The Forgotten Warrior

Jayfeather could sense that the young cats were telling the truth, or at least that they believed what they were saying. He realized that Firestar was taking their story seriously, too.

“What was this cat like?” the Clan leader asked.

“We never saw it clearly,” Molepaw confessed. “We were hiding in a bramble thicket. And we couldn’t smell it above the scent of fox.”

“We’re not even sure it was a ThunderClan warrior,” Cherrypaw added.

Firestar was quiet for a moment. “I’ll ask the other warriors if they saw anything,” he mewed at last. “The only thing that matters is that every cat is safe.”

The group of warriors began to split up.

“Not you,” Jayfeather meowed, sweeping his tail around the two apprentices. “I want you in my den so I can check you out.”

“But we’re fine,” Cherrypaw told him.

“I’m your medicine cat, and you’re not fine until I say so. Inside.”

He herded the two young cats into his den, to find that Briarlight was already treating the warriors’ injuries.

“Brightheart’s paws were full of bramble thorns,” she explained to Jayfeather. “I pulled them out, and gave her dock leaf to rub on.”

“I feel fine now,” Brightheart mewed. “Briarlight did a great job. I’ll get out of your way, Jayfeather, so you can treat the others.”

Jayfeather gave her paws a sniff to make sure everything was okay, then waved her out of the den with a flick of his tail.

“Foxleap has a fox bite and some scratches on his shoulder,” Briarlight went on. “I’ve given them a good lick, but I don’t know what herbs are best for bites.”

Jayfeather sniffed carefully at the wounds; the scratches had already stopped bleeding, but the bite was deep. “We’ll put a poultice of burdock root on that,” he decided. “Chew it up small, Briarlight, and fix it on with some cobweb. You’ll need to rest it for a day or two,” he added to Foxleap.

“But who’ll be my mentor?” Cherrypaw asked anxiously. “I don’t want to be stuck in camp while Molepaw is learning stuff.”

“You can do the elders’ ticks,” her brother told her, then squeaked, “Ow! Keep your claws to yourself!”

“That’s enough,” Foxleap scolded them. “Of course you’ll have a mentor, Cherrypaw. I’ve already asked Cloudtail. He says he’ll take over your training for a couple of days.”

“Cool.” Cherrypaw sounded satisfied.

“I’m just scratched a bit,” Rosepetal told Jayfeather. “And I’ve lost some fur from one side, but I don’t think there’s anything serious.”

Jayfeather checked, and found that the scratches were quite shallow. Since Briarlight was still fixing Foxleap’s poultice, he went to the store for some marigold, and trickled the juice onto Rosepetal’s wounds.

“Come back tomorrow for some more of that,” he instructed her. “You’ll need to take it easy at first, but I think you can carry on with your duties. Let me know if the pain gets any worse.”

“Okay, thanks,” Rosepetal meowed.

When she and Foxleap had gone, Jayfeather sent Briarlight out of the den. “You’ve done really well,” he told her. “Go do your exercises and get some fresh air.”

He waited until the dragging sound of her movement had died away before turning back to the apprentices. He was pretty sure that they weren’t hurt, but he wanted the excuse of checking them over.

“Tell me more about the other cat you saw,” he mewed as he sniffed Cherrypaw’s fur.

“Don’t want to,” Molepaw muttered sulkily. “You’ll only say we’re lying.”

“Yeah, or that we got scared and imagined it,” Cherrypaw added.

Jayfeather tipped his head on one side. “Try me.”

“Well, we don’t really remember anything,” Molepaw went on after a moment’s hesitation. “Brightheart sent us deep into the brambles. We couldn’t see much, but we heard this other cat.”

Jayfeather grunted. Pretending to check Molepaw for injuries, he pressed his paws down on the young tom’s shoulders and let his mind drift into Molepaw’s memories.

Sunlight dazzled Jayfeather’s eyes as it shone on the slope above the hollow. On an open stretch of grass surrounded by ferns and brambles, Brightheart was showing a move to the two apprentices, while Foxleap and Rosepetal sat close by, looking on. The fur on Jayfeather’s neck began to rise as he waited for what he knew would happen.

“That’s great, Cherrypaw, but try—”

A loud snarling interrupted Brightheart as the fox leaped out from a clump of brambles. Foxleap and Rosepetal sprang to their paws as it lunged toward the apprentices.

“Hide!” Foxleap yowled as he hurled himself at the intruder.

Rosepetal let out a screech as she dashed past the fox and raked her claws down its side. Brightheart spun around and shoved both apprentices toward the nearest bramble thicket. “Get under there and don’t move!” she hissed.