Gasps echoed from all around as Blizzardstar jumped down from his perch and began walking calmly towards Cougarstar. Heronflight took in his leader's appearance. His body was covered in blood and torn fur. There was a dark stain on the right side of his head where his ear should have been. One of his fangs was missing. But there was no fresh blood. No wounds to speak of. Somehow the injuries that had not been healed by his resurrection earlier had gone.
Triumphant yowls, instigated by Kestrelfeather, rose among the CedarClan cats. Heronflight didn't join them. There was still danger here.
Cougarstar narrowed her eyes at Blizzardstar as he came to a stop between his Clan and hers. She curled her lip.
"You're on your last life." It was not a question.
Blizzardstar hardly blinked at the pronouncement. "As are you," he said simply.
There was more murmuring from both Clans. Heronflight's heartbeat quickened.
Cougarstar showed her teeth. "You may have survived before, but today you will die. The forest has no room for weak leaders."
Blizzardstar raised his head. "You misunderstand strength, Cougarstar. You were too young when you became a leader. You have yet to see how valuable peace is."
"Are you going to lecture me about the merits of kitty-pets too?" Cougarstar rolled her eyes.
"No." Blizzardstar's voice was low and deadly. "You have overstayed your welcome in AlderClan's forest. It is time for you to leave."
Cougarstar opened her mouth to jeer again when a cat slipped up beside her and murmured something in her ear. It was Cranewing. Cougarstar listened to him in silence. Her ears twitched and she glanced at Blizzardstar. Heronflight did not like the look in her eyes.
Beside him, Heronflight felt Falconstorm tense. Heronflight followed his father's gaze and saw the shadows of cats lining up under the scarce trees at the top of the hill. Heronflight's belly squirmed with anxiety.
Cranewing stepped back from Cougarstar. The WillowClan leader had triumph in her eyes.
"It seems your AlderClan friends have been driven off." she jeered. She raised her short tail. Her warriors fell into attack crouches around her.
"Warriors of CedarClan!" Cougarstar let her voice boom out over the rocks and cascade across the lake. Heronflight felt his Clanmates tense around him.
"Watch now as your leader fails to save you." Cougarstar said. She turned and addressed the gathering cats at the tree-line.
"Attack!" she yowled.
The cats at the peak of the rise began to move out into the dawn light. Heronflight saw a black tom with one white ear, a long-legged tabby she-cat, and a strong golden cat at the head of the group.
It wasn't the rogues. It was AlderClan.
The next few things happened so fast, Heronflight almost missed them.
Cougarstar's eyes widened as they fell on Eaglestar and his warriors. She turned to Cranewing, her mouth open and her eyes stretched wide with shock. In one swift motion covered by the sudden jostling of the cats around them, Cranewing slashed Cougarstar across the throat.
It didn't seem like anyone else had noticed at first. Heronflight had flinched forward involuntarily. The rest of his Clan had moved to ready themselves for the perceived threat. Only after Cranewing had turned and vanished into the WillowClan patrol did the cries and yowls of shock begin.
"Cougarstar!"
"She's dying!"
Heronflight didn't have time to see what was happening. Falconstorm had broken away from the patrol and was hurtling after a black tail that whipped out of sight just as Heronflight focused on it.
"Falconstorm?" Kestrelfeather called after his brother.
Heronflight turned to his uncle. "He went after Cranewing."
The look that crossed Kestrelfeather's face was chilling.
Heronflight looked around and saw that AlderClan had easily surrounded WillowClan in the latter's confusion. CedarClan warriors began to move forward to help.
"Come on." Heronflight said to Kestrelfeather. They had to follow.
Kestrelfeather nodded and together they broke away from the rest of the Clan and ran after Falconstorm.
His scent trail led them further down-hill and nearer the water's edge. It was rank with fear. The trail veered suddenly away from the water and into a copse of pine trees just clear of the beach. It was disconcerting how fast Falconstorm had to have moved for them to only come across his scent.
The pair slowed as they approached the trees. Heronflight's ears pricked. He heard raised voices.
"Where is she?" that was Falconstorm, but Falconstorm as Heronflight had never heard. His voice was higher and tighter than normal, and there was a desperation that rested like a stone in Heronflight's belly.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Cranewing. Cool, calm, nothing to suggest that he had just murdered his Clan leader in cold blood.
Kestrelfeather and Heronflight exchanged glances. With a nod, they moved forward silently until they could see where Falconstorm and Cranewing stood facing each other. Cranewing's back was to a rocky cliff face. He was cornered.
Falconstorm's tail was bristling. "I saw her. I know I saw her."
Cranewing cocked his head. "She's dead." he said flatly.
