For a heartbeat Alderheart struggled with panic. Where can they possibly shelter? “The elders’ den is closest,” he meowed at last. “Graystripe and Millie will be delighted to have kits to look after.”

Stemkit immediately bounced to his paws. “Will Graystripe tell us stories?” he asked.

“Yes!” his sister Eaglekit squealed. “I want to hear about Firestar and the old forest.”

“Certainly not. You need to sleep,” their mother, Blossomheart, scolded. “And so does Graystripe.”

In the midst of the chaos, Alderheart stifled a small mrrow of amusement. I don’t think any of them will get much sleep tonight.

When he had sent his Clanmates on their way—the she-cats carrying Cinderheart’s younger litter, while Blossomfall’s kits pattered alongside—Alderheart raced back to the medicine-cat den. The wind was stronger still, almost enough to carry him off his paws. It had blown rain into the den past the brambles; Leafpool and Jayfeather—who was awake now, Alderheart noticed with a sinking heart—were both crouching in their nests, cold and wet and miserable.

“Where have you been?” Jayfeather rasped, rising to his paws and arching his back. “Get me out of here before I’m washed away in the flood! And I need more watermint.”

Alderheart sighed. Jayfeather was a brilliant medicine cat, but when he was ill, taking care of him was worse than facing down a whole den of badgers.

“No cat is going to get washed away,” Alderheart assured him. “The ground is muddy, but there’s no flooding. But I am worried about the prophecy,” he admitted. “‘The dark sky must not herald a storm.’”

Jayfeather looked briefly disconcerted. “You said yourself, there’s no flooding,” he reminded Alderheart after a moment. “Perhaps this is just a little rain. When StarClan wants to make a point, they’re not what you could call subtle.”

Unconvinced, Alderheart let out a sigh. “As for the watermint,” he told Jayfeather, “it’s stored safely in the rock, where it will keep dry. You’ll just have to wait for a while. And Leafpool,” he added, turning to the other medicine cat, “don’t let him bully you into fetching it. You need to rest.”

“Yes, O great one,” Leafpool murmured, a glimmer of amusement in her amber eyes.

“Some medicine cat you are,” Jayfeather grumbled, wrapping his tail over his nose. “You should have a bit of what you need on you at all times.”

And where do I put it? Alderheart asked himself. In my ears?

After heading out of the den, he left the camp and climbed the slope to the tunnel openings where the Clan had sheltered during the Great Storm. Alderheart hadn’t been born then, but he had heard the stories of what had happened, especially from the old tabby Purdy.

A pang of grief shook Alderheart. Great StarClan, I miss Purdy!