River Of Fire

“No,” Frecklewish replied. “Not yet, at least.”

“Then let’s try to keep it that way,” Leafpool meowed. “I’ll warn our border patrols to stay away from yours, and you should do the same. But enough of this,” she went on briskly. “Kestrelflight, stay in touch with us over the sickness. Now it’s time to think about the prophecy.”

“‘The dark sky must not herald a storm,’” Alderheart murmured, remembering how hard he had struggled to understand the meaning. It was all too obvious now. “We have darkened the sky by going from five Clans to three,” he went on, “at least until RiverClan decides to join us again—if they ever do.”

“Have any of you had another message from StarClan?” Leafpool asked. “Any sign of what we should do next?”

The other medicine cats shook their heads.

“The spirit cats that Tree helped us see told us we must find the missing ShadowClan cats,” Alderheart mewed.

“And I’d like nothing better,” Puddleshine told him. “But we have no idea where they went, so how can we send out a patrol to find them?”

Leafpool blinked thoughtfully. “The loss of ShadowClan concerns me deeply,” she murmured. “I do believe that RiverClan will one day return, but without ShadowClan how can we ever be five Clans? Puddleshine, do you think there’s any hope of your Clan reviving?”

Puddleshine looked down and studied his paws. “No,” he meowed reluctantly. “All our efforts now are to unite around Leafstar. The ShadowClan I knew is gone.”

A heavy silence fell. Alderheart could feel disaster looming, like a storm cloud about to unleash its fury on the Clans.

It was Kestrelflight who spoke next. “Maybe StarClan will have some wisdom for us tonight.”

Leafpool nodded. “Let’s hope so. It is time to speak with them.”

Along with the other medicine cats, Alderheart stretched out his neck and touched his nose to the surface of the Moonpool. At once a deep chill flowed through him, so that he felt like a cat made of ice. Darkness was all around him; he opened his eyes and found himself sitting in dappled shade underneath a tree, with the murmuring sounds of greenleaf all around him.

“Hi there,” a voice behind him said.

Alderheart whipped around to see Needletail standing behind him, a friendly glimmer in her green eyes and starlight dazzling in her fur.

“Needletail!” he gasped, springing to his paws. Relief and joy flooded over him at the sight of the cat who had been his friend ever since she had joined his quest to find SkyClan. “You made it to StarClan!”

Needletail dipped her head. “Yes. Once we had delivered our message, we were able to move on to join StarClan.”

“And are you okay?” Alderheart asked.

“Oh, yes. It’s great here.” Needletail padded forward to touch noses with him. “But I still worry about Twigpaw and Violetshine. You will keep an eye on them, won’t you?”

“You know that Violetshine is in SkyClan now, and she has her father and her kin to look after her,” Alderheart responded. “But I’ll certainly take care of Twigpaw. You can trust me.”

Needletail let out a purr. “Let me down, and I’ll come over to ThunderClan and claw your ears off!”

Alderheart suppressed a small mrrow of laughter, then sobered, remembering the message of the spirit cats. “Needletail, I need to ask you something important. Do you know where the missing ShadowClan cats are?”

Needletail did not reply; her amusement vanishing, she only fixed Alderheart with her intense green gaze. “The shadows are approaching,” she meowed at last, “and must not be dispelled.”

Before Alderheart could ask Needletail what she meant, her starry form began to fade. Darkness swept over him again, and he blinked his eyes open to find himself once more beside the Moonpool. His fellow medicine cats were stirring around him.

As they rose and shook out their fur, Alderheart could not free himself from the sense of frustration that filled him from ears to tail-tip. There were no answers in that vision, he thought, deeply disappointed. I’m even more confused than I was to start with! From their confused looks, none of the other cats seemed to have learned anything, either. His head bowed with dejection, Alderheart prepared to set out on the long journey home.

But before any cat could start to climb the spiral path, Puddleshine suddenly exclaimed, “Dawnpelt came to me!”

At once the other cats gathered around him.

“What did she say?” Jayfeather demanded. “What did you see?”

Puddleshine closed his eyes, as if he was trying to cling to the vision before it faded from his memory.

“She didn’t seem in pain from her death,” he began, sounding relieved. “And she’s in StarClan now.”

“But what did she say?” Jayfeather lashed his tail impatiently.

“She told me that the shadows are approaching, and must not be dispelled,” Puddleshine replied. He and Frecklewish exchanged a concerned glance, as if the words meant something to them that they didn’t mean to the other medicine cats.