While the warriors gathered at the entrance, Graystripe paced around the nursery. Jaypaw could sense that his emotions were torn like fresh-kill. The gray warrior longed to join his Clanmates at the Gathering, but the thought of leaving Millie while she was sick pierced his heart. Jaypaw blinked. An old grief was fanning the flames of Graystripe’s unease, lit by the memory of the silver cat on the huge gray rock.

“Graystripe!” Firestar was heading toward his old friend. “Stay here and guard the camp for me. We’ve a good show of warriors. WindClan won’t think they’ve weakened us.”

“Thanks.” Graystripe sounded relieved.

Firestar headed for the barrier, where Poppyfrost and Honeyfern could hardly keep their paws still.

“Looking forward to it?” Dustpelt asked them.

“Oh, yes,” Poppyfrost meowed. This would be their first Gathering as warriors.

Sandstorm paced restlessly around Brackenfur. “I wonder what WindClan will have to say for themselves?”

“They’ll come up with some excuse,” Brackenfur muttered.

“Hurry up.” Hollypaw nudged Jaypaw. Lionpaw was already waiting beside Ashfur.

Firestar stood at the camp entrance. “We must show WindClan and RiverClan that we are as strong as ever,” he reminded his Clanmates. “The moon is bright tonight, and that means StarClan is no longer angry.”

“I bet they’re still angry with WindClan,” Spiderleg called from outside the medicine cats’ den.

“We were only defending our borders. StarClan would not punish us for that,” Firestar answered.

“I should hope not.” Sorreltail was sitting outside the warriors’ den, her tail swishing over the ground.

“The vanishing sun frightened us all,” Firestar went on. “But we must take it as a sign that the battle was wrong. The sun came back when the battle ended. We should have learned by now that the Clans need one another to survive.”

Jaypaw tipped his head. The ThunderClan leader’s confident words hadn’t come from anything Leafpool had said to him. The medicine cat was still baffled and frightened by the vanishing sun, and the silence from StarClan had made her more nervous. But she kept her worries to herself, carrying on as usual, and only Jaypaw could detect the anxiety fluttering beneath her pelt.

“Let’s go!” Firestar led his Clanmates out of the hollow.

Leaves crunched beneath their paws. Jaypaw shivered, feeling the first chill of leaf-fall. He pressed closer to Hollypaw as they headed for WindClan territory, following the familiar route down to the lake. They had to cross WindClan’s part of the shore to reach the island. If they kept within two tail-lengths of the water, WindClan had no right to challenge them. Yet the warriors fell silent as they crossed the border and hurried over the shingle.

“Any sign of WindClan?” Jaypaw whispered.

“Not yet.” Hollypaw’s pelt felt spiky against his.

Water suddenly lapped Jaypaw’s legs. He stumbled in surprise. They didn’t usually skirt the lake this closely.