Veil Of Shadows

Chapter 3

Rootpaw scrambled out of the apprentices’ den. Leafstar had called a Clan meeting, and most of his Clanmates were already gathered in a ragged circle around their leader as Rootpaw pattered up to sit with his parents, Violetshine and Tree.

His sister, Needlepaw, was standing there, too, her claws working nervously into the ground. Her black-and-white pelt was glossy and well groomed, and her eyes shone with a mixture of joy and apprehension.

“Good luck,” Rootpaw whispered into her ear. “You deserve it.”

Needlepaw turned to him, but she couldn’t reply as Leafstar began to speak.

“Cats of SkyClan, we have gathered here for one of the happiest occasions in the life of a Clan,” the leader began. “The making of a new warrior. Needlepaw, step forward.”

Taking a deep breath, Needlepaw padded into the center of the circle and stood in front of her Clan leader.

“Reedclaw,” Leafstar continued, turning toward Needlepaw’s mentor, “has your apprentice, Needlepaw, learned the skills of a warrior, and does she understand the meaning of the warrior code?”

Reedclaw dipped her head respectfully to her leader. “She has and she does, Leafstar,” she replied. “She’s one of the most patient cats I’ve ever met, and that has done wonders for her hunting technique.”

“Good,” Leafstar meowed. “Then I, Leafstar, call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this apprentice.”

But are our warrior ancestors listening? Rootpaw asked himself, his pelt prickling uneasily. Do they even know that Needlepaw is becoming a warrior?

“She has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code,” the Clan leader continued, “and I commend her to you as a warrior in her turn. Needlepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your Clan, even at the cost of your life?”

Needlepaw raised her head, and her response rang out clearly across the camp. “I do.”

“Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your warrior name. Needlepaw, from this moment on you will be known as Needleclaw. StarClan honors your skill and your patience, and we welcome you as a full warrior of SkyClan.”

Leafstar stooped to rest her muzzle on Needleclaw’s head, and the new warrior gave her leader’s shoulder a respectful lick, then took a step backward. All the Clan burst into yowls and caterwauls to welcome their new warrior.

“Needleclaw! Needleclaw!”

Tree and Violetshine were both purring loudly as Needleclaw faced her Clan as a warrior for the first time. Rootpaw thrust aside his doubts and joined in the acclamation. He was truly happy for his sister, but even so, he couldn’t help feeling a little envious. Between his encounters with Bramblestar’s spirit and worrying over the Clans being cut off from StarClan, he hadn’t been able to focus on finishing his own training.

I’ve had more practice at trespassing on ThunderClan territory than learning my warrior skills.

As the caterwauls died away, Rootpaw caught Dewspring’s gaze. His mentor gave him a stern look, and Rootpaw knew he wanted to say that his apprentice should be there beside his sister, receiving his Clan’s welcome. Hot shame scoured through Rootpaw, and he hung his head, knowing that Dewspring was right.

But how can I keep my mind on my training when the stuff that’s distracting me is so important for every cat in every Clan?

Two nights had passed since Shadowsight had disappeared, and so far no cat had the slightest idea what had happened to him. As if that weren’t worrying enough, Rootpaw hadn’t seen Bramblestar’s spirit again since that same night.

Rootpaw shuddered. He knew that Bristlefrost, at least, believed that the false Bramblestar had tried to lead dogs to attack Sparkpelt. Sparkpelt had gotten away, but didn’t that prove how ruthless the impostor was? If he’d wanted to get rid of Shadowsight, he might have done something terrible.

As he headed toward the medicine cats’ den to collect their soiled bedding, Rootpaw couldn’t get Bramblestar’s last message out of his head. The spirit had seemed so faint. Maybe it was becoming harder and harder for him to communicate with living cats.

What will happen if Bramblestar’s spirit fades away? Rootpaw asked himself. Will he die for good? What about his nine lives? And if he dies, will ThunderClan be stuck with that intruder in his body forever?

