Skyclan returns

Chapter 16

Hollywing slipped through the branches of the warriors' den, keeping to the shadows of the night as she made her way over to the dirt place tunnel. The night air was cool, but there was no breeze to ruffle the deputy's fur or carry the scents of other cats to her. Glancing up at the shining moon overhead, she knew Jaysight and Lionclaw would be making their way over to the meeting place soon as well.

Lionclaw was on watch at the tunnel entrance, and in a few heartbeats, he'd switch off with Brightheart, who was to guard the camp next. Jaysight would be sneaking past Leafpool right about now, Hollywing considered as she padded through the tunnel that separated the camp from the lush forest.

Once outside, she hid under a bush in case another cat would pass by and see her, and waited silently for her brothers to appear. Jaysight was first to come, holding a bundle of herbs in his mouth. He tried to scent the air, but Hollywing could tell he was having trouble trying to smell anything around the strong scent of the herbs.

"Jaysight, over here," she whispered as quietly as she could, glancing around to make sure they were alone. Jaysight flicked his ears in recognition and crept beside Hollywing.

The moon rose higher and higher until Hollywing started to wonder whether Lionclaw would ever come out. Finally, she spotted his golden pelt as he slipped out of the tunnel entrance and towards them. "What took you so long?" Jaysight hissed, but his voice was muffled by the sound of the herbs.

"I had to double back into the warriors' den and stay there for awhile so that Brightheart wouldn't get suspicious," Lionclaw explained apologetically.

"Let's get going," Hollywing urged, and started forward. She placed her tail lightly on Jaysight's shoulder and led him as she walked, Lionclaw bringing up the rear. For once, Jaysight didn't complain about being showed where to go, and Hollywing wondered whether the herbs were in his way or he just wanted to get to SkyClan's territory faster.

Every shadow, every snap of a twig and woodland noise seemed to be a warrior about to catch the three sneaking out of camp to Hollywing. She jumped as a squirrel scampered up a tree overhead, but quickly moved on when she heard Lionclaw chuckle nervously behind her.

When they reached the lake with no interruption, Hollywing stopped. "Which way are going?" she asked cautiously, looking across WindClan and ShadowClan's territory. "We'll have to get to RiverClan's territory and pass through there, but before that, should we go through WindClan or ShadowClan?"

"WindClan would be easiest," Jaysight spoke up for the first time since they left camp. "If we walk in the water, we shuldn't leave so much scent behind, too."

Hollywing nodded, then remembered Jaysight was blind, and said, "Okay, WindClan it is." Picking her way down to the shore wasn't very difficult, and when they reached the bottom, she veered to the left, towards WindClan. This is going pretty smoothly, Hollywing thought to herself as they crossed the border, keeping on the edge of the water.

The lake was cold, and little waves pulled at the cats' belly fur, slowing them down a little. It seemed like ages of scenting nervously for enemy cats and wading through water before the three finally reached RiverClan's territory. "How do we get to SkyClan without being scented on RiverClan territory?" Lionclaw asked.

Looking around, Hollywing saw that most of the shore on this side was covered with mud, whereas on ThunderClan's side, there were mostly pebbles. "Roll in the mud," Hollywing instructed, already smearing her pelt with the muck. At Lionclaw's and Jaysight's disgusted looks, she said, "It'll hide our scent, I did it last time I snuck here to see Willowberry when we were still apprentices."

With doubtful glances, her brothers slowly covered themselves in the mud. "Come on, we have to hurry," Hollywing mewed impatiently. "We don't have all night."

"Calm down, Hollywing," Lionclaw muttered. "We're going as fast as we can." Sighing, Hollywing waited for them to finish, then set off again.

"You know where their camp is, right?" Jaysight asked.

"Of course," Hollywing replied confidently. "Just leave finding it to me."

The ThunderClan deputy bounded trough RiverClan's territory almost as fast as she could, then sped through SkyClan towards where she remembered the camp to be. She heard Jaysight breathing hard behind her, but she couldn't stop now when they were so close. Finally, she halted, waving her tail for the others to stop.

Jaysight almost ran into her, not catching the sign. Lionclaw whispered softly, "Are we here?"

"Yeah," Hollywing replied quietly. "The medicine den is right in front of us. I made sure to come at this angle so we'd be right behind it. Your turn now, Jaysight."

Jaysight padded forward and set down the herbs carefully before him. "Moonpaw!" he called softly. "Are you there?" No answer. "Moonpaw?" A rustle sounded behind the cats, and they all jumped when Moonpaw stepped out of a scraggly bush right behind them.

"What are all of you doing here?" the medicine cat apprentice asked incredously.

"We brought you herbs," Jaysight replied awkwardly, pushing the herbs towards her. "I know SkyClan needed them a lot."

"Mousebrain, you shouldn't have come all the way out here for that!" Moonpaw whispered angrily. "You could've been caught! And how am I supposed to explain to Echosong how I got these? If we had wanted your help, we would've asked for it." Her look softened as she saw Jaysight's face fall. "But thank you."

Turning to Hollywing and Lionclaw, she added. "You guys should go now before something bad happens." Hollywing nodded, a little surprised by Moonpaw's words; she hadn't expected the friendly she-cat to get so mad.

Picking up the herbs, Moonpaw left the three standing there, gently brushing pelts with Jaysight as she passed. Hollywing watched this with mixed emotions; she could tell that the two cats cared greatly about one another, but two medicine cats from different Clans getting too close was a bad idea. "Jaysight…" she started to say, but he turned an irritated look on her.

"I know, okay!" he hissed. "We're just friends."

