Dovewing's Silence Read online

  MAPS

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Special thanks to Victoria Holmes

  DEDICATION

  For RAH

  ALLEGIANCES

  THUNDERCLAN

  LEADER BRAMBLESTAR—dark brown tabby tom with amber eyes

  DEPUTY SQUIRRELFLIGHT—dark ginger she-cat with green eyes

  MEDICINE CATS JAYFEATHER—gray tabby tom with blind blue eyes

  LEAFPOOL—light brown tabby she-cat with amber eyes

  WARRIORS (toms and she-cats without kits)

  GRAYSTRIPE—long-haired gray tom

  DUSTPELT—dark brown tabby tom

  SANDSTORM—pale ginger she-cat with green eyes

  BRACKENFUR—golden-brown tabby tom

  CLOUDTAIL—long-haired white tom with blue eyes

  BRIGHTHEART—white she-cat with ginger patches

  MILLIE—striped gray tabby she-cat with blue eyes

  THORNCLAW—golden-brown tabby tom

  SPIDERLEG—long-limbed black tom with brown underbelly and amber eyes

  BIRCHFALL—light brown tabby tom

  WHITEWING—white she-cat with green eyes

  HAZELTAIL—small gray-and-white she-cat

  BERRYNOSE—cream-colored tom

  MOUSEWHISKER—gray-and-white tom

  CINDERHEART—gray tabby she-cat

  IVYPOOL—silver-and-white tabby she-cat with dark blue eyes

  LIONBLAZE—golden tabby tom with amber eyes

  FOXLEAP—reddish tabby tom

  APPRENTICE, CHERRYPAW (ginger she-cat)

  DOVEWING—pale gray she-cat with blue eyes

  ROSEPETAL—dark cream she-cat

  APPRENTICE, MOLEPAW (brown-and-cream tom)

  POPPYFROST—tortoiseshell she-cat

  BRIARLIGHT—dark brown she-cat with sky-colored eyes, paralyzed in her hindquarters

  BLOSSOMFALL—tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat

  TOADSTEP—black-and-white tom

  BUMBLESTRIPE—very pale gray tom with black stripes

  APPRENTICE, SEEDPAW (golden-brown she-cat)

  QUEENS (she-cats expecting or nursing kits)

  DAISY—cream, long-furred cat from the horseplace

  SORRELTAIL—tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat with amber eyes (mother to Lilykit, a dark tabby she-kit with white patches, and Seedkit, a very pale ginger she-kit)

  ELDERS (former warriors and queens, now retired)

  PURDY—plump tabby, former loner with a gray muzzle

  SHADOWCLAN

  LEADER BLACKSTAR—large white tom with one jet-black forepaw

  DEPUTY ROWANCLAW—ginger tom

  MEDICINE CAT LITTLECLOUD—very small tabby tom

  WARRIORS CROWFROST—black-and-white tom

  TAWNYPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat with green eyes

  APPRENTICE, GRASSPAW (pale brown tabby she-cat)

  OWLCLAW—light brown tabby tom

  SHREWFOOT—gray she-cat with black paws

  SCORCHFUR—dark gray tom

  TIGERHEART—dark brown tabby tom

  FERRETCLAW—black-and-gray tom

  APPRENTICE, SPIKEPAW (dark brown tom)

  PINENOSE—black she-cat

  STOATFUR—tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat

  POUNCETAIL—brown tabby tom

  QUEENS SNOWBIRD—pure-white she-cat

  DAWNPELT—cream-furred she-cat

  ELDERS SNAKETAIL— dark brown tom with tabby-striped tail

  WHITEWATER—white she-cat with long fur, blind in one eye

  RATSCAR—brown tom with long scar across his back

  OAKFUR—small brown tom

  SMOKEFOOT—black tom

  KINKFUR—tabby she-cat, with long fur that sticks out at all angles

  IVYTAIL—black, white, and tortoiseshell she-cat

  WINDCLAN

  LEADER ONESTAR—brown tabby tom

  DEPUTY HARESPRING—brown-and-white tom

  APPRENTICE, SLIGHTPAW (black tom with flash of white on his chest)

  MEDICINE CAT KESTRELFLIGHT—mottled gray tom

  WARRIORS CROWFEATHER—dark gray tom

  APPRENTICE, FEATHERPAW (gray tabby she-cat)

  NIGHTCLOUD—black she-cat

  APPRENTICE, HOOTPAW (dark gray tom)

