Long Shadows Page 4

  “There are some things you just don’t question.” Hollyleaf spoke with utter certainty. “Sol doesn’t think we should follow the warrior code. And without that, what are we? Just a band of rogues.”

  “This still isn’t anything new,” Lionblaze meowed. “Why are you getting so upset?”

  “What’s new is that now we know the whole of ShadowClan is agreeing with Sol, not just Blackstar. Honestly, are you both mouse-brained? Do you want a Clan on our borders who doesn’t follow the warrior code? What’s to stop them from crossing the border and stealing our prey? Or maybe even raiding our camp and stealing our kits?”

  “I’d like to see them try,” Lionblaze growled; squashed up against him, Jaypaw could feel his brother’s muscles flex as he extended his claws and dug them into the ground.

  “The Clans will be destroyed if we don’t stick together and believe in the same things,” Hollyleaf went on, her anger rising. “We have to do something.”

  “I’d like to tear that mange-ridden rogue apart.” Lionblaze’s irritation was deepening into anger as fierce as his sister’s; Jaypaw struggled not to feel overwhelmed by the force of their fury surging over him from both sides. “Sol promised to help us with the prophecy, and then he left us and went to ShadowClan.” After a heartbeat’s pause Lionblaze added, “Do you think there’s a prophecy about ShadowClan, too?”

  “I’m sure there isn’t,” Jaypaw meowed. “We are the three. I know we are.”

  He hoped that neither of his littermates would ask him how he could be so sure. He couldn’t imagine how he would tell them about his dreams in the mountains when he had visited the Tribe of Endless Hunting.

  “I still think Sol knows more about the prophecy than he’s telling us,” he went on. “And if he won’t come to us, then we’ll have to cross the border and find him.”

  “Trespass in ShadowClan territory?” Hollyleaf’s shock struck Jaypaw like a blow. “We can’t do that! We’d be breaking the warrior code.”

  “That’s just what I was saying,” Jaypaw meowed. “Sure, we can’t do without the warrior code. But there are times when it’s right to break it. Great StarClan!” he went on, as he sensed that his sister was rejecting his idea. “When we were kits, didn’t we hear stories about how Firestar sometimes broke the warrior code if he thought it was right? We can’t do anything about the prophecy until we know whatever Sol knows. Whether he’s right or not about StarClan, he knew the sun was going to disappear, and StarClan didn’t. And we’re not going to learn anything from him by staying here.”

  “I’m up for it,” Lionblaze snarled. “I’ll make Sol tell us the answers. Hollyleaf, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

  Hollyleaf’s shock was fading into uncertainty. “No, we’re in this together. Besides,” she went on, more determined, “maybe the prophecy means that we’re the only cats who have the power to save ShadowClan.”

  Jaypaw didn’t say anything. If the only way Hollyleaf could bring herself to trespass was by thinking she was doing it for ShadowClan’s sake, he’d let her go on thinking that. But he and Lionblaze were doing this for the three of them, to find out what the prophecy really meant and how they could achieve the power they had been promised.

  “Jaypaw? Are you there?”

  Jaypaw’s ears flicked at the sound of Lionblaze calling softly from the other side of the bramble screen. He listened a moment longer, until he picked up regular breathing that told him Leafpool was soundly asleep. Then he climbed out of his nest and slid out of his den into the clearing.

  The scents of Lionblaze and Hollyleaf wreathed around him. “Follow closely,” Lionblaze whispered. “The moon is shining and we have to keep to the shadows. Cloudtail is on guard at the entrance.”

  “We’re going to sneak out through the dirtplace tunnel,” Hollyleaf added.

  “Oh, great.” Jaypaw wrinkled his nose.

  “You can crawl out underneath the brambles if you’d rather,” Lionblaze muttered. “Come on.”

  Jaypaw’s pelt prickled as he crept after his brother around the edge of the stone hollow. But when he felt the tunnel walls closing around him, the thorns snagging his pelt, there had been no yowl from Cloudtail. He relaxed slightly when he emerged from the other end and picked his way across the dirtplace. As they headed into the forest he tried sniffing out clumps of herbs and brushing through them to get rid of the nasty smell.

  The forest was silent except for the gentle rustling of leaves and the occasional scuttling of prey in the undergrowth.

