Sign Of The Moon

Bumblestripe blinked. “I—I only said I hope Ivypool can be with us next time.”

“Sorry.” Dovewing tried to push Tigerheart to the back of her mind. “I didn’t mean to sound sharp. I guess I’m just tired.”

Bumblestripe nodded. “Me too.”

He quickened his pace until he caught up to Berrynose and Mousewhisker. Dovewing padded along in silence for a few moments, until she realized that Blossomfall had taken her brother’s place at her side.

“You know, you’ve stolen my brother’s heart,” the young tortoiseshell warrior murmured. Her tone was teasing, but the gaze she turned on Dovewing was serious.

It sounded as if there was a warning in her words. “Bumblestripe? You’re not serious!” When Blossomfall didn’t reply, Dovewing added, “Honestly, I’m sure he doesn’t think of me like that.”

To her relief, Blossomfall seemed to accept what she said. “It’s great that you’re a warrior now,” she went on. “We can go on patrol together, and all sorts of stuff!” Her eyes widened, reflecting the moonlight. “I don’t know how loners and rogues manage on their own, do you, Dovewing?”

“No, being a warrior is great,” Dovewing replied, but her heart wasn’t in her words. She wished that she could feel the same enthusiasm as Blossomfall.

What was Tigerheart trying to tell me? What could Ivypool be hiding?

Even before Dovewing slid into her den, she could hear her sister whimpering. Ivypool was twitching in her nest of bracken, her tail lashing from side to side. Dovewing crouched into the nest beside her and gave her shoulder a gentle shake.

“Hey, Ivypool, wake up!”

Ivypool started, blinked, then scrambled to her feet, her eyes wide and her claws out. “What? What is it?”

“It’s okay,” Dovewing murmured, though anxiety prickled every hair on her pelt. “It’s only me. Were you in the Dark Forest again?”

Ivypool shook her head. “No, just dreaming.” She sat down in her nest and started to groom her fur. “How was the Gathering?”

Dovewing shrugged. “You didn’t miss much. None of the leaders had anything unusual to report.”

“Firestar must have announced that we’re warriors now,” Ivypool meowed.

“He did! And lots of cats were sorry you couldn’t be there. WindClan and RiverClan have new warriors, too,” Dovewing reported. “Oh, and I think WindClan must be having trouble with dogs. Onestar didn’t announce it, but I overheard a couple of their elders saying that a dog had savaged Antpelt.”

“Antpelt!” Ivypool froze. “What else did they say?”

Dovewing blinked. Oh, StarClan, don’t tell me she’s in love with a WindClan warrior!

“Tell me!” Ivypool insisted.

“I wasn’t paying much attention,” Dovewing admitted. “They weren’t talking to me. They said…Antpelt was wounded too badly to tell them what happened, and Kestrelflight didn’t think he would pull through.”

“Oh, no!” Ivypool let out a horrified wail. “It’s all my fault!”

“What do you mean?” But even as she asked the question Dovewing was beginning to understand. “This has something to do with the Dark Forest, doesn’t it?”

Ivypool nodded. Her claws worked in the bracken of her nest for a couple of heartbeats before she began to speak. “Thistleclaw was training Antpelt and me,” she meowed quietly. “We were fighting like you and I would—practicing the moves, but not trying to hurt each other. When I slipped, Antpelt waited for me to get up.” She swallowed. “But that made Thistleclaw call Antpelt a coward, and he went on mocking him and WindClan until Antpelt attacked him. Thistleclaw just shredded him. I think he would have killed him, but I told Antpelt to wake up and he vanished back to WindClan.”

“Then it wasn’t your fault,” Dovewing declared. She was trying to suppress the horror she felt, but shivers ran through her as if she had just been dunked in icy water. “Ivypool, you’re in real danger,” she mewed. “You have to tell Lionblaze and Jayfeather that you can’t spy for them anymore.”

“I’m not giving up now!” Ivypool protested. “I’m so close to finding out when the battle will be. Mapleshade—she’s a really old Dark Forest cat, and all the others seem afraid of her, even Tigerstar—well, Mapleshade is taking a special interest in me. She trusts me now, and I’m so close to the truth!”

Dovewing thought that Mapleshade sounded like the last cat she would want to take an interest in her. Instead, she murmured, “I won’t say anything yet, I promise. Why don’t you get some more sleep? It won’t be dawn for a while.”

Ivypool stretched her jaws in an enormous yawn. “I think I will.” She curled up in the bracken and closed her eyes; soon her regular breathing told Dovewing that she was asleep.

Lying beside her sister, Dovewing couldn’t rest. Her sister’s story, and the discovery that yet another warrior was being trained in the Dark Forest, buzzed in her head like a swarm of bees. Any cat at the Gathering could have allegiance to the Dark Forest.

Even some of our Clanmates…

Sighing, Dovewing wondered if she would be certain about anything ever again.

Chapter 7