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| - SpringClan was home again. I mean, technically we'd never left, not this time--not like when Claron and the rogues drove us out of our own territory. But it had felt like we'd left our camp when the Order was established. Like the spirit of SpringClan had been crushed, driven so far underneath the ground that it might as well have never existed. Now, as the sun set over the camp, it felt like the smallest spark might be returning. I was really surprised at what had happened after I had drawn the line in the sand, creating a permanent divide between cats of the Order and rebels. Viperstar had walked out, taking his followers with him. Of course, all the SpringClan cats had immediately erupted into cheers. I wasn't so hasty to celebrate. "This isn't over," Viperstar had promised me before he left. "You are so small-minded, Breezeflight. By the time you look past your own Clan and see what's at stake, it will be too late." No one else seemed bothered by Viperstar's claim, but his words sent a chill down my spine. He was playing on a fact that had been dawning on SpringClan for a long time: we were too close-minded. Too absorbed in our own problems to realize that the vale we lived in was massive, full of other cats and creatures. It felt odd to remember that once upon a time, the only problem I had ever faced was the murder of one cat--Shinecloud. Now so many cats had died--Oakstar, Ariel, Daisyheart, Thornfeather, Hawkeye, Mimsie, Rabbitfur--and not all of them were SpringClan. Yet each and every one of their deaths was a tragedy in its own right, even Rabbitfur's, though he'd nearly destroyed SpringClan. I began to understand a little of what Dewfrost was trying to tell me when he warned me against starting a war. Wars lead to death, and I needed to realize that the world wasn't only about my Clan. But I had to fight for my home. We would lose SpringClan for good if the Order continued much longer. I had started this, and I had to finish it, knowing that every drop of blood spilled would be on my shoulders, a weight that would burden me forever. The revelry continued long into the night, but I didn't feel like joining in. I sat to the side, watching my Clanmates raid the fresh-kill pile and dash in and out of the dens, yelling about how happy they were to finally rid them of "GreenClan stench". It didn't escape my notice that there were actually a few GreenClan cats in the crowd. A dark gray GreenClan apprentice I had noticed earlier crossing the line to stand against the Order was seated between Brightpaw and Flowerpaw, looking uncertain and unsure of himself as he glanced around. No one was paying him any attention; I winced as Yellowsun loudly made a very rude joke about GreenClan cats within earshot of him. "Are you okay?" Specklenose and Cammy had come to sit beside me. Specklenose let his tail fall from around Cammy's shoulder and pressed his shoulder to mine. I managed a wan smile. "I'm trying to be. I mean, this is what we all wanted, right? Viperstar's gone." "But you don't think he is," he said knowingly. I looked down at my paws. "I can't believe that things just work out like that anymore. He's planning something. He even said so." "I think he just said that to scare us. He knew he was beaten," said Specklenose. Cammy shook her head. "I think Breezeflight's right. Viperstar gave up the camp way too easily; the only answer is that control of this territory isn't his ultimate goal. He's after something bigger." "But no one wants to believe that." Fire appeared from the crowd, her ginger pelt glowing against the darkening sky. "You made yourself a hero, drawing that line in the sand. Don't be the bringer of bad news now. These cats want a revolution; you can't tell them they have no idea what they're up against." "What's the alternative? Let them be killed?" shot back Cammy. "We don't know what Viperstar's planning, if anything," said Specklenose soothingly. "We can only wait and see." Fire snorted but held her tongue. Changing the subject, Cammy said, "What's she doing here?" She gestured to a cream she-cat who stood beside Dewfrost at the far end of the camp. Her pelt glimmered beautifully in the moonlight, but more noticeable was the blazing red scar that ran like lightning down her face where her left eye should've been. Her right eye was a bright, clear shade of green--and shining with tears. "Hollystrike," I murmured. "GreenClan's old deputy." "I thought she was like... banished," Specklenose said. "Dewfrost made sure Viperstar never found her again so he couldn't kill her. He told me earlier." Might have been one of the last times he'll ever speak to me, I reflected silently. "He must have gone to get Hollystrike when he realized it was safe for her here." Cammy gasped. "I've just remembered--Odessa was her sister, right?" We all fell silent. Three of us, I realized with a jolt, knew what it felt like to lose a sister in one way or another. Cammy had lost Lily, and it was beginning to look like she would never get her back. Fire had lost Ariel, watched her be killed with her own eyes. And I had lost Daisyheart, who was my own blood in every way. So when Specklenose hesitantly said, "Do you think she even cares?" I didn't even think twice before replying, "Yes." Nodding, Cammy said, "There