  “We need to keep together, and keep quiet,” Lionblaze murmured. “There might be ThunderClan cats out for some night hunting, and we don’t want any cat asking questions.”

  “Okay,” Hollyleaf replied. Jaypaw could tell she was scared, not by the thought of a fight with ShadowClan warriors, but because she didn’t want to be caught breaking the warrior code. I wish she’d lighten up. If we’ve got the power of the stars in our paws, we’re more powerful than the code, right?

  Lionblaze led them to the stream that marked part of the border. “Keep right behind me,” he instructed Jaypaw. “It’s not deep.”

  Jaypaw bristled. “I’m fine, thanks,” he muttered. He didn’t want any cat to know how scared he was of water, even after teaching Cinderheart to swim. His belly churned when he felt the water lapping around his paws, then rising up his legs as he waded deeper. But before the water lapped his belly fur he felt it sink again, and soon he was scrambling out onto the bank in ShadowClan territory, the reek of ShadowClan scent all around him.

  “We should roll in their scent marks,” Hollyleaf suggested. “That way we’ll disguise our ThunderClan scent.”

  “Wonderful,” Jaypaw grumbled, even though his sister’s idea was a good one. “The dirtplace, and now ShadowClan. I won’t be able to lick my fur for a moon.”

  Thoroughly covered in ShadowClan scent, the three cats headed deeper into the rival Clan’s territory. Jaypaw’s ears were pricked for the sound of approaching patrols, his jaws parted to pick up the stronger scent that would warn him of approaching warriors. But the forest was eerily silent.

  “Where are they all?” Hollyleaf whispered. It was unusual for no cats to be out at night, not even a few hunters, especially when there was a bright moon.

  No cat answered her. They went on until Jaypaw felt the fallen leaves under his pads give way to sharp pine needles. “We must be getting close to the camp,” he whispered.

  Lionblaze took the lead again, guiding Jaypaw in short dashes; Jaypaw understood that they were flitting from shadow to shadow. At last he could taste an overwhelming surge of ShadowClan scent from somewhere ahead. The ground underpaw began to rise, and became broken up, with rocks poking out of the pine-needle covering.

  Soon Jaypaw felt Lionblaze’s tail barring his way. “Keep down!” his brother hissed. “Then creep forward about a tail-length.”

  Jaypaw did as he was told, feeling the prickle of thorns raking the fur on his back. Sniffing, he caught the scent of gorse, and realized they must be hiding under a bush. His littermates’ pelts were pressed against his, one on either side.

  “What can you see?” he demanded.

  “We’re looking down into the camp. Sol is there,” Hollyleaf breathed into his ear. “Standing on top of a rock. The whole Clan is listening to him—even the kits! I can see Blackstar, and Russetfur, and…oh, there’s Tawnypelt!”

  “Shut up!” Lionblaze growled. “I want to hear what Sol’s saying.”

  Jaypaw flicked his ears forward. He could already make out Sol’s voice rising from the hollow, and as the others fell silent he heard what the loner was saying.

  “…no cat should just accept what has gone before,” Sol meowed, his voice ringing above the faint sounds of the forest. “StarClan’s time is over. These cats are dead, and their spirits have no power over you.”

  Jaypaw suppressed a shiver. No cat who had met with StarClan at the Moonpool would agree that StarClan had no power. We wil
l have more power, he thought. But we’re the three in the prophecy. Ordinary cats should still look to StarClan.

  “I’ve shared tongues with StarClan.” Jaypaw recognized the voice of Littlecloud, the ShadowClan medicine cat. He sounded worried. “I can’t believe that our warrior ancestors are powerless. Or has everything I’ve experienced been a lie?”

  “StarClan is good at deceiving,” Sol replied smoothly. “Ask yourselves, did they warn you that the sun would vanish? No! That means either they didn’t know about it, or they don’t care about you enough to warn you. Why should any cat go on trusting them?”

  Murmurs of agreement rose up to where the three ThunderClan cats were hiding. Littlecloud didn’t protest again.

  “When the sun vanished, everything you believe in changed,” Sol continued. His voice was so powerful and persuasive that Jaypaw could understand how ordinary cats would be influenced by him. “What you must ask yourselves is what should you do about it? Where will you find your answers now?”

