Dovewing’s Silence

“No, let’s leave him be,” Dovewing urged. She followed the kits into the clearing. Several cats were waiting outside, eyes wide and anxious. Brightheart let out a gasp when she saw the bloodstained little cats. As she bounded forward, she called over her shoulder, “Cloudtail? Tell our kits to stay where they are.” Her mate trotted to the remains of the elders’ den while Brightheart pulled Lilykit and Seedkit to her belly with her tail and began licking their soiled fur. Over their heads, she met Dovewing’s gaze with a question in her eyes. Dovewing nodded. Brightheart bent over Sorreltail’s kits and drew them closer.

Squirrelflight padded over. “What’s going on?”

“Sorreltail is dead,” Dovewing meowed, each word dragged out with claws sharp as thorns.

Cherrypaw visibly swayed on her paws, and Whitewing closed her eyes with a grimace of pain. Squirrelflight looked baffled. “But… but she was fine. She didn’t say anything about being hurt.” The dark ginger cat looked around at her Clanmates. “Didn’t anyone notice she’d been injured?”

Sandstorm walked forward, her eyes still wet with grief for Firestar. She rested her tail on Squirrelflight’s shoulder. “If she was injured that badly, we couldn’t have done anything to help her.”

Squirrelflight lashed her tail. “We could have tried!”

There was a wail from inside the nursery. “Sorreltail! Don’t leave me!”

“I’ll go to him,” Millie offered, slipping into the brambles. “He shouldn’t be alone at this time.”

Graystripe stepped forward. With a shock, Dovewing realized he looked old and tired. “The Dark Forest has claimed another victim,” the warrior declared. “May Sorreltail watch over us from StarClan.” He bowed his head.

Squirrelflight paced anxiously around the cats. “I told you all to check yourselves for injuries. Have you done it yet? I won’t have any other cats die on me!”

Dovewing felt a stab of guilt as she licked at the scratch on her flank. She should get it treated before it got infected. She headed toward the medicine cats’ den. Inside, Spiderleg was helping Leafpool pad the gaping bite wound in Foxleap’s belly with crushed leaves. Foxleap lay very still, only the flickering of his eyelids proving that he was alive.

Leafpool looked up. “Are you hurt, Dovewing? Can it wait?” Her amber eyes were huge with distress.

“Sorreltail died,” Dovewing meowed.

Leafpool jumped up, almost tripping over Foxleap. “What? She didn’t tell me she was hurt!”

“She didn’t tell anyone,” Dovewing whispered. “I think she just wanted to be with her kits.”

The medicine cat’s shoulders slumped. “There is nothing I can do for her now. Let me finish treating Foxleap, then I’ll bring some herbs and cobweb outside to treat you and anyone else that I haven’t seen yet.”

Dovewing padded back to the clearing. The three bodies of her fallen Clanmates were surrounded by little knots of their kin and closest friends. Ivypool was hunched beside Hollyleaf, licking the soft black fur on her shoulder. Bumblestripe was next to his father at Firestar’s body. The pale gray tom caught Dovewing’s eye and twitched his ears, as if offering to join her instead, but Dovewing shook her head. Graystripe needed him more right now.

Cloudtail and Berrynose were picking through the remains of the warriors’ den, trying to drag out scraps of bedding. As Dovewing watched, Squirrelflight went over to them and told them to stop.

“We’ll get nothing done tonight,” she meowed, sounding calmer now, more like a Clan deputy. “We should all get some rest before Brambleclaw returns.”

He’ll be Bramblestar by then, Dovewing thought. She found a patch of clean sand close to the tree stump where apprentices loved to practice leaping and settled down. Curling her tail over her front paws, she looked up at the pale stars and tried to spot the new warriors of StarClan that had been born this night. But the stars were nothing more than cold glints of light in a depthless sky, and Dovewing felt no comfort from them. Did we really win the battle? Because this doesn’t feel like a victory.

She pricked her ears, straining to hear how the other Clans were coping with their dead and wounded, but all she heard was a soft rushing sound like wind through leaf-heavy trees. The forest loomed around the hollow, dark and thick with shadows full of menace, and Dovewing wondered if she would ever feel safe again.

Chapter 2