Tigerheart’s mouth was dry. “He can’t swim.” The river was so huge. How could any cat survive?
“Come on.” Ant nosed him forward. “He might have made it to the bank.”
Tigerheart could hardly believe what was happening. He ran numbly after Ant, his paws slipping on the grass as he followed the others down the bank.
Blaze was leaning out over the swirling water, scanning the surface desperately.
Cinnamon and Cloverfoot scurried beneath the bridge, their gazes fixed on the river. Tigerheart stared blankly at the floating monster, which was gliding through the gap the raised bridge had made. Water whirled at its flanks and churned at its tail. Dread hollowed Tigerheart’s belly. Even if Spire had survived the drop and managed to swim to the surface, the monster would have chewed him up.
“I can’t see him!” Panic edged Blaze’s mew. He paced up and down, straining harder to glimpse the black tom.
Had Spire foreseen this? Had he known when he suggested the crossing? Why didn’t he find another way? Tigerheart swallowed back the grief threatening to overwhelm him. He couldn’t give up. Blaze would need him. The whole patrol would need him. He had to be strong. There was no sign of Spire. No black pelt showed on either bank. The river had taken him.
He padded to Blaze’s side and waited until the young tom stopped pacing. Pain glittered in the young tom’s amber eyes as he gazed over the muddy water. The floating monster was gone. Above them, the bridge was slowly lowering its legs. Tigerheart heard the clatter of the fences lifting and the rumble of monsters moving once more. “He saved Pouncekit,” he murmured.
Blaze turned on him, helpless grief twisting his young face. “Why didn’t he find another way to cross the river?”
Tigerheart held his gaze. “There was no other way.” The river stretched wide on either side for as far as the eye could see. He touched his nose to Blaze’s ear. “We will remember him. StarClan will remember him.” Tigerheart glanced at the darkening sky where the first stars were beginning to show. “His visions helped me and Dovewing, and they led him to Clanmates I thought were lost forever.”
Rippletail padded to his side. “How are we going to find our way now that Spire is gone?” Worry darkened the white tom’s gaze.
Blaze bristled. “Oh, now you believe him?” He glared at Rippletail. “Spire died trying to help you. Are you only bothered that we don’t have a guide anymore?”
Rippletail dropped his gaze. “Of course not, but how will we find where we . . .”
As his mew trailed away, Sparrowtail padded forward. “Rippletail meant no disrespect.” He glanced toward Berryheart, who had climbed down the slope with Dovewing and the kits and waited now beside the others. “But we need to get home before Berryheart starts kitting.”
“Especially now that we’ve lost Spire.” Cinnamon stood at Blaze’s side. “He was the only healer with us.”
“We should go back to the Silverpath.” Cloverfoot’s tail twitched anxiously. “We know it leads to the lake.”
“It would take too much time to retrace our steps,” Ant argued.
“But we might be wandering forever without a guide.” Cinnamon gazed across the river. “Surely it’s better to travel longer and be sure of getting where we’re going.”
“I think we should keep going this way.” Blaze pointed his muzzle toward the side of the valley where the Thunderpath cut between hills. “Spire said a Twolegplace lies that way and we must travel around it.”
“But where do we head after that?” Tigerheart searched the young tom’s gaze.
Blaze looked at the ground. “Spire didn’t say.”
Tigerheart paused, willing his heart to feel less heavy. “I came past a Twolegplace when I left ShadowClan,” he mewed hopefully. “Maybe this Twolegplace is the same one. . . .”
“I guess we could keep going,” Cinnamon conceded. “If we get lost, we can still retrace our steps to the Silverpath later.”
Cloverfoot’s pelt prickled along her spine. “We could be walking for moons.”
“We’ve traveled so far already.” Dovewing’s green eyes shone in the dying light. “We must be getting closer to the lake. Surely we’ll see it soon.”
Tigerheart glanced around at the patrol. Doubt darkened every gaze. “We’ll follow the route that Spire began,” he meowed firmly. “He would not have set us on this path if he thought we couldn’t reach the end.”
Ant shifted his paws. “Spire would have known we’d find our way.”
Cinnamon and Blaze nodded. Cloverfoot, Berryheart, Sparrowtail, and Rippletail mumbled in reluctant agreement.
