“Very well.” Firestar didn’t hesitate. “But take Squirrelflight with you.”
Jayfeather’s heart sank. “I can manage by myself.”
“I know,” Firestar agreed. “But if one tree can fall after so much rain, so can another. We can’t risk losing you. Take Squirrelflight.”
Jayfeather could sense that there was no point arguing. But why Squirrelflight? He couldn’t think of any cat he’d like to travel with less. Except Leafpool.
Was Firestar forcing them together on purpose?
Jayfeather left the leader’s den and picked his way across the clearing. Grief pricked the air, the cats speaking only when necessary.
Foxleap and Icecloud were dragging a rustling branch past the apprentices’ den. They stopped as Jayfeather passed.
“How’s Briarpaw?” Icecloud called.
“No better, no worse.”
Farther on, Thornclaw was gnawing at a branch, trying to loosen it from its thick bough. “How’s Briarpaw?”
Jayfeather hardly broke pace. “No better, no worse.”
“How’s Briarpaw?” Brightheart padded across his path.
Jayfeather growled. “No better, no worse.”
Sympathy flooded from the one-eyed warrior’s pelt. “We ask only because we care.”
Jayfeather’s shoulders slumped. “I don’t like being helpless,” he confessed.
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
“Actually, there is.” Jayfeather nodded. Brightheart was used to helping in the medicine den. “I have to go out. Can you give Briarpaw poppy seeds if she starts to complain of pain? No more than one at a time. I don’t want to dull her feeling any more than necessary.”
“Okay.”
“And take one to Mousefur as soon as you get a chance,” he added. “She’s still very upset.”
“Right.” Brightheart ducked away toward the medicine den.
Jayfeather wanted to check on the elder himself before he left. He slid into the apprentices’ den, where Purdy and Mousefur were crouched in thickly padded nests.
“It was my fault,” Mousefur was muttering. “All my fault.”
Purdy forced a loud purr. “I bet he’s walking with StarClan now,” he mewed. “Hunting in lush forest, warm and happy.”
“How will he manage without me to guide him?” Mousefur fretted.
“I wish I’d known him longer,” Purdy pressed on. “I heard he made the Great Journey while he was blind.”
“He never seemed to get tired.” Memory distracted the old she-cat for a moment. “Always first up and ready to move on. Never afraid of what lay ahead.”
“What was he like before he lost his sight?” Purdy prompted.
“Eyes like a hawk,” Mousefur remembered. “Could spot prey under a rock a tree-length away.”
Jayfeather felt Purdy’s gaze flit over his pelt. For the first time, Jayfeather thanked StarClan for the garrulous old loner.
“Tell me about his best catch,” Purdy urged Mousefur. “I hear he once caught an eagle.”
“Well, it wasn’t exactly an eagle, though he did fight off an owl when it tried to snatch a kit.”
Relieved, Jayfeather backed out of the den.
As he neared the barrier, branches swished. Cloudtail and Brackenfur were heaving them up against the ragged thornbush.
“Wait!” Squirrelflight was hurrying after him. “Sandstorm told me to accompany you to ShadowClan’s camp.”
“I’m going to speak to Littlecloud.” Jayfeather didn’t turn to greet the orange warrior before he ducked through a gap in the barrier.
She hurried after him but kept a few paces behind as they headed into the forest. The wind was cold: the first promise of leaf-bare. Jayfeather shivered, then jumped as a tree creaked beside him. He had never considered the fragility of the trees before. They stood so strong and tall. How could rain have defeated one?
Squirrelflight quickened her pace and fell in beside him. “It’s not right to fear the forest.”
“It’s not right for a tree to crush the camp,” Jayfeather growled. “But it did.”
Squirrelflight moved a little farther away and padded on in silence. Jayfeather relished the tension sparking between them if it meant she would keep her distance. He had not been alone with the cat who had raised him since the truth came out: that she had lied to him and his littermates all their lives, that she wasn’t their mother at all, but their mother’s sister.
“I remember when you, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf were still kits,” Squirrelflight meowed suddenly.
Jayfeather stiffened.
