Chapter 16
Sun and Sorreltail, to their credit, kept to themselves for the journey, even when they were in ThunderClan territory. They didn't speak unless spoken to, and they kept themselves at a respectful distance when Brackenfur and Shadepool met with Mothwing and Littlecloud beside the tree-bridge.
"Tinystar is that nervous?" Littlecloud commented, glancing at the ThunderClan escort. He kneaded his paws, and Shadepool wondered if he would object.
"He just wants to ensure we're safe," Shadepool reasoned. She looked at Mothwing and Littlecloud and noted their lack of escorts. She added, "All of us."
Mothwing, affable as always, shrugged, but Littlecloud looked perturbed. "So long as they don't set paw in the hollow, I suppose," he grumbled.
If Sun or Sorreltail were offended, they didn't speak about it - this was very abnormal for them, too. The two warriors spread out, covering the medicine cat's flanks as they followed the stream toward the Moonpool.
"I'd expect WindClan has given Ryewhisper an escort, too," Mothwing pointed out. Shadepool couldn't help but admire how unaffected the beautiful golden she-cat was by the odd situation.
Littlecloud was still disgruntled, and he glanced at Sorreltail, who was a tail-length away, pretending she wasn't hearing any of this. The ShadowClan medicine cat lowered his head and muttered, "They'd best not start anything..."
"They won't!" Shadepool defended, feeling her neck fur fluff.
Littlecloud grumbled under his breath and trotted up to Brackenfur, walking shoulder to shoulder with him instead.
Shadepool flattened her ears. Does he think that warriors have no sense? If he'd spent just one moment with Sun or Sorreltail, he'd know they were some of the most understanding ThunderClan warriors around!
"Don't mind Littlecloud," Mothwing murmured, sidling up to Shadepool now that Littlecloud was gone. "He was grouchy on our way through RiverClan territory, too."
"Why?" Shadepool wondered, curious. Littlecloud wasn't usually so testy, in her experience.
Mothwing shrugged. "No idea," she admitted. Her golden gaze was troubled. "But something is up in ShadowClan, I think. I've heard some rumblings from the border patrols that they've been even more annoying than usual..."
Shadepool swallowed and looked ahead at Littlecloud. Brackenfur had mentioned some days ago that the ShadowClan cats at the Gathering looked like something had ruffled their fur, too. ThunderClan had been too focused on WindClan to really think about what their other neighbor might be dealing with.
"Any idea what it is?" Shadepool wondered.
Mothwing shook her head. "No clue. Littlecloud normally has no problem asking for help if he needs it, so whatever it is, Russetstar must want it kept a secret. You know how ShadowClan cats are!"
Shadepool sighed. She sure did - as much as she had loved traveling with Stoneheart, he'd always kept things close to his chest, and he'd been born a ThunderClan cat before he'd left to join ShadowClan! She recalled an elder's tale from when she was a kit about how the mysteriousness of the marshlands made ShadowClan cats secretive and cold.
The path began getting steeper as the large group left ThunderClan territory. Shadepool glanced across the river and wondered if she could see Ryewhisper over there - was he going to risk taking the short way? In the growing shadows, though, Shadepool couldn't see anything.
I wonder who his escort is... If it were Crowflight, perhaps she would have a chance to explain why she hadn't seen him in so long.
"So, how've you been?" Mothwing asked, butting into Shadepool's thoughts. "You know, with the whole WindClan thing?"
Shadepool grimaced. "Not much has changed," she admitted. "There was a small fight, but-"
"Shadepool, hush!" Brackenfur's voice was sharp from up ahead. He was glaring over his shoulder at her like she was a loudmouthed kitten.
Shadepool sighed, glancing apologetically at Mothwing. The lovely she-cat only shrugged, her gaze understanding.
"If you ever need anything, you know where to find me," Mothwing said quietly. She smiled at Shadepool and said, "I still don't know how to thank you for helping me out after Mudfur died, after all."
