Shattered Sky

“You’ve certainly helped us,” Oakfur told her. “More than we can ever thank you for.”

Ratscar echoed his Clanmate’s thanks. “We’ll be seeing you again, I hope,” he mewed.

“I hope so,” Violetpaw responded. “Alderheart, I’ll try again three nights from now.”

“Okay,” Alderheart agreed. “But be careful.”

“I will. Good-bye for now, and a safe journey.”

For a moment Alderheart wanted to ask Violetpaw about Needletail, but he stopped himself, knowing that, with every heartbeat that the apprentice delayed getting back to Darktail’s camp, she put herself in more danger.

“Good-bye,” he called softly after her as Violetpaw raced back over the Thunderpath and vanished into the bushes on the RiverClan side.

Lionblaze took the lead as the patrol set off toward ThunderClan territory. Alderheart and Sparkpelt flanked the elders, one on either side, while Ivypool brought up the rear.

The elders were shaky on their paws, and progress was slow, though at first the forest was silent, with no sight or scent of any rogues. Lionblaze led them along the edge of the trees, where the going was easier as the undergrowth thinned out toward the lake.

Alderheart was just beginning to hope that they would get home without any trouble, when suddenly Lionblaze halted. “Fox dung!” he hissed.

“What?” Alderheart craned to see past Lionblaze’s muscular form.

A little way ahead, he spotted two cats crouching on the narrow strip of pebbles that separated the forest from the lake. Both of them seemed to be focused on a hole in the bank.

“It’s Cloverfoot and that mangy rogue Nettle,” Ratscar growled. “It looks as if they’re hunting.”

Sparkpelt nodded. “There could be voles in there,” she murmured.

“And if they’re waiting for them to come out, they could be there all night,” Lionblaze meowed with an irritated twitch of his tail. “We’ll have to take a route farther away from the lake.”

Alderheart suppressed a sigh as they set out again, heading deeper into ShadowClan territory. This is more tiring for the elders… and there’s more chance of running into rogues.

His belly began to churn with fear as they made their way through the trees. In this part of the forest, pines had shed their needles over the ground, and while the smooth covering made walking easy for the elders, there was little cover if they needed to hide from a patrol.

Oakfur and Ratscar would never manage to climb a tree, Alderheart thought, wishing that they could move faster, but knowing that the elders were doing the best they could.

At last the pine trees began to give way to oak and beech, and Alderheart realized that they were approaching the border near the clearing where the Twolegs built their pelt-dens in greenleaf.

Perhaps we’re going to make it after all, he thought.

They were heading down a slope toward a thick bank of ferns when Sparkpelt raised her tail in warning, then leaped onto a tree stump to get a better view of what lay ahead.

“Rogues patrolling!” she reported in a whisper. “Roach and another cat I don’t recognize. I thought I could pick up their stink.”

“Head for the ferns,” Lionblaze ordered calmly, as Alderheart spotted the two rogues’ shapes slinking through the shadows a few fox-lengths away. “And for StarClan’s sake, be quiet!”

Sparkpelt and Ivypool bundled the two elders down the slope and into the shelter of the ferns. Alderheart and Lionblaze followed, keeping low with their belly fur brushing the ground, hoping that their movement wouldn’t disturb the fern fronds and give them away.

“We must be close,” Lionblaze whispered. “I can smell the ThunderClan scent markers.”

Just as he spoke, Ratscar let out a hollow cough. From behind them, Alderheart heard Roach’s voice. “Loki, did you hear that?”

“Fox dung!” Ivypool snarled.

For a few heartbeats Alderheart was frozen, unsure what to do. He could feel the rogue cats’ paw steps vibrating through the ground and knew that within heartbeats they would be discovered.

“Sorry—it’s my fault,” Ratscar rasped. “Leave me and go on.”

“No cat is leaving you,” Lionblaze said firmly. “Alderheart, you lead the elders over the border. I’ll give the rogues something else to think about.”

“No!” Alderheart protested, panic surging through him. “What if they work out what we’re doing and use that as an excuse to attack ThunderClan? It’s all going wrong!”

“They won’t—” Sparkpelt began.

“Then what if they call up more of Darktail’s cats? You’ll be way outnumbered.”

“Alderheart, have you got bees in your brain?” Ivypool’s eyes glittered with menace. “Lionblaze has us to help him. Now go!” She followed up her words with a violent shove to Alderheart’s rump.