Tigerheart hardly slept. He stared into the darkness while Dovewing and the kits snored gently beside him, anxiety swirling through his thoughts. How would he tell Dovewing? There was no time to wait. The kits were so young. But he had to go back now.
As dawn lifted the darkness, he gazed at Dovewing, still sleeping beside him. The kits were too big now to curl at her belly, and they snuggled around her instead. Pouncekit’s tail trailed over her cheek. Lightkit’s forepaws rested on her flank, while Shadowkit stretched along her spine. Were they old enough to make the journey? Would Dovewing agree? Tigerheart’s throat tightened. Would he have to leave without them?
He crept from the nest and scanned the den. The guardian cats were stirring as gray dawn light filtered through the walls.
Fierce climbed from her nest and stretched. “Who wants to come scavenging with me?”
“I will.” Ant slid from beneath a pile of Twoleg clutter.
Cinnamon crossed the floor. “So will I.”
Mittens stretched beneath the den entrance. “I’ll come.”
Tigerheart hurried forward. Fresh air would help him think. He had to find the words to tell Dovewing that he needed to leave. “I’ll join you.”
Fierce was already leaping onto the wooden ledge that led to the entrance. Cinnamon, Ant, and Mittens followed her out of the den.
“Wait.” Dovewing’s soft mew sounded behind Tigerheart.
He glanced over his shoulder. She was stepping softly from the nest. The kits had rolled into the space she’d left, still asleep.
“I’m coming with you.” Dovewing’s green gaze was soft in the dawn light. She hurried past him, stopping at Blaze’s nest. As he lifted his head sleepily, she blinked at him. “Can you keep an eye on the kits? We’re going scavenging with Fierce.”
“Okay.” He yawned, climbed from his nest, and headed toward the kits.
“Thanks, Blaze.” Dovewing turned to Tigerheart and flicked her tail. “Do you mind if I come?”
“Of course not.” His heart sank. There would be no time to think of the right words to tell her. He couldn’t keep this to himself. He’d have to tell her now. What would she say? Sadness swamped him. If she thought the kits were too young to travel, he would be abandoning her a second time.
Dovewing followed him from the den. Outside, the streets were quiet. Monsters were beginning to prowl, and here and there a Twoleg scuttled along the walkways, head bent against the cold wind. She shifted beside him as he waited for a Twoleg light to turn green. “What are we waiting for?” She looked along the deserted Thunderpath, then bounded across the stone. “I haven’t been out this early since before the kits were born,” she mewed as he followed her to the other side. “I forgot how quiet the city could be.”
Fierce’s scent drifted on the breeze here. Tigerheart guessed that the tortoiseshell was heading for her favorite scrapcans. He headed in the opposite direction. If he was going to talk to Dovewing, he didn’t want to bump into the guardian cats.
“Fierce and the others went that way.” Dovewing gestured away from herself, glancing at him curiously.
“I need to talk to you.” Tigerheart kept his gaze straight ahead. His heart quickened as he spoke. There was no avoiding the conversation now.
“Okay.” Dovewing didn’t look at him, but moved closer, guiding him toward the wall as a Twoleg turned the corner and began hurrying toward them.
Tigerheart didn’t speak until the Twoleg had passed. Ahead, a narrow gap opened between the dens. Tigerheart knew that it led to a small opening where Twolegs left scrapcans. They rarely contained food, but it would be a sheltered spot to talk. He turned in to the gap as they reached it and led the way to the small clearing.
Dovewing followed wordlessly. “So?” She searched his gaze anxiously as he stopped beside the scrapcans and faced her. “What did you want to tell me?”
Tigerheart gazed into the green depths of her eyes. Please understand that I love you. “Spire had another vision.”
Dovewing’s gaze didn’t flicker. She stared at him, stiller than stone.
“He heard a voice,” Tigerheart went on. “A voice Spire said was for me. It gave him a message about Rowanstar.”
Still, Dovewing did not speak. Anxiety glittered in her eyes.
