The Lost Clan
Blindness
Chapter 1
Screamheart stood in the middle of the clearing, gazing at what was left of the Dawnbreeze camp. A crescent moon, thin as a claw, drifted above the trees that surrounded the stone hollow. Its pale light revealed the dens trampled down, the thorn barrier at the camp entrance broken and tossed aside, and the wounded cats of Dawnbreeze slowly creeping from the shadows, their fur bristling and their eyes stretched wide with shock. Screamheart could still hear the trampling of the wolves as they lumbered away. The undergrowth beyond the entrance quivered where they had pushed through, driven off with the help of Shimmer herself and the Dawnbreeze warriors who still had rage lingering in their eyes.
But it wasn’t the sight of devastation that pricked Screamheart’s pelt and kept her paws frozen to the ground. Two cats she had never thought she’d see again were picking their way carefully among the scattered thorns of the entrance barrier. They were uninjured, their pelts sleek and their eyes alight with alarm.
“Midnightgaze! What are you doing here?” Screamheart called.
The powerful white tomcat paced forward until he could touch noses with Screamheart. “It’s good to see you again,” he meowed. “I… I wanted to see if you’d found a place to live. But what’s happened here?”
“Wolves,” Screamheart replied. She glanced around, wondering where to begin helping her wounded and frightened Clanmates.
Besides Midnightgaze, the slender black she-cat brushed her tail against a long scratch on Screamheart’s shoulder.
“You’re hurt.” She meowed.
Screamheart twitched her ears. “It’s nothing. Welcome to Dawnbreeze, Night. I’m sorry you had to travel so far to find us like this.” She paused and looked from one to the other. “Is everything alright in the Tribe of Pointed Stones? I never expected you to come visit us so soon.”
Midnightgaze shot a glance at Night, so swift Screamheart almost missed it. “Everything’s fine,” He meowed. “We just wanted to be sure you had found a new place to live, like Soulclan promised.”
Screamheart looked around the devastated camp, the stricken cats stumbling around through the remains of their home.
“Yes, we found it,” she murmured.
“You said wolves attacked you?” Night prompted, sounding puzzled.
“They came here on purpose,” Screamheart explained. “Soulclan knows where they came from, more wolves than my old pack had. They would have killed us if Shimmer and her pack hadn’t turned up.” Her paws trembled, and she sank her claws into the bloodstained earth to keep herself steady.
Midnightgaze nodded. “Don’t worry about telling us everything now. What can we do to help?”
Screamheart sent a silent prayer of thanks to Soulclan that they had chosen this moment to send her brother back to the Clans. She and Midnightgaze had been through a lot together on the first journey to the Wild-Dog-Place, and she could think of few cats she’d rather have beside her now.
She turned her head as a thin wail came from a trampled clump of ferns at the edge of the hollow. “We need to find all the cats that have been badly wounded. Some will be on their way to join Soulclan,” she warned, glancing at Night. “The wolves came to kill, not drive us out.”
Night met her gaze steadily. “Whatever they have done, I want to help. I have seen this kind of savagery before from Sharptooth, remember?” Sharptooth was a giant mountain cat that had terrorized the Tribe of Pointed Stones for many moons, until the cats from the forest arrived. Wolfsong’s sister, Shinepaw, had died in the fall that killed the savage animal.
“We’ll do whatever we have to,” Midnightgaze promised. “Just tell us what to do. Are you Dawnbreeze’s deputy now?”
Screamheart studied a fragment of moss that was trapped under her front paw. “No,” she admitted. “Shadestar has decided not to appoint another deputy. He wants to give Nightheart more time to come back.”
“That’s tough.” There was a note of sympathy in Midnightgaze’s voice that made Screamheart wince. She didn’t want any cat’s pity.
Suddenly Night froze. “I thought you said the wolves had gone,” she hissed.
Screamheart whipped around, then relaxed as she saw a familiar, pointed, silver face pushing its way out of a clump of dead bracken.