With a howl of rage and pain, Falconstorm launched himself forward onto Cranewing. Cranewing let himself be pinned. Kestrelfeather and Heronflight shot forward out of hiding and into the small clearing.
Heronflight ran up to Falconstorm's side. He didn't know what to say. His heart pounded uncomfortably in his chest.
"Let him up, Falconstorm." Kestrelfeather said sternly. He tried to get Falconstorm to look at him. Falconstorm's eyes were fixed on Cranewing's face. He ignored Kestrelfeather completely.
"I saw her." he hissed through gritted teeth. One paw was planted on Cranewing's throat. The claws slid out and pressed hard into the fur.
Cranewing's eyes darkened. "Did you ever find her body? I mean, you had to have. It must have washed up on the shore eventu-" He was cut off by a terrible roar from Falconstorm. The dark tabby raised his free paw to strike. His eyes were wild with rage. Kestrelfeather made to block his brother's blow.
"Stop!"
Falconstorm looked up and froze.
Heronflight looked up too and saw a familiar gray she-cat standing at the edge of the clearing next to a fallen log. Her call had been full of emotion, but her glittering green eyes were cold. Heronflight felt a familiar sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. A whiff of Snowbreeze's fear scent in the air made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
"You." Falconstorm's voice shook. The gray she-cat took a few steps towards them. Falconstorm stepped back and let Cranewing up. The black and gray tom shook out his pelt and backed away from his brothers.
Heronflight noted uncomfortably that they were now the ones with their backs to the steep rocks.
Kestrelfeather was staring openly at the newcomer. "Songbird?" he gasped. "But you're-"
"Dead." Falconstorm finished in a whisper. His eyes had gained that horrible unseeing quality they had adopted when he had seen Cranewing at the Gathering.
Falconstorm took a few unsteady steps toward the she-cat. Immediately, Snowbreeze appeared beside Heronflight and shrieked. "That is not a cat!"
Heronflight fought his shock at her sudden warning. The urgency in her voice would not be ignored. He ran forward to block his father.
"Falconstorm, stop! That's not who you think it is."
Falconstorm looked at him, his eyes struggling to focus. He glanced back at 'Songbird'. She cocked her head and purred.
"It is me, Falconstorm. You know me." She waved her tail behind her in invitation.
Heronflight glared at her. He opened his mouth to try to convince Falconstorm further, but his father spoke first.
"I do know you," he said quietly. His amber eyes searched her face. "I knew her so well."
The silver she-cat's eyes narrowed.
"You aren't her." Falconstorm's voice shook. "I don't know who you are, but you aren't her."
Cranewing hissed softly. "Of course that's her, she-"
He was cut off by the silver she-cat. "You're perceptive."
Her entire demeanor changed with the flick of a tail. She had abandoned the concern and tenderness in her voice. It was cold and business-like now. Her tail twitched and she drew herself up like a Clan leader ready to call a Clan meeting.
Heronflight reached out to Snowbreeze with his thoughts. "Can you help us?" All he got in return was a faint whimper and more fear-scent. She was terrified. And she was already dead.
Falconstorm was watching the she-cat with a strange mixture of fear and fascination in his eyes. Kestrelfeather was glancing between his brothers and the imposter, confused.
"What gave it away?" Not-Songbird said. She sounded honestly curious.
Falconstorm cocked his head. "The voice wasn't right. The way you carried yourself was wrong, too." he trailed off and stared. "What are you?"
The silver she-cat shrugged. "Ask your son." she said simply.
All eyes fell on Heronflight. He froze. He didn't know what this creature was any more than the others. He opened his mouth to say this, but someone else spoke first.
"You told me you were a warrior of StarClan." Crowfrost's voice shook slightly as he emerged from the trees. Hawkstrike followed after, looking determined. Heronflight gave his brother a nod of appreciation. Hawkstrike nodded back and took a wary stance at Crowfrost's shoulder.
Every cat's eyes flicked to Crowfrost instead. Heronflight paused as he thought he had seen another shadow behind his brothers, but he tore his eyes away, convinced it had been his imagination.
The silver she-cat looked over each of them calmly. Heronflight knew that any sane cat would be worried about such uneven odds in a fight, but she looked entirely unbothered.
Well, not entirely unbothered. There was a muscle working in her lower jaw and her eyes moved with quick flashes. Finally, she sighed.
Cranewing rounded on Crowfrost. "A warrior of StarClan?" he scoffed, half angry, half deprecating. "You think a mere warrior of StarClan could do what she has done?" His eyes bulged as he took a threatening step towards Crowfrost.
