Firestar's Quest (38 page)

Firestar leaped the cleft and paced into the middle of the Skyrock. Starlight glinted on its surface and the wind buffeted his fur. Leafdapple bent her head into it as she padded across to join him.

“What happens now?” she asked.

“We wait,” Firestar replied. “Your warrior ancestors will come to us.”

He hoped he was right. He knew of only the SkyClan ancestor who walked these skies, along with Skywatcher. But Leafdapple needed nine cats who would each give her a life. He remembered the pain and terror and wonder of his own leadership ceremony, when the clearing at Fourtrees had been lined with starry spirits. Even if they came to her, would Leafdapple have enough strength to cope? There was only one way to find out.

“Are you sure they'll come? Shouldn't we tell them we're here?” Echosong's voice was eager, her silver tabby fur fluffed up with excitement.

“They'll know,” Firestar replied. “Lie down by me,” he directed Leafdapple, settling himself on the rock with his paws tucked under his chest.

Hesitantly Leafdapple obeyed him; Firestar could feel a suppressed quivering running all through her body. Echosong crouched on her other side, pressing reassuringly against her fur.

“Don't be afraid,” the medicine cat whispered. “I know that our warrior ancestors mean you nothing but good.”

Leafdapple still looked unsettled.

“You must trust your warrior ancestors,” Firestar told her.

Leafdapple turned her head and gazed at him with eyes that glowed silver in the moonlight. “No,” she meowed. “I trust
you
.”

The three cats waited silently in
the wash of moonlight. Wind swept over the surface of the Skyrock, pressing their fur close to their pelts. “Close your eyes,” Firestar whispered.

At first there was only darkness, and he was conscious of Leafdapple shifting restlessly by his side. Gradually she grew still; Firestar's heartbeat quickened as he felt cold creeping over her, until she might have been a cat made of ice. The sound of the wind died away.

Firestar opened his eyes. The Skyrock had vanished; instead, bleak moorland stretched around him, fading into the mist on all sides. No stars could penetrate the cloud, but it shimmered with a pale glow, as if somewhere overhead the moon still shone.

On the other side of Leafdapple, Echosong blinked and raised her head, then rose and arched her back in a stretch. Her gaze, full of wonder, met Firestar's. “Where are we? It's like the place I dreamed of the night I slept on the Skyrock.”

“This is the moor where I saw the fleeing SkyClan cats.” Firestar stood up, working his claws into the tough grass.

Echosong turned to look down at Leafdapple, laying one
paw gently on her shoulder. The she-cat didn't move.

“She feels so cold,” Echosong whispered. Bending down, she breathed softly into Leafdapple's ear; it didn't even twitch. “Firestar, she's not
dead,
is she?”

“No,” Firestar reassured her. “Something like this happened to me. I think her old life is being stripped away so that she can receive her nine new ones.”

Echosong still looked worried. Firestar guessed that her paws were itching to help Leafdapple, but there was nothing she could do.

It might have been seasons or only heartbeats before Leafdapple sneezed and opened her eyes. Her jaws stretched wide in a huge yawn. Then she seemed to become aware of her strange surroundings; she sprang to her paws, staggering a little.

“Firestar, what's happening?”

“It's okay.” Firestar rested his tail tip on her shoulder. “This is where you will meet with StarClan.”

As if his words were a signal, the mists swirled in front of him, and the gray-and-white SkyClan ancestor stepped into view. Droplets of water glittered like stars on his fur. “Greetings,” he meowed. “I know why you have come.”

“Greetings,” Echosong replied, her eyes brilliant as she stood face-to-face with a StarClan warrior for the first time.

Firestar padded forward to meet him. “I'm glad to see you again,” he meowed. “I've brought Leafdapple. She is the cat you wanted, isn't she?”

“Yes.” The former SkyClan leader dipped his head.
“Thank you, Firestar. You have done all you can to rebuild and protect SkyClan once more. Now it's up to the new SkyClan cats.”

Firestar took a deep breath. “But how can Leafdapple receive nine lives if you're the only cat here?”

The gray-and-white cat raised his tail commandingly, and Firestar fell silent. He watched the SkyClan ancestor step lightly over the moorland grass to face Leafdapple.

“Do you believe in what is about to happen?” he asked her.

Leafdapple's panic-stricken gaze flew to Firestar and back to the StarClan cat. “I…I think so,” she stammered. “At least, Firestar says you're going to give me nine lives, and I believe him.”

A flicker of sadness passed across the pale warrior's face. “That will have to be enough,” he mewed. “Come, and I will give you your first life.”

Leafdapple took a step forward so that she stood right in front of the SkyClan ancestor. He bowed his head and touched his nose to hers. Leafdapple stiffened and flinched away, then deliberately moved back so that the SkyClan cat could touch her again.

