Darkest Night

CHAPTER 18

Violetpaw squinted as sunshine sliced through the evening air, its weak rays warming her damp pelt. Lifting her face, she closed her eyes and relished the brightness. The clouds were clearing at last.

In the days since rescuing Frecklewish, they had trudged through the relentless rain. And yet, despite the dismal weather, Violetpaw’s heart had been light. Fidgetpaw and Frecklewish had shared stories, Mintfur and Nettlesplash joining in. Fringepaw and Nectarpaw had gradually lost their shyness, and they felt like denmates already. Their spirits had lifted with every paw step. Their excitement at seeing the land beyond the gorge was infectious. Even Gravelpaw and Palepaw were complaining less. Violetpaw couldn’t wait to show them around SkyClan’s new territory.

Molewhisker seemed almost more like a Clanmate than Sparrowpelt or Harrybrook. He shared his prey, and he was as protective of the apprentices as any of SkyClan’s warriors. When Nectarpaw had wandered too close to a Twoleg patrol, he had rushed to shoo her away.

Rabbitleap had stayed close to Violetpaw, training her as they traveled without ever being bossy. He’d hunted beside her, gently offering advice on stalking techniques and scent trails. Blossomheart and Hawkwing had stuck close to Cherrytail and Cloudmist. They were delighted that their kin had decided to leave Barley’s farm and travel to SkyClan’s new territory.

Violetpaw remembered how nervous Hawkwing had been as they’d approached Barley’s farm just a quarter of a moon earlier. He hadn’t said anything, but she’d been able to read anxiety in the stiffness of his tail and the way his ears twitched. What if his mother and sister had chosen to stay with Barley? He would have had to make his new home beside the lake without them.

They had arrived at Barley’s farm the morning after Frecklewish’s rescue, having traveled through a rainy night. The shelter and warmth of the barn had felt like a blessing from StarClan, and Barley had organized the hungry party into hunting patrols while Hawkwing faced Cloudmist and Cherrytail.

He hadn’t needed to speak. They had met his hopeful gaze with round, anxious eyes. Violetpaw could see from the quiver along his spine that he thought for a moment that they were going to tell him they wanted to stay on the farm. But Cherrytail had stepped forward and touched muzzles with her son.

“We’re coming with you.”

Her words seemed to lift a weight from Hawkwing’s shoulders. Purring, he wove around them, promising that they had made the right decision and would never regret moving to SkyClan’s new territory.

Now, days later, as they trekked along another sweeping hillside, the lake glittered on the horizon.

“Look!” Violetpaw saw the water first, sparkling in the dying rays of evening sun.

Nectarpaw bounced excitedly beside her. “Is that it?”

“What?” Gravelpaw pushed between them, craning his neck.

“The lake! Over there.” Violetpaw nodded with her muzzle. It looked wide even from here, stretching between hillside and forest. She felt the tug of home and wondered how Twigpaw was doing. It must have felt strange to be left alone in SkyClan. Violetpaw wondered again why Twigpaw had stayed behind. Perhaps she was hoping to show Leafstar that she was a loyal Clanmate. Violetpaw knew how much Twigpaw enjoyed the praise of older cats. I guess that is just her way of fitting in. Violetpaw understood her sister’s need to be accepted. Didn’t I try to persuade ShadowClan to accept me as one of their own? And the rogues. In the end, Needletail had been the only ShadowClan cat to treat her like kin. Violetpaw felt the familiar pang of grief. Needletail hadn’t visited her since they’d reached the gorge. She must be mad at me.

Palepaw interrupted her thoughts. “Where is our new camp?”

Violetpaw stretched her nose toward the dark trees rising to one side of the lake. “Do you see those pines?”

Fringepaw climbed the verge beside the rabbit trail they were following. “I see them!”

“Where?” Palepaw pushed alongside her sister.

“Over there!” Fringepaw mewed eagerly.

Gravelpaw frowned. “Is the camp in a forest?”

“It must be dark all the time.” Palepaw glanced anxiously at Violetpaw.