Rootpaw shuddered to think what that evil presence might do to ThunderClan if he was left in charge for much longer.

“Greetings. Please take me to your Clan leader.”

Rootpaw froze at the sound of that hauntingly familiar voice, letting his claws sink into the ground. Had Bramblestar’s spirit returned after all? Relief bubbled up inside his chest. He’s a pain in the tail, but I have kind of missed him. But then, why is he asking for Leafstar . . . ?

Rootpaw whipped around to see that it wasn’t Bramblestar’s spirit who had spoken. It was Bramblestar’s body. The interloper was here, in the SkyClan camp!

Sneaking closer, Rootpaw ducked behind two warriors crouched near the fresh-kill pile and watched as Bramblestar approached across the camp. Sparrowpelt was leading him toward Leafstar’s den. Two ThunderClan warriors flanked their leader. The small white she-cat closest to Rootpaw was Whitewing, and on the other side of Bramblestar, Rootpaw recognized the pale gray pelt of Bristlefrost.

Rootpaw’s pads prickled with excitement when he saw her, but he forced himself to stay calm and out of sight. This wasn’t the time to start padding after a cat from another Clan. This looked serious. There was no threat in the gaze or demeanor of any of the three cats, but Bramblestar had clearly come to speak to Leafstar, leader to leader. That wouldn’t happen unless it was really important.

Rootpaw remembered anxiously that he hadn’t told Leafstar that the creature leading ThunderClan wasn’t the real Bramblestar. After the encounter in the forest, he had left it up to Frecklewish and Fidgetflake, as the SkyClan medicine cats, to enlighten their leader, but he was sure that so far they hadn’t done so. As far as he knew, the medicine cats hadn’t spoken privately with Leafstar since that night, and Leafstar hadn’t said anything to warn her Clan about strange happenings beyond their borders.

As if his thoughts had summoned them, Frecklewish appeared out of the medicine cats’ den, with Fidgetflake close behind her. Rootpaw spotted them exchanging a glance, and saw how awkward and frustrated they both looked.

I guess they wish they had told Leafstar before this. . . .

Rootpaw’s pelt itched with the need to find out why Bramblestar had come to the SkyClan camp. He scuttled rapidly across the open ground between him and Leafstar’s den and skidded into cover around the back of the stump. Angling his ears forward, he listened as hard as he could, at the same time patting the debris around the oak roots with his paws.

If any cat asks, I can say I’m tidying up around the leader’s den.

Ruefully he recognized that this wasn’t exactly how a warrior should behave, but he knew that what he was doing was more important.

Though Rootpaw couldn’t see Leafstar from where he was hiding, he could tell that she had emerged from her den in the split at the bottom of the Tallstump and was standing in the entrance. Bramblestar and his escort were close by.

“I have called an emergency Gathering for tonight, because of Shadowsight’s disappearance,” Bramblestar announced, his voice carrying clearly to Rootpaw. “We in ThunderClan have stepped up our punishment and exile of the codebreakers who were named in his vision, and we think all the Clans must do the same. If Shadowsight is not strong enough to enforce his vision—”

“What makes you think Shadowsight isn’t strong enough?” Leafstar interrupted. “Do you have any idea what happened to him?”

“Yes, I have an idea,” Bramblestar responded. “And I’ll share it at the Gathering tonight. In the meantime, Leafstar, you should make sure that you punish any codebreaking cats in your own Clan. It’s vital for us all to do that, so that StarClan will know we’re serious about following the warrior code.”

I wonder how Leafstar will react to that, Rootpaw thought anxiously. His paws went still as he strained to hear his leader’s answer.

Leafstar’s tone was distinctly chilly as she responded. “With respect, Bramblestar, who are you to come here and tell me how to run my Clan?” Rootpaw had to slap his tail over his jaws to stop himself yowling in glee, hearing his leader stand up to the interloper. “For a start,” Leafstar went on, “none of my warriors were named in Shadowsight’s vision. For another thing, breaking the code has always been serious to SkyClan. Nothing has happened to change that, and I will continue punishing any culprits just as I always have.”