“I give you a life for endurance,” he meowed. “Use it well to strengthen your Clan in times of trouble.”

As the SkyClan ancestor finished speaking, Firestar saw all Leafdapple's limbs spasm, and her jaws gaped in a soundless wail of agony. His belly clenched in sympathy; he remembered the terrible pain he had felt when he received his own lives.

“Does it hurt?” Echosong whispered, her eyes wide with shock. “Can't we help her?”

Firestar shook his head. “This is for Leafdapple to bear alone.”

Leafdapple trembled as the pain ebbed away, but she stayed on her paws. “Firestar”—she gasped—“do I have to do that eight more times?”

“It's okay,” Firestar comforted her. “Not all the lives will feel the same.”

The she-cat had a dazed look in her eyes, and a touch of resentment in her voice as she mewed, “You never said it would be like this.” She shook her head in mingled astonishment and wonder. Firestar guessed that no cat could go through what she had just endured and still doubt that the experience was real. “I wish we could just get it over with.”

“It won't be long,” Firestar promised.

“Look!” Echosong exclaimed, whirling around. “Leafdapple, can you see?”

“I-I think so,” the tabby she-cat mewed.

A row of cats was appearing faintly through the mist. They encircled the three living cats and the SkyClan ancestor, their outlines indistinct in the drifting clouds. Then one of them strode forward: Skywatcher. Not the scrawny elder who had died in the gorge, but as Firestar had last seen him in his dream, a strong and powerful warrior.

Leafdapple's eyes stretched wide. “Skywatcher,” she whispered. “Is that you?”

Skywatcher touched noses with her. “Welcome, Leafdapple.
I give you a life for hope,” he meowed. “Use it well to guide your Clan through the darkest days.”

Once more Leafdapple tensed as the life surged through her. Firestar could see that the pain was not so great this time, or perhaps she knew what to expect and had braced herself against it. She recovered more quickly, dipping her head to Skywatcher. “Thank you,” she murmured. “Thank you for all you have done for my Clan.”

Skywatcher stepped back noiselessly to stand with the ranks of misty warriors.

Leafdapple gazed with expectation at the circle of cats whose shapes were gradually becoming more distinct. “I'm ready,” she mewed.

The third cat to appear was a tabby she-cat so like Leafdapple that Firestar could hardly tell them apart. She bounded forward and touched noses with Leafdapple: a gesture of pure affection, not the giving of a life.

“My mother!” Leafdapple exclaimed. “But you died…I thought I'd never see you again.”

“Nothing is lost forever, dear one,” her mother replied. Once again she touched noses with her daughter. “With this life I give you love. Use it well for all the cats who look to you for protection.”

Leafdapple had stretched forward eagerly to receive this life, and Firestar could see she was unprepared for the piercing agony that came with it. Her limbs went rigid and she dug her claws into the ground, clenching her teeth on a screech of pain. He had experienced the same anguish when Brindleface
had given him a life; he had not realized how fierce was a mother's love for her kits, how willing a she-cat was to die to protect her children.

As Leafdapple's pain ebbed, her mother covered her face and ears with loving licks.

“Don't go,” Leafdapple whispered.

“Don't be afraid, dear one,” her mother reassured her. “I will walk with you many times in dreams, I promise.”

As she stepped back, a fourth cat was already walking forward. Firestar caught his breath at a familiar scent, but one he had never expected to smell here. The shape of the cat's head reminded him of the SkyClan ancestor. Then as she emerged fully from the mist he recognized the slender tortoiseshell.

“Spottedleaf!”

She bounded forward and touched noses with him. “Thank you, Firestar,” she mewed. “I'm so proud of you! SkyClan owes everything to you. I never told you how much it means to me to see the Clan restored.”

Firestar breathed in her sweet scent. “I couldn't have done it without you, Spottedleaf.”

The medicine cat dipped her head to him. “I have been given the privilege to walk these skies to give Leafdapple her fourth life.” Approaching the tabby she-cat, she went on. “I give you a life for healing wounds caused by words and rivalry. Use it well for all cats troubled in spirit.”

This time Firestar could see that there was no pain as the life flowed into Leafdapple. The she-cat let out a blissful purr, her eyes narrowed; for a few heartbeats she looked like
a kit in the nursery, safe inside the curve of her mother's paws and belly.

“Thank you, Spottedleaf,” she mewed when it was over. “Firestar has told me so much about you. I'm honored to meet you at last.”

The medicine cat brushed her tail softly along Leafdapple's pelt, then withdrew once more to the edge of the circle.