“The camp’s not far from the lakeshore,” Violetpaw told her. “And living in a forest is great. It’s sheltered and there’s always prey.”

“There was always prey by the gorge,” Gravelpaw told her. “And there was a stream to drink from.”

“There’s a stream in the new camp,” Violetpaw mewed.

Mintfur, who was a few tail-lengths ahead with Nettlesplash and Rabbitleap, glanced over her shoulder. “I hope it hasn’t flooded.”

Violetpaw’s pelt prickled anxiously. What if it had? What if the camp had been washed away while they were gone?

Behind her, Hawkwing sniffed casually. “That stream will never flood.” He was padding between Cloudmist and Cherrytail, while Molewhisker and Blossomheart flanked them. “The forest floor is too mossy. Rain can soak away easily. And there are channels that drain water toward the lake.”

Gravelpaw’s gaze was fixed on the horizon. “How long before we get there?”

“Two more sunups?” Hawkwing glanced questioningly at Molewhisker.

Molewhisker nodded. “We won’t be there in time for tomorrow’s full-moon gathering.” He sounded unworried. Violetpaw guessed that the ThunderClan tom had enjoyed his adventure with the SkyClan cats.

So what if they missed the Gathering? Wouldn’t it be better to let their new Clanmates settle in before they met the other Clans? She remembered how overwhelmed she’d felt the first time she’d seen so many cats. And the other Clans would have more time to get used to the idea of SkyClan’s new Clanmates. She wondered, with a twinge of unease, how ShadowClan would feel about SkyClan growing so fast. She guessed that it wasn’t what they’d planned when they’d offered SkyClan part of their territory. But she pushed the thought away. Who cared how ShadowClan felt? She wasn’t a ShadowClan cat anymore. Her new home was with SkyClan.

As the sun slipped below the horizon, Violetpaw felt a chill in her fur. Her belly growled with hunger.

“I’m tired,” Fringepaw mewed.

“I’m hungry,” Nectarpaw chimed in.

Mintfur pulled up and turned to the patrol. She looked at Hawkwing. “Should we make camp for the night?”

Violetpaw lifted her aching paws one at a time and shook them out, hoping he’d say yes.

Hawkwing scanned the hillside. He nodded to a dip where bushes gathered. A few trees circled it, promising shelter. “Let’s try over there,” he meowed. “That hollow looks like it might make a good camp.”

Nettlesplash whisked his tail. “You check out the hollow. I’ll take Gravelpaw and Nectarpaw hunting with Mintfur.”

“I want to hunt too!” Palepaw mewed.

Hawkwing dipped his head. “Okay. We’ll join you when we’ve had a look.”

“I can make nests,” Violetpaw offered. She could see a stretch of bracken farther downslope where she could gather fronds.

“I’ll help,” Fidgetpaw offered.

Frecklewish narrowed her gaze as she peered through the dying light. “I think I can see burdock. I’ll dig up some roots. It will help with our aching paws.”

Cloudmist blinked gratefully at the medicine cat. “It feels good to be part of a real Clan again.”

Violetpaw’s heart ached with sudden happiness. By the time the moon rose, she’d be settled into a fresh nest with a full belly, Clanmates at her side. She purred to herself. Clan life was better than she’d ever imagined before.

Violetpaw dreamed. Sunlight bathed a wide field. Ahead of her, a fat mouse scuttled through the grass. Licking her lips, she prepared to pounce. Something pricked at her pelt. Go away. She burrowed deeper into her dream. The mouse was moving sleepily in the sunshine. It would be an easy catch. Her pelt pricked more sharply. Stop it! Irritation tightened Violetpaw’s belly. Something was trying to wake her. She grumbled in her sleep, trying to ignore the feeling that was pestering her.

It nagged harder, dragging her at last into wakefulness.

She opened her eyes.

Darkness shrouded the small hollow. She could hear the soft breathing of her sleeping companions.

What had woken her? Puzzled, she lifted her head and tasted the air.

The cool night air carried the scent of Needletail.

