Bluestar's Prophecy

Bluefur shrugged. She didn’t have any appetite—in fact, she couldn’t imagine ever being hungry again—but she didn’t want her Clanmates to start asking awkward questions or send her back to Featherwhisker. She padded over to Whitestorm and forced herself to take a mouthful of the sparrow. It tasted like splintered wood.

Her heart thudded and skittered as she willed her Clanmates to their nests. Only when the moon hung high overhead did they begin to head for their dens. Bluefur stretched, pretending to yawn. She’d never felt less tired, but she headed into the warriors’ den, declaring to every cat within earshot how much she was looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

The den was dark, despite the swollen moon. Bluefur tripped over Goldenflower as she picked her way to her nest. “Sorry,” she hissed when Goldenflower grunted.

She curled down in the moss, eyes wide, as her denmates settled around her. None of them seemed willing to end the celebrations.

“I thought they’d fight for Sunningrocks,” Lionheart admitted.

“They might fight yet,” Thistleclaw growled. “New markers or not.”

Were they going to talk about those wretched stones till dawn? Bluefur felt the night slipping away.

“Are you okay?” Rosetail nudged Bluefur’s nest. “You keep fidgeting.”

“I’m fine,” Bluefur answered quickly.

“I’m sorry you didn’t get to go to Sunningrocks,” Rosetail sympathized. “But you didn’t miss much.”

“I don’t mind.” Bluefur closed her eyes. Go to sleep! Go to sleep!

At last the den grew quiet. Gentle snores stirred the air.

Gingerly, Bluefur got to her paws. Glancing around the nests, she looked for eyes glinting in the darkness.

Nothing.

Every cat was asleep.

She padded silently around the edge of the den. Something soft squashed beneath her paw.

“Get off!” Smallear’s sleepy mew made her jump. She stared down at the tom sprawled in his nest. She’d stepped on his tail.

“Sorry!”

He blinked, then rolled over and went back to sleep. Bluefur finally slipped out of the den. She skirted the clearing, keeping to the shadows.

No signs of life.

She crept toward the tunnel and crouched in the entrance. She could hear Adderfang keeping watch outside, his pelt brushing the gorse as he fidgeted. She waited until she heard his paw steps pad away. He must be patrolling the camp walls. She waited a moment, then scooted through the tunnel and slipped into the bushes on the other side.

No sign of Adderfang.

She darted out from the leaves and clambered over a rock, slipping down behind it, her breath coming fast. She couldn’t believe what she was doing: betraying everything that had once been important to her. She was a traitor, and not just to herself.

To her Clan.

To the warrior code.

Her heart pounded. What was she doing? She had to go back. Peering over the rock, she saw Adderfang returning to his post. There was no way she could retrace her steps now without being seen. She had to go on.

Silently, swiftly, she raced along the ravine and bounded up the rocks, careful not to disturb any loose stones. The moon lit her way as she scrambled over the top and sneaked into the forest. Keeping to the trails used by the Clan to go to the Gathering, Bluefur hurried through the forest. Moonlight shone through the bare branches, making the forest floor glow.

Had he waited?

Her heart rose in her throat when she reached the edge of the hollow. Below her, Fourtrees stood eerily silent, casting thick black shadows across the clearing.

If Bluefur kept going, she would change the course of her life. She knew it with such intensity that her paws seemed to freeze. For a moment she sensed the spirit of Snowfur. Her sister’s scent drifted in the air as birch-smooth fur wreathed around her pelt. Snowfur was trying to tell her something.

What is it?

Frustration surged through Bluefur’s pelt. Was Snowfur trying to stop her, or was she giving her blessing?

“I have to do this,” Bluefur whispered. “Please understand. It doesn’t mean that I don’t love you, or that I’m not loyal to my Clan.”

She shook herself, letting the cold night air pierce her fur and chase away the scents of her sister. Then she stepped over the crest and headed down the slope into the moon-bathed hollow.

Chapter 36

He waited!

Bluefur’s heart quickened as she saw Oakheart silhouetted in the moonlight. He sat gazing at the Great Rock, eyes shining. Leaves crunched under Bluefur’s paws as she approached him, echoing across the hollow.

He whipped around. “You came!”

She could smell his scent now. She opened her mouth, but couldn’t think of what to say.

“I thought maybe you weren’t going to…” He seemed to run out of words and stared at her instead.

Such softness in his eyes.

“I couldn’t get away,” she whispered.

“But you did.”

“Yes.”

Silence.