As Graystripe bounds across to Bluestar's den, Speckletail spins around to face him. Her eyes are burning with anger.
"There are two RiverClan cats here," she growls. "They mauled our leader's body!"
"No—no, they're not." He gasps. "They've a right to be here."
He realizes that the rest of the clan has gathered anxiously behind him along with Leopardfur and the warriors she brought along with their Medicine cat.
Graystripe whirls to face them. "Keep back!" he orders. "It's all right. Mistyfoot and Stonefur-"
"You know they're here?" The voice is Darkstripe's; the dark tabby thrusts his way through the crowd to stand nose-to-nose with the gray warrior.
"You let enemy cats into our leader's den?"
He stares at Darkstripe and takes a breath, forcing himself to stay calm. He deeply mistrusts the black-striped tabby.
"Have you forgotten what I told you?" he asks. "Mistyfoot and Stonefur helped me to pull Bluestar out of the river."
"So you say!" Darkstripe spits. "How do we know you're telling the truth? Why should Riverclan cats help Thunderclan?" "
They've helped us often enough in the past and they've helped you now with tending to your wounds at Sunningrocks and escorting you home. We owe them a lot." Graystripe reminds him. "More of us would have died after the fire if Riverclan hadn't given us shelter."
"That's true," meows Mousefur. She has returned with Cinderpelt from the medicine cat's den in time to hear the confrontation, and now she pushes forward to stand beside Darkstripe.
"But it's no excuse to leave them alone in the den with Bluestar's body. What were they doing in there?"
"We were giving honor to Bluestar." Stonefur speaks defiantly.
They both look taken aback at the reaction of the Thunderclan cats, their fur beginning to bristle as they realized they were being treated as intruders.
"We wanted to say good-bye to her," Mistyfoot meows.
"Why?" Mousefur demands.
Graystripe's stomach clenches as Mistyfoot faces the light brown she-cat and answers, "She was our mother."
Silence falls, broken only by the call of a blackbird from the edge of the camp. His mind races as he faces the shocked, hostile stares of his clan and the shock of Riverclan. His gaze meets Sandstorm's; she looked dismayed, as if she guessed that he would never have chosen for ThunderClan to discover their leader's secret like this.
"Your mother?" growls Speckletail. "I don't believe it. Bluestar would never have allowed her kits to be raised in another Clan."
"Believe it or not, it's true," Stonefur retorts. Graystripe steps forward, warning Stonefur to stay silent with a flick of his tail.
"I'll deal with this now." Stonefur gives him a curt nod.
Every hair on Graystripe's pelt prickles with the desire to turn and run from his new responsibilities. He wishes that he had been given more time to think of what to say, but he knows that it was better for his clan and Riverclan to hear the truth from him now, instead of from Tigerstar at the next Gathering. As clan leader he has to face the task, however little he liked it.
Dipping his head to Cinderpelt, he bounds up onto the Highrock. There is no need to summon the Clan; they are already turning to look up at him. For a heartbeat Graystripe is breathless, unable to speak. He can see their anger and confusion, and smell their fear scent. Riverclan still remains mostly shock, with their warriors looking at Stonefur and Mistyfoot in confusion.
Darkstripe is watching him with narrowed eyes, as if he is already planning what to tell Tigerstar. Bleakly Graystripe reflects that Tigerstar already knows; he had heard what Bluestar said to her kits as she lay dying by the river. But the ShadowClan leader will certainly be pleased to hear about ThunderClan's confusion and Graystripe's own difficulties.
Tigerstar is sure to find a way to twist it to his advantage in his quest for revenge against ThunderClan. Graystripe takes a deep breath and begins: "It's true that Mistyfoot and Stonefur are Bluestar's kits."
He struggles to keep his voice steady, and prays to StarClan to give him the right words so that the cats would not turn against Bluestar or the two Riverclan warriors.
"Oakheart of RiverClan was their father. When her kits were born, Bluestar gave them to him to be brought up in his Clan."
"How do you know?" snarls Frostfur. "Bluestar would never have done that! If the RiverClan cats said so, they're lying."
"Bluestar told us herself," Graystripe replies. He meets the white cat's gaze; her eyes blaze with fury, her teeth are bared, but she did not quite dare to accuse him of lying.
"Are you telling us she was a traitor?" she hisses.
One or two cats yowl in protest. Frostfur spins around, fur bristling, and Whitestorm rises to face her. Though the senior warrior looks stunned with shock, his voice is steady as he meows, "Bluestar was always loyal to her Clan."