“A leaf landed on Hollyleaf’s head. She thought the forest was falling and hid in the nursery and wouldn’t come out for three days.”
Shut up! Jayfeather flattened his ears.
“I couldn’t have loved you more,” Squirrelflight murmured.
Anger flashed through his pelt. “If you’d really loved us, you wouldn’t have lied!”
Squirrelflight bristled. “Well, the truth is just great, isn’t it!” She whipped her tail though the air. “Look at Leafpool. She’s lost everything she ever cared about.”
“Her choice,” muttered Jayfeather.
Squirrelflight ignored him. “She lost you, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf.”
“She gave us away.”
“Other cats have been hurt too!” Squirrelflight snapped. “This was never just about you, and I’m sick of you flapping your wings like an injured sparrow, feeling oh so sorry for yourself. You’re not the only cat suffering. Your pain is not the hardest to bear. I suppose I expected more from you because you’re the medicine cat; I suppose I forget how young you are!”
As she lectured him, Jayfeather’s rage spiraled alongside hers. “Leafpool made this happen. I didn’t go looking for mates in another Clan. I didn’t have kits and give them away! I didn’t lie and let every cat think I was something I wasn’t!”
Squirrelflight drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. “Try to remember,” she meowed quietly, “that we did what we thought was best. Remember that you were always loved.”
Yeah, right.
Border markers crossed their path.
Jayfeather padded past them.
“Wait,” Squirrelflight ordered.
Jayfeather dug his claws into the ground. Was she going to argue with everything he did or said? They had to speak with Littlecloud as soon as possible! But he waited while she tasted the air, her paws shifting the needles on the forest floor as she scanned the woodland.
“Patrol,” she warned.
Jayfeather sniffed, and scented the fresh tang of ShadowClan warriors. Oakfur and Ferretpaw were padding close by.
Squirrelflight hailed the ShadowClan warrior. “Oakfur?”
Jayfeather felt surprise spark from the ShadowClan cats’ pelts. Pawsteps came hurrying.
“So Blackstar was right!” Oakfur growled. “You are trying to invade.”
“Keep your fur on!” Jayfeather realized he was on the wrong side of the border. “I just want to see Littlecloud.”
Ferretpaw swarmed around him, whiskers twitching. Jayfeather stood still and let the young cat sniff.
“Do we look like a battle patrol?” Squirrelflight asked.
“There may be more of you.” Oakfur sounded suspicious.
“Can you smell any others?”
Ferretpaw snorted. “The others may be disguised.”
Squirrelflight sighed. “We really haven’t come to invade. Can you take us to see Littlecloud, please?”
Oakfur hesitated. “Okay,” he agreed. “But Blackstar will send a full patrol to check the rest of the area.” His mew rang through the trees, clearly aimed at the invasion patrol he suspected was hiding behind the trees along the border.
Squirrelflight padded across the scent line and fell in behind Oakfur. Jayfeather followed, his irritation with Ferretpaw growing as the apprentice trotted around him as though he were guarding the Clans’ most dangerous warrior.
> “What’s the matter?” Jayfeather muttered. “Worried I might give you some medicine?”
Ferretpaw bristled. “Shut up!”
Jayfeather recognized the ShadowClan camp as they approached. He’d been here before, with Sol. He padded across the clearing, confident the way was clear, aware of Kinkfur and Ivytail peering from the nursery, of Tawnypelt and Scorchfur crowding from the warriors’ den, and hearing fur brush the earth as Starlingpaw and Pinepaw leaped to their paws on the edge of the clearing where they’d been sharing a shrew.
Oakfur gave a warning yowl, which brought Blackstar from his den.
“What’s going on?” the ShadowClan leader demanded.
Squirrelflight’s paws scuffed the clearing. “May we speak to you in private?”
Oakfur brushed past her. “They want to see Littlecloud.”
Surprise bristled in the ShadowClan leader’s pelt. “Then go get him,” he ordered. His fur snagged the brambles as he disappeared back into his den. “Come inside,” he called.
Jayfeather followed Squirrelflight through the entrance. The stench of ShadowClan was strong and he wrinkled his nose.
Blackstar sat down. “What’s wrong?”
