Warriors: Omen of the Stars #6: The Last Hope Read Online Free PDF Page B

Clans.” He began to pace. “The battle won’t be fought over boundaries this time. Our very survival will be at stake.”
    Mothwing’s breath quickened. “What can I do to help?”
    Her offer sent a rush of hope through Jayfeather, but he knew he had to be honest. “Hawkfrost is involved.”
    “My brother?” Mothwing’s tail swished over the rock. “How?”
    “He has chosen darkness over light.”
    Grief flared from Mothwing but she pushed it away. “I am not my brother,” she declared. “I have always chosen a different path from him. My loyalty is to living Clanmates, not dead littermates.”
    “So you’d fight him if you had to?”
    “Fight him? He’s already dead!”
    “But the living and dead are training together to destroy the Clans!” Jayfeather pictured his Clanmates training in the Dark Forest. They can’t know what they’re doing, surely ? No cat could persuade Birchfall or Blossomfall to harm their Clanmates! “They are using our own Clanmates against us.”
    Mothwing’s paws scuffed on the stone. “How will we know who to trust?”
    Jayfeather let out a slow breath. “We won’t until the battle begins. But if we can stop StarClan from driving the Clans apart, we stand a chance of winning.”
    “I can’t help you change what dead cats do,” Mothwing meowed. “But I might be able to help guide the living ones. I’ll try to persuade Willowshine to visit the Moonpool again.”
    “Will she listen to you over StarClan?”
    Mothwing paused. “I don’t know. But I have to try.” Jayfeather felt the RiverClan cat’s determination tingling beneath her pelt. “And if I think of a way to make the other medicine cats listen, I’ll come and find you.” Her breath touched his muzzle as she leaned closer. “You’re not alone anymore, Jayfeather.” She turned and padded up the spiraling path out the hollow. “Are you coming?”
    Jayfeather followed. Mothwing was the last cat he imagined would help him fight the Dark Forest. But perhaps she was the only cat who could.

C HAPTER 4

    Bright sunshine lit the hollow. The Clan was resting after its morning patrols.
    As Lionblaze took a halfhearted bite from the mouse lying at his paws, Millie settled beside the warriors’ den.
    “Bring me a shrew!” she called to Graystripe.
    “There’s plenty.” Rosepetal was sharing a blackbird with Blossomfall. “We found a whole nestful.”
    Graystripe padded toward the fresh-kill pile. It was well stocked. Hunting patrols had been stepped up to fatten the Clan before leaf-bare. Firestar wanted to make sure they faced the coming moons as fit and strong as any Clan.
    “Can I join you?” Hollyleaf crossed the clearing and dropped a thrush beside Lionblaze.
    Lionblaze rolled his mouse underneath his paw. “If you want.”
    His sister settled beside him, nestling into the shade of the fallen beech. “Jayfeather’s not back,” she observed before taking a bite from her thrush.
    “I know.” Lionblaze plucked distractedly at the mouse.
    “Why did he go to the Moonpool?” Hollyleaf’s mew was muffled by feathers. “Firestar told him to confine his medicine-cat duties to camp.”
    “I guess he had his reasons.” Lionblaze twitched his ears uneasily. Jayfeather had been reckless to travel alone. What if a WindClan patrol found him? Would they show mercy to a cat they believed was a murderer?
    Cinderheart padded over to them. Lionblaze focused on his mouse while she greeted his sister. “It’s been a good morning for hunting.”
    Hollyleaf brushed a feather from her muzzle. “I’ve never seen so much prey.”
    Lionblaze lifted his head to glance quickly at Cinderheart. Her soft gray pelt shone and her long tail was sleek and well groomed. His heart ached. Why was she hanging around here? Shouldn’t she be in the medicine den? She wasn’t really Cinderheart, the cat he’d fallen in love with; she was Cinderpelt—an old medicine cat brought back by StarClan to fill some stupid