“Look, here’s the cave. Come on, you two, get some sleep.
We’ll start for home tomorrow. Leafstar has made it clear that there’s nothing to keep us here.” He shooed Riley and Bella inside and curled around them.
Ravenpaw lay down near the entrance, his chin on his paws. Barley was right; if Leafstar wanted them to go, there was no reason to stay here any longer. But he couldn’t forget the image of the warriors shrieking in dismay as their camp was invaded. Surely there was something SkyClan could do to stop it?
Chapter Nine
Ravenpaw opened his eyes to find that he was lying on smooth stone beside a still, star-filled pool. He sat up and looked around. Behind him, a pock-marked slope spiraled up to the top of the hollow. The stone beneath him was cool, but his fur felt warm. He padded to the edge of the pool and drank, feeling the water surge through him like light. He became aware of a cat standing beside him with her tail resting lightly on his back.
“Come sit with me, Ravenpaw,” Silverstream purred. She positioned herself neatly on the rock with her tail folded over her paws and waited while Ravenpaw settled himself more slowly, wincing at the ache in his belly.
Ravenpaw noticed her watching him with concern. “I’m getting old!” he joked.
Silverstream just looked at him with huge blue eyes.
Ravenpaw felt a chill creep over his pelt. “I… I’m not going to see my home again, am I?”
“No,” Silverstream admitted. “But you must not be afraid of dying somewhere else.” There was a catch in her voice.
“All that matters is that you are not alone, and that you know you are loved.”
Ravenpaw felt a painful lump rise in his throat. “I’m afraid for Barley,” he whispered.
“Barley knows that you don’t want to leave him. He understands, and he will not love you less if he cannot see you.”
Two more cats approached the edge of the pooclass="underline" one dark gray tom with glowing blue eyes, the other a broad-shouldered tom with gray-and-white fur. Silverstream stood up and nodded to them, then padded away up the spiraling path.
The dark gray tom spoke first. “My name is Skywatcher,” he meowed. “I was the last of the SkyClan warriors, until
Firestar and Sandstorm came to save my Clan. There is a place for Riley and Bella in SkyClan, I promise. Be patient and you will help them find it.”
“And I am Cloudstar, leader of SkyClan when we first came to the gorge,” rasped the gray and white cat. “And before, when we lived in the forest with the other Clans.”
Ravenpaw dipped his head. “I am honored to meet you both.”
“I made the same journey as Firestar and Sandstorm, and now you and your friends,” Cloudstar meowed. “I am grateful to you for bringing new warriors to my Clan.”
“But they don’t want them!” Ravenpaw burst out.
“Leafstar wouldn’t even let us cross the border!”
“Give them a chance to see what these cats can bring to the Clan,” Cloudstar countered. “SkyClan needs your help.
You saw that tonight.”
Ravenpaw lashed his tail. “But SkyClan has its own strong warriors! Leafstar was quick to make that clear. What can we do that they can’t?”
Without speaking, Skywatcher moved to the edge of the pool and flicked a pebble into the water. It landed with a splash and sent starry ripples out in circles, rolling all the way to the sides of the hollow.
“Look,” Skywatcher ordered. “The stone reaches much farther than you might expect. Do you see?”
Ravenpaw watched the trembling waves and pictured SkyClan, scared and defensive inside the gorge, waiting for the kittypets to storm across the empty ground and invade their camp again. His mind cleared and he nodded. “I see,” he replied.
Cloudstar rested his muzzle on top of Ravenpaw’s head.
“Please help us,” he murmured. “In the name of the Clans, and the warrior code.”
“I will,” Ravenpaw promised.
He woke as the first gray light of dawn spilled into the cave. Outside, the air was cool and scented with leaves.
Ravenpaw nudged Barley. “Wake up!”
“Is it time to go home?” Bella mewed sleepily. Beside her, Riley yawned.
“We’re not going home,” Ravenpaw announced. “We’re going back to SkyClan.”
Barley stopped mid-stretch. “What? They wouldn’t even let us across the border yesterday.” He narrowed his eyes.
“And you need to get back to the barn for some rest.”
“I’m okay,” Ravenpaw told him. “I dreamed of StarClan last night, and I saw something that can help deal with the kittypets.”
“Let’s go!” mewed Riley, running to the mouth of the cave. “Those fox-brained kittypets need to respect
SkyClan!”
Ravenpaw felt a flash of pride at Riley’s loyalty to a Clan that had treated him like a trespasser.
Bella nodded. “If there’s anything we can do to help, then we have to go back.”
Barley sighed. “I can see I’m outnumbered,” he mewed.
He brushed the tip of his tail along Ravenpaw’s spine. “But if you need to stop and rest, tell me, okay? I know something’s hurting you.”
“I will.”
Ravenpaw led them up the stream once more. They paused among the trees to hunt; Barley made Ravenpaw lie on some comfy moss while he and the young cats cornered a pigeon that was pecking at the foot of a beech tree. As soon as they had eaten and cleaned their muzzles, they continued to the edge of the woods.
In daylight, Ravenpaw could clearly see the huge, gray-brown boulder that hung over the stream. The water vanished beneath the rock, and sun-dappled ripples cast patterns of light onto the bottom of the stone. They had hardly gone past the holly bush when several figures appeared, running toward them. Plumwillow was in the lead.
“We told you to stay away!” she growled.
A ginger tom bounded beside her, his hackles raised.
“Get out of here!”
“Plumwillow, Bouncefire, wait!” A silver tabby she-cat with clear green eyes sprang down from a path near the foot of the cliff and blocked their way. “Enough! These cats mean no harm.”
“We don’t know that,” Bouncefire muttered, but he stayed where he was and watched as the silver-gray cat approached Ravenpaw and his companions. Ravenpaw picked up the clean scent of herbs on her pelt and spotted a scrap of cobweb clinging to her ear.
“My name is Echosong,” she meowed. “I am SkyClan’s medicine cat. Leafstar told me about you.”
Her voice was gentle, and Ravenpaw let the fur on his spine relax. “I need to speak with Leafstar. Please, it’s important.”
Echosong studied him for a moment, then turned, her fluffy silver tail straight up. “Follow me.” She led them past
Plumwillow and Bouncefire, who hissed under his breath, and up one of the narrow paths. She paused and looked back. “I’m sorry,” she mewed. “There isn’t much room in Leafstar’s den. I can take Ravenpaw to her, but would the rest of you mind staying down here?”
Barley glanced at the warriors who had started to emerge from dens and behind rocks at the bottom of the valley.
“Don’t worry, you’re quite safe,” Echosong told him.
“Hawkpaw will look after you.”
A sturdy little cat with sleek gray fur and piercing yellow eyes who had just come out of a den nodded. “Absolutely,” he promised.
“Thank you,” Echosong meowed. “Let me know if Ebonyclaw arrives and needs you to do something else.”
She went on to Ravenpaw, “Ebonyclaw is a daylight warrior, so she’s not here yet. Hawkpaw is her apprentice.”
“He seems very committed,” Ravenpaw remarked.
Echosong nodded. “He is. As long as we keep him away from Billystorm’s apprentice, Pebblepaw. The two of them do not get along!”