“The voice said he needs me. It said he can’t keep the shadows together.” Tigerheart saw Dovewing’s flanks move as her breath quickened. She held his gaze mutely. Say something. He had to know what she was thinking. When she didn’t speak, he stumbled on, trying to explain. “I can’t ignore this sign,” he meowed desperately. “Rowanstar can’t keep the Clan together. I have to go back. Please don’t think I don’t love you. You and the kits are the most important things in my life. But if I abandon my Clan now, when they need me, I will never forgive myself.” Grief pressed in his chest. Will I ever be able to forgive myself for abandoning Dovewing and our kits?
Dovewing’s eyes shimmered with pain. She stared at him, the wind ruffling her pale gray fur. “I once told you that I would love you whatever choice you made,” she mewed thickly. Tigerheart could hardly breathe as she went on. “I won’t make you choose between your Clan and me this time.”
Was she telling him to go? Tigerheart’s thoughts seemed to freeze. He could only stare into Dovewing’s eyes, trying to read what she was feeling. Was she angry? Was his leaving all she and the kits would remember of him? “I’m sorry,” he murmured, his heart splitting with pain. “Please forgive me.”
Dovewing blinked. “Forgive you for what? We’ll leave together.”
Really? As he stared at her dumbly, hardly able to believe his ears, dawn sunshine found a crack between the nests and cut a strip across the clearing.
“You saw the kits yesterday,” Dovewing went on. “They climbed a tree by themselves. No one taught them how to climb. They wanted to see more of the world than we have shown them. They are eager for adventure.” She paused, fear darkening her gaze. “I think they are ready to make the journey home.”
Tigerheart could hardly believe his ears. “Do you mean it?”
“Yes.” Dovewing whisked her tail. “It’s a dangerous journey. I’m not letting you make it alone.”
“But the kits.” If it was dangerous for him, then for young kits it could be deadly. “They’re not old enough to—”
Dovewing cut him off. “As long as they are with us, they will be safe.” She glanced the way they’d come. Monsters moved beyond the gap. “Come sunup, the city will be crowded with Twolegs and monsters. Foxes roam the streets at night. Cats with no more honor than rogues scavenge in every alley. This is no place for kits to live. Besides . . .” She looked away, her pelt prickling. “Spire isn’t the only cat who’s had dreams.”
Tigerheart leaned forward anxiously. “Did you have another dream? Like the one that led us here?”
She shook her head. “Shadowkit told me he dreamed about a silver-and-white tabby.”
Tigerheart stiffened. Had Spire been right about the kit? Had Shadowkit seen this tabby “in the shadows”?
Sadness misted Dovewing’s gaze. “It sounded like Ivypool. And the cat in the dream had kits. What if Ivypool’s really had kits? I want to meet them. I want them to meet Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit. I don’t want them to be strangers. They need to be with the Clans. We have to get them home before they’re old enough to become ’paws. They have so much to learn about Clan life.”
Become ’paws. Tigerheart could imagine Pouncekit clinging to the trunk of a pine, arguing with her mentor about how far up she should climb. He purred suddenly. “I feel sorry for the warrior who has Pouncekit as an apprentice.”
Dovewing’s whiskers twitched with amusement. “She’ll question every order.”
“She’ll probably try to give her mentor hunting tips.” Tigerheart’s heart warmed as though sunshine poured through it.
“The guardian cats have been good to us,” Dovewing meowed. “But I don’t want our kits to think that healing the sick and avoiding Twolegs is all there is to life.”
Tigerheart purred louder. “Our kits aren’t even very good at avoiding Twolegs. Did you see them in that tree?”
Dovewing purred too. “The only way they could have attracted more attention would have been to yowl at them.”
“I’m glad we found them in time.” Tigerheart stopped purring as he pictured the Twoleg kit running toward the tree. What would have happened if he hadn’t been there to scare it away? The kits had been trapped and hadn’t even realized it.
Dovewing’s gaze darkened. “We did find them, though. But they need to be back in the forest. For the first time, I realized how little they understand about what it means to be a warrior. No Clan cat would have let curiosity cloud their judgment. The kits should have known the risk they were taking.”
They need to be back in the forest. Tigerheart’s belly twisted with worry at Dovewing’s words. “Which forest?” he asked bluntly.
Dovewing hesitated.
“You said that Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit mustn’t be strangers to Ivypool’s kits,” he pressed. “Do you plan to raise them in ThunderClan?”
Dovewing shifted her paws self-consciously.
“You know I have to go back to ShadowClan,” he breathed.