Bramblestar’s only reply to that was a dismissive grunt. “Tension between ThunderClan and ShadowClan was high at the last Gathering,” he continued. “And I’ve heard rumblings that Tigerstar is quite distraught about Shadowsight’s disappearance. What if he uses it to accuse other Clans of wrongdoing, or suggest that we don’t enforce the code as good leaders should?”

The impostor paused, waiting for a reply, but Leafstar said nothing. After a few heartbeats Bramblestar spoke again.

“Eventually the Clans will need to take sides,” he growled. “Those who are willing to commit to getting StarClan back no matter the cost . . . and those who are not.”

Still there was no response from Leafstar. Bramblestar let out an angry snort. “Be there tonight!” he snarled.

Rootpaw heard his paw steps retreating, and Bristlefrost and Whitewing following. When he was sure they had left the camp, he slipped out of his hiding place to see Leafstar sitting at the entrance to her den, her tail wrapped around her forepaws and a thoughtful look in her eyes.

As Rootpaw watched, she rose to her paws and let out a commanding yowl. “Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beside the Tallstump for a Clan meeting!”

Confident now that no cat would ask where he had been or what he had been doing, Rootpaw strode out into the center of the camp and sat beside Tree and Violetshine, who glanced at each other warily as they reappeared from the warriors’ den. “Another meeting?” Tree asked in a hushed voice. “What now?” Rootpaw could see his father’s confusion reflected in the expressions of several of the gathering warriors.

Needleclaw bounded over to join them. The two medicine cats left their den to sit near Leafstar, while the apprentice Wrenpaw scampered up to the side of her mentor, Rabbitleap. More warriors emerged from their den until almost the whole of SkyClan was assembled. The deputy, Hawkwing, was the last to appear, and padded over to sit at his leader’s side, glancing at Leafstar with a questioning look.

“Some of you know that I have just had a visit from Bramblestar,” Leafstar began, her gaze traveling seriously around her Clan. “He has called us to an emergency Gathering tonight, and he also tells me we must punish the codebreakers in our Clan so that we can reconnect with StarClan. If any of you have any thoughts about that, now is the time to share them with the rest of us.”

“Do we have any codebreakers?” Plumwillow spoke up from somewhere behind Rootpaw.

“Of course not!” Sagenose replied indignantly.

“I don’t know. . . .” Plumwillow’s voice went on, and Rootpaw glanced over his shoulder to see the dark gray she-cat working her claws worriedly into the ground. “We must reconnect with StarClan. It’s been moons since we last heard from them, and the frost seems to be over. So maybe we should investigate whether there are any codebreakers in our Clan.”

“Yes, and if there are, exile them!” Plumwillow’s mate, Sandynose, asserted.

“Fox dung to that!” Macgyver snarled. “Exile our Clanmates on the say-so of another Clan leader? Maybe ThunderClan is just trying to make trouble in the other Clans. Every cat knows how they like to interfere.”

“Yes, we never had trouble reaching our ancestors in StarClan when we still lived in the gorge,” Sparrowpelt agreed.

Leafstar blinked, still thoughtful, not giving away anything of what she felt. After a moment she turned to Hawkwing. “What do you think?” she asked him.

The dark gray tom dipped his head. “I think that causing trouble isn’t like ThunderClan,” he meowed. “Sometimes they like to have a paw in every cat’s business, but as far as I know they’ve never been destructive. I’d like to find out what Bramblestar hopes to achieve.”

Rootpaw’s belly tightened. Should he tell them what he knew? To his surprise, before he could speak, he saw Frecklewish rise to her paws and pad forward to stand beside Leafstar.

“There’s something I should have told you before,” she confessed, “but I was afraid of what it might mean for all the Clans.” She paused, looking around at the gathered cats with trepidation. “The truth is . . . Bramblestar is not the Bramblestar we all know. I saw the real Bramblestar on the night Shadowsight disappeared. He was a ghost, wandering far away from his body.”