Midnightgaze touched Night’s shoulder lightly with his tail. “That’s Shimmer,” he meowed. “She wouldn’t hurt any cats.” He bounded forward to meet the strong wolf.
Shimmer peered at Midnightgaze with crystal-blue eyes. Then she gave a small nod. “Cat friend from journey,” she rumbled. “Good it is to see you again. And this cat from mountain Tribe, is she not?” she added, gesturing with her snout toward Night.
“That’s right,” Midnightgaze meowed. “This is Night, a prey-hunter from the Tribe of Pointed Stones.” He beckoned Night forward with his tail; she went over reluctantly, as if she couldn’t quite believe this wolf was friendly. Screamheart understood her feelings; she knew Shimmer as well as any wolf from her pack, but it was hard not to look at her scar that ran down her entire left side without remembering snapping jaws, fierce gleaming eyes, a purple flower being stained red with blood, and claws that shredded cats’ fur like leaves in newleaf…
There was the sound of heavy paws, and she looked up to see Shimmer standing beside her. Grief and anger sparked from her bright-blue eyes. “Too late my warning,” she rasped. “Not enough could I do.”
“You brought the pack to help us,” Screamheart pointed out. “Without you, our whole Clan would have been wiped out.”
Shimmer bowed her head, the white stripe that ran the length of her snout gleaming in the faint moonlight. “Shame for my kin, I feel.”
“Every cat knows this attack had nothing to do with you or the pack,” Screamheart told her. “You will always be welcome in this Clan.”
Shimmer still looked troubled. Behind her, Screamheart spotted her Clan leader near the center of the clearing, with Blair and the Pack-Dogs.
She padded toward them, motioning with her tail for Midnightgaze and Night to follow. A fox-length away, in the shelter of an upturned thorn bush, Duskheart was bending over the limp body of Grayflight. For a heartbeat Screamheart wondered if the gray warrior was dead, until she saw Grayflight’s tail twitch. Soulclan shall not take all our warriors tonight, she thought determinedly. Shadestar’s chest still heaved from the effort of fighting. His smoke-colored pelt was torn, and blood was oozing from a long scratch along his flank. Screamheart felt a flash of concern. Had her leader lost another life? Whether he had or not, he was badly hurt. I will help him until my last breath, Screamheart vowed. Together, we can bring the Clan through this until we are even stronger than before. In spite of his injuries, Shadestar’s eyes were bright and he sat up straight as he faced the Beta, Blair.
“The thanks of all Dawnbreeze go with you,” he meowed.
“I doubt you’ll have any more trouble with those savages,” Blair replied. “But I can leave a couple of Scouts behind to keep watch, if you like.”
“No thanks, I don’t think we’ll need them.” The warmth in Shadestar’s eyes revealed the long friendship between these two animals. Screamheart silently thanked Soulclan and the Sprit-Wolves that the tension between him and her, which everyone had felt since her disappearance, seemed to be over at last.
“Do your wolves need the help of our medicine cat before you go?” the Dawnbreeze leader added. “If any of them are badly injured, they’re welcome to stay here.”
Screamheart glanced across at Duskheart, who was still crouched beside Grayflight. When he heard Shadestar, he raised his head and stared across the clearing at the Pack-Dogs. Screamheart felt a stab of sympathy as his gaze sought out one in particular. Two days ago, Nightmare and Screamheart had returned to Dawnbreeze so that Screamheart and Duskheart could be together, but news of the wolf attack had brought them shock. Screamheart hoped that Duskheart had healed; Dawnbreeze needed him more than ever now that so many cats had been wounded in the wolf attack.
Nightmare was staring down at his paws as if he was deliberately avoiding Duskheart’s gaze. Fur was missing from a broad scratch on his flank, but the wound had stopped bleeding and he stood with his weight on all four paws. Claw had a torn ear, and Blair was bleeding from one shoulder, but none of the wounds looked serious enough to stop the Pack-Dogs from returning to the mountains.