Lightkit glanced nervously to where the Thunderpath cut between the hills. “Are we going to follow the monsters to the Twolegplace?”
“No.” Tigerheart nodded to the hill rising beside it. Trees and bushes covered the slope. The ground would be soft underpaw and provide shelter.
Rippletail followed his gaze. “It looks like a good place for prey.”
Tigerheart glanced at Dovewing. “Are the kits okay?” Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit were clustered beside her. They looked at him with wide, worried eyes.
“They’re fine, but it’s been a long day,” Dovewing mewed. “We should make camp soon.”
“Once we’re away from the river.” Blaze glanced at the flowing water, fresh pain in his eyes.
“Let’s travel until sunset and then hunt and rest for the night,” Ant suggested.
“Okay.” Stiffening his shoulders, Tigerheart led the party away from the river. With each paw step, his grief at losing Spire deepened, and his regret at ever having doubted him stuck in his belly like a claw trying to rip its way through.
Spire might not have grown up among the Clans, he thought, but if we make it back to the lake, if ShadowClan is restored, then he’ll have done more for our Clan than some of our own warriors.
He pushed on as the slope grew harder, and ducked between swaths of bracken. No cat spoke as they walked. The wind stirred the trees and bushes around them as they headed into thicker vegetation. Soon they were climbing through a stretch of forest. Birds began their evening song, calling from the branches above their heads. The moon rose, burning a patch in the darkening sky, and as they reached a clearing in the trees, Tigerheart stopped.
“Are we going to make camp?” Rippletail stopped beside him.
Tigerheart gazed between the trees. Far below, the wide river reflected moonlight. The image that had burned in his mind since they’d left its banks burned stronger still—Spire lifting Pouncekit to safety, then swaying and disappearing . . . giving his life for cats he hadn’t known very long, and for a way of life he had never known at all. “We should honor him.”
Rippletail blinked at him in surprise. “What?”
Blaze hurried closer. “Are you talking about Spire?”
“Yes.” Tigerheart watched his kits pad to a halt. They looked tired, but they were safe. “Spire saved Lightkit from the Thundersnake and Pouncekit from the river,” he meowed. “He was as brave as any warrior, and we should honor him as a warrior.”
“How?” Cloverfoot frowned.
Sparrowtail tipped his head. “Should we sit vigil for him tonight?”
“A vigil is not enough to thank him for what he has done.” Tigerheart glanced at his Clanmates. “He was loyal and brave. He should become one of us.”
Rippletail glanced at the stars. “How?”
“Let’s have a warrior naming ceremony for him now and give him a warrior name.”
Blaze pricked his ears. For the first time, grief cleared from his gaze. “A warrior name?”
“But he’s dead,” Cloverfoot pointed out. “It’s too late.”
Tigerheart stepped from the shadow of the trees and let moonlight wash his pelt. “StarClan knew him. They will be watching. They will know, and once he has his warrior name, he’ll be able to walk among them as the warrior he has always been, even though he never had the chance to live as one.”
“But you’re not a leader,” Sparrowtail meowed. “How can you give a cat their warrior name?”
Dovewing padded forward. “Tigerheart is leader of this patrol.”
Berryheart sat down wearily. “How can a cat who’s never known ShadowClan be a ShadowClan warrior?”
Blaze blinked at her. “He’s known you, and Tigerheart and Ripple—”
Cloverfoot cut in. “It’s true. He has known our Clan through us. And by finding us and protecting Tigerheart’s kits, he’s done more for ShadowClan these past moons than we have.” Exactly, Tigerheart thought. Guilt sparked in Cloverfoot’s gaze as she looked from Berryheart to Rippletail and Sparrowtail. Then she blinked expectantly at Tigerheart. “I think he deserves a warrior name.”
Rippletail dipped his head. “Okay.”
Sparrowtail and Berryheart nodded in agreement. Tigerheart lifted his muzzle to the stars. “I, Tigerheart, deputy of ShadowClan and leader of this patrol, call upon my warrior ancestors to honor Spire. He never knew the warrior code, and yet he lived by it. He healed the sick and protected the weak. He gave his life to save another. I commend him to you as a warrior of ShadowClan, and from this moment forward, he will be known as Spiresight, for his visions and his wisdom.”
