“This has been a terrible time for the Clans,” Leafstar began. “I’m sure we can all agree that we’ve made some dreadful mistakes. I know there are wounds on our bodies and in our spirits that will take some time to heal, but now is not the time for revenge or retribution. And now is definitely not the time for punishing cats for past wrongdoings.”
Harestar murmured agreement, dipping his head respectfully to the SkyClan leader. “Bramblestar was a false leader and a bad cat,” he pointed out, “but it is possible that StarClan disappeared because we’ve all broken the code so many times. It wouldn’t be a bad idea for us all to start sticking to it more closely. Maybe if we do, StarClan will come back.”
Rootspring felt his heart clench painfully at the WindClan leader’s words. Bristlefrost thought things might get easier, but it sounds like she was wrong. Harestar seemed totally haunted by his journey to the abandoned StarClan and his encounter with the fading warrior spirits.
Tigerstar straightened up, standing tall at the end of the branch he had chosen. Rootspring guessed that he was trying to dominate the Gathering as much as Bramblestar had instinctively done in the past.
“I respect StarClan as much as any cat,” he meowed. “But if I’m honest, I trust them well enough to know when a cat has lived a good and honorable life. All the cats accused of codebreaking may have violated the rules, but can you truly say that there was darkness in their hearts?”
A ripple of unease passed through the Gathering. “What are you saying?” Crowfeather demanded. “That we should change the warrior code?”
“Or ignore it altogether?” Lionblaze added. “That’s madness! StarClan will never come back then!”
Rootspring realized for the first time that the exiled Crowfeather had taken his place as deputy on the roots of the Great Oak, and that Lionblaze, who must be the new ThunderClan deputy, was sitting by his side. Glancing around, he saw that the other exiles were in the clearing, too.
It’s good to see them back where they belong, he thought, feeling a little encouraged.
“That’s what the false Bramblestar wanted us all to believe,” Tigerstar responded to Lionblaze’s objection. “But isn’t it clear now that everything he told us rose from his malice? Frightening us into believing that StarClan was angry with us was just a tool he used to control us all.”
“How do you know that?” Mistystar asked. “After all, no cat can deny that we have heard nothing from StarClan for moons now.”
“I don’t know for certain,” Tigerstar replied. “But when Shadowsight traveled as a spirit into the Dark Forest, he saw glittering stars trapped in a pool, as though StarClan was somehow being kept away from their hunting grounds.”
“What?” Rootspring saw Harestar’s eyes widen and his ears angle forward as if he couldn’t be sure he had heard right. “With all due respect, Tigerstar, that sounds like a load of thistle-fluff! Stars trapped in the Dark Forest? Driven out of their hunting grounds? Tigerstar, I was there, in StarClan’s hunting grounds, and so were the spirits of our warrior ancestors. They were faded and in distress, but they were there.”
Leafstar stretched out her tail to the WindClan leader in a calming gesture. “Medicine cats’ visions shouldn’t always be taken literally,” she meowed. “There’s no reason to believe that Shadowsight’s experiences in spirit form are any easier to make sense of than omens from StarClan.”
While she was speaking, Tigerstar’s shoulder fur gradually bushed up, and his eyes glittered with fury. “What do you know about it?” he snarled, words pouring out of him like a flooding stream. “It was Shadowsight who traveled to the Dark Forest, nearly killing himself to do it. It was Shadowsight who was nearly murdered by the false Bramblestar, Shadowsight who endured your scorn for sharing the visions he believed were from StarClan. When will any of you bee-brains listen to my son? He’s telling us how to get StarClan back!”
His voice rang out across the clearing, and for a few moments after he had finished, every cat was stunned to silence. Mistystar was the first to speak, dipping her head respectfully to the ShadowClan leader.
“Tigerstar, just now you might be too angry at everything that happened—at the unfair accusations leveled at yourself and Dovewing, and your kits—to be truly thinking clearly.”
“I agree.” Squirrelflight, who had so far listened to the leaders in silence, spoke up. “Shadowsight’s contributions have been very valuable,” she continued, “but even if what he said is true, that doesn’t tell us how to defeat whatever lies in Bramblestar’s body. To beat him, we must figure out who he is.”
“Yes!” Harestar turned an enthusiastic gaze onto Squirrelflight. “You know Bramblestar better than any of us. What do you think?”
Squirrelflight paused for a moment, clearly in deep thought. “He said . . . he came back for me.” For a few heartbeats longer she went on thinking, then shook her head, her shoulders drooping. “I’m still not sure. . . .”
The Clan leaders broke out into the same old argument, about StarClan and why they had disappeared. Rootspring felt a tingle of foreboding in his paws. After all we’ve been through, are we just going to start up the same fight all over again?
“Well,” Tigerstar meowed at last, “at least all the exiled cats can go home again.”
“I’m not sure,” Mistystar responded, to Rootspring’s surprise. “Icewing and Harelight, come and stand here at the foot of the Great Oak.”
Rootspring watched in confusion as the two warriors Misty-star had named emerged from the crowd of their Clanmates and stood side by side, gazing up at their leader with uneasy expressions. What is Mistystar thinking? he wondered. Icewing and Harelight were never exiled.
“I believed that you were loyal RiverClan warriors,” Mistystar meowed, pain in her blue eyes as she looked down. “Yet in the battle I saw you fighting against your Clan. You disobeyed my orders. Even now that I know the false Bramblestar was evil, I must send you into exile.”
The two warriors gaped at their leader, too stunned for the moment to protest or defend themselves.
In the silence Mothwing rose from her place beside the other medicine cats. “Mistystar—” she began.
“Mothwing, I see that I was wrong to exile you,” Mistystar interrupted. “I am sorry for it. You are welcome to return to RiverClan.”
“No, Mistystar,” Mothwing retorted; a gasp went up from the cats who surrounded her at the single word. “I will never feel welcome in a Clan where warriors are exiled unjustly. Icewing and Harelight risked their safety and their lives to oppose the evil presence inside Bramblestar. We should be thanking them, not sending them into exile. Besides,” the medicine cat continued, “I chose to be a RiverClan cat, and I have served my Clan faithfully, and yet you drove me away because of my birth, which I had no control over. It will be hard for me to forget that.”
For a heartbeat Rootspring thought that Mistystar wavered, her jaws parted to speak, and yet no words came out. Then she took a deep breath and spoke. “Then Mothwing, Icewing, Harelight—you are no longer RiverClan cats.”
“That’s not fair!” Icewing exclaimed. “Okay, we did fight on ShadowClan’s side, but Mothwing never did anything wrong.”
“Yeah, can’t we even atone somehow?” Harelight asked.
Mistystar’s only reply was a lash of her tail.
Rootspring could feel shock passing through the Gathering like ripples from a stone thrown into a pool. How could Mistystar do this to her medicine cat and two loyal warriors? And where are they expected to go?
“Mistystar, are you sure about this?” Leafstar asked. “We are all taking our exiles back and forgiving them. Harelight and Icewing were only trying to do what they thought was right. Fighting in the battle must have been the hardest decision they have ever had to make.”