  GORSETAIL—very pale gray-and-white tom with blue eyes

  WEASELFUR—ginger tom with white paws

  LEAFTAIL—dark tabby tom, amber eyes

  APPRENTICE, OATPAW (pale brown tabby tom)

  EMBERFOOT—gray tom with two dark paws

  HEATHERTAIL—light brown tabby she-cat with blue eyes

  BREEZEPELT—black tom with amber eyes

  FURZEPELT—gray-and-white she-cat

  CROUCHFOOT—ginger tom

  LARKWING—pale brown tabby she-cat

  QUEENS SEDGEWHISKER—light brown tabby she-cat

  ELDERS WHISKERNOSE—light brown tom

  WHITETAIL—small white she-cat

  RIVERCLAN

  LEADER MISTYSTAR—gray she-cat with blue eyes

  DEPUTY REEDWHISKER—black tom

  APPRENTICE, LIZARDPAW (light brown tom)

  MEDICINE CATS MOTHWING—dappled golden she-cat

  WILLOWSHINE—gray tabby she-cat

  WARRIORS MINTFUR—light gray tabby tom

  MINNOWTAIL— dark gray she-cat

  MALLOWNOSE—light brown tabby tom

  APPRENTICE, HAVENPAW (black-and-white she-cat)

  GRASSPELT—light brown tom

  DUSKFUR—brown tabby she-cat

  MOSSPELT—tortoiseshell she-cat with blue eyes

  APPRENTICE, PERCHPAW (gray-and-white she-cat)

  SHIMMERPELT—silver she-cat

  LAKEHEART—gray tabby she-cat

  HERONWING—dark gray-and-black tom

  QUEENS ICEWING—white she-cat with blue eyes

  PETALFUR—gray-and-white she-cat

  ELDERS POUNCEFOOT—ginger-and-white tom

  PEBBLEFOOT—mottled gray tom

  RUSHTAIL—light brown tabby tom

  CATS OUTSIDE CLANS

  SMOKY—muscular gray-and-white tom who lives in a barn at the horseplace

  CORIANDER—tortoiseshell-and-white she-cat who lives with Smoky

  CONTENTS

  Maps

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Allegiances

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Excerpt from Warriors: Bramblestar’s Storm

  Back Ads

  About the Author

  Books by Erin Hunter

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  CHAPTER 1

  Dovewing stood very still in the center of the camp as silence crashed over the forest. From the corner of her eye she saw two pale shapes, a badger with a long striped nose and a hairless cat with swollen blind eyes. They nodded to her, then walked out of the hollow. For a moment Dovewing wanted to chase after them, to haul them back and demand to know what happened next.

  Midnight! Rock! How can you leave us like this? The Dark Forest may have been defeated but we have lost everything!

  The quiet beneath the trees was broken by a muffled sob. Sandstorm was crouching beside Firestar’s unmoving body, which still lay at the foot of the lightning-scorched tree.

  “We have lost everything,” Dovewing whispered out loud.

  She watched Leafpool press a wad of cobweb onto a bite wound on Cinderheart’s flank; Lionblaze stood over them, the tip of his tail twitching anxiously, until Leafpool sent him away to fetch marigold and tansy from the medicine cats’ den.<
br />
  Millie touched Dovewing’s shoulder with her muzzle. “Are you hurt?” she mewed.

  Dovewing shook her head. In truth, she had no idea what wounds she had suffered in the terrible blood-soaked skirmishes; she felt numb from her nose to her claws, and her ears were still buzzing from the sounds of the battle.

  “Then come help us,” Millie prompted. She steered Dovewing gently over to the edge of the clearing where the bodies of Hollyleaf, Mousefur, and Ferncloud were being arranged. Dustpelt was staring down at Ferncloud, his dark tabby coat matted with blood and patchy where tufts of fur had been ripped out.

  “You need to see Leafpool,” Icecloud prompted him, pausing as she carefully straightened Ferncloud’s feather-soft tail. “I’ll stay here.”

  “I will never leave Ferncloud’s side again,” Dustpelt snarled. He slammed his paw onto the ground, his claw-tips scoring the soil. “I should have been with her. She should never have been left to fight Brokenstar alone. She was nothing but a scrap of prey for him!”

  Icecloud glanced up at him with a glint of anger in her pale blue gaze. “My mother gave her life to protect the nursery. She died the death of a warrior. Don’t take that away from her.”

