Warriors: Omen of the Stars #6: The Last Hope (6 page)

Jayfeather ignored her question. There wasn’t time. “We need to unite the Clans.” He began to pace. “The battle won’t be fought over boundaries this time. Our very survival will be at stake.”

Mothwing’s breath quickened. “What can I do to help?”

Her offer sent a rush of hope through Jayfeather, but he knew he had to be honest. “Hawkfrost is involved.”

“My brother?” Mothwing’s tail swished over the rock. “How?”

“He has chosen darkness over light.”

Grief flared from Mothwing but she pushed it away. “I am not my brother,” she declared. “I have always chosen a different path from him. My loyalty is to living Clanmates, not dead littermates.”

“So you’d fight him if you had to?”

“Fight him? He’s already dead!”

“But the living and dead are training together to destroy the Clans!” Jayfeather pictured his Clanmates training in the Dark Forest.
They can’t know what they’re doing, surely
?
No cat could persuade Birchfall or Blossomfall to harm their Clanmates!
“They are using our own Clanmates against us.”

Mothwing’s paws scuffed on the stone. “How will we know who to trust?”

Jayfeather let out a slow breath. “We won’t until the battle begins. But if we can stop StarClan from driving the Clans apart, we stand a chance of winning.”

“I can’t help you change what dead cats do,” Mothwing meowed. “But I might be able to help guide the living ones. I’ll try to persuade Willowshine to visit the Moonpool again.”

“Will she listen to you over StarClan?”

Mothwing paused. “I don’t know. But I have to try.” Jayfeather felt the RiverClan cat’s determination tingling beneath her pelt. “And if I think of a way to make the other medicine cats listen, I’ll come and find you.” Her breath touched his muzzle as she leaned closer. “You’re not alone anymore, Jayfeather.” She turned and padded up the spiraling path out the hollow. “Are you coming?”

Jayfeather followed. Mothwing was the last cat he imagined would help him fight the Dark Forest. But perhaps she was the only cat who could.

Bright sunshine lit the hollow. The
Clan was resting after its morning patrols.

As Lionblaze took a halfhearted bite from the mouse lying at his paws, Millie settled beside the warriors’ den.

“Bring me a shrew!” she called to Graystripe.

“There’s plenty.” Rosepetal was sharing a blackbird with Blossomfall. “We found a whole nestful.”

Graystripe padded toward the fresh-kill pile. It was well stocked. Hunting patrols had been stepped up to fatten the Clan before leaf-bare. Firestar wanted to make sure they faced the coming moons as fit and strong as any Clan.

“Can I join you?” Hollyleaf crossed the clearing and dropped a thrush beside Lionblaze.

Lionblaze rolled his mouse underneath his paw. “If you want.”

His sister settled beside him, nestling into the shade of the fallen beech. “Jayfeather’s not back,” she observed before taking a bite from her thrush.

“I know.” Lionblaze plucked distractedly at the mouse.

“Why did he go to the Moonpool?” Hollyleaf’s mew was muffled by feathers. “Firestar told him to confine his medicine-cat duties to camp.”

“I guess he had his reasons.” Lionblaze twitched his ears uneasily. Jayfeather had been reckless to travel alone. What if a WindClan patrol found him? Would they show mercy to a cat they believed was a murderer?

Cinderheart padded over to them. Lionblaze focused on his mouse while she greeted his sister. “It’s been a good morning for hunting.”

Hollyleaf brushed a feather from her muzzle. “I’ve never seen so much prey.”

Lionblaze lifted his head to glance quickly at Cinderheart. Her soft gray pelt shone and her long tail was sleek and well groomed. His heart ached. Why was she hanging around here? Shouldn’t she be in the medicine den? She wasn’t really Cinderheart, the cat he’d fallen in love with; she was Cinderpelt—an old medicine cat brought back by StarClan to fill some stupid destiny.

“Shut your mouth before your prey falls out,” Hollyleaf whispered in his ear.

Lionblaze flinched, suddenly aware that he’d been staring. He looked away, heat flooding his fur. “What do you want?” he asked Cinderheart sharply.

“Brambleclaw wants us to take a hunting patrol to the lake.”

“Don’t you have medicine-cat duties?” He’d seen her ducking in and out of Jayfeather’s den ever since her old knowledge of herbs and cures had flooded back.

“Why should I?” Cinderheart’s pelt spiked along her back.

“Jayfeather’s at the Moonpool.”

“He’ll be home soon.”

“I hope so.”

“Hollyleaf!” Brambleclaw called from beneath Highledge. “Take a patrol to the Twoleg meadow,” the deputy ordered. “I heard a dog there last night and I want to know if it’s tethered.”

Hollyleaf glanced ruefully at her half-eaten thrush, then headed across the clearing. Lionblaze watched her go, acutely aware of Cinderheart lingering at his side. “Don’t you want to go with her?” he suggested.

“We’re leading a patrol, remember?” She sat down beside him. “Who should we take?”

Lionblaze scanned the clearing, relieved to see Cloudtail trotting toward them. “Hi, Cloudtail.” He stood up. “Do you want to come hunting?”

“No, he doesn’t!” Brightheart trotted after Cloudtail. “We’ve been hunting all morning and he promised to fetch me something from the fresh-kill pile.” She nudged her mate. “Do you want me to go to the fresh-kill pile while you stay and gossip?” Her eyes flashed.

Cloudtail swished his thick white tail, purring. “I’m going!”

