The Forgotten Warrior

“Right. Come in. I need to check you over.”

“I’ll be fine, honestly,” Sorreltail went on as she followed Jayfeather into the den. “I’ve done this before, you know.”

“I know. And that was many seasons ago. Older she-cats need their medicine cat to keep an eye on them when they’re having kits.”

“Who are you calling older?” Sorreltail bristled, but Jayfeather could tell she wasn’t really annoyed.

He made her lie down in the bracken and felt her belly gently with one forepaw. Then he leaned close to her to listen to her heartbeat. Briarlight dragged herself over to watch; Jayfeather could feel her breath on his neck fur.

“Will she be okay?” Briarlight whispered.

Jayfeather nodded. “Everything seems fine,” he replied, adding to Sorreltail, “I’ve noticed a bit of stiffness in your hip joints. You might need some poppy seeds to take the edge off the pain when you give birth.”

“I’ll be fine,” Sorreltail told him. “Leafpool has already given me some exercises to help keep the joints flexible.”

Jayfeather stiffened. “Leafpool is not your medicine cat,” he hissed through gritted teeth.

“She’s still my friend,” Sorreltail pointed out, “and I’ll listen to her, no matter what happens.”

Jayfeather suppressed a sigh. I can’t be bothered to argue. With the flick of an ear to dismiss Sorreltail, he followed her out into the clearing. Sitting in a pool of sunlight, he listened to what was going on in the camp. Dovewing had just come back from a hunting patrol, and was settling down beside the fresh-kill pile to eat with Hazeltail and Graystripe. Dustpelt was leaving at the head of a hunting patrol. Leafpool, Ivypool, and Poppyfrost followed him; Jayfeather detected Poppyfrost’s delight at going out on warrior duties again.

The patrol had scarcely left the clearing when a commotion broke out at the top of the hollow. Jayfeather sprang to his paws, every hair on his pelt bristling. Yaps and snarls and the shrieking of cats came from up above, and wails of dismay broke out in the camp.

“That’s Molepaw and Cherrypaw!” Berrynose yowled, leaping out of the warriors’ den and charging across the clearing. “And that sounds like a fox!”

He hurled himself toward the thorn tunnel, with Firestar, Cloudtail, Graystripe, and Brackenfur hard on his paws. Jayfeather ran back into his den. Briarlight was dragging herself toward the entrance; Jayfeather could sense her shock.

“What’s happening?” she asked. “What’s that awful noise?”

“Fox,” Jayfeather replied tersely. “Get the supplies for wounds ready.”

As Briarlight headed for the storage cleft, Jayfeather heard Dovewing behind him, standing by the bramble screen. “A fox?” she gasped. “But that’s not possible! I didn’t hear anything.”

Jayfeather wanted to ask her what she meant, but he was distracted by the yowls and screeching that still came from the top of the cliff.

“It sounds really bad!” Briarlight’s voice was shaking. “There’ll be terrible injuries.”

“We’ll deal with it.” Jayfeather made himself sound calm, but he was still worried by what Dovewing had just said. Why didn’t she hear the fox coming?

Gradually the sound of battle died away; moments later Jayfeather heard the voices and pawsteps of his Clanmates returning through the thorn tunnel. He padded out to meet them, bracing himself for the scent of wounds and spasms of pain.

But as soon as he emerged into the clearing Jayfeather realized that things weren’t as bad as he had feared. He could hear that Brightheart and Rosepetal were limping, and picked up the scent of blood coming from Foxleap, but their injuries were nowhere near as serious as the wounds an angry fox could inflict.

“Go into my den,” he instructed them. “I’ll be with you in a couple of heartbeats. Where are the apprentices?”

“Here!” Cherrypaw bounced up beside him. “Molepaw and I are fine.”

“Yeah, the fox nearly ate us up.” Excitement was rolling off Molepaw in fizzing waves. “But the cat came and chased it off!”

Firestar pushed his way through the cats crowding around Jayfeather. “What cat?” he asked Molepaw. “Do you mean Brightheart, or your mentors?”

“No,” Cherrypaw replied. “They chased after the fox, but it came back, and we thought we’d be eaten. But there was another cat! It hissed at the fox, and the fox ran away!”

Firestar shook his head, a puzzled look in his green eyes. “I didn’t see any other cat up there.”

“It sounds unlikely to me,” Brackenfur murmured.

“Yes.” Berrynose agreed. “Look, you two, it’s not funny to make up stories about something so dangerous.”

“You had a big scare,” Sandstorm added, sounding sympathetic. “But there’s no need to invent mysterious cats coming to the rescue. Brightheart and your mentors did a great job scaring the fox away.”

“But we’re not making it up!” Cherrypaw protested.

“Right,” Molepaw insisted, pressing up close to his sister. “There was another cat.”