Heronpaw only had a split second to react as the shadowy cat leapt for him. He ducked and rolled out of the way just as the assailant's paws hit the ground.
Mind reeling, Heronpaw scrambled to his feet and faced his attacker. His belly lurched as he recognized the twisted face.
"Slatefang?" Heronpaw gasped. The gray tabby froze and stared down at Heronpaw. His eyes widened and his top lip twitched in and out of a snarl.
"I thought…" The warrior shook his head violently. "I thought you were someone else." He said. He sounded confused, as if he had just emerged from a dream. He blinked a few times.
Heronpaw took a deep breath, trying to calm his thudding heart.
Me too. He thought to himself. The late afternoon shadows must have fooled Heronpaw into thinking that Slatefang was Thunderstrike. He didn't dwell on why or how that could've happened.
"Were you talking to someone?" Slatefang said coldly. The twitch was gone from his face and his fur was relaxing over his shoulders.
Heronpaw looked around, trying to act natural. Snowbreeze had vanished.
"No." He said.
The sound of pawsteps made Heronpaw and Slatefang turn. Crowfrost was approaching through the tree trunks at a trot. He slowed as he caught sight of his Clanmates. His blue eyes narrowed as they settled on Heronpaw.
"Aren't you supposed to be in camp?" Crowfrost said. Heronpaw's pelt prickled with annoyance.
"I don't remember Blizzardstar appointing you as my mentor." He shot back. Heronpaw immediately regretted his words. He backtracked. "But you're right. I just needed some air after Beepelt…" He trailed off. He looked into his brother's eyes hoping to find that understanding cat he knew somewhere in the blue depths.
There was a moment where Heronpaw thought he saw a glimmer of sympathy in the blue depths he used to know so well. His hope was extinguished as the light in Crowfrost's eyes went out. The warrior's expression hardened.
"You can't keep doing this." He said. "The warrior code isn't something you can just ignore."
Heronpaw opened his mouth to retort but he stopped himself. Crowfrost wouldn't understand. To his eyes Heronpaw had left Petalpaw in AlderClan for no reason, the Clan was still sick, and Heronpaw hadn't been there to defend his territory.
Still, the old Crowfrost would have wanted to understand. He would've listened. A stab of grief pierced Heronpaw's heart for his lost littermate. In a matter of days their relationship had shattered like the surface of a frozen puddle.
Heronpaw raised his head and stiffened.
"I apologize." He said. He let the insolence he had been holding back show this time. Crowfrost narrowed his eyes but said nothing.
"I'll go right back to camp." Heronpaw said with mock humility. He spun and marched away the way he had come. He pushed aside a skeletal laurel bush and squeezed his way between two trees, fuming all the while.
Crowfrost had no idea. Once Dawnheart returned with the catmint he would see. Petalpaw would come back any time now and help Plumleaf treat the rest of the battle worn cats. Satisfaction bloomed in Heronpaw's chest as he imagined the look on Crowfrost's face when he realized that Heronpaw had been right.
Lost in thought, Heronpaw wasn't watching where he was going. As he re-entered camp he nearly ran headfirst into Plumleaf's back. He dodged to the side, twisting his paw in the process. He hissed at the discomfort.
Plumleaf cast him a sidelong glance through narrowed brown eyes. They widened as they fell on the apprentice. They stared at each other for a long moment. Heronpaw noted that the medicine cat's pelt had been groomed and the remains of a bird lay at her paws. Her once plump frame was slimming with every passing day and her fur was still slightly rumpled
"You're different." Plumleaf finally said. Her mew was a croak. Heronpaw met her eyes again. He nodded.
"You found your answers then?" the medicine cat said.
Heronpaw started.
"How did you- "
Plumleaf cut him off with a snort and a wave of her tail.
"You think I'm as blind as everyone else?" she said. "You really think I didn't know what you and Petalpaw were planning?"
Stunned, Heronpaw just blinked. Plumleaf rolled her eyes.
"I knew you were dense but I didn't think you were this dense." She paused and looked out over the clearing. Cats were still gathered around Beepelt's body in the center of camp. Plumleaf continued. "Although you did leave Petalpaw in AlderClan so I guess I'm not that surprised."
"She didn't really give me a choice." Heronpaw said. He settled down on his haunches next to the medicine cat. His first encounter with her since his return was going better than he had expected.
"Stubborn, that one." Plumleaf grumbled. Heronpaw glanced at her and saw a gleam of pride in her tired eyes.
"You aren't angry?" Heronpaw said. Her reaction was so far removed from Blizzardstar's that Heronpaw's first reaction was to distrust everything she said. He almost took a step back, expecting the dam to break at any moment.
"Of course not." Plumleaf said. She sniffed.
Heronpaw's head spun.
"But you didn't want to go to the Moontree. You said that you couldn't." he said.
"I couldn't. I never said anything about her." Plumleaf shrugged.