“A beech tree fell into the hollow,” Squirrelflight explained. “We have an injured cat and we were hoping Littlecloud would be able to advise us on her treatment.”
“Just one injured cat?” Blackstar’s mew croaked with surprise, then hardened. “StarClan must have been keeping a close eye on you.”
“Yes,” Squirrelflight replied. “We managed to clear the camp before it fell.”
“Longtail died,” Jayfeather told Blackstar bluntly.
The ShadowClan leader sighed, sympathy flashing briefly like sunlight between clouds. “StarClan will welcome such an old friend, though his Clanmates will miss him.”
Littlecloud poked his head through the entrance. “Did I hear you say a tree fell?” He gasped.
“Yes.” Squirrelflight was keeping her answers short. “It fell into the hollow. Briarpaw was injured. Longtail died.”
“Thank StarClan it wasn’t worse,” Littlecloud breathed.
“It’s bad enough.” Jayfeather flicked his tail. “Briarpaw can’t move her hind legs.”
He let Littlecloud’s thoughts flood his own. He saw images of a tom howling in agony, then lying in a nest, limp with fear, unable to move, anguish clouding his gaze.
“I had a case like that.” Littlecloud’s mind cleared as he began to speak. “Back when I was Runningnose’s apprentice. Wildfur’s legs were crushed by a collapsing burrow.”
“Leafpool told me.” Jayfeather wanted to hear about the cure, not the cause. “But Briarpaw’s legs aren’t crushed. No broken bones.”
“Same with Wildfur,” Littlecloud told him. “His legs were only bruised. It was his backbone that was broken.”
Jayfeather felt sick. He was suddenly aware of the arch of his own spine. The strength in it. The fragility of it. “Did he recover?”
“He died,” Littlecloud mewed quietly.
“But Briarpaw’s alive and feels no pain.”
“Same as Wildfur, to begin with. I don’t think it was the broken backbone that killed him.”
Jayfeather leaned forward. “Then what killed him?”
“He couldn’t walk.”
“Didn’t you feed him?” Squirrelflight gasped.
“Of course we did,” Littlecloud snapped. “But he kept getting a cough, over and over. Each time we treated it, it came back. He found it harder and harder to breathe.”
“Did the loss of feeling spread to his chest?” Jayfeather wondered.
“No. I think it was because he never moved from his nest.” Littlecloud spoke slowly, thoughtfully. “It seemed as if he never had a chance to shake the sickness from his chest. As though it filled with disease, like a pool filling with water until there was no air left.”
Jayfeather shivered, picturing Briarpaw curled in her nest. Had she coughed this morning? Was she coughing now, while he was here, away from his patient? His paws suddenly itched for home.
Squirrelflight’s tail-tip brushed the roof of the den. “Then we must keep Briarpaw moving.”
Jayfeather blinked. “Do you think that would work?” he asked Littlecloud.
“If you can manage it, then it’s worth a try,” Littlecloud murmured. “And you could try making her a nest that lets her sleep sitting up. It might help keep her chest filled with air.” There was doubt in the medicine cat’s mew. “But it will be uncomfortable. And keeping her moving will be hard for her and for the rest of the Clan.” He paused. “I wish you luck.”
Jayfeather bristled. “Luck will have nothing to do with it.”
Littlecloud brushed his tail over the ground. “Let me fetch you some herbs to help with her chest and belly. That’s where you must focus your healing. Her legs are beyond your powers.”
The ShadowClan medicine cat padded from the den, and Jayfeather and Squirrelflight waited in awkward silence with Blackstar until the tang of strong herbs touched Jayfeather’s nose. He padded out to meet Littlecloud.
“The coltsfoot will ease her breathing.” The ShadowClan medicine cat pushed a bundle of leaves toward him. “The juniper berries will keep her belly soothed.”
“We have these herbs already,” Jayfeather told him.
“You’ll need all you can get.” Littlecloud sat down. “Come back if you need more. Or if you want to share any more ideas. We can all learn from this.”
Jayfeather picked up the bundle. As Squirrelflight squeezed out of Blackstar’s den, he headed for the camp entrance.
“May StarClan watch over you and Briarpaw,” Littlecloud called.
