Veil Of Shadows

She noticed that Crowfeather and Mothwing were both there in the clearing; they would be among the first cats who had to leave if the Clans agreed to exile their codebreakers. Dovewing wasn’t there, but she too was a cat who had broken the code in the most flagrant way possible.

Meanwhile, Harestar of WindClan had risen from the branch where he was sitting, a tail-length above Bramblestar. His chest was heaving, and his voice was unsteady as he spoke.

“Crowfeather was named as a codebreaker,” he began, “and he’s my deputy. I can’t lose him to this! Many of the codebreakers are good cats. And Shadowsight’s vision is the word of one cat, a cat who—no offense, Tigerstar—seems to have left the Clans. Can this truly be what StarClan wants?”

Bramblestar tilted his head to one side as he looked up at Harestar. “Shadowsight’s disappearance is proof that this has to be done,” he responded calmly. “Clearly, he ran away because he saw the truth. His own mother, as a codebreaker, must be exiled. It’s difficult and painful to do StarClan’s bidding, but we have no alternative, if we’re to have any hope of seeing the spirits of our warrior ancestors again. Shadowsight understood that. He gave us our orders, but he left because he wasn’t strong enough to see it through.”

At his words, Tigerstar let out a growl, positioning himself to launch his body at Bramblestar. The impostor seemed unaware of the younger leader’s hostility—or perhaps, Bristlefrost thought, he simply didn’t care.

She knew that she had to stop a fight breaking out. She didn’t dare speak, but she leaped to her paws and took a pace or two toward the Great Oak so that Tigerstar could look down at her. Gazing up at him fervently, she tried to tell him, Stop! You have to play along for now, or all our plans will fall apart!

Tigerstar’s eyes widened in understanding. He shook his head slightly but retreated a pace, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on Bramblestar.

“I don’t want to do this,” Harestar went on, regaining some control over himself. “But WindClan is suffering. This recent wind and rain is driving prey from the moor, and my cats are hungry.”

Bramblestar nodded, a gleam in his amber gaze. “Of course they are! This is StarClan’s punishment for not following their wishes.” Glancing around at the assembled cats, he added, “WindClan’s woes are a warning to all of us. If we don’t enforce the code and send the codebreakers away, things will get worse, not better! Every cat here must realize that we need StarClan’s guidance more than ever. And that means we have no choice.”

The impostor bent his head and directed his gaze downward to where Crowfeather was seated with the other deputies on the roots of the Great Oak. As the dark gray tom looked back at him, a growl rose from deep within Crowfeather’s chest, though he said nothing.

Crowfeather’s son Breezepelt rose to his paws. “Harestar, you can’t seriously mean to exile our deputy,” he protested. “WindClan needs him.”

“And we don’t have to do it now,” Breezepelt’s mother, Nightcloud, added. “We can try to contact StarClan again and make sure it’s the right thing to do.”

Harestar let out a yowl of frustration. “We can’t contact StarClan. That’s the whole problem!”

Nightcloud let out a hiss and turned her back on her Clan leader.

Before any other cat could speak, Crowfeather rose and leaped down from his position on the gnarled oak root. “If I have to leave to save my Clan from conflict, then I will leave,” he announced to the whole Gathering. “But I tell you this: It won’t bring StarClan back. Today it’s me, and the other cats named in Shadowsight’s vision. But what happens when we’re exiled and StarClan doesn’t return? Who will be next?”

Without waiting for a response, he stalked across the clearing, his head and tail held high, and disappeared into the bushes, heading for the tree-bridge. Bristlefrost watched him go, doing her best to hide her admiration.

Crowfeather is putting his Clan first. And he’s right: I’m sure exiling all these cats won’t bring StarClan back.

Bristlefrost turned back to the Great Oak as she heard Mistystar begin to speak. The RiverClan leader was looking sorrowfully down at her medicine cat, Mothwing.

“I’m sorry, Mothwing,” she meowed. “Your mother was a rogue and your father was the first Tigerstar, who, whatever he was, was not a RiverClan cat. I must send you into exile.”

“But—” Mothwing began to protest, while her former apprentice, Willowshine, glared up at Mistystar with narrowed eyes and teeth bared in a snarl.