"But Beepelt!" Heronpaw stammered. Plumleaf's shoulders sagged slightly.
"It was his time." She said in a softer voice.
Heronpaw was still struggling to understand. His brain felt muddy.
"So, it was a test?" He said.
Plumleaf turned to face Heronpaw. "She needed a push. She will have to be strong for what lies ahead."
Heronpaw searched the medicine cat's tired face.
"Do you know what is coming?" He asked. Plumleaf heaved a great sigh.
"StarClan has sent me signs of an approaching danger," She said, "but nothing more."
Heronpaw's paws pricked with annoyance.
"Aren't you frustrated?" he blurt out.
Plumleaf eyed him. Her back straightened and the steely glint in her eyes returned.
"I trust StarClan." She said.
Heronpaw opened his mouth. He was almost ready to tell Plumleaf about his vision of Dovekit and everything she had told him. He wanted to tell her about Snowbreeze and how StarClan had turned their backs on her. Why hadn't StarClan just told Plumleaf where the catmint was? Why did they have to be so vague about everything?
His sudden rush of anger silenced any words that Heronpaw might've said. If StarClan had been transparent about the catmint he and Petalpaw would never have had to risk themselves to get the prophecy. She would be here right now instead of stuck in enemy territory. Dawnheart wouldn't be alone in Twolegplace. Heronpaw grit his teeth.
Crowfrost wouldn't hate him.
"Peace, Heronpaw." Plumleaf said. She laid her plumy tail across his back. He flinched at her touch. Their eyes met. Her gaze softened.
"You did the right thing." She said. Heronpaw clenched his teeth and didn't respond.
The medicine cat rose to her paws and stretched. Without another word she padded down the frosted slope and back towards her den.
Heronpaw sat in the cold with only his worries to keep him company, wondering how he had come to be so alone.
. . .
"Dawnheart?"
The call was soft, not frantic. After a moment Dawnheart opened his eyes. A light snow was falling beyond the shelter of his bush. The sound of pawsteps drew nearer to his hiding place and then stopped.
"Dawnheart is that you?" Jasmine's mew was anxious.
Now that his eyes were open, he didn't feel like blinking them. He stared straight ahead for a moment. A snowflake danced down from the sky and landed on his nose. It was cold.
A shadow fell across his head and he finally looked up. Jasmine's narrow, worried face hovered over him. Her ears were flat to her head and her fur was fluffed up against the cold. She looked completely out of place with her glossy fur and bright, stiff tendril around her neck.
"Are you hurt?" Jasmine said. She ducked down under the hawthorn bush's branches and began to shove herself in beside him. It became apparent that she would get in whether Dawnheart wanted her to or not so he shifted over to make room.
She sniffed at his pelt and looked him over with wide eyes.
"Skarloey didn't get you on accident, did he?" She mumbled into his pelt.
Dawnheart shook his head. He leaned away from her prying nose and their eyes met. Her eyes searched his face. The question that had not left his mind since he heard her name finally forced its way to the surface.
"Why did you give me away?"
Jasmine blinked and dropped her gaze. There was a moment of silence.
"I…it's a long story." She said. She looked back up at him. Dawnheart didn't say anything. He just held her gaze and waited. Seeming to sense that he was willing to listen, Jasmine sighed and closed her eyes. She shifted her position so they were sitting side-by-side. They looked out at the snow fall together. Then she began.
"When I was a kit, my mother took my littermates and I out into the garden." Jasmine tucked her front paws under her chest and fully settled down.
"There was this cat, Hope, who lived in the next garden who wanted to meet us. At first, I was scared because she only had three legs and was old and scarred, but as I got to know her, I began to love her." Jasmine's voice softened and her eyes glowed with the memory.
"I would go out into the garden every day and listen to her stories. She would tell my sisters and I about Clans of cats who lived in the forest. She told us tales of great battles and noble leaders, and a way of life I couldn't begin to imagine.
"I had my comfortable bed and all the food I could ever eat, but these cats lived off the land. They nested in leaves and moss, ate live prey, and fought each other to protect their Clans and their territory." Jasmine paused and breathed a long sigh. Her eyes sparkled.
"It was wonderful.
"As I grew older, my sisters dismissed Hope's stories as just stories, but I wanted them to be true. I snuck out one night to visit her and I asked; was CedarClan real?"
Jasmine turned her head to face Dawnheart.
"Well, you know what her answer was." She said with a half-purr. Her moment of joy faded and her eyes grew distant. She continued.
"Seasons passed and my sisters were taken away by other humans. I complained that it was unfair that humans could decide to break apart my family. My mother told me that was just the way things were. I knew different. I knew that the Clan cats lived freely."
Dawnheart heard the bitterness in her voice. Did she hate being a kittypet?
"But I knew I was too soft for Clan life. It was pure luck that my human decided to keep me here rather than send me away."
Dawnheart realized with discomfort that it was not common for a kittypet to live their lives in the same place they were born. How did any of them develop loyalty or a love for the land?
