Firestar’s Quest

Sky finished off the last scrap of mouse, swiped his tongue around his jaws, and let out a long sigh. Then he curled up again and was asleep almost at once, his snores echoing around the cave.

Firestar and Sandstorm squashed up together in the remaining lined nest. Sleep refused to come to Firestar.

Bracken pricked against his fur, and Sky’s snoring echoed off the sandy walls. Sandstorm was restless too, shifting among the bedding.

But that wasn’t what kept Firestar awake. His mind buzzed with troubled thoughts. He wondered whether the SkyClan ancestor was watching him, or his former leader Bluestar. Neither of them had sent him any signs since he came to the gorge. Could the SkyClan leader be trapped somewhere else, unable to watch over his former home?

Eventually he slipped into a disturbed sleep. Sunlight streaming into the cave woke him the next morning.

Sandstorm was already sitting up beside him, grooming herself, while Sky snored in his nest opposite.

“Are you ready to go and hunt?” Sandstorm asked.

Firestar heaved himself out of the nest with a huge yawn.

His legs were stiff but he knew he wouldn’t sleep again. He gave himself a brisk shake to dislodge scraps of bracken from his fur. “Lead on,” he mewed.

By the time they reached the riverside, he was beginning to feel better. He waded through the shallows for a few paces, enjoying the sensation of cool water on pads that were still sore from scrambling up and down the cliff. Then he and Sandstorm headed downstream, to where the trees and undergrowth sheltered prey.

It was good to hunt side by side like this, Firestar thought, without having to worry about organizing patrols or keeping a watch on the borders. The forest suddenly seemed very far away.

Could I stay here forever? he wondered. Could I live without a Clan?

Then he heard Sandstorm let out a faint sigh. She was gazing down at an eddy in the river, where the current had scoured out a hollow under the bank beneath a hazel bush. It looked almost exactly like the place where ThunderClan crossed the stream on the way to Fourtrees.

Firestar’s thoughts went winging back to his own territory.

How had ThunderClan fared at the Gathering the night before, and what did the other Clans think when they heard he had left the forest?

The idea that he might choose not to go back seemed as remote as the stars. He was ThunderClan’s leader; the forest was where he belonged. Except for Sky, all the SkyClan cats were long gone. There was nothing more that Firestar could do for them. Once he had listened to the rest of Sky’s story, and found out why the SkyClan cats had left the caves, it would be time to go home.

He and Sandstorm hunted and carried their fresh-kill back to the cave. But when he reached the entrance, Firestar stopped in surprise. The hollow in the cave floor was empty.

Sky had gone.

Chapter 20

Firestar flattened his ears in disappointment. “I thought he would at least stay until we got back,” he meowed. “There’s so much more I wanted to ask him.”

Sandstorm dropped her prey beside Firestar’s and padded across to the hollow where Sky had slept. “He’s used to being alone,” she pointed out. “I suppose he just didn’t feel comfortable around other cats.”

Firestar twitched his tail tip, irritation raising the fur on his shoulders. “Now we’ll have to trek all the way up the gorge again. I don’t want to leave without speaking to him. I have to know more about SkyClan, especially why they left these caves.”

Sandstorm’s green eyes glinted at him. Firestar was afraid she would think he was becoming obsessed with SkyClan, particularly when there was no Clan to restore, nothing but memories and sand.

“I’ll feel as if I’ve failed the cat in my dreams if I don’t find out what destroyed the Clan in the end,” he defended himself. “It wasn’t just leaving the forest. They reached this place, and they could have thrived here, especially with their special 2 4 3

ability to leap. So what happened next? Why did they go?” He shook his head in frustration. “I have to know,” he repeated.

“It’s okay.” Sandstorm pressed her muzzle against his. “I understand. And if—”

A panting, scraping noise from outside the cave interrupted her. Sky clambered into the cave; a huge bundle of moss was clamped in his jaws.

Relief flooded over Firestar. “You’re still here!”

“And you found moss!” Sandstorm added.

The old cat dropped his burden and looked at her as if he thought she was mad. “You do use moss for bedding, don’t you? I haven’t dragged this stuff all the way up from the river for nothing?” He gave his nest of ferns a scathing look.

“Maybe you enjoy being pricked all night.”

“Yes, we use moss,” Firestar meowed, “but we couldn’t find any.”

Sky snorted. “I’ll show you later.” He pushed the bundle of moss toward them with one paw. “There, put it in your nests.

I don’t need any; I won’t be staying another night.”