"If she was so loyal," Darkstripe puts in, "why did she let a cat from another clan father her kits?"
Graystripe finds that question hard to answer. As Bluestar only told them at the river that she gave them up. That Oakheart promised Graypool would be a good mother and that she regretted her choice.
"Things happen," he replies. "When the kits were born, Bluestar would have brought them up to be loyal ThunderClan warriors, but-"
"I remember those kits." This time the interruption is from Smallear. "They disappeared out of the nursery. We all thought a fox or a badger had gotten them. Bluestar was distraught. Are you saying that was all a lie?"
Graystripe looks down at the old gray tomcat.
"No," he promises. "Bluestar was devastated at the loss of her kits. But she had to give them up in order to become Clan deputy." At least that's the only reason he can think of for her giving them up.
"You're telling us her ambition meant more to her than her kits?" asks Dustpelt. The brown warrior sounds puzzled rather than angry, as if he can't reconcile this image with the wise leader he has always known.
"No," Graystripe tellshim. "She did it because the Clan needed her. She put the Clan first—just as she always did." That's how he thinks of the situation anyways, because Bluestar, during her mental spiral seemed to regret that choice just like she did in her last moments of life. She was looking for something along the Riverclan border on their journey to the Moonstone, moons ago.
"That's true," Whitestorm agrees quietly. "Nothing meant more to Bluestar than ThunderClan."
"Mistyfoot and Stonefur are proud of her courage—both then and now," Graystripe goes on, looking down at the two Riverclan cats who agree with his statement.
"As we should be." He is relieved when there are no more open challenges, though the tension among the clan cats did not die away completely. Mousefur and Frostfur are muttering together, casting suspicious glances up at him and the two warriors. Speckletail, tail-tip twitching, stalks across to join them. But Whitestorm moves from one cat to another, clearly backing up what he has said, and Smallear is nodding wisely, as if he respected the hard decision Bluestar had made.
Leopardstar mews loudly, making the cats stop chattering amongst themselves, "Bluestar made a hard choice for the good of her clan. She blessed Riverclan with strong loyal warriors. Stonefur and Mistyfoot have grown up loyal to Riverclan and I suspect that won't change. Stonefur will remain my deputy. You are a wise and noble cat and both your parents, Bluestar and Oakheart were wise and noble as well. I know you will make a great leader one day. Thunderclan I am sorry for your loss, but don't let this taint your view of your past leader. After all," she mews with a teasing glint in her eye, "Your current leader did the same thing as her. And blessed you with two strong warriors like Bluestar did us, whilst remaining loyal to his clan."
Mousefur mews, "That is true Leopardstar. But we all knew about Graystripe's transgression and he has made up for it…. While Bluestar kept her transgression to herself and let us believe a lie.."
"She did. But she made up for it. She was a wise leader and had compassion for all our clans, despite our rivalry and would help us out if we needed it, like with Windclan and driving out Brokentail from Shadowclan."
Smallear nods, "Yes she was. She was a great successor to Sunstar, despite her flaws."
"Every leader has flaws and their own interests. Shadowclan has had their fair share of bad or downright evil leaders and so has Riverclan, we even have cats from our history who were evil."
"Like Mapleshade," Dappletail murmurs.
"As yes, the Thunderclan she-cat who also had a half clan relationship and made the mistake of crossing a flash-flood river, her kits drowning in the process. And instead of her admitting her faults, she was driven to anger and madness. Almost killing Reedshine, with Appledusk saving her and Perchpaw giving her the finishing blow."
Smallear pricks his ears in surprise, "You know of Mapleshade's story?"
"Only the Riverclan bits, not the Thunderclan bits." Leopardstar answers, "It's a common story to scare kits into behaving, otherwise Mapleshade will come back for her vengeance on Riverclan by taking it out on them. Even though we had nothing to do with the drawing of her kits."
"Likewise, except for Thunderclan."
"Anyways we should be heading home. Good luck Graystar. And if you need our help, just send a message and we'll respond."
Graystripe nods and the Riverclan cats head out of the camp, leaving the Thunderclan cats alone in the clearing. After a few moments of silence a single voice rises clearly from it.
"Graystripe," Tawnypaw pipes up, "are you going to be our leader now?"
Before he can reply, Darkstripe springs to his paws. "Accept a code-breaker as Clan leader? Are we all mad?"
"It's not a question, Darkstripe," Whitestorm points out, raising his voice above shocked exclamations from Sandstorm, Longtail and Cloudtail. "Graystripe is clan deputy; he succeeds Bluestar. That's all there is to it."