She came back! Quickly, Violetpaw scrambled out of her nest. She threaded her way between her Clanmates and padded out of the hollow. The hillside was drenched in moonlight. She scanned the rippling grass for Needletail. Please be here. A shadow moved near the bottom of the slope where heather crowded. As Violetpaw raced toward it, the shadow slipped into the heather. “Needletail!” she hissed desperately as she neared. “Stop!” She crashed through the bushes, spying Needletail’s pelt moving between the branches.

“Wait!” Fury pounded in Violetpaw’s chest. “Why do you wake me up just to run away?” Was this Needletail’s revenge? “I’m sorry I left! You told me to, remember? I wanted to save you! I just felt like there was nothing I could do. If I’d stayed, Darktail would have killed me, and then he’d have killed all our Clanmates. Did you want that?”

Needletail’s pelt swished between the bushes. Then there was silence. Had she left?

Violetpaw pushed her way through the heather until it opened into a small clearing. Needletail waited there, her green eyes glinting in the moonlight.

“Are you angry with me?” Violetpaw stared at her. “Is that why you keep appearing?”

Needletail nodded toward a tom, curled in a moss nest beneath a clump of heather.

Violetpaw froze, then hurried toward Needletail and lowered her voice. “Who is he?”

Needletail blinked at her. “He’s a cat I met many moons ago.”

Violetpaw was so surprised to hear Needletail’s voice again that she hardly heard the words. Why now? She forced herself to concentrate as Needletail went on.

“I knew him when I was alive. Now he’s around every time I return.”

“Return?” Violetpaw’s thoughts were spinning. “Return from where? Are you with StarClan?”

Needletail looked down at her softly glowing pelt. No stars showed there. “Do I look like I’m with StarClan?”

Violetpaw stiffened. “The Dark Forest?” she asked anxiously.

“No.” Needletail shifted her paws. “I don’t know where I go. I only know that when I open my eyes, I’m near him.”

“Can he see you?”

“Yes.” Needletail flicked her ears. “He’s the only one who can. Well, him and you.”

“Is he dead too?” Violetpaw’s pelt rippled nervously along her spine.

“No.” Needletail looked at her as though she were a mouse-brain. “That’s why I wanted to show him to you. I think he’s important to the Clans. I think that’s why I’m stuck here and why he’s always near.”

“What can I do to help?” Violetpaw was puzzled.

“Take him with you,” Needletail ordered. “Take him to the Clans.”

“Why?”

Needletail shrugged. “I don’t know. All I know is that I can see him and I can see you. I think that I’m meant to make you two meet and that you’re meant to take him to the Clans. If I help the Clans, then maybe I’ll find StarClan.”

Violetpaw gazed into Needletail’s eyes, pity twisting her heart. It must be so lonely here. “I’ll take him,” she promised.

Needletail turned toward the heather.

“Are you leaving?” Violetpaw blinked at her.

“This is your quest now.”

“Don’t go!” One thought blazed in Violetpaw’s mind. Are you still angry with me? Too scared to ask out loud, she stared imploringly at Needletail. Urgency flashed in her friend’s eyes.

“Please,” Needletail begged.

She needs me! Violetpaw’s heart lifted, glad she could help. But has she forgiven me? “Wait—” Before she could finish, Needletail disappeared among the heather. As the breeze whisked away her scent, Violetpaw knew she was gone.

She heard moss stir beside her. The tom was waking. She backed away, her pelt bristling as he lifted his head and yawned.

He stiffened as he caught sight of her. “Who are you?” In a moment, he was on his paws, hackles high.

“Needletail brought me here,” Violetpaw mewed quickly.

“Needletail?” The tom looked surprised. “Can you see her too?”

“Yes.” Violetpaw didn’t entirely trust this tom. She glanced toward a gap in the heather. She could dart away there if he turned nasty. “She was my friend, when she was alive.”

“I met her when she was an apprentice.” The tom narrowed his eyes. “I didn’t see her again until after she died.”

