Sunrise

Jayfeather caught a grumble from Dustpelt. “I suppose we’ll get this barrier built this side of greenleaf. Come right back when Leafpool’s finished with you!” he ordered the two apprentices.

“Millie! Daisy!” Leafpool called when Jayfeather caught her up outside the nursery. “Bring the kits out here, please.”

“Why?” Daisy’s voice was drowsy from the poppy seeds.

“There’s something I need to show all of you.”

Leafpool and Jayfeather waited while the two queens herded their kits outside; Whitewing followed them, crouching in the entrance tunnel.

“Now,” Leafpool began, “do you see these berries?”

Jayfeather could feel the kits’ curiosity, though they were still subdued and didn’t answer Leafpool.

“They look tasty,” Bumblekit ventured after a heartbeat.

“No! They’re not tasty!” Leafpool’s voice quivered with anger and disgust. “These berries are evil. They’re called deathberries, and if you eat just one of them, you won’t just get a bellyache, you’ll die. There won’t be anything a medicine cat can do for you.”

Jayfeather knew that wasn’t entirely true. Mousefur had told him that Cinderpelt had saved Sorreltail after she ate deathberries by making her sick, but it had been a close call. Leafpool had to scare the kits thoroughly, though, so they wouldn’t dream of going near the deathberries.

“Then why have you brought them into the camp?” Daisy fretted.

“Because Firestar wants to use them to kill the snake,” Leafpool replied. “I need to make sure that every cat knows not to go near them.”

“Did you hear that?” Millie asked the kits sharply. “Take a good look, so you’ll recognize them again.”

“We’ll be careful,” Rosekit mewed, sounding scared. The rest of the kits murmured agreement.

“Foxpaw? Icepaw?” Leafpool prompted.

“We’ll remember,” Foxpaw meowed. “We won’t touch them.”

“We’ll keep a lookout for them when we’re out in the forest, too,” Icepaw added.

“Good. Then you can go. But don’t forget what I said.” Leafpool began to drag the leaf with its deadly load back across the camp, but halted and turned to Jayfeather. “Bring me a mouse from the fresh-kill pile, please.”

Jayfeather bounded off, returning with the mouse to the medicine cats’ den. “It’s a good plump one,” he meowed.

“I’m not going to eat it,” Leafpool told him. “This is for the snake. I’m going to stuff it with deathberries. Put it down and keep your paw on it to hold it steady.”

“You’ll get poison on your paws!” Jayfeather exclaimed.

“No, I’m going to use a stick to push the berries down the mouse’s throat.”

As he clamped his paw firmly over the mouse, Jayfeather could feel his mentor’s revulsion at what she was doing. He could almost read her thoughts. I’m a medicine cat! I’m supposed to cure, not kill! But he said nothing while Leafpool went on shoving the deadly berries into the body of the mouse.

I’ll only get my fur clawed off if I try to talk to her.

Finally Leafpool let out a sigh. “There, that should do. I’ve poked some thorns in there, too. They’ll cut the snake from inside and send the poison more quickly around its body.”

Jayfeather nodded. He was surprised by how much his mentor hated using her skills like this, seeing as her victim was the snake that had killed Honeyfern. He had been fascinated to discover that there were plants that would harm instead of heal. I wonder if there are others.…

Leafpool laid the prepared mouse back on the leaf and dragged it out into the clearing again, over to where Dustpelt was building the bramble barrier around the snake’s hole. Lionblaze and the two apprentices were helping him.

Jayfeather padded over to his brother, while Leafpool explained to Dustpelt what she had done.

“Good idea,” the brown tabby warrior grunted. “I’ll put it behind the barrier near the hole.”

“Be careful,” Leafpool warned him.

“I’ll be fine,” Dustpelt meowed, sounding unusually gentle as he reassured the medicine cat. “Look, I’m picking it up by the tail.” Jayfeather heard him leap across the barrier and a moment later leap back. “There,” he meowed. “All done. Right, what are you waiting for?” he added, swinging around to face his helpers. “Let’s get this barrier finished.”

Back in their den, Jayfeather and Leafpool wrapped the rest of the deathberries in the leaf. “We’d better store them in case the mouse doesn’t work the first time,” Leafpool explained. “I don’t like it, but—”

A loud wail interrupted her. “Leafpool! Leafpool!”

“What now?” Jayfeather groaned.

He picked up Birchfall’s scent as the young warrior crashed past the bramble screen. “Leafpool, you’ve got to come at once!” he panted. “Whitewing has pains in her belly.”

“All right, don’t panic.” Leafpool rose to her paws. “I’m sure it’s nothing serious. Maybe her kits are coming. Jayfeather, put that leaf wrap away,” she instructed as she brushed past him. “Right at the back of the store where no cat will pick it up by mistake.”