Warriors: Power Of Three 1 - Sight (18 page)

Leafpool jerked her head around. Behind her, a tom with a pelt as dark as the sky flicked his long, thin tail. Jaypaw tasted the air. He was WindClan.

“If Firestar is wise,” mewed the tom, “he will choose the warrior who knows the Clan best.”

“That will be a hard choice, Tallstar,” Bluestar warned the WindClan cat. “One that no leader has ever had to make before.”

Lionheart flicked his tail. “If only we had known that Graystripe was still alive. We could have let Leafpool know.”

“He was in a place too far beyond our seeing,” Bluestar reminded him. “And ThunderClan needed a deputy.”

“Is that why you sent me the vision of thorn-sharp brambles encircling the camp?” Leafpool asked.

“We had to let Firestar know that it was time to appoint one,” Bluestar meowed.

Lionheart nodded. “When we showed you that vision, Brambleclaw was the best warrior to help Firestar protect the Clan.”

Leafpool looked up sharply. “Is he still the best?”

Bluestar and Lionheart exchanged glances but did not answer.

“Do you wish you had not sent the sign?” Leafpool pressed.

“Brambleclaw has done well,” Bluestar reassured her. “He was the right choice. Firestar would have been foolish to go on without a deputy when no cat knew if Graystripe would return.”

“But who should be deputy now?”

“There is no true answer,” Bluestar warned.

Leafpool blinked. “Then the decision is Firestar’s to make?”

“Yes.” She sighed. “But Tallstar is right when he says Firestar must choose the cat who knows the Clan best. He must use his head, not his heart, to reach his decision.”

“Should I tell him this?”

“Tell him only that he must make his own choice.”

Leafpool dipped her head. “I will share this with him,” she promised. She turned away from StarClan and padded back down to the Moonpool.

Jaypaw stared round-eyed at the cats. A well-muscled tom was murmuring something to the she-cat beside him. Jaypaw guessed from his glossy pelt he was RiverClan. A group of thin, lithe cats whispered together in the shadow of a boulder. WindClan? Jaypaw searched the slope, tasting the air, wondering which of the cats were ThunderClan. Then he froze, his paws turning to ice.

A she-cat was staring straight at him. Her fur was long and pale, and her face was broad and lined with old battle scars.

Jaypaw could not guess her Clan from her shape. Her eyes sparked with a fierce spirit, and he drew farther back into the shadows. Something told him he should not be spying here.

Leafpool hesitated at the edge of the pool. “Cinderpelt?”

she called hopefully, looking at the cats around the hollow, but there was no reply. She blinked, her eyes wistful, before lying down with her paws tucked neatly under her chest.

Resting her muzzle beside the water once more, she closed her eyes.

“Jaypaw!” Leafpool’s shocked mew woke him from where he lay on the cold stone. He scrambled to his paws. The pebbles scraped his pads and he stumbled. He was blind again.

Leafpool’s anger flashed against his pelt. “What are you doing here?”

“I-I—”

“This is a place for medicine cats! I came here to share tongues with StarClan!”

“I know.” Jaypaw gulped. “I saw you.”

“You saw me with StarClan?”

“I was watching from the top of the ridge while you were talking to Bluestar and Lionheart.”

Leafpool looked stunned. “You were watching? How?”

“When I closed my eyes, that’s what I dreamed. That’s all.”

Leafpool narrowed her eyes. “What did they say?”

“Bluestar said that Firestar must make his own decision,”

Jaypaw mewed. “But he should use his head, not his heart, which I suppose means he should choose—”

“You understood!” Leafpool cut in. Her mew came in a shocked whisper.

Jaypaw was puzzled. Why wouldn’t he understand? Was it because he wasn’t a medicine cat? Or because he was blind?

“How did you find your way here?” Leafpool asked.

Jaypaw sensed wariness prick the medicine cat’s pelt, as though she were afraid of his answer. “I followed you. . . .”

“You followed my scent, do you mean? All the way from the hollow?”

“Partly. But I’d dreamed of the journey before, so I knew how it looked.”

Leafpool gasped.

“I can’t help what I dream!” Jaypaw protested.

Leafpool turned away. “Something extraordinary has happened here.” Her words were little more than a murmur, half spoken to herself, but they echoed off the water. “I just wish I knew what it meant.”

“Why should it mean anything?” Jaypaw mewed. What was so odd about having a dream at the Moonpool? Wasn’t that what it was there for?

“Come,” Leafpool ordered. “We should return to camp.”