are bonds you can never shake." I felt someone tap my shoulder with their tail, and turned to see Blossomleaf and Lionpatch, standing side-by-side. "Breezeflight, can we talk to you?" murmured Blossomleaf quietly. I nodded, bid my friends good bye, and followed the medicine cats out of the camp. They stopped under the shadow of a large tree and turned to face me, expressions grave. "We received a prophecy from StarClan." "What? When?" "A fair while ago, but with all the murders and chaos that's been happening lately, we only told Dewfrost. Who else could we tell? Quailstar's out of commission... for now." "Do you really believe she can ever recover?" Lionpach looked saddened. "I can't say. Medicine cats have their limits. We can't see what's going on inside her brain: we can't fix everything that's broken. I don't want to be the crow crying death, but it looks unlikely that she'll ever return to normal." Blossomleaf looked heartbroken; I knew my gentle, loving friend wanted to save everyone. It would be hard for her to accept the harsh reality that there was nothing she could do for her own leader. "So Dewfrost is officially leader in her place?" "For practical purposes, yes," said Lionpatch. "But I don't know about officially. It's highly unlikely StarClan will grant him his nine lives and leader's name when the old leader is still alive." "What? So we won't have a fully capable leader?" I asked, shocked. Lionpatch gave me a sharp glance. "Leaders risk so much to be what they need to be for the Clan. Is it too much to ask you to respect Quailstar when she needs you?" Subdued, I shut my mouth and dipped my head. "You're right. I'm sorry. We have to cope." "Lionpatch, we wanted to talk to her about the prophecy," Blossomleaf reminded her old mentor gently. Giving himself a quick shake, he said, "Ah yes, thank you. Memory's not what it used to be, sometimes I get sidetracked. Breezeflight, listen carefully to the prophecy as I tell you, and see if any part of it means something to you." I felt a strange tremor run through my entire body as Lionpatch finished his recital, looking at me with solemn eyes. "The first line must refer to the powers of legend. Brightpaw, who can shadow-hop, disappear and reappear at will. Fire, who can tell when other cats get hurt and use her own strength to heal them. And... Ryan, who can see glimpses of the future. The three of them are divided right now, and the prophecy is saying that they will unite..." Will Ryan come back? My heart seized in my chest, and I grit my teeth, irritated at how, no matter how much I hated what he'd done to me, I still reacted this way to his name. "I don't know what the rest of the prophecy means, but it sounds bad. You don't think this has anything to do with the threat Viperstar made?" Exchanging looks with Lionpatch, Blossomleaf said, "That's exactly what we fear. There is some unknown danger facing the Clan, slowly waking..." "But we have enough danger to face as it is," I muttered mutinously. Blossomleaf gave me a wistful smile. "Wouldn't it be nice if life just backed off because of that?" More pragmatically, Lionpatch said, "Calamity is coming. We have to be prepared." - - - - Ryan woke with a start. Beside him, Lily raised her head sleepily. The two of them were curled under the arched boughs of a holly bush, pelts pressed against each other. "Another nightmare?" Lily whispered softly. He shook his head. His mouth was dry, heart pounding like a crazy thing in his chest. "This wasn't a nightmare. It was a vision of the future." "That's new." Her eyebrows went up. Ever since they had left SpringClan, the nightmares had haunted him nonstop. They started out differently, sometimes with his parents' deaths, sometimes battles from the past. But they always ended the same way. Always ended with her. He had one nightmare so real it felt like it had actually broken his heart. He'd seen Breezeflight, tried to explain why he had done what he did, and asked if she could ever forgive him. And she said no. Tonight what he'd seen was different. "They're in danger, Lily," Ryan said. Hearing it aloud made him know it was true. "SpringClan is in danger." Her eyes darkened. "Ryan, we're not going back. We swore we'd never go back." "Cammy." His voice broke. "She's still back there. We have to." She hesitated. "Tell me what you saw." He shuddered, not sure if he could bear to recount the horrific scene. You have to. You have to convince her to go back. He started talking, and couldn't stop. By the time he was done, there were tears pouring down his cheeks. Lily was holding him up, stroking his back with her tail, but her eyes were wide and frightened. "Are you sure that's what you saw?" she kept saying, her voice a plea for him to change what he'd told her. Over and over again, he shook his head, incoherently babbling, breaking down in every way. It wasn't just the vision that caused it. It was everything. He'd been away from Breezeflight too long. He'd been running on an empty heart too long. He loved Lily dearly, but he missed Cammy. And with every day, the guilt grew harder to bear. He had made a terrible mistake. In trying to protect Breezeflight, he had done exactly what Aldereyes warned him about: ruined his own life. "I don't understand how what you saw could be true. It doesn't make any sense," said