“I know.” She dropped her gaze. “My heart tells me to be with you. My head tells me to raise my kits among my kin.”
“They’re my kits too,” Tigerheart pointed out.
Alarm sparked in her eyes. “Would you try to take them from me if I don’t join ShadowClan?”
The pain in her mew sliced his heart. Now he was making her choose, and trying to use their kits to pressure her. “I’m sorry,” he blurted guiltily. “Of course I wouldn’t. If you want to be with ThunderClan, the kits must stay with you until they are old enough to make their own decision.”
Her fur smoothed. She lifted her chin. “We don’t need to think about that yet,” she mewed decisively. “It’s a long way to the lake, and we don’t know what we’ll find when we get there. Let’s get home first, then worry about what to do next.”
Tigerheart padded forward, guessing that, despite her words, Dovewing must be feeling as anxious as he was. Could they really make such a journey with kits? He tried not to think of all the dangers that lay between the city and the lake. Even the thought of Pouncekit beside the Silverpath made his belly clench. The wind from a Thundersnake was strong enough to sweep her beneath its paws. He closed his eyes, trying not to tremble as he pressed his cheek against Dovewing’s. “Everything will be okay,” he murmured softly, trying to reassure himself as much as Dovewing.
Fierce blinked slowly at Tigerheart. He wondered for a moment if she’d heard him. “We have to leave,” he meowed again. “My Clan needs me.”
Fierce got to her paws and dipped her head to Tigerheart. “We will miss you.”
Dovewing sat behind him. He could hear Pouncekit, Lightkit, and Shadowkit fidgeting beside her. The kits had been fizzing with excitement since Tigerheart and Dovewing had told them that they were going back to the lake.
“We’re going to be warriors!” Lightkit had squeaked.
“Can we ride real badgers when we get to the forest?” Pouncekit had asked eagerly.
Shadowkit’s gray pelt had rippled nervously. “Will we see a Thundersnake?”
Tigerheart and Dovewing had answered as many questions as they could, but as the kits grew noisier, Tigerheart knew he’d have to break the news to Fierce before the guardian cats overheard them. Telling Pouncekit, Shadowkit, and Lightkit to sit quietly, he’d crossed the floor to share their news with Fierce.
The tortoiseshell beckoned the other guardian cats closer now with a flick of her tail. Cobweb and Rascal left the scraps they were sharing. Mittens, Ant, and Cinnamon padded from the strip of sunshine they had been bathing in. Spire and Blaze left Feather and Scowl watching from their nests. Dotty, Pipsqueak, Peanut, and Bracken fanned out around Tigerheart and Dovewing, while Boots watched from beneath the wooden ledge near the entrance.
Fierce lifted her chin. “Tigerheart and Dovewing have to leave us,” she announced.
Dotty frowned. “Where are you going?”
“Have you found a new den?” Mittens asked.
“We’re going back to the lake,” Tigerheart told them. “My Clan needs me.”
Cinnamon padded closer, her eyes sharp with interest. “How do you know?”
“I think a StarClan cat spoke to me through Spire.” Tigerheart decided that it was easier to be honest, even if the cats didn’t believe him. “ShadowClan is in trouble.”
Blaze glanced at Spire in surprise. “How did it talk through you? Did it come to visit?”
Spire met the young tom’s gaze. “I heard a voice in a vision.”
“And that’s why you’re leaving?” Mittens’s eyes widened.
“That’s crazy!” Rascal spluttered. “Spire’s always having visions. We don’t act on them.”
Cinnamon had narrowed her eyes. “You forget that where Tigerheart and Dovewing come from, cats take dreams seriously.” Her gaze drifted toward Dovewing. “Isn’t that what brought you here in the first place?”
“Yes.” Dovewing wrapped her tail around Shadowkit, who huddled closer as the guardian cats stared. “And now a dream is taking us home. Our hearts tell us it’s the right thing to do.”
Mittens sniffed. “It seems like a weird way to make decisions.”
Spire blinked slowly at the tabby tom. “You listen to your belly when it’s hungry and your throat when it’s thirsty. Why not be guided by your heart when it speaks to you?”
