Thunder And Shadow

As she defended herself, the brambles rustled at the den entrance. Ivy pool padded in. “Are y ou ready to hunt, Fernsong?”

Fernsong blinked at her, his eyes shining. “Yes,” he meowed happily.

“Great.” Jayfeather began to sweep the sprigs of chervil together with sharp j abs of his paws.

Alderpaw could see irritation rippling though his pelt. “Go hunting. And take these kits out of the den with y ou.”

“Twigkit is not coming with me!” Honey kit obj ected. “She’s too noisy. You always say that, Jayfeather.”

Twigkit’s pelt spiked with indignation, but the blind medicine cat sim ply looked away.

Briarlight heaved herself onto her front paws. “Come with m e, Twigkit,” she meowed. “We can take this m ouse outside and choose som e prey for y ou.”

Fernsong stood aside as Briarlight hauled herself out of her nest and began to drag her lim p hind legs toward the den entrance.

Alderpaw called after Twigkit as she followed. “Perhaps you can come back and help us later.”

“No!” Jayfeather glared at him, his blind blue gaze flashing. “We have work to do.”

Alderpaw flexed his claws, angry at the medicine cat, as Twigkit shot Jayfeather a resentful look and followed Briarlight from the den.

Ivy pool glanced sy m pathetically at Alderpaw. “Come on, Fernsong. The prey won’t catch itself, and I’ve prom ised Graystripe I’ll find him a shrew.”

Alderpaw hardly heard her. He was fum ing. As the two warriors left, he turned on the medicine cat, too furious to tiptoe around him this tim e. “You don’t have to be so mean to Twigkit,” he snapped. “Can’t you see that she doesn’t have any one to play with?”

Jayfeather froze, his eyes narrowing.

Alderpaw tensed as he saw Jayfeather’s ears flatten. He knew this look too well. But he didn’t care. He’d had to say som ething.

“Don’t tell m e how to behave!” Jayfeather hissed. “I already know my herbs. I can cure my Clanmates. You should spend less time worry ing about that kit and more time concentrating on your training.”

Frustration j abbed at Alderpaw’s belly. Why hadn’t he remembered the root was for belly aches, not the leaves? He whisked his tail crossly. He wouldn’t have forgotten if Jayfeather hadn’t been breathing on his tail like an angry fox. “I’ll try harder,” he growled through gritted teeth. “But I’m doing okay, aren’t I? No one else in the Clan doubts m e. They value m e. After all, it was me who received StarClan’s prophecy.”

“There’s more to being a medicine cat than passing on m essages from StarClan,” Jayfeather hissed. “StarClan won’t tell you how to heal a wound or cure a chest infection. You have to learn that y ourself. It takes hard work. And it’s the m ost im portant thing you can do for your Clan. It m ay help you save a life one day.”

Jayfeather’s words seared through Alderpaw’s heart. Mem ories of Sandstorm flashed in his m ind. Could he have done more to help her when she got sick? Sandstorm had visited him in a dream and told him her death wasn’t his fault. But what if she was just being kind? Perhaps she hadn’t needed to die.

He was holding back a shudder, remembering how it had felt to wake up beside her stiff, cold body, when paws thundered into camp.

“Bramblestar!” Mousewhisker’s y owl cracked the air.

Jayfeather shot out of the den. Alderpaw raced after, his heart pounding. What had happened?

Mousewhisker and Cloudtail stood in the clearing, their pelts bushed as their Clanmates gathered around them. Sparkpaw left the m ouse she’d been eating and hurried closer. Brackenfur and Birchfall leaped to their paws, and Lionblaze, Poppy frost, and Rosepetal darted from the warriors’ den.

“What’s wrong?” Bramblestar leaped down from the Highledge. Fur spiked along his spine.

“There’s a fight inside our border!” Mousewhisker puffed.

“WindClan!” Cloudtail added, his flanks heaving.

Graystripe leaped to his paws, ears flat. “An invasion?”

“No!” Mousewhisker swung his m uzzle toward the elder. “WindClan cats are fighting rogues.”

Rogues? Alderpaw stiffened. What rogues?

Thornclaw lashed his tail. “If WindClan wants to fight rogues, they can do it on their own territory!”

Bramblestar stared at Cloudtail. “Couldn’t you have driven them off?”

Cloudtail shook his head. “There were too many of them. The rogues look vicious. I think

WindClan needs help.”

Alarm prickled through Alderpaw’s pelt. If there was a fight, there’d be wounds. What herbs would they need? Quickly he began running through the list in his head: marigold, oak leaf, goldenrod, comfrey.

Bramblestar nodded. “Cloudtail, Birchfall, Lionblaze, and Rosepetal. Come with m e.”

“I’m coming too.” Squirrelflight stepped forward.

“And m e!” Sparkpaw hurried to stand beside her mother.

“You two can guard the camp with the others,” Bramblestar told them. “Until we know what’s going on, keep the kits in the nursery.” He shot a look at Graystripe. “The elders too. It’s the easiest den to protect.”