Firestar caught a glance from Sandstorm, as if she were trying to warn him not to mention that he had once been a kittypet. He certainly didn’t intend to; Sky’s opinion of him was low enough without that.
“We scared them away,” he told Sky. “You shouldn’t have any more trouble with them.”
Sky twitched his ears; for a moment Firestar thought he looked almost disappointed. “Did you notice anything…
unusual about them?” he asked.
Firestar cast his mind back to the encounter with the kittypets. He couldn’t remember anything distinctive, except for their rudeness, and he didn’t think Sky meant that. Then he pictured the two of them as they ran back to the Twoleg nest. “Cherry jumped into a tree,” he recalled. “Is that what you mean?”
Sky nodded. “I think those two kittypets are descended from SkyClan cats.”
Sandstorm’s ears pricked with surprise. “Those two mouse-brains?”
“When the Clan was forced out of the gorge,” Sky explained, “most of the cats, including my mother’s mother, became rogues or loners. But some of them, those who were too old or too young to hunt, went to live with Twolegs.” He stared across the scrubland to where the harsh orange lights of the Twolegplace stained the sky. “Strange… ,” he murmured. “So many of those cats must share my blood, yet none of them knows who I really am.” He bowed his head again.
“What happened?” Firestar asked. “Why did SkyClan have to leave the gorge?”
The old cat did not reply; Firestar wasn’t even sure if he had heard the question.
“You look tired,” Sandstorm mewed. “Would you like me to hunt for you?”
Sky tensed; Firestar was afraid that Sandstorm’s offer had offended him. Then he looked up, blinking gratefully. “Thank you. It’s been a long night.”
Immediately Sandstorm leaped across the rift and disappeared down the trail into the gorge. Firestar followed more slowly with Sky. He was ready to help the old cat cross the gap, but leaping down from the rock was easier than leaping up, and Sky landed with all four paws firmly on the trail.
Firestar let him take the lead to the cave.
As he padded behind, Firestar realized that Sky reminded him of Yellowfang. He had the same proud reserve as the former medicine cat; he was clearly uncomfortable and prickly around other cats, yet he shared Yellowfang’s strength and her deep commitment to her Clan. Sky had all the qualities of a true warrior: courage, faith, and loyalty to his Clan. Yet everything he was had been based only on tales told to him by his mother. SkyClan from his nose to the tip of his tail, he had never been part of a real Clan.
Sky clambered up to the mouth of the cave and paused, whiskers twitching. Firestar was nervous that he would feel insulted that he and Sandstorm had brought in bedding, when he must have slept on the bare sandy floor. The old cat let out a faint snort, then padded over to one of the hollows and curled up without any comment in a nest of ferns and feathers.
He was barely settled when Sandstorm appeared in the entrance, a mouse dangling from her jaws. She crossed the cave to Sky and laid it down in front of him.
The gray cat reached out one paw and prodded it. “A bit skinny, isn’t it?” Before Sandstorm could defend her catch, he dragged the mouse closer and began devouring it in rapid gulps.
Sandstorm glanced at Firestar, her eyes glimmering with laughter, and mouthed, Yellowfang!
Sky finished off the last scrap of mouse, swiped his tongue around his jaws, and let out a long sigh. Then he curled up again and was asleep almost at once, his snores echoing around the cave.
Firestar and Sandstorm squashed up together in the remaining lined nest. Sleep refused to come to Firestar.
Bracken pricked against his fur, and Sky’s snoring echoed off the sandy walls. Sandstorm was restless too, shifting among the bedding.
But that wasn’t what kept Firestar awake. His mind buzzed with troubled thoughts. He wondered whether the SkyClan ancestor was watching him, or his former leader Bluestar. Neither of them had sent him any signs since he came to the gorge. Could the SkyClan leader be trapped somewhere else, unable to watch over his former home?
Eventually he slipped into a disturbed sleep. Sunlight streaming into the cave woke him the next morning.
Sandstorm was already sitting up beside him, grooming herself, while Sky snored in his nest opposite.
“Are you ready to go and hunt?” Sandstorm asked.
Firestar heaved himself out of the nest with a huge yawn.
His legs were stiff but he knew he wouldn’t sleep again. He gave himself a brisk shake to dislodge scraps of bracken from his fur. “Lead on,” he mewed.
By the time they reached the riverside, he was beginning to feel better. He waded through the shallows for a few paces, enjoying the sensation of cool water on pads that were still sore from scrambling up and down the cliff. Then he and Sandstorm headed downstream, to where the trees and undergrowth sheltered prey.
It was good to hunt side by side like this, Firestar thought, without having to worry about organizing patrols or keeping a watch on the borders. The forest suddenly seemed very far away.
Could I stay here forever? he wondered. Could I live without a Clan?
Then he heard Sandstorm let out a faint sigh. She was gazing down at an eddy in the river, where the current had scoured out a hollow under the bank beneath a hazel bush. It looked almost exactly like the place where ThunderClan crossed the stream on the way to Fourtrees.
Firestar’s thoughts went winging back to his own territory.
How had ThunderClan fared at the Gathering the night before, and what did the other Clans think when they heard he had left the forest?
The idea that he might choose not to go back seemed as remote as the stars. He was ThunderClan’s leader; the forest was where he belonged. Except for Sky, all the SkyClan cats were long gone. There was nothing more that Firestar could do for them. Once he had listened to the rest of Sky’s story, and found out why the SkyClan cats had left the caves, it would be time to go home.
He and Sandstorm hunted and carried their fresh-kill back to the cave. But when he reached the entrance, Firestar stopped in surprise. The hollow in the cave floor was empty.
Sky had gone.
Chapter 20
Firestar flattened his ears in disappointment. “I thought he would at least stay until we got back,” he meowed. “There’s so much more I wanted to ask him.”
Sandstorm dropped her prey beside Firestar’s and padded across to the hollow where Sky had slept. “He’s used to being alone,” she pointed out. “I suppose he just didn’t feel comfortable around other cats.”
Firestar twitched his tail tip, irritation raising the fur on his shoulders. “Now we’ll have to trek all the way up the gorge again. I don’t want to leave without speaking to him. I have to know more about SkyClan, especially why they left these caves.”
Sandstorm’s green eyes glinted at him. Firestar was afraid she would think he was becoming obsessed with SkyClan, particularly when there was no Clan to restore, nothing but memories and sand.
“I’ll feel as if I’ve failed the cat in my dreams if I don’t find out what destroyed the Clan in the end,” he defended himself. “It wasn’t just leaving the forest. They reached this place, and they could have thrived here, especially with their special 2 4 3
ability to leap. So what happened next? Why did they go?” He shook his head in frustration. “I have to know,” he repeated.
“It’s okay.” Sandstorm pressed her muzzle against his. “I understand. And if—”
A panting, scraping noise from outside the cave interrupted her. Sky clambered into the cave; a huge bundle of moss was clamped in his jaws.