Shattered Sky

Rowanstar stepped forward, puffing out his chest. “I feel responsible for Darktail, that mange-ridden scourge of the forest,” he announced. “Now I know what I must do: return to my territory and rid it of that terrible rogue cat once and for all.”

Yowls of agreement rose from the rest of the warriors. Twigpaw could see their eyes gleaming with enthusiasm, and their fur bristling with the anticipation of a battle to come.

“But not alone!” Bramblestar raised his voice to make himself heard, and the fervent voices died into silence. “This burden cannot fall on one cat, or one Clan,” the ThunderClan leader continued. “All cats, all Clans, must unite and do their part.”

“SkyClan is behind you,” Leafstar said solemnly. “Many of our cats would welcome the opportunity to fight Darktail again, after everything he’s put us through.”

Rowanstar nodded at her. “ShadowClan feels the same,” he said. “That flea-pelt nearly tore our Clan apart. It’s time for him to leave.”

“Bramblestar is right.” A quiet voice broke into the discussion, and Twigpaw saw that Alderheart had emerged once more from the medicine-cat den and padded forward to stand beside his father.

“All cats, all Clans, must unite,” he repeated. “According to StarClan, none of our efforts will succeed unless we involve one more Clan…”

Chapter 19

A stiff breeze blew across the moorland, bringing with it the distant scent of cats. Violetpaw’s fur was flattened to her sides as she climbed the hill, and she felt her eyes begin to water. The chill air of dawn probed deep into her pelt, but her sense of anticipation warmed her through and through.

Another day had passed while the Clan leaders made their plans. “We need to confront Onestar,” Bramblestar had meowed, “but we must be very careful how we do it.”

“Yes.” Rowanstar was in agreement for once. “If Onestar feels we’re trying to intimidate him, he’ll dig his claws in all the harder.”

In the end, the leaders had decided to send the Clan deputies to meet with Onestar. “He won’t see us as so much of a threat,” Squirrelflight had pointed out. “And as the only leader present, he’ll feel more important.”

“Why not send Twigpaw and Violetpaw too?” Leafstar had suggested. “They both have stories to tell, and they’ll remind Onestar of the prophecy, and how vital it is to clear the sky.”

So this morning, Squirrelflight, Tigerheart, Reedwhisker, and Hawkwing had set out, along with Violetpaw and Twigpaw. Reedwhisker was still recovering from his time in Darktail’s prison, but he insisted that he was strong enough for the journey to WindClan.

“My paws will take me anywhere if it means I can help get rid of that mange-pelt Darktail!” he declared.

Violetpaw was immensely grateful to the SkyClan leader for suggesting that she and Twigpaw be part of the mission to WindClan. Her paws wanted to skip along, and she had to keep reminding herself that this was a serious undertaking.

As she padded along beside her father, Violetpaw noticed that he was glancing from side to side, his amber gaze taking in every detail of the moorland.

“Are you worried WindClan will attack us?” she asked him.

“Actually, no,” Hawkwing replied. “I was working out how likely it would be for a cat to even get attacked on such an open space. You can see so far… and there are so few places for an attacker to take cover.”

Violetpaw exchanged a glance with Twigpaw, who was walking on their father’s other side. She could see from her sister’s slightly worried air that Twigpaw was sharing her thoughts.

Is Hawkwing scouting out territory for SkyClan? But surely he won’t want to take WindClan’s… will he?

Before Violetpaw could ask her father what was going through his mind, he suddenly halted.

“Do you think there’s something strange going on?” he asked, turning to the older warriors.

Squirrelflight looked puzzled for a moment; then her eyes widened in understanding. “We haven’t come across any WindClan patrols. That’s odd… I’d expect the dawn patrol to be out, and one or two hunting patrols. But we haven’t even picked up their scent.”

As if in response to Squirrelflight’s words, a sudden stronger gust of wind swept across the moor, bringing with it the sound of screeching and yowling.

“That’s coming from the WindClan camp!” Tigerheart exclaimed. “Are they under attack?”

Instantly Squirrelflight sprang forward, leading the deputies as they raced across the moor. “Stay back!” Hawkwing warned his kits as he followed.

Violetpaw and Twigpaw bounded along at the rear. WindClan’s camp lay in a deep hollow on the moor, where the ground fell away near the top of the hill. A thick barrier of gorse and other bushes guarded the edges.

Now the sounds of battle were even louder. Wriggling her way through the thorns, Violetpaw looked down on a mass of fighting cats.