Warriors: Power of Three 01 - The Sight (15 page)

Stones rattled in front of him, and Jaypaw stopped. He guessed that Leafpool was climbing the steep rocks that led up to the ridge. He waited until the noise had ceased and he was sure she had disappeared over the top. Then he followed, scrabbling from rock to rock, grazing his pads on the sharp granite.

Out of breath, he stopped at the top. He shivered; the setting sun must be blocked by the surrounding rocks. He
was at the brink of a hollow; Leafpool's scent drifted up, mingled with new smells of damp stone, dusty lichen, and water, fresh and sharp with the smell of the mountains. It trickled and splashed, echoing off encircling stone.

As he padded cautiously forward, he realized there were other cats brushing against him, first one side, then the other, unbalancing him.

Stop pushing!
He shoved back, stumbling when he found only air around him.

Voices whispered around the hollow.

“They have come.”

“We must hurry. The moon is rising.”

Who else is here?

Jaypaw tasted the air, but he could scent only Leafpool. Steadying his trembling tail, he listened to figure out where she was. The enclosing rocks amplified her breath as it rippled the water beneath her muzzle. He knew from its soft rhythm that she was sleeping.

Carefully, he followed the slope down toward the pool. The smooth stone beneath his paws was polished and dimpled, worn into a pathway over endless moons by countless pawsteps. It led him on until water lapped at his paws with a cool tongue. Then he lay down a fox-length away from where Leafpool slept and closed his eyes.

As soon as his nose touched the Moonpool, stars filled his vision. It was as though great paws had swept him up into the inky sky and freed him among countless blue-white lights.

Far below he could see the starlit slopes of the hollow
curving down to the glittering Moonpool. He stared, his breath coming quicker. The hollow was no longer empty but crowded with cats. They lined every ridge, their pelts bathed in moonlight.

StarClan!

He stared harder until he could see every pelt and muzzle clearly. The cats were watching Leafpool, crouching at the water's edge. He could see himself too, curled up asleep.

I'm watching from outside my body.

Jaypaw scanned the hollow, suddenly aware of cold stone beneath his paws. He was at the top of the ridge now, not the sky.

Leafpool stood and began to greet StarClan like old friends, padding around the slope and stopping to brush muzzles here and there. Jaypaw recognized none of them. They had lived before he was born. Only their Clan scents were familiar. He shrank back into the shadows, where he was sure no cat could see him, and watched.

“Bluestar.” Leafpool dipped her head to a she-cat, broad-faced and round-eyed, with long, pale fur.

“You are welcome, Leafpool,” Bluestar murmured. “We thought you might come.”

Beside her sat a pale tom whose eyes shone with warmth. “It is good to see you again,” he meowed.

“You too, Lionheart,” Leafpool replied.

Bluestar's eyes sparkled. “You come with good news.”

“Yes, Graystripe is back,” Leafpool purred.

Murmurs of joy rippled around the cats.

“But there is a problem,” Leafpool went on. “Firestar doesn't
know who should be ThunderClan's deputy. Graystripe and Brambleclaw were both appointed according to the warrior code.”

A deep mew echoed from across the hollow. “Both cats have an equal claim.”

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 hemming 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.”

“True.” Ashfur nodded.

“And Graystripe is going to take another moon to recover,” Jaypaw put in. “He still smells of crow-food.”

“He'll be strong soon,” Hollypaw mewed defensively.

“Soon isn't good enough,” Lionpaw argued. “We need a strong deputy
now
. Leaf-bare's clearly not finished with us, and ShadowClan is never going to make our life easy. We can't afford to wait for Graystripe to recover.”

“But he was deputy first!” Hollypaw protested. “Has everyone forgotten? When Mistyfoot was taken by Twolegs, Hawkfrost replaced her only until she returned. Because according to the warrior code she
never stopped being
the deputy!”

“Your sister has a point,” Ashfur commented.

“I know, but”—Lionpaw was surprised at Hollypaw's fierceness—“Firestar has to be practical.”

