Tigerheart’s Shadow

“I think StarClan has chosen to share with us through him,” Tigerheart meowed. “We need to know how to get home. Now we have been shown a way. It isn’t far. Only a day or two.” He looked at Berryheart. “Do you think your kits are ready to make the journey?” Hope rose in his chest as Berryheart’s gaze flicked toward her kits. I’m coming, ShadowClan. I’ll be there soon.

Berryheart shifted her paws uneasily. “Not yet,” she meowed. “They’re barely weaned.”

Shadowkit stiffened, his pelt pricking. “But—”

Tigerheart spoke over him. “The journey is not long.” His Clan was so near; and in need of his help. The tug of home felt like a thorn in his heart. “We can carry them most of the way.”

“If you must go now, you can leave without us,” Berryheart offered.

“No,” Tigerheart meowed firmly. “We leave together or not at all.”

Dovewing blinked softly at Berryheart. “Will they be ready in a quarter moon?”

Shadowkit flicked his tail. “We must leave before that!”

Dovewing silenced him with a look. “I said no interrupting.”

“But it was my dream—”

Dovewing cut him off. “You are too young to be telling warriors what to do.”

Shadowkit tucked his tail around his paws and stared at the ground.

Dovewing turned back to Berryheart. “A quarter moon?”

“Yes.” Berryheart gazed anxiously at her kits. “But only if the weather is fine.”

Tigerheart flicked his tail eagerly. “Then it’s settled. In a quarter moon, we’ll go home.”

Dusk turned the thin clouds above the forest pink. A fresh wind stirred the branches. Tigerheart gazed at the moon as the sky darkened around it. The quarter moon had passed. They would leave at dawn. Anxiety fluttered in his belly. What would he find when he reached the lake? The shadows are fading. He can’t keep them together. He couldn’t believe Rowanstar had let ShadowClan fall apart. They must be waiting for him. A forest without ShadowClan would be like a forest without trees.

Dovewing gazed across the camp wall, scanning the woods. “The hunting patrol will be back soon,” she meowed. Cloverfoot and Sparrowtail had gone to find prey with Rippletail and Ant. Tigerheart had told them to catch as much as they could; he wanted the party to start their journey with full bellies.

Blaze had left the camp with Cinnamon to hunt for herbs to give them strength. Berryheart was purring as she played moss-ball with Spirekit. Hollowkit and Sunkit were exploring beyond the camp wall. Dovewing could see them now, sniffing at the roots of a beech while Pouncekit and Lightkit bounced around them, trying to catch the moths flitting around the bracken.

“Why don’t you go and play with the other kits?” Tigerheart glanced at Shadowkit. The young tom was crouching in the shadow of the brambles, his eyes dark with worry.

Shadowkit ignored his question. “We should leave tonight.” His gaze flashed toward the sky. “Tomorrow will be too late.”

Tigerheart’s belly tightened. “Has StarClan shared something with you?”

Shadowkit looked away. “I wish they had,” he murmured. “Then I could explain.”

“Explain what?”

“This feeling.” Shadowkit shifted his paws beneath him. “We shouldn’t be here.”

“We leave in the morning,” Tigerheart soothed. Sharing a dream world with StarClan must be hard for a kit who was too young to understand even the real world. And yet he couldn’t resist probing. “In your vision,” he mewed softly, “have you seen a ginger tom?”

Shadowkit glanced at him sharply. “No? Was I meant to?”

“No.” Tigerheart shook out his pelt. He was putting too much pressure on the young tom. It wasn’t fair to ask him if StarClan had shared any news about Rowanstar. Shadowkit would have told me if he knew anything. Why would there be news of his father? Rowanstar had probably solved ShadowClan’s problems by now.

“Tigerheart!” Dovewing’s mew was taut. He looked at her. She was still watching the kits. Had she spotted the hunting patrol?

“What is it?” He followed her gaze as she raised her eyes to the canopy.

A dark shadow flitted between the branches. Tigerheart’s pelt spiked with alarm.

Owl.

It was gliding silently above the kits. His heart lurched as he saw it swoop. With a gasp, he leaped the camp wall and pelted toward Pouncekit. “Hide!” Lightkit and Pouncekit scattered into the bracken. Sunkit stared at him, her eyes wide. Hollowkit seemed rooted to the spot. Tigerheart looked up as he felt the wind from the owl’s wings. The owl was so huge it blocked out the sky. Pelt bushing, he saw its talons reach for Hollowkit. He lunged forward and pushed the kit clear, then reared to beat away the owl.