“I think we’re all fit to travel, thank Spirit-Wolves,” Blair answered the Dawnbreeze leader. “If you’re sure you don’t need our help anymore, we’ll return to our own territory now.” Nightmare raised his head and shot one despairing glance at Duskheart. He scrambled to his paws, leaving Grayflight, and padded across to meet the Pack warrior. They stood a little way from the others, their heads close together. Standing in the shadows, Screamheart couldn’t help overhearing, but she didn’t want to disturb them by moving.
“Good-bye, Nightmare,” Duskheart murmured, sounding choked with pain. “You . . . you’d better not get in anymore trouble again.”
Nightmare’s eyes flashed, and for a heartbeat Screamheart thought he was going to protest. Then he shook his head. “I will,” he meowed. “It would never have worked. I will never mean enough to you.”
Duskheart sank his claws into the ground. “You mean more to me than you will ever know.”
The tip of Nightmare’s black tail twitched. “You’re a medicine cat. I understand what that means now. Spirit-Wolves and Soulclan go with you, Duskheart. I’ll never forget you.” He and Duskheart touched noses, a delicate contact that lasted less than a heartbeat. Then Nightmare turned back to his Packmates. Duskheart watched him go, his eyes clouded with loss. Claw gave Nightmare a dark look, and Fang pointedly turned his back on him, but Blair said nothing, only gathering all his wolves together with a sweep of his long tail before leading them out of the camp.
“Thank you again!” Shadestar called after them. “May the Sprit-Wolves light your path.” Duskheart stood motionless until Nightmare’s gray-black figure had vanished into the shadow of the trees, and then padded across the clearing toward Yellowleaf’s den. On the way he flicked his tail to summon Goldenpelt, who had helped Yellowleaf with medicine cat duties in the past.
“Are you sure?” Goldenpelt asked hesitantly.
“Of course I’m sure.” Duskheart’s voice was ragged with exhaustion and grief. “Every cat in the Clan is wounded. I’ll be glad of your skills.”
Goldenpelt’s eyes gleamed, and she seemed to shake off some of her own weariness as she followed Duskheart to the den.
“Is that Midnightgaze and Night?” Screamheart jumped as a hoarse voice spoke in her ear. Wolfsong had appeared beside her. Her gray fur was matted with blood and the tip of one ear was torn.
“Can’t you see that it is?” Screamheart replied, realizing too late how abrupt she sounded. “Sorry—” she began.
Wolfsong took a pace forward so that her pelt brushed hers. She touched the tip of her tail to her mouth to silence her. “Stupid furball,” she whispered. Screamheart tensed, wondering if she was imagining the affection in her bright-yellow gaze. Glancing past her, she saw Grayflight glaring at her with narrowed eyes.
Wolfsong didn’t notice Grayflight. She limped past Screamheart to touch noses with the visitors. “Thank Soulclan you have come,” she meowed, echoing Screamheart's thoughts. “We need all our friends right now.” Screamheart felt her shoulders droop in exhaustion just thinking about how much had to be done. Injuries to treat, dens to rebuild, fresh-kill to gather . . . “We’ll speak to Shadestar and then get started.”
As they approached the Clan leader, Shadowclaw staggered up to them. Blood trickled from a deep gash above one eye.
“Midnightgaze?” he muttered, shaking his head in confusion. “No, it can’t be.” The leopard-like warrior slumped to the ground, where he lay panting. Wolfsong rested her tail on his shoulder, urging him to lie still until his injuries could be treated. Screamheart led Midnightgaze and Night up to Shadestar. The Clan leader’s eyes stretched wide in surprise.
“Midnightgaze . . . and Night! What are you doing here?”
“There’ll be time to explain later,” Midnightgaze meowed. “For now, Shadestar put us to work.”
