SPOTTEDSONG NERVOUSLY AND subconsciously paced the den. She had been worrying about Dovesong every day, knowing that she could be hurt or worse. They had to get her out quickly. But she just didn't know how.

"Spottedsong, what are you so worried about?" Gorseberry asked from the corner of the den. He had been remaking his nest, and now he watched Spottedsong worriedly. "Is it about Dovesong? You know she'll be fine. I'm-"

Spottedsong turned to him sharply. "Don't you understand this is MoonClan we're dealing with? They could hurt her! I don't want to risk it. And neither do you, I'm sure."

"Yeah, I don't want to risk getting shredded at the MoonClan camp," Gorseberry grumbled.

"I would fight at the cost of my life to save Dovesong. She's our medicine cat and my friend. I don't want to lay back and watch it all play out if we have a chance to save her! If we wait any longer, she could be seriously injured, or worse, dead."

"Okay, I get it. But really, what if we go and we get killed immediately? We both know how brutal they are. They shouldn't even call themselves a Clan; they totally ignore the code. But anyway, we need to think about this before we jump into action," Gorseberry explained, obviously cautious to not raise Spottedsong's temper.

"Fine. What do you suppose we do?" Spottedsong asked.

"We can talk about this later. First, you have to go see Badgertooth," Gorseberry pointed out.

"Why?"

"He told you to check in every day so he can see to those paws," Gorseberry told her, nodding to her injured forepaws.

Spottedsong sighed. It was true. But she didn't want to go because she knew she was fine. "Okay, fine. But you have to promise to plan this rescue afterward."

"I promise." Gorseberry touched his nose to her ear promisingly and she left.

Spottedsong glanced at him affectionately as she left the den. She headed for the medicine den, her heart immediately pounding as she approached it. She wanted to save Dovesong now. There was no time to make a plan, when she could be suffering. And Badgertooth and Mousetail were counting on her the most to get Dovesong back again. True, it was frustrating that Dovesong wasn't able to protect herself and got herself captured again, but she wasn't trained like a warrior; she was a medicine cat. It wasn't fair to blame her for that.

Badgertooth was busily grooming himself when Spottedsong came in. "Well, hello there. What do you need?"

"I've come for my daily check-up," Spottedsong explained, gesturing to her paws. They were no longer bandaged, but there were still scars left from her accident.

Badgertooth nodded. "Right. Settle down and let me check on those."

Spottedsong settled down on a nest and stretched out her forepaws to let Badgertooth take a look. While he was checking, she meowed, "Gorseberry and I are making a plan to save Dovesong. I just thought I'd let you know."

Badgertooth looked up at her, his blue eyes wide with what seemed like alarm. "That's great! But are you sure this is safe?"

"If we have a good enough plan, yes," Spottedsong told him.

"Do you have any ideas?"

"No. That's why I'm going to talk to Gorseberry about it. What, do you have an idea?"

"Yes, but it will have to involve a little more than just you and Gorseberry," Badgertooth explained, a knowing glint in his eyes.

Spottedsong eyed the medicine cat cautiously. "Okay . . . what is it?"

Badgertooth leaned in closer and dropped his mew to a whisper, as if he didn't want any other cats to hear what he had to say. "Here's what I thought of. . . ."

***

Spottedsong had listened very carefully to what Badgertooth had to say, and now she was spreading the message to Gorseberry, whose eyes widened after every word. ". . . that's how we can save Dovesong," Spottedsong finished. "Get it?"

Gorseberry nodded. "Yep. Are we going to tell Lynxstar now or later?"

Spottedsong glanced over her shoulder at the camp. The sun was beginning to set; the plan would work better at night, so they had to wait until then. "Sure. I can go tell her."

Before she left, Gorseberry mewed, "We should both go. It's us who are doing the main part, right?"

Spottedsong sighed. "Fine. Come on." She led Gorseberry out of the den and toward Lynxstar's den. They headed to the thundering waterfall and peeked behind the curtain of water to see Lynxstar just entering on the other side. She must have been dealing with some business with Owlheart. "Can we talk to you, Lynxstar?" she asked.