“If we start ignoring the warrior code, then we are no longer warriors!” Hollypaw declared. The fur along her spine was bristling, and her eyes glittered with anxiety.

“What if StarClan
told
Firestar to choose Brambleclaw?” Jaypaw asked softly.

Brambleclaw was padding toward them, with Berrypaw beside him. “We're going hunting.”

“Can we join you?” Ashfur asked.

“Of course. Brightheart and Jaypaw are coming too. But if you don't mind a crowd—”

“Of course not.” Ashfur narrowed his eyes. “I just thought it might be fun for Lionpaw and Berrypaw to have a little competition.”

Brambleclaw's eyes glittered. “Good idea.”

Berrypaw clawed the ground excitedly. “Oh, yes!”

“Great!” Lionpaw mewed.

“Okay,” Brambleclaw decided. “The first apprentice to catch three pieces of prey gets first pick from the fresh-kill pile tonight.”

Lionpaw glanced at Berrypaw. His denmate was larger than he and more experienced. He would have to rely more on senses than speed if he was going to win.

Brightheart and Jaypaw joined them.

“Why do we need to go with them?” Jaypaw was complaining. “I'm perfectly capable of hunting on my own.”

Pity flashed in Brightheart's eye, and Lionpaw winced. Jaypaw glared at his mentor as if he knew exactly what she was thinking.

“We'll go in a moment,” Brambleclaw meowed. “First, I want to ask Dustpelt and Birchfall to patrol the ShadowClan border. I'll meet you at the entrance.” Before he padded away, the ThunderClan deputy glanced at Hollypaw. “Shouldn't you be helping Leafpool?”

“Um, yes,” Hollypaw mewed hastily. She turned and slunk away, the tip of her black tail dragging over the ice-white clearing.

“So you think you can beat me, do you?” Berrypaw hissed in Lionpaw's ear.

“I caught a vole on my first hunting expedition,” Lionpaw reminded him.

“Good,” Berrypaw mewed. “I'd hate to win
too
easily.”

“You'll be lucky to win at all!” Lionpaw growled.

“How's a tiny scrap like you going to catch three bits of prey in one morning?”

Lionpaw wasn't going to let his denmate get away with that. He crouched into attack position, wriggling his hindquarters. “Say that again!” he challenged.

“You're hardly bigger than a mouse!” Berrypaw purred.

Lionpaw launched himself at the young tom, and the two apprentices bundled toward the thorn barrier. Berrypaw's weight took Lionpaw by surprise. He scrabbled to push the larger apprentice off, but Berrypaw heaved him toward the prickly spines of the thornbush. Thinking quickly, Lionpaw let himself go limp, becoming so slippery that it was easy to wriggle out of Berrypaw's grip. Quick as a flash, he sprang onto Berrypaw's back and nipped his friend's scruff with his teeth. Berrypaw tried to shake him off, but even with his claws sheathed, Lionpaw found that he had the strength to hold his grip on Berrypaw's broad shoulders.

“Lionpaw!”

He looked up to see his sister charging back toward them, and, in that instant, Berrypaw threw him off and pinned him to the ground.

“You're my first catch of the day,” Berrypaw mewed triumphantly.

“Hollypaw put me off!” Lionpaw complained.

“A good warrior is never distracted,” Ashfur meowed. The pale gray warrior had stopped to watch the two apprentices.

Lionpaw scrambled to his paws, prickling with embarrassment.

Hollypaw was trotting around them in circles. “Leafpool wants me to collect some tansy in case this cold weather brings whitecough,” she panted excitedly. “She says there's a clump by the old Thunderpath, and she asked if I could join your patrol to fetch some.” She looked around. “Where's Brambleclaw?”

“Giving orders to Dustpelt,” Ashfur answered.

As he spoke, Brambleclaw bounded over from halfrock. Graystripe was with him.

“Mind if I join you?” the gray warrior asked Ashfur. “I want to get familiar with the territory and see how the prey runs here.”