Shadepool's pelt warmed. Though she had been annoyed to be temporarily apprenticed to Mothwing during the Great Journey, she'd learned quickly that the RiverClan she-cat was struggling with grief for her mentor, who'd died just before they left. It had been nice to help if it meant lightening the load on Mothwing during such a hard time.
She looked into the golden she-cat's eyes and saw something familiar there - something she'd seen in Sorreltail's eyes, too. Friendship.
Her heart skipped - had she made a friend in Mothwing without even knowing it? Had she missed it all this time because of her bond with Nightfrost, and how simple it made things seem?
"Anyway," Mothwing swept on, ignorant of Shadepool's realization, "I don't think ThunderClan did it, anyway."
"You don't?" Shadepool was surprised. At the Gathering, it seemed everyone else was on board with Mudstar's accusations, if not skeptical of the idea.
Mothwing looked serious for once. "Not one bit," she assured.
Shadepool's heart flooded with relief. "You have no idea how nice that is to hear," she breathed.
"I can imagine," Mothwing purred.
They walked in relative silence the rest of the way, picking carefully along the safest paths, which were harder to identify in the snow. Brackenfur struggled some, but the juniper must have given him enough strength, as Shadepool didn't need to help him.
By the time the ground had flattened out and the hawthorn bushes were in sight, the half-moon had risen, and the world was engulfed in night. They had made it to the Moonpool without incident.
Brackenfur opened his jaws to taste the air. "Ryewhisper is here already," he commented. Shadepool opened her jaws and scented the WindClan medicine cat on the branches of the hawthorn ahead.
"Good," Littlecloud sighed. "I was worried he wouldn't come at all."
Brackenfur turned to fix his gaze on Sorreltail and Sun. They had already placed themselves a good few tail-lengths away, but he quickly reinforced the distance: "Only medicine cats are allowed to proceed from this point on."
"We understand," Sorreltail mewed, dipping her head respectfully. Sun did the same, reverence aglow in her eyes.
Shadepool wondered if Sun was thinking of her old home again - where the Tribe met with their ancestors was in the deepest part of the mountain, and it seemed like the whole Tribe was allowed to go there for announcements, sometimes. Here, only medicine cats and leaders came to speak with StarClan, and only apprentices came along for the journey when it was required to become a warrior.
What would it be like if warriors were allowed to come to the Moonpool? Shadepool wondered. She glanced at Brackenfur, waiting for his signal to proceed. It would probably be very crowded.
"Where's WindClan's escort?" Mothwing wondered. Her gaze searched this way and that. "I don't see them anywhere."
Shadepool sniffed the air, hoping for some sign of Crowflight - but there was none, and she scented no WindClan cat other than Ryewhisper. She tried not to look visibly deflated.
"If they're smart, they're staying out of sight, too," Littlecloud muttered. He glanced at the ThunderClan warriors. "StarClan's wrath will be immeasurable if blood is shed this night."
Brackenfur nodded in solemn agreement. Shadepool shivered at the idea. Fighting at a Gathering was one thing - that was just something that might happen when four Clans were brought together - but hurting someone at a sacred place like the Moonpool, where StarClan spoke to their descendants? That would be unspeakable!
Even whoever attacked Onewhisker and Barkface didn't do it here, she thought, though that idea further solidified that it must've been a Clan cat that did it. A rogue or loner wouldn't care for Clan beliefs.
Shadepool stared at the hawthorn and wondered if that answer lay in StarClan.
Ryewhisper was already asleep; his nose touched the surface of the Moonpool when Brackenfur, Littlecloud, Mothwing, and Shadepool passed through the bushes and into the hollow.
"Rude," Brackenfur sighed quietly, "but we're wasting too much moonlight ourselves."
In single file, they picked their way carefully down the hollow to the shore. Shadepool was shocked that, despite the blizzards and cold air, the Moonpool wasn't frozen, nor was the hollow filled with snow. It was as if StarClan had sheltered the place from the wrath of leafbare. When she settled on the shore between Mothwing and Brackenfur and touched her nose to the water's surface, it felt warm and soothing.
