Alderheart dreams of SkyClan. Many of the cats have found their way to each other now, but they are still ragged and lost. Alderheart watches, unable to help, as their medicine cat, Echosong, dies.
The four clans have gathered at the ShadowClan border and Twigpaw waits for the battle to start. The cats start to sneak in but a passing patrol of rogues spots them and raises the alarm. The rogues arrive and the fight starts. Twigpaw joins in the battle and at first everything is going fine. She sees Onestar and Darktail fighting. Onestar's fury makes it seem as if he is winning the fight, but suddenly Darktail whispers something to Onestar. Onestar looks horrified at what Darktail has said and calls a retreat for his clan. Everyone is shocked as he and his warriors leave a war they were clearly winning. The tides turn and they start to lose. Things get complicated further when Tigerheart prevents Twigpaw from attacking a former ShadowClan cat, Yarrowleaf. Mistystar falls under a bunch of rogues and RiverClan rush to save her. Twigpaw finds herself facing Violetpaw. She hesitates and Needletail and Rain goad Violetpaw into attacking. Twigpaw gets injured dodging her sister's attack. Lionblaze saves Twigpaw but she doesn't care as her sister just tried to kill her.
Alderheart and the other medicine cats tend to the wounded after the battle. On the way to the Gathering Purdy complains of his stomach hurting and asks Alderheart for help. Alderheart tells him to see Leafpool as she is staying behind with the wounded, but Purdy doesn't want to bother her when so many cats are seriously injured. They reach the gathering and everyone is furious with Onestar, whose cats are barely injured. Onestar seems indifferent to how his retreat hurt the other clans. Mistystar threatens to close her border. An argument breaks out over the prophecy. Clouds cover the moon and Bramblestar calls the gathering to an end. On the walk back Alderheart convinces his father to finally tell the other leaders about SkyClan. The next day Bramblestar tells everyone at the ThunderClan camp, then the RiverClan camp. He tries to approach the WindClan camp but a patrol led by Crowfeather stops them. Another patrol, led by Gorsetail comes by and lets them pass against Crowfeather's objections. Onestar is angry they are there, but he listens. He becomes horrified by Alderheart's story, but then quickly becomes angry again, throwing them off of his land and forbidding them from ever returning. The ThunderClan cats are shocked, and Alderheart is convinced Onestar is hiding something.
Violetpaw cares for the elders until Needletail catches her and tells her to stop. Violetpaw confesses her worries for Twigpaw to Needletail. Needletail assures her Twigpaw should be fine by now and reminds her she is loyal to the Kin now. Violetpaw takes a mouse to Puddleshine, who is caring for a badly injured Darktail. Rain comes in to give a report and they talk about the loyalty of the ShadowClan cats. Rain feels Dawnpelt needs to be watched and Violetpaw worries they talk about her that way. Puddleshine leaves to care for the rest of the wounded and Rain offers to stay and watch over Darktail. Violetpaw leaves the medicine den then decides to bring prey to Darktail. She catches Rain smothering Darktail. After Rain has killed him he realizes Violetpaw saw everything and walks towards her. But Darktail is not dead. A horrified Violetpaw watches as Darktail leaps up and kills Rain.
Alderheart tends to Twigpaw, who is still recovering from her injury and is deeply depressed. He leaves the medicine den to get some sleep and passes Purdy, offering to get him something for his stomach. Purdy turns him down. An argument breaks out between Bramblestar and Rowanstar, which everyone is clearly eavesdropping on. Alderheart notices Ivypool glaring at Dovewing and Tigerheart, who are sitting together. Alderheart goes to sleep and dreams of SkyClan. He realizes they are in the twoleg barn that he and Needletail slept in when they were returning from the gorge. And, he also believes one of the male cat looks just like Tigpaw and Violetpaw.
Clearly this is how Dovewing ends up leaving her clan. She and Tigerheart seem inseparable since he has come to camp, and Ivypool realizes it.
And what is up with Onestar? Did Darktail offer to leave WindClan alone if Onestar called a retreat? Onestar cannot possible be foolish enough to believe that. Or did something else happen the first time Darktail and Onestar clashed? Something that Darktail is now holding over the WindClan leader?
As for Violetpaw, she frustrates me the most! She knows Darktail is evil but yet she stays. I know she feels loyalty to Needletail, but how can that outweigh everything else?
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