Admiration tingled through Rootpaw as he listened to the medicine cat. Frecklewish was taking a brave step, telling the whole Clan even though the other medicine cats had been unwilling to tell even their leaders. But I can’t blame her. . . . She’s doing what’s best for our Clan.

As Frecklewish finished speaking, the Clan remained in a stunned silence for several heartbeats, cats blinking in confusion and trying to make sense of what they had just heard.

“Have you got bees in your brain?” Sparrowpelt growled at last. “Whoever heard of a cat’s spirit wandering out of his body?”

As if the senior warrior had given a signal, the Clan erupted into yowls of protest, disbelief, and fear. Leafstar let the noise continue for a few heartbeats, then raised her tail for silence. “Enough!” she meowed sternly.

“How could this be?” she wondered when the Clan was quiet enough for her to make herself heard. She directed her amber gaze toward Tree. “Did you have something to do with this?” she asked.

Rootpaw was aware of Frecklewish’s gaze on him. She expected him to speak up, he realized. For a moment he hesitated, still reluctant to admit in front of every cat that he was as weird as his father.

Before he could, Tree stood up with a brief nod toward Leafstar. “I’ve seen Bramblestar’s ghost, too,” he meowed.

That isn’t a lie, Rootpaw thought. Tree saw Bramblestar at the medicine-cat meeting. But it wasn’t the whole story, not by a fox-length.

“Oh, so he’s another of your ghosts, Tree,” Sagenose mewed with a long, elaborate yawn. “Thought so.”

The mockery in Sagenose’s words gave Rootpaw the courage he needed. He was ashamed and grateful that Tree had tried to shield him from the Clan’s scrutiny, but he knew he couldn’t sit still and let his father take all the criticism. He sprang to his paws.

“Actually, I was the one who saw the ghost first,” he announced. “I’ve been seeing it for moons now, ever since Bramblestar died in the cold and Shadowsight tried to bring him back.”

“Yeah, sure, and hedgehogs fly,” Harrybrook sneered.

A few of the others murmured agreement with the gray tom. Rootpaw tried to read Leafstar’s expression, but she was giving nothing away. He closed his eyes, concentrating hard to focus on Bramblestar and call out to his spirit, hoping that he might be able to appear again.

That might be the only way to prove what Frecklewish and I are saying.

But no ghost responded to Rootpaw’s call. He could feel that Bramblestar was far away from the SkyClan camp. Rootpaw could only hope that the ThunderClan leader was still out there somewhere.

“Why would Bramblestar appear to you?” Macgyver asked. He wasn’t mocking Rootpaw like Harrybrook, but he couldn’t hide the fact that he didn’t believe a word Rootpaw had said. “If he had to come to a cat with the Sisters’ blood, why not Tree?”

“I don’t know!” Rootpaw retorted. He faced Macgyver, his pelt bristling with indignation. “But I’m telling the truth. I saw him!”

“So did I,” Frecklewish asserted, while Fidgetflake nodded agreement.

“And me. Seeing ghosts is very different from the visions of the medicine cats,” Fidgetflake went on, with a hard look at the cats who had voiced their disbelief. “But that doesn’t seem to make it any less real.”

The SkyClan cats were muttering together, exchanging uneasy glances as if none of them knew what to make of Rootpaw’s story. Rootpaw stood listening, his belly roiling with tension as he wondered what their verdict would be, and what Leafstar would decide. He gave a start of surprise as he felt a tail rest on his shoulder, and turned his head to see his mentor, Dewspring, standing by his side.

“There’s one thing that occurs to me,” Dewspring began, raising his voice to be heard over the chattering. “Bramblestar has always been an honorable cat in the past. Does any cat feel that this recent behavior is like him?”

Warm with gratitude, Rootpaw realized that his mentor must believe him, and the rest of his Clanmates were listening, thinking over what he had just said.

Maybe now Dewspring will understand why my mind hasn’t been totally on my training. . . .

