Sign Of The Moon

Chapter 19

“Please,” Jayfeather begged. “Let me stay here with Half Moon. This is my only chance to live like my Clanmates, to raise kits and grow old with a mate.”

“That is not why you have returned to these cats,” Rock meowed somberly. “And this is not where Half Moon’s future lies. She must become the first Teller of the Pointed Stones.”

“Why?” Anger and frustration gripped Jayfeather with all the force of the eagle’s talons. “Why not some other cat?”

“Because Half Moon can read the reflections,” Rock replied. “She saw the sign of the moon.”

“Any cat could have seen that!”

Rock shook his head. “It is not her destiny to have kits and live the same life as her companions. You must help her see that.”

“Couldn’t you have done that on your own?” Jayfeather’s anger was rising now, spinning out of his control. “Why did you need me? Did you know what would happen, how I would feel about Half Moon?”

Rock dipped his head, an admission that he had known it all. “You have the power of the stars, Jayfeather. There are some things you must do, however hard they may seem.”

“It’s not fair.” Jayfeather flexed his claws. “And you can’t make me.”

He turned away, meaning to go back to the cave and seek out Half Moon, but suddenly Rock was in front of him, barring his way with ominous strength, in spite of his blindness and scrawny, hairless body.

“I can make you if I have to,” he warned Jayfeather quietly. “Where do you think the prophecy came from? This is your destiny. Yours and Half Moon’s.”

Trembling with fury, Jayfeather brushed past him and scrambled down beside the waterfall. Between his anger and his soreness from fighting the eagle, he lost his footing a few tail-lengths from the ground and fell, the breath driven from his body as he landed beside the pool. Struggling to his paws, he spotted Rising Moon at the end of the path that led behind the waterfall. He braced himself for more cold words as she padded toward him, but as she drew closer he saw that her eyes were full of gentle concern.

“Thank you for your courage, Jay’s Wing,” she mewed. “If we can survive here until we are strong enough to go back to the lake, you have done us a great favor.”

Following her back into the cave, Jayfeather saw that most of the cats were clustered around Stone Song and the rest of the patrol.

“So we leaped up onto the eagle’s wings…” Stone Song gave a huge jump into the air as he spoke.

Owl Feather’s three kits were watching with open mouths, their hunger forgotten.

“Come on, Strong Pounce,” one of them mewed to his littermate. “I’m going to be an eagle, and you and Running Fox can attack me.”

“You’re so bossy, Lapping Wave,” another kit replied. “I want to be the eagle!” He flung himself at his littermate and all three kits wrestled together on the floor.

Jayfeather suppressed a mrrow of laughter to see the tiny cats behaving like kits again. For the first time he sensed optimism and humor among these cats.

“So the eagle let Jayfeather go, and flew off,” Stone Song finished. “We won!”

Yowls of approval rose up from the cats who surrounded him. Stone Song let them continue for a moment, then raised his tail for silence. “We need a hunting patrol,” he went on. “Jagged Lightning, you come with me, and Dove’s Wing and Fish Leap. You were best at fighting the eagle, so we’ll protect the hunters.”

“Rising Moon and Dawn River should do the hunting,” Jagged Lightning meowed with a nod of agreement. “They were the best at catching prey by the lake.”

“Right.” Stone Song gathered his patrol together with a wave of his tail. “We’ll take Whispering Breeze, too. That should be enough for now.”

The patrol headed toward the entrance to the cave, the rest of the cats clustering together to watch them go. “Good luck!” Half Moon called.

“Bring us back something tasty!” Running Horse added.

Jayfeather knew that he should feel hopeful. Although the cats were still thinking about returning to the lake, they were at least making an effort to adapt to life in the mountains. But he had no room for hope; all he could think about was how he had to teach Half Moon to become Stoneteller, and then return to the time of the Clans.

Stone Song nodded to Jayfeather as the patrol padded past him on their way to the path behind the waterfall. “We owe you a lot,” he meowed. “You should stay here and get some rest after your struggle.”

Jayfeather dipped his head, though inwardly he was wincing. They treat me like one of them.

But all the time he belonged somewhere else, far, far away.

Half Moon bounded up to him. “Are you fit to go out again? I was thinking about those herbs that you found yesterday, when we were buried in the snow. We ought to go see if there are any more.”

Jayfeather’s heart weighed heavier than the mountains as he gazed into her eager eyes. “Can we go to the cave with the pointed stones first?”

Half Moon looked puzzled, then nodded. “If you want to.”