Eclipse

He cast his mind farther, beyond the walls of the camp. If they were close to the hollow he might be able to pick up a stray thought or feeling. He could picture trees and bushes, a landscape built of images glimpsed in his dreams. But no sign of his Clanmates.

Suddenly his mind emptied and blackness crowded in, smothering his thoughts. Coldness gripped him, seeping into his flesh, chilling his bones. He tried to breathe, but the emptiness choked him, crushing him like water, drowning him in its terrible darkness.

Then it vanished, and he could picture the forest again, green and quiet.

Jaypaw gasped for breath, his flanks heaving as he sucked in clean, bright air.

“Are you all right?” Leafpool was crouching beside him.

Hollypaw pressed against his pelt. “What’s wrong with him?” she wailed.

How much time had passed?

Graystripe was still standing at the fresh-kill pile with a vole dangling from his jaws. Spiderleg was still chasing Toadkit away from his tail. The vision had only overtaken him for a heartbeat or two.

“Something’s coming,” Jaypaw croaked. “Something”—he broke off as terror seized him again—“something dark!”

Leafpool didn’t comment. Her attention had been snatched away by the rustling of the barrier.

“Poppyfrost!” Firestar greeted the young warrior as she padded out of the thorns. Then the ThunderClan leader’s mew sharpened. “Are you okay?”

Poppyfrost was ruff led and nervous. Birchfall followed her, his paw steps hesitant. Jaypaw leaned forward, every hair on his pelt tingling. Unfamiliar paw steps were padding through the tunnel. A new scent filled his nose as a strange tom entered the hollow.

“Who is it?” Jaypaw demanded under his breath.

“I don’t know,” Hollypaw whispered back.

“What does he look like?”

Hollypaw didn’t answer, her thoughts drawn to the stranger.

Jaypaw tasted the air. The tom carried the scent of heather on his pelt, and the clean smell of wind and water, but nothing else familiar. He tried searching the tom’s mind but found himself dazzled by countless thoughts and images: trees, sky, lightning, roaring monsters, and vast stretches of rolling green water, but none of them stayed still long enough for Jaypaw to see them clearly. It was like trying to gaze at broken water flashing with sunlight.

He nudged Hollypaw. “Well?”

“H-he’s tall,” she mewed distractedly. “Taller than Firestar.

His head narrows toward his chin, and his ears are large and wide spaced. His fur is longer than ours—dark brown and white with splashes of bright tortoiseshell—and his tail…”

Her mew trailed away. “I’ve seen him before! It’s the lion.”

Jaypaw stiffened in alarm. “What?”

Her voice dropped even more. “On the moor, with the sun rising behind him. He looked like a lion.”

Jaypaw wanted to know everything, but Firestar was padding toward the stranger. The air in the hollow crackled with tension.

“Thornclaw.” Firestar’s voice was sharp as he addressed the senior warrior. “Why have you brought this cat here, into our camp?”

“I-I…” Thornclaw seemed lost for words, and Jaypaw sensed confusion clouding the warrior’s thoughts. He was no longer sure why he had led a perfect stranger to the heart of ThunderClan territory. It had just seemed like the right thing to do.

“Firestar.” Unexpectedly, the stranger broke in. “I am honored to meet you. I have long looked forward to seeing ThunderClan.” His mew was deep but his tone light, as though promising honesty.

“How does he know us?” Spiderleg hissed.

“Where’s he from?” Leafpool breathed.

“You’ve looked forward to seeing ThunderClan?” Disbelief edged Firestar’s meow as he echoed the stranger’s words.

“What do you want with us?”

“What do we want with him?” Mousefur growled. “Send him away!”

“I want nothing from you.” The stranger’s mew echoed around the hollow.

Wariness flashed from Firestar. “Then why are you here?”

“I came because it was time.”

“Time for what?” Spiderleg called.

“Time to come,” the stranger replied. Jaypaw shivered. How did this cat make such simple words sound so powerful?

Firestar shifted his paws.

“He’s talking nonsense,” Mousefur muttered. “Tell him to leave.”

“But he just got here!” Toadkit skipped excitedly across the clearing. “Who are you?” he asked, stopping in front of the stranger.

A purr of amusement rumbled in the stranger’s throat. “I am Sol.”

Brambleclaw padded quickly forward. “You and Rosekit should be resting in the nursery,” he told Toadkit. “You couldn’t have gotten much sleep last night.”

“There was trouble?” Sol meowed.

“No.” The ThunderClan deputy followed Rosekit and Toadkit as they padded, grumbling, to their den. He waited while they scrambled inside, then called to Thornclaw, “Where did you find this stranger?”

“On the WindClan border,” Thornclaw explained. “He wasn’t stealing prey, or even trying to cross into our territory.

He was just… waiting.”

“I was waiting for a patrol,” Sol told them.

How does a loner know about borders and patrols?

“Why?” Firestar sounded baffled.

“So that they could escort me here.”