Eventually Leafstar waved her tail to quiet the Clan once more. “I don’t know what to make of any of this,” she admitted. “I trust my medicine cats, and I know that Tree and Rootpaw are loyal Clan members. I want to believe them, but I don’t want to believe that some mysterious spirit cat is driving ThunderClan to exile its warriors.” She paused for a moment to give her chest fur a thoughtful lick. “The stakes of being wrong are so high,” she continued. “SkyClan is still the new Clan around the lake; if we accuse Bramblestar of being an impostor, we could start a war.”

“Maybe we should do just that!” Sandynose put in. Plumwillow gave him an irritated nudge.

Leafstar gave Sandynose a chilly nod, as if she had heard his suggestion but didn’t think much of it. “SkyClan lived alone for a very long time,” she went on. “We haven’t faced as many battles as the cats who have been living by the lake for all these moons—and in their old forest for seasons before that. In battle many cats die—not just the bad ones. I believe that Tree and Rootpaw are trying to help, but I haven’t seen enough yet to risk cats’ lives.”

The hope that Rootpaw had begun to feel faded abruptly at his leader’s decision. But it’s true, what she says, he admitted to himself. It must be really tough for a leader to lead her cats to their death.

“Then what are we going to do?” Sparrowpelt asked.

“No matter what, there is one thing SkyClan will always do,” Leafstar replied. “We will protect one another.”

The decisiveness in Leafstar’s voice made Rootpaw think that the meeting must be over, until Violetshine rose to her paws. “Of course you are right,” she began, dipping her head toward Leafstar. “But if Bramblestar is violent toward other cats, especially those in his own Clan—cats he is supposed to care for—then he must be stopped.” Her voice shook a little as she added, “I learned about that from Darktail.”

Rootpaw stared at his mother. She must feel very strongly to mention Darktail. Normally she never talks about that part of her life.

Leafstar met Violetshine’s gaze thoughtfully. “That’s true,” she meowed at last. “So it’s decided. We will protect one another. And we will keep our eyes and ears on Bramblestar, and do our best to prevent him from hurting any other cat.”

The Clan leader half turned away, perhaps to go back to her den, then swung around to face her Clan again. “There’s one more thing,” she added, beckoning with her tail to the two medicine cats. “Frecklewish, you said that Rootpaw’s and Tree’s ghost-seeing is as true as medicine-cat visions. So it seems obvious to me we should be asking ourselves: Should Rootpaw be apprenticed to you to become a medicine cat?”

Rootpaw let out a gasp, too shocked by the suggestion to comment on it. Frecklewish was shaking her head uncertainly. “I’ve never heard of a medicine cat with his abilities. . . .”

“That doesn’t mean there can’t be one,” Leafstar told her briskly.

“Of course we could always use another medicine cat,” Frecklewish responded. She gave Rootpaw a look from narrowed eyes, as if he were an unknown herb that might be good for healing or might turn out to be poisonous. “But I can’t say Rootpaw has ever shown much interest in the job.”

At last Leafstar turned to Rootpaw. “What do you think, Rootpaw?” she asked. “Would you be willing to try?”

Rootpaw realized he was gaping at his Clan leader. “I—I’m not sure,” he stammered. “I’d rather be a warrior, but if I’m needed as a medicine cat, I’ll serve my Clan the best way I can.”

Maybe this is a good thing, he tried to tell himself. At least being a medicine cat is a sort of okay way to be weird!

Leafstar turned back to her Clan and raised her voice once again. “Then it is decided. Rootpaw will become a medicine-cat apprentice,” she announced.

At her words, Rootpaw’s belly felt like it had fallen out past his paws and down into the earth. An image of Bristlefrost flashed into his mind, her sleek gray fur and graceful movements, and he suddenly remembered the drawbacks of what he had just promised to do.

My apprenticeship will last even longer, and I’ll be further behind Needleclaw. And maybe even worse—I’ll never be able to take a mate. . . .