“I was the very first Stoneteller, though my legacy was long forgotten by the time my kin left here to find the lake. If the Tribe of Rushing Water leaves, it will not be forever. Cats must live here always.”

“You were the first Stoneteller?” Jayfeather whispered, but the vision was already fading and darkness covered his eyes once more.

“Of course not.” Stoneteller sounded puzzled. “I was chosen by my mentor.”

“Then you have to choose another one!”

“Why?” Stoneteller shot back.

Jayfeather scraped his claws against the wet rock in frustration. “Because cats must always live in the mountains.”

“Cats do live in the mountains,” Stoneteller responded dryly. “And more successfully than us, it seems. That’s why we have to waste time patrolling every day, to keep the invaders away from what we can catch.”

“But those aren’t the right cats!” Jayfeather protested. “The Tribe of Endless Hunting didn’t bring them here.”

Stoneteller snorted dismissively. “I just want to be left in peace,” the old cat muttered. He sounded old and very tired. “All that I was proud of has gone. The time of the Tribe is over. When I die, my Tribemates will leave the mountains and find other homes where they will be safe.”

As the old cat’s words faded into silence, Jayfeather’s ears were filled with the sound of roaring water and his vision became washed with gray, splashed with white foam. He was inside the waterfall! For a heartbeat he froze, waiting to feel himself crashing down with it, tossed in the torrent like a fallen leaf. But he could still feel his paws standing on the solid floor of the cave.

Then he choked back a yowl of horror. All around him, the cascade of dark water was full of cats, their paws and tails flailing helplessly, their jaws stretching wide in a soundless screech. They fell down, down, down, into a whirlpool of darkness and foam, and vanished.

But…I know these cats! Jayfeather started to shake. There’s Yellowfang…and Crookedstar…and Lionheart…. Is StarClan being destroyed?

Mistystar…and Kestrelwing…and the Tribe cats, too. Brook…Crag…

“No!” Jayfeather choked as he spotted Firestar, the ThunderClan leader reduced to a scrap of orange fur tossed in the crashing torrent.

Dustpelt…Mousewhisker…Brambleclaw…

All his Clanmates, all the cats of the Tribe, falling, falling, to be consumed in water and blackness.

Jayfeather let out a screech and sprang forward as he saw Lionblaze carried past him, his claws outstretched to snag his brother’s pelt and drag him to safety. Instead, darkness slammed down over his vision once more and he found himself back in the Cave of Pointed Stones. Dazed with terror, he stumbled forward and crashed into one of the spikes of stone. His feet shot out from under him and he fell on his side in a pool of water.

Stoneteller began to speak, but Jayfeather wasn’t listening. Scrambling to his paws, he fled, and this time managed to get himself into the tunnel. He bounced off the narrow walls until he emerged in the cavern, gasping. The cave was cool and gray around him, silver light filtering in through the screen of water. A throng of cats were milling around restlessly, or slumped near the cave wall, and for a moment Jayfeather thought that the patrols had come back.