In the midst of his anxieties, Alderheart felt warm with pride as he listened to his father’s measured, reasonable words. Mistystar was nodding her agreement, and even Rowanstar seemed to relax, his neck fur lying flat again.
“I suppose I can’t argue with that,” he mewed reluctantly. Then Rowanstar shook his head helplessly. “Why would Onestar allow the other Clans to just wither?” he murmured. “Why would he not fight to keep our way of life alive?”
No cat had an answer to that. Even Bramblestar responded with nothing but a sigh.
While Alderheart and Jayfeather took a closer look at the patrol’s injuries, the ThunderClan leader climbed back up the tumbled rocks and raised his voice to address the Clan from the Highledge.
“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Highledge for a meeting of the Clans!”
Most of the warriors were already out in the clearing. Alderheart spotted Briarlight dragging herself to the entrance of the medicine cats’ den, while Daisy and Leafpool emerged from the nursery, where they were caring for some of the injured RiverClan warriors.
“We need a plan,” Bramblestar began, when all the cats were settled in the clearing, looking up at the Highledge. “The rogues have surprised us again by attacking RiverClan, and Rowanstar is right that we can’t go on like this. I know that we’re overcrowded here, and every cat is uncomfortable and tense. But there are many reasons why we can’t mount an attack on the rogues right now. If any cat has an idea of what we might do instead, I’d be happy to hear it.”
For a moment no cat responded. Alderheart spotted many of his Clanmates looking blankly at each other. Then he heard Lionblaze clear his throat as the golden tabby warrior rose to his paws.
“Yesterday, Cinderheart and I found out that we’re expecting our second litter of kits,” Lionblaze meowed, his eyes shining proudly.
Alderheart remembered how excited Leafpool had been the day before when she’d given Lionblaze and Cinderheart the news. But when he glanced over at her now, he saw that her expression was somber. The rest of his Clanmates erupted into yowls of congratulation, but the happy sounds quickly died away and an awkward silence fell.
Every cat has realized just how terrible a time this is to bring kits into the world, Alderheart thought.
“I can’t have my kits born when every moment we’re expecting to be driven out of our territory,” Lionblaze continued fervently, as if he had read Alderheart’s mind. “Will the Clans even be here by then? For the first time, it seems possible that they won’t.”
Cinderheart padded quietly up to her mate’s side and rested her tail on his shoulder. “What will happen to our kits?” she mewed, looking up at Bramblestar. “What will happen to all of us, if there are no Clans anymore?”
“That… that can’t happen!” Mousewhisker exclaimed.
“That’s right,” Poppyfrost agreed with a shudder. “There have always been Clans.”
Lionblaze shook his head. “Ignoring the problem won’t make it go away,” he stated. “Remember the prophecy: ‘Embrace what you find in the shadows, for only they can clear the sky.’ We’re no closer to finding out what it means than we were moons ago.”
“We’ve had other things on our minds!” Cloudtail snapped.
Lionblaze dipped his head to the senior warrior. “True, but it seems obvious now that the sky has darkened for all of the Clans. If we don’t put our heads together and find a way to clear it, we could lose everything.” He lashed his tail. “Everything!”
Alderheart felt a chill pass through him from ears to tail-tip. No cat had spoken so boldly before about what might happen if the Clan cats failed to drive away the rogues. We need to find SkyClan and bring them back, Alderheart thought. I’m sure that would clear the sky! But there’s no way to make that happen right now.
He could feel the tension in the air as his Clanmates shifted uneasily, and from somewhere in the crowd a cat let out a whimper of fear.
The horrified silence seemed to stretch out for moons, until suddenly Mistystar spoke.
“We need time for the RiverClan cats to heal,” she meowed. “We can’t attack until they’re fit to fight. But it troubles me to leave our cats as prisoners for so long.”
The crowd grew quiet again, until suddenly Sparkpelt cocked her head and said, “I know! Why don’t we see if we can come up with a way to sneak the RiverClan prisoners out, one or two at a time?”
“And how would we even do that?” Berrynose asked with a disdainful sniff. “The rogues must be guarding them pretty carefully. Besides, I heard a rumor that some medicine cats tried to enter the RiverClan camp, and got sent away with a flea in their ear.”
As he spoke, Alderheart was aware of Bramblestar turning a hard stare on him; refusing to meet his father’s gaze, he studied his paws until he realized with relief that Bramblestar wasn’t going to say anything.
Sparkpelt whipped her head around to face Berrynose. “So what’s your plan, O wise one?” she demanded.
Berrynose shrugged and gave his chest fur a lick.
Before Sparkpelt could say any more, Mothwing rose to her paws and came to stand beside her. “It would be wonderful to rescue our Clanmates,” she mewed, “but we would need a cat on the inside to help us.”
She glanced across at Alderheart; when he caught the meaningful look in her eyes, he realized she was remembering their visit to the RiverClan camp, when Violetpaw and Needletail had taken them to Puddleshine.
It seemed like Needletail was trying to help us.
“Does any cat here know one of the cats in the rogue camp?” Mothwing asked. “I mean, know them well enough to trust them with a plan?”
Rowanstar let out an annoyed huff. “Obviously, there are ShadowClan cats there,” he replied, “but who knows where their loyalties lie now?” He glanced over at Juniperclaw and Strikestone, both of whom looked uncomfortable.
“It’s hard to say,” Juniperclaw said, not meeting Rowanstar’s gaze.
“I know a couple,” Alderheart added quietly, still remembering his visit with Mothwing. “But I can’t be sure that they would help us.”
Up on the Highledge, Bramblestar was looking thoughtful. “I think we ought to consider this carefully,” he meowed at last. “Let’s sleep on it. It’s important to be sure, because we don’t want to give away our plan to a cat we can’t trust.”
As the meeting drew to an end, the crowd of cats broke up into little huddles, anxiously discussing what they should do. Alderheart followed Jayfeather and the injured patrol back to the medicine cats’ den. He could still picture Needletail’s terrified face as he and Mothwing left the RiverClan camp.
I don’t understand what’s going on with Needletail, he thought sadly. She was my friend once, but now… I can’t be sure.
Would she help us?
The half-moon floated above the hills as Alderheart headed for the Moonpool. The night was chilly, with a tang of rain in the air, but the clouds thinned out as the medicine cats crossed the border and began to climb.
Leafpool was in the lead, with Jayfeather and Willowshine, while Mothwing and Alderheart had dropped back a few tail-lengths.
“So? Do you think Needletail would help us sneak out the prisoners?” Mothwing asked in a whisper.
Alderheart kept a wary eye on the other medicine cats ahead of them, knowing how sharp Jayfeather’s hearing was, but none of them seemed aware of his murmured conversation with Mothwing.