The Forgotten Warrior

“I believe what my sister says,” he announced. “Jayfeather murdered our littermate, and he must be punished.”

Beside Lionblaze, Dovewing drew in her breath in a gasp of horror.

“I will punish no cat for a crime that cannot be proved,” Firestar answered coldly.

“It’s not a case of not being proved,” Dovewing hissed. “Jayfeather didn’t do it!”

“But it’s hard to ignore the accusation,” Onestar meowed in response to Firestar. To do the WindClan leader justice, Lionblaze thought, he sounded reluctant, as if his respect for Jayfeather as a medicine cat outweighed his hostility toward ThunderClan. “Firestar, perhaps you should suspend Jayfeather from medicine cat duties until he has proven his innocence.”

Mistystar dipped her head in agreement. “That would be sensible. With StarClan’s help, it might not take long.”

Lionblaze noticed that the other medicine cats had suddenly started to talk among themselves, their heads close together as quick meows passed from one to another. Then Littlecloud, the ShadowClan medicine cat, rose to his paws.

“We agree to this, too,” he announced, his voice regretful as he looked at Jayfeather. “Without determining the truth, this accusation could poison the Clans for seasons, like an infected wound.”

“Then how do you propose finding out what happened?” Brambleclaw challenged him. “It’s impossible, unless Flame-tail returns to tell us himself. Have any of you seen him in dreams?”

The medicine cats conferred together quickly, then Littlecloud shook his head.

“I’ve seen Flametail,” Ivypool confessed, leaning closer to Dovewing to murmur into her ear. Lionblaze could just pick up her quiet words. “But he’s in StarClan, not the Dark Forest.”

“Did you ask him if Jayfeather killed him?” Dovewing whispered back.

“No!” Ivypool’s eyes stretched wide in astonishment. “Why would I ask him a thing like that?”

All the other medicine cats turned toward Jayfeather; Lionblaze could see that his brother was trying not to flinch. Though Jayfeather couldn’t see them, he would be able to feel the force of their attention, all focused on him.

“Surrendering your duties is the only honorable thing to do,” Littlecloud meowed. He sounded helpless; Dovewing guessed that he was torn between his dismay at the accusation and the horror he felt that it might be true.

Jayfeather’s head jerked up. “But we walk alone now, don’t we?” His voice was clear and steady. “I know you’ve all had visits from your ancestors, telling you that each Clan must look to its own future. You have no right to tell me what to do! I shall remain as ThunderClan’s medicine cat!”

There were gasps from the clearing as Jayfeather defied his fellow medicine cats. Dawnpelt looked furious. Her jaws were open to protest when lightning crackled down from the sky, splitting the night. Its pale light outlined the pine trees and the bushes that surrounded the clearing, and rimmed the leaves of the great oak with a line of silver.

Lionblaze shuddered as the lightning was followed by a massive crash of thunder, so loud that it sounded as if the ground beneath his pads were cracking apart. A sharp wind rose, thrashing through the leaves and flattening the cats’ fur to their sides. Clouds blotted out the moon.

In the darkness one of the cats wailed, “StarClan is angry!”

Then rain poured out of the sky, an icy curtain sweeping across the clearing. Lionblaze’s fur was soaked within the first heartbeats. The cats let out wails of shock and terror as they began to flee for cover.

From the Great Oak Lionblaze heard Firestar’s voice ring out. “Home, quickly!”

The Gathering broke up in chaos as cats fled through the bushes, heading for the tree-bridge. Lionblaze sprang across the clearing, making for the spot where he had last seen his brother.

“Jayfeather!” he yowled. “Over here!”

To his relief lightning flashed out again; by its light he spotted Jayfeather struggling toward him around a knot of terrified WindClan cats. He looked skinnier than ever, his tabby fur plastered to his body.

“Let’s get out of here,” Lionblaze muttered, thrusting through the crowd of cats to his brother’s side.

As they turned toward the bushes Dawnpelt bounded past them, halting for a heartbeat to hiss at Jayfeather. “This is not over!”

Trying to force a way out of the clearing, Lionblaze realized that the cats had divided along battle lines as suddenly as the lightning had struck. Clan snarled at Clan, their claws extended and their lips drawn back to reveal sharp teeth. Their leaders yowled for control, but between fear and anger their warriors ignored them.

Lionblaze halted for a heartbeat to look up at the veiled moon. Great StarClan! The Clans are turning on one another, just when we need to stand side by side against a greater enemy than anything we have ever faced before!

Chapter 24