“Spiresight.” Blaze breathed his friend’s new name.
“Spiresight!” Dovewing called out, her gaze sparkling as she looked at Pouncekit.
“Spiresight! Spiresight!” The cries of the patrol drowned out the evensong of the birds as they celebrated Spiresight’s warrior name.
Tigerheart looked once more toward the river. As the cries of the others died away, he prayed silently to StarClan. I hope he is safe among you now. Honor him. One day I hope to walk beside him.
He opened his eyes and looked at the gathered cats, all of their eyes alight with excitement—it felt good to be enacting a Clan custom after so long.
Ant shifted his paws self-consciously. “Should we hunt now?” The brown-and-black tom furtively scanned the undergrowth around the clearing.
Tigerheart could hear the rustle of prey. Squirrel scent touched his nose. The kits would be hungry. “Yes.”
“I’m staying here.” Blaze fixed Tigerheart with a solemn stare. “Sparrowtail said you honor fallen warriors by sitting vigil. I want to sit vigil for Spiresight.”
Tigerheart dipped his head. “Once the kits have eaten and have warm nests to sleep in, I will sit vigil with you.”
As Blaze blinked at him gratefully, Berryheart grunted with pain.
Dovewing hurried to the queen’s side as Berryheart sank to her belly. “What’s wrong?”
Berryheart gave an anguished moan. “The kits! I think they’re coming.”
Tigerheart kept out of the way while Berryheart wailed and grunted through the night. He sat with Blaze a little way from the nest Sparrowtail and Cloverfoot quickly made for the queen and watched Rippletail and Ant hurry back and forth, soaking moss in a nearby stream, fetching sticks, pacing anxiously while Dovewing and Cinnamon crouched around Berryheart, trying to help with her kitting. Cinnamon looked a little nervous.
Blaze did not speak as the moon moved above the trees. The young tom seemed lost in thought, making his silent vigil for his friend while the others bustled nearby.
Tigerheart’s thoughts wandered between grief for Spiresight and worry for Berryheart. How could the kits come now? They were not even close to ShadowClan’s borders; the landscape was unfamiliar, the journey ahead uncertain without Spiresight to guide them. He waited for worry to deepen into fear. And yet, as the night wore on, his anxieties unraveled into relief. Spiresight was in StarClan now, safer than he’d ever been in life. Berryheart’s kits would be with them by morning.
There was no use in worrying. He knew what must be done. Newborn kits could not travel. The patrol would stay here until Berryheart’s young were strong enough to finish the journey their mother had begun. This wooded hillside was not a bad place to wait; the stream Ant had found ran nearby, bubbling down from the hilltop, fresh and clear. The forest had the clean crisp smell of wildness, untainted by the Thunderpath, which was too far away even to hear. Prey would be fresh, and the trees would provide shelter even if the weather hardened from frost to snow.
When he heard the mewl of Berryheart’s first kit, a sense of peace enfolded Tigerheart for the first time in a moon. He remembered the first happy days with Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit. Since there was nothing to do but wait, he might as well relish the comforts of their temporary home. As dawn began to lighten the sky beyond the hill, he climbed higher to see the rising sun. A rabbit strayed across his path, and he tracked and hunted it with a simple relish he’d not felt since he’d been an apprentice. He laid the rabbit at his paws and lifted his gaze to watch the orange crown of the sun lift above the distant hills.
“Tigerheart?” Dovewing’s mew sounded between the trees.
He didn’t move, but shifted to make room as she joined him. “How is Berryheart?”
“She’s well. The kitting was hard, but she was brave.” Dovewing sat down. “She had three kits. She’s suckling them already.”
“Has she named them?”
She leaned against Tigerheart, her flank warm against his. “Hollowkit, Sunkit . . . and Spirekit.”
“Spirekit?” Tigerheart stared at her.
Dovewing stretched her forelegs. “Berryheart insisted; no other name would do.”
Tigerheart pondered this. It was not very common for kits to be named after dead cats, but when he thought of bringing another Spire back to ShadowClan, he purred happily. “I think that’s a perfect name. Have you told Blaze?”
“Yes,” Dovewing murmured. “He went straight to Berryheart’s nest to see them.”
