“That stick was your history,” Rock continued. “You cannot throw that away. The past is all around you, and cats who once were warriors will be warriors again.”
Jayfeather tensed and his claws scraped on the rock floor of the cave. “Do you mean Hollyleaf?” he asked urgently. “Have you seen her? Is she still alive?”
Rock blinked, and Jayfeather shivered at the thought that the ancient cat’s blind gray eyes could still see him very well. “Your past lies in the mountains,” Rock told him. “The place where I was born, the place where cats have returned before. You must go there once more to complete the circle.”
“Back to the Tribe of Rushing Water?” Now Jayfeather couldn’t get his questions out fast enough. “Are they in trouble?”
Rock didn’t reply. The clink of a stone behind him distracted Jayfeather for a heartbeat, and when he turned back, the ancient cat had disappeared.
“Rock!” he called, but the echoes of his voice died away into silence, and there was no answer.
As Jayfeather stood beside the stream, seething with frustration, he heard quiet paw steps approaching and looked around to see a young ginger-and-white tom emerging from a tunnel.
Fallen Leaves padded up to Jayfeather and dipped his head. His eyes were full of sadness. “Greetings, Jay’s Wing,” he mewed.
Jayfeather tensed as Fallen Leaves called him by the name he had borne in the ancient time. “Greetings.”
“The other cats have left, haven’t they?”
His tone was quiet, not accusing, but Jayfeather felt even guiltier because of the part he had played in the ancient cats’ departure from the lake. I wonder if Fallen Leaves knows what I did? “Yes, they’ve gone,” he admitted.
“I feel their absence inside me, like a silence,” Fallen Leaves meowed. “But your cats are still here. Come, let me take you to them.” Without waiting for Jayfeather to reply, he headed across the cave into the mouth of a different tunnel. Jayfeather hesitated for a heartbeat, then bounded in pursuit.
Fallen Leaves led him along the tunnels, and before Jayfeather thought it could be possible, they were standing in the hole again, in front of the branch. Of course—he has wandered these tunnels for so long. He knows the quickest way.
Suddenly, Jayfeather couldn’t bear the thought of leaving the young tom alone there again. “Come with me,” he urged.
Fallen Leaves shook his head. “We both know that can’t happen.” He raised his head and looked up at the sky. The clouds had cleared away, and the warriors of StarClan shone in a blaze of icy light. “The stars are still shining,” Fallen Leaves whispered with wonder in his eyes. “I never thought I would see them again. It’s good to know that they are still there, just as they have always been. The past is all around us.”
Jayfeather jumped, startled. That’s what Rock said!
“Your destiny lies up there, doesn’t it?” Fallen Leaves meowed, gesturing with his tail toward the sky. “You don’t belong here.” He reached out with his tail, and Jayfeather raised his own tail so that they touched for a moment.
“I wish you luck, my friend,” Fallen Leaves continued. “If ever you need me, I will be here.”
“Thank you,” Jayfeather murmured. He picked his way across the loose earth and scrambled up the branch. When he looked down into the hole again, Fallen Leaves had gone. “Hey, Fallen Leaves!” Desperate to see him once more, Jayfeather leaned out over the hole.
Something sharp jabbed into his side. Darkness slammed down over his vision as he opened his eyes and found himself leaning over the edge of his nest, his cheek pressed against the stone floor of his den.
“Jayfeather?” Briarlight’s voice was muffled, and Jayfeather realized that she was prodding him with a twig held in her mouth.
“Stop that,” he mumbled, sitting up and shaking the moss out of his pelt.
“I thought you were having a bad dream,” Briarlight mewed, more clearly now. “You were saying weird things…something about leaves falling. What was happening to you?”
Jayfeather ignored her question. Hauling himself to his paws, he stumbled past the bramble screen and out into the camp, almost barging into Mousewhisker as he headed for the fresh-kill pile. “Sorry,” he muttered, as the young tom whisked around him.
Over by the nursery, Poppyfrost’s kits were squeaking and tumbling about while their mother sat watching. Ivypool and Dovewing brushed through the thorn tunnel and staggered across to the apprentices’ den, their paws heavy with weariness after their night’s vigil.
Briefly Jayfeather wondered why they were still heading for their old den, until he remembered how little space there was in the warriors’ den. With no other apprentices, they’ll get a good sleep there.
In the middle of the hollow, he could hear Brambleclaw’s voice raised as he gave out the instructions for the first patrols of the day. “Graystripe, you can lead the dawn patrol. Take Squirrelflight, Birchfall, and Brightheart.”
“We’re on our way,” Graystripe responded.
“Keep an eye on the ShadowClan border,” Brambleclaw warned him. “We don’t want any more trouble.” As Graystripe’s patrol moved off, the deputy continued, “Thornclaw, you can take a hunting patrol along the stream that borders WindClan. There might still be some prey sheltering along the bank.”
“Okay, Brambleclaw. Which cats should I take with me?”
The deputy hesitated for a heartbeat, then meowed, “Blossomfall, Berrynose, and Lionblaze. Cinderheart, you lead another patrol down toward the lake…”
As soon as Jayfeather heard his brother’s name mentioned, he stopped listening to Brambleclaw and headed across the camp to intercept Lionblaze before he reached the thorns. “Lionblaze, wait! We have to go to the mountains!”
“What?” Lionblaze radiated shock and impatience. “Jayfeather, I’m headed out on patrol. You can’t spring something like that on me now.”
Jayfeather flicked his tail dismissively. “I had a dream,” he insisted. “Our destiny lies there!”
He could tell that he had aroused his brother’s interest. “Was it a dream from StarClan?” Lionblaze queried.
“No, from a cat even older than that. I think he knows where the prophecy comes from. Lionblaze, we have to go!”
Chapter 5
Ivypool thought her paws might drop off as she stumbled into her den and flopped down on her nest of moss and bracken. “I’m glad that’s over! I could sleep for a moon.”
“But it was worth it,” Dovewing mewed as she curled herself around her sister. “We’re warriors!” As Ivypool pressed gratefully into her warm pelt, she added softly, “Don’t go to the Dark Forest tonight. You need to rest.”
I wish I had the choice, Ivypool thought wearily. Didn’t Dovewing understand that she couldn’t control her visits to the Place of No Stars? I’d give anything not to have to wake up there ever again. But she didn’t speak the words aloud. She didn’t want to make Dovewing even more worried about her safety.
Warmed by her sister’s fur, Ivypool drifted into sleep. When she opened her eyes she hoped for a heartbeat that she would see her familiar den around her, with sunlight filtering in through the grasses that overhung the entrance. Instead, she found herself surrounded by the pale, sickly light of the Dark Forest. She was crouching in the shadow of a clump of bracken, the dead gray fronds arching over her head. A narrow path wound through the undergrowth a tail-length in front of her paws.
Ivypool let out a sigh. I should have known.
Before she could move, she heard approaching meows and the sound of several cats brushing through undergrowth. Ivypool waited as the first of them burst into the open.