Heronpaw stepped out into the silent, sleeping camp. Determined, he made a beeline for the warrior's den. There wasn't time to waste.
"What are you doing?"
Heronpaw whirled around to find Hawkpaw emerging from the shadows at the edge of camp. He padded over to Heronpaw and tilted his head.
"I need to talk to Dawnheart." Heronpaw said in a low voice.
"He's not there." Hawkpaw said. "He's at the Stone-place."
Heronpaw tilted his head. "Why?"
Hawkpaw shook his head. "Blackmoth died." He said softly. Heronpaw's stomach lurched but he steeled himself against the grief for his Clanmate. More Clanmates would die if he didn't get to Dawnheart.
Heronpaw nodded and turned around so he could head to the camp entrance. His paws faltered when he remembered who was there. He didn't know if Crowfrost would let him go.
"Wait!" Hawkpaw blocked Heronpaw's way. "You're just going to leave again? What happened? What did Blizzardstar say?"
Heronpaw met Hawkpaw's concerned gaze. He debated with himself for a moment.
"I went with Petalpaw to speak to StarClan." Heronpaw said. Hawkpaw's eyes grew huge.
"You went all the way to the Moontree?" He gasped. Heronpaw nodded.
"We got a message that I need to deliver to Dawnheart." He took a step to the side, trying to pass his brother. Hawkpaw put a paw down in his way.
"Can it wait? If you sneak off again…" Hawkpaw's worried mew trailed off as he caught sight of Heronpaw's eyes.
"It needs to be now." Heronpaw growled through gritted teeth. Hawkpaw's neck fur rose slightly.
"Why?" his question was sharp.
"It's about the catmint."
Hawkpaw's eyes grew wide.
"StarClan told you where to find the catmint." He said blankly. Irritated, Heronpaw shuffled his paws in the frozen dirt and shook his head.
"They told Petalpaw and she told me. Now I have to tell Dawnheart." He said.
The brothers held eye contact for a few tense heartbeats. Heronpaw shifted from paw to paw. If Hawkpaw didn't believe him he could raise the alarm and stop Heronpaw from leaving.
Finally, Hawkpaw nodded.
"Okay." He stepped aside. Relieved, Heronpaw made to pass the tabby apprentice. Hawkpaw blocked his way again.
"Crowfrost isn't going to let you out." He said. Heronpaw winced. His fears had been confirmed.
Heronpaw nodded to his brother in thanks and turned away from the entrance. He made his way to the apprentice's den instead. He slipped behind it and got ready to squeeze out into the forest when he realized Hawkpaw was following him. Heronpaw turned.
"I'm going with you." Hawkpaw said. There was no question in the statement. "I need to help."
Heronpaw opened his mouth to tell Hawkpaw that he didn't need his help but he stopped. There was something different about Hawkpaw. He stood taller and his eyes were earnest. His foolhardy overconfidence had gone and was replaced with quiet determination.
"What happened to you?" Heronpaw thought out loud. Hawkpaw flicked an ear.
"I could ask the same thing." He purred.
Together the brothers slid between two tree trunks and out into the silent forest. Heronpaw breathed in the cold air and led the way. He followed the same path he had taken just two nights earlier. Hawkpaw followed silently.
They followed the edge of the camp wall until they caught sight of the small, pebble-strewn clearing through the trees. Heronpaw slowed his stride. This place always demanded some reverence from those that visited.
Heronpaw peeked through the foliage around the outskirts of the clearing. He could see the silhouettes of three cats sitting together at the far edge.
The little clearing was dusted in snow but the white flowers that ringed the area were still in bloom. Stones of all sizes and colors were scattered across the ground. Heronpaw couldn't help but rest his eyes on a particular tiny white stone near the center of the clearing.
I hope this is the right thing to do, Dovekit. Heronpaw thought. He felt a warm urging in his chest.
Dawnheart was sitting alone at the far edge of the Stone-place. Four stones sat before his paws. Two of them were new. Dawnheart had his head resting on his paws and his nose touching a black cobble. A cold stone dropped into Heronpaw's belly.
Blackmoth.
He hesitated before stepping forward, unwilling to disturb Dawnheart's grieving.
"Dawnheart?" He said quietly as he pushed all the way into the clearing. Dawnheart looked up. His blue eyes grew huge and he leapt to his paws.
"Heronpaw!" He cried.
Heronpaw winced at the noise.
"Where have you been?" Dawnheart purred as he rushed over. The warrior touched noses with Heronpaw. It was very cold.
"I went to speak to StarClan." Heronpaw began. Dawnheart stepped back and fixed his friend with a concerned, awed gaze. Heronpaw told a shortened version of the story. Dawnheart listened intently. When Heronpaw got to the prophecy he paused. Dawnheart hadn't reacted the way Heronpaw had expected.