Immediately, Kestrelfeather, Falconstorm, Hawkstrike, and Heronflight all made small movements towards their kin on instinct. Heronflight was glad he still had this impulse in regards to Crowfrost. He may be a traitor, but he was still Clan and kin.
Cranewing snarled at them. "She never needed StarClan." he looked at her with unfettered adoration. "She found something more, something greater to become. She has power none of you have ever imagined."
"Silence." The she-cat said in a deadly hiss.
Cranewing obeyed and dropped his head in a gesture of respect.
The she-cat looked at him with undisguised disgust on her face. "He's right about one thing." she said in a slow, thoughtful way, as if she was mulling over every word as she said them. "I never needed StarClan's power."
Cranewing nodded sycophantically.
"But, you're right, Falconstorm." she went on. She fixed him with her green gaze. "I'm not her."
Cranewing froze. He blinked dumbly. "What?" He stared at her, desperate. "That isn't true." He spoke with uncertainty.
The silver she-cat looked at him and cocked her head. She waved her tail at him with an absent-minded motion and he scrambled to her side without hesitation. She used her tail to lift his chin to meet her gaze. The gesture was surprisingly tender. She searched his face for a moment before speaking.
"You really didn't know?" Her tone was one of genuine curiosity.
He blinked at her. "I…"
"No." She moved her tail away and waved him away from her. "You knew. You just didn't want to admit it."
Heronflight watched Cranewing's face fall blank. He stared ahead, unseeing. His mouth was clamped shut.
Kestrelfeather took a few steps in Cranewing's direction. "Is she why you've been doing all of this?" he asked boldly.
Cranewing didn't answer. He had begun to shake his head and mutter. Kestrelfeather shot a glance at Falconstorm but the tabby didn't meet his eye.
"You don't have to listen to her anymore. You can come home to CedarClan." Kestrelfeather continued more softly.
"Oh, please." the she-cat mocked. "You cannot reason with a broken mind."
Kestrelfeather rounded on her. His green eyes sparked with anger. "What did you do to him? He's like a different cat!"
"He is a different cat." the she-cat shot back. "He's a murderer and a traitor now."
"No." Cranewing croaked, shaking his head. "If you're not her then...then I didn't kill her."
Heronflight felt Falconstorm jerk beside him. Heronflight remembered back to when Kestrelfeather had told him the story of Cranewing and Songbird.
"I don't know exactly what happened, but neither of them ever came back. Songbird's body washed up on the AlderClan side of the lake a sunrise later."
The she-cat sneered. "Of course you killed her." she said bluntly.
Cranewing flinched and shied away from her. Kestrelfeather glared at the she-cat.
"If you aren't a StarClan cat then what are you?" Crowfrost demanded. "What do you want with Petalpaw?"
Heronflight's heart lurched. Petalpaw?
The she-cat turned to Crowfrost. The amusement was gone from her face. Her voice dropped to a low hiss "How many times," she began to stride across the pine needle-strewn ground towards Crowfrost. Heronflight and the others moved in to protect their Clanmate.
"How many times do I have to tell you to never question me?!" her voice rose to a maddened screech and for a moment Heronflight thought she was going to attack.
"Obviously a lot." Hawkstrike shot at her, completely unafraid.
Heronflight closed his eyes. This was not the time.
The she-cat stopped in her tracks and stared at Hawkstrike, who stared back defiantly. He obviously took her silence as an invitation to continue, because he did so with renewed vigor.
"We know what you are." he said with a glance to Heronflight. "We know you've been making him spy for you. Well, not anymore."
Amazingly, the she-cat had been affected by Hawkstrike's words. Her eyes widened and she raised a front paw as if to take a step back. Then her face hardened and she curled her lip again.
"I grow bored of your squawking." she said. "I should have never trusted you Clan cats. So unnatural, so brazen in your defiance of the law of nature."
Something was happening to her body. Her fur was growing paler. Her form seemed to grow larger as she drew herself up to more than her full height. Her eyes, unchanging, stayed burning with anger as her body swelled with muscle and stretched with sinew. Black tendrils of swirling smoke began to leak from her eyes, ears, mouth, and nose.
Heronflight backed away from the sight, blinking a few times. He heard a noise of confusion and disgust from Kestrelfeather. What in the name of StarClan was happening?
The she-cat lifted her head and half-grunted, half-screeched in pain and exertion. The blackness swirled around her, obscuring her from view.
Snowbreeze was screaming in Heronflight's head to run but his paws were glued to the forest floor in horror.
The haunting shriek of a cat was cut off and replaced by a sound Heronflight had only ever heard once before, but caused every muscle in his body to tense with terror.
As if swept away by a swift wind, the black smoke vanished. In the place where the she-cat had stood was a huge green-eyed cougar.