Warriors: Power Of Three 4 - Eclipse (24 page)

He stopped.

He’d interrupted Sandstorm. She was staring at him with her mouth open.

“Sorry.” Lionpaw backed away, suddenly conscious that he was only an apprentice.

“Perhaps you should rest,” Firestar suggested gently.

Lionpaw nodded and turned away, leaving the circle of warriors to fret and worry without his interruptions. He kicked sand out behind him with every paw step. One day they’d listen to him.

Hollypaw and Squirrelflight were sleeping. He stopped beside them, watching their flanks rise and fall together as though they shared a single breath. Jaypaw had gone. The ferns beside Squirrelflight were crumpled where he’d slept.

As though summoned by Lionpaw’s thoughts, Jaypaw emerged from the medicine cat’s den. He was carrying dripping moss. Lionpaw watched him pick his way from the den to his mother’s side and press the wet moss to Squirrelflight’s lips.

“Will she live?” Lionpaw whispered.

“I think so.” Jaypaw didn’t look up. “There’s no sign of infection.”

“Did StarClan warn you she’d be injured?” Did they warn you about any of this? Lionpaw’s heart quickened as he waited for an answer.

Jaypaw put down the moss. “No.” He smoothed down a frond of fern curling near Squirrelflight’s nose. “And before you ask, they said nothing about the vanishing sun or the battle, either.”

Lionpaw narrowed his eyes. He knew when his brother had something on his mind. “You don’t think this has anything to do with StarClan, do you?”

Jaypaw sat down. “No.”

Well? Why did Jaypaw have to be so mysterious about everything?

“I think . . .” Jaypaw began tentatively.

“What?”

He looked up. “I think I know someone who can give us answers.”

The fur along Lionpaw’s spine lifted. Jaypaw’s pale blue eyes seemed to be watching him, as though he could actually see.

“We need to find Sol,” Jaypaw meowed. “He predicted that the sun would vanish. He told Leafpool a great darkness was coming, and the sun would disappear. I think he would have told us more, but Firestar sent him away.”

Disappointment flooded Lionpaw. Jaypaw was no better than the warriors. “Why are you all obsessing over the sun?”

He lashed his tail. “It doesn’t matter. It’s back now, and we’re okay. But we still have to deal with WindClan. They’re going to come back if we don’t show them they can’t—”

Jaypaw cut him off. “It does matter,” he growled. “WindClan are nothing more than a thorn in our f lesh. We can pull it out anytime we want. But the sun disappeared, and Sol knew it would happen. StarClan didn’t! Don’t you realize what that means?”

Lionpaw didn’t, but he wasn’t going to admit that. “What can we do about it?”

“We have to find Sol.”

Lionpaw leaned back in surprise. “Don’t be silly! He left yesterday. He could be anywhere by now. And Firestar’s not going to let us wander off to look for him. There’s been a battle. Half the warriors are injured, and who knows when there’ll be another invasion.”

Jaypaw flattened his ears. “Remember the prophecy!” he snapped. “We have the power of the stars in our paws! That makes us more powerful than Firestar, more powerful than StarClan! If Sol knows why the sun vanished, we have to find him!”

Jaypaw wanted to claw his brother’s ears to make him listen. Please understand! “We have to find Sol!”

Squirrelflight stirred beside him. “Who?” she breathed.

She’s awake!

Jaypaw leaned down and pressed his nose to his mother’s pelt. She felt warmer. Not hot, though. No infection. He laid his pad on her flank. Her breathing was steadier, not too fast.

She was recovering from the shock of her injury.

“How’s Lionpaw?” Squirrelflight asked faintly.

“I’m right here.” Lionpaw brushed her ear with his nose.

“What about Hollypaw? Was she wounded?”

“Hollypaw’s fine too,” Jaypaw reassured her. “We’re all fine.”

The ferns rustled as Squirrelflight lifted her head. “Has the sun vanished again?”

“Look!” Jaypaw encouraged her to open her eyes. “It’s still shining.”

Squirrelflight rested her head down. “StarClan must be angry with us.”

“Not us,” Lionpaw mewed. “It’s WindClan they’re angry with.”

It’s got nothing to do with StarClan. Jaypaw patted the ferns around his mother’s head. It was like taking care of an anxious kit.

Hollypaw stirred. “Is she awake?” She jumped to her paws.

“Squirrelflight?”

“Is that you, Hollypaw?”

Hollypaw buried her nose in her mother’s fur. “I was so scared you were going to die!”

Squirrelflight managed a soft purr. “I’ll never leave you, little one,” she promised.

Paw steps scuffed toward them, and Jaypaw scented Brightheart.

“I saw her move!” The one-eyed warrior’s mew was filled with hope.