"We think the prophecy is about you." Heronpaw said. Dawnheart's eyes grew wide.
"Me?" His voice cracked.
"Look to the dawn and follow his heart." Heronpaw recited again. "Who else would it be about?"
"But I don't know anything about the catmint." Dawnheart said, his ears flattening and his tail swishing.
"Surely you know something." Hawkpaw interjected. Dawnheart turned his distressed blue eyes on the apprentice.
"I…" The pale warrior took a step back from his Clanmates. Heronpaw began to panic. Dawnheart was the Clan's best hope. He had to be the key. Heronpaw's mind whirled. A memory of the lake and the Clan territories as they looked from the mountainside flashed in his mind's eye. He saw the sun rising from beyond PineClan territory. From beyond Twolegplace.
"It's literal!" he burst out. Hawkpaw and Dawnheart looked at him. "Look to the dawn. Literally 'look in that direction'."
"Twolegplace." Hawkpaw said, nodding. He lashed his tail with excitement at the discovery. "That's where Dawnheart was born! His heart!"
"My heart lies in the forest." Dawnheart said with a single, violent lash of his tail. Heronpaw shot Hawkpaw an annoyed glare. Clearly Hawkpaw hadn't changed that much.
"We know that." Heronpaw said. He rested his tail on Dawnheart's shoulder. "But you have to admit that it makes sense."
Heronpaw looked his friend in the eyes. They were dull with pain. Hawkpaw and Crowfrost weren't the only cats who had changed. Dawnheart looked frail in the moonlight. His eyes were rimmed by dark shadows and the very air around him smelled of fear. There was something very familiar about that expression.
"What do Blizzardstar and Plumleaf think?" Dawnheart croaked.
"Blizzardstar agrees that the prophecy is about you." Heronpaw trailed off, unwilling to admit the truth.
"What about Plumleaf?" Dawnheart pressed. Heronpaw looked away.
"She agrees too." Hawkpaw lied. Heronpaw shot his brother a look. Hawkpaw stared back defiantly.
He's going to do anything to help Morningpaw get well again. Heronpaw realized.
"Think of our sick Clanmates, Dawnheart." Hawkpaw continued.
Dawnheart stared down at his forepaws with wide, scared eyes. Heronpaw's heart ached for his friend. He had endured so much loss in the last moon and now he was being called on by StarClan. Heronpaw could sympathize with how overwhelmed the warrior must feel.
"What can I do that someone else can't?" Dawnheart said. He looked over the countless stones at his paws. "Why is StarClan asking so much of me?"
Heronpaw knew that these questions weren't for him. He waited, silent, as Dawnheart struggled inwardly.
The pale warrior pressed a brown paw on a pair of stones; one dark gray, one white. Then he moved to touch a speckled stone. He closed his eyes.
"Okay." Dawnheart said.
Heronpaw was taken aback. "Okay?" He echoed.
"I'll go to Twolegplace." Dawnheart lifted his head. A spark of determination had lit a fire behind his eyes. He stood up. "I'll find the catmint."
. . .
Dawnheart watched as a look of confused relief passed over Heronpaw's face.
"I'll come with you." The apprentice said quickly. Hawkpaw nodded.
"Me too." The tabby said.
Dawnheart shook his head.
"You can't disappear again, Heronpaw." He said. Heronpaw opened his jaws to retort but Dawnheart cut him off. "Don't abandon them again."
Heronpaw's yellow eyes grew wide. He clamped his mouth shut and nodded stiffly. Dawnheart turned to Hawkpaw and looked him up and down. Both apprentices were healthy and strong. The Clan couldn't afford to lose either of them.
"You can't come either." Dawnheart said to the apprentice. Hawkpaw's tail lashed.
"Why not?" he demanded. His sudden transformation into a serious and responsible cat had been surprising but Dawnheart had suspected that Hawkpaw was always going to be hot headed.
"The Clan needs you." Dawnheart said. Hawkpaw began to argue but Dawnheart pressed forward. "The sick and injured need prey. Losing one hunter will be bad enough, we can't lose more."
He could see his words working on Hawkpaw's brain. The apprentice's face scrunched up as he seemingly fought to find a hole in Dawnheart's logic. Finally, he hissed in frustration and lashed his tail.
"Fine." He said. Dawnheart sighed inwardly. He decided that he would need to make sure either apprentice didn't follow him when he left. He wouldn't put it past them. Dawnheart turned to Heronpaw.
"Blizzardstar doesn't know about this, does he?" Dawnheart said. Heronpaw avoided eye contact.
"He knows about the prophecy."
"But not that I'm going?"
"No. I don't think he really believes me." Heronpaw admitted. Dawnheart's belly squirmed. He closed his eyes and thought of the sick cats back at camp. Blizzardstar had just lost a life, his daughter was in a rival Clan's territory alone, and most of his Clan, including his second daughter, was either sick or injured. Dawnheart couldn't blame his leader for being conflicted.
