“Join us!” Jayfeather called, racing past the she-cat and heading for a swath of brambles.
“Bluestar!”
The old ThunderClan leader was eating a vole in the shade of a withering juniper. She looked up in surprise.
“Follow us!” Jayfeather told her.
Bluestar glanced down at the vole, then bounded toward them, her eyes shining with excitement. “Where are we going?”
“Wait and see!” Jayfeather led the cats down a ravine that cut through the middle of the woods.
As they scrambled up the other side, Jayfeather glanced over his shoulder, surprised by the long line of cats trailing in their wake. Tawnyspots, Frostfur, Swiftbreeze, and Adderfang had joined them. He reached the top of the ravine and caught sight of a thick, tangled pelt lurking in the shadows. “Yellowfang?” Her amber eyes narrowed as he called to her. “Come with us!” he urged.
She curled her lip. “What are you up to?”
Jayfeather stumbled to a halt. “I’m uniting StarClan!”
“Why would I follow fools?”
Jayfeather lashed his tail. “Don’t come, then! Stay here in the dark. My words will be wasted on you anyway.” He bounded forward, his Clanmates scrambling after him.
Pale light showed ahead and he pelted for the edge of the forest, breaking from the trees, tail high. The hill rose before him. Charging through ferns, he led his Clanmates onto the grassy slope. Cats were swarming from every direction, racing for the hill. He spotted Willowshine’s gray pelt leading a horde of RiverClan warriors. Kestrelflight raced from the valley, warriors skimming over the grass behind him like a flock of starlings.
Jayfeather’s paws ached from running but hope was swelling in his chest. At the crest of the hill, he stopped and turned, amazed by the ranks of StarClan cats crowding over the slopes below him.
Kestrelflight halted beside him. “Word must have spread.”
Willowshine slowed, panting, and sat down.
As Jayfeather plucked at the grass, Littlecloud scrambled to the top of the hill and stopped beside him. His eyes stretched wide as an owl’s as he saw the cats amassed below.
“Yellowfang came,” Willowshine whispered in Jayfeather’s ear. The mangy, old she-cat stood apart from the other cats, eyeing them distrustfully.
“StarClan!” Jayfeather stepped forward and lifted his chin. “Listen!”
“Why?” Yellowfang yowled. “We have the wisdom of ages. You have the stupidity of youth!”
Sunstar jerked around and hissed at her. “You can leave if you want to!”
Yellowfang flattened her ears but didn’t move.
Jayfeather tried again. “You must listen to me!” he called. “Yellowfang’s right. I’m younger than any of you.”
Mosskit flicked her tail as she padded out from behind Snowfur.
“Younger than most of you,” Jayfeather corrected himself. He unsheathed his claws. “There is a terrible threat to you all! And to the Clans you once lived in. You know the Dark Forest is rising. You can see it in the dead leaves that litter your hunting grounds, and the clouds that block out your sun.” Jayfeather glanced up at the gray sky. “You must face the truth. And the truth is worse than you ever imagined.” He gazed around the raised faces, hoping they understood. “The Dark Forest must be met and fought. You will not win by huddling together like families of mice. You must stand together or fall divided!”
“But how can we beat an enemy that can bring leaf-bare to StarClan?” Raggedstar called.
Darkflower’s eyes glittered. “They have grown stronger than us.”
Sunstar padded forward. “When we sent you the Prophecy of the Three, we didn’t know the Dark Forest would grow so powerful.”
“But now they are Four!” Bluestar pushed past her old leader. “The Ancients gave them an ally to make them strong enough to fight any enemy.”
Jayfeather’s pelt ruffled. “We don’t know who it is yet.”
Bluestar tipped her head. “Isn’t it obvious?”
Jayfeather frowned.
“You are not the first cats guided by a prophecy,” Bluestar prompted. “I was promised long ago that fire would save the Clan. It has never needed saving as much as it does now.”
The fire in the reeds. Always fire.
Bluestar nodded, as if she could see into his thoughts. “Get him,” she mewed softly. “He needs to know what is happening.”
Jayfeather spun and darted away down the far side of the slope. Skidding to a halt, he closed his eyes. Forcing his thoughts into the minds of his Clanmates, tucked tight in their nests in the hollow, he searched their dreams for the cat who had always been destined to save his Clan.
“Surrender, you fox-hearts!”
“Never!”
Jayfeather crashed into a battle. He felt smooth rock beneath his paws. It stretched, flat and wide, toward a dark wall of pine trees. Jayfeather flinched as cats fought around him, throwing up dust from the sandstone as they reared and slashed at one another. A flame-colored pelt glowed at the heart of the battle.
“Firestar!”
The ThunderClan leader was wrestling with a dark-furred ShadowClan warrior. “Sunningrocks will never be yours!” With a sharp thrust of his hind paws, Firestar heaved the warrior away. His muscles flexed with the strength of a young cat, and his eyes were green and fierce.
“Firestar!” Jayfeather yowled again, dodging between the battling warriors.
Firestar froze, blinking at him.
Jayfeather halted in front of his leader. “Come with me.”
Firestar pricked his ears. “Why?”
“The prophecy needs more than the Three. We need a fourth cat.”
“What do you mean?”
Jayfeather twitched his tail impatiently. “When I went to the mountains, the Tribe of Endless Hunting told me that the prophecy could only be fulfilled if we found another cat. Mothwing showed me an omen, a fire in the reeds by RiverClan. It’s you, Firestar. You are the fourth cat.”
Firestar tipped his head to one side. “Yet again, fire will save the Clan,” he murmured. “Very well. What do you need me to do?”
“Follow me.” Jayfeather turned and dived between the battling cats, racing to the edge of the wide, flat rock.
Firestar quickly caught up. “Where are we going?”
“You’ll see.” Jayfeather drew in a breath and flung himself over the cliff, feeling a rush of air before his paws hit grass. Firestar landed beside him, eyes wide. They were on top of the hill beside the medicine cats. Below, StarClan was waiting.
“They needed to see you,” Jayfeather explained.
“Why?”
“Because the prophecy makes you part of this. The life you have left will save the Clans.” Jayfeather turned to face the ranks of StarClan. “You must follow me once more,” he yowled. “You need to see for yourselves.” Beckoning with his tail, he headed down the slope, not to Firestar’s dream battlescape, but into a dingy forest where slimy bushes choked the roots of the trees and the sunshine turned to eerie half-light. Firestar’s pelt brushed his as they crept deeper into the woods. Behind them, StarClan sparkled in the shadows, muttering.
“How can any warrior live in such darkness?”
“It smells foul.”
Jayfeather heard a battle cry echo between the trees. “Look.” He flicked his muzzle toward the shadows ahead. Dark pelts flitted through the slippery undergrowth. Agonized cries rose and fell in the darkness. Then one voice rasped louder than the others.
“Hook your claws into her spine and go for her throat!” Mapleshade loomed suddenly in front of them. Blind to the watching StarClan cats, she aimed a heavy blow at the ear of a scrawny tom and sent him reeling away.
Brokenstar stalked from the trees. “Hasn’t Shredtail mastered the death blow yet?” He scowled at the tabby, who was wiping blood from his nose. Then he yanked the tortoiseshell to her paws, blood welling on her fur where his claws pierced her pelt. “If your opponent wasn’t so useless, you’d be ripped to shreds by now. I want as many Clan cats dead as there are birds in the forest!”