Shattered Sky

Bramblestar blinked at him in surprise. “Yes, of course,” he replied. “If you have anything useful to say about this mess, I want to hear it.”

“I think the time has come to tell the other Clans about SkyClan,” Alderheart began. “No, please listen to me,” he continued, when Bramblestar looked as if he was about to protest. “SkyClan lies in the shadows, hidden from all of us—and helping them would ‘clear the sky.’ Right?”

He realized anxiously that his leader looked taken aback, and not at all sympathetic to the idea he had suggested.

“Don’t we have enough problems on our own territory,” Bramblestar asked, “without taking on another difficult quest?”

“I had another vision,” Alderheart told him. “The SkyClan cats are still wandering, lost and homeless—now they don’t even have a medicine cat. They need our help, and I don’t think StarClan would be giving me these visions if we weren’t meant to help them.” Encouraged to see that Bramblestar had begun to look more thoughtful, he added, “If the prophecy is about SkyClan, then every cat should know about them. After all, the prophecy was given to all the Clans, not just to me.”

Bramblestar hesitated before replying, and Alderheart felt his belly tense with worry. I’m sure it’s time for the secret to be told, he thought, but what if Bramblestar refuses? Can I go against the orders of my father, of my Clan leader?

Eventually Bramblestar let out a long sigh. “Perhaps you’re right, Alderheart,” he mewed. “I’ve been so ashamed of the way the Clans treated SkyClan, I never wanted any other cat to know, but maybe—with your vision guiding us—we can put things right.”

Alderheart swelled with pride to see the respect in his father’s eyes as Bramblestar gazed at him. He really listened to me! New confidence and relief surged through him like a stream released from the icy grip of leaf-bare. Now at last we can work toward fulfilling the prophecy!

Sunhigh was approaching as Alderheart waded through the stream that marked the border with WindClan, following Bramblestar and Squirrelflight. Lionblaze and Dovewing brought up the rear.

Facing the swell of moorland that they had to climb, Alderheart felt exhausted, hardly able to put one paw in front of another. He had barely slept the night before. After they’d returned from the Gathering, Bramblestar had told the rest of ThunderClan, and the three ShadowClan cats, all that he and Alderheart knew about SkyClan. They had all stayed up until the moon had almost set, the other cats questioning Bramblestar and Alderheart—along with Cherryfall, Molewhisker, and Sparkpelt, who had been told about SkyClan when they accompanied Alderheart on his quest—about every detail of the story.

“I’d have something to say to Needletail, if she was here,” Rowanstar had meowed with a lash of his tail. “She never said a word about visiting SkyClan territory! I knew I should never have trusted her.”

“She only kept it a secret because I asked her to.” Alderheart had tried to defend the cat who had been his friend, especially as he still hoped that she might abandon the rogues and help the Clan cats drive them out. “I thought it was for the best.”

Rowanstar had been unimpressed. “Her first loyalty should have been to ShadowClan,” he growled.

As soon as the sun was up, Bramblestar had led their patrol over to RiverClan to tell them the truth. Alderheart had been very apprehensive, remembering Mistystar’s justified anger at the Gathering the night before. But to his relief, the meeting had gone better than he had anticipated.

“Just what I’d expect from ThunderClan,” Mintfur had snapped. “Thinking they should keep this secret to themselves—that they’re the only Clan that matters!”

But Mistystar had silenced her warrior with a wave of her tail. “Is it true that you don’t know how to find SkyClan?” she asked Alderheart.

Alderheart nodded. “Not yet.”

“Not ever, I should hope,” the elder Mosspelt muttered. “There are enough cats around the lake already.”

Mistystar looked relieved at Alderheart’s response. “In that case, I don’t see what we can do,” she mewed, then added to Bramblestar, “Just don’t expect RiverClan to solve any more problems for the Clans right now. We need time to lick our wounds.”

Alderheart had felt disappointed that RiverClan hadn’t shown any more enthusiasm for finding the lost Clan, but at least they hadn’t been upset or hostile. And he thought that Bramblestar seemed to be more relaxed, breathing more easily, now that he wasn’t carrying the burden of the secret.

But how is Onestar going to react? Alderheart wondered as he toiled up the moorland slope in the paw steps of his leader. He’s been so unpredictable lately.