“Watch out!” Pouncekit mewed a warning to Lightkit as Spirekit sprang. Lightkit pretended to struggle to escape as the tiny kit began tugging at her tail. Hollowkit squealed with delight and flung himself at Pouncekit. He reared and hooked his claws into her shoulder, and she wailed dramatically and fell to the ground.
“You got me!” Pouncekit groaned as he clambered onto her flank and stood there triumphantly.
“Tigerheart!” Lightkit’s eyes lit up as she saw her father pad into camp. She pulled free of Spirekit and raced to meet him, sniffing eagerly at the prey he was carrying. “You caught a mouse!” She bounced around him. “Can I have it? I love mouse. It’s my favorite.”
Tigerheart dropped the prey at the edge of the small clearing. “It’s Shadowkit’s favorite too,” he told her. “You’ll have to share.” He glanced around the camp. Ant and Cinnamon were resting in a patch of sunshine that filtered between the branches. Rippletail was mending a hole in the bracken wall, threading brambles through, which Sparrowtail passed over the top. “Where is Shadowkit?” He couldn’t see the gray tom-kit.
“He and Dovewing went out of camp to talk.” Lightkit was sniffing the mouse distractedly.
Hollowkit and Spirekit hurried to sniff it with her.
“It’s all furry.” Spirekit frowned.
Pouncekit padded to join them. “I like the fur,” she mewed. “It’s chewy.”
As Hollowkit wrinkled his nose, Tigerheart peered over the top of the low camp wall. He could see Dovewing and Shadowkit a little way away, their heads bent together as they talked. He nodded to Lightkit. “Why don’t you show Spirekit how to strip out the meat?” he suggested. “But remember to leave some for Shadowkit.”
“Okay.” She dragged the mouse away from the fresh-kill pile and began to nibble through the fur. Spirekit watched her eagerly.
Tigerheart leaped the camp wall and padded toward Dovewing and Shadowkit. What were they talking about so intently?
Dovewing looked up as he neared. She blinked as though she was relieved to see him. “You’re back.” There was worry in her mew.
“Is everything okay?” Tigerheart glanced from Dovewing to Shadowkit. The gray tom’s eyes were round and anxious.
“Shadowkit had a dream,” Dovewing told him.
“A bad one?” Had the kit had a nightmare?
“No.” Dovewing smoothed her tail along Shadowkit’s spine. “Tell Tigerheart what you told me.”
“I know how to get to the lake,” Shadowkit mewed earnestly.
Tigerheart frowned. “Really?” Had the kit been exploring?
“I dreamed it,” Shadowkit explained. “I dreamed about the Twolegplace Spiresight said was at the end of the Thunderpath, and then I saw beyond. There was a valley with birch trees edging a small stretch of water and then a hill rising to moorland.”
Moorland? Tigerheart stiffened. Was Shadowkit talking about WindClan territory? “Did you see beyond the moor?” He leaned closer to Shadowkit.
“The moor stretched over a hilltop, then down to a lake.”
Tigerheart’s throat tightened with excitement. Were they that close to home? “What did the lake look like?”
“There was pine forest on one side, and oak forest, and near a marshy stretch of reeds at the far end, there was an island.”
Tigerheart lifted his gaze to stare at Dovewing. “Our lake,” he breathed. “He saw our lake in a dream.”
This one will see into the shadows. Tigerheart remembered Spiresight staring at Shadowkit on the day he was born. This dream must be a vision. How else could Shadowkit describe the lake so exactly? Pelt prickling along his spine, he stared at Dovewing. “Have you ever described the lake to him?”
“Not in that much detail,” she told him. “I said that there was forest beside it, but I don’t think I said what kind, and I didn’t mention the reed marshes or the island.”
Tigerheart’s gaze flitted eagerly back to Shadowkit. “Do you think you could lead us there?”
“I dreamed the whole route,” Shadowkit told him. “As though I were a hawk flying over it.”
“But could you recognize it from the ground?” Tigerheart pressed. Asking such a young cat to lead the patrol home was a big responsibility to place on small shoulders. He wanted to make sure Shadowkit could do it. “Could you tell us which paths to follow?”
“Yes.” Shadowkit nodded eagerly. “That’s why I had the dream. I knew it while I was dreaming. It was to show you the way home.”
Tigerheart’s belly tightened. Shadowkit’s bond with StarClan must be strong. He wondered whether it would last, or if their ancestors were just using the kit to guide their paws now. He blinked fondly at his son. “Thank you, Shadowkit. We’ll discuss what you’ve told us with the others.”
Shadowkit’s pelt prickled uneasily. “We will go, won’t we?”
“Of course,” Tigerheart promised. “We just need to decide when.”
“Soon.” Urgency shone in Shadowkit’s eyes.
“As soon as we can.” As Shadowkit searched his gaze, Tigerheart waved him away with a flick of his tail. He had to talk about it with Dovewing and then the other cats. “Lightkit’s stripping a mouse for Spirekit. She promised to save you some. Go and eat. You must be hungry.”
Shadowkit gazed at him for another moment, then turned toward the camp. As he padded away, Tigerheart looked at Dovewing. “Do you think StarClan is really sharing dreams with him?”
“I don’t see how else he could have described the lake so precisely.”
“It seems too good to be true.”
“You saw him,” Dovewing mewed. “How sincere he was. He believes his dream is true, and so do I. Perhaps he is connected to StarClan. Perhaps I dreamed I should travel to the city because I was carrying him in my belly.”
Tigerheart shifted his paws. Spiresight had said that Shadowkit would be special. “Do you think he’ll be a medicine cat?”
“Let’s worry about that when we get home.” Happiness suddenly sparked in Dovewing’s green gaze. “I never imagined we were so close.”
Tigerheart could see over the camp wall from here. Spirekit had wandered away from Lightkit as she pulled the mouse apart and was watching his father’s tail twitch as Sparrowtail worked on the camp wall. Excitement sparked in the tiny kit’s gaze as the tail flashed back and forth in front of him. With a squeak, he pounced and fell onto his side. Wrapping his paws around the tail, he began churning it with his hind claws. Sparrowtail hardly seemed to notice.
Tigerheart turned back to Dovewing. “Do you think Berryheart’s kits are ready to travel?”
“They’re still very small,” Dovewing murmured. “Even walking for two days would be hard on them. Especially in cold weather. They only have kit fur.”
“Let’s ask the others.” Tigerheart headed back to the camp, Dovewing at his heels. When he reached the small clearing, he lifted his chin. “I must speak with you.” He looked around the camp, meeting the gazes of Ant, Cinnamon, Cloverfoot, and Blaze as they turned to look. “Shadowkit has had a dream.”
Rippletail left his work at the camp wall.
Sparrowtail shook Spirekit from his tail and licked him between the ears. “Go and play with the other kits,” he mewed.
“You too.” Berryheart got to her paws, nudging Sunkit away.
Dovewing nodded at Pouncekit. “Will you keep the young kits busy while we talk?”
“Can’t we listen too?” Pouncekit asked as Sunkit, Hollowkit, and Spirekit hurried toward her.
“You can listen,” Dovewing meowed. “But you can’t interrupt.”