Erin Hunter - Sunset

“Hawkfrost said he was just worried,” Tawnypelt went on.

“He wanted to know if our warriors had seen any ThunderClan cats and if you were badly wounded. He knew the badgers must have done serious damage.”

Brambleclaw nodded distractedly. He needed to think this out. Were Hawkfrost’s questions really prompted by concern, or could he have some other motive for passing on the news to ShadowClan? He must have known how Blackstar would react. He spotted Hawkfrost sitting with a group of RiverClan warriors, but before he could say good-bye to Tawnypelt and make his way over to him, Firestar yowled from the tree to start the meeting.

Silence spread through the clearing and all the cats turned to face the Great Oak, their eyes glimmering in the moonlight.

“Leopardstar, will you speak first?” Firestar offered.

The RiverClan leader rose to her paws, her dappled fur still half hidden by the leaves. “RiverClan has had an out-break of greencough,” she began. “Our elder Heavystep died, but thank StarClan no other cats were infected.”

A murmur of sympathy spread throughout the clearing.

Brambleclaw spotted Leafpool sitting beside Squirrelflight, and wondered why the young medicine cat looked so stricken. Surely she had no particular reason to grieve for a RiverClan elder?

“I have better news too,” Leopardstar continued when the comments had died away. “Our medicine cat, Mothwing, has taken Willowpaw as an apprentice.”

The golden tabby was sitting not far from the tree roots; Brambleclaw guessed that the small gray cat beside her must be the new apprentice. Willowpaw’s green eyes shone with excitement, and she dipped her head awkwardly as her Clan called out, “Willowpaw! Willowpaw!”

Leopardstar had stepped back, gesturing with her tail for Onestar to speak next, when Hawkfrost rose to his paws at the foot of the tree. “One moment,” he meowed. “Mothwing has some important news.”

Leopardstar’s eyes narrowed. Brambleclaw could see she hadn’t expected this. Then she nodded. “Very well.

Mothwing?”

The RiverClan medicine cat rose slowly to her paws.

Brambleclaw thought she looked startled, as if she hadn’t expected to speak. Curiosity clawed at him. What was Hawkfrost up to now?

“Mothwing?” Leopardstar prompted, when the medicine cat said nothing.

“It’s about that sign,” Hawkfrost reminded his sister, the tip of his tail twitching.

“Oh, yes… the sign.” Mothwing sounded confused. “I—I had a dream.”

“What’s biting her?” Tawnypelt muttered into Brambleclaw’s ear. “She’s a medicine cat, isn’t she? She must have had loads of dreams before.”

“Then tell us what the dream was,” Leopardstar mewed frostily. “And explain why you decided to announce it at a Gathering instead of informing your Clan leader first.”

“I didn’t,” Mothwing muttered, sounding more like a mutinous apprentice than a medicine cat. “That was Hawkfrost’s idea.”

“I think you’ll understand when you hear the dream,” Hawkfrost put in. “Go on, Mothwing.”

“I—I’m not sure this is the right time to say anything,” she stammered. “I may have been mistaken.”

“Mistaken about what StarClan has told you?” Hawkfrost sounded shocked. “But you’re our medicine cat. Only you can interpret the signs our warrior ancestors send to us.”

“Yes, go on.” Leopardstar sounded interested now. “Let’s hear what StarClan told you.”

Mothwing shot one more resentful look at her brother before she began to speak. Brambleclaw couldn’t understand why she was so reluctant. He noticed Leafpool sitting as if she was carved from stone, staring at Mothwing with dismay in her eyes. Did she know what Mothwing was going to say? He wondered if the medicine cats had received a message from StarClan about something truly dreadful, something they didn’t want to share with the rest of the Clans yet.

“I had a dream,” Mothwing began, her voice so low that some cat yowled, “Speak up!”

She raised her head and began to speak more clearly, though Brambleclaw could still see unwillingness in every hair on her pelt.

“I dreamed I was fishing in the stream,” she meowed, “and I saw two pebbles that didn’t belong there. They were a different color and shape from all the rest. They made the stream ripple and splash so it couldn’t flow properly. Then the stream began flowing faster and faster, and—and the current carried the two pebbles away until I couldn’t see them anymore. The stream looked just the same as always…” Her voice trailed off and she stared down at her paws.

All around her cats looked puzzled, turning to one another and whispering questions. Brambleclaw couldn’t understand why Leafpool looked so upset. He didn’t see what was so terrible about the medicine cat’s dream. It certainly didn’t seem to apply to all four Clans.

“Well?” Leopardstar demanded, when Mothwing’s silence had dragged on for several heartbeats. “What does the dream mean? What are StarClan trying to tell us?”

Before Mothwing could reply, Hawkfrost took a pace forward. “The meaning seems clear to me,” he meowed.

“Obviously there are two things in RiverClan that don’t belong. Two things that don’t fit in with the other cats. Like the stones, they need to be swept away so the stream can flow as it’s meant to.”

Urgent whispering broke out again, especially among the cats from RiverClan. All of them looked worried. The young warrior Voletooth spoke louder than the rest. “Does it mean Stormfur and Brook? Are they the two pebbles we have to get rid of?”

Brambleclaw gulped. Did StarClan really believe Stormfur and Brook didn’t belong in RiverClan?

Beside him, Tawnypelt dug her claws hard into the ground.

She had made the journey to the sun-drown-place with the other cats; Stormfur was her friend, too. “If any cat lays a paw on him, I’ll—”

“Keep out of this,” Hawkfrost snapped at her. “It’s RiverClan business. It sounds to me as if StarClan would be angry if we allowed Stormfur and Brook to stay.”

“That’s ridiculous!” Mistyfoot sprang up from her place on the oak root. “Stormfur is a RiverClan cat!”

“Stop!” Mothwing begged. “Hawkfrost, I told you I don’t know—not exactly—what my dream meant. Please…”

Her voice quavered. “Please don’t read a meaning into it that might not be there. I’ll wait for another sign from StarClan… next time it might be clearer.”

Hawkfrost glared at her through narrowed blue eyes that gleamed like chips of ice. Above them on her branch, Leopardstar looked embarrassed and furious at the same time. Brambleclaw would bet a moon of dawn patrols that she would have stern words for Mothwing about showing such uncertainty in front of the whole Gathering.

“Yes,” Leopardstar meowed tersely, “we won’t do anything until you know more. And next time, Mothwing, make sure you come to me first .”

Mothwing bowed her head and sat down again. Leopardstar said nothing more, just beckoned Onestar forward with her tail.

The WindClan leader rose from where he was sitting in the fork of a branch. “WindClan has little to report,” he meowed. “Everything is peaceful, and we have plenty of prey.”

He sat down again, motioning to Firestar to speak next.

Brambleclaw felt a knot of tension in his belly as his Clan leader stepped forward. What would Firestar say about ShadowClan’s attempt to steal part of their territory? And how could Blackstar justify his warriors’ actions?

Firestar began by telling the story of the badgers’ invasion, thanking Onestar for bringing the WindClan warriors to help. “Without you, many more cats would have died,” he meowed.