Jasmine's voice cut through his thoughts. "Then I met your father."
Dawnheart froze. His father? The word brought Sootcloud's scent to his memory, but of course Sootcloud hadn't been the cat that had fathered him. The feeling that accompanied that thought was strange.
"Mulligan was the most charming cat I had ever met. He treated me like I was the most important cat in the world and I fell for him almost instantly. We would meet in my garden at night and go running in the trees. I would tell him about the Clans and he would tell me stories from when he lived in a city."
"A city?" Dawnheart managed to ask. His mouth felt very dry.
"It's a human place full of huge houses the size of mountains and monsters roaming everywhere." Jasmine shuddered. "It sounded awful! But Mulligan said it was an adventure."
Dawnheart silently agreed with Jasmine.
"After a while I started to feel sick and tired all the time. My human took me to a place where they prodded and poked me all over. When I came home my mother told me that I was expecting kits." Jasmine's eyes sparkled and she looked up at Dawnheart.
"She had never approved of Mulligan and I." Jasmine dropped her gaze and looked out at the falling snow.
"She told me I was supposed to mate with a cat like me. That's what she had done. That's what her mother and my sisters had done, but that wasn't what I wanted. I loved Mulligan and I loved the kits inside of me."
Dawnheart looked down at Jasmine. Her voice had wavered slightly. This was becoming painful for her to say.
"A moon later my mother left. A human came and took her away. She wouldn't even say goodbye to me." Jasmine's voice was small now and her gaze had fixed on her paws.
"I was so upset that I snuck out so I could see Mulligan. I waited for him all night but he never came. I never saw…" Her voice caught in her throat and she gave a little gasp. Dawnheart's chest tightened for her.
"I never saw him again." She finished after a moment. She closed her eyes and exhaled a single, shaking breath.
Dawnheart let her have her time. It only took her a few more moments to regain her composure. When she spoke again her voice was steady.
"I went to Hope that night. She grieved with me and held me close. I fell asleep curled against her, and I had a dream." Jasmine looked up and held Dawnheart's gaze. A new emotion sparked there in the blue depths. Was it awe?
"I saw a cat who looked like me but he was among the wild cats. He fought, hunted, and survived alongside them. I watched as he grew into a great warrior, loved by his Clanmates and respected by all he knew." Jasmine's gaze intensified. Dawnheart could only stare back. His mind whirled as her story continued.
"At the end of the dream he turned to me and I knew he was mine. I knew he was Mulligan's. Then he spoke. 'It's your choice,' he said to me, and I woke.
"I told Hope what I had seen and she in turn told me of StarClan. She told me how the spirits of all warriors watch over and guide them from the stars. She told me how they spoke to their kin in dreams and put their paws on the right paths."
Dawnheart finally blinked.
"How did she know?" he said. His voice was small and hoarse.
Jasmine gave her head a little shake.
"Her real name was Riverheart." She said.
Dawnheart's mouth dropped open.
"A Clan cat?" he gasped.
Jasmine nodded.
"She said that she was injured on the Thunderpath when she was a warrior. Humans came and took her away with them. They did everything they could to save her, and that meant she lost her leg.
"For a long time she resented the humans for hurting her and taking her away from her home. As time went by though she began to see that the humans had saved her life and taken her in. She knew that she couldn't be the best warrior she could be with her injuries." Jasmine looked up and met Dawnheart's gaze.
"She never stopped believing that StarClan was guiding her." She said.
"What happened to her?" Dawnheart whispered.
Jasmine's ears drooped slightly and she looked down at her side.
"She got sick. She died a few weeks after you were born." She closed her eyes for a moment. She opened them again. Their blue depths shone with faded sadness.
"I took you kits to see her once." The sadness was replaced by a gleam of amusement for a moment. "You took to each other like dew to morning grass." A purr rose in her throat. "She told me you had the heart of a warrior." Her eyes dulled slightly.
"What did you think?" Dawnheart said.
Jasmine found his eyes with her own.
"I knew who you were the moment I met you." She said in a quiet voice.
Warmth spread through Dawnheart at her words. The cold, empty feeling of confusion and doubt he had been feeling was chased away as he looked into his mother's eyes. StarClan had touched so many lives just so he could be here today as a warrior of CedarClan.
"Thank you." Dawnheart said after a moment. His voice shook. Jasmine purred deeply. She head-butted him softly in the chest.
"I didn't want to give you up." She admitted into his chest fur. "But I knew the forest was where your heart belonged."
Dawnheart rested his chin on her head and purred in response.
"What now?" Jasmine asked. She drew away from him and looked out at the gently falling snow.
Dawnheart rose to his feet and slipped out from beneath the skeletal branches of the bush. He shook some leafy debris from his coat and turned to face the way he had come. There was no uncertainty in his heart now. StarClan had guided many paws to bring him here. It was time for him to finish this task.
"Now I save my Clan."