“That's fine with me,” Ashfur agreed. He nodded at Hollypaw. “We've got an extra apprentice, too.”

Lionpaw hadn't been out with both Hollypaw and Jaypaw since their attempt to track down the fox cubs. They quickly fell into their familiar grouping: Hollypaw a pawstep ahead, and Lionpaw letting his pelt brush against Jaypaw's just enough to help him through the trees.

They headed deep into the forest, picking up the clearest route along the old Thunderpath. Lionpaw had been along it before, when Ashfur had shown him around ThunderClan territory. But he had never followed it all the way past the abandoned Twoleg nest.

Hollypaw was scanning the undergrowth on either side of the track.

“It looks a lot like yarrow,” Jaypaw whispered to her. “But it tastes more like grass than mouse bile.”

“I know!” Hollypaw snapped.

Why was Jaypaw helping her? Lionpaw wondered. Hollypaw was the medicine cat apprentice, not him.

She flicked her tail toward a clump of long-stemmed plants with thin, spiky leaves. “That's it, isn't it?”

“Have you found some?” Brambleclaw halted in the middle of the path.

The cats waited as Hollypaw bit into a leaf. She narrowed her eyes thoughtfully, then swallowed.

“Not bitter at all,” she reported. “It's tansy.”

“You'd better collect some and take it back to camp,” Brambleclaw meowed.

Hollypaw's eyes clouded with disappointment. “Leafpool doesn't need it right away.”

“It might not be safe for her to go back to camp on her own,” Lionpaw pointed out, guessing his sister wanted a chance to stay out for a while. “Not with the fox cubs about.”

“And don't forget the competition,” Ashfur meowed. “We don't want to waste time escorting her back.”

“If you're sure Leafpool doesn't need it urgently…?” Brambleclaw prompted Hollypaw.

Her eyes brightened. “It was only for the store.”

“We'll collect some on our way back, then,” Brambleclaw agreed. He leaped away, heading into the shadowy woods.

Lionpaw waited on the Thunderpath for Jaypaw and
Brightheart to disappear among the trees with the others before following them in. Even in leaf-bare, the undergrowth here was thick. But without their leafy covering the plants looked like tall, thin skeletons littering the forest floor.

Lionpaw's breath came in clouds as the patrol padded quietly over the frozen ground. Graystripe turned back to face them. “There's no scent of fox here,” he meowed. “And not too much cover for prey. This looks like a good spot to start the hunt.”

Ashfur looked from Berrypaw to Lionpaw. “Who wants to go first?”

“There's a mouse over there,” Jaypaw announced casually. For the first time Lionpaw wondered if his brother felt left out of the hunting contest. But Jaypaw held his chin high and flicked his tail toward the base of an oak tree several fox-lengths away. Ashfur jerked his head around in surprise.

“It's dug under the frozen leaves into the ground,” Jaypaw told them.

Lionpaw pricked his ears. Sure enough, he could hear the scrabble of tiny paws against cold earth, though very faintly. And there was the musty scent of freshly turned leaf litter in the air.

“Lionpaw,” Brambleclaw hissed quietly. “You have a try.”

One stealthy pawstep at a time, Lionpaw crept toward the scuffling noise. He let each pad sink slowly onto the hard ground, so that his steps made no sound. The scuffling carried on as Lionpaw drew close enough to drop into a hunting
crouch. Squatting with his muzzle outstretched, he let his tail rest on the earth behind him. He could smell the mouse now, and saw a slight movement in the leaves.

“Brambleclaw!”

The mouse scuttled out of the leaves and disappeared among the roots of a tree. Hissing with anger, Lionpaw spun around to see who had ruined his catch.

Birchfall exploded from the undergrowth and skidded to a halt. “ShadowClan have moved the border! They've put a new line of scent marks inside ThunderClan territory!”

“Where?” Brambleclaw demanded.

“I'll show you.” Without waiting, Birchfall headed away through the trees.

“Where's Dustpelt?” Brambleclaw called after him.