Briskness masked the confusion flooding from her. She padded up the path to the top of the ridge, and Jaypaw followed. He let her guide him down the rocky slope beyond, though he had a clear enough sense of it now to manage by himself.

“Are you going to tell Firestar everything StarClan said?”

he mewed.

“I’ll tell him he must make his own choice about who is deputy.”

“And that’s all?”

“What do you mean?”

“I think Tallstar and Bluestar hinted that Firestar should choose Brambleclaw. He’s the one who knows the Clan best now.” Jaypaw’s nose twitched. He could smell mouse.

“Are you saying that I should influence Firestar’s decision?”

“You’d only be interpreting what they really meant.” The mouse was close. “Isn’t that your duty?”

Jaypaw felt Leafpool’s startled gaze like sunlight on his pelt. “Is that what you would do?”

“I would do what was best for the Clan.” A pebble moved just in front of his paws. He darted forward and slapped his forepaws down, only to find that the mouse had escaped into its burrow. He lifted his muzzle, disappointed.

Leafpool had stopped. Fear seemed to enfold her like a cloud. Had he done something wrong?

“What’s up?”

“Nothing,” she replied, and padded on.

Jaypaw hurried after her.

“You know, that was pretty amazing what you did back there,” she meowed. Her light tone didn’t hide the anxiety sparking from her—or was it excitement? Why was she so edgy?

Jaypaw shrugged. “Aren’t you supposed to see stuff like that at the Moonpool?”

“But this wasn’t any old dream. You actually entered my dream. You saw what I saw.”

“So?”

“I have entered another cat’s dream only once.”

“When?” Jaypaw asked.

“Feathertail led me into Willowpaw’s dream so that I could tell her where to find catmint,” Leafpool explained.

“But Feathertail was already with StarClan. She invited me in. You entered my dream on your own, without the permission or knowledge of StarClan.”

With a shudder Jaypaw remembered the fierce stare of the broad-faced warrior. “Are you sure they didn’t know?”

“They would have told me,” Leafpool meowed.

“Why did you call Cinderpelt’s name?” Jaypaw asked. “Was there something you wanted to ask her?”

“I just wanted to know if she was there,” Leafpool mewed quietly.

“She didn’t answer.”

“No, she didn’t.”

“But she’s dead, right? Where else could she be?”

Jaypaw heard Leafpool’s pawsteps halt. She was expectant, anxious; he could feel it like rain in the air. “What did you feel when you saw StarClan?” she asked. “Were you scared?”

“Scared of a bunch of dead cats?”

“They are your warrior ancestors,” she reminded him. “They have seen and heard more than you could ever imagine.”

“Of course they’ve seen more—I’m blind, remember?”

“You’re not blind in your dreams, Jaypaw. Tell me, apart from the journey to the Moonpool, have you ever dreamed of anything else that has come true?”

Jaypaw shrugged. “Not really. Dreams are just dreams, aren’t they?”

“Not to every cat.”

“Sometimes I dream about when I was very small, traveling through snow,” he confessed. “Is that right? That wasn’t the Great Journey, was it?”

Tension crackled through Leafpool’s fur. “No, the Great Journey was long before you were born. But your . . . your mother did make a long journey with you through the snow when you were very small. You were born outside the hollow, and she had to wait until you were all strong enough to travel.”

Jaypaw could feel Leafpool staring at him, turning something over in her mind, like a fish too huge to be hooked out of the water. “What is it?” he asked.

“I think that you were destined to be a medicine cat,” she meowed.

“Don’t be silly,” Jaypaw retorted. “I’m going to be a warrior.”

“But you entered my dream,” Leafpool pointed out.

Jaypaw’s tail shot up indignantly. “You think I want to be stuck in camp worrying over kits and elders?”

Leafpool bristled. “There’s more to being a medicine cat than that!”

“If there is,” Jaypaw snapped, “let it be some other cat’s destiny! I want to be out in the forest, hunting and fighting for my Clan. You’re just like Brightheart! Always treating me differently just because I’m blind!”

“I’m treating you differently because you can see StarClan in my dreams! I don’t know of any medicine cat with visions as powerful as that.”

But Jaypaw didn’t want to listen anymore. He padded angrily ahead. “I don’t care about having stupid dreams,” he called over his shoulder. “I’m going to be a warrior. Besides, you’ve already got Hollypaw, remember? You can’t have two medicine cat apprentices!”

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey gather below Highledge!”

