw understood how far he was breaking the warrior code.”
“Are you sure he is the sort of warrior that ThunderClan needs?” asked Bluestar.
Fireheart lowered his eyes, ashamed of his apprentice and recognizing the truth in Bluestar’s words. “He’s still young,” he meowed quietly. “I think he has the heart of a Clan cat, even if he doesn’t realize it himself yet.”
“Fireheart.” Bluestar’s mew was gentle. “ThunderClan needs loyal, brave cats, like you. If Cloudpaw was taken, then perhaps it was what StarClan intended. He may not be forest-born, but he has been part of our Clan long enough for our warrior ancestors to take an interest in him. Don’t be too sad. Wherever he has gone, StarClan will make sure he finds happiness there.”
Fireheart raised his eyes slowly to his old mentor. “Thanks, Bluestar,” he meowed. He wanted to believe that StarClan had Cloudpaw’s best interests at heart, that they weren’t punishing the Clan or signaling their disapproval of kittypets by sending the apprentice away. He wasn’t entirely convinced, but he was grateful to the Clan leader for her sympathy, and heartily relieved that she hadn’t read any darker message into Cloudpaw’s disappearance.