Lynxstar looked up with surprise. "Sure. Come in."

Gorseberry and Spottedsong exchanged determined glances before entering. "We have a plan," Gorseberry told the majestic white leader. "To save Dovesong."

Lynxstar sat down on her nest and looked at the two young warriors. There was a hopeful gleam in her eyes. "Okay. What is it?"

"You explain it, Gorseberry," Spottedsong told the gray tabby.

Gorseberry nodded. "Okay, so, we wanted to lead a group of cats willing to go to the MoonClan camp at moonhigh. But while me, Spottedsong, and another cat will go to Dovesong's den and help her break out while another group distracts the MoonClan cats for long enough for us to break her out. And then we run."

Lynxstar was tense, as if she were expecting the worst. But when Gorseberry finished, she relaxed, but she still looked concerned. "Are you sure? I don't think the MoonClan warriors will like us strolling to their camp and getting our medicine cat back, no matter how much this matters to all of us."

Gorseberry and Spottedsong exchanged looks. "We know, but . . . can we just try?" Spottedsong asked hopefully, looking at Lynxstar imploringly.

Lynxstar held her gaze for a long time before she sighed. "Okay. But I won't force any cats to go."

"I'm sure there'll be plenty that will volunteer," Gorseberry mewed.

"I'll hold a meeting, then," Lynxstar conceded. "You two can come up with me if you like to explain the plan." She nodded to the camp through the curtain of water in front of them.

"Sure. Thank you." Spottedsong dipped her head. She looked at Gorseberry happily before they both followed Lynxstar out of the den. She felt a little bit nervous when Lynxstar led them up the Snowrock and called the meeting.

There were some curious murmurs from the cats below, and some of them glanced at Spottedsong and Gorseberry a few times. Spottedsong shifted her paws self-consciously.

Lynxstar raised her voice, bringing the Clan to silence. "I have called you all here to inform you all about a plan to rescue Dovesong." Spottedsong could nearly hear the FrostClan leader mutter the word again. "Gorseberry and Spottedsong will inform you about it." She stepped aside, dipping her head to the two cats.

Gorseberry looked at Spottedsong expectantly. Spottedsong blinked at him for a moment before turning to the Clan. "Our plan will have to involve a lot of cats, which is the reason we asked Lynxstar to hold this meeting." She explained the plan to her Clanmates.

"How can you expect anyone to volunteer for that?" Acornshade demanded immediately. "I think you'll have to think up a different plan."

Spottedsong and Gorseberry exchanged glances. "Well, before we do," Gorseberry meowed, "who does want to volunteer?"

There was silence for a good few heartbeats, and then Rosefeather stepped up. "I will. I can't let those fox-hearts hurt our Clan's medicine cat and my leader's daughter."

A few nods and murmurs of approval rippled through the cats.

"I will go, too," Blizzardpelt announced.

"Me, too." Skystorm stepped forward.

Frozenfang spoke up. "I'll go. She was the first cat that ever trusted me here. I have to repay her for what she did."

"If Frozenfang's going, I'm going, too," Cloudsky announced.

Lynxstar looked at her warriors proudly. "Thank you. Anyone else?"

"I will always go," Owlheart meowed from where he sat beside the Snowrock.

"Very well. That's Spottedsong, Gorseberry, Rosefeather, Blizzardpelt, Skystorm, Frozenfang, Cloudsky, Owlheart, and myself," Lynxstar declared.

"Who will do what?" Owlheart asked.

"Well, it sounds like Gorseberry and Spottedsong will rescue Dovesong, and the rest of us will distract the MoonClan cats," Lynxstar responded.

Skystorm raised his tail. "I would think that more cats should be there with them. I will go, if you like," he volunteered, with a promising glance back at his mate, Mousetail.

"Very well." Lynxstar whisked her tail. "At dusk, we will start getting ready to go."

As the meeting broke up, doubt rose inside of Spottedsong. There was no way this was going to work unless there was a battle, she knew it with all her heart.