Lionpaw jerked up his head. Firestar’s call had woken him from his warm nest. It was dawn, and he could feel Berrypaw stirring beside him.

Jaypaw was already stretching, curling his tail back till the tip brushed his spine. “What does Firestar want so early?” he yawned.

“Clan meeting!” Lionpaw leaped to his paws. He hurried to be first out of the den, squeezing ahead of his denmates.

“Stop pushing,” Berrypaw complained.

“The fastest hunter catches the most mice,” Lionpaw mewed cheerfully.

The air outside the den hit him like the lash of a birch sapling. Frost glittered on the bushes around the edge of the camp, and the icy ground made Lionpaw’s pads ache. Breath billowing, he trotted into the clearing, where the cats were already gathering, huddling close for warmth.

Firestar sat on Highledge flanked by Brambleclaw and Graystripe. Brambleclaw’s pelt shone, the muscles beneath it taut. Graystripe’s pelt was well-groomed, the knots and tangles smoothed at last, but it was dull and his ribs still showed beneath.

“He must have decided who the deputy should be,”

Hollypaw mewed, hurrying over from the medicine den and sitting down next to Lionpaw. She wriggled closer to him, shivering.

Jaypaw padded to join them, sitting beside Hollypaw.

“Graystripe and Brambleclaw are on Highledge with Firestar,” Hollypaw told him.

“I know,” Jaypaw answered sleepily. Lionpaw wondered why he looked so worn-out when he had not been outside the hollow in days.

Firestar’s pelt glowed like fire in the cold dawn light as he gazed over the Clan. Millie settled beside Ferncloud, her eyes round with curiosity. Sorreltail, Whitewing, and Cloudtail sat in front of her, Brackenfur and Thornclaw behind. The gray kittypet no longer seemed intimidated by the warriors hem-ming her in and stared calmly up at Firestar.

“I know you’ve all been wondering what will happen now that our previous deputy has returned,” the Clan leader began.

Graystripe wrapped his bushy tail tighter over his front paws. One of Brambleclaw’s ears twitched.

“When we left the forest, I thought I would never see Graystripe again,” Firestar confessed. “There were many nights when I stared up at Silverpelt and tried to imagine him among our ancestors.”

Lionpaw glanced at Hollypaw and wondered what it would be like to lose her. He didn’t like the feeling that stabbed at his belly.

The ThunderClan leader went on. “Graystripe was my deputy and my friend. I trained with him and fought with him. I trusted him more than any cat. Having him back is like having one of my own lives restored.”

“He’s going to make Graystripe deputy again!” Hollypaw hissed under her breath.

“Wait,” Jaypaw warned.

Lionpaw shot his brother a look. Why did he sound so certain?

“But Brambleclaw has helped me lead the Clan through some of its most terrifying challenges. I’ve never seen him waver in his loyalty to his Clanmates. The last thing ThunderClan needs now is more change.” He paused and glanced at the two warriors. “So I’ve decided that Brambleclaw should remain deputy.”

“But—” The gasp escaped Brackenfur before he could stop it. Sorreltail echoed it, and mews of surprise rippled around the Clan. Lionpaw searched Graystripe’s face for some sign of regret, but he couldn’t read the gray warrior’s expression.

Squirrelflight raised her voice happily. “Brambleclaw!”

“Brambleclaw! Brambleclaw!” Ashfur quickly joined in.

Squirrelflight whipped her head around and stared at him.

Why does she look surprised? Lionpaw wondered.

Dustpelt and Thornclaw started calling Brambleclaw’s name too. Graystripe got to his paws and joined in, and Brambleclaw dipped his head respectfully to the former ThunderClan deputy.

“Told you so,” Jaypaw murmured.

Lionpaw glanced suspiciously at his brother. “How did you know?”

Jaypaw shrugged. “It was the wisest choice.”

“Do you think Graystripe minds?” Hollypaw whispered.

“Does it matter?” Jaypaw asked.

“He must know the Clan has changed a lot,” Lionpaw replied.

“But what about when he’s fully recovered?” Hollypaw persisted. “Will he be happy just being a warrior?”

“I think Firestar made the right decision.”

The meow made Lionpaw jump. He glanced up and saw Ashfur padding toward them.

“And you must be pleased that your father’s still deputy,”

the warrior purred.

“Brambleclaw should be deputy,” Lionpaw told him firmly.

“Graystripe doesn’t even know the territory yet. He’d be as lost as a WindClan kit in a ShadowClan nursery.”