Fierce padded forward and touched her muzzle to Tigerheart’s cheek, then to Dovewing’s. “We are glad you came. You have taught us a lot, and we’ll miss you when you’re gone. But I guessed you wouldn’t stay forever.” She looked fondly at Pouncekit and Lightkit. “The call of home is strongest when you have kits.” She purred at Shadowkit. “I’m glad they will be raised among their own kind as warriors.”
“I want to be a warrior!” Blaze’s mew took Tigerheart by surprise. The kit was beginning to lose his kit fluff, but he still wasn’t old enough to become a ’paw.
“You’re too young,” he answered.
“They’re not!” Blaze pointed his nose as Pouncekit and Lightkit.
“They’ll have to train for many moons,” Tigerheart explained.
“I could train too.” Blaze stared at him boldly. “Let me come. I can help you scavenge and take care of the kits.”
Dovewing shifted her paws uneasily. “You’re still a kit yourself.”
Spire padded to Blaze’s side. “Let him join you,” he mewed softly. “It would make my decision easier.”
Dovewing tipped her head. Tigerheart blinked at the skinny tom in surprise. “What decision?” he asked.
“I’m traveling with you,” Spire told him.
I will not live beside the widewater. Tigerheart remembered their conversation. Spire had wanted Blaze to go, but he hadn’t wanted to come with them. “I’ll take Blaze. If he’s prepared to train hard, then he might make a great warrior one day. But you said you didn’t belong beside the lake.”
“It is not important that I belong,” Spire mewed softly. “It is only important that I make the journey.”
Cinnamon swished her tail. “I want to come too.”
“So do I.” Ant hurried to the she-cat’s side.
They stared hopefully at Tigerheart.
Taken aback, Tigerheart looked at Dovewing. Suddenly their small party had become a patrol. He guided Dovewing to the side of the den. “What do you think?” he whispered.
“I think that we are traveling with young kits.” Dovewing looked past him to where Cinnamon and Ant were watching hopefully. “They would be safer if we had company.”
“But what will ShadowClan say if I return with strangers?” Would they turn them away? Tigerheart wouldn’t blame them. “They will remember what happened when they took in rogues.”
“These cats aren’t rogues,” Dovewing reminded him. “We have seen them fight to protect their denmates, and scavenge for others. They take care of their sick like Clan cats.” She looked at Tigerheart defiantly. “If ShadowClan won’t take them in, then ThunderClan will.”
He saw a flash of pride in her green gaze. Unease prickled beneath his pelt. Here, among the guardian cats, it had been easy to forget she was a ThunderClan cat. She was clearly still fiercely proud of her Clan and shared their values. Could she ever learn to live as a ShadowClan cat? He pushed the thought away. They were both warriors. That was enough for now. “Okay.” He turned to Cinnamon and Ant. “You can come.”
Cinnamon’s eyes shone.
Ant looked at Fierce. “We’re sorry to leave.”
“Others will come,” Fierce reassured him. “Ice-chill is here. Your nests won’t be wasted.”
“When are we leaving?” Blaze asked excitedly.
Tigerheart glanced through a clear stretch of wall. It was sunhigh and the weather was fine. The cold would be hard on the kits, but rain would be worse. “We leave now.”
Cinnamon hurried quickly toward Mittens and Rascal, touching them each on the cheek with her muzzle. Tigerheart pressed against Dovewing as they watched the guardian cats say good-bye to their denmates. Then Ant jumped toward the den entrance. Cinnamon, Spire, and Blaze followed and waited on the wooden ledge for Tigerheart, Dovewing, and the kits.
Pouncekit rushed ahead, leaping nimbly onto the ledge. Lightkit jumped after her and turned as Shadowkit leaped up. His forepaws reached the ledge and clung on, his hind legs dangling. Tigerheart felt Dovewing stiffen beside him. He guessed what she was thinking. If Shadowkit couldn’t make such an easy jump, how would he manage the long journey to the lake? Then Lightkit ducked down and nipped Shadowkit’s scruff between her teeth. Pouncekit reached a paw under his tail and helped heave him up. Hope flickered in Tigerheart’s belly. That’s how. We’ll take care of one another.
Blaze glanced down at him. “How do we get out of the city?”
Tigerheart returned the young tom’s gaze. He’d thought about this night after night. There was only one way he could be sure that they’d find their way home. “We head for the station. We have to find the Silverpath that led me here.”