The Darkest Hour (26 page)

The clearing fell silent. Blood glistened
on the grass as cold sunlight sliced through the trees. Cloudtail struggled to his paws and staggered over to stand beside Firestar, looking down at Scourge's lifeless black body.

“You did it, Firestar,” he panted. “You saved the forest.”

Firestar gave the young warrior a lick. “We all did,” he meowed. He thought back to the trouble his kin had caused when he first arrived in the forest. In those days, Firestar would never have imagined he could have felt so proud of his wayward nephew. “Go and find Cinderpelt, and get yourself something for those wounds.”

Cloudtail nodded and limped off across the clearing.

Looking around, Firestar saw that warriors from each of the four Clans were gathering around their medicine cats at the edge of the clearing. One had become four again; LionClan was no more.

At first he couldn't see Sandstorm, and he felt panic welling up inside him. He was not sure he could bear it if he had lost her. Then he saw her stumbling wearily across the clearing. The fur along one flank was stiff with drying blood,
but Firestar could see that her injuries were not serious.

“Thank StarClan!” he breathed.

He crossed the clearing in two bounds, and Sandstorm turned her head to look at him, her green gaze filled with relief. “We did it,” she murmured. “We drove out BloodClan.”

Firestar suddenly felt light-headed, as if the whole of Fourtrees were spinning around him.

“Steady,” urged Sandstorm, supporting him with her shoulder. “You've lost a lot of blood. Come and see Cinderpelt.”

Firestar staggered the rest of the way, drinking in Sandstorm's scent and feeling comforted by the softness of her fur. When they reached Cinderpelt he collapsed on the ground, wondering if he were about to lose another life. Then he realized he could still hear the sounds all around him in the clearing, and the pain of his scratches throbbed instead of fading as Fernpaw started pressing cobwebs to the worst of his wounds.

“Is he okay?” That was Graystripe's voice. “Hey, come on, Firestar—you can't give up now!”

“I'm not. I'm tired, that's all.” Firestar blinked up at the gray warrior. “Don't worry; you won't have to be leader for a while yet.”

“Firestar.” Sandstorm gently prodded his shoulder. “There are more cats coming.”

Firestar sat up to see a group of RiverClan cats padding toward him, headed by Leopardstar. The RiverClan leader
dipped her head toward Firestar. Claw marks covered her pelt, but her eyes were clear and she carried her tail high.

“Well done, Firestar,” she meowed. “They tell me you killed Scourge.”

“Every cat fought well,” Firestar replied. “We wouldn't have won unless all the Clans joined together.”

“True enough,” Leopardstar conceded. “But now we must separate again. I am going to take my Clan home. We must care for our wounded and grieve for our dead.”

“And ShadowClan?” Firestar inquired.

“ShadowClan must go back to their own home,” Leopardstar replied firmly. “I have a new deputy, and enough warriors to defend our territory if ShadowClan don't respect our borders.”

“Who is the new deputy?” Firestar asked curiously.

“Mistyfoot,” meowed the RiverClan leader, a glint in her eyes.

As Firestar stared in astonishment, Mistyfoot emerged from the ThunderClan cats, followed by Featherpaw and Stormpaw. “I'm going with Leopardstar,” she explained, fixing Firestar with her mother's ice-blue gaze. “I'll always be grateful for what you did, but I'm a RiverClan cat at heart.”

Firestar nodded. He had never expected Mistyfoot to change her allegiance completely from her birth Clan. “But…as deputy?” he meowed. “After what happened to Stonefur?”

There was deep grief in Mistyfoot's eyes, but her determination did not waver. “Leopardstar asked me just before the battle started,” she explained. “I said I'd think about it, and
now I know I have to do it for Stonefur's sake, and for the sake of the Clan.”

Firestar dipped his head, respecting the hard decision she had made. “Then StarClan go with you,” he meowed. “And may you always be a friend to ThunderClan.”

The two young cats beside Mistyfoot glanced uncertainly from Firestar to Leopardstar. “We're going too,” Stormpaw mewed. “RiverClan has lost many warriors. They need us.”

Featherpaw padded up to Graystripe and touched noses with him. “You'll come and visit us, won't you?”

“Try to stop me.” Graystripe's voice was muffled and his eyes were filled with the pain of his kits' divided heritage. “Be the best warriors you can, and make me proud of you.”

“You've got something to live up to,” Firestar added. “Your father is ThunderClan deputy now.”

The two apprentices pressed close to their father and twined their tails with his. Leopardstar gave them a moment to be together before signaling to them, and the young cats fell in behind her. The RiverClan cats vanished into the bushes and up the slope toward their own territory.

Firestar's gaze fell on the group of ShadowClan cats not far away, and he noticed that Bramblepaw was with them, talking to his sister. Firestar rose to his paws and limped slowly toward them; Blackfoot got up to meet him as he approached.