“She’s awake,” Jaypaw told her. “No sign of fever, and her breathing’s strong.”

“Shall I fetch Leafpool?” Brightheart offered.

Jaypaw shook his head. “She’s sleeping. I think we should wake her only if the bleeding starts again or Squirrelf light starts to get restless.”

“How did these feathers get here?” Squirrelflight was sniffing at the soft blanket covering her. She pawed weakly at her bedding. “And the ferns?”

“We built a nest around you,” Hollypaw told her.

“Thank you.” Pride warmed Squirrelflight’s mew. “I have such brave, kind kits.”

“You should rest, Squirrelflight,” Brightheart warned.

“You lost a lot of blood.”

“Yes,” Squirrelflight breathed, the ferns rustling around her.

“She’s closing her eyes,” Hollypaw whispered. “We should leave her to sleep.”

“You three should be resting too,” Brightheart advised. “I’ll watch Squirrelf light until Leafpool wakes up.”

Jaypaw’s fur tingled. This could be their chance to go look for Sol. “Thanks, Brightheart.” He forced his voice to sound tired. “Come on,” he called to Lionpaw and Hollypaw. “Let’s go get some sleep.”

He paused as soon as he was sure they were out of earshot of Brightheart.

“What is it?” Hollypaw stopped beside him. “You’re all jumpy.”

“We have to find Sol!”

“What?”

Lionpaw sighed. “Jaypaw’s got it into his head that this stranger knows why the sun vanished.”

“How?” Hollypaw’s breath stirred Jaypaw’s whiskers.

“Because he warned us it was going to happen!” Jaypaw didn’t wait for another of Hollypaw’s dumb questions. “We’ve got to go now, while the Clan thinks we’re sleeping.”

Lionpaw padded around his sister. “We have to go with him,” he warned. “He’ll only go by himself if we don’t.” He stopped and looked at her. “Are you fit enough?”

“Yes.” Hollypaw nodded. “My rest did me good. But wait.”

She hurried away and returned a few moments later with a stale shrew.

Jaypaw wrinkled his nose. “You’re not going to eat that?”

“I’m starving. Aren’t you?”

“No.” Jaypaw was too anxious to bother with food. He could eat later. “Just hurry up.”

Hollypaw began to gulp down her meal.

“Is Brightheart watching us?” Jaypaw asked Lionpaw.

“She’s watching Squirrelflight,” Lionpaw told him. “She’s got her back to us.”

“Who else is in the clearing?”

“No one else,” Lionpaw told him. “They’re all in their dens.” He paused. “Firestar’s on Highledge.”

“But he’s sleeping.”

Surprise bristled from Lionpaw’s pelt. “How did you know?”

“I can hear his breathing.” Jaypaw sniffed the air. Graystripe was guarding the camp entrance. “We’ll have to sneak out through the dirtplace tunnel.”

“Not again!” Lionpaw sighed. “Are you sure we really need to find this Sol?”

Jaypaw clawed the ground. “He could hold the answer to everything!”

Lionpaw leaned closer. “You mean the prophecy, don’t you?”

And StarClan. And the Tribe of Endless Hunting. Who else might share the secret? “I’m just guessing,” Jaypaw admitted. “But I’ve got to find out.”

Lionpaw nudged Hollypaw. “Are you finished?”

“Yes!” Hollypaw answered, still chewing. She belched loudly as Jaypaw led them along the thorn barrier toward the dirtplace tunnel.

Jaypaw flicked her nose with his tail. “Hush!”

“Sorry.”

“Wait!” Lionpaw warned. He pressed Jaypaw down behind a clump of grass. “Brightheart’s looking around.”

“Has she seen us?” Jaypaw whispered, heart thumping.

Lionpaw held his breath. “No,” he mewed at last. “She’s watching Squirrelf light again. It’s safe to go.” He straightened and began to pad forward.

“Wait!” Jaypaw hissed, and dragged him back by his tail.

There were more cats coming.

Lionpaw ducked down beside him. “What is it now?”

Birchfall and Berrynose were padding one after the other through the dirtplace tunnel, back into camp.

“I beat off two WindClan warriors single-pawed,” Berrynose boasted.

“They may be fast, but they’re small,” Birchfall meowed.

“Once you get hold of them, it’s easy to knock them off their paws.”

“Unlike RiverClan,” Berrynose sneered. “They must do nothing but eat. They’re more like fat, furry fish than cats!”

Jaypaw held his breath as their paw steps passed and disappeared into the warriors’ den.

“How was I meant to know they were coming through the tunnel?” Lionpaw muttered. “I can’t see through thorns.”

“Try using your ears!” Jaypaw snapped.

