CHAPTER SEVEN
Lionblaze was nervous as the two neared the island, Jayfeather could tell.
"Are you sure that they're all coming?" he asked for the tenth time.
Jayfeather gritted his teeth. "No, Lionblaze, I am not. In fact, both Kestrelflight and Larkfur expressed some doubt that they would be allowed to come. But Willowshine, at least, seemed fairly sure that she would be able send Picklepaw and Mossyfoot."
"Who are ShadowClan hoping to send?" the golden tom asked. "Larkfur?"
"No, Ivytail and Ferretclaw," Jayfeather replied. "And Kestrelflight is trying to sneak Ospreyflight and Sedgewhisker out of the camp without Onestar realizing."
"Why would they not be willing?" exclaimed Lionblaze in shock. "This is the possible destruction of the Clans that we're talking about!"
Jayfeather shook his head. "Blackstar is senile," he explained. "And Onestar is crazy."
Lionblaze gave his brother a surprised look. "Really? I mean, I knew Blackstar was senile, but Onestar's crazy?"
"Yes," the gray tabby sighed. "Unfortunately for everyone involved."
They had reached the island. Jayfeather hopped onto the wooden log bridge, the bark rough beneath his paws, and padded across it to the island.
He cast his thoughts around, ears twitching. Lionblaze was edgy still, but not as nervous as he had been before. There were already two cats on the island. He recognized the scattered, cheerful mind as Picklepaw, and presumed the more orderly one beside her to be Mossyfoot.
He led the way toward the RiverClan cats, his brother padding behind him. As soon as Picklepaw caught sight of them, they were caught up in a whirlwind of chatter.
"Oooh, Jayfeather! Hi! Oh, is this Lionblaze? Hi, Lionblaze! Are you excited to go to the mountains? I know I am! Ooh! Ooh! Haven't you been to the mountains before? Were they scary? Was it cold?" Picklepaw's delighted squealing caught Lionblaze off guard. He shuffled his paws and muttered, "Um, hi. What's your name?"
"Oooh! I'm Picklepaw, Willowshine's apprentice! Who was your mentor? Did you like her? Was she nice?"
Jayfeather felt his brother stiffen at the mention of his mentor, Ashfur. He winced in sympathy. Ashfur had been a fairly good mentor, all told, but it was after Lionblaze and Hollyleaf had become warriors that he had showed his true colors and tried to kill Jayfeather and his siblings to get revenge on Squirrelflight for picking Brambleclaw as a mate over him. When Squirrelflight revealed that she was not really Jayfeather's mother, Ashfur had let them live, but had promised to reveal the truth to all four Clans. To stop that from happening, Hollyleaf had killed him.
It was a long and complicated story, and he did not like to remember it, so he cut across Picklepaw's chatter, for she had not stopped at asking who Lionblaze's mentor was, sparing his brother a difficult moment.
"Quiet, Picklepaw," Jayfeather ordered. Picklepaw stopped talking, the emotion coming off from her crestfallen. She would be quiet for the moment, so Jayfeather addressed the RiverClan warrior who accompanied the apprentice.
"I assume that you're Mossyfoot?" he inquired.
"Yes," Mossyfoot answered. "I'm here to help you guys on your journey. Have ShadowClan and WindClan sent representatives? I know Onestar said at the Gathering that his Clan was fine, but this does concern all of us."
"ShadowClan will probably be able to make it," Lionblaze answered. "We don't know about WindClan, though."
"Onestar lied," Jayfeather said. "WindClan has the fever as well, and pretty bad, too. However, Onestar is having... problems... so if some cats do come, they won't be coming because Onestar let them."
There was a rustling behind them. All four cats whirled, claws unsheathed, to find... two ShadowClan cats, running up to them and panting. One was a she-cat, the other a tom.
"Sorry we're late!" the she-cat panted breathlessly. "It took forever to convince Blackstar that this was a good idea."
Mossyfoot dipped her head in greeting. "I am Mossyfoot of RiverClan, and this is Willowshine's apprentice, Picklepaw."
"You know me, of course," Jayfeather growled. "And Lionblaze, too, probably."
The tom nodded in greeting. "I am Ferretclaw of ShadowClan, and this is Ivytail. Ivytail received a little training in medicine when she was expecting kits, so Larkfur decided to send her."
Ivytail was a good-natured cat, so Jayfeather assumed she was smiling as she murmured her greetings.
"WindClan isn't here?" she queried.
"Nope!" Picklepaw cried, at least breaking down and speaking. "Jayfeather says that Onestar has some problems, so he lied at the Gathering about not being sick! And that's why he's not letting any cats come! Except Jayfeather said that they might come anyway! Does that mean that Onestar's crazy? That's bad for WindClan! Why don't they get a new leader?"
"Picklepaw, quiet!" Jayfeather snapped. She shut up, and he felt that she was hurt by his irritation. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry," he grumbled. "But would you please try to be a little less—talkative?"
"Okay," the fluffy gray apprentice mewed quietly. "I—" She stopped. "I'll try."
They sat, making small talk, for a few minutes. Jayfeather found that Mossyfoot had a rare wit and sarcastic sense of humor, and Lionblaze got along very well with the ShadowClan warrior, Ferretclaw. Ivytail tried to comfort the moping Picklepaw.
Eventually, Ferretclaw spoke up. "Are we going to go or not?" he demanded, swishing his tail in urgency. "My mate is ill with the fever. If we're going to cure her, and the rest of the Clans, we should get going before too many cats die."
"We need to wait for WindClan," Ivytail said.
Jayfeather shook his head. "No," he said, "we should go. Kestrelflight expressed doubt he could sneak—"
He was cut off by another rustling in the bushes. Two she-cats pushed themselves out of the brambles. One was a light brown tabby that Lionblaze nodded to in recognition—that must be Sedgewhisker, he thought. The other was the light gray she-cat he had seen in his dream and had met at many a meeting at the Moonpool: Kestrelflight's apprentice, Ospreyflight.
"Ospreyflight," he mewed, nodding his head in recognition.
"Jayfeather," she replied. She flicked her tail toward her companion. "This is Sedgewhisker." She paused. "Do you know about the current state of WindClan?"
"Yes," Jayfeather replied.
Ospreyflight's mind revealed she was worried. "Kestrelflight is going to tell Onestar that Sedgewhisker and I were killed by a fox in the far territory." She sighed, guilt on her mind. "He... he rolled in fox dung, and... he made me hurt him, so his story would seem real."
Jayfeather widened his eyes. Kestrelflight really wanted this mission to be successful. He hated to be injured, the gray tabby had found out while walking in his dreams once, and that was the reason he became a medicine cat in the first place.
The other cats didn't really know what to say from that. Lionblaze said awkwardly, "Are we going to go now? To save the Clans?"
Ivytail nodded determinedly. "Yes," she said firmly. "Let's go."