Graystripe flashes him a grateful glance. The fur on his shoulders has begun to bristle and he deliberately relaxes so that it lies flat again. He will not let Darkstripe see that his challenging words have provoked him. Yet he can not stifle a moment of doubt. Bluestar had appointed him deputy, but her mind had been clouded by the shock of Tigerstar's treachery, and the whole clan had been shocked because the ceremony had been late.
Can that possibly mean he is not the right cat to lead Thunderclan?
Mousefur mews, "He has also proven himself loyal to us despite his past. He also led us greatly in times when Bluestar seemed distanced from us. Proving he puts the needs of the clan first and is able to think on his paws."
"But a code-breaker!" Darkstripe protests. His yellow eyes glare balefully up at Graystripe.
"If he broke one rule, surely he won't break another!? Is that what we want as our leader?"
As he struggles with the desire to leap down and sink his claws into Darkstripe's fur for the insult, Goldenflower rises to her paws and steps forward to face the dark warrior. "
"You're wrong, Darkstripe," she growls. "Graystripe has proved his loyalty to the Clan a thousand times over. He has not broken a code rule since and he has shown great care for his birth clan and my kits despite you all looking at them with hatred for nothing they have done.."
Graystripe blinks his thanks to her, not too surprised that Goldenflower of all cats has supported him so determinedly.
"Graystripe, don't listen to Darkstripe," Brackenfur adds his voice to Goldenflower's. "Every cat here wants you as leader, apart from him. You're obviously the best cat for the job."
A murmur of agreement rises from the cats around the Highrock, and Graystripe's heart swells with gratitude.
"And who are we to go against the decrees of StarClan?" Mousefur adds, speaking again. "The deputy always becomes the clan leader. That is the tradition of the warrior code."
"Which Graystripe seems to know rather better than you do," Cloudtail hisses, flicking his tail contemptuously at Darkstripe.
"I promise you that I will spend the rest of my life striving to become the leader that Thunderclan deserves. And with StarClan's help I will succeed." His gaze is drawn instinctively to Sandstorm, and he feels warmth spread into his paws and the tip of his tail when he sees how proud she looked.
"As for you, Darkstripe," Graystripe spits, unable to hide his anger, "if you don't like the thought of being led by a code-breaker, you can always leave."
The dark warrior lashes his tail; there is pure hatred in the look he throws him. Though ThunderClan can not afford to lose any warriors, a large part of Graystripe wants Darkstripe to take him at his word and leave the Clan for good. Yet at the same time he knows that Darkstripe will go straight to ShadowClan and Tigerstar. It is better, Graystripe admits to himself, to keep his enemies apart. Darkstripe will be less of a threat in ThunderClan, where Graystripe and the clan can keep an eye on him.
The black-striped warrior goes on staring at him for a few heartbeats more, before whipping around to stalk away. But he does not head for the gorse tunnel; instead he vanishes into the warriors' den.
"Right." Graystripe raises his voice as he turns back to the rest of the Clan. "Tonight we will hold the mourning rituals for Bluestar."
"Hang on!" Cloudtail springs to his paws, tail fluffed up. "Aren't we going to attack ShadowClan? They slaughtered Brindleface and they led the dog pack to our camp! Don't you want revenge?"
His fur is bristling with hostility. Brindleface had been Cloudtail's foster mother when he first came to ThunderClan as a helpless kit. But Graystripe knows that attacking ShadowClan right now was not the answer. He signals with his tail to silence the yowls of agreement that have broken out as soon as Cloudtail spoke.
"No," he meows. "This is not the time to attack ShadowClan. All of this was Tigerstar's doing. ShadowClan didn't kill Brindleface, or lay the trail for the dogs. Every rabbit on the trail had his scent on it and no other cat's. We can't be sure that ShadowClan even knew what their leader was planning if we found evidence that they played a part in it."
Cloudtail lets out a snort of contempt. Graystripe fixes his former apprentice with a hard stare, willing him not to argue about this now. He knows that what had happened was due to the moons-old enmity between himself, Fireheart and Tigerstar. The ShadowClan leader would have been pleased to wipe out ThunderClan and take their territory for his own, but that was not his real motive for bringing the pack of dogs to the camp. What Tigerstar wanted more than anything else was to destroy Graystripe. Only then would he have his full revenge for the time when Graystripe had revealed his plot to kill Bluestar and driven him into exile.
Sooner or later, he now knows, he will have to come face-to-face with Tigerstar in a final confrontation that only one of them can survive. He prays to StarClan that when the time comes he will have the courage and strength to rid the forest of this bloodthirsty cat.