They squeezed through the dirtplace tunnel, and Jaypaw felt a wave of relief to be safely out in the forest, even though the stench of dirtplace lingered in his nostrils. He led Hollypaw and Lionpaw up the slope toward the lake. There was a patch of brambles they could hide behind while they decided which way to head.

“So?” Hollypaw prompted once they’d halted behind the bush.

Jaypaw sniffed the air. He had a faint hope that he could still pick up some of Sol’s scent. After all, it hadn’t rained since his visit. But the battle had drowned the forest in unfamiliar scents. Four Clans had fought here. No trace of Sol remained.

“Dustpelt took him back to the WindClan border,” Lionpaw reminded him.

“That’s where I saw him,” Hollypaw mewed excitedly. “On the moorland.”

“He won’t be there now then,” Jaypaw mewed.

Lionpaw’s tail swished the leaves. “Why not?”

“Because he’s been there.” Jaypaw felt certain that Sol knew about all four Clans. He’d sought out Firestar on purpose.

He’d been on WindClan’s land. It made sense that he would want to make contact with the other Clans as well. Jaypaw just hoped he hadn’t gone looking for RiverClan. That was on the other side of the lake, too far to go and come back before their Clanmates noticed they were missing. “He would have gone to ShadowClan next,” he mewed firmly, though he wasn’t completely certain. He was worried that his littermates wouldn’t follow him if they thought he hadn’t a clue where he was leading them.

“How can you be sure?” Lionpaw asked.

“I just am,” Jaypaw lied.

“But we can’t go onto ShadowClan’s territory!” Hollypaw gasped.

“You did,” Jaypaw reminded her.

“That was an emergency,” Hollypaw argued. “I had to go.”

“This is an emergency too!”

“But we don’t know he’s there. Not for certain.” Hollypaw sat down. “I didn’t see any strangers in the camp when I was there.”

“Maybe he hadn’t arrived by the time the battle started,”

Jaypaw mewed.

Lionpaw rubbed a paw through his whiskers. “Hollypaw’s right. We can’t risk crossing into ShadowClan territory. There’s just been a battle. They’d shred us.”

“It’s not like you to be scared,” Jaypaw taunted.

“I’m not scared for me; I’m scared for the Clan,” Lionpaw snapped.

Hollypaw let out a long breath. “He’s right,” she mewed.

“ShadowClan were our only allies. We can’t risk annoying them.”

Jaypaw flicked a paw crossly through the leaf litter. They were getting nowhere.

“Why don’t we head up through our territory?” Hollypaw suggested. “We might find some trace of Sol near the border.

If you’re right and he is trying to get to ShadowClan, he has to cross our territory to go the quickest route.”

“That makes sense,” Lionpaw agreed. “And a loner like him would have steered well clear of the battle.”

“Okay,” Jaypaw agreed. He padded out from the shelter of the bramble, and promptly tripped over a fallen twig.

“I’ll lead the way,” Lionpaw offered.

Jaypaw felt a familiar flicker of frustration, but pushed it away. This was too important. He was closer than he’d ever been to getting answers about the prophecy.

They trekked away from the lake, pushing deeper into the woodland than any of them had ever been. The forest floor became unfamiliar beneath their paws. The broad oak and beech leaves, so smooth on their pads, gave way to small, scrunched-up hazel. Jaypaw couldn’t even scent the lake anymore, and the woodland became denser. Smaller trees clustered closer, and they had to weave along a winding path.

The soft foliage of ferns and berry bushes gradually petered out, and the smell of prey became fainter. Twigs scratched their pelts.

The land was sloping steadily upward, and Jaypaw could smell mountain air drifting down through the trees.

“We’ve reached the edge of our territory!” Lionpaw announced.

Jaypaw sniffed. A few stale ThunderClan scent marks dotted the trees, and beyond them, no ThunderClan scent at all.

His heart began to pound as he followed Lionpaw across the scent line, relieved to feel Hollypaw’s pelt brushing his. It felt like stepping off the edge of the world.

Lionpaw stopped. “I can smell something.”

Jaypaw hurried to catch up and sniffed the twigs beside Lionpaw. “That’s him!” He recognized Sol’s scent straightaway. “He’s been here.” The tom’s smell was faint, worn away by the breeze, but unmistakable. Jaypaw padded forward, letting his nose lead him. Another scented twig! They had found Sol’s path.

“He was definitely heading toward ShadowClan,” Hollypaw observed.

“What if he’s crossed into their territory?” Lionpaw asked.

“Let’s deal with that if it happens,” Jaypaw urged. He couldn’t lose Sol now.

They trekked onward, following Sol’s trail as it skirted the top of ThunderClan’s border. Suddenly Jaypaw scented ShadowClan. He halted and pricked his ears. There was no sound of a patrol, no cats rustling the undergrowth.