There was an awkwardness in the air - they usually would convene and chat a little before starting, but Brackenfur was right. The moonlight wouldn't last forever, even if they were all dying to know how Barkface was doing.
Shadepool closed her eyes, and her world was engulfed in starlight.
When the light cleared, Shadepool was standing in a forest, the world warm and the air filled with the smells of greenleaf and sunshine. Even through the leafy treetops, she could see stars shimmering in a blanket of velvet night.
Everything around her felt so crisp and rich, contrasting with how dry and cold the world outside her dreams was. Shadepool breathed it in deeply, wanting to take something of it with her when she left.
I've got more important things to do than roll in the grass, though, she told herself firmly. It was so easy to get lost in the splendor of StarClan, and she wondered how their warrior ancestors got anything done here.
She looked around and found no one. She sighed. Sometimes, it took a moment for StarClan to appear - or sometimes, they just didn't come at all if they had nothing to say. The latter would be worse than it seemed, in times like these.
Or maybe they don't want to see me, she thought worriedly, because of how I feel about Crowflight.
StarClan had to know about her feelings - they knew everything else, after all. Would they not show themselves to her? And, if they were upset, why even allow her to come here?
Shadepool looked up at the stars and felt her heart stop.
The white cat was perched on the branches of an old maple, staring down at her.
Shadepool flattened her ears. The last time she had seen the strange being, it had been just before the shadowy cats emerged to threaten her.
Fear gripped Shadepool - what was this thing? What did it want? Why had it followed her here, of all places?
"Shoo, you," rasped a cranky old voice. "Get going!"
Shadepool blinked, and the white cat was gone.
"Thank you," Shadepool breathed, her heart in her throat. She turned around to see her savior and purred in surprise, "Yellowfang!"
The old she-cat shook a leaf from her head, dazzling Shadepool with the stars caught in her thick, messy gray fur. Dark orange eyes like leaves in leaf-fall rested on Shadepool with care, and her flattened muzzle curled into a jagged-toothed smile.
"Ah, hello, youngster," she rasped. "It's been some time."
Shadepool dipped her head respectfully. Yellowfang didn't often appear to Shadepool - she had been Brackenfur's teacher, and they had never met in life - but Shadepool had seen her here and there and knew that the old she-cat meant a lot to both her father and her mentor.
"Where's Spottedleaf?" Shadepool wondered, stepping closer to Yellowfang. Not that she was ungrateful, but Yellowfang was not the cat that had guided her throughout her life. "And what was that thing? It sounded like you knew it."
Yellowfang sighed irritably. "So many questions already!" she complained. Her thick tail flicked, and she flopped down into a nest of leaves and moss that Shadepool could have sworn hadn't been there a moment ago.
"Spottedleaf is busy," Yellowfang answered, lapping at a paw. "I came in her stead." Her orange eyes gleamed knowingly. "Is that alright?"
"Of course!" Shadepool came closer and decided to untangle a mat from behind Yellowfang's ear. How does a StarClan cat let her pelt stay so tangled? "And the white cat?"
Yellowfang heaved a sigh beneath her. "That one is... different," she sighed. "I've seen it before - it's a very ancient thing, old as the warrior code itself, and it's been here that long, too." She wrinkled her muzzle. "It means you no harm."
Shadepool felt the old she-cat tense as she spoke of the white cat and wondered if that was true - but everything she'd ever known of Yellowfang said that she wasn't a liar. Shadepool moved on to a tangle of fur near the medicine cat's shoulders, wondering how a spirit could linger for so long - it must be very powerful. What was it holding on to?
"And the shadowy cats?" she asked carefully, recalling how Brackenfur had reacted to them.
Yellowfang shuddered. "Stay away from them," she growled, in no uncertain terms. "Far away."