Lily. "We can't risk it. Lily, do you understand what would happen if it comes true? We have to warn them." Even though he knew how desperate he sounded, he was still surprised when she nodded. He knew that returning to SpringClan was the worst option Lily could see, but they both knew it was practically the only option. "We need to leave right now." "Ryan, it's the middle of the night." "I don't care. There's moonlight." He stood and strode out from under the bush where they'd taken refuge. "Come on, Lily. We're wasting time." A second later, something warm brushed his shoulder. Lily fell into step with him. "How do you think the Clan cats will react to having us back?" "Most of them will probably hate our guts. Cammy will be happy to see us." "Hopefully," mumbled Lily. "We were horrible to her." "She chose to stay," Ryan reminded her. Lily turned to him, and Ryan was surprised to see the uncharacteristic vulnerability in his normally over-confident sister's face. "We have no home. You realize that, right? Cammy is home at SpringClan because of Specklenose; he's home to her. But we never fit in the same way. The only place that felt like home--with Needle and Spine--is gone forever. We're wanderers and prodigals." He couldn't quite bring himself to tell his sister, but Ryan didn't feel like that. On the contrary, he was realizing more and more that there was only one place left that was home to him. Breezeflight. She must hate him by now. Things would never be the same between them. Ryan felt a terrible pang of loss, thinking of the friendship that had sparked the instant they'd met. They'd been so young. He had been so naive, serving the League as a messenger, scarred and permanently frozen in fear because of what had happened to his parents. She had brought him out of the dark confusion, showed him that there were still things left fighting for in the world. That was what he had to do now. Fight. - - - - It was past midnight when I was shaken awake. Peering through eyes blurred with sleep, I saw a white she-cat with faint golden patches on her fur standing over my nest. "Lilyshade?" I asked, bewildered. Though the events we'd gone through together had rendered us permanently friends, we hadn't spoken much in a long time, even after she and Blackheart returned to the Clan. "Quiet," she murmured, gesturing for me to follow her out of the warriors' den, which I did. "Quailstar's gone." "What?" "I saw her leave the camp. I tried to wake Blackheart, but he's such a heavy sleeper. You were the only other cat I could think to get. We have to make sure she's okay. There could be a chance she just wanted some fresh air, but..." She didn't have to finish that sentence. We both knew Quailstar wasn't in her right mind. I flashed back to what Lionpatch had asked me earlier. My leader needs me. I would be a fool and a coward to brush this off. "Let's go," I told Lilyshade. We hurried out of the camp. It didn't take long to pick up Quailstar's trail. "She's heading towards High-Rock," I realized. "Why?" asked Lilyshade. "I don't know," I said, but something nagged at the back of my mind, something that told me this destination held a hidden meaning. When I tried to get my mind around what it was, though, it skirted out of reach. "We should hurry." I quickened my pace. "Do you know how many lives Quailstar has left?" whispered Lilyshade. "I don't know," I said again. "She lost four lives in the fire, but she could've lost others from her injuries later. Lionpatch and Blossomleaf haven't told anyone." Lilyshade didn't respond, but she broke into a run. We tore through the woods. Brambles caught at my fur and prodded at my legs, but I ignored them. My breath was coming in gasps by the time High-Rock came into view, and Lilyshade looked ready to pass out. "Up there! I see her!" I bolted, but Lilyshade held me back. Her eyes were wide with fear. "She's not alone." "What are you--" I broke off as I saw what she was talking about. At the very top of High-Rock, the silhouette of a cat that was unmistakably Quailstar was visible against the backdrop of the indigo sky. About halfway up the rock, a second shape crept along, a shadowy, unidentifiable entity. I meant to say "Who is that?" but instead I said, "What is that?" "It's stalking her." Lilyshade was petrified. I grit my teeth. "Come on." On silent paws, we flew towards High-Rock. I began to climb as soon as my paws hit stone. I kept looking above me, but neither Quailstar nor the shadow were visible. Fear sent adrenaline shooting through my veins till my entire body was buzzing. I reached the peak of High-Rock and scanned it quickly. Quailstar stood at the very edge of the cliff, facing another cat, the shadow. Only up at the very top of High-Rock, he wasn't a shadow anymore. The moonlight threw his features into relief, and I nearly vomited at what they revealed. Scarred, hairless skin, cracked in several places. Broken and twisted and melted into something shapeless and grotesque. The entity turned, and leering golden eyeballs fixed with mine, watching me cruelly from under the misshapen brow. It was the thing that had attacked Ren and I in the woods. "Duskwatcher," I whispered. I heard a soft scream behind me; Lilyshade had caught up. "You were right," she said in disbelief. "He's alive. He caught fire, but he's