“Firestar.” The ShadowClan deputy narrowed his eyes. “So we won the battle after all.”

“Yes, we did,” Firestar agreed, adding, “What will you do now, Blackfoot?”

“Take my Clan home, and prepare for a journey to Highstones. I'm their leader now. We have much to do to recover, but life in the forest will go on as usual.”

“Then I'll see you at the next Gathering. And Blackfoot, you would do well to learn from the mistakes of your predecessors. I saw what you did to Stonefur at the Bonehill.”

A shadow flitted across Blackfoot's eyes, and he did not reply.

Firestar flicked his tail to beckon Bramblepaw, who pressed his muzzle briefly against Tawnypaw's flank and slipped through the ShadowClan cats to his mentor's side. Blackfoot rounded up his cats and led them out of the clearing. Runningnose, the medicine cat, brought up the rear with a glance at Firestar as he went. Firestar hoped he had better luck with this new leader, after the trouble he had endured with Nightstar and Tigerstar.

Firestar turned back to his own Clan and found himself face-to-face with Barley and Ravenpaw.

“I wouldn't trust Blackfoot,” murmured Ravenpaw, watching the last of the ShadowClan warriors disappear into the bushes. “He's a troublemaker if I ever saw one.”

“I know,” Firestar replied. “Don't worry. ThunderClan will be ready if he starts anything.”

“At least with Scourge dead, the cats from Twolegplace will have the chance to live in peace,” Barley remarked with feeling. “They might have a better life now.”

“You wouldn't go back to Twolegplace yourself?” Firestar inquired.

“Not on your life!” Barley's tail shot straight up. “We're heading straight for home.”

“But it was good to fight with ThunderClan again,” added Ravenpaw.

“ThunderClan will always be grateful to you,” Firestar told them warmly. “You're free to come into our territory anytime.”

“And you must visit us at the farm whenever you make the journey to Highstones,” Barley mewed as they turned away. “I expect we'll be able to spare a mouse or two.”

With RiverClan and ShadowClan accounted for, Firestar w anted to check in with WindClan before he gathered his own cats and headed back to camp. There was a small group of WindClan warriors clustered around Barkface, their medicine cat, but nowhere near as many as there should have been. Tallstar himself was missing. A prickle of fear ran through Firestar's flame-colored pelt.

Then he saw the WindClan leader emerging from the bushes on the far side of the clearing. Mudclaw and Morningflower and a couple of apprentices were with him. All five cats were panting hard, as if they had been running. Firestar bounded toward them, expecting to see enemy cats burst into the clearing in pursuit.

“What's going on?” he demanded. “Are BloodClan chasing you?”

Tallstar let out a satisfied purr. “No, Firestar.
We
chased
them
. We followed them as far as the Thunderpath. They won't be back here in a hurry.”

“Good,” Firestar meowed with deep appreciation.

He saw a similar glow in Morningflower's eyes, and realized that at last she felt avenged for the death of Gorsepaw.

Taking a deep breath, Firestar dipped his head toward Tallstar and meowed, “We have no further need for LionClan. There are four Clans in the forest again.”

He could see that the older leader understood what he was saying. They were no longer allies, but rivals, who could meet in friendship only at Gatherings.

“We owe you our freedom,” meowed the WindClan leader. He dipped his head and headed toward the rest of his warriors at the far side of the clearing.

Alone for the first time, Firestar scrambled up to the top of the Great Rock. The sickening stench of blood rose around him, but up here he could look out over the forest and dare to believe that soon the battle would be no more than a distant memory.

He imagined the spirits of StarClan all around him, sharing the leadership of his Clan. They would be beside him every pawstep until he gave up his last life and went to join them.

“Thank you, StarClan,” he murmured. “Thank you for staying with us, fifth Clan of the forest. How could I ever have thought that I faced this battle alone?”

Suddenly he smelled a familiar scent and felt the soft touch of Spottedleaf's pelt brushing against his fur. Her breath was warm in his ear. “You are never alone, Firestar. Your Clan will live on, and I will watch over you forever.”

For a moment Firestar felt all the pain of loss afresh, as if his beloved medicine cat had not died many moons ago, but in this very battle. Then his ears pricked at the sound of claws on rock, and as Spottedleaf's scent faded, Firestar saw Graystripe and Sandstorm climbing toward him, with Bramblepaw scrambling up behind.

Sandstorm pressed her flank to Firestar's. “Bluestar was right. Fire did save the Clan.”

“And now there are four Clans again,” Graystripe added. “Just as there should be.”

No, there are five
, Firestar thought. He looked down over the clearing and the trees that stretched as far as he could see, and his senses filled with the sounds and the scents of his forest home. A thousand secret whispers told him that newleaf was stirring in the cold earth, shooting up new green fronds and rousing the prey from its long leaf-bare sleep.

The rising sun broke over the trees and flooded the clearing with light and warmth, and it seemed to Firestar that no dawn had ever been brighter.