Lost Stars

“There is something more I must say,” Squirrelflight announced, still keeping her position at the end of the branch. She hesitated, taking a deep breath, as if she was making a momentous decision. “I have a confession to make. I lied to the Gathering.”

Gasps of shock and disbelief came from the cats in the clearing. I knew it! Shadowpaw thought.

“For that, I ask your forgiveness,” Squirrelflight went on. “The truth is that Bramblestar is sick—very sick. Our medicine cats have tried everything, all the usual herbs and treatments, and they have been unable to make him better. He is close to death, and without StarClan he may not be able to return to take up his next life, as a Clan leader should.”

Her words were greeted with a heavy silence among the Clans.

Shadowpaw could feel Squirrelflight’s gaze fixed on him as she continued. “Shadowpaw had an idea for a very unusual treatment. StarClan told him that it would make Bramblestar worse before he got better, but it would save him.”

“And you want to go ahead with this?” Jayfeather asked. “Squirrelflight, are you sure?”

The ThunderClan deputy nodded resolutely. “It’s Bramblestar’s only hope,” she meowed. “Whatever Shadowpaw’s connection with StarClan may be, none of the rest of us can reach them. And that means we can’t be sure what happens to a leader when he loses a life. I know the chance that Shadowpaw’s treatment will save Bramblestar is a slim one, but we’ve tried everything else. A slim chance is still a chance—and it may be the only one Bramblestar has.”

“Are you sure you’ve tried everything?” Mothwing asked. “I’d be happy to come and look at Bramblestar, if you want me to.”

“So would I,” Frecklewish offered, and the other medicine cats added their agreement.

Shadowpaw narrowed his eyes as he glanced at his fellow medicine cats. It sounds like they still don’t trust me, he thought.

“Squirrelflight said everything, and she meant it,” Alderheart retorted. “I’d be delighted if we could find another way, but there isn’t one.”

“And what happens if the treatment kills Bramblestar?” Reedwhisker asked, his voice filled with anxiety.

Squirrelflight heaved a long sigh. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “But without it, Bramblestar is going to die. We can’t make things any worse if we try. Shadowpaw, will you come to ThunderClan?”

“Of course I will,” Shadowpaw replied, then added instantly, “if Tigerstar and Puddleshine give permission.”

“You have mine,” Puddleshine mewed, while Tigerstar announced, “It’s what I’ve wanted all along.”

“And if he recovers,” Harestar put in, “then we can decide what is meant by this vision of fire, and by the ‘darkness in the Clans’ Shadowpaw told us about before. And more important, how we can drive the darkness out.”

No cat added any objections, so Tigerstar announced that the Gathering was over. As the cats began to disperse, Squirrelflight leaped down from the Great Oak and padded up to Shadowpaw.

“Will you come with me now?” she asked. “Bramblestar may not have very much time. I’ll get warriors to help move him up onto the moor, wherever you like. We’ll do whatever you tell us.”

“We’re on our way.” It was Tigerstar who spoke, appearing suddenly at Squirrelflight’s shoulder. “I’ll be joining you.” Squirrelflight glanced at him as if she was about to object, but the ShadowClan leader gave her no chance to speak. “I’m bringing Puddleshine and Dovewing, too,” he told her. “No cat knows exactly what will happen, and I must consider my own Clan’s safety.”

A shiver passed through Shadowpaw as he realized what his father meant. Even he was afraid that the treatment wouldn’t save Bramblestar, and that if Shadowpaw failed, he might be in danger from angry ThunderClan warriors.

Shadowpaw swallowed hard as he followed Squirrelflight toward the tree-bridge. StarClan, guide my paws, he prayed.

Chapter 21

Shadowpaw smoothed down the ThunderClan leader’s fur and tucked his paws beneath him. The walls of the den that he had carved out in the snow rose a tail-length above Bramblestar’s inert body. Following his vision, he had led the ThunderClan warriors to an exposed place on the moor, close to the WindClan border. Now, as he looked down at the sick leader, a shudder passed through him that had nothing to do with the biting cold: it was pure panic.

He looks so close to death. How can he survive this?

Shadowpaw hadn’t finished with his medicine-cat training, but he knew this was a terrible thing to do to any cat, let alone one as sick as Bramblestar.

But StarClan said . . .

As he stepped back, leaving the ThunderClan leader inside the den, Shadowpaw saw Alderheart standing nearby, looking tense and uncomfortable. Jayfeather was beside him, even more unhappy than usual, his face set in the most sour grimace Shadowpaw had ever seen.