Firestar beckoned her with his tail. “You should have told the truth back then,” he meowed quietly; Lionblaze strained to overhear. “It’s going to be hard for you now, do you understand that?”
Hollyleaf nodded, her eyes bleak. “I shouldn’t have tried to come back—”
“Never say that,” Firestar interrupted. “You are back, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. The Clan will settle down now that the truth is out.” He paused, but Hollyleaf had nothing to add. “I won’t include you on any patrols today,” Firestar went on more briskly. “Go to the elders’ den and see what you can do for them.”
“They’ll know, won’t they?” Hollyleaf asked, glancing around at the rapidly dispersing Clan.
Firestar nodded. “News travels fast around here, you know it does. But you are strong enough to deal with this. Put it behind you, Hollyleaf. Your Clan still needs you.”
Hollyleaf bowed her head. “Thank you,” she whispered.
As Lionblaze watched his sister padding away toward the elders’ den, he was aware of Cinderheart coming up beside him. “Poor Hollyleaf!” she murmured, her eyes wide with shock and excitement. “Who would have expected that?”
She doesn’t know I knew, Lionblaze thought.
“I feel so sorry for her,” Cinderheart went on. “She must have felt so terrible, all the time she was away. And I never realized Ashfur felt that way about Squirrelflight.”
“It happened before we were born,” Lionblaze replied shortly. He didn’t want to talk about any of it, and to his relief Cinderheart seemed to understand that.
“Brambleclaw wants you to lead a hunting patrol,” she meowed. “Foxleap and Rosepetal are coming, with their apprentices.”
“Good,” Lionblaze grunted. It would feel good to work off some of his tension with his claws in prey. Turning toward the thorn tunnel, he saw that the rest of the patrol was already waiting. Cherrypaw and Molepaw were bouncing up and down in front of their mentors.
“How did it happen?” Molepaw was asking, his eyes wide with excitement. “What did you do when you found out that Ashfur was dead?”
“Hollyleaf’s a killer!” Cherrypaw breathed out.
Rosepetal stood over her with her lips drawn back in a snarl. “If I ever hear either of you say that again, you’ll see nothing but Mousefur’s hindquarters and ticks for a moon! Firestar said that the past is to be left behind. I don’t want any gossiping from you, I don’t want any more bouncing about, and I definitely don’t want to hear any more accusations. Have I made myself clear?”
Subdued, the two apprentices nodded. “Sorry, Rosepetal,” Cherrypaw muttered.
Lionblaze was grateful for Rosepetal’s loyalty, but he could see how shocked the she-cat had been by Hollyleaf’s confession.
“They’ll calm down soon, you’ll see,” Cinderheart whispered into his ear.
Lionblaze nodded, though he wasn’t sure that Cinderheart was right. Will my Clanmates ever get used to Hollyleaf being back in the hollow?
Chapter 16
Dovewing stood motionless in the clearing while around her the cats split up into their patrols. Her mind was whirling.
No wonder Hollyleaf wasn’t part of the prophecy, she thought. She killed a cat!
Ivypool came over, her fur fluffed up with excitement and her blue eyes showing the same confusion that Dovewing felt. “I can’t believe this!” she murmured.
“Ivypool,” Dovewing mewed hesitantly, “have you ever seen Ashfur in the Dark Forest?” Her belly clenched as she waited for her sister’s reply; she knew how defensive Ivypool could be if any cat questioned her about her visits to the Place of No Stars.
But Ivypool merely looked thoughtful. “I wouldn’t know him if I saw him,” she admitted. “But I don’t think I have. At least, no cat has ever pointed him out to me.”
“He was horrible to Squirrelflight before he died,” Dove-wing reflected. “But maybe he got to go to StarClan because he died so terribly.”
Before she got the last words out she was aware of Brambleclaw looming over her, his amber eyes gleaming with annoyance.
“Stop gossiping,” he ordered. “Ivypool, I thought I told you to join Sandstorm’s border patrol. Dovewing, you’re in a training session with me, but Firestar wants to see you first. You’ll find him in his den.”
Ivypool scuttled off, and Dovewing turned toward the Highledge. Climbing the tumbled rocks, she wondered briefly why Firestar wanted her. The answer wasn’t difficult to guess. WindClan!
Dovewing reached the Highledge and approached the entrance to the den. “Firestar?” she called, looking in.
Firestar was sitting in the shadows at the back of his den, on his nest of moss and bracken. His green eyes gleamed in the dim light. He beckoned Dovewing with his tail. “Come in.”
When Dovewing was sitting beside him, Firestar went on. “I asked you to come because of your special senses,” he began. “I expect you can guess why.”
Dovewing dipped her head. “You want me to tell you what’s going on in WindClan.”
“That’s right,” Firestar meowed with a nod. “If you can.”
Pride surged through Dovewing as she sent out her senses and settled down to listen, tucking her forepaws under her chest. This isn’t sneaking around, she thought. I’m truly using my powers to protect my Clan. She let her senses range across the border stream and over the moor until they were focused on the WindClan camp. Onestar was standing in the middle of the shallow scoop in the ground, with some of his senior warriors clustered around him.
“I can see their camp. Onestar is there with Crowfeather and Sedgewhisker,” she reported to Firestar. “Ashfoot just joined them. And there are a couple of cats I don’t know.”
“Is Onestar speaking?” Firestar asked. “Can you hear anything?”
Dovewing nodded, concentrating hard as the WindClan leader’s words faded in, as if he were approaching from a long distance.
“…trouble with ThunderClan,” Onestar meowed. “Border patrols need to keep a special lookout. If you pick up their scent on our side of the stream, I want to know about it.”
“You will, don’t worry,” Crowfeather growled, digging his claws into the earth.
Dovewing repeated what she could hear to Firestar, who twitched one ear in surprise.
“That’s almost word for word what I said to ThunderClan,” he murmured. “Has Onestar mentioned Sol at all?”
Dovewing kept listening, but the WindClan leader had gone on to give Ashfoot instructions about hunting patrols.
“Not a word,” she replied to Firestar.
“Then either he doesn’t know what Sol is planning,” Firestar mewed, “or he’s being very careful about what he says. At any rate, it doesn’t sound as if the attack will happen anytime soon. Can you see Sol?” he added.
Dovewing cast her senses out again, carefully searching the WindClan camp, then widening her focus to take in the whole of the WindClan territory as far as the horseplace. Sweeping back toward the ThunderClan border, she encountered one of the tunnel entrances and tried to penetrate the tunnels, but after a few fox-lengths the weight of stones and earth blocked her from continuing.
Returning to reality in Firestar’s den felt like coming back to the surface after sinking for a long time into dark water.
“Not a trace,” she replied to Firestar’s question. “He doesn’t seem to be in WindClan, unless he’s down one of the tunnels. My senses don’t work too well underground.”
Firestar nodded thoughtfully, not speaking.