Sign Of The Moon

As Jayfeather emerged from the barrier of thorns, he located Firestar heading for his den, side by side with Sandstorm. Though Jayfeather was tired, he knew that he had to talk to his Clan leader right now. He had spent too long wondering what he could say to get Firestar to agree to another journey. He sprinted ahead and caught up to Firestar at the bottom of the tumbled rocks.

“Firestar, I need to speak to you,” he called.

He could sense his leader’s surprise. “Now? Can’t it wait until morning?”

“No.”

Firestar hesitated for a heartbeat, then replied, “Okay. Come up to my den.”

“I’ll go check on Poppyfrost and her kits,” Sandstorm mewed tactfully. “They had bellyache last night from eating too much squirrel.”

“I gave them watermint,” Jayfeather meowed after her as she padded toward the nursery. “Call me if they need more.”

Firestar was already climbing the rocks; Jayfeather followed, careful to let his pelt brush the cliff so that he didn’t stray too close to the edge of the path.

“What’s so urgent that it can’t wait?” Firestar’s voice came from his nest at the back of his cave.

Jayfeather slipped inside to join him. “I have to go to the mountains,” he announced. “I’ve been summoned.”

“By StarClan?”

“No, another cat.”

“Oh?” Curiosity radiated from Firestar; Jayfeather could feel it as if he was sitting in a beam of sunlight. “What other cat?”

“That’s…sort of hard to explain,” Jayfeather confessed. Would the ThunderClan leader believe that he had been able to speak with such an ancient cat? “But it’s not something I can ignore.”

Firestar let out a sigh of exasperation; Jayfeather pictured the tip of his ginger tail twitching. “We can’t go on helping the Tribe,” he meowed at last. “StarClan knows, I have a lot of sympathy for them, but they have their life and we have ours.”

“This isn’t about helping the Tribe,” Jayfeather told him. “It’s about discovering something from the past that’s important for the future. Our future, not the Tribe’s.”

“You couldn’t be a bit vaguer, could you?” Firestar’s claws scraped on the floor of the den. “Honestly, Jayfeather, you expect me to—”

“I’m sorry, Firestar,” Jayfeather interrupted. “I’m telling you everything I can. You have to trust me because of the prophecy.”

“No.” There was an edge to Firestar’s voice. “I trust you because you’re a loyal medicine cat who serves his Clan above all else.”

Jayfeather took a breath. “And as a loyal medicine cat, I’m asking you to let me go to the Tribe of Rushing Water, because I believe it’s in our best interests.”

Firestar was silent, though Jayfeather could almost hear the turmoil of thoughts whirling through his leader’s mind. “You need an escort,” he mewed at last. “And I’m not happy about leaving ThunderClan without its best warriors or its medicine cat when we’re bracing ourselves for an attack.”

Though the ThunderClan leader didn’t mention the Dark Forest, Jayfeather knew that was where his thoughts lay. And he’s right. But I have to do this!

“Are you sure this cat isn’t trying to lure you away?” Firestar added.

Jayfeather shook his head. “I’m positive.” Rock is the last cat who would be involved in a Dark Forest plot. “I trust the cat who gave me this message,” he went on. “He isn’t interested in our battles. He doesn’t care who wins. He just knows that this is our destiny, and he has to make it happen.”

“Very well,” Firestar meowed. “You can go. And I’ll choose some warriors to go with you—but you can’t have Lionblaze.”

“What?” Jayfeather’s feeling of triumph was swallowed up in outrage. “But Lionblaze has to go. He’s one of the Three!”

“You can have Dovewing.” Firestar’s tone was uncompromising. “But Lionblaze stays here. He’s our greatest asset in a battle. And you’re not going to the mountains to fight, are you?”

“How do we know that?” Jayfeather muttered mutinously. He was well aware that there was no point in trying to argue when the ThunderClan leader had made up his mind. “Okay,” he meowed aloud. “But I don’t like it.”

“No cat is asking you to,” Firestar retorted. “You can have Dovewing, as I said, and…let’s see…Foxleap and Squirrelflight.”

“Squirrelflight!” Jayfeather didn’t want to travel with the cat who had lied to him and his littermates season after season, the cat he had believed was his mother.

“I don’t care what you think about Squirrelflight’s actions in the past,” Firestar growled as if he could read Jayfeather’s mind. “What’s done is done. She knows the mountains better than any of us, and she has friends in the Tribe.”

Jayfeather dipped his head. “Okay, Firestar.” He sighed.

“And while you’re away,” Firestar went on, “I’ll ask Leafpool to step in as medicine cat. Just in case there are any emergencies. If there is a battle, we’ll need her trained paws.”

Jayfeather felt his neck fur bristle at the mention of the other she-cat who had betrayed him and his littermates. Yeah, right… Like StarClan will ever speak to Leafpool again, after what she did.