Outcast

A pang tore through Jaypaw’s belly, sharp as thorns. He knew that Stoneteller had lied to his Tribe about the Tribe of Endless Hunting. He had tried to manipulate the Tribe into choosing to flee, to show Brambleclaw and the Clan cats how little influence they had. But his plan had failed. The Tribe had chosen to fight, and left him here to face the knowledge that if they survived it would be without the support of their ancestors. The Healer’s pain flowed through the cave like a river; Jaypaw couldn’t help pitying him.

“I’m sorry,” he mewed.

“Perhaps they have lost faith in us,” Stoneteller responded, his voice flat.

“I’m sure it’s not that.” Jaypaw pictured the pool among the sheer crags, where he had confronted the Tribe of Endless Hunting. He had revisited the dream over and over in his waking mind, and he thought he understood what it meant.

But what use the knowledge would be to him, he wasn’t sure.

“Jaypaw.” The rasping voice spoke behind him.

Jaypaw spun around. Every hair on his pelt rose as he saw the sagging, hairless body and sightless eyes of Rock. But I’m not asleep! The ancient cat glimmered as if he stood in moonlight, though all around him was dark; he seemed to float in shadow.

His heart beginning to race, Jaypaw reached out all his senses to Stoneteller, but there was no change in the old cat’s scent or the dull pain that came from him. He made no sound.

“Stoneteller cannot hear or see me,” Rock mewed. “Only you can.”

“Why have you come?” Jaypaw’s voice shook.

“The battle has been won. You can go home now—all of you.”

Jaypaw forced down his delight. Hollypaw and Lionpaw were safe! But he was sure that Rock hadn’t come just to tell him something that he would discover for himself before morning. There had to be another reason.

“The Tribe must have fought well,” he meowed. “Perhaps now the Tribe of Endless Hunting will have more faith in them.”

“Why should they?” Rock retorted. His voice was sour. “It was the Clans who saved the Tribe of Rushing Water.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Jaypaw demanded. Back at the lake, he had longed to speak with Rock again, but each time he encountered the ancient cat was more frustrating than the last.

“StarClan did not send you,” Rock replied, “and the Tribe of Endless Hunting did not summon you.”

“But—”

“Silence!” Rock hissed with a sweep of his bare tendril of a tail. “You came and won—for this battle, at least. But do you think the borders will hold? The Tribe is not a Clan, with experience of defending its territory, and the trespassers have no code of honor that will make them keep their word.”

“Then we came for nothing?” Jaypaw asked, dismayed.

Rock shook his head. “No. You have learned much. And the Tribe will eat well, for a while at least.” His bulging eyes seemed to gaze into the shadows at something hidden from Jaypaw.

Jaypaw took a deep breath. “You knew the Tribe cats before they came here, didn’t you? They came from the lake.”

He had the satisfaction of seeing Rock’s start of surprise.

“Yes. How did you know?”

“It was the pool in the mountains that the Tribe spirit showed me,” Jaypaw explained. “They found another Moonpool, just like the one near the lake.”

“They turned their back on so many of their old ways.”

There was pain in the ancient cat’s voice. “Yet they still sought for peace beside the water.”

Jaypaw’s heart thumped harder, but he had to continue.

“The Tribe knew me, just as you did. The prophecy comes from when you all lived together, doesn’t it?”

Rock bowed his head. “Yes. We have been expecting you for a long time. And now you have come.” A shiver of mingled fear and delight passed through Jaypaw as he returned the stare of the old cat’s sightless eyes. “The others deserve to know,” Rock continued. “This is not just your destiny, and you cannot walk this path alone.”

“Jaypaw! Jaypaw, where are you?” Hollypaw’s voice echoed from the main cave. “Come quickly!”

As if a dark wing had folded over him, Rock was gone.

Jaypaw was left alone in the Cave of Pointed Stones, except for the silent presence of Stoneteller. He found the entrance to the passage and raced out to meet his sister.

“It’s Lionpaw!” she gasped, bounding up to meet him and giving his ear a hurried lick. “He’s covered in blood. He says he’s not hurt, but the blood must have come from somewhere. You’ve got to help him.”

“Where is he?”

“Outside, by the pool,” Hollypaw mewed. “I told him to rest.”

Jaypaw followed her across the cave to the waterfall. Clan and Tribe cats poured past them, yowling the good news to those who had stayed behind. Jaypaw detected Crag’s scent and heard the big cave-guard meow, “I’ll go and tell Stoneteller.”

Hollypaw dashed along the path beneath the tumbling water, for once not worrying about whether Jaypaw could manage it on his own. Jaypaw followed hard on her paw steps, his pelt pressed against the rock, feeling the cold spray on his exposed flank.