You don't have to tell me twice! Shadepool tugged at the mat. "But do you know what they are?"
"Evil things," Yellowfang hissed. The old she-cat tensed as if she were readying herself for battle. "Things best forgotten."
Shadepool shivered. She distracted herself by flattening Yellowfang's fur back down. She told herself not to press any further - and why would she when Yellowfang's answer was already so concise? She didn't want to mess with the shadowy cats any further, anyway - too much was going on already.
Yellowfang chuckled beneath her. "You've got that look," she said, stretching out in her nest.
"What look?" Shadepool wondered.
"That look your father would get, just before he was about to do or say something radical." Yellowfang sighed wistfully, her orange eyes clouded with memories. She narrowed her gaze on Shadepool and said tartly, "You're a radical one yourself, aren't you?"
Shadepool twitched her whiskers. "What do you mean?" she wondered hesitantly. "I'm not sure what-"
"Oh hush, you!" Yellowfang chortled. She sat up and shook out her pelt, and Shadepool saw the mats and tangles she had just undone return as if Yellowfang had willed them back into existence. "I know what you've done."
Shadepool's heart began beating rapidly. What could Yellowfang mean? Was she talking about Crowflight?
"You lied," Yellowfang went on, "about that sign you saw! Saying you saw it at the Moonpool, trying to pass it off as a way to fix things! What cheek!"
Shadepool's pelt burned. "I didn't mean to-"
Yellowfang wheezed. "Oh, calm down." She flapped a tangled paw in the air dismissively. "That's something I would've done back in the day!"
Shadepool swallowed. "You... You would've lied?"
"Aye, I would've," Yellowfang rasped, grinning at Shadepool, "if every other way I tried didn't work."
Shadepool looked down at her paws. She'd expected to be beaten over the head for loving Crowflight, not for lying about when she'd dreamed of the destruction of WindClan.
Yellowfang sighed, and her voice softened. "I see myself in you, little one," she murmured. Shadepool felt the old she-cat's breath hot against her ear. "A bit too much, to be frank. Trying to hold it all yourself and fix everything because no one else can." She wheezed through her teeth. "Ah, to be young and so headstrong again..."
"I'm just doing what I think is right," Shadepool murmured. "I didn't mean to lie; I tried everything I could think of, and it came to me that fudging the truth might save WindClan. I'm sorry."
Yellowfang's muzzle twisted strangely, a look Shadepool had difficulty identifying because of her flattened face. It looked almost like she was chewing on her own whiskers.
"It's hard to have faith in others, Shadepool," Yellowfang rasped. "Trust me, I know that more than most. Faith is like love, and it can be broken like a heart, but if you don't give it, don't take that risk, no one will be there to catch you when you fall. It goes both ways, little one."
Orange eyes pierced into Shadepool. "Do you understand me?"
Shadepool's mouth felt dry. "I do, Yellowfang," she whispered.
"Good." Yellowfang tossed her head. Her eyes darkened, regarding Shadepool seriously. "Now, there's something else you're here for, isn't there?"
Shadepool nodded. "I need to find Onewhisker," she meowed. "We need to know the truth of what happened to him and Barkface, before war breaks out between our Clans!"
Yellowfang's eyes went dark, then, dark and full of sorrow. Shadepool was shocked to see such raw emotion on the old she-cat's scarred face. What could make a brave cat like her look close to breaking down?
"You won't find him, Shadepool," Yellowfang whispered, her voice breaking. "Because he's not here at all."
Shadepool felt her legs stiffen. "W-What?"
"When Tallstar left to collect his spirit, he returned with nothing," Yellowfang elaborated. "Onewhisker is not in StarClan."
The warmth in the air suddenly turned bitter cold.
"T-Then where is he?" Shadepool demanded, feeling the crackle in her words as the chill hit her lungs "He has to be somewhere!"
Yellowfang's gaze hardened, and Shadepool saw her claws slide out and sink into the loamy soil. "There are places where even StarClan cannot see, little one," she said, her tone rough.