still alive." A terrible, scratchy voice said, "I am not dead, dear SpringClan. But your leader is about to be." "You killed Thornfeather and Hawkeye, didn't you?" I snarled, taking a step towards him. "You're trying to fulfill a personal vendetta." He ignored this. "It is so fortunate that you two are here to witness this. Dear Lilyshade. I loved you once." Lilyshade made a strangled sobbing noise, and I didn't blame her. His voice was like something from hell, like claws scraping and screeching on a flinty surface. "At least, I thought I loved you. It was nice while it lasted. Wasn't it, murderer of your sister, the cat I truly loved. And you, Breezeflight--you protected her. After I kill this mad-cat who leads SpringClan, I will kill you both. I regret that Blackheart is not here too, for he deserves to die too. But with your deaths, my part in cleansing SpringClan will be over." "You're raving," I said coldly. "You dare to call Quailstar mad, but you're a psychopath." His cruel lips twisted into a sneer that morphed his face into something truly hideous. "You are living in a fallen Clan, Breezeflight. SpringClan is irreparably damaged. We have forgotten the warrior code. We need to be purified. Thornfeather wasn't even a SpringClan cat; her death means nothing. And Hawkeye tried to sell out his Clan." "He made the right choice in the end, unlike you." "How can you call this justice? You are turning on your own Clan." He was dead serious, that much was obvious, and that made him ten times more dangerous. "You sneak around him," I whispered to Lilyshade. "Get Quailstar to safety. I'll take care of him." Looking dubious, she said, "Be careful." We split up. I stepped towards Duskwatcher, determined to keep him focused on me. Mentally, I prepared myself for what I was about to do, knowing I was going to have to give the performance my all if I wanted to give Lilyshade enough time to rescue Quailstar. "So you say that justice is the reason for all this. Justice." I let out a high-pitched cruel laugh. "You're deluded. It's Shinecloud. You're pathetic, still hung up on her death. Tell me this, Duskwatcher. When you kill your victims, do you imagine her dying? Do you imagine the life leaving her eyes the way you take it out of others?" Lilyshade had reached Quailstar, but she was frozen in place, staring at me in horror, mouth parted. Realizing my mistake, I quickly shifted the track of my words. "Or are you too busy thinking of yourself? How did you survive that fire, anyway? You should've burned." Duskwatcher let out a low growl and whirled towards Lilyshade and Quailstar. "Look out!" I yelled, breaking my act and running towards them. There was no room for mistakes out on the edge of the cliff. One wrong move could send a cat tumbling to their death, just like... Oakstar. That was what had been nagging me about Quailstar coming to High-Rock. Our last leader had died here, during the battle with the League. He had used the Life-Rock to defeat Claron... It couldn't be a coincidence. There was a link. I was missing something. My eyes connected with Quailstar's. She opened her mouth, and for a second, her eyes were completely clear. The murkiness and confusion faded, and she looked perfectly like herself, sharp-eyed and insistent, desperate to convey a message. Then Duskwatcher pinned her to the ground, the ground shaking with the impact, and the moment was lost. I let out a shout of frustration and lunged at Duskwatcher. His scaly skin broke easily under my claws, and I retracted them in shock, watching the blood gush out. He let out a hiss of anger and sprang at me. I couldn't bring myself to claw back; it felt like the worst form of cowardice to attack the ruins of this cat. "Breezeflight!" Quailstar's scream split the air. The piece of rock she had been standing on had broken away under the strain of the fight. A series of fissures appeared in the cliff, branching out from the point of collapse. Quailstar's head was just visible; she was clinging desperately to the edge. I ran towards her. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another cat do the same. Duskwatcher. He wanted to take Quailstar down, I realized, and now he had the chance to take us both off the cliff-edge. "NO!" shouted Lilyshade. She threw herself at me. We hit the ground. Blood flooded my mouth as my chin cracked against stone. I let out a scream that was echoed by two more voices. Flinging Lilyshade off of me, I darted to the edge of the High-Rock a second too late. Quailstar and Duskwatcher were airborn for a split second, their dying cries echoing off the red walls of High-Rock and slamming into my heart. In my mind's eye, I saw Oakstar's fall from High-Rock after the battle with the League. I hadn't saved him, and now I'd failed yet again. The only thing worse than Quailstar's scream was the abrupt way it stopped, cut off with a silence much worse than a scream. Everything in me stiffened in horror at the prospect of seeing the two broken bodies beneath the cliff, but I leaned out over the cliff anyway, dread curling in a black cloud in my stomach. There was Quailstar, blood already pooling around her, lying completely still. And... no one else. I heard Lilyshade's astonished voice beside me. "Duskwatcher's gone." The End
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