A murmur of pity came from Sedgewhisker, and Onestar flinched as though some cat had struck him a blow.
“Smoke went back to her Twolegs, but only for a short time,” Onestar continued. “As soon as her kit was old enough to leave her, she brought him to me. She begged me to at least take him into camp, while he was still young enough to learn the ways of the Clans. And I… I refused. I was too worried about how I would have to explain to Tallstar.”
Violetpaw couldn’t help thinking about how ThunderClan and ShadowClan had taken in her and Twigpaw, even though at that time no cat knew who they were.
Onestar could have made up some story, if he’d tried, she thought. He could have helped the kit.
“Smoke turned on me then,” Onestar continued. “She told me that she would raise the kit by herself, and teach him to hate the Clans who had rejected him.” His head drooped, and Violetpaw could see that he felt great shame at what he had revealed.
“Wait,” Bramblestar interjected. “This kit—are you saying that he grew up to be Darktail? That Darktail is your son?”
Onestar nodded gloomily. “I tried to tell myself that I was protecting Smoke and her kit,” he mewed, raising his voice over the shocked murmurs of the other cats. “I thought that whatever she said when she was angry, she would take him and go back to being a kittypet, and their lives would be better that way.”
Violetpaw pressed herself against Twigpaw and felt her sister return the gesture. Both of them gazed at their SkyClan father, and they saw Hawkwing looking back at them with nothing but love.
All our struggles are over now, Violetpaw thought. We were so lucky that Alderheart found us in the tunnel and brought us back to the Clans. And now that we’ve found our father, it’s even better. He would never have turned his back on us.
Mistystar broke into Violetpaw’s musings. “So,” she meowed to Onestar. “Darktail knew that you rejected him.”
Onestar gave a weary nod. “Yes, he was old enough to understand. StarClan knows where he went for so long, but wherever it was, he grew into a bitter and resentful cat, full of grief for a father he never knew, and hatred for a way of life he never got the chance to understand.”
“You can say that again!” Tigerheart muttered.
If Onestar heard the comment, he ignored it. “He must have gathered rogues to him as his followers,” he went on, “and not long ago, he wandered up the river and found SkyClan. He attacked them and drove them out.”
Violetpaw saw her father tense for a moment, his neck fur bristling and his claws digging into the ground. She knew that he must be reliving that terrible time. She leaned over to touch his ear with her nose, and gradually he relaxed, blinking gratefully at her from sorrowful amber eyes.
Meanwhile, Onestar was continuing with his story. “When Alderheart arrived on his quest, Darktail got the information that he had been seeking for so long: where I and the other Clans had gone after we left the forest territories. And just like that, he got the chance he’d always craved: to wreak revenge on me—the father who had rejected him—and our whole way of life.”
“I’m beginning to understand why you behaved as you did,” Mistystar remarked.
Onestar hesitated for a moment, as if he wasn’t sure whether the RiverClan leader was expressing sympathy. “When the rogues attacked us here, in WindClan territory,” he meowed at last, “and the fighting spilled into ThunderClan—that was the first hint I got that Darktail was my own kit. When he attacked me, he whispered, ‘I will destroy you, and all of the Clans, for what you did to me.’ At once, I understood the threat that Darktail posed to all of us, and to WindClan in particular. That’s why I wanted you, Rowanstar, to drive him out of your territory.”
Rowanstar snorted. “It would have helped if you’d told the truth from the start. I might have understood why you were so furious when I hesitated.”
“I know,” Onestar admitted. “But I couldn’t. All I could do was close my borders. And then,” he added, “Bramblestar convinced me to join with the other Clans to expel the rogues from ShadowClan. But in that battle…”
Onestar’s voice died away. He hunched his shoulders and his tail drooped; Violetpaw thought she had never seen a cat look so ashamed.
“What happened?” Mistystar demanded. “You wanted the rogues off Clan territory so badly, but suddenly you retreated with all of your warriors. Why?”
“I’m not proud of what I did,” Onestar replied. “But when I was grappling with Darktail—and I’ve never battled an enemy with strength so vicious—this cat who was my son leaned into me and whispered something…”
“What?” Squirrelflight asked tensely.
“He said… ‘What do you think will happen to a cat who rejected, and then killed, his own son? Surely that cat would end up in the Dark Forest. Think of that when you are on your last life!’ But what Darktail didn’t know was that I am on my last life. He made me so afraid…”
A gasp went up from all the assembled cats. Violetpaw knew how shocking it was for a leader to refer openly to being on his last life, and even more shocking to admit that he was worried about where he would go after death. She saw Kestrelflight, the WindClan medicine cat, wince and close his eyes briefly.
“You must be joking!” Rowanstar exclaimed incredulously. “The Dark Forest is not for a leader who saves his Clan from a terror such as Darktail—no matter whose kin he is!”
“That’s true,” Kestrelflight agreed. “The Dark Forest is for cats who have given themselves to evil. That isn’t you, Onestar. I could have told you that long ago, if you’d trusted me enough to be honest with me.”
Onestar looked down at his paws. “Maybe,” he sighed. “I admit that it was a selfish fear. But… well, things look a bit different when a leader is on his final life. I started to worry that StarClan would judge me harshly for my mistakes—and StarClan knows, I have made many of those.”
Silence followed the end of Onestar’s confession. Violetpaw couldn’t help feeling sympathy for him: it must have been hard to stand up in front of his Clan and his fellow leaders to admit what he had done. At the same time, she knew—perhaps better than many cats—what disasters had followed Onestar’s flight from the battle.
If WindClan had kept fighting with us, we could have defeated Darktail back then. He would never have been able to attack RiverClan. So many cats who are dead would still be alive.
Needletail wouldn’t have had to die…
As the silence dragged on, Onestar raised his head again. Suddenly he looked firmer, more decisive—more like a Clan leader.
“We all have the same problem,” he meowed. “The rogues go on attacking us, stealing territory, threatening vulnerable cats and kits. I know this problem is of my making, and I’m very sorry that I turned away from my friends. I won’t do that again; I’m no longer afraid. Darktail and his rogues need to be dealt with, no matter what happens to me—otherwise, they will keep on coming back, and more good cats will perish.”
“Then—” Bramblestar began.
“Yes,” Onestar affirmed. “WindClan will fight with the other Clans, to drive Darktail off our territory once and for all.”
Chapter 20
Alderheart crouched at the edge of the Moonpool, ready to touch his nose to the water. The sky was still streaked with the last light of sunset, and there was a reddish tinge to the surface of the pool. He hoped that was not a bad omen.