Lionblaze envied their easy familiarity. Once, he’d thought he and Cinderheart might be like that. But the return of her memories had changed everything. Now he felt as if he’d never known her at all.

Brightheart nodded to Cinderheart. “Have you checked on Briarlight this morning?”

“Was I supposed to?” Cinderheart looked up anxiously.

“No.” Brightheart shrugged. “I just thought, with Jayfeather away—” Her gaze flashed toward the medicine den as the brambles trembled at the entrance. “She’s coming out!” She hurried away to meet Briarlight as the crippled warrior dragged herself toward the fresh-kill pile.

“Wait for me!” Cloudtail trotted after her.

“That could have been us,” Lionblaze muttered to Cinderheart. “We could have been happy together.”

“I don’t think happiness is part of our
destinies
,” Cinderheart spat. Then her expression changed and she looked sadly at Lionblaze. “Let’s not torture ourselves by wishing.” She stood and stretched, arching her back. “Who do you want to hunt with?”

Lionblaze scanned the camp. Blossomfall had finished eating and was play fighting with Thornclaw beside the nursery. She spun around, steadying herself with her tail and dodging a well-aimed swipe. There was something relaxed and comfortable in the way they matched each other’s moves. “What about them? Thornclaw!”

The golden tabby looked over his shoulder. “What is it?”

“We’re hunting by the lake and we need extra paws.”

Thornclaw lifted his tail happily. “Can Blossomfall come, too?”

When Lionblaze nodded, the two cats ran toward the thorn barrier. Cinderheart bounded after them. Lionblaze shoved his half-eaten mouse beside Hollyleaf’s thrush and followed his Clanmates out of camp.

By the time he caught up, Thornclaw and Blossomfall were already climbing the slope, zigzagging through the brambles as though they were playing catch-the-squirrel with each other’s tails. Another season or two and Blossomfall would be nursing Thornclaw’s kits. His tail drooped.

“Ow!” Blossomfall let out a squeal.

Lionblaze broke into a run, skidding to a halt beside the tortoiseshell warrior. “What happened?”

Blossomfall writhed on the ground, her foreleg tangled in a bramble and her face twisted with pain. Thornclaw crouched beside her, holding the bramble between his jaws as he gingerly unwrapped it from around her paw. “Hold still,” he whispered. “Tugging will make last night’s battle wound worse.”

“Shhh!” Blossomfall hushed Thornclaw, her gaze glittering with guilt as it caught Lionblaze’s.

Lionblaze froze. These cats weren’t mates! They’d been training together in their dreams. Lionblaze felt the trees close around him. He struggled to take a deep breath.
They don’t know what they’re doing.

Trembling, he watched Thornclaw pull the bramble away and help Blossomfall to her paws. If he couldn’t trust his Clanmates, who
could
he trust? He glanced over his shoulder at Cinderheart as she hurried to check on her Clanmate. Was she training in the Dark Forest, too? Lionblaze’s thoughts darted from one Clanmate to another. The familiar faces seemed suddenly strange and cold.

“Check her,” he ordered Cinderheart, but Cinderheart was already sniffing Blossomfall’s shoulder, then pressing gently with her paws.

“Does that hurt?”

Blossomfall let out a groan but shook her head. “Just a little.”

“Can you put weight on it?” Cinderheart asked.

Blossomfall tested it, her face tensing, then relaxing as her pad pressed against the earth. “Yes,” she breathed. “It’s sore, but I can walk.”

Cinderheart turned to Lionblaze. “There’s no heat in her shoulder,” she told him. “It’s just a light sprain. She’ll need to go easy—”

Lionblaze interrupted her. “Are you sure?”

Cinderheart’s eyes flashed. “Of course I’m sure!”

Lionblaze narrowed his eyes. Did she resent having her skills questioned? Or did she object to being asked to act like a medicine cat? Before he could decide, Cinderheart started nudging Blossomfall up the slope.

Thornclaw followed anxiously. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

“It’ll be fine by the time we reach the lake,” Blossomfall promised.

Cinderheart glanced over her shoulder, catching Lionblaze’s eye. “Our apprentices have suffered worse injuries,” she told him. “So long as she doesn’t run or jump for a couple of days, she’ll be fine.”

“Should she go back to camp?” Lionblaze asked.

“No, I’ll stay with you. Even if I can’t chase prey I can help carry home the catch,” Blossomfall called. She began to walk a little faster, as if to prove she was okay. With a sigh, Lionblaze trudged after them.

In the end, there was little fresh-kill to carry home. Thornclaw hunted clumsily, making so much noise that birds set up alarm calls all along the shoreline the first time he stumbled on the slippery pebbles. Lionblaze was distracted, tracking his Clanmates closely, listening for clues about their Dark Forest training. Cinderheart’s thoughts seemed elsewhere and she let a mouse escape beneath her muzzle.

Lionblaze led them back into camp, a sparrow between his jaws. Firestar was dozing on Highledge beside Squirrelflight. Graystripe and Millie lay outside the nursery while Daisy and Ferncloud spread pawfuls of moss to dry in the sun.

At the entrance to the elders’ den, Mousefur sat staring into space with Purdy beside her. The old tom’s rumbling mew droned like distant honeybees.

Lionblaze headed for the fresh-kill pile with Cinderheart on his heels. Blossomfall limped after them, holding a shrew.

“Is that all you caught?” Bumblestripe bounced up to her. “It’s not leaf-bare
yet
!”