Lost Stars

“Other cats besides medicine cats get visions too,” he pointed out. “We shouldn’t assume they’re making it up if they say they’ve received a message from StarClan. And it doesn’t mean that they’re dangerous.”

Why does Tree have to bring this up now? Shadowpaw wondered. He caught the eye of the apprentice Rootpaw, who was sitting beside his father. He could see that Rootpaw was giving his chest fur a few embarrassed licks, even though most other cats were for once grunting in agreement with Tree.

But Shadowpaw couldn’t forget that Tree was one of the cats he had seen in his vision of the codebreakers. Maybe StarClan isn’t as okay with “different” cats as we are.

“Thank you, Tree,” Bramblestar mewed. His tone suggested that he didn’t want to hear any more from the SkyClan tom. “And now we must discuss the way forward. Shadowpaw, you had a vision about darkness in the Clans. Is there any more you can tell us?”

A deadlier cold than the chilly air of leaf-bare crept over Shadowpaw. He hadn’t wanted even to think about this now, let alone in front of so many other cats. Besides, Tigerstar had ordered him not to say anything about his vision of the codebreakers. “No,” he lied, staring at his paws. “That’s all I know.”

“Then can any cat suggest what a ‘darkness within the Clans’ might be?” Bramblestar continued. He glanced in Shadowpaw’s direction, and Shadowpaw stared at his paws, suddenly cold. He can’t know, can he?

After the moment had passed, Shadowpaw looked up to see the Clan leaders exchanging bewildered glances. “I could have answered that when Darktail was among us,” Mistystar responded at last. “But he’s gone now, and good riddance. Unless any Clan has taken in rogues or loners since we last met?”

“Like we’re that stupid,” Tigerstar muttered.

“Has any cat seen traces of the Dark Forest cats?” Harestar asked. “Would they dare to attack us again?”

“I doubt it,” Kestrelflight, the WindClan medicine cat replied. “They learned their lesson in the Great Battle. And in any case, that wouldn’t be a darkness within the Clans.”

Shadowpaw began to breathe more freely, hoping that the whole question could be set aside, when Mosspelt, a RiverClan elder, heaved herself to her paws.

“I wonder if this message has something to do with the warrior code,” she began. “Bramblestar is right; he is a cat who has always honored it. But not every cat follows the code as strictly as they could. Not like it was in my younger days . . .” Breathing heavily, she sat down again.

Shadowpaw forced himself not to flinch as Mosspelt’s words struck at the heart of the truth. Mosspelt is wise. . . . He stole a look at his father, and saw that Tigerstar had grown utterly still.

“A good point, Mosspelt.” Bramblestar dipped his head respectfully to the RiverClan elder. “That does sound like a possibility.”

“Then does any cat want to confess to breaking the warrior code?” Harestar asked, gazing out across the crowd of cats. “Maybe if we admit our wrongdoing, it will ease the way back for StarClan.”

Shadowpaw spotted many of the cats giving one another uneasy glances, but no cat spoke up. He could feel the tension in the clearing as if a thunderstorm were about to break. The silence was deafening.

“Well, then,” Bramblestar continued, when several moments had passed, “does any cat know of another cat who has broken the warrior code? Would you like to name that cat?”

Yowls of outrage rose in the clearing at the ThunderClan leader’s words. Mistystar’s voice cut through the clamor; her blue eyes were like chips of ice as she glared at Bramblestar.

“What are you trying to get at?” she demanded. “Do we want to live in Clans where cats throw accusations around?”

While she was speaking, Shadowpaw noticed that Bramblestar’s sister, Tawnypelt, was staring at her littermate, mingled betrayal and shock showing in her face. Shadowpaw remembered the story Dovewing had told him in the nursery, of how Tawnypelt had been born in ThunderClan but had left it to join her father, the first Tigerstar, in ShadowClan. She changed Clans, just like Dovewing, Shadowpaw realized. That makes her a codebreaker, too. But is Bramblestar really encouraging some cat to report his sister?