"Cover for me as long as you can." Dawnheart said. "Once Blizzardstar knows, he might try to send someone after me."
"Hopefully Petalpaw will be back by then and she can convince everyone." Heronpaw said, nodding.
"What about Slatefang?" Hawkpaw asked. Dawnheart's chest tightened. He thought of Slatefang's face, twisted with accusation and anger.
"Don't tell him." Dawnheart instructed the apprentices. They nodded. Dawnheart looked up at the patch of sky visible from the hole in the canopy. The moon was still high. Morning was a long way off.
"If I leave now, I can be back by sunset tomorrow." He said. That should give him ample time to search Twolegplace. Heronpaw and Hawkpaw nodded.
"May StarClan guide your paws." Heronpaw said, dipping his head. Hawkpaw copied his brother. Dawnheart nodded back.
"Keep them safe." He said. He didn't stay to hear their response. Instead, he turned and bounded out of the clearing.
Dawnheart's mind raced as he sped through the quiet, freezing forest. Somehow, he had found himself at the center of a prophecy. He still didn't even know quite what it meant, but the words were clear. Somehow, Dawnheart was supposed to know where to go to find the life-saving herb that would cure his Clan.
Follow his heart.
The words struck a fear deep within Dawnheart's mind. He had been born in Twolegplace but that was not where he belonged. Twolegplace was not where his heart lay. His heart lay with this forest, with CedarClan.
But his heart, his heritage, might have caused the deaths of the cats he loved. Spottedfur would be alive if Dawnheart's warrior ceremony hadn't angered WillowClan. Blackmoth might still be alive if he hadn't been weak.
He shook his head, trying to dispel the thoughts. If he didn't belong, why did StarClan send him this prophecy?
Dawnheart leapt over the stream which had begun to freeze over each night. He adjusted his path so it would take him to the PineClan border. He could follow the Twoleg path and be taken right to the edge of Twolegplace.
And then what?
Would StarClan guide him then?
He approached the PineClan border and slowed his frantic pace. The snow was thicker here and he needed to be careful lest he trip. He soon arrived near the same spot he, Hawkpaw, and Swiftwing had been just the day before. He slowed to a stop and tasted the air.
A scent tickled the back of his throat. A memory, freezing and soaked in blood, drifted to the forefront of his mind.
Dawnheart stopped and breathed in again. He knew that scent. He turned.
Slatefang stood a few fox-lengths away in the shadow of a pine tree. Dawnheart's neck fur rose as their eyes met.
Slatefang's expression was shadowed but there was no threat in his posture.
Dawnheart swallowed his anxiety. He tried to think of something to say. His mouth ran dry of excuses.
"Don't." Slatefang spoke so quietly that Dawnheart had to strain his ears to hear. "Don't come back."
Coldness spread from Dawnheart's chest to his paws. "You don't mean that." he said the words as if speaking them aloud would make them true.
Slatefang stepped out of the shadows. Dawnheart flinched. Their eyes met and Slatefang blinked dully. There was no trace of the fever-like state that had taken over the warrior during the battle, but still Dawnheart's fear pounded in his ears.
Slatefang shook his head and closed his eyes. When he opened them again his pupils were slits.
Dawnheart took an involuntary step back.
Slatefang cocked his head and twitched an ear. "Don't come back," he repeated, "Without the catmint." Then, without warning, he simply turned and disappeared into the shadows once more.
Dawnheart let out the breath he had been holding. Pain pulsed through his veins with every heartbeat. His Clan was dying. Spottedfur and Blackmoth were already dead. Slatefang wasn't the cat he knew anymore.
What was he trying to save? Who was left? He didn't know how many of his Clanmates secretly blamed him for their misfortune. He didn't even know if they were right or wrong.
He felt helpless and foolish. He wondered what would happen if he kept walking and never stopped.
Familiar scents tickled his nose, free of the scent of death, just as he remembered them. He breathed deeply and felt warmth creep back into his ears and paws. Words from his warrior ceremony echoed deep in his mind.
From this moment you will be known as Dawnheart. StarClan honors your optimism and unbreakable spirit. We welcome you as a full warrior of CedarClan.
He felt a tiny nudge within him. StarClan honors your unbreakable spirit. The voice in his head did not belong to Blizzardstar, but seemed to blend between his loved ones.
Dawnheart gripped the cold ground with his claws. Fear and uncertainty still weighed him down, but he thought that if he could just hold on to this tiny feeling that someone believed in him maybe it could keep him moving.
He lifted his frozen paws and took a first step, then another. Faces of the cats that he knew and loved flashed across his mind's eye. CedarClan was their home. CedarClan was his home.
He began to run.