  Spiderleg limped up and rested his tail on his father’s shoulder. “I’m sure Leafpool can come see you while you’re here,” he told Dustpelt. “We should all be with her now. Birchfall has taken Foxleap to the medicine den, then he and Leafpool will join us.”

  Dovewing felt a stab of grief for her father. Poor Birchfall. Ferncloud was his mother as well as Icecloud’s and Foxleap’s. He would feel her loss hard.

  Dovewing jumped as Whitewing appeared beside her. The white she-cat’s pelt was streaked scarlet with blood, and Dovewing opened her mouth to protest that she should be in the medicine cats’ den. Her mother quickly shook her head. “It’s not mine,” she meowed. “Can you help Purdy?” She gestured with her muzzle toward the old tabby tom, who was struggling to fold Mousefur’s paws beneath her.

  There was an invisible stone lodged in Dovewing’s throat that made it impossible to speak, but she went over to Purdy and held Mousefur’s leg still while he gently curled her feet under her belly as if she was sleeping. The old tom’s eyes were overflowing, and his breath rasped in his chest.

  Dovewing was distracted by a stir at the entrance to the hollow. Jayfeather and Brambleclaw were standing by the flattened tangle of thorns that had once protected the camp. “I’m leaving now for the Moonpool,” Brambleclaw announced, his voice ringing beneath the night-black sky. “More than ever, ThunderClan needs a leader.” He faltered as he gazed at the flame-colored body in the shadows. More quietly, he went on, “And now, it seems I must be that leader.” He nodded to Squirrelflight, who was watching him with her green eyes brimming with sorrow. “Squirrelflight, as my deputy, I leave the Clan under your charge.”

  Without another word, he turned and bounded over the thorns. Jayfeather followed more slowly, his gray pelt the color of clouds in the moonlight.

  Squirrelflight climbed the rocks to Highledge as if every bone in her body was in pain, and looked down at her Clanmates. “Before we do anything else, we must see to our wounds. Check yourself carefully and go to the medicine den if you are hurt.” Her voice was dull as if the battle had bled out her ability to feel anything. “The time is past for heroes,” she meowed. “The Clan needs you to be strong now. So if you have any injuries at all, get them treated.” She narrowed her eyes at Dustpelt, who had wrenched his gaze away from Ferncloud. “That means you too,” Squirrelflight finished.

  Dovewing glanced at her flanks and looked briefly at each paw but she couldn’t see any wounds that needed urgent attention. She started to lick Mousefur’s ears to clean them, but Purdy placed his tail-tip on her shoulder. “I can take care of her now,” he mewed gruffly.

  Dovewing nodded and took a step back to let the old cat shuffle closer to Mousefur’s head. She closed her eyes in pain as Purdy’s tongue rasped over his denmate’s pelt. What will he do without you, Mousefur?

  Beside her, a silver-and-white she-cat was picking leaf scraps from Hollyleaf’s fur. Dovewing pressed her flank against her sister. “Are you okay, Ivypool?”

  The silver-and-white cat nodded without looking up. “I’m alive, aren’t I? Thanks to Hollyleaf.” Ivypool traced her muzzle over Hollyleaf’s back. “If it hadn’t been for her, Hawkfrost would have killed me. Hollyleaf gave her life for mine!”

  Dovewing winced at the tremor in Ivypool’s voice. “Remember that Hollyleaf is watching you now,” she murmured. “She will never regret what she did.”

  From the other side of Hollyleaf’s body, Daisy nodded. She was untangling the long black fur with her claws, teasing out the knots as gently as if Hollyleaf could feel every tug. “Hollyleaf died as a true warrior,” she agreed.

  Dovewing looked around at the sound of paw steps. Brackenfur was pacing across the clearing, his tail flicking. “Has anyone seen Sorreltail?” he called.

  Brightheart emerged from the remains of the elders’ den, the white patches on her fur glowing in the half-light. Muffled sounds of her three kits came from deep within the crushed branches.

  “Is it safe to come out now?”

  “Have those dead cats gone? They were bad!”

  “Ow! Dewkit’s treading on me!”

  Brightheart glanced over her shoulder. The skin on her ravaged face was taut and red from strain. “Wait there!” she meowed. “You can come out soon, I promise.” She turned back to Brackenfur. “I saw Sorreltail go into the nursery. You should try there first.”

  “Thanks.” Brackenfur trotted toward the clump of brambles, miraculously intact thanks to Ferncloud’s courage.

