“Thank you, StarClan, for this prey,” Bristlefrost panted as she staggered to her paws and shook snow out of her pelt. But is there any point in thanking StarClan when they won’t talk to us?
“Hey, great catch!” Snaptooth came bounding up. “It’s pretty plump, too.”
Triumph surged through Bristlefrost. She felt better than she had since the dreadful day when she was made a warrior. “It’s your catch too,” she told her Clanmate.
“Yeah, we make a great team!” Snaptooth purred.
His words sent a pang of pain through Bristlefrost as she remembered what she had hoped for with Stemleaf. Even though she knew that Snaptooth meant no more than friendliness, that was a path where she refused to set her paws.
“Let’s go and show Mousewhisker and Berrynose,” she meowed. “They went this way.”
Carrying the rabbit, Bristlefrost padded across the clearing to the holly bush where the two senior warriors had disappeared. Skirting the prickly branches, she halted at the sound of murmuring voices from the other side, and signaled with her tail for Snaptooth to do the same.
Cautiously, Bristlefrost poked her head around the bush and spotted Berrynose and Mousewhisker huddled together in conversation, not even trying to hunt.
“Lazy furballs!” Snaptooth exclaimed, peering over Bristlefrost’s shoulder. “Let’s show them the rabbit and make them feel really ashamed of themselves.”
Bristlefrost shook her head. “No. I want to hear what’s so important they have to talk about it in secret.”
With Snaptooth just behind her, Bristlefrost crept forward as far as she could while still remaining in the shelter of the bush.
“. . . sickness is really bad,” Mousewhisker was mewing as Bristlefrost came into earshot. “And it’s getting worse. What will happen if Bramblestar dies?”
Berrynose shrugged helplessly. “When Clan leaders die, they go to StarClan and receive wisdom before they take up their next life and return to go on leading their Clan. But what happens if Bramblestar can’t reach StarClan? Will he just die, and never come back?”
“And then what happens to ThunderClan?” Mousewhisker wondered. “Squirrelflight would be a good leader, but what if she can’t meet with StarClan and receive her nine lives?”
“Then she’ll have to be our leader without StarClan,” Berrynose growled. “If StarClan is going to abandon us when we need them most, we can show them that we don’t need them!”
Mousewhisker looked uncertain; Bristlefrost thought that he wasn’t ready to abandon reliance on the spirits of their warrior ancestors. “I wonder if this is what ShadowClan’s weird medicine-cat apprentice saw in his vision,” he meowed.
Berrynose let out a snort of disgust. “I don’t know. Jayfeather thinks he’s birdbrained, and you know ShadowClan . . . there’s a reason we didn’t invite them to help with the Moonpool! They’re about as trustworthy as a den of foxes,” he muttered.
His voice began to die away, and Bristlefrost leaned closer, angling her ears forward to pick up the lower tones. But at that moment, Snaptooth sneezed, and both senior warriors looked up.
Bristlefrost turned her head to glare at her Clanmate. “Thanks for that!” she hissed through her teeth. “Now we’ll never get to hear the rest of it.” Then she padded forward with the rabbit and dropped it at Mousewhisker’s paws.
“Good job!” Berrynose exclaimed, swiping his tongue over his jaws as he stared at the prey.
Mousewhisker gave Bristlefrost an approving nod. “Rosepetal taught you well,” he mewed.
“It was both of us,” Bristlefrost responded, flicking her tail toward Snaptooth, who ducked his head, obviously pleased.
Bristlefrost’s feeling of triumph had returned, warming her as she headed back toward camp with the rest of the patrol. But at the same time, she couldn’t stop thinking about what the senior warriors had said.
What will happen if Bramblestar loses a life?
Bristlefrost crouched beside the fresh-kill pile, sharing a mouse with her mother, Ivypool. Most of ThunderClan was gathered around, devouring the prey from the morning’s hunt. Pride bubbled up inside Bristlefrost as she saw the elders, along with Daisy, Sorrelstripe, and Sparkpelt from the nursery, all feasting on the rabbit she and Snaptooth had caught.
No cat will go to their nest hungry tonight. I helped to care for my Clan.
But Bristlefrost was distracted from her feelings of satisfaction as a commotion rose outside the medicine cats’ den. Turning her head, she saw Squirrelflight plunge out from behind the bramble screen, then spin around to speak to some cat still inside.
“I don’t want to talk about this! Bramblestar will get better.” Her words carried clearly across the camp. “The only reason he hasn’t is that you haven’t tried everything!”
Alderheart followed the Clan deputy out of the den. Every cat in the Clan had fallen silent at Squirrelflight’s outburst, but the medicine cat remained calm. His voice as he responded was so quiet that Bristlefrost couldn’t make out the words.
“You and Jayfeather must save your leader!” Squirrelflight snapped back at him. “I have complete faith in you, so there’s nothing to discuss.” With that she turned away and stalked across the camp to the fresh-kill pile, head and tail held high.
Alderheart’s gaze followed her, and Bristlefrost noticed how devastated he looked, his muzzle tight and his tail drooping. She could imagine how difficult it must be for a medicine cat to treat his own father, especially when he wasn’t getting better. Especially when that father was Clan leader, too.
Glancing at Ivypool, Bristlefrost was grateful for the reassuring look in her mother’s eyes. “Don’t worry,” Ivypool murmured. But she still rose to her paws and went to sit at Squirrelflight’s side.
Bristlefrost finished up the last few scraps of mouse and was thinking about retiring to her den when she spotted movement at the end of the thorn tunnel. Hollytuft and Flippaw, who had been out on border patrol, appeared; Bristlefrost’s eyes widened in surprise as she recognized the cats who followed them into the camp.
Tigerstar and Shadowpaw!
Bristlefrost tensed. Could Tigerstar possibly know about the attempt to break through the ice in the Moonpool? Was he here to yell at Bramblestar? It would be a shame to get under Tigerstar’s fur when the attempt didn’t even work. . . .
Lilyheart, the third member of the patrol, brought up the rear, and Hollytuft led the way across the camp to where Ivypool was trying to coax Squirrelflight to eat a thrush.
Squirrelflight rose to her paws and faced Tigerstar where he halted beside the fresh-kill pile. Shadowpaw stood beside him, looking down at his paws; Bristlefrost could see his whiskers twitching nervously.
“Greetings, Tigerstar.” Squirrelflight’s eyes were wary, but she inclined her head coolly. “What do you want with ThunderClan?”
“I’ve come with an important message,” Tigerstar replied. “I think it would be best for me to speak in private with Bramblestar.”
“I’m sorry.” Squirrelflight’s voice was calm. “Bramblestar isn’t available at the moment. He’s . . . out hunting. So whatever you want to say, you can say in front of all ThunderClan’s warriors.”
For a moment Tigerstar looked taken aback. He hesitated; Bristlefrost guessed he was weighing the tension in Squirrelflight’s expression.
“Very well,” he meowed at last. “My message is a strange one: I know that your leader, Bramblestar, is very sick.”
Bristlefrost felt her belly clench and heard gasps of amazement rising from her Clanmates around her.
“How do you know?” Lionblaze demanded. The golden tabby tom rose and skirted the fresh-kill pile to stand beside Squirrelflight. His amber eyes blazed as he glared at Tigerstar. “Who told you?”