  “In ourselves.” Blackstar spoke, a deeper, rougher voice than Sol’s. “What this cat says is true,” he added, addressing his Clan. “StarClan led us to live beside this lake, and I’ve always had my doubts that it was the right decision. There are too many Twolegs, for a start.”

  “And too much has gone wrong,” Cedarheart growled. “The two kittypets in the Twoleg nest—”

  “Arguments about borders,” Toadfoot put in.

  “Hang on a moment.” Jaypaw stiffened as he heard Tawnypelt speak up. “Things went wrong in the old forest, too. You can’t expect life to be all mice and moonlight.”

  “That just goes to prove what Sol is saying.” Blackstar’s voice was harsh. “StarClan couldn’t help us there, either. They couldn’t even stop the Twolegs from driving us out.”

  “What does Blackstar mean?” Lionblaze whispered, pressing closer to Jaypaw. “Does he want to lead ShadowClan away from the lake? He must have bees in his brain! One Clan alone, and leaf-bare not far off?”

  “He can’t!” Hollyleaf’s voice shook. “There have to be four Clans.”

  “Shhh!” Jaypaw hissed, trying to concentrate on what was happening in the hollow. But before he could hear any more, jagged lines of silver flashed across his vision. He seemed to be looking down a long forest path; moonlight silvered the forest floor, barred with black where the shadows of trees lay across it. Lumbering toward him was a badger, the white stripe down its face glowing like a silver flame. Jaypaw had barely caught his breath with shock when the creature was gone, and the familiar night of his blindness swallowed up his vision.

  “What’s the matter?” Lionblaze murmured.

  Jaypaw realized that all the muscles in his body were tense; he was crouching with his claws dug into the earth and every hair on his pelt bristling.

  “I saw a badger!” Jaypaw remembered just in time to keep his voice low.

  “You saw…?” Hollyleaf sounded bewildered.

  “I had a vision.” Jaypaw was too spooked to explain in detail. “We’re in danger here.”

  He heard Lionblaze draw in a long breath, and pictured his brother with his jaws gaping, tasting the air.

  “There’s no badger here,” Lionblaze reported. “Are you sure you saw it?”

  Jaypaw lashed his tail. “No,” he snapped. “I’m just making it up for fun. What do you think, mouse-brain?”

  He paused to taste the air himself, and listened for the sound of the huge, clumsy creature trampling through the undergrowth. But the forest was still and silent, except for the sound of voices coming from the ShadowClan camp, and he couldn’t pick up the slightest trace of badger scent.

  “It’s got to be a sign of something,” he mewed. “I don’t understand it yet, but I don’t think we’re safe here anymore. We should get back to the stone hollow as quickly as we can.”

  “But we haven’t spoken to Sol yet,” Lionblaze protested.

  “And we won’t, tonight,” Hollyleaf pointed out. “Not with all ShadowClan listening to him. I think Jaypaw’s right. We should go while we have the chance.”

  Jaypaw could feel that Lionblaze was unhappy with the decision, a sullen anger with Sol churning away inside him, but his brother didn’t argue when Hollyleaf led the way down the slope away from the camp and back toward the border.

  Jaypaw’s pelt didn’t lie flat again until they had waded back across the stream and were creeping through the tunnel into the ThunderClan camp. He slipped back into his den and flopped down beside the sleeping Leafpool.

  Badgers, he thought as he slid into an exhausted sleep. Star-

  Clan, what are you trying to tell me?

  Jaypaw woke with a paw prodding him sharply in the side. The sun warmed his fur, and Leafpool’s scent swirled around him.

  “Wake up, Jaypaw! What do you think you are, a dormouse?”

  Jaypaw blinked drowsily. “Wha…”

  “There’s work to be done. I need you to check on Millie and Briarkit.”

  “Oh…okay.” Jaypaw staggered to his paws, flinching at a scuffling sound outside the den until he realized it was only Icepaw and Foxpaw dashing past.

  He didn’t feel that he had slept at all after the previous night’s expedition. It took an effort to pull his mind away from Sol and the ShadowClan cats, and the terrifying vision of the badger. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

  “I’ve been across to the nursery to check on Millie and Briarkit. Millie needs more catmint. And I’ve made a leafwrap of borage for Briarkit. You can take them over there when—”

  Jaypaw stopped listening and flattened himself to the ground at the sound of a throaty bark somewhere out in the forest.

