Still frustrated and troubled by his dream, Jayfeather stood up with the other cats and climbed back up the spiral path. When they had scrambled down the rocky slope to the moorland, he found himself padding next to Littlecloud.
“I think Flamepaw managed very well for his first time,” the ShadowClan cat meowed. “He met Nightstar, who was our leader back in the old forest.”
“That’s good,” Jayfeather murmured, not mentioning that he had seen the young apprentice in his dream.
“I think he’ll be a great medicine cat,” Littlecloud went on. “He already knows a good number of herbs.”
Herbs! In his desperation to meet with StarClan, Jayfeather had forgotten about the question he had meant to ask.
“I came across this herb,” he began, “and I don’t know what it is.” Please, StarClan, don’t let him wonder why I haven’t asked Leafpool!
“What sort of herb?” Littlecloud queried.
“It has a sharp scent, and the leaves feel crinkly,” Jayfeather meowed, wishing he could have told the ShadowClan medicine cat what it looked like; even if he had been able to see it, the shriveled stalk wouldn’t have given him much of a clue to the fresh herb. “It tastes cold, like frost on fur, and even the dried leaves taste fresh like grass,” he added, remembering what Mousefur had told him.
“Hmm…” Littlecloud padded on thoughtfully for a few heartbeats. “It sounds like parsley to me. Its leaves have a very distinctive shape, like tiny shallow claws around the edge, and it tastes the same fresh or dried.”
“And what’s that used for?” Jayfeather struggled to keep the excitement out of his voice.
“Not much,” Littlecloud replied. “But it’s good for stopping milk in nursing queens if their kits die.”
Jayfeather stopped dead.
Or if their kits didn’t die, but were given to a different cat!
His heart was pounding so hard that he thought it would burst out of his chest. All the separate scraps of knowledge that he had gathered about his birth suddenly tumbled together into a terrifying pattern.
“Are you okay?” Littlecloud asked anxiously.
“What? Oh—yes, fine.”
Jayfeather forced his paws forward again. His mind was spinning and filling with flashes of light, and he hardly remembered to say good-bye to the other medicine cats when they reached the border of their territories.
He had always been told that Squirrelflight had no milk, so Ferncloud and Daisy had nursed him and his littermates. Which meant Squirrelflight wouldn’t have needed to take parsley. So maybe our real mother had to eat it to hide that she’d just given birth!
Jayfeather’s memory carried him back to when he was a tiny kit, struggling through the snow. He had to remember! Think about the scents, he told himself. That’s where the answers lie. His sense of smell had never before let him down when it was important. It couldn’t fail him now.
There was a cat close to him, walking slowly through the snow with the scent of milk clinging to her fur. It wasn’t Squirrelflight—it couldn’t be Squirrelflight. Suddenly, Jayfeather took a deep breath. He knew exactly which cat’s scent it was.
Everything added up. Which cat could depend on Squirrelflight’s loyalty, knowing she would carry out the deception for moons and moons, even if it meant lying to her own mate? Which cat had always poured out love and concern around him and his littermates? Which cat could never admit that she had borne kits?
Leafpool! Leafpool is our mother!
CHAPTER 21
Hollyleaf blinked wearily in the misty dawn as the elders and Purdy carried Honeyfern’s body out of the camp. The sun had vanished and the sky was covered with thick gray clouds. The breeze carried a tang of rain to come. All the Clan stood silently watching while their Clanmate went to her burial.
When the elders had disappeared through the thorn tunnel, Brambleclaw began organizing the day’s patrols. Hollyleaf spotted Sorreltail padding sorrowfully toward the warriors’ den, her head bowed and her tail trailing in the dust. She bounded after her, catching up to her beside the outer branches of the thornbush.
“I’m so sorry,” she meowed. “I’m really going to miss Honeyfern.”
“We’ll all miss her.” Sorreltail’s voice was choked with grief. “She was so gentle as a kit. And so quick to learn! She knew most of the hunting moves even before she was apprenticed.”
“She was always lots of fun to play with,” Hollyleaf told her, touching her nose to Sorreltail’s shoulder.
Sorreltail blinked. “She enjoyed being with you and your brothers. And she was always so worried that you wouldn’t get enough milk, because Squirrelflight couldn’t feed you.”
Hollyleaf began to bristle at the mention of the cat she had believed was her mother, and tried hard to make her fur lie flat again. She wouldn’t think about that betrayal when it was more important to comfort Sorreltail.
“It wasn’t Squirrelflight’s fault,” the tortoiseshell queen went on, obviously misunderstanding what was bothering Hollyleaf. “And you were well looked after. Ferncloud and Daisy fed you, and I don’t think Leafpool was ever out of the nursery, bringing them borage to make their milk come, and all the strengthening herbs she could find!”
“Leafpool did all that?” Hollyleaf asked.
“Oh, yes, she was always fussing over you! Maybe because you were her sister’s kits, or maybe because she was with you when you first came to the hollow.”
“I didn’t know that.” Hollyleaf felt a prickling in her fur. If Leafpool was with us, she must know who our real mother is!
Sorreltail nodded, then arched her back in a long stretch. “I’m going to see if I can get some sleep,” she murmured. “Maybe Honeyfern will walk in my dreams.”
As soon as Sorreltail had disappeared into the warriors’ den, Hollyleaf looked around for the medicine cat. She had vowed never to ask Squirrelflight anything more about her real parents; she didn’t want to speak to the cat who had lied to her ever again. But maybe Leafpool would tell her.
She spotted Leafpool talking to Firestar near the entrance to the thorn tunnel, and padded across to them, hovering a couple of tail-lengths away as she waited for a chance to get the medicine cat alone.
“You’ve been keeping vigil all night,” Firestar was meowing. “You’re exhausted. Why don’t you go out into the forest and get some air? Stretch your legs and maybe find a quiet spot to have a sleep, without any cat to interrupt you.”
“I shouldn’t leave the Clan…,” Leafpool protested.
“Jayfeather’s back from the Moonpool,” Firestar pointed out. “We can do without you for a little while.” He stretched forward and touched noses affectionately with Leafpool. “I could make that an order.”
Leafpool yawned. “All right, Firestar, but I’ll be back before sunhigh.”
“Take as long as you want.” Firestar dipped his head and padded away.
Hollyleaf waited until Leafpool had gone out through the thorn tunnel, then followed her into the forest. The medicine cat was out of sight, but Hollyleaf tracked her by her scent until she joined her at the top of a treeless rise overlooking the lake. Leafpool was sitting with her tail wrapped around her paws, gazing out across the water.
She sprang to her paws as Hollyleaf bounded up beside her. “Hollyleaf! Were you looking for me?”
“Yes, I—I wanted to ask you something.” Now that the moment had come, Hollyleaf didn’t feel so sure about what she was about to do. The answer would change her life forever. Was that what she wanted? I have to know the truth!