River Of Fire

“I hope so,” Alderheart mewed, then moved on to Cinderheart, who was curled up nearby with her own kits, who were much older and bigger than Ivypool’s. She was watching Ivypool’s kits affectionately. It must be sweet, Alderheart thought, to get to spend time with her kit’s kits at the same time she tends her own.

“Don’t disturb them!” Cinderheart begged Alderheart. “The only time I get any rest is when they’re asleep.” She stroked her tail affectionately over her kits. “But I wouldn’t have them any different.”

“They’re strong young cats,” Daisy put in from her nest at the far side of the nursery. “They’ll be apprenticed sooner than you know it.”

“We’ll need to make the apprentices’ den bigger,” Alderheart agreed.

He padded over to Briarlight, who lay stretched out among the moss and fern not far from Daisy. When he bent his head to sniff at her, he picked up a familiar sour scent.

Alderheart couldn’t restrain a gasp of dismay. The sound disturbed Briarlight, who opened her eyes.

Immediately Alderheart’s uneasiness grew. Briarlight’s eyes were glazed and her movements sluggish as she tried to prop herself up on her forelegs. Her scent had soured too; Alderheart felt his heart thumping uncomfortably as he guessed what was wrong. She escaped the sickness when she was in the tunnel with Sorrelstripe, he thought, but she has it now.

“How are you feeling, Briarlight?” he asked.

Briarlight hesitated before she replied. “Not so good,” she admitted at last. “My belly has been aching terribly for the last couple of days.”

“And you didn’t tell me?”

“I didn’t want to bother you,” Briarlight replied. “I hoped it was just something I ate.”

“I’m a medicine cat. I’m here to be bothered,” Alderheart pointed out. “We’ll get you back into the medicine-cat den right away.”

He popped his head out of the nursery and beckoned to Thornclaw and Poppyfrost, who were the first cats he spotted. “Briarlight’s not well,” he told them. “We need to move her back to my den.”

Leaving the two warriors to carry Briarlight, Alderheart bounded across the camp. Briarlight must have caught the sickness from Jayfeather when he delivered Ivypool’s litter, he thought. We need to get her away from the kits.

When Alderheart brushed past the bramble screen, Velvet was drowsing in her nest, while Jayfeather was at the back of the den, sorting the herbs stored in the cleft in the rock. Fuzzball was helping him.

“This one’s dock leaf, isn’t it? Oh . . . no . . . tansy. And this is—don’t tell me—catmint!”

“Sorrel,” Jayfeather hissed.

He turned at the sound of Alderheart entering the den, looking relieved to be distracted from Fuzzball’s constant questioning. But his expression changed to concern when Alderheart told him that Briarlight had the belly sickness.

“It’s a good thing you spotted it before Cinderheart, Ivypool, or their kits got sick,” Jayfeather mewed. He sounded uneasy; he must have known very well that if Briarlight was ill, she had caught it from him when he delivered Ivypool’s kits.

“Yes,” Alderheart responded, “but I’ll keep a close eye on them for the next day or two, just to be sure.”

As Thornclaw and Poppyfrost maneuvered Briarlight past the brambles and into the den, Velvet sprang to her paws and quickly pulled together some dry ferns and moss to make a nest for her.

“Settle down here,” she mewed kindly. “Are you comfortable? Is the bedding thick enough?”

“It’s great, thanks,” Briarlight replied, sinking into the nest with a sigh. “I’m really sorry to be giving all of you so much trouble.”

“It’s no trouble,” Alderheart told her. “It’s what we’re here for. Now let me fetch you some watermint. You’ll soon feel better.”

“I’ll get it!” Fuzzball plunged into the herb store and emerged with a sprig of leaves in his jaws. To Alderheart’s surprise, it actually was watermint.

“Thanks, Fuzzball.” Velvet took the sprig from him and stripped off the leaves before laying them in front of Briarlight. “Chew them up small before you swallow them,” she instructed.

Velvet gave Briarlight a soothing stroke as she licked up the leaves.

What a great cat she is, Alderheart thought. She may be a kittypet, but she really cares about other cats.

As if she had caught his thoughts, Velvet looked up at him and gave him a shy, friendly glance. Warmed through and through, Alderheart found himself returning it, even though he knew he shouldn’t.