Lying beside her sister, Dovewing couldn’t rest. Her sister’s story, and the discovery that yet another warrior was being trained in the Dark Forest, buzzed in her head like a swarm of bees. Any cat at the Gathering could have allegiance to the Dark Forest.

Even some of our Clanmates…

Sighing, Dovewing wondered if she would be certain about anything ever again.

CHAPTER 7

As Jayfeather emerged from the barrier of thorns, he located Firestar heading for his den, side by side with Sandstorm. Though Jayfeather was tired, he knew that he had to talk to his Clan leader right now. He had spent too long wondering what he could say to get Firestar to agree to another journey. He sprinted ahead and caught up to Firestar at the bottom of the tumbled rocks.

“Firestar, I need to speak to you,” he called.

He could sense his leader’s surprise. “Now? Can’t it wait until morning?”

“No.”

Firestar hesitated for a heartbeat, then replied, “Okay. Come up to my den.”

“I’ll go check on Poppyfrost and her kits,” Sandstorm mewed tactfully. “They had bellyache last night from eating too much squirrel.”

“I gave them watermint,” Jayfeather meowed after her as she padded toward the nursery. “Call me if they need more.”

Firestar was already climbing the rocks; Jayfeather followed, careful to let his pelt brush the cliff so that he didn’t stray too close to the edge of the path.

“What’s so urgent that it can’t wait?” Firestar’s voice came from his nest at the back of his cave.

Jayfeather slipped inside to join him. “I have to go to the mountains,” he announced. “I’ve been summoned.”

“By StarClan?”

“No, another cat.”

“Oh?” Curiosity radiated from Firestar; Jayfeather could feel it as if he was sitting in a beam of sunlight. “What other cat?”

“That’s…sort of hard to explain,” Jayfeather confessed. Would the ThunderClan leader believe that he had been able to speak with such an ancient cat? “But it’s not something I can ignore.”

Firestar let out a sigh of exasperation; Jayfeather pictured the tip of his ginger tail twitching. “We can’t go on helping the Tribe,” he meowed at last. “StarClan knows, I have a lot of sympathy for them, but they have their life and we have ours.”

“This isn’t about helping the Tribe,” Jayfeather told him. “It’s about discovering something from the past that’s important for the future. Our future, not the Tribe’s.”

“You couldn’t be a bit vaguer, could you?” Firestar’s claws scraped on the floor of the den. “Honestly, Jayfeather, you expect me to—”

“I’m sorry, Firestar,” Jayfeather interrupted. “I’m telling you everything I can. You have to trust me because of the prophecy.”

“No.” There was an edge to Firestar’s voice. “I trust you because you’re a loyal medicine cat who serves his Clan above all else.”

Jayfeather took a breath. “And as a loyal medicine cat, I’m asking you to let me go to the Tribe of Rushing Water, because I believe it’s in our best interests.”