  “Jaypaw, what’s the matter with you?” Concern replaced Leafpool’s irritation. “Are you ill?” He heard her sniffing as her nose touched his fur. “You smell a bit funny.”

  Jaypaw cringed inside. He didn’t want to discuss his scent, in case it led to more awkward questions. “I’m fine,” he asserted. “That barking startled me, that’s all.”

  “But you’ve heard a fox bark before. It was a long way off, and if it comes any closer the patrols will spot it.”

  “I know.” Jaypaw scrambled into a sitting position, giving his chest fur an awkward lick. “It’s just…I had this dream last night.” No need to say where I had it. “I saw a badger. I…I wondered if it meant danger.”

  “One badger on its own?” Leafpool checked. “Not a whole horde of them?”

  Jaypaw shook his head.

  Leafpool sat down beside him. He could sense her uncertainty, but she didn’t seem to be afraid. “I think the badger you saw might have been Midnight,” she told him.

  “Who’s Midnight?”

  Leafpool settled herself more comfortably among the bracken stalks. “Back in the old forest, StarClan called four cats, one from each Clan, to make a long journey to the sun-drown-place to find a badger called Midnight.”

  Jaypaw’s ears pricked. “Was that how they knew the Clans would have to leave the forest?”

  “That’s right,” Leafpool meowed. “Brambleclaw was chosen from ThunderClan, and Squirrelflight went with him. Midnight warned them that the old forest would be destroyed, and then helped all the Clans to find this home beside the lake.”

  Jaypaw felt his neck fur beginning to rise. “StarClan gave a message to a badger? But badgers kill cats!”

  “Not Midnight,” Leafpool assured him. “She’s no ordinary badger. Later, when we had settled here by the lake, a horde of hostile badgers invaded our camp and tried to kill us all and drive us out. And Midnight…”

  She trailed off. Jaypaw felt a rush of mingled emotions surge through her, fear and regret and grief. He wondered why she should feel so strongly about a battle that had been over and done with before he was born, but he was too curious about Midnight to try to make sense of what she was feeling.

  “What happened with the badgers?” he prompted.

  “We tried to fight them off.” Jaypaw
realized that his mentor was making a great effort to keep her voice steady. “But there were too many. They would have destroyed ThunderClan if Midnight hadn’t brought WindClan to help.”

  “A badger helped cats, against her own kin?”

  “Yes.” Leafpool drew in a long breath and let it out again. “There is nothing to fear from her. But she may have been trying to warn us of some other danger. You will tell me if she comes to you again?”

  “Of course.” Maybe. Jaypaw knew that if this strange badger appeared again he would find out what she had to say before he decided whether to tell any cat.

  “Why do we have to sit around waiting for her?” he asked. “Brambleclaw knows where she lives, so why can’t we go and visit her?”

  “It’s too far,” Leafpool replied firmly. She seemed calmer now that they had stopped talking about the badgers’ invasion. “There’s a lot of tension between the Clans right now, so Firestar would never spare warriors for that sort of journey. Especially not Brambleclaw. He’s deputy now; he’s needed here.”

  “What about—” Jaypaw stopped himself. He had been about to suggest Squirrelflight, but she had only just left Leafpool’s den after being so badly wounded in the battle against WindClan. She wasn’t even back on warrior duties yet; there was no way she could make a long journey. “I guess you’re right,” he muttered.

  So, Midnight, if you want me, you’ll have to come and find me.

  CHAPTER 3

  A scarlet leaf spiraled lazily down from a branch above Lionblaze’s head. He sprang up, batting at it with his forepaws, then dropped to the ground again, his pelt hot with embarrassment. Had any cat seen him behaving like a kit?

  The dawn patrol was heading back to the stone hollow. The sun had climbed above the trees, but in the shadows the leaves and grasses were still rimmed with frost. Leaf-fall was creeping over the forest, and the harsh days of leaf-bare were not far away.

  Ashfur was leading the patrol; he had drawn a few fox-lengths ahead with Thornclaw and Brightheart. Lionblaze drew a breath of relief as he realized none of them had been watching him. He stood still for a couple of heartbeats, jaws parted and ears pricked for any sign of WindClan trespassers. But the faint traces of their scent all came from their own side of the border.