Lionblaze forced his paws to carry him toward the young ShadowClan warriors, knowing that he ought to try making up for his unfriendliness, but before he could take more than a couple of steps he heard Onestar calling from the Great Oak.
“Has any cat seen Leopardstar and her Clan?” When nothing but shrugs and shaking heads answered his question, he added, “Weaselfur, go take a look, will you?”
The WindClan warrior pushed his way back through the bushes and returned a moment later. “There’s a patrol on its way,” he reported to his leader. “They’re coming straight across the lake.”
All the cats settled down to wait, their talk dying into silence. Lionblaze sat beside Cinderheart, with a guilty glance across the clearing at the ShadowClan cats. Maybe I’ll talk to them before we leave .
Not many heartbeats had passed before Lionblaze heard more rustling in the bushes and Leopardstar emerged at the head of the RiverClan patrol. He felt his pelt bristle with shock when he saw how frail the RiverClan leader was, every bone visible beneath her spotted pelt and her eyes as dull as the mud left in the lake.
As soon as Leopardstar appeared, Dovepaw sat straight up, her eyes stretched wide with astonishment. Wriggling around to face Lionblaze, she leaned across to him and whispered in his ear, “That’s the sick cat from the RiverClan camp!”
“Are you sure?” Lionblaze was taken aback. That means Leopardstar has been sick for nearly a moon!
Dovepaw nodded, and Lionblaze didn’t ask her any more questions. He didn’t want any other cat to overhear their conversation.
Leopardstar held her head high as she padded across the clearing with Mistyfoot behind her. She paused at the foot of the tree, gazing upward but making no attempt to leap; Mistyfoot murmured something to her.
“I think Mistyfoot is offering to help her,” Cinderheart whispered into Lionblaze’s ear. “Leopardstar must be really ill if she can’t even jump into the tree.”
But as Cinderheart spoke Leopardstar gave her head a decisive shake, gathered her haunches under her, and sprang. Her forepaws just scraped the lowest branch; she dug her claws in and after an undignified scramble managed to pull herself up. She crouched on the branch and glared at the cats below with fierce yellow eyes, as if daring any of them to comment on her awkward jump.
Lionblaze exchanged a glance with Foxleap, who sat next to him. Leopardstar looks as if she’ll fall off that branch at any moment! Then his gaze flicked to his brother, who was sitting at the foot of the tree with the other medicine cats, and he wondered if Jayfeather knew how weak Leopardstar was.
Firestar rose to his paws and let out a yowl to indicate that the Gathering had begun. Even though he was much thinner than usual, he still looked a lot healthier than Leopardstar. “Cats of all Clans,” he began. “We are all suffering from the heat and the lack of water.”
“What else is new?” Crowfeather called from a group of WindClan warriors.
Firestar ignored him. “The problem is getting worse. The stream between our territory and ShadowClan’s has dried up. We think there’s a possibility that there’s a blockage up the stream. Some of the cats from my Clan want to explore and see if that’s true.”
As he spoke, his green gaze rested on Lionblaze, as if to reassure him that he didn’t intend to name Dovepaw, or reveal that the cat who had the idea was only an apprentice. Let’s hope the other cats who heard her by the fresh-kill pile have the sense to keep their mouths shut .
Lionblaze responded to his leader with a tiny nod; glancing at Dovepaw, he was relieved to see that she was listening as attentively as any other cat, but she didn’t look as if she knew more than Firestar was telling.
“Your patrol will be trespassing on ShadowClan territory if they travel upstream,” Blackstar growled in reply to Firestar’s suggestion. “I will not allow it.”
“I think we should send a patrol made up of cats from all four Clans,” Firestar explained. He raised his tail for silence as a ripple of surprise passed through the clearing. “Remember what happened when Twolegs destroyed our home in the old forest?” he went on. “A patrol of six cats, representing all the Clans, went on a quest to find new territories. That was how we survived then; this could be the way to survive now.”
Lionblaze felt a thrill of excitement pass through the clearing. Cats were springing to their paws, their pelts fluffing up and their tails waving.
“I’ll go!” Tigerheart called out.
“So will I!” added Dawnpelt, her eyes shining. “It’ll be a real warriors’ quest!”
“I wasn’t born when the Clans made the Great Journey,” Lionblaze heard Foxleap meowing to Rosepetal. “But I bet it was exciting.”
“I wonder what we’ll find.” Rosepetal’s whiskers were quivering. “I bet a moon of dawn patrols it’s Twolegs again.”
“Or badgers,” replied Foxleap. “I wouldn’t put anything past badgers.”
“I want to go,” Dovepaw whispered to Lionblaze. “Do you think Firestar will choose an apprentice?”
“Don’t worry,” Lionblaze murmured in reply. “You’re the one cat in all the Clans who has to go.”
“You really think we could bring the water back?” It was Onestar who spoke; his voice was cautious, but hope was waking in his eyes.
“I think it’s worth a try,” Firestar responded.
“And who would be in charge of this joint patrol?” Blackstar asked, still sounding belligerent. “You?”
Firestar shook his head. “I don’t think any Clan leader should go,” he meowed. “Our Clans need us here. Besides, when we made the Great Journey, no cat was in charge. We learned to cooperate then, and there’s no reason why we can’t do that again. What do you think?”
Blackstar kept silent, apart from the sound of his claws scraping the bark on his branch. Onestar exchanged a glance with his deputy, Ashfoot, who was sitting on a root below, then gave a decisive nod. “I agree. It makes sense to involve all the Clans. WindClan is with you, Firestar.”
“And so is ShadowClan.” Blackstar fixed Firestar with a hard stare. “You’ll be trekking through our territory, and you’re not doing that without ShadowClan cats to keep an eye on you.”
“Thank you, both of you.” Lionblaze thought Firestar was trying to hide his surprise that he had gained the two leaders’ consent so easily. “Leopardstar, what do you think?”
The RiverClan leader was gazing across the clearing as if she hadn’t heard any of the discussion above her.
After a few heartbeats of awkward silence, Littlecloud rose to his paws. “If I may speak,” he began, with a courteous nod to the leaders, “the situation now isn’t quite the same as it was last time. The cats who went on the first quest were summoned by a prophecy.” His gaze swept across the Clans until he found Brambleclaw, Crowfeather, and Tawnypelt. All three cats nodded; Lionblaze thought he could see memories flickering in their eyes.
Squirrelflight glanced across at Brambleclaw, and there was deep regret in the look she gave him. Lionblaze knew she hadn’t been chosen by StarClan, but she had insisted on going with the others; she must be longing for that time before the lies and betrayals had come between her and her mate.
“StarClan deliberately chose those cats, one from each Clan,” Littlecloud went on. “Who will choose these cats?” He paused to glance around at the other medicine cats, then added, “Has StarClan given you any hints about who should go?”
The other medicine cats, even Jayfeather, shook their heads. Lionblaze felt his belly tighten. Dovepaw knew that the big brown animals had blocked the stream. StarClan hadn’t told them anything. We can’t wait for our warrior ancestors to save us! They know less about this than we do!
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