  Dovewing shook her head, trying to clear the buzzing from her ears. Something’s wrong, she thought. The hair along her spine rose. I should be able to hear Sorreltail—but I can’t.

  “Are you feeling all right?” Ivypool asked.

  Dovewing didn’t take her eyes from the nursery as she watched Brackenfur slip inside. “I’m fine,” she murmured.

  “No.”

  Brackenfur’s single word dropped like a stone into the hush of the clearing. Dovewing was at the entrance to the nursery before she realized her paws were moving. Brackenfur was standing at the edge of Sorreltail’s nest, looking down at his mate’s unmoving body. The air was thick with the stench of blood, and Dovewing felt it sticky and liquid beneath her pads.

  A tiny dark tabby head with white patches popped up from behind Sorreltail, her blue eyes huge and worried. “We can’t wake her!” Lilykit squeaked. “We tried and tried but she’s still asleep!”

  Her sister Seedkit appeared. Her pale ginger fur was fluffed in all directions, making her look like a hedgehog. “Is she really tired from the fighting, do you think?”

  “Tired . . .” Brackenfur whispered without lifting his gaze from Sorreltail’s sweet face. The she-cat’s eyes were lightly closed as if she had just dozed off.

  “Lilykit, Seedkit, come with me,” Dovewing urged, her voice coming out as a croak.

  The kits scrambled over Sorreltail’s body. “Sorry, Mama,” Lilykit mewed when her paw slipped into Sorreltail’s ear.

  Dovewing tried not to flinch when she saw that the kits’ belly fur was soaked with blood. She glanced sideways at Brackenfur, but he hadn’t noticed. His legs had crumpled beneath him and he was curled around Sorreltail’s head, pressing his muzzle against her.

  “Wake up, my love,” he murmured. “Our kits need you. We can’t lose you now.”

  Dovewing nudged the kits toward the entrance. “I think Papa is sad,” Seedkit chirped. “Shall I stay and make him feel better?”

  “No, let’s leave him be,” Dovewing urged. She followed the kits into the clearing. Several cats were waiting outside, eyes wide and anxious. Brightheart let out a gasp when she saw the bloodstained little cats. As she bounded forward, she called over her shoulder, “Cloudtail? Tell our kits to stay where they are.” Her mate trotte
d to the remains of the elders’ den while Brightheart pulled Lilykit and Seedkit to her belly with her tail and began licking their soiled fur. Over their heads, she met Dovewing’s gaze with a question in her eyes. Dovewing nodded. Brightheart bent over Sorreltail’s kits and drew them closer.

  Squirrelflight padded over. “What’s going on?”

  “Sorreltail is dead,” Dovewing meowed, each word dragged out with claws sharp as thorns.

  Cherrypaw visibly swayed on her paws, and Whitewing closed her eyes with a grimace of pain. Squirrelflight looked baffled. “But . . . but she was fine. She didn’t say anything about being hurt.” The dark ginger cat looked around at her Clanmates. “Didn’t anyone notice she’d been injured?”

  Sandstorm walked forward, her eyes still wet with grief for Firestar. She rested her tail on Squirrelflight’s shoulder. “If she was injured that badly, we couldn’t have done anything to help her.”

  Squirrelflight lashed her tail. “We could have tried!”

  There was a wail from inside the nursery. “Sorreltail! Don’t leave me!”

  “I’ll go to him,” Millie offered, slipping into the brambles. “He shouldn’t be alone at this time.”

  Graystripe stepped forward. With a shock, Dovewing realized he looked old and tired. “The Dark Forest has claimed another victim,” the warrior declared. “May Sorreltail watch over us from StarClan.” He bowed his head.

  Squirrelflight paced anxiously around the cats. “I told you all to check yourselves for injuries. Have you done it yet? I won’t have any other cats die on me!”

  Dovewing felt a stab of guilt as she licked at the scratch on her flank. She should get it treated before it got infected. She headed toward the medicine cats’ den. Inside, Spiderleg was helping Leafpool pad the gaping bite wound in Foxleap’s belly with crushed leaves. Foxleap lay very still, only the flickering of his eyelids proving that he was alive.

  Leafpool looked up. “Are you hurt, Dovewing? Can it wait?” Her amber eyes were huge with distress.

  “Sorreltail died,” Dovewing meowed.

  Leafpool jumped up, almost tripping over Foxleap. “What? She didn’t tell me she was hurt!”

  “She didn’t tell anyone,” Dovewing whispered. “I think she just wanted to be with her kits.”