Firestar could see that the mist was growing thinner. More of the moorland was opening up, and the moonlight grew stronger, though the moon itself remained hidden. More and more cats were revealed, stretching into the distance. A shiver ran through Firestar, as if his paws splashed into icy water.

As if she felt it too, Echosong pressed against him for a moment. “They're coming home,” she whispered. “All the ancestors of SkyClan. I can hear them.”

Before Firestar could reply, the cats in the front rank parted to allow four new cats into the center of the circle. He gazed at them, puzzled. They looked vaguely familiar, yet they didn't remind him of SkyClan. They looked nothing like any of the other cats who had given lives. They walked with head and tail high, with all the authority of leaders, yet he had never seen them before, and didn't understand why they should come now to give a life to Leafdapple.

Instead of approaching the she-cat, the newcomers padded over to the SkyClan ancestor, who was staring at them with wide eyes. As the first cat, a muscular bracken-colored tom, drew closer, he gasped. “Redstar!”

To Firestar's astonishment, the bracken-colored cat stood in front of the SkyClan ancestor with his head bowed. “I was wrong all those moons ago,” he meowed. “All of ThunderClan joins with me to tell you we're sorry for what we did.”

Firestar stared: this cat must have been the ThunderClan leader when SkyClan was driven out of the forest.

The next cat, a brown tabby she-cat, crouched beside Redstar. She reminded Firestar of the RiverClan warrior Heavystep, and she had the look of Clovertail too.

“Birchstar?” The SkyClan ancestor's voice was guarded.

“RiverClan says the same. We should never have driven you out. I felt compassion for you, but I did nothing—and that makes my actions worse. I am sorry.”

The third cat, an older tom with a gray-black pelt and a long, twitching tail, remained on his paws, but he bowed his head as he meowed, “I am Swiftstar of WindClan, and when I walked the forest I never told any cat I was sorry. But I say it to you now: what we did was wrong.”

The fourth cat's creamy brown fur glimmered in the moonlight as she slipped up beside Swiftstar and fixed brilliant green eyes on the SkyClan leader. “ShadowClan is sorry too,” she mewed. “We had good reasons for what we did, but I regret that we caused so much suffering to you and your Clanmates.”

“Thank you, Dawnstar,” the SkyClan cat replied. “Thank you, all of you.”

“Nothing can make up for what we did,” Redstar went on. “But we have each come here to give a life to the new leader of SkyClan, if we may.”

The gray-and-white cat dipped his head, giving his permission.

Redstar stepped forward to touch noses with Leafdapple. “With this life I give you wisdom. Use it well when you have the hardest decisions of all to make.”

Leafdapple quivered as the fifth life flowed into her. Firestar remembered how he had felt as the number of his lives mounted up: as though he were a hollowed-out rock, filling up with rainwater that soon would spill over the edges and be lost.

The next cat to approach Leafdapple was Birchstar, the RiverClan leader. “I give you a life for sympathy and understanding,” she murmured. “Use it well for the weakest in your Clan, and for all others who need your help and protection.”

Swiftstar hardly gave Leafdapple time to receive that life before he strode up and touched noses with her. “I give you a life for selflessness,” the former WindClan leader announced. “Use it well in the service of your Clan.”

Last of the four came Dawnstar; Firestar gazed at her, astonished that such a graceful she-cat should be leader of ShadowClan, who always seemed to be at the bottom of trouble in the forest. But then, perhaps the ShadowClan of those days had been different—and perhaps they could change again.

“I give you a life for determination,” she meowed, stretching her head forward to touch her nose delicately to Leafdapple's. “Use it well to set your paws on the path of what you know to be right.”

Leafdapple's legs shook as she received the eighth life. She was breathing hard and fast, as if she had been running. Firestar could see that the effort had drained her strength until she was almost too exhausted to stand on her paws.

When the life had entered into her she gazed at the four rival Clan leaders. “Thank you,” she meowed. “The new SkyClan will hold your Clans in honor. The fifth Clan has returned.”

The four leaders bowed their heads in reply. Then to Firestar's amazement they turned away from Leafdapple and padded up to him.

“You righted the wrong we did,” Redstar meowed. “For that we thank you.”

“We thought we had to drive SkyClan away for the sake of our own Clans,” Dawnstar added. “But that was a mistake.”

Swiftstar twitched his ears. “We've paid for it. None of us could rest easily after SkyClan was gone. Guilt clawed us for the rest of our lives.”

“There should always have been five Clans in the forest,” Birchstar mewed.

Firestar struggled to find words to reply. When he had first learned of the pain and loss of the SkyClan ancestor, he had blamed the leaders of the other Clans for what they had done. But perhaps they were just leaders like himself, doing their best to make the right decisions for their Clan. “I will never forget you,” he murmured.