“Surrendering your duties is the only honorable thing to do,” Littlecloud meowed. He sounded helpless; Dovewing guessed that he was torn between his dismay at the accusation and the horror he felt that it might be true.
Jayfeather’s head jerked up. “But we walk alone now, don’t we?” His voice was clear and steady. “I know you’ve all had visits from your ancestors, telling you that each Clan must look to its own future. You have no right to tell me what to do! I shall remain as ThunderClan’s medicine cat!”
There were gasps from the clearing as Jayfeather defied his fellow medicine cats. Dawnpelt looked furious. Her jaws were open to protest when lightning crackled down from the sky, splitting the night. Its pale light outlined the pine trees and the bushes that surrounded the clearing, and rimmed the leaves of the great oak with a line of silver.
Lionblaze shuddered as the lightning was followed by a massive crash of thunder, so loud that it sounded as if the ground beneath his pads were cracking apart. A sharp wind rose, thrashing through the leaves and flattening the cats’ fur to their sides. Clouds blotted out the moon.
In the darkness one of the cats wailed, “StarClan is angry!”
Then rain poured out of the sky, an icy curtain sweeping across the clearing. Lionblaze’s fur was soaked within the first heartbeats. The cats let out wails of shock and terror as they began to flee for cover.
From the Great Oak Lionblaze heard Firestar’s voice ring out. “Home, quickly!”
The Gathering broke up in chaos as cats fled through the bushes, heading for the tree-bridge. Lionblaze sprang across the clearing, making for the spot where he had last seen his brother.
“Jayfeather!” he yowled. “Over here!”
To his relief lightning flashed out again; by its light he spotted Jayfeather struggling toward him around a knot of terrified WindClan cats. He looked skinnier than ever, his tabby fur plastered to his body.
“Let’s get out of here,” Lionblaze muttered, thrusting through the crowd of cats to his brother’s side.
As they turned toward the bushes Dawnpelt bounded past them, halting for a heartbeat to hiss at Jayfeather. “This is not over!”
Trying to force a way out of the clearing, Lionblaze realized that the cats had divided along battle lines as suddenly as the lightning had struck. Clan snarled at Clan, their claws extended and their lips drawn back to reveal sharp teeth. Their leaders yowled for control, but between fear and anger their warriors ignored them.
Lionblaze halted for a heartbeat to look up at the veiled moon. Great StarClan! The Clans are turning on one another, just when we need to stand side by side against a greater enemy than anything we have ever faced before!
Chapter 24
Thunder crashed overhead as Jayfeather raced back along the shore. His mind was whirling so much that he kept stumbling, blinder than usual. Somewhere in the chaos he had lost Lionblaze, and the pelting rain smothered his senses. He wasn’t even sure where he was.
Through his confusion he realized that another cat was bounding at his side, matching him stride for stride. Squirrelflight’s voice spoke in his ear. “Here, lean on me. Let me guide you.”
Jayfeather’s instinct was to hiss at her to leave him alone. But her pressure on his side was too comforting, supporting him through the tumult of his thoughts.
How could Dawnpelt think I killed Flametail? I nearly drowned myself—I would have died if it hadn’t been for Rock, forcing me to let Flametail sink into the depths. He shuddered, and almost tripped over a boulder.
“Steady,” Squirrelflight warned. “Come farther this way.” After a moment she murmured into his ear, “Don’t worry, no cat believes Dawnpelt. She’s been driven mad by grief, that’s all.”
Jayfeather wasn’t convinced. Then why did they want me to give up being a medicine cat? The Clans are too eager to believe the worst of one another just now.
Back in the stone hollow, Jayfeather headed for his den. Though the torrential rain had eased off, his pelt was drenched and he was utterly miserable, each paw step a massive effort. But before he reached the screen of brambles, he heard Firestar splashing up to him through the puddles that had formed on the floor of the hollow.
“Get some rest,” his Clan leader ordered. “We’ll discuss this in the morning. But don’t doubt the loyalty of any of your Clanmates. We’ll defend you whatever happens.”
Firestar’s voice was bone-weary, and Jayfeather wondered if he was tired of his cats being accused of murder. He gave Firestar a brief nod and brushed past the brambles into his den.
“Hi,” Briarlight greeted him, raising herself in her nest. “How was the Gathering? Did any cat mention Sol? What did the other Clans think about Hollyleaf coming back?”
“Disastrous, no, and not impressed,” Jayfeather listed, making for his nest and collapsing into it.
“Okay.” Briarlight sounded puzzled rather than offended. Jayfeather heard her dragging herself across to him, and tensed at the feeling of her tongue licking his sodden fur. “It’s obvious that something’s wrong. Let me look after you for once,” she mewed.
Jayfeather was too exhausted to protest; he was already sliding into sleep. He opened his eyes to find himself in a sunny clearing, the air warm and filled with delicious prey-scent. A ruffled gray she-cat was sitting on a fallen tree trunk, waiting for him.
“Oh, no!” Jayfeather groaned. “Not you again!”
“Show a bit of respect,” Yellowfang snapped, jumping down from the tree trunk and padding across to him. “It’s all happening now,” she continued. “But don’t worry. No cat in StarClan thinks you murdered Flametail.”
Oh, great! Jayfeather thought. I’m so glad. It’s a pity that doesn’t help me much, isn’t it? He wondered if any of the StarClan warriors had seen Rock with him in the lake when Flametail died, but before he could ask, Yellowfang turned on him with a lash of her tail.
“What were you thinking, letting Cinderheart give up her warrior duties to become a second medicine cat? That’s not what StarClan wanted!”
“Hey, hang on!” Jayfeather leaped out of range of her claws. “It was you who told me to walk in Cinderheart’s dreams and show her that she used to be Cinderpelt. You said ThunderClan needed a second medicine cat. Don’t start blaming me now because I did what you wanted.”
“Yes… well…” Jayfeather’s eyes stretched wide in amazement as he realized that Yellowfang was embarrassed. “I… er… might have got that wrong,” she admitted, not meeting his gaze. “I was thinking too much about ThunderClan’s needs. Cinderheart’s destiny is to be a warrior.”
Some StarClan cats must have told her off about this, Jayfeather realized, suppressing a purr of laughter. Wow, I wish I’d been a bird on a branch when that conversation was going on!
“Cinderheart is confused,” he meowed. “She doesn’t know who she is.”
“Then you must show her that she is a warrior, nothing else,” Yellowfang told him.
“It might be useful to have a second medicine cat when the final battle comes,” Jayfeather mused. “But I guess Cinderheart can still use her knowledge of herbs and medicine, even if she is a warrior. Like Leafpool does.”
Yellowfang let out a hiss, her embarrassment completely gone. “What did I tell you about Leafpool? She is not allowed to use her medicine cat skills anymore, and neither can Cinderheart, if she chooses to be a warrior.”