“Why do you keep following her?” Violetpaw asked.

The tom looked indignant. “She keeps following me.” He glanced around the small clearing. “Is she here?”

“She just left.” Violetpaw shifted her paws. “She brought me here to meet you.”

The tom’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “That was kind of her. Perhaps she thinks we’re soul mates.”

“Soul mates?” Violetpaw was confused.

“It is kind of romantic, don’t you think? The moonlight? The heather?”

Romantic? Violetpaw bristled. “Do you flirt with every strange cat you meet?”

“Only the ones who appear in the middle of the night claiming a ghost brought them.”

Violetpaw struggled for words. This tom was being impossible. “Stop it!” she snapped. “Needletail brought me to you for a reason.” She saw his eyes flash with mischief again and pushed on quickly. “She thinks you might help the Clans.”

The tom rolled his eyes. “You’re a Clan cat.” He sounded disappointed.

“So?” Violetpaw glared at him.

“There are two things I know about Clan cats.” He climbed out of his nest. “They don’t like strangers on their land, and they take everything way too seriously.”

“I don’t!” Violetpaw mewed indignantly.

The tom’s ears twitched. “You seem to be taking this very seriously.”

“That’s because it is serious!” Violetpaw turned her tail on him, fuming, and began to march through the heather.

“Hey, wait!” He hurried after her. “I thought you and Needletail wanted me to help the Clans.”

“I doubt that you’ve ever helped anyone but yourself.” Violetpaw kept walking.

“That’s not fair. You don’t even know me.” The tom wove ahead of her and blocked her way as she emerged onto the moonlit hillside.

She stared at him, not speaking.

“My name is Tree.” He rounded his eyes apologetically. “I didn’t mean to tease. I didn’t realize it would upset you.”

Violetpaw stared at her paws, annoyed that he’d been able to ruffle her fur so easily. “My name is Violetpaw,” she mumbled.

“That’s a pretty name.”

She jerked up her muzzle. “Don’t start flirting again!”

He stepped back. “I’m not. It’s just a pretty name. Most of the cats I meet are called Rocky or Snake or something dumb like that. And my name’s Tree.”

Violetpaw narrowed her eyes suspiciously. “Are you a rogue?”

Tree shrugged. “I don’t know what I am. I travel alone and I hunt and sleep where I like.”

Violetpaw looked away and sniffed. “A loner.”

“Is that what Clan cats call me?”

For the first time, she heard uncertainty in his mew. “I guess it’s better than being a rogue,” she conceded. She looked him over. He was muscular. His yellow pelt looked thick and well groomed. His amber eyes were bright and clear. Take him with you. Needletail’s words rang in her mind. Take him to the Clans. Perhaps her friend was right. Perhaps the Clans needed him. And it might help Needletail find her way to StarClan.

“We’re camped up there.” She nodded toward the hollow.

“We?”

“Me and my Clanmates,” Violetpaw explained. “We’re heading home. You should come with us.”

“Why?”

“Needletail thinks the Clans need you.”

“Needletail’s dead.”

“Then she probably knows more than we do.” Was this tom going to make everything difficult? “Come to the hollow at dawn. If you come now, you might alarm the others.” She turned away, pausing when he didn’t comment. “Will you come?”

“I guess.”

Violetpaw shrugged, trying not to seem too eager. “It might be the only way to stop Needletail haunting you.” She walked away, hoping that he would come. I tried, she told Needletail silently.

An angry yowl woke Violetpaw. She jerked her head up, blinking at the dawn light. Her companions’ nests were empty. Hisses sounded from the edge of the hollow. Tree! She remembered at once and leaped up.

“Why are you here?” Hawkwing’s growl sounded beyond the bushes.

“Violetpaw told me to come.”

Violetpaw heard Tree’s mew and pushed past the bushes. “He’s right!” She stopped beside Hawkwing. “I did tell him to come.”

Nettlesplash and Rabbitleap stood behind Tree, their hackles high. Mintfur and Blossomheart flanked him while Frecklewish stared at him through narrowed eyes and the apprentices hung back and watched. He was surrounded.

