Firestar’s Quest

Firestar stood still, his tail flicking back and forth. “Are you there?” he called softly. “What do you want? Come and talk to me!”

There was no reply.

By now the mouse had vanished. Firestar opened his mouth and breathed in, trying to track down more prey. His ears strained to pick up the least sound of tiny paws; instead, all he could hear was a furious yowling and scuffling that broke out somewhere ahead, near the Twoleg fence. Was something—maybe a Twoleg dog—attacking his warriors?

He raced through the trees until he came to the edge of the wood. Ashfur and Brambleclaw were scuffling with an unfamiliar black-and-white cat. Brambleclaw had climbed onto the cat’s back, clawing at its neck fur, while Ashfur bit down hard on the end of its tail.

The black-and-white cat was writhing on the ground, his flailing paws barely touching his attackers. “Get off me!” he yowled. “I need to see Rusty—I mean Firestar!”

Firestar suddenly recognized the disheveled bundle of black-and-white fur. It was Smudge, the kittypet who had been his friend before Firestar left his Twolegs to live in the forest.

“Stop!” He ran over to the wrestling cats, lowering his head to butt Brambleclaw hard in his flank. Brambleclaw slid off Smudge’s back, glaring up with a furious hiss that broke off when he realized who had interrupted the fight.

“Leave him alone,” Firestar ordered.

“But he’s an intruder,” Brambleclaw protested, scrambling to his paws and shaking dust from his pelt.

“A kittypet intruder,” added Ashfur, reluctantly letting go of Smudge’s tail.

“No, he’s not,” Firestar corrected them. “He’s a friend.

What are you two doing here, anyway?”

“We’re the border patrol,” Brambleclaw told him. “With Dustpelt and Mousefur. Look, here they come.”

Following the direction of his pointing tail, Firestar spotted the two older warriors bounding rapidly through the trees.

“In StarClan’s name, what’s going on?” Dustpelt demanded. “I thought a fox must have gotten you from all that noise.”

“No, just a kittypet,” Firestar mewed, faintly amused at Brambleclaw’s and Ashfur’s outraged expressions. “Okay, carry on with your patrol,” he added.

“But what about the kittypet?” Ashfur asked.

“I think I can handle him,” Firestar mewed. “You’re doing fine, but just remember that not everything you haven’t seen before is a threat.”

Brambleclaw and Ashfur fell in behind Dustpelt and Mousefur as they continued their patrol; Brambleclaw cast a threatening glance back at Smudge and hissed, “Stay off our territory in the future!”

Smudge heaved himself to his paws, glaring at his attackers. His fur was covered in dust and stuck out in all direc-tions, but he didn’t seem to be hurt.

“You’re lucky I was here to save your pelt,” Firestar remarked as the patrol vanished among the trees.

His old friend let out a furious snort. “I’ll never understand you, Firestar. You actually want to live with these violent ruffians?”

Firestar hid his amusement. There was no point trying to explain that these violent ruffians were warriors who had risked their lives at his side time and time again.

“It’s good to see you again, Smudge,” he meowed. “Why did you come so far into the forest? You know it’s dangerous for you.”

Smudge looked away, scuffling the ground with his forepaws.

“Well?” Firestar prompted, when Smudge had been silent for several heartbeats.

The kittypet blinked. “I… I think,” he began haltingly, “that is, I’m afraid I might have to come and live in the forest with you.”

“Great StarClan! What’s happened? It’s not BloodClan, is it?” Firestar asked fearfully.

Smudge looked up for a moment. “Who?”

“Never mind. Your Twolegs, then—they haven’t thrown you out, have they?”

“No! My housefolk have always been very good to me.”

Smudge cast a longing look over his shoulder toward the red stone nest where he lived. “It’s just… well, I’ve been having these weird dreams, and I remember you told me that you had dreams before you went to join the forest cats.” Horror gleamed in his eyes, and Firestar, for all his sympathy, found himself hiding a purr of amusement that his old friend couldn’t imagine anything worse than having to live in a Clan. “I thought my dreams must mean I’d have to leave my housefolk.”

Firestar swept his tail around to touch his old friend on the shoulder. “I wouldn’t worry. Dreams have many meanings, and sometimes a dream is just a dream. I’m sure you won’t have to eat bones just yet.”

Smudge didn’t look reassured. “But these dreams are terrible!” he mewed. “I keep seeing lots of cats—they’re running away, but I never get to see what’s chasing them. They’re wailing and shrieking as if they’re scared or in pain. And sometimes I see a gray-and-white cat on his own. He keeps opening and closing his mouth as if he’s trying to tell me something, but I can’t hear what he’s saying.”

Every hair on Firestar’s pelt bristled. Smudge was having the same dreams as him! But why? Surely SkyClan didn’t think that a kittypet could help them?