If we don’t need to work out what StarClan meant, then why did they bother telling us?
He was uneasy, too, about his own role in the battle to come. Although he had long ago stopped dwelling on his failed apprenticeship under Molewhisker, he still felt guilty that he couldn’t fight alongside his Clanmates.
I’ll be there to help the warriors who are injured, he told himself, but it wasn’t enough.
Determined to throw off these thoughts, Alderheart padded over to where Violetpaw and Twigpaw were sitting with their father, Hawkwing. Whitewing and Birchfall were sharing tongues close by.
“I’m looking forward to this fight!” Twigpaw was mewing as Alderheart approached. “I’d like to claw Darktail’s fur off!”
“Me too,” Violetpaw agreed, her voice more somber than her sister’s. Her face clouded with a dark expression. “Darktail will pay for what he did to Needletail.”
“She was a brave cat,” Alderheart meowed as he sat down next to her.
His words seemed to give some comfort to Violetpaw. “We all need to watch out for Darktail,” she continued after a moment, “especially if the fight takes us anywhere near water. Darktail has a thing about water.”
There was a sudden mrrow of excitement from Whitewing, who sat erect, her eyes wide. “I have an idea!” she exclaimed.
She scrambled to her paws and raced off to where Bramblestar was curled up with Squirrelflight near the bottom of the tumbled rocks that led up to his den.
Her mate, Birchfall, stared after her. “What’s gotten into her?” he muttered.
Hawkwing extended his forepaws and arched his back in a long stretch. “This is enough rest,” he meowed. “In SkyClan, we always like to get straight into the fight. The longer you wait, the more time you have to get nervous—and nerves are never good for battle.”
Twigpaw blinked up at her father. “Do you know how SkyClan got its name?” she asked.
“We were named after a cat who lived a long time ago,” Hawkwing replied. “He was Skystar, the first leader of our Clan. He appeared to Echosong, our medicine cat, many times before she died.”
Alderheart felt a shiver of wonder to think that a cat from so long ago could still remain in StarClan to speak to a living medicine cat. “Is that really true?” he asked.
“We think so,” Hawkwing told him. “Anyway, however we got our name, we certainly live up to it. We launch attacks from above—from the trees, or tall rocks. Fighting SkyClan must feel like you’re being attacked from the sky!”
Understanding lit up Alderheart’s mind like a flash of lightning. Springing to his paws, he bolted across the stone hollow after Whitewing, heading toward his father, Bramblestar.
“Leafpool! Jayfeather! Puddleshine! Mothwing and Willowshine! Come here!” he yowled as he went. “I’ve figured out what StarClan meant!”
Chapter 21
Every hair on Twigpaw’s pelt tingled with excitement as she padded along behind the gathered forces of her Clanmates. Violetpaw walked beside her, their fur brushing, on their way to ShadowClan territory. WindClan had joined them at sunset, and now the warriors of four Clans were advancing against Darktail and his Kin.
Twigpaw fluffed out her fur against the chilly evening air. Above her head the sky was growing dark, not just because the sun had gone down, but from clouds that were massing above the lake, bulging with rain. Twigpaw could sense that a storm was coming.
That might help the Clans, or it might not, she thought, splashing through the stream that divided ThunderClan from ShadowClan. All I know is, it’s been a long journey to get this far.
As the Clans advanced into ShadowClan territory, the pine trees stood tall ahead of them, looming in the dim light. Once they entered that part of the forest, Twigpaw knew, they would be fighting almost blind.
The thought brought claws of fear with it, snagging Twigpaw’s heart, and she tried to thrust it away. It will be terrible… We’ll be relying on scent to help us tell friend from foe.
Once Alderheart had reported his understanding of StarClan’s message to Bramblestar, the leaders and deputies had joined together in a quick conference. Then Bramblestar had sent Thornclaw with a message to Onestar, and announced to the cats remaining in the camp what their part in the fighting would be.
Twigpaw’s nose twitched, and she opened her jaws to taste the air, almost gagging on the reek of rogue that flowed into her mouth. “We’re getting close to the ShadowClan camp,” she whispered to her sister.
Violetpaw’s eyes narrowed. “This is it,” she murmured.
Bramblestar halted, raising his tail to signal to his followers that they should do the same. The warriors of ThunderClan, ShadowClan, WindClan, and SkyClan drew close together—a mass of cats, their paw steps almost silent as they padded over the thick layer of pine needles on the forest floor, their eyes gleaming with eagerness.
“Are you ready?” Bramblestar asked Leafstar.
The SkyClan leader gave him a brisk nod, then leaped up onto the lowest branch of a nearby pine tree. With a whisk of her tail she ordered her Clan to follow her.
That’s how SkyClan will attack, Twigpaw thought, her excitement building as she watched. They’ll launch themselves from above, just like Hawkwing said.
Twigpaw knew that the other Clans would use their special skills, too; that was what StarClan had meant when Firestar told them to remember their names. ThunderClan would attack like thunder: full-on, and with brute force; ShadowClan would slip unseen through the darkness of their own territory, with familiarity the rogues could never have; WindClan would dart in and out, quick and elusive.
And RiverClan? For the first time in a long time, Twigpaw felt a prickle of amusement in her belly and chest, tickling her throat. RiverClan’s part is the best! That was such a clever idea of Whitewing’s!
A hiss from above broke into Twigpaw’s thoughts. She looked up to see Hawkwing crouched on a branch above her and Violetpaw.
“Do you want to join me?” he asked. “I’d feel better, knowing you were close.”
At once Violetpaw shook her head. “Thanks, but I’ll fight better down here, on the ground,” she replied. “I know every paw step of this territory.”
“Take care, then,” Hawkwing responded. “Twigpaw, how about you?”
In answer, Twigpaw scrambled up the trunk, excitement surging through her as she balanced beside her father on the branch.
But what do I do, now that I’m up here? she wondered, with a questioning look at Hawkwing.
“Just follow me,” he meowed, as if she had spoken her thought aloud. “You’ll be fine.”
With Hawkwing just ahead of her, Twigpaw began moving from tree to tree. When she dared to look down, she could see the ThunderClan, ShadowClan, and WindClan cats creeping along the forest floor, all of them homing in on the camp where Darktail and his rogues were lurking.
This is amazing! she thought after a few moments, marveling at how quickly she was getting used to balancing on thin branches, and how her fear of falling was slipping away.
“Leafstar told us to fan out when we get close,” Hawkwing told her after a while. “The cats on the ground will attack in a straight line, so the SkyClan cats will be ready to jump down when the rogues try to run off at an angle.”
So he thinks of me as a SkyClan cat, Twigpaw commented to herself. I don’t know about that… but now isn’t the time to talk about it. Besides, he probably wasn’t thinking.