Needlepaw appeared from nowhere, right in the rabbit’s path. She lashed out with one paw, and the rabbit’s shriek was cut off abruptly as it fell limply to the ground. “Thank you, StarClan, for this prey,” she meowed.
Then Needlepaw looked up, her eyes alight with the thrill of the hunt. “Wow, you’re fast!” she exclaimed. “You drove it right toward me.
That’s pretty impressive.”
Alderpaw turned away, embarrassed, though his chest was swelling with happiness. I was useful on a hunt! I wish Sparkpaw had been here to see that!
Padding over to Needlepaw, he nuzzled her head with his nose. “Thanks for your help,” he mewed. “We may be from different Clans, but I’m glad you stayed with us.”
When he and Needlepaw returned to the elder bushes with the rabbit, Alderpaw found his three companions cleaning earth from their paws. They sounded more cheerful as they greeted him and settled down to feast on the rabbit.
When they had finished eating, Alderpaw rose to his paws, clearing his throat nervously.
“I have something to tell you,” he began.
He paused, looking for the right words, and Molewhisker twitched one ear impatiently.
“Spit it out, then,” he meowed.
“It’s about the vision that sent us on this journey,” Alderpaw responded. “It’s more complicated than you know. I saw a group of cats—the cats of SkyClan—and I believe they need help.”
“SkyClan? Who are they?” Sparkpaw asked.
“I’ve never heard of them,” mewed Cherryfall.
“I don’t know much about them,” Alderpaw explained. “Only what Bramblestar and Sandstorm told me. Long ago, back in the old forest, there were five Clans, not four. But Twolegs took SkyClan’s territory, and the other four Clans drove them out. They made camp in a gorge, beside a river, but eventually their Clan withered and died.”
“And that could happen to us, if we don’t find what lies in the shadows,” Sparkpaw pointed out. “Firestar said a time of great change is coming. It doesn’t sound like good change.”
“That’s true,” Alderpaw meowed, struck by the balance. I wonder if SkyClan is what lies in the shadows, he mused.
“If SkyClan died out, who were the cats you saw?” Molewhisker asked.
“Firestar restored their Clan. He and Sandstorm went on a quest, long ago, and they brought cats together—descendants of the old
SkyClan—and established the Clan again. When I told Sandstorm what I saw in my vision, she recognized some of the cats.”
“So that’s how Sandstorm knew the way!”
Cherryfall exclaimed. “But how can we get to SkyClan, now that she’s dead?”
“Because she told me where to go,” Alderpaw replied. “If we head toward the rising sun, eventually we’ll come to a river, and if we travel upstream, we’ll find SkyClan’s camp in the gorge.”
His Clanmates exchanged uncertain glances; Alderpaw wasn’t sure that they believed him.
“Why did the other Clans drive SkyClan away and let them die out?” Molewhisker asked eventually.
“It’s a very shameful part of warrior history,” Alderpaw replied. “No cat knows the whole story, and the only living cat—apart from us—who knows anything is Bramblestar. I shouldn’t even be telling you, but I thought it was important for you to know the truth.”
After a few moments’ silence, while the cats were clearly thinking over what they had heard, Cherryfall got up and rubbed her cheek against Alderpaw’s. “That was brave of you,” she meowed. “Your first act as our leader.”
Alderpaw was touched, especially by her admission that they would follow him now.
“It will take us a few days to get used to all this,” Cherryfall went on, “but I’m glad you told us the truth.”
“So am I,” Needlepaw agreed.
Molewhisker rose to his paws and glanced around at his Clanmates. “I think I speak for all of us,” he mewed, “when I tell you that we pledge ourselves to do whatever it takes to find
SkyClan and complete the quest.”
As his friends murmured their agreement, Alderpaw thought that his heart would burst with pride.
Chapter 15
Alderpaw led the way cautiously along the cliff edge, his belly fur brushing the dusty ground. On one side, rough grass stretched into the distance, dotted here and there with scrubby trees and bushes. On the other, the ground fell away into a precipice; at the bottom a river tumbled along between sandy rocks.
We’re almost there! he thought, exultation breaking through his weariness. This must be close to the place where SkyClan made their camp.
Many sunrises had passed since Alderpaw had told his friends the truth about their quest.
Afterward they had hardly stopped to rest.
Following Sandstorm’s directions, they had passed through more farms, crossed busy
Thunderpaths, and skirted Twolegplaces until they reached the river and turned upstream.
I never knew the world was so big!
Alderpaw reflected, wincing as his sore paws padded over the gritty earth. I can’t believe how far we’ve had to travel! Casting a glance back at his companions, he could see that they were all as tired as he was, limping onward with tails drooping.
An unexpected gust of wind drove sand into
Alderpaw’s eyes and brought the sound of cats’ voices drifting up from the gorge below. Strong but unfamiliar cat scent came with it. Blinking fiercely, Alderpaw raised his tail to warn the others to be silent, and he crept forward to crouch at the very edge of the cliff.
When his vision cleared, he made out paths and jutting outcrops in the rock face and, far below, a pile of reddish boulders blocking the way ahead. The river poured out of a gaping black hole in the rock and dropped into a pool before flowing away down the gorge.
“This is where the river begins!” Alderpaw breathed out. “It must be where SkyClan’s camp is.”
It was a weird place for a camp, he thought.
He couldn’t see any dens, or any fresh-kill pile, just the heaps of red stone with the river cutting its way through. Cats live here? he asked himself, bewildered. Yet, as he looked more closely, he could see cats slipping between the boulders, pausing to talk to one another, sunning themselves, just as his own Clanmates did in their camp.
“Are these the cats from your dreams?”
Alderpaw realized that Needlepaw had crept up beside him and was peering over his shoulder. “They’re too far away for me to be sure,” he responded. “But the red rock seems familiar.”
“Hmm…” Needlepaw edged up beside him to give the scene a closer scrutiny. “They might be far away,” she continued, “but they don’t look like cats in need of help to me.”
Realizing she was right, Alderpaw let out a sigh. “Maybe I misinterpreted my vision.”
“What?” Sparkpaw, craning her neck to gaze down on Alderpaw’s other side, began to bristle with outrage. “You led us all this way for nothing?” she hissed.
“We can’t know Alderpaw is wrong,” Needlepaw retorted. “Not from this distance.
Maybe we should get closer.”
Alderpaw was grateful for her defense, for how she always had the spirit to adapt to setbacks, but at the same time he worried that Sparkpaw had a point. What if this journey has been wasted?