Lost Stars

Stemleaf padded up to her and rubbed his cheek against hers. “I should have known you could do it,” he told her. “You can do anything!”

Bristlefrost staggered to her paws, embarrassed by Stemleaf’s praise, and yet happy too. She carefully collected the stalks of borage and waved her tail to gather the patrol together.

I can’t do everything, she thought as she led the way back to camp. But at least I did something.

Her paws numb from patrolling the border, Bristlefrost limped across the camp toward the medicine cats’ den. She was chilled through and exhausted, and she wanted nothing more than to curl up in her nest for a well-deserved nap, but she knew she wouldn’t be able to rest until she found out whether Bramblestar was responding to the borage treatment.

When she had returned to camp the previous day, carrying the few precious stems, Alderheart had chewed them up and trickled the pulp and juices between Bramblestar’s jaws, while Jayfeather massaged the Clan leader’s throat to encourage the Clan leader to swallow.

“Now there’s nothing to do but wait,” Jayfeather had mewed grimly.

Reaching the den, Bristlefrost poked her head around the bramble screen. In the dim light she could barely make out Bramblestar’s dark tabby shape, half buried in the moss and bracken of his nest. Alderheart sat beside him, close to his head, and as Bristlefrost watched, he reached out and laid one paw on his father’s neck. His eyes were troubled, and he let out a faint sigh.

Jayfeather appeared from the back of the den. “Any change?” he asked.

Alderheart shook his head. “No . . . he might even be growing weaker.”

Bristlefrost felt her belly cramp with apprehension. This isn’t supposed to happen! Why isn’t the borage working?

“It wasn’t much of a chance,” Jayfeather murmured, almost as if he were answering Bristlefrost’s unspoken question. “And now . . . there’s nothing more that we can do.”

“We can’t give up!” Alderheart’s voice was anguished. “There must be a way to save him. We have to talk to Shadowpaw again.”

Jayfeather let out a hiss of fury. “I’ve told you before, we are not listening to that useless ShadowClan lump of fur! Tigerstar is using him to—” He broke off suddenly and swung around to face Bristlefrost. “What are you doing here?” he demanded. “Eavesdropping?”

How did he know I was here, unless he has eyes in his tail? Bristlefrost wondered, until she remembered that though Jayfeather was blind, his other senses were extraordinarily sharp; he would easily have picked out her scent among all the others in the den.

“I only wanted—” she began.

Alderheart interrupted her, his voice suddenly filled with authority. “This isn’t our decision to make,” he told Jayfeather. “Bristlefrost, fetch Squirrelflight.”

Bristlefrost drew back from the den and pelted across the camp toward the tumbled rocks that led up to the Highledge. Before Bristlefrost had climbed halfway up, Squirrelflight appeared at the entrance.

“What is it?” she asked, her voice tight with strain.

“Alderheart wants you,” Bristlefrost gasped, her paws skidding as she turned back, so she barely saved herself from falling.

She heard a choking sound from Squirrelflight before the Clan deputy bounded down the rocks, overtaking Bristlefrost as she raced back toward the medicine cats’ den.

When Bristlefrost slipped, panting, back into the den, she found the two medicine cats where she had left them beside the Clan leader. Squirrelflight had joined them, and stood gazing down at Bramblestar, her green eyes filled with pain.

“So the borage didn’t work,” she mewed; Bristlefrost could tell how much effort she was making to keep her voice steady.

“No,” Alderheart responded. “There’s only one way to save Bramblestar now.”

Squirrelflight’s eyes narrowed as she glanced at him. “Shadowpaw’s treatment?”

Alderheart nodded silently.

“You’re flea-brained if you even consider that,” Jayfeather snapped, working his claws into the moss and bracken in the floor of the den.

“Squirrelflight.” Alderheart’s voice still held that ring of authority, as if he were a much older and more experienced cat. “Bramblestar is dying. And we have no idea what will happen when he loses a life, seeing that no cat can make contact with StarClan—except, maybe, Shadowpaw. Trying his treatment would at least give Bramblestar one last chance.”

Jayfeather let out a huff of annoyance and turned away. “Don’t expect me to go along with this,” he snarled.

Alderheart met Squirrelflight’s gaze steadily. “It’s your decision,” he told her. “What do you want to do?”

Chapter 20

“Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey join here beneath the Pinebranch for a Clan meeting!”