“How would I know?” Yellowfang retorted, irritable because Sagewhisker’s questions were starting to make her feel uncomfortable. “I was in the battle, you know, not watching from up in a tree.” When Sagewhisker didn’t respond, she added uncertainly, “Maybe Cedarstar… he fell against a tree stump.”
“I’ll have to see him about that,” Sagewhisker meowed.
“But what about me?” Yellowfang protested. “Aren’t you going to treat my injuries?”
Sagewhisker gazed at her from calm green eyes. “I’ve already told you, Yellowfang, you hardly have a scratch on you. You fought well and escaped without injury. What you are feeling is the injuries of the other cats.”
“What do you mean