"Believe me," he meows out loud, addressing the whole Clan, "Tigerstar will pay. But Thunderclan has no quarrel with Shadowclan."
To his relief, Cloudtail sits down again, his blue eyes blazing with anger, and mutters something to Brightspirit and Owlpaw. Nearby, Goldenflower is crouched with her tail wrapped protectively around Bramblepaw, Tawnypaw Stormpaw and Featherpaw, as if they are still young kits. She has made Graystripe himself tell her kits what Tigerstar had done, and she was always afraid that the Clan would judge them harshly because of their father's crimes.
As Graystripe had given his decision not to attack, she visibly relaxes, and the four apprentices ease away from her.
Long shadows are stretching across the camp, and Graystripe realizes that the time has come for the clan to make its last farewells to their beloved leader.
"We must pay our respects to Bluestar," he announces. "Are you ready, Cinderpelt?"
The medicine cat nods. "Longtail, Sandstorm," he continues, "can you bring Bluestar's body out into the clearing so that we may share tongues with her in the sight of StarClan?"
The two warriors get up and vanish into Bluestar's den, reappearing a moment later with their leader's body supported between them. They carry her to the center of the clearing and lay her gently onto the hard-packed sand.
"Sandstorm, round up a hunting patrol," Graystripe orders. "When you've said good-bye to Bluestar I'd like you to stock up the fresh-kill pile. And Longtail, when you have finished, could you lead a patrol out toward Snakerocks and the ShadowClan border? I want to be sure that all the dogs have gone, and that there are no ShadowClan cats on our territory. Be careful, though—don't take risks."
"Sure, Graystripe." The pale tabby got to his paws. "Goldenflower, Brackenfur, are you coming?"
The cats he has named go to join him, and all three move into the center of the clearing to share tongues with their leader for the last time. Sandstorm follows with Dustpelt and Cloudtail. Cinderpelt stands at Bluestar's head and gazes into the indigo sky, where the first stars of Silverpelt are beginning to appear.
According to the ancient traditions of the clans, each star represented the spirit of a warrior ancestor. Graystripe wonders if there is one more star tonight, for Bluestar.
Cinderpelt's blue eyes shine with the secrets of Starclan.
"Bluestar was a noble leader," she meows. "Let us give thanks to StarClan for her life. She was dedicated to her clan, and her memory will never fade from the forest. Now we commend her spirit to StarClan; may she watch over us in death as she always did in life."
A soft murmuring spreads throughout the clan as the medicine cat finished speaking and stood with her head bowed. The warriors Graystripe has chosen to go out on patrol crouched beside Bluestar's body, grooming her fur and pressing their noses to her flank. After a while they back away and other cats take their place, until all the clan has shared tongues with their leader in the sorrowful ritual. The patrols leave, and the other cats retreat silently to their dens.
Graystripe stands watching near the base of the Highrock, and as Whitstorm moves away from his leader's body he steps forward to intercept the senior warrior. "I've got a job for you," he murmurs. "I want you to keep an eye on Darkstripe for me. If he so much as looks across the border to ShadowClan, I want to know about it. Also you can choose other cats to help. I don't want him knowing about it. So don't make it too obvious"
The senior white tom gazes at him, and dips his head in understanding.
"I'll do my best, Graystripe, but Darkstripe won't like it if he finds out."
"Hopefully with any luck, he won't know about it."
When Whitestorm still looks a little doubtful he adds, "Darkstripe may not have known about the dogs, but he has been very chatty with Tigerstar at Gatherings. We can't trust him."
"I can see that," Whitestorm mews calmly, "But we can't watch him forever."
"It won't be forever, Whitestorm," Graystripe assures him. "Just until Darkstripe proves where his loyalties lie—one way or the other."
The white warrior nods, then slips silently into the warriors' den. With no more problems clamoring for his attention, Graystripe is able to cross the clearing to Bluestar's body. Cinderpelt still sits near her head. He dips his head to the medicine cat. He settles himself beside Bluestar, searching her face for signs of the leader he had loved so much. But her eyes are closed, never again to burn with the fire that had commanded respect from all the clans. Her spirit has gone to race joyously through the sky with her warrior ancestors', keeping watch over the forest.
He feels the soft caress of his leader's fur and feels a sense of security flood over him, almost as if he is a kit again, curling up close to his mother. For a moment he can almost forget the horror of her dying and the loneliness of his new responsibilities. Receive her with honor, Graystripe prays silently to Starclan, closing his eyes and pressing his nose to Bluestar's fur. And help me keep her clan safe.