As he saw Violetpaw, relief flashed in his gaze. “You took your time.” He smoothed his fur. “I was beginning to think you’d tricked me.”

Hawkwing looked at Violetpaw, puzzled. “Who is he? Where did you meet him?”

“I found him last night,” she mewed. “Needletail led me to him.”

Hawkwing’s eyes widened. “I thought Needletail was dead.”

“She is.” Violetpaw felt suddenly helpless. How was she going to explain?

Frecklewish nosed her way between her Clanmates. “Was Needletail from StarClan?”

Violetpaw looked at the medicine cat, hope pricking her paws. “She hasn’t found StarClan yet, but she says she can’t seem to escape this cat. She thinks he’s important. She said that if we take him to the Clans, he might be able to help us. Then she’ll be able to find her way to StarClan. I think we should let him come with us.”

Nettlesplash stalked around Tree, sniffing him. “Does he want to come with us?”

“I don’t have anything else to do,” Tree sniffed. “And if you think I could help, I guess it can’t do any harm.”

Fidgetpaw padded from the bushes, a vole dangling from his jaws. He dropped it and stared at Tree. “Who’s this?”

“This is Tree.” Nettlesplash flicked his tail impatiently. “Violetpaw’s dead friend found him. She thinks he might be important to the Clans. She wants him to travel home with us.”

Gravelpaw shouldered his way past Mintfur. “Is he a rogue like Darktail?”

Tree sniffed. “Violetpaw says I’m a loner.”

“A loner can’t do any harm,” Mintfur mewed.

“He seems friendly,” Rabbitleap commented.

“Can he hunt?” Blossomheart asked.

Tree sat down and looked longingly at Fidgetpaw’s vole. “While you discuss me, do you mind if I eat this?” He swiped his tongue around his lips. “I’m starving.”

Fidgetpaw nudged it toward him. “Go ahead. There seems to be plenty of prey here.”

“Thanks.” Tree grabbed it and took a bite.

“I’m not sure Leafstar will be pleased if we bring back a loner,” Blossomheart mewed.

Mintfur twitched her tail. “But what if Violetpaw is right? What if he is important to the Clans? If we leave him here, we might never find him again.”

“What if he’s lying?” Gravelpaw’s ear twitched uncertainly. “He might be a rogue. He might be like Darktail. There might be a whole gang of rogues waiting for us to show him the way to our new camp.”

Tree poked the vole toward Violetpaw. “Have a bite,” he meowed. “You must be hungry. You were up half the night.”

She looked at him, wondering how he could be so relaxed.

“Are you a rogue?” Hawkwing nodded at Tree.

Tree looked at him. “I’m not sure what a rogue is. I told Violetpaw last night—I travel alone. I was born in the wild. My mother left me as soon as I was old enough to hunt. I’ve spent most of my life trying to stay away from Twolegs. They are obsessed with trying to tempt me into their nests with food, but I don’t want to live in a Twoleg nest. Twolegs are noisy, and they smell weird.”

Frecklewish let out a purr. “I know what you mean.” Her gaze warmed as it met Tree’s. “I’ve just escaped from a Twoleg hive.”

“Really?” Tree looked shocked. “How long were you there?”

“Moons.” Frecklewish nodded at Violetpaw. “Luckily, Violetpaw thought of a way for me to escape.”

Tree winked at Violetpaw. “She’s clearly got a talent for rescuing cats.” He swallowed another mouthful and burped. “So?” He looked around the SkyClan cats. “Am I coming with you?”

Hawkwing and Frecklewish exchanged looks. Then Frecklewish nodded.

“Yes.” Hawkwing dipped his head to the yellow tom. “If you’d like to.”

Violetpaw glanced at the sky, wondering if StarClan was watching. Does this mean you’ll help Needletail find her way to you? She looked at Tree, who was washing his vole-stained paws. If Needletail could find her way to StarClan, it would be worth putting up with this arrogant mouse-brain.