Her broad shoulders heaved with a tremendous sigh, one of defeat and frustration. "I am sorry. You won't always find your answers here."
Shadepool had no clue what to say. The idea of a Clan cat dying and their spirit not rejoining StarClan was too much to consider, enough to begin fraying at the walls of the dream. She couldn't hold it together - she didn't want to.
She wanted it to be false, but Yellowfang's gaze was as certain as stone.
"Hold on to hope, little one," Yellowfang meowed. Her voice was growing distorted as the dream began to break down. The trees and bushes began to dissolve into the night sky. "Hold on to faith, and to love. We will meet again."
The world dropped out from beneath Shadepool, and she fell into an abyss.
She awoke with a start.
"Ryewhisper, don't leave so soon!" Littlecloud's voice was pleading. "Please, let us help you!"
Shadepool's eyes were still blurry with sleep. She saw Ryewhisper's lean shape at the top of the hollow's path and had the faint impression that his head was lowered in shame.
"I-I have to go," was all he offered. His shape disappeared into the hawthorn and out to the night.
"What bee got into his tail, I wonder?" Brackenfur sighed.
"Barkface must not be doing well," Littlecloud guessed, his tail flicking fretfully. "I just wish he would talk to us..."
Shadepool turned away from the conversation, her head spinning. She stared at the waters of the Moonpool, which were dark now as the half-moon disappeared behind the horizon.
Onewhisker isn't in StarClan.
Perhaps that was what had made Ryewhisper scurry away so quickly. Maybe he had been looking for his Clanmate and found nothing. Shadepool felt her claws scrape against the stone.
Has anything like this ever happened before? She had no idea, and she regretted not having the wherewithal to ask Yellowfang that question before the dream collapsed.
"It's time to go," Brackenfur mewed resignedly. "Shadepool, Mothwing, come!"
Shadepool glanced at Mothwing, who was still dreaming. Her paws were twitching, and her sides moved heavily - but the other medicine cats would leave without her, and Shadepool didn't want her to wander the forest alone.
"Wake up, Mothwing," she whispered. "It's time to go."
Mothwing didn't wake at that, so Shadepool had to shake her shoulder with a paw before the golden she-cat opened her eyes.
"Buh... What?" Mothwing mumbled. She blinked slowly, her eyes filmy. "Shadepool?"
"It's time to go," Shadepool whispered.
Mothwing sighed and stretched, extending her legs as far as they would go, claws and all. She rolled onto her paws and stood, shaking out her pelt. She looked well-rested, and Shadepool was envious - dreams from StarClan always made her feel more exhausted than before she'd closed her eyes, and this one had done it the worst of them all. Perhaps it was just different for every cat.
There was no sign of WindClan at all when they emerged from the hollow, and, as usual, the medicine cats did not discuss their dreams with one another - only if it somehow concerned all four Clans did they ever share such intimate meetings.
Sun and Sorreltail offered to escort Littlecloud and Mothwing through to ShadowClan territory, which neither medicine cat refused. That left Brackenfur and Shadepool to return to camp on their own, though each step felt like it took a lifetime in Shadepool's mind.
How was she supposed to tell her mentor what she had learned? How was she supposed to tell Tinystar? She couldn't even imagine how devastated her father would be to know his friend was not only murdered, but his spirit wasn't even among his ancestors!
But she knew she had to tell someone, so when they returned to the privacy of the medicine cat cave, Shadepool followed Brackenfur to his nest instead of settling in her own just outside. She knew she wouldn't be able to sleep anyway.
"What is it?" Brackenfur wondered as he circled into his nest, which had been changed by one of the apprentices. He yawned, wanting proper sleep, but Shadepool's presence stopped him. "You've been troubled the whole way home. Did StarClan say something?"
"I..." Shadepool wasn't sure how to say it, but she did.
Brackenfur's eyes widened with an unspeakable horror.
"StarClan, help us," he whispered. "Help us all."