Bluestar's Prophecy/Chapter 9

"She has left me. I don't want her to be in StarClan. I want her to be here, where I can see her and talk to her."

— Bluepaw grieving for Moonflower after her death in Bluestar's Prophecy, page 140-141

Bluestar's Prophecy
Chapter number:	9 (of 45)
Page numbers:	126-141
Point of View:	Bluepaw
Chronology

Below contains in-depth information for chapter nine of Bluestar's Prophecy. If you are looking for a shorter summary of the entire book, please check the main article.

Chapter Number: 9 (of 45)

Page Numbers: 126-141

Chapter description

After Leopardpaw is injured, Robinwing races to get help from the four ThunderClan cats – Swiftbreeze, Featherwhisker, Bluepaw, and Snowpaw – who are at the battle to help those who get hurt. The dusky-brown she-cat explains to them that her apprentice had received a claw wound that is bleeding badly and that she needs to be taken off the battleground. Bluepaw is chosen to accompany Swiftbreeze and Robinwing to get Leopardpaw, while Featherwhisker and Snowpaw remain hidden. The two warriors lead Bluepaw into WindClan camp and to the battle.

Bluepaw stares as she witnesses the violence between the ThunderClan and the WindClan cats in the battle, and attempts to pick out her own Clanmates among the masses of fighting cats. She spots Dappletail screeching as two WindClan warriors dive on her, but Stormtail rushes to help the young tortoiseshell and helps her fend them off. Swiftbreeze's yowl jolts her out of her frozen horror, and the tabby-and-white she-cat leads her to Leopardpaw, who is lying injured. Swiftbreeze and Bluepaw are attempting to help the black she-cat out of WindClan camp when Hawkheart suddenly notices them. He begins to taunt Bluepaw, asking if ThunderClan has brought kits to the battle. The blue-gray she-cat growls back that she isn't a kit. The WindClan medicine cat, eyes gleaming, replies that she should be able to show him some battle moves if she is not a kit. He moves closer to Bluepaw with the appearance that he is about to attack the young she-cat. However, before Hawkheart can do anything, Heatherstar calls him off, telling him that he needs to return to treating the wounded WindClan cats like he is supposed to be.

Bluepaw rushes to where Swiftbreeze has dragged Leopardpaw out of the WindClan camp. The blue-gray apprentice asks if Hawkheart is a medicine cat or a warrior, to which Swiftbreeze replies that he used to be WindClan's fiercest warrior before StarClan called him to be a medicine cat. Featherwhisker begins to treat the black she-cat's wounds while Bluepaw watches the battle in the clearing as it rages on. Suddenly, a WindClan cat yowls that there are ThunderClan warriors in Hawkheart's den. Snowpaw, excited, exclaims that this must mean that they had gotten to the medicine supply. Hawkheart and two WindClan warriors rush into the den to chase the ThunderClan cats out. Stonepelt and Moonflower, pursued by the three WindClan cats, flee the den. However, Hawkheart catches Moonflower and hurls her down into the clearing. The silver-gray tabby, dazed, tries to face the WindClan medicine cat, but he pounces onto her before she can find her paws and begins to deliver searing blows to the ThunderClan she-cat. Bluepaw hopes that Stormtail will come to her mother's aid, but the blue-gray tom is busy fighting alongside Dappletail, and Moonflower is on her own.

With ThunderClan losing the battle badly, Pinestar is forced to call a retreat. Heatherstar, staring at him, states that StarClan would never have let the reddish-brown tom's Clan win such an unjust attack. Sneering, the gray she-cat contemptuously tells Pinestar to take his wounded and leave. The defeated ThunderClan warriors start to make for the camp entrance, but Moonflower does not rise to her paws. Bluepaw, in spite of Swiftbreeze's warnings, rushes down into the clearing to her mother. The silver-gray tabby's eyes are half-open, but when Bluepaw tries to get her mother to stir, she remains unmoving. Pinestar pads up beside the young apprentice and explains softly that Moonflower won't get up because she is dead. Bluepaw wails that this cannot be true, because they were fighting warriors, not loners or rogues, and that Clan cats do not kill without reason. Hawkheart, hearing her, growls that he did have a reason; Moonflower was trying to destroy his medicine supplies. Bluepaw protests that StarClan told them to do that through a sign they gave to Goosefeather, to which Hawkheart snorts that they should not have risked so much on the word of the speckled gray tom.

Pinestar lifts Moonflower's body and carries it out of camp. Snowpaw rushes over to see her mother, and Bluepaw is forced to explain that the silver gray tabby has died. When the white she-cat hears, she lets out an anguished wail that ends in whimper. Bluepaw tries to comfort her, saying that she will take care of her sister now, but Snowpaw hisses that she doesn't need taking care of; she needs Moonflower. The blue-gray apprentice silently vows to take care of Snowpaw anyway. The ThunderClan patrol then begins its long walk home, and Bluepaw falls in beside her mentor, Stonepelt. She notices that the gray-furred warrior's shoulder had been badly injured, and that blood is still streaming from a gash there.

When they reach ThunderClan camp again, Goosefeather pads out to ask how the battle went. In response, Pinestar lays the dead Moonflower in front of him and solemnly replies that he is not sure whether the warrior was able to destroy all of the medicine supplies before she was killed. Swiftbreeze, furious, launches herself upon the medicine cat with unsheathed claws and screeches that this time one of his ridiculous omens had killed a Clanmate. Adderfang and Tawnyspots have to pull her off of the speckled gray tom and restrain her from attacking him again. She is not the only ThunderClan cat who blames Goosefeather, however. Stonepelt calls out that they should have never been sent into battle, and Robinwing adds that perhaps he should learn to read the weather rather prey, for StarClan would have never blessed a battle under a storm like there was. Sunfall adds that Goosefeather may have been trying to appease his battle-hungry Clanmates rather than listening to his ancestors. Pinestar steps in and defends his medicine cat, saying that he is not to blame for the battle's result and that they should not be arguing when there are wounds to treat. At this, Goosefeather retreats into his den, and Swiftbreeze growls that while he can hide from his Clanmates, it will be StarClan who judges him.

The queens and elders clean up Moonflower's body and prepare it for vigil. Speckletail asks Bluepaw if she'll come and sit vigil, but the blue-gray she-cat angrily growls that they have made Moonflower look so sleek and peaceful that it seems as if she is sleeping when she is actually dead. Sunfall murmurs that no one is trying to make the silver-gray queen look as if she's alive, and tries to comfort Bluepaw that her mother will be watching her from StarClan. Bluepaw snarls that she doesn't want her in StarClan; she wants her here where she can see and talk to her. Sunfall responds that she will see her mother in her dreams. At this, Bluepaw relents and presses her muzzle to her mother's body. She remembers how Moonflower had promised the night before the battle that she would always be there for her daughters, and wonders why her mother had to die.

Characters

Major

• Bluepaw

Minor

• Swiftbreeze
• Robinwing
• Featherwhisker
• Snowpaw
• Unnamed WindClan cats
• Adderfang
• Sunfall
• Sparrowpelt
• Dappletail
• Stormtail
• Leopardpaw
• Hawkheart
• Heatherstar
• Smallear
• Moonflower
• Stonepelt
• Pinestar
• Windflight
• Fuzzypelt
• Speckletail
• Goosefeather
• Tawnyspots
• Larksong
• Mumblefoot
• Weedwhisker
• Poppydawn
• Thistlekit
• Rosekit
• Sweetkit

Important events

Deaths

Moonflower: Killed by Hawkheart

Trivia

• This chapter aligns with chapter six of Pinestar's Choice.