Firestar’s Quest

Before they reached the path on the other side of the cave she had plunged into the river; she swam strongly to where her kit had vanished and dived down under the water.

Terror stabbed through Firestar. Would he have to save the mother as well as her kit? Then Clovertail reappeared, gripping Bouncekit firmly by the scruff. Dragging him with her, she reached the side of the pool, where Firestar and Sandstorm leaned over to take the kit while Clovertail hauled herself onto dry ground.

“Bouncekit!” she exclaimed. “Bouncekit, are you all right?”

Shivering, Bouncekit let out a feeble cry and vomited up a mouthful of water. His mother nudged him into a patch of sunlight, where he flopped down like a damp leaf. Clovertail crouched beside him and began licking him fiercely, ruffling his fur the wrong way to dry him out and get him warm again.

Firestar looked around for the other two kits and spotted them edging their way nervously along the path that led underneath the rocks to the cave where the moss grew.

Emerging from the cave they pattered along the riverbank and halted in front of their mother, their eyes wide with fear.

“Will Bouncekit be okay?” Tinykit asked in a small voice.

Clovertail looked up from her licking. Already Bouncekit’s fur was almost dry and he was trying to sit up.

“I don’t know what the three of you were thinking of!” she hissed. “You know very well you shouldn’t have gone into that cave without me.”

“But we knew you wouldn’t let us—” Rockkit began.

“Of course I wouldn’t let you! And now you can see why.”

She gave Bouncekit a few more rough licks; Firestar could tell she was angry only because she had been so terrified. “It’s dangerous under there, and you’re all too small to swim properly. What if I hadn’t been here?”

Bouncekit managed to scramble up and stood groggily on all four paws. “It’s my fault,” he mewed. “It was my idea.”

“I don’t care whose fault it was.” Clovertail rose and shook herself; drops of water spun away from her pelt, spattering Firestar and Sandstorm. “You’re all to go straight back to the nursery. No more play for any of you today.”

Rockkit let out an indignant wail, then broke off as his mother glared at him. “Go on. Now,” she ordered.

Crestfallen, the kits turned away; then Tinykit glanced back. “There’s a cave in there, full of shining moss,” she mewed. “And there were voices talking to us.”

Startled, Firestar stepped forward. “What did they say?”

“They were so quiet that we couldn’t hear,” Bouncekit replied.

“Voices, indeed!” Clovertail scolded. “Haven’t you been naughty enough without making up stories?”

“But we’re not making it up!” Tinykit protested, her white tail quivering. “We did hear voices—lots of them.”

“I don’t want to hear any more about it,” her mother meowed. “You’re never to go into that cave again, and that’s the end of it.” Snorting in annoyance, she began herding her kits back toward the Rockpile.

Firestar exchanged a glance with Sandstorm. Skywatcher had told them that the SkyClan medicine cats had shared tongues with their ancestors in the cave where the river flowed out. Could the kits possibly have heard the voices of the SkyClan warriors from so long ago?

He and Sandstorm helped the three kits clamber over the Rockpile, but when they had begun to climb the trail to the nursery he held Clovertail back with his tail on her shoulder.

“Where did you learn to swim like that?”

Clovertail shrugged. “I haven’t always lived in the gorge,” she explained. “I was born farther downriver, near an abandoned Twoleg nest. My mother taught me to swim for fish.”

Firestar wondered if the Twoleg nest was the one he and Sandstorm had passed on their journey.

“One of the Clans in the forest where I live is called RiverClan,” he told Clovertail. “They swim and catch fish all the time. I’ve never heard of any other cats who enjoy swimming, until now. I wonder if you have RiverClan ancestry.”

Clovertail’s eyes widened. “Does that mean I don’t belong to SkyClan?”

The dismay in her tone encouraged Firestar. It showed that at least Clovertail wanted to be a member of SkyClan, and had the seeds of loyalty to her Clanmates and the warrior code.

“No,” Sandstorm meowed, touching her nose to Clovertail’s ear. “You’re a SkyClan cat through and through, because that’s where you’ve chosen to live.”

“Cats can change Clans,” Firestar added, remembering how Brambleclaw’s sister Tawnypelt had followed their father, Tigerstar, into ShadowClan. “It doesn’t happen often, and it doesn’t always work. But being a member of a Clan is about more than just blood.”

“Even more,” Sandstorm went on, “you’ve proved that you have warrior blood in you. You owe it to your ancestors to learn their skills of hunting and fighting so that the warrior code can live on in you.”

Clovertail blinked. “I promised that, didn’t I, when I was made a warrior? I’m starting to understand now what the words mean. But I still don’t think I’ll be much use—not like you and Sharpclaw.”