Kestrelflight’s fur rippled uneasily.
Leafpool blinked at Alderpaw, clearly surprised by the anger in his mew.
Puddleshine’s ears twitched. “If only it were that easy.”
“It is that easy!” Alderpaw’s pelt bristled. “We need to stand up to Onestar.”
Leafpool’s tail swished over the stone. “You’re right, Alderpaw. But we need the support of our leaders. I’m not sure they are ready to start a war over this y et.”
Alderpaw growled. “They should be! Don’t they care that ShadowClan is dy ing? Aren’t all cats’ lives im portant?”
Kestrelflight glanced at Harespring. He nodded to the warrior, who turned and disappeared over the edge of the rim. “I think I have a more peaceful solution.”
The medicine cats swung their heads toward him.
Alderpaw’s heart leaped into this throat. “What?”
Kestrelflight padded to the pool. “I need to share with StarClan before I tell y ou. I need to know that what I want to do is right.”
Alderpaw watched the WindClan medicine cat crouch at the edge of the pool and touch his nose to the water. Curiosity gnawed in his belly. “What do you think he means?” he blinked at Leafpool.
“Let’s share with StarClan,” she mewed softly. “And then he can tell us.”
Alderpaw followed Leafpool as the cats fanned out around the pool. Mothwing lay down by the pool to wait. Closing his eyes, Alderpaw crouched and touched his nose to the water.
Sun-drenched m eadows opened in front of him. A warm breeze ruffled his pelt. The stone beneath his paws turned to soft grass, tickling where the wind set it rippling against his fur.
A broad-faced gray she-cat padded toward him, stars sparkling in her thick, long fur. She purred as she neared. Alderpaw dipped his head, wondering who she was.
“I am Yellowfang.” She stopped in front of him.
Yellowfang. Alderpaw had heard stories of the brave she-cat who had killed her own son to save her Clan. He blinked at her, his heart quickening. “Have you come to tell m e if Twigpaw and Violetpaw are what we were meant to find in the shadows?” He’d come to the pool with the sam e question burning in his thoughts every half-moon.
Yellowfang’s whiskers twitched with am usem ent. “Haven’t you wondered whether finding out for y ourselves might be part of the prophecy?”
Alderpaw leaned forward eagerly. “Does that mean they are?”
Yellowfang gazed at him steadily. “It means I’m not telling y ou.”
Alderpaw frowned, frustration pricking through his fur.
Yellowfang purred louder. “I’d forgotten the impatience of y outh.” She padded around him, letting her thick tail trail across his flank. “I cam e only to praise you for speaking out.”
“When?” Alderpaw m et her gaze, puzzled.
“Just now. With the other medicine cats.” She stood still. “I wondered at first if you had what it takes to be a medicine cat, but now that I see that you are willing to say what you believe, I trust that StarClan m ade the right choice after all.”
After all? Alderpaw frowned. “Didn’t you choose m e?”
“StarClan does not always speak with one voice.”
Alderpaw remembered many dream less moons. “Sometimes you don’t speak at all.”
“Would you rather we guided y our every paw step?” Yellowfang tipped her head. “Wouldn’t y ou rather walk y our own path?”
“I guess.” Alderpaw glanced past her, wondering if any other StarClan cats were here. “But there are som e paths that are too hard to walk alone. And we can’t see som e paths at all.” He thought of the missing Clan. “You never m ention Sky Clan. Do you know where they are?”
Yellowfang blinked at him, giving nothing away. Alderpaw flexed his claws irritably. “Then what about ShadowClan?” He thought of Onestar and ShadowClan and the dy ing cats. “Why tell
Puddleshine where to find lungwort without telling Onestar to let him gather it?”
“What lesson would any cat learn from that?” Yellowfang began to fade, her pelt growing translucent in the bright sunshine.
“Don’t go!” Alderpaw wanted to ask how he could help save ShadowClan. But Yellowfang was hardly more than a shim m ering heat haze above the grass.
“Speak out for what you believe.” Her mew whisked away on the breeze.
Alderpaw opened his eyes, blinking to adjust to the gloom of the hollow. The other cats were getting to their paws.
Leafpool fluffed her fur out against the night air. “Did you share with StarClan?” she asked him.
“Yellowfang told m e to speak out for what I believe,” Alderpaw whispered.
Leafpool glanced at Jayfeather, am usem ent flashing in her gaze. “That might not go down too well in the medicine den.”
Kestrelflight whisked his tail. Excitem ent was burning in his eyes. “I spoke to them!” he mewed. “I know what to do. Follow m e!” He bounded up the dim pled path to the rim of the hollow. “Harespring! It’s okay. StarClan say s it’s okay!”
Startled, Alderpaw hurried after the WindClan medicine cat. “What’s okay?”
Mothwing, Willowshine, Jayfeather, and Leafpool followed.
Puddleshine hurried at their heels. “What’s happening?”
Kestrelflight was already j um ping down the steep rocks after Harespring. The WindClan cats’ pelts were spiked. Alderpaw sm elled fear-scent. They were scared! What of? Heart quickening anxiously, he scram bled down after them, relieved when they reached a flatter part of the stream.
“It was Harespring’s idea,” Kestrelflight told him as he caught up to the WindClan medicine cat. “He insisted on being the only warrior to escort m e tonight and told m e about it on the way. I wasn’t sure. That’s why I had to ask StarClan.”
Alderpaw’s thoughts swam. What was Kestrelflight talking about?
The WindClan cat glanced over his shoulder toward the other medicine cats. “Hurry!” He beckoned them on with a flick of his tail and hurried after Harespring.
“Where are we going?” Alderpaw fought for breath as he raced to keep up with the WindClan cats.
“To the m oor.” Kestrelflight nodded to where the heather-covered slopes reached down to the stream. Harespring was already crossing the border onto WindClan territory.
As Kestrelflight followed him, Alderpaw hesitated at the scent line. “Onestar won’t want us on his territory.”
Leafpool and Puddleshine caught up to them. They blinked at Kestrelflight and Harespring, puzzled. The WindClan cats had stopped and were staring at them expectantly.
“Follow m e!” The wind whipped Harespring’s call toward them. “But hurry! We have to be quick.”
“We’re going to show you where the lungwort is,” Kestrelflight told them. “You can gather as much as you want.”
“What about Onestar?” Alderpaw stared at him.
“Onestar doesn’t know.” Harespring flicked his tail impatiently. “He can’t know. He’s wrong to let cats die. The rogues harm ed us, not ShadowClan. ShadowClan shouldn’t have to pay for other cats’ cruelty.”
Jayfeather, Mothwing, and Willowshine reached the border.
“What’s going on?” Jayfeather puffed.
“Harespring and Kestrelflight are going to let us gather lungwort. It was Harespring’s idea.”
Alderpaw nodded toward the WindClan deputy, im pressed by his com passion and sense of duty to the Clan cats bey ond his borders. His pelt bristled with excitem ent, but as he gazed across the heather-pelted slope, fear hollowed his belly. What if a WindClan patrol found them? He pushed the thought away. Who cares? ShadowClan needed the herb. And StarClan had given its permission.