Firestar’s Quest

As he approached the Rockpile, listening to the unending murmur of the river, he paused and raised his eyes to Silverpelt. In the forest, the light of his warrior ancestors was a comfort to him, but he could not even be sure that they walked these strange skies.

“Can you hear me?” he whispered. “Bluestar, Spottedleaf, Yellowfang, if you are listening, please help me keep ThunderClan safe from what lies ahead.”

Chapter 26

Firestar slept fitfully and woke at dawn to find that clouds had covered the sky. A stiff breeze was blowing, and a few leaves whirled down from the bushes on the cliff top. Leaf-fall could not be far away. Giving himself a quick grooming, he tried to forget his fears from the night before. The meaning of Skywatcher’s prophecy was hidden in the moons to come. He could do nothing about it now.

Clovertail and her kits had finally settled in the nursery, leaving room for the new SkyClan warriors to share the big cave with Firestar and Sandstorm. Restless to be doing something, Firestar padded across the cave and prodded Sharpclaw with one paw.

“Wha…?” Sharpclaw raised his head, blinking.

“Time for a dawn patrol,” Firestar announced.

Sharpclaw groaned, then hauled himself out of his nest and shook scraps of moss and fern from his pelt while Firestar roused Leafdapple.

“We’ll fetch Cherrypaw and Sparrowpaw and patrol the borders,” he explained.

Leafdapple looked puzzled. “We haven’t got any borders.”

“We’re going to set some.”

He led the way down the trail to the cave they had chosen for the apprentices’ den, wondering how Cherrypaw and Sparrowpaw had coped with their first night away from their Twolegs. He remembered settling them in the night before, helping them to carry moss up from the cave beside the river and arrange it into comfortable nests.

Sparrowpaw’s eyes had grown wide with anxiety as the sun set and night crept into the gorge. “I wonder how our housefolk are feeling,” he muttered.

Cherrypaw gave him a comforting lick. “They’ll be okay, and so will we. We’re Clan cats now.”

But Firestar had noticed the tip of her tail twitching, and knew she wasn’t as confident as she pretended.

When he and the other warriors arrived outside their cave that morning, Cherrypaw shot outside, her fur sticking all over the place.

“Are we going hunting?” she demanded. “I’m starving!”

“Elders and nursing queens eat first,” Sharpclaw reminded her, with a glance at Firestar.

“That’s right, but Sandstorm will lead a hunting patrol later on for the rest of the Clan,” Firestar mewed. “We’re the dawn patrol, and we can pick up some prey on the way.”

“Are we allowed to do that?” Cherrypaw asked.

“Sure,” Firestar replied. “It’s only hunting patrols who have to bring their fresh-kill back for the Clan.”

“Good.” Sparrowpaw poked his head out of the den behind his sister. “Let’s get going!”

Firestar led the way up the gorge past the path that led to Skywatcher’s den, as far as the rocks where they had saved Clovertail and her kits from the fox. He wondered if the first SkyClan warriors had set their boundaries anywhere nearby; he guessed they would have marked out a bigger territory than the new SkyClan needed now, with fewer mouths to feed and fewer warriors to guard the borders.

“We’ll set the first scent markers here,” he explained.

“Then any cat who comes along will know that this is our territory. If you keep renewing the marks, then over a few moons a really strong scent builds up.”

A shiver went through him from ears to tail tip. When he first came to the forest, the borders of ThunderClan had been settled for more seasons than any cat could remember.

The decisions he made now would affect SkyClan for seasons to come.

“Do other cats respect the boundaries?” Leafdapple asked.

It was a good question, Firestar thought. Cats from other Clans would think twice before crossing border markers, but there were no other Clans in this remote place.

“You might have trouble from rogues—” he began.

“We’ll soon teach them to stay out of our territory,” Sharpclaw interrupted, flexing his claws.

“Or get them to join us,” Leafdapple suggested quietly.

“We were rogues ourselves not so long ago.”

When the first markers were set, Firestar found a trail that led up to the cliff top on the side opposite the camp. The cats headed downstream again along the top of the gorge.

“Here’s a good place for another scent marker,” Firestar meowed, pointing with his tail toward a boulder that broke through the thin soil a couple of tail-lengths from the cliff edge. “It’s always a good idea to have a marker you can see as well as scent. That way it’s easier to remember where they are.”

“Can I do it? Please?” Cherrypaw bounced up to the rock.

“Okay. You saw what I did back there. Catch up when you’ve finished.”