Night Whispers

Through the darkening depths, Flametail could see Jayfeather’s eyes; though blind, they seemed to be pleading with him. He stared back. It’s hopeless. The ice has blocked us in.

The current was pulling harder now, drawing them down despite Jayfeather’s flailing and struggling.

Then Flametail saw another pair of eyes. Bulging and white. There was a third cat in the water. A grotesque creature. Hairless and scarred. Flametail stared at it as it seemed to float beside them. A tiny part of his mind wondered if this was a StarClan cat he hadn’t met yet. But did any warriors, past or present, ever look like that?

The ugly cat reached toward Jayfeather.

Let him go!

Flametail heard the voice in his head. It wasn’t speaking to him. It was speaking to Jayfeather.

It is his time to die, not yours. Let him go!

Flametail felt Jayfeather’s claws unhook from his pelt. He began to sink, gazing up at the fading light.

Darkness swept over Flametail and the sunlight vanished forever.

Chapter 25

Ivypaw spotted a shrew scampering over the snow. She shot after it, lunging and pinning it by its tail before it realized what was happening. She muttered her thanks to StarClan and bent to give the killing bite.

The shrieking from the lake swelled. Now a shrill edge sharpened the yowls. Ivypaw lifted her head. The prey dangled from her jaws as she strained to hear, and she wished for a moment that she had her sister’s abilities. Then she unwished. It must be a real nuisance to have such power. How did Dovepaw ever manage to sleep?

The screeches from the lake echoed strangely in the frosty air. Ivypaw had wanted to go and play on the ice with Blossomfall and Rosepetal. But she’d promised herself she’d hunt for the Clan until she’d caught enough to make up for the herbs she’d cost her Clanmates. She knew she had to take at least half the blame for getting caught on the ShadowClan border. And it sounded like ThunderClan already owed Dovepaw more than they could ever repay.

She padded to a gnarled oak and began to dig between its roots. Beneath the snow lay a mouse and sparrow. She’d hunted since before sunhigh, and now weariness weighed down her paws. Scooping the two bodies out, she picked them up gently between her teeth and headed back to camp.

By the time she reached the barrier of thorns, the sun had dipped behind the treetops, and shadows enfolded the camp. Her Clanmates milled beneath Highledge, their pelts ruffled.

Jayfeather was padding toward his den. Ivypaw saw with surprise that his pelt was drenched. Leafpool fluttered around him and followed him through the brambles.

Ivypaw dropped her catch on the solitary squirrel and skinny starling that made up the fresh-kill pile. Graystripe came to admire her contribution. “Nice catch.”

“I’ve been hunting all day,” Ivypaw confessed.

Firestar’s mew rang across the clearing. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather beneath Highledge.”

Thornclaw and Dustpelt padded from the warriors’ den. Poppyfrost hurried from the nursery while Daisy shooed the kits back inside the bramble den. Foxleap was already pacing, fur standing on end, at the foot of the rocks. Rosepetal watched him, her eyes round and dark, while Berrynose barged past Toadstep and Icecloud to sit at the front. Brambleclaw settled at the bottom of the rock tumble and stared at his paws, while Squirrelflight sat down a few tail-lengths away.

Ivypaw spotted her sister scurrying from the dirtplace tunnel. She joined her beside Whitewing. “What’s going on?” she whispered.

Whitewing shook her head and sighed.

“I have bad news,” Firestar began. “Flametail was playing on the lake and fell through the ice,” the ThunderClan leader announced.

Poppyfrost gasped. “Is he dead?”

“His body has not been found.” Firestar glanced toward the medicine den. “Jayfeather tried to save him, but Flametail was too heavy.”

Squirrelflight’s pelt bristled. “Is Jayfeather all right?”

Firestar nodded. “He’s cold, but Leafpool is with him. She’ll know what to do.”

Brambleclaw’s eyes darkened. Flametail was his littermate’s son. Ivypaw knew he’d feel the loss most sharply.

“In the future”—Firestar’s mew hardened—“any cat caught on the ice will be severely punished.”

Foxleap’s whiskers twitched. “Yeah,” he whispered. “By death.”

Squirrelflight hushed him with a flick of her tail.

Ivypaw felt her mother’s tail slip around her. “Promise you won’t go on the ice,” Whitewing murmured.

“Of course not,” Dovepaw meowed.

“No way.” Ivypaw shuddered, remembering her terrible panic when Mapleshade held her underwater in the black river.

Firestar leaped down from the Highledge and headed for the medicine den.

“Did any other ShadowClan cats fall in?” Dovepaw called to Foxleap as the young tom headed for the fresh-kill pile.

He shook his head. “Just Flametail.”

Ivypaw shuffled closer to Dovepaw. “Are you all right?”