Then a fierce gust swept over him and his heart lurched as, with a crack, one of the saplings gave way. It snapped at the roots and in an instant was carried away, tumbling over the grass like a twig. The rain hardened and the wind roared louder. The other saplings untwined and, one by one, the storm tore them from the earth and batted them away. In a moment, Alderheart found himself staring at an empty meadow, where nothing showed against the horizon but an endless sea of grass.
He opened his eyes, snatching his nose from the Moonpool and shaking water from its tip. He sat up as the other medicine cats straightened and stared at one another, blinking. “The five Clans must stand together!” he blurted.
“I saw saplings,” Willowshine gasped.
“When one was uprooted, the others were blown away,” Kestrelflight chimed in.
Alderheart’s fur pricked along his spine. We shared the same vision!
Jayfeather sat up and gazed blindly around the pool. “It sounds like we all saw the same thing. If that’s true, then StarClan is telling us that no Clan must fail. If one fails, we all fail.”
“But which Clan will fail?” Kestrelflight looked puzzled. “ThunderClan and WindClan are as strong as ever. ShadowClan has a leader now and has returned to its home, and RiverClan is one of the five again.”
Frecklewish’s hackles lifted. “All of you! You’re so complacent that you don’t see what’s happening!” Anger sparked in her pale green eyes. “ShadowClan wants to drive SkyClan from the lake! Didn’t you hear Tigerstar’s threat at the last Gathering?”
“We heard it,” Leafpool told her. “But it’s just a territory dispute, isn’t it? Clans have them all the time. We thought you and ShadowClan were going to work it out.”
“How?” Frecklewish stared at them. “Did you think Leafstar could create new territory? Or that Tigerstar could be persuaded to settle for less?”
“Tree said he would help you,” Kestrelflight meowed.
Frecklewish lashed her tail. “Did you really think an outsider could bring peace within the Clans?” She didn’t wait for an answer. “You act like this is not your problem. But StarClan has sent this vision to show you that it is! If the Clans don’t stand together to settle this fight, then SkyClan will be driven from the lake.”
Alderheart stared at the SkyClan medicine cat. She was right. They had ignored the dispute between SkyClan and ShadowClan. It’s not my battle. Shame washed him. He’d acted like the problem would go away if he ignored it. Now StarClan had made it clear that it wouldn’t.
Leafpool gazed evenly at Frecklewish. “Surely it’s not that bad?”
“ShadowClan attacked our camp last night,” she told them.
Alderheart stiffened. It was the first he’d heard of an attack on SkyClan. He wasn’t surprised Tigerstar hadn’t told him, but he had been awake in the night, caring for Puddleshine. Why hadn’t he heard the battle patrol return? Had no cat been injured?
“They shredded our dens while we slept,” Frecklewish went on. “Worse, Leafstar doesn’t want to rebuild. She wants to leave and return to the gorge.”
“Leave the lake?” Kestrelflight’s fur rippled nervously. “You can’t. Not after all we’ve done to bring you here.”
“Why can’t we?” Frecklewish challenged. “You’re doing nothing to keep us here.”
Alderheart shifted his paws uneasily. It was possible that SkyClan could return to the gorge. Darktail had driven them out, but Darktail was dead now and his rogues disbanded. There was nothing to stop SkyClan returning to the home they’d made moons ago.
“We must speak to our leaders,” Leafpool mewed quickly. “We must find a solution.”
Frecklewish’s gaze darkened. “No solution can repair what ShadowClan has done.”
Jayfeather narrowed his eyes. “If you need help rebuilding your camp, I’m sure Bramblestar will send a party to help with the work.”
“I’m not talking about the damage to the camp. ShadowClan poisoned our prey. They want to kill us!” Anger sharpened Frecklewish’s mew.
“Poison?” Unease wormed beneath Alderheart’s pelt. “What do you mean?”
“When the ShadowClan cats were in our camp last night, Violetshine saw Juniperclaw near the fresh-kill pile. She chased him off, but when Sparrowpelt ate a vole from the pile, it made him sick.”
“Perhaps it was an old vole,” Willowshine mewed hopefully.
“Really sick,” Frecklewish growled. “He was in agony. I gave him yarrow to get rid of whatever was hurting him, and he vomited seeds.” She turned her icy gaze on Alderheart. “Deathberry seeds.”
Alderheart felt the chill of the night pierce his fur as the other medicine cats turned to stare at him.
“You took deathberries to ShadowClan to treat Puddleshine, didn’t you?” Frecklewish mewed accusingly.
Alderheart’s thoughts raced. It was true. He’d kept a store of deathberries. But they were hidden. No one knew about them, surely. And yet it seemed strange that Sparrowpelt would get sick so soon after a ShadowClan raid. Had poisoning SkyClan prey been part of a deadly ShadowClan plan?
Jayfeather bristled. “Are you saying Alderheart is behind the poisoning?”
“I’m saying that ShadowClan had access to deathberries because of him.”
“That’s not true!” Alderheart fluffed out his fur indignantly. “I kept the berries hidden. Even Tigerstar didn’t know they were there.” He hoped it was true.
“Did anyone see you give deathberries to Puddleshine?” Leafpool asked.
Alderheart paused. Had Cloverfoot or Scorchfur seen him when they’d been guarding the entrance to the medicine den? “I don’t know! But I know how many berries were wrapped in the leaf, and none are missing.” He was sure he hadn’t noticed any berries missing when he’d given Puddleshine his last dose that morning. “None are missing,” he repeated, meeting Frecklewish’s gaze. “If Juniperclaw did poison your fresh-kill pile with deathberries, they didn’t come from me.”
Leafpool whisked her tail impatiently. “Who cares where the berries came from? Every cat knows about deathberries. We’re all taught as ’paws to stay away from them. What’s important is that the dispute between ShadowClan and SkyClan is growing worse. We have to stop it before Leafstar decides SkyClan must leave the lake.”
Jayfeather nodded. “We saw the vision. If SkyClan leaves, we will all be destroyed.”
“We must tell our leaders,” Kestrelflight agreed.
“They must hold an emergency Gathering,” Willowshine mewed.
Alderheart’s shifted anxiously. “The last Gathering didn’t help solve this problem. Another Gathering might make the situation worse.”
Leafpool stared at him. “If Bramblestar knows what’s at stake, he will do whatever it takes to make SkyClan stay beside the lake.”
“Harestar will follow the wishes of StarClan, and StarClan clearly wants SkyClan to stay,” Kestrelflight guessed.
“What about Mistystar?” Alderheart looked anxiously at Willowshine.
The gray tabby hesitated. “Her faith in StarClan’s wisdom is still shaken since Darktail nearly destroyed us. But I will do my best to persuade her that we must stand together to keep SkyClan from leaving.”