Shattered Sky

It’ll only make things worse for Purdy if I admit the truth, he thought, fighting back panic. I have no idea what’s going on, or what Purdy needs me to do.

“Go get Jayfeather!” he ordered Berrynose, who instantly shoved his way through the watching cats and streaked across the camp toward the medicine cats’ den.

Alderheart’s fears peaked as he turned back to Purdy and saw the faraway look in his amber eyes. It was almost as if he had already crossed the border into StarClan territory. Yet as he gazed up at Alderheart he seemed as calm and good-humored as ever.

“You’re a good medicine cat, young ’un,” he murmured. “You’ve got some big paw prints to fill, but I reckon you’re goin’ to be just fine.”

Then he let out a long sigh and lay motionless, his eyes still open as if he was gazing at something far away.

No! He can’t be dead! Alderheart thought, every hair in his pelt rising up in denial of what he was seeing. “Purdy… ,” he choked out.

Jayfeather had reached his side, along with Leafpool, who must have dashed across from the nursery.

“What’s happening?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” Alderheart replied, forcing down the wail of a lost kit. “Purdy complained of indigestion earlier—and just now he said he had a pain in his foreleg. Then he collapsed, and… and he’s not breathing. But he has to be okay,” he finished, anguished. “Purdy can’t be gone!”

Jayfeather bent over to examine the elder, sniffing carefully from his ears to his tail-tip. Then he shook his head sadly and reached with a gentle paw to close Purdy’s eyes.

“No!” This time Alderheart couldn’t suppress his wail of grief. “There must be something we can do,” he insisted. “Maybe we can chew up some chamomile, put it in his mouth, and rub his throat so he swallows it. Maybe we can push his chest to make his heart start beating again!”

But when Alderheart reached out to touch one of Purdy’s legs, he could feel that it was already beginning to stiffen.

“Don’t, Alderheart.” Jayfeather’s voice was surprisingly sympathetic as he hooked a paw around Alderheart’s neck and pulled him away. “Purdy’s gone. He was very old and lived a long life, and now that life is done. Part of being a medicine cat is knowing when you have to let go.”

Alderheart stared at Purdy, who had been alive and speaking only moments ago—and now lay dead on the ground like a piece of prey. “I didn’t help him,” he whispered.

Jayfeather touched his tail to Alderheart’s flank. “Sometimes you can’t.”

Alderheart shuddered, feeling waves of heat and cold pass through him. Will I ever get used to seeing cats die? he asked himself. Especially an elder like Purdy, who was such an important part of ThunderClan? He turned away, his head and tail drooping. Purdy said I’d be just fine… but will I?

Graystripe and Millie moved Purdy’s body to the center of the camp, where more of his Clanmates gathered around to share tongues with him one last time, grooming his pelt to make him ready for burial. The rest of the Clan sat nearby, silently grieving as they waited for that night’s vigil to begin. The ShadowClan cats joined in, too, sitting together at a respectful distance.

Alderheart felt like the fog of regret and sorrow that surrounded him would never lift. He padded quietly over to Bramblestar, who was sitting close to Purdy’s body, with Squirrelflight by his side.

“Bramblestar,” he began hesitantly. “Purdy was never a warrior. Do you think he’ll be allowed to walk with StarClan?”

Bramblestar gazed at him, not replying for a moment. When he spoke at last, he didn’t seem to be answering Alderheart’s question. “We first met Purdy when we made the journey to the sun-drown-place,” he meowed. “He saved us from a dog, and then showed us where we could find food.”

Squirrelflight nodded. “I’ll never forget that. Without Purdy, we might not have made it to the meeting with Midnight—and without her, we might never have known to leave the old forest and find our new home here.”

“When he came to join us,” Bramblestar went on, “he fit into the elders’ den like he had always been living with us. He cared for Mousefur when she was ill and dying.”

By now, most of the cats who were clustered around Purdy’s body had turned to listen to their leader.

“He was always good with the apprentices,” Ivypool put in. “Do you remember, in the Great Storm, how he looked after them and kept them out of trouble?”

“And he told the best stories!” Ambermoon added.

“And he joined in when we fought against the Dark Forest,” Squirrelflight pointed out. “He may have been a kittypet once, but he was a brave cat and a true member of ThunderClan.”