Alderheart padded through the thorn tunnel into the camp, surrounded by a fog of misery. Their victory seemed less important than his fears that Violetpaw had sacrificed herself—because of the plan that he had made.
But as Alderheart entered the clearing, he halted, gazing around in sudden bewilderment. Surely there are far more cats here than when we left for RiverClan territory?
Then he spotted a small gray she-cat, her brilliant green eyes widening as she noticed him.
Twigpaw… How can it be?
Alderheart rushed toward her and plunged his muzzle into her shoulder fur, nuzzling her affectionately. “Twigpaw… Is it really you?” he choked out. “We all thought you were dead!”
“Oh, Alderheart!” Twigpaw purred. “I’m so glad to see you again. I’m sorry—you must have been so worried about me.”
Scolding her for running off was the last thing on Alderheart’s mind. He was too pleased to see her. “Where have you been all this time?” he asked.
“I went to find SkyClan, in the barn you saw in your dream,” Twigpaw explained. “Because I wanted to know if the cat you saw was really my kin.”
She settled herself on the ground, and Alderheart sat down beside her, reveling in the warmth of her pelt and the scent he had thought never to smell again.
“And you found them?” he asked, hearing the surprise and admiration in his voice. After all the time I’ve spent wishing we could find them and bring them back… “You found SkyClan, and you brought them here?”
Twigpaw nodded, beaming with pride. “It wasn’t easy,” she said, “but I did.”
Hovering a tail-length away was the dark gray tom he had seen in his dream. He looked exactly like Twigpaw, except that his eyes were warm amber—like Violetpaw’s.
Alderheart rose to his paws. “Are you…?” he began.
The gray tom took a pace toward him and dipped his head politely. “I am Hawkwing,” he meowed. “I’m Twigpaw’s father.”
“And he’s deputy of SkyClan!” Twigpaw announced proudly.
Alderheart dipped his head in response. “Welcome to ThunderClan,” he mewed.
“Thank you.” Hawkwing nodded. “It’s nice to get a warm welcome,” he added hastily.
Alderheart glanced around at the assortment of RiverClan, ShadowClan, and ThunderClan cats. He realized for the first time that many of them were eyeing Hawkwing and the other SkyClan cats suspiciously. I guess this is a bit of an awkward time to welcome another Clan into our camp… , he thought. But he was quickly distracted by Twigpaw.
“Isn’t it great?” she asked excitedly, bouncing on her paws. “I’ve never seen so many cats together before! I was surprised to find RiverClan cats here when I got back. And ShadowClan is still staying with us, I see. But—” She broke off, her excitement fading. “Is Violetpaw still with the rogues?”
Alderheart couldn’t hide his anxiety and grief at Twigpaw’s question, and decided that he couldn’t lie to her. I tried that with Violetpaw, and look how well that worked.
“I don’t know where Violetpaw is right now,” he admitted. “It looks like Darktail took her and Needletail out of the RiverClan camp—”
“What?” Twigpaw interrupted. “Why was Darktail in the RiverClan camp?”
“Darktail and his rogues raided RiverClan and drove the Clan out. We just got back from attacking the rogues and taking back the territory.”
“So why isn’t Violetpaw with you?” Twigpaw asked, deep anxiety in her voice.
“Before we arrived, Darktail took her and Needletail out of the camp to punish them, and no cat knows what happened to them after that.”
Twigpaw’s eyes stretched wide with horror, and Hawkwing’s gaze was full of concern. “But why would he punish Violetpaw?” Twigpaw demanded. “What had she done? Why didn’t some cat help her? And why—”
“Twigpaw, it’s all so complicated—” Alderheart was beginning, when to his relief Bramblestar padded up, with Rowanstar and Mistystar beside him.
“Greetings,” Bramblestar meowed, introducing himself and the other Clan leaders. “This is a momentous day for the Clans. I never expected to see SkyClan here, reunited with the rest of us.”
“SkyClan never expected it either.” A brown-and-cream tabby she-cat joined Hawkwing and gave the leaders a respectful nod. “I am Leafstar, leader of SkyClan. We have come a long way to find you.”
More cats were gathering around to listen to the leaders, and Alderheart began to hear uneasy murmurs arising from the crowd.
“Another Clan? What does this mean?”
“Surely there are too many cats in the forest now?”
“Where are they all going to live?”
Bramblestar glanced around sternly, as if he wanted to quell the unwelcoming comments, but before he could speak, Jayfeather stepped forward, gazing at the newcomers with his sightless blue eyes.
“What’s the point of twittering like a nestful of blackbirds?” he demanded. “It’s obvious what we need to do.”
“It might be obvious to you, Jayfeather,” Bramblestar meowed.
Jayfeather gave a disdainful sniff. “If you weren’t Clan leader, Bramblestar, I’d call you a mouse-brain. We must seek the advice of StarClan.”
A stiff breeze blew into Alderheart’s face as he toiled up the last slope toward the Moonpool. Clouds were scudding across the sky where the warriors of StarClan were beginning to appear.
Ahead of Alderheart, Leafpool and Jayfeather scrambled from rock to rock, while Mothwing and Willowshine were just behind him. Puddleshine, once again ShadowClan’s medicine cat, brought up the rear.
I wish Kestrelflight could be with us, too, Alderheart thought sadly. But there’s no point even trying to fetch him from WindClan.
Thrusting his way through the bushes that surrounded the hollow, Alderheart began to follow the spiral path down to the water. His paws slipped easily into the paw marks left there by the ancient cats so many seasons ago.
The moon was only a thin claw-scratch; the water that poured out from the rocks, and the pool below, was dark except for the glimmer of starshine. Alderheart felt the hairs on his pelt rise at how strange and mysterious it seemed without the glow of reflected moonlight they saw at the regular half-moon meetings.
As he and his fellow medicine cats crouched at the water’s edge, Alderheart wondered what message the spirits of his warrior ancestors would have for them. He closed his eyes and touched his nose to the surface of the pool, barely biting back a yowl as the chill raced through him from nose to tail-tip.
When Alderheart opened his eyes, he seemed to be still in the hollow beside the pool, but now the surface of the water blazed with reflected light. He raised his head to see that the sides of the hollow were lined with glittering spirit cats, their pelts frosted with starlight and their eyes glowing like countless small moons. He took in a long, awestruck breath.
This is wonderful! he thought, relief bursting in on him like the sun appearing from behind a cloud. StarClan has barely appeared to any of us since they gave us the prophecy moons ago.
He waited confidently for the spirit cats to speak. After the long, horrible misadventure with Darktail and his rogues, the Clan cats had finally found SkyClan… Now they had to learn how to “clear the sky.”
Leafpool was the first to speak, rising eagerly to her paws. “They’re here, finally—we’ve found SkyClan! Are they ‘what you find in the shadows’?”
At the opposite side of the pool, a flame-colored tom also rose; Alderheart recognized Firestar. “They are,” he replied. “But there is more to be done.”