Tigerheart looked anxiously into Dovewing green eyes. “Do you think Blaze will be okay? Spiresight cared for him ever since he was born.”
“He will grieve,” Dovewing told him gently.
“Do you think he regrets coming with us to ShadowClan?”
“Not for a moment.” Dovewing turned her gaze toward the rising sun. “Spiresight wanted him to come, remember? I think Blaze will feel he is honoring his best friend’s wishes as well as his own.”
Tigerheart touched his nose to Dovewing’s cheek. She was gentle in her wisdom.
Dovewing purred for a moment, then paused. “It’s strange how Spiresight found Berryheart and the others.”
“I suppose he was guided by StarClan,” Tigerheart murmured.
“I wonder if StarClan guides many cats beyond the lake. . . .” Dovewing met his gaze. “Or do they just touch cats lost warriors will encounter?” As she paused again, Tigerheart wondered what she was trying to say. “Do you think we were meant to travel to the city?” She blinked at him, sunlight flaming in her green gaze.
Tigerheart had never wondered if StarClan had sent Dovewing’s dreams. He’d assumed they were the anxieties of an expectant mother, and he’d followed because he’d trusted Dovewing’s instinct. But she could be right. He remembered, with a shiver, Spiresight’s strange greeting when they’d first met in the gathering-place den. Now they’re both finally here. He blinked at Dovewing. “I think you may be right.” His pelt prickled. “I was alone when I left ShadowClan, but I will return with Clanmates, both new and old. And ShadowClan needs warriors more than ever.” He felt the tug of home like a claw in his belly. I am coming, Rowanstar. His father needed him.
Can I wait while Berryheart’s kits find their traveling paws? Tigerheart flicked his tail. I’ll have to. He’d found old Clanmates, and he wasn’t going to risk losing them again by leaving them here. When he returned to ShadowClan, he would bring with him enough cats to make the Clan strong once more. He lifted his face to the rising sun. You’ll be proud of me, Rowanstar, I promise. Just hold on until I reach you.
CHAPTER 33
Tigerheart pricked his ears. Ahead the bracken—still stiff from the morning’s frost—crackled. He dropped into a hunting crouch.
?
??We don’t need more prey.” Behind him Cloverfoot stood over the squirrel they’d already caught. Blaze held a fat pigeon between his jaws.
“Hush.” Tigerheart flicked his tail impatiently to quiet the tabby she-cat. “Berryheart needs as much food as we can catch until the kits are fully weaned.”
A moon old now, Hollowkit, Sunkit, and Spirekit had tasted their first prey. But although they were growing fast and exploring farther from their nest each day, they still suckled at night.
The bracken crackled again. Pelt prickling excitedly, Tigerheart leaped. He dived between the fronds and clamped his paws over a mouse. It twitched in panic as he hooked it toward him and gave it a killing bite. Its musky scent made his mouth water. Even now, nearly two moons after leaving the city, the taste of forest prey still filled him with pleasure. He wondered if he’d ever get the taste of scrapcan trash off his tongue. He lifted the mouse and carried it back to Cloverfoot.
She purred. “Are you enjoying hunting for your Clan again?”
“I never really stopped.” Tigerheart dropped the mouse beside the squirrel. “The guardian cats were like a Clan to me. But there’s no honor in scavenging. When I bring my Clanmates forest prey, I feel I am feeding them prey worthy of them.”
He picked up the mouse and headed toward the temporary camp they’d built between two swaths of bramble. They had dug nests among the roots and dragged bracken to make a low camp wall where the brambles didn’t reach. Berryheart’s nest was deepest inside the bush, safe from nosy predators. This stretch of hillside had sheltered them peacefully. Owls called where the forest deepened into oak and birch, and foxes screeched in the valley below, but Tigerheart had never scented predators on the territory he’d marked around the camp.
He hadn’t declared himself leader of their tiny Clan, but no one questioned his orders, and it was to Tigerheart they looked to organize the daily hunting and border patrols. Cinnamon had managed to build a small store of herbs, remembering, with the help of Blaze, the sight and scent of the leaves Spiresight and the other healers had used. Luckily, no cat had fallen ill, despite the cold weather. Cinnamon had treated an occasional bellyache and sore throat, but her skills hadn’t been stretched beyond mild ailments.