Shadestar stared around the clearing as if he wasn’t sure where to start. “We should sort out the warriors’ den so the cats who have been hurt most can get some sleep . . . but we need to get the entrance barrier back in place, too.”
The whole camp was devastated, and few of the Dawnbreeze cats were in any shape to start rebuilding. Grayflight was slumped on the ground, bleeding from flank and foreleg, while Duskheart patted cobwebs onto his wounds.
Raggedpelt limped up to him, holding one forepaw off the ground; blood trickled from where a claw had been torn out. “Hi, Midnightgaze,” he mewed as he passed, as if this had been such an extraordinary night, the sight of an old friend was no longer a surprise. “Duskheart, can I have a piece of that cobweb?”
Dawnlight was close behind him, her head bent with exhaustion and her tail dragging in the dust. She stopped dead when she spotted Screamheart, then swung around to face Shadestar, her aqua eyes questioning.
“Screamheart’s here?” she meowed. “What happened?”
Shadestar shook his head to silence her. “We’ll talk to her later,” he promised. “For now, she’s home, and that’s all that matters.”
“Shadestar!” A yowl came from across the clearing. “Shadestar, have those crow-food eaters gone?”
Screamheart turned to see the three elders, Tigerfern, Honeyheart, and Berrywing. In the darkness they had to pick their way carefully down the tumble of rocks that led to the ledge where Shadestar had his den. They had taken shelter there while the battle raged below. It was Tigerfern who had called out; she had lost some fur from one shoulder, Berrywing’s tail was bleeding, and Honeyheart had a deep scratch down one side. She was guiding Berrywing with her tail across his shoulders.
“Are you all right?” Screamheart asked, going to meet them.
“Fine,” Tigerfern growled. “A wolf tried to climb up to the Highledge, but we sent it back down the rocks faster than it intended.”
“What if they come back?” Honeyheart sounded distraught.
“They’d better not.” Berrywing flexed his claws, and Screamheart saw dark tufts of fur caught in them. “I don’t need to see to fight wolves. I can find them by their scent.”
“Better let Screamheart lead you to Duskheart so he can look at those scratches,” Shadestar meowed.
“Screamheart?” Tigerfern’s voice was sharp as she swung around to stare at her granddaughter. “She’s back, is she? For good—or until that Pack starts sniffing around again?”
Duskheart bit back a sharp retort. She knew Tigerfern sounded so harsh only because she was shocked and hurt.
“And who’s this?” Tigerfern padded up to Midnightgaze and examined him with narrowed eyes. “Midnightgaze? What’s he doing here?”
“Just paying a visit.” Midnightgaze sounded uncomfortable at the brown elder’s suspicious tone.
Tigerfern grunted, as if she wasn’t completely convinced that Midnightgaze was a friend. “You were a Pack warrior before you left us. Why are you here and not over there?”
“Tigerfern, don’t be so ungrateful!” Wolfsong meowed indignantly. “We need every cat who’s prepared to help. Besides, Midnightgaze is pure Dawnbreeze, remember?” Midnightgaze had left with Screamheart to go with Nightmare to his pack. When Screamheart left to explore the world, he had stayed with the pack.
Tigerfern bristled at Wolfsong, but before she could reply she was interrupted by a cry from Cinderblaze, racing through the broken thorns that were strewn across the entrance to the hollow. “Thunderclaw, where are you?”
Screamheart bounded over to her as she stopped just inside the entrance, gazing around the dark camp and yowling her mate’s name.
“Screamheart, have you seen your father?” she demanded.
“No, not yet,” she admitted. “Come on, I’ll help you look.”
“I should have stayed with him!” Cinderblaze wailed. “I never should have left the camp!”
“But Crystaleyes needed you,” Screamheart reminded her. “She couldn’t have coped without a warrior to look after her, and it was much safer for you both to stay hidden outside the camp. Remember, Crystaleyes hasn’t been a mother long, and she can’t fight well enough with her leg to defend herself and her kits.”
