“It hasn’t killed him,” Jayfeather conceded. “And where there’s life—”
“There’s hope. I know! You keep saying.”
“There’s no hope in death, and he’s not dead yet.” Jayfeather sounded encouraging, but Alderheart could tell by the pricking of the blind tom’s pelt that he was still not convinced the deathberries could cure Puddleshine. At least he’s trying to be supportive. Alderheart felt a glimmer of gratitude toward his former mentor.
Jayfeather got to his paws. “Leafpool will be back soon with more feverfew. We must at least be grateful that newleaf has brought fresh herbs.” Alderheart stiffened as Jayfeather’s gaze flicked toward the den entrance. “It sounds like we’ve got visitors,” he mewed ominously.
Alarm spiked through Alderheart’s pelt. “ShadowClan? Already?” Molewhisker and Cloudtail had only just left with the message.
“Go look for yourself.” Jayfeather nodded toward the trailing brambles.
Alderheart hurried toward them and slid through, narrowing his eyes against the glare of the sun. He smelled ShadowClan and, as his eyes adjusted to the brightness, saw Tigerstar in the clearing with Juniperclaw and Sparrowtail. Molewhisker and Cloudtail flanked the ShadowClan cats.
His heart lurched.
Ivypool was watching from outside the nursery as her kits clambered over her. Whitewing and Birchfall blinked from the shadows beside the warriors’ den while their Clanmates shifted uneasily at the edges of the camp.
“They were waiting at the scent line,” Molewhisker called to Bramblestar.
The ThunderClan leader looked down from Highledge, and then jumped into the clearing. “Tigerstar.” He nodded to the broad-shouldered tabby.
Alderheart’s breath grew shallow. Tigerstar’s pelt gleamed in the sunlight. A frown shadowed his wide forehead as he dipped his head politely to Bramblestar.
Cloudtail caught Bramblestar’s eye. “Tigerstar wants to speak with you in private.”
Alderheart saw pelts prickle around the camp. Bramblestar blinked slowly at Cloudtail, a question in his gaze. Alderheart saw the white tom shift his paws, his blue eyes staring at the ground. “We haven’t spoken to him,” he mewed quickly.
Molewhisker nodded. “We found them at the border waiting for a patrol to escort them, so we brought them straight here.”
Alderheart’s tail twitched nervously, as he realized what the two warriors were telling their leader. They haven’t told Tigerstar about how sick Puddleshine is.
Should he feel relieved? The ShadowClan leader was going to find out eventually.
“Let’s speak over here.” Bramblestar guided Tigerstar toward the shade of the Highledge, leaving Sparrowtail and Juniperclaw in the clearing. His sharpening gaze warned his Clanmates to return to whatever they’d been doing. As the warriors busied themselves, Tigerstar narrowed his eyes at Alderheart distrustfully, his gaze like ice cutting through Alderheart’s pelt. “Do ThunderClan medicine cats have to hear everything their leader says?”
Alderheart’s legs twitched, and just for a moment he thought he should go back to his den, but from the way Bramblestar pointedly ignored Tigerstar’s question, he knew that his leader thought he should stay. He will need a medicine cat to explain some things. . . .
“What do you wish to discuss?” Bramblestar asked Tigerstar.
The ShadowClan leader’s gaze was cool. “I’m supposed to be meeting with Leafstar soon to settle the question of territory. I want to have something to offer her, but I don’t see what I can.”
“What does that have to do with me?” Bramblestar’s muscles hardened defensively beneath his pelt.
Tigerstar’s tail flicked irritably. “Do you really expect ShadowClan and SkyClan to settle their border dispute alone? I know you believe this cat Tree can help, but what does a loner understand of Clan borders?”
“He understands how cats think,” Bramblestar shot back.
Tigerstar narrowed his eyes. “Does he understand how Clan cats think?”
Bramblestar shifted his paws impatiently. “Why come to me, Tigerstar? I’m not taking sides.”
“I come to you because we share a border. I come because you can help. If SkyClan and ShadowClan are left to settle the dispute alone, there are only two outcomes. SkyClan can either give us back our land peacefully”—Tigerstar fixed his dark gaze on Bramblestar—“or they can fight to keep it.”
Bramblestar did not flinch. “Would you really drive SkyClan from the lake after all we have suffered to bring them here?”
“We won’t drive them from the lake.” Tigerstar meowed evenly. “But we will drive them away from our land.”
“The pine forest is huge,” Bramblestar reasoned. “Surely there is enough territory for two Clans?”
Tigerstar gazed toward the camp wall, as though seeing the forest beyond. “Yes, you might be right—if other Clans were to give up some land as well. It shouldn’t just be SkyClan that moves its border. If ThunderClan were to also move its border, then there might be more than enough room for—”
Bramblestar cut him off. “We decided at the Gathering that Tree would mediate between you and SkyClan to settle this dispute. It has nothing to do with the other Clans. And Leafstar won’t be happy if she hears you have been talking behind her back. She will see it as a lack of respect.” There was a warning in his gaze.
Tigerstar frowned. Foreboding prickled through Alderheart’s pelt as the dark tabby tom stared at Bramblestar.
“Fine.” Tigerstar swished his tail. “But don’t say that I never came in peace.” He glanced around the camp. “Since I’m here, I may as well take my medicine cat home.”
Alderheart stiffened. “He’s not well enough to travel.” Fear jabbed his pelt.
“Still?” Tigerstar swung his incredulous gaze toward Alderheart.
Alderheart looked at the ground. “We’re having trouble curing the infection from the Twoleg thorns.”
Suspicion glittered in the ShadowClan leader’s eyes. “Let me see for myself.” Tigerstar pushed passed him and shouldered his way into the medicine den.
Alderheart hurried after him.
Inside, Tigerstar had stopped. He was staring in horror at Puddleshine’s nest. “He looks half dead!”
“Keep your voice down!” Jayfeather bristled. “If yowling helped, we could have cured him already.”
“What’s wrong with him?” Tigerstar demanded.
“I told you.” Alderheart darted between Tigerstar and Puddleshine’s nest. “We can’t cure his infection.”
“Why not?” Tigerstar was bristling. “You’ve had more than a quarter moon.”
“None of our herbs are working.” As he spoke, Alderheart caught sight of the deathberries he’d left on a dock leaf beside Puddleshine’s nest. Dread froze like ice in his belly as Tigerstar followed his gaze.
Tigerstar stared at the berries. Slowly he padded across the den and sniffed them. “Are these deathberries?” Disbelief clouded his gaze as he looked at Alderheart. “In a medicine den?”
Alderheart nodded, his heart lurching as Tigerstar’s gaze hardened with rage.