River Of Fire

Alderheart’s dejection vanished like ice under the strong sun of greenleaf. “I saw Needletail!” he mewed excitedly. “She told me exactly the same.”

“And I saw Lioneye.” Kestrelflight’s eyes were filled with awe as he spoke. “She gave me the same message, too. They came to every Clan!”

“The shadows are approaching . . .” Frecklewish’s voice was thoughtful. “Maybe that means the missing ShadowClan cats are on their way back to us!”

“And ‘they must not be dispelled,’” Kestrelflight added. “Perhaps that means we should be open to the returning cats, and listen to what they have to say.”

Puddleshine glanced around the group of medicine cats, his eyes worried. “This gives me hope,” he mewed. “Perhaps ShadowClan isn’t gone forever. But we’ll have to convince Leafstar. . . .”

“We must take the message back to our Clanmates,” Leafpool declared. “The meeting is over. And may StarClan light our paths, now and always.”

“This is the best news we’ve had from StarClan in a long time,” Kestrelflight declared as he and the other cats climbed the spiral path.

The others murmured their agreement. Alderheart could sense excitement and optimism in the air, as if every cat was eager to return to their Clan and pass on the message.

But as he thrust his way through the bushes and paused beside Leafpool before leaping down the rocks, Alderheart could see that his Clanmate looked troubled. The other cats, even Jayfeather, had gone on ahead, so Alderheart hung back to speak to her alone. “What’s the matter?” he asked. “This is what we’ve been hoping for, isn’t it?”

“I’m just not sure . . . ,” Leafpool murmured. “Fine, ShadowClan cats might be coming back, but which cats are they? Not all of them were good—many of them joined with Darktail, and fought for him against their Clanmates.”

“But not all of them,” Alderheart pointed out. “And some were just scared, and didn’t know what else to do.”

Leafpool let out a worried sigh. “There’s SkyClan, too. They have just returned to us. What effect will this have on them? Leafstar has been very patient with ShadowClan so far. But it’s asking a lot of her, creating one Clan out of two, and then maybe splitting up again when these other cats arrive.”

Alderheart considered what his fellow medicine cat had said. He could understand her worries, and he didn’t know Leafstar well enough to guess how she would react.

“We don’t know that’s what StarClan’s words mean,” Alderheart cautioned Leafpool. “We don’t even know for sure that any ShadowClan cats will return. Perhaps ‘shadows’ means something else.”

“True,” Leafpool admitted, gazing up at the sky as if she could read an answer there. “But I still feel uneasy.”

Alderheart couldn’t think of anything to say that would reassure her. The other medicine cats were already heading out across the moor; Alderheart bunched his muscles to leap down the rocks and follow them. Then his ears twitched as he caught the sound of movement in the bushes. He froze.

“Did you hear that?” he asked Leafpool.

“No—what?”

Alderheart parted his jaws to taste the air, but all he could pick up were the scents of the other medicine cats. He shrugged. “I must have been imagining it. Let’s go.”

CHAPTER 7

That was close!

Hidden deep within the bushes that surrounded the Moonpool, Twigpaw stood shivering. She had watched the other medicine cats leave, and had almost jumped out of her fur when she thought Alderheart had detected her presence. It took a long time before her heart stopped pounding.

Twigpaw knew that she shouldn’t have come. But when she had heard Alderheart and Jayfeather talking about the prophecy, she had just had the feeling that if she followed them, she could learn something, or do something to help.

From her hiding place among the bushes, Twigpaw had heard nothing of what went on when the medicine cats were gathered at the Moonpool. She couldn’t bring herself to go closer—the Moonpool was only for medicine cats. Her ears twitched with irritation at herself as she huddled in the bushes while the medicine cats were at the Moonpool—she should have thought of that. But she had been close enough to catch scraps of the conversation between Leafpool and Alderheart as they passed by on their way home.

Leafpool says that she’s worried. . . .

Twigpaw stayed still, crouching close to the ground and not even twitching a whisker until she was sure the medicine cats were gone. She had a lot to think about. She knew Alderheart was convinced there should be five Clans, and how worried he was now that there were only three.

Twigpaw wondered what would happen to ThunderClan if ShadowClan was truly gone, and if RiverClan never came back. She knew that Sparkpelt thought the remaining Clans would be stronger, but Twigpaw wasn’t so sure. StarClan had warned of a storm.