Dovewing blinked. “Forgive you for what? We’ll leave together.”
Really? As he stared at her dumbly, hardly able to believe his ears, dawn sunshine found a crack between the nests and cut a strip across the clearing.
“You saw the kits yesterday,” Dovewing went on. “They climbed a tree by themselves. No one taught them how to climb. They wanted to see more of the world than we have shown them. They are eager for adventure.” She paused, fear darkening her gaze. “I think they are ready to make the journey home.”
Tigerheart could hardly believe his ears. “Do you mean it?”
“Yes.” Dovewing whisked her tail. “It’s a dangerous journey. I’m not letting you make it alone.”
“But the kits.” If it was dangerous for him, then for young kits it could be deadly. “They’re not old enough to—”
Dovewing cut him off. “As long as they are with us, they will be safe.” She glanced the way they’d come. Monsters moved beyond the gap. “Come sunup, the city will be crowded with Twolegs and monsters. Foxes roam the streets at night. Cats with no more honor than rogues scavenge in every alley. This is no place for kits to live. Besides…” She looked away, her pelt prickling. “Spire isn’t the only cat who’s had dreams.”
Tigerheart leaned forward anxiously. “Did you have another dream? Like the one that led us here?”
She shook her head. “Shadowkit told me he dreamed about a silver-and-white tabby.”
Tigerheart stiffened. Had Spire been right about the kit? Had Shadowkit seen this tabby “in the shadows”?
Sadness misted Dovewing’s gaze. “It sounded like Ivypool. And the cat in the dream had kits. What if Ivypool’s really had kits? I want to meet them. I want them to meet Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit. I don’t want them to be strangers. They need to be with the Clans. We have to get them home before they’re old enough to become ’paws. They have so much to learn about Clan life.”
Become ’paws. Tigerheart could imagine Pouncekit clinging to the trunk of a pine, arguing with her mentor about how far up she should climb. He purred suddenly. “I feel sorry for the warrior who has Pouncekit as an apprentice.”
Dovewing’s whiskers twitched with amusement. “She’ll question every order.”
“She’ll probably try to give her mentor hunting tips.” Tigerheart’s heart warmed as though sunshine poured through it.
“The guardian cats have been good to us,” Dovewing meowed. “But I don’t want our kits to think that healing the sick and avoiding Twolegs is all there is to life.”
Tigerheart purred louder. “Our kits aren’t even very good at avoiding Twolegs. Did you see them in that tree?”
Dovewing purred too. “The only way they could have attracted more attention would have been to yowl at them.”
“I’m glad we found them in time.” Tigerheart stopped purring as he pictured the Twoleg kit running toward the tree. What would have happened if he hadn’t been there to scare it away? The kits had been trapped and hadn’t even realized it.
Dovewing’s gaze darkened. “We did find them, though. But they need to be back in the forest. For the first time, I realized how little they understand about what it means to be a warrior. No Clan cat would have let curiosity cloud their judgment. The kits should have known the risk they were taking.”
They need to be back in the forest. Tigerheart’s belly twisted with worry at Dovewing’s words. “Which forest?” he asked bluntly.
Dovewing hesitated.
“You said that Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit mustn’t be strangers to Ivypool’s kits,” he pressed. “Do you plan to raise them in ThunderClan?”
Dovewing shifted her paws self-consciously.
“You know I have to go back to ShadowClan,” he breathed.
“I know.” She dropped her gaze. “My heart tells me to be with you. My head tells me to raise my kits among my kin.”
“They’re my kits too,” Tigerheart pointed out.
Alarm sparked in her eyes. “Would you try to take them from me if I don’t join ShadowClan?”
The pain in her mew sliced his heart. Now he was making her choose, and trying to use their kits to pressure her. “I’m sorry,” he blurted guiltily. “Of course I wouldn’t. If you want to be with ThunderClan, the kits must stay with you until they are old enough to make their own decision.”
Her fur smoothed. She lifted her chin. “We don’t need to think about that yet,” she mewed decisively. “It’s a long way to the lake, and we don’t know what we’ll find when we get there. Let’s get home first, then worry about what to do next.”
Tigerheart padded forward, guessing that, despite her words, Dovewing must be feeling as anxious as he was. Could they really make such a journey with kits? He tried not to think of all the dangers that lay between the city and the lake. Even the thought of Pouncekit beside the Silverpath made his belly clench. The wind from a Thundersnake was strong enough to sweep her beneath its paws. He closed his eyes, trying not to tremble as he pressed his cheek against Dovewing’s. “Everything will be okay,” he murmured softly, trying to reassure himself as much as Dovewing.
Fierce blinked slowly at Tigerheart. He wondered for a moment if she’d heard him. “We have to leave,” he meowed again. “My Clan needs me.”
Fierce got to her paws and dipped her head to Tigerheart. “We will miss you.”
Dovewing sat behind him. He could hear Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit fidgeting beside her. The kits had been fizzing with excitement since Tigerheart and Dovewing had told them that they were going back to the lake.
“We’re going to be warriors!” Lightkit had squeaked.
“Can we ride real badgers when we get to the forest?” Pouncekit had asked eagerly.
Shadowkit’s gray pelt had rippled nervously. “Will we see a Thundersnake?”
Tigerheart and Dovewing had answered as many questions as they could, but as the kits grew noisier, Tigerheart knew he’d have to break the news to Fierce before the guardian cats overheard them. Telling Pouncekit, Shadowkit, and Lightkit to sit quietly, he’d crossed the floor to share their news with Fierce.
The tortoiseshell beckoned the other guardian cats closer now with a flick of her tail. Cobweb and Rascal left the scraps they were sharing. Mittens, Ant, and Cinnamon padded from the strip of sunshine they had been bathing in. Spire and Blaze left Feather and Scowl watching from their nests. Dotty, Pipsqueak, Peanut, and Bracken fanned out around Tigerheart and Dovewing, while Boots watched from beneath the wooden ledge near the entrance.
Fierce lifted her chin. “Tigerheart and Dovewing have to leave us,” she announced.
Dotty frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Have you found a new den?” Mittens asked.
“We’re going back to the lake,” Tigerheart told them. “My Clan needs me.”
Cinnamon padded closer, her eyes sharp with interest. “How do you know?”
“I think a StarClan cat spoke to me through Spire.” Tigerheart decided that it was easier to be honest, even if the cats didn’t believe him. “ShadowClan is in trouble.”
Blaze glanced at Spire in surprise. “How did it talk through you? Did it come to visit?”
Spire met the young tom’s gaze. “I heard a voice in a vision.”
“And that’s why you’re leaving?” Mittens’s eyes widened.
“That’s crazy!” Rascal spluttered. “Spire’s always having visions. We don’t act on them.”
Cinnamon had narrowed her eyes. “You forget that where Tigerheart and Dovewing come from, cats take dreams seriously.” Her gaze drifted toward Dovewing. “Isn’t that what brought you here in the first place?”