They may watch, Jayfeather thought. But I won’t let them take her yet.
As Jayfeather followed Squirrelflight back to the hollow, he kept trying to work out ways to keep Briarpaw healthy and moving.
Squirrelflight paused outside the hollow. “I’m proud of you,” she meowed. “If any cat can help Briarpaw, it’s you.”
Jayfeather turned to her, searching for words. He wanted to believe it. That she was proud. That he could help Briarpaw. “Thanks,” he mumbled through his mouthful of herbs, and ducked into camp.
Cloudtail and Brackenfur were still hauling branches against the tattered barrier, slower now as weariness dragged at their paws.
Firestar stood in the empty patch of clearing, talking with Brambleclaw and Dustpelt. “How much of the tree do you think you’ll be able to clear?” the ThunderClan leader asked his senior warriors.
Jayfeather sensed the weight of worry in Dustpelt’s chest. “We may need to wait for wind and weather to destroy the larger branches and trunks.”
“We could make use of them to construct new dens,” Brambleclaw suggested. “And looking at how much of the debris we’ve cleared already, I think we can rebuild most of our camp in less than a moon.”
“But we can’t neglect hunting and border patrols,” Dustpelt warned.
Firestar’s attention swung toward Jayfeather. “What did Littlecloud say?” he called across the clearing.
Jayfeather padded to the leader’s side and dropped his bundle of herbs. “He had some good advice,” he reported. “I want to share it with Graystripe and Millie first.”
“I sent Graystripe on patrol,” Brambleclaw confessed. “I wanted to keep him busy.”
Jayfeather picked up his herbs and left the warriors. He could hear Brightheart and Millie in the medicine den. Anxiety was sparking from them, and he sensed Briarpaw’s agitation growing as the two she-cats fussed over her.
“Just eat a little!” Millie begged. Jayfeather could smell the shrew dangling from her claws.
“I’m not hungry!” Briarpaw complained.
Jayfeather pushed through the trailing brambles and put down the herbs. “Leave her alone,” he ordered.
Millie rounded on him. “She’s my kit!”
“I’m her medicine cat!”
Briarpa
w churned her nest with her forepaws. “I just want to help my Clanmates rebuild the camp!” she wailed.
Brightheart crossed the den and whispered in Jayfeather’s ear, “We told her about Longtail. She’s still distressed, but I didn’t want to give her poppy seed, after what you said.”
Jayfeather nodded. “Good. She’s going to have to learn to deal with distress.” He felt Brightheart stiffen at the darkness in his mew. “We have to face the truth,” he explained. “Briarpaw has a difficult path ahead, but I will do everything I can to save her.”
“Save her?” Millie nudged between them, her pelt prickling. “What did Littlecloud tell you?”
Jayfeather wasn’t ready to share what he’d learned. “Wait.” He needed to check Littlecloud’s theory first. There was still a chance Briarpaw’s legs were only bruised. That her backbone wasn’t damaged. He padded to her nest.
“What are you going to do?” Anxiety tightened Millie’s mew as Jayfeather leaned into Briarpaw’s nest.
“I need to be sure.” He ran his paws down Briarpaw’s back. He felt her twist to see what he was doing.
“Sure of what?” Millie fretted.
When Jayfeather didn’t answer, Brightheart padded closer and nudged Millie gently away. “He knows what he’s doing,” she whispered.
The backbone felt smooth: nothing out of place. Hope sparked in Jayfeather’s chest. He sniffed her legs. Definitely swollen. Perhaps when the swelling went down…? He lifted a leg in his teeth as he had done yesterday. It dropped, still lifeless. More comfrey might quicken the healing.
One last test.
Leaning farther into the nest, he nipped Briarpaw’s backbone in his teeth, just below her shoulders.
“Ow!” Briarpaw stiffened in alarm.
“I’m testing something,” Jayfeather reassured her. “It’ll prick, but I won’t damage you.” He put his muzzle close to hers until their whiskers brushed. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” she breathed.
“I need you to be brave while I do this.”
“Okay.”
Millie tried to move nearer the nest.
Brightheart blocked her. “Give him room to work.”