Lost Stars

“I love hunting!” Rootpaw exclaimed, his eyes shining. “Don’t you love it, Bristlepaw?”

“I’d love it if there were anything to hunt,” Bristlepaw snapped. Of course I love hunting. I’m going to be a warrior, aren’t I? What a mouse-brained question!

Rootpaw didn’t seem bothered by her curt tone. “If you’re short of prey in ThunderClan, I could bring you some,” he offered.

Bristlepaw’s irritation flared into pure anger. Stretching out her neck, she hissed into Rootpaw’s face. “ThunderClan cats can catch their own prey, thank you very much!”

Rootpaw jerked backward, his eyes wide with distress. “I—I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I didn’t mean to say you couldn’t.”

Bristlepaw instantly felt guilty when she saw how much she had upset the younger apprentice. She was trying to find the right words to apologize when the voice of Tigerstar rang out from the branches of the Great Oak.

“Cats of all Clans, it’s time for the Gathering to begin!”

Bristlepaw glanced up at his powerful tabby figure poised on a branch, and when she turned back again, she saw that Rootpaw wasn’t by her side any longer. She spotted him scurrying into a group of SkyClan cats, including the two apprentices who had been with him beside the lake.

It wasn’t my fault, she tried to tell herself, though she couldn’t wipe out her feelings of guilt. He shouldn’t have said something so mouse-brained. And he’s still hanging out with those two useless lumps of fur!

The sounds of talk in the clearing gradually died away as the cats settled down to listen to their Clan leaders, crowding into the shelter of the bushes where the ground was almost clear of snow.

“ShadowClan remains strong,” Tigerstar announced, “but I must admit we’ll all be glad when this leaf-bare is over.”

“RiverClan wishes the same,” Mistystar agreed, rising to her paws and giving her blue-gray pelt a shake. “The lake and the streams around our camp are frozen. It seems like moons since we’ve tasted fish.”

“WindClan has problems too,” Harestar added. “There’s so little shelter in our territory, all the prey has fled.”

“And yet you’re the Clans who got to keep all your territory when we rearranged the borders to make room for SkyClan,” Tigerstar pointed out, an edge to his voice. “If you’re not happy with it now—”

“You’re still complaining about the borders?” Crowfeather, the WindClan deputy, interrupted from his place on the oak roots. His tail twitched in exasperation. “We already fixed that for you!”

“You know perfectly well why we made that decision,” Mistystar added, glaring at Tigerstar from eyes like chips of blue ice. “And unless you can persuade the Twolegs to move the Twolegplace between RiverClan and ShadowClan or the horseplace on our border with WindClan, that’s the way it has to be.”

Tigerstar was obviously ready to make a furious retort when Bramblestar rose and took a pace forward. “That prey has been eaten,” he pointed out calmly, “and the new borders were working well for all the Clans until the weather turned so cold. That’s our problem, and that’s what we should be concentrating on.”

Tigerstar gave his shoulders an angry shrug, while Mistystar dipped her head in acknowledgment of what the ThunderClan leader had said. Bristlepaw felt a stab of pride. Her leader was so wise, to know what to say to prevent a useless quarrel.

“I don’t know what we’re going to do,” Harestar continued after a moment’s pause. “This is the worst leaf-bare any cat can remember, and the longest that cold weather like this has lasted.”

“And the longest that the medicine cats have gone without receiving messages from StarClan,” Jayfeather announced from where he sat with the other medicine cats. There was an ominous note in his voice that chilled Bristlepaw far more than the news of prey shortages.

She could see many of the older cats exchanging worried glances at Jayfeather’s words, making her realize even more clearly how serious the problem was.

That was such a mouse-brained thing I said, back in the camp!

“But surely that’s just a result of the cold and the Moonpool being frozen?” Mistystar meowed. “I’m confident that all we have to do is be patient and wait for the warmer weather.”

Leafstar flicked an ear, her expression tense. “We certainly hope so.”

Bristlepaw could see that Jayfeather wanted to object, but Harestar continued before he could get a word out.

“Maybe it’s time to share some good news, then,” he suggested. “WindClan has two new apprentices, Woodpaw and Applepaw.”