Hollywing hated it when her brother seemed able to read her mind, but when she glanced at Lionclaw for support, he had an impassive look on his face. Sighing, she said, "Okay, let's just get back to camp."

---

The next day, Hollywing padded back with the border patrol. They badger patrol had been unable to find its target, which Hollywing couldn't imagine would be too hard, considering the stench. For now, all of the patrols had to have at least four cats, one of them being a senior warrior, and cats couldn't go out by themselves.

The sun was already dipping below the horizon as Hollywing finished giving an uneventful report to Firestar. Her mind kept going back to how subdued Jaysight had been the night before, how they had sneaked back into camp and parted ways without a word. She was starting to regret her decision, but then she remembered how many cats would be helped by the herbs Jaysight had given Moonpaw.

Glancing around, Hollywing spotted Cinderoak talking to Hazeltail near the half rock. Desperate for normal conversation, she padded over to join them. Cinderoak flicked her ear as Hollywing came up to them. "Are we on the next patrol, Hollywing?" she asked.

"No," Hollywing answered, suddenly realizing it had been awhile since she had talked with her old friends. "I just wanted to…talk."

"Oh, okay," Cinderoak replied cheerfully. "We were just talking about the badger that's in our territory."

"Millie is scared they'll come here and attack the camp," Hazeltail added.

"She knows we'll protect her, right?" Hollywing asked incredulously.

"When have we not protected one of own Clan mates before?" Cineroak asked. "Of course she'll be fine!"

"As fine as a squirrel in a tree," Hazeltail commented, and they all laughed. When Hollywing was with her friends like this, it was hard to imagine how troubled she had been just a few moments before, but her happiness was shattered when a returning patrol burst through the tunnel entrance, bleeding and panting.

"Badger…back," Honeyear gasped raggedly. Hollywing ran to the patrol and noticed Firestar come out of the medicine den with Jaysight and Leafpool, heading their way.

"What happened?" Firestar asked when he arrived and the patrol had calmed down a little.

"A badger attacked us!" Berrynose blurted out. "We were patrolling near the WindClan border, and it just came out of nowhere! There was another one with it, too, so we were outmatched and had to run. We didn't even stand a chance!"

"Calm down, Berrynose," Brackenfur, the senior that had been on the patrol, mewed. "It's like he said. What do you want us to do?" The small crowd that had gradually been gathering held their breath as Firestar debated what to do.

"Sandstorm, Cinderoak, Thornclaw and I will take one of the badgers; Brightheart, Ferncloud, Mousewhisker, and Ashfur, I want you to take the other one," Firestar instructed, pointing out the cats as he went.

"What do you want me to do, Firestar?" Hollywing asked, eager to help.

"Pick out a few cats and guard the camp thoroughly," Firestar answered as the patrols gathered. "Make sure not even a mouse could get in. This is a very important task I'm intrusting to you," he added when he saw Hollywing's face fall. "We should be back soon." With that, Firestar waved his tail and the cats left the camp, bound and determined to find the badgers.

"Be careful," Hollywing murmured as Mousewhisker padded past her, their pelts brushing.

"I will be," he promised, then ran after the patrol.

Hollywing watched them go, then turned back to the remaining cats. "Okay, Birchfall, Lionclaw, Poppyflower, and Dustpelt, I want you to help me guard the camp," she told them. "The rest of you, be on your guard, and don't go out for any reason until the patrols return."

The cats nodded in understandment, then dispersed, the chosen cats going to guard and the rest to find something to do. Hollywing couldn't explain it, but she had a bad feeling about the badgers that she just couldn't quite put her paw on. Exhaling a breath she didn't know she'd been holding, she hoped to StarClan that everything would go well.

---

Trampling paws announced the return of the patrols much later that evening. Hollywing had switched out on guarding the camp with Hazeltail, but now she bolted out of the warriors' den to the thorn tunnel. The paw steps were fast and numerous, as if both patrols were coming back at once, but Hollywing could tell something was wrong; there were no cries of victory or exultation, and instead a deadly silence.

"What's wrong?" Hollywing asked the first cat who came through the tunnel, who happened to be Thornclaw. Her stomach clenched in fear at the blank look in the tom's eyes. "What happened?" she demanded.

"We fought the badgers, but…they were strong, really strong…one of them swiped at Sandstorm, but Firestar pushed her out of the way, and…and…" Thornclaw choked over the words.

"Where's Firestar?" Hollywing asked, surprised her voice could sound so calm when her legs practically shaking under her.

Thornclaw jerked his head to the tunnel entrance and Hollywing saw Sandstorm and Cinderoak supporting Firestar between them as they entered the camp. ThunderClan's leader had a deep cut all along his side, going from his neck to his tail. His eyes were starting to glaze over as Leafpool and Jaysight hurried over to attend to the wounded.

Hollywing quickly went to her leader's side as Leafpool labored over him. "Will he be okay?" she asked nervously.

"Get back, give him some room," Leafpool snapped.

Hollywing was taken aback by her former mentor's attitude. "He still has more lives left, right?"

"No," Leafpool answered, more quietly this time. "This is his last life."

"Hollywing," Firestar panted.

"Hush, don't talk Firestar," Hollywing pleaded, coming to stand by his side. "It can wait until after you're better."

"No, this time I'll be joining the ranks of StarClan," Firestar rasped. Shocked, Hollywing looked at Leafpool for confirmation, but the medicine cat had her head down in admittance. "Listen to me Hollywing. You'll be a great warrior, and I know you'll lead this Clan for many moons to come. Don't be too headstrong, and make wise decisions for everyone. I have faith in you."

Then, Firestar's eyes closed for the last time.