Bluestar's Prophecy

She skidded to a halt, realizing that her paws were sending showers of stones down the slope. “Sorry!” she called. She waited while Stormtail led his patrol up the trail past her.

“Be more careful next time,” Stormtail scolded. Bluefur hung her head as White-eye, Robinwing, and Thrushpelt filed after him.

“Don’t worry,” Thrushpelt whispered. “We’ve all done it.”

As soon as they’d gone, Bluefur scrambled down the ravine, more carefully this time. She headed into the clearing and saw Lionpaw settling down with a piece of prey. At least he was alone. She would ask him straight out: Had Pinestar been getting him to talk to kittypets?

The gorse tunnel quivered, and Pinestar padded into camp.

Fox dung!

The ThunderClan leader looked calm, his pelt smooth and smelling strongly of bracken as if he had been rolling in fresh ferns.

Why?

It was obvious.

To get rid of the scent of catmint and Twolegs!

How could he? He was their leader, for StarClan’s sake!

Pinestar headed straight for the nursery.

Featherwhisker slid out as he approached. “Leopardfoot’s sleeping,” he told the ThunderClan leader. “The kits, too, since they’ve had some milk at last.”

Pinestar twitched the tip of his tail. “Can I see them?”

Featherwhisker stood aside. “The tom’s the weakest,” he warned as Pinestar squeezed into the brambles.

Poppydawn padded over to join Swiftbreeze. “About time, too,” she meowed, not bothering to keep her voice quiet. “If his kits had died in the night, they’d have gone to StarClan without ever meeting their father.”

Swiftbreeze shook her head. “Poor Leopardfoot. She kept asking for him. What must she think?”

Bluefur glanced at her paws. She wasn’t the only cat in ThunderClan questioning Pinestar’s loyalty. But she suspected she was the only one who knew just how far from the warrior code he was straying.

Chapter 21

A few sunrises later Bluefur approached Sunfall, who was washing below Highrock. “I’ll go on the sunhigh patrol,” she offered, relieved to catch him before he called the Clan together to assign duties for the day.

The ThunderClan deputy blinked. “You’ve been volunteering for a lot of patrols lately. Have you forgotten how to hunt?”

Bluefur paused. She was hoping he hadn’t noticed that she’d been tagging on to any border patrol she could. She wanted to check Twolegplace for any scent of Pinestar. She’d watched the ThunderClan leader closely, wondering every time he left the camp where he was going and whether to follow. There had been no scent of him on the Twoleg border so far, and she was beginning to wonder if she’d let her imagination run away with her.

“I just like patrolling,” she told Sunfall lamely. “But I’ll hunt instead, if you like.”

“Perhaps you might find it a little more interesting if you led a hunting patrol,” Sunfall suggested.

Bluefur pricked her ears. “Yes, please!”

“Good.” Sunfall signaled with his tail.

As the Clan gathered, worry fluttered in Bluefur’s belly. She’d never led a patrol before. Would she know what to do? Would she have to decide where to hunt, what prey to chase, how much to catch?

“Fine weather again,” Adderfang observed as he padded toward the ThunderClan deputy. Thistlepaw was at his heels, eager for any assignment that took him closer to being a warrior. The other warriors and apprentices padded after them. Robinwing was licking her lips, swallowing the last of her meal, while Dappletail kept bending to lick her chest; her morning wash was clearly not quite finished.

Sweetpaw was not with Smallear. For three sunsets she’d lain in her nest, too weak to move, unable to eat. Poppydawn had taken to sleeping outside the apprentices’ den, too worried to leave her ailing kit. Smallear had kept himself so busy helping Tawnyspots with Rosepaw’s training that the red-tailed apprentice had passed two assessments in as many days. Lionpaw was sick with envy.

“She’ll be a warrior before me!” he’d complained.

“She started her training before you,” Bluefur had pointed out.

She had decided not to question the golden-furred apprentice about Pinestar. Though she longed to, she knew that if her suspicions were wrong, Lionpaw would wonder why she was spreading rumors about ThunderClan’s leader. If they were right, the young cat could be too torn between loyalty to his leader and friendship with his denmate to tell the truth. It was too much to ask of him.

“Snowfur!”

Sunfall’s mew snapped Bluefur from her thoughts.

“You’ll patrol the RiverClan border with Thrushpelt, Tawnyspots, Sparrowpelt, and Windflight.” Sunfall always sent a strong patrol to check Sunningrocks these days. No one was sure how far RiverClan was prepared to push its luck.

“Dappletail and Goldenpaw, you check the ShadowClan border with Speckletail.” Sunfall glanced at Poppydawn, hollow-eyed beside the apprentices’ den. Was he wondering if she’d be better off patrolling than fretting over her kit? His gaze flicked back to his assembled Clanmates.