Cinderblaze shook her head distractedly. “Thunderclaw can’t be dead,” she mewed.
“We’ll find him,” Screamheart promised. Silently, she hoped Soulclan had not chosen her father to join their ranks tonight. She began to search, padding back and forth among the scattered remains of the entrance barrier, gradually working her way back toward the center of the camp. Her breath caught in her throat when she picked up Thunderclaw’s scent and almost stumbled over a heap of tabby fur lying in the shadow of the rock wall. Thunderclaw’s eyes were closed, but as Screamheart stared at him his ears twitched and he let out a sneeze.
“Cinderblaze—over here!” Screamheart called.
“Thunderclaw! Thunderclaw!” At the sound of his mate’s voice Thunderclaw opened his eyes and started to struggle to his paws. Cinderblaze bounded up to him, brushing her pelt against his and covering him with licks. Thunderclaw let out an unsteady purr. Screamheart decided that if Thunderclaw could stand up, he could wait a while before Yellowleaf or Duskheart saw him. She was heading back to the clearing, anxious to start work on the wrecked camp, when she saw that Brackenpaw had followed Cinderblaze into the hollow. The young apprentice had lost almost all the fur from his haunches, and one eye was closed. With his good eye he darted nervous glances from side to side, as if he still expected to see the camp full of invading wolves.
Behind him, Crystaleyes picked her way through the thorns with her three kits scrambling after her. They stared with huge eyes at the devastated dens and the weary, wounded cats. Spotting Shimmer standing in the shadows, Berrykit drew back his lips in a snarl. He took a pace forward, his legs stiff and his fur bristling. With a squeak of alarm, Crystaleyes rushed to his side.
“Berrykit! What are you doing? Come away before the wolf hurts you.”
“Nothing to fear, small one,” Shimmer rumbled gently. Crystaleyes just glared at her, sweeping her tail around Berrykit and drawing him away toward the other cats. Screamheart was shocked at Crystaleyes’s reaction, Shimmer was the most faithful and courageous wolf she had ever met, and even though she was a wolf, her voice was soothing, like eating honey with a dried throat. Screamheart soon realized Crystaleyes had no idea who Shimmer was.
“It’s all right!” she called. Duskheart reached the paranoid cat before her. “Don’t worry, Crystaleyes,” he meowed. “Shimmer’s a friend. Nightmare told me she was Alpha of her Pack. She warned us that her kin were going to attack, and she brought her Pack to help us.”
“But she’s a wolf!” Crystaleyes exclaimed.
Screamheart padded over to help Duskheart explain. “We met Shimmer when we were in the pack. She raised us into who we are now,” Screamheart turned her head and gazed at Shimmer. It was hard to think of such a powerful and beautiful wolf being her foster-mother for over 5 moons. “She would never hurt us.” Shimmer dipped her head at Screamheart and licked the tuft of fur on her head that had been sticking up. Screamheart purred as she remembered how Shimmer had protected her and Midnightgaze when some of the Pack-Dogs had tried to kill them.
“There’s nothing to be scared of,” Berrykit assured his mother. “I’ll look after you.”
“I bet you would, too.” Raggedpelt limped up and gently flicked Berrykit’s ear with the tip of his tail. “It takes enough courage for a full-grown cat to face up to a wolf. You’ll make a great warrior one day.”
Berrykit’s tail went straight up with pride. “Race you to the nursery!” he yowled to his littermates. “No—wait!” Raggedpelt called after the three kits. “You can’t go in there yet.”
“Why not?” Crystaleyes asked, puzzled. “My kits need to rest.”
“Yellowleaf’s body is in there,” Duskheart mewed quietly. “A wolf broke in while she was helping Mosswolf give birth.” His voice quavered and he swallowed hard. “I tried to save her, but she was already on her way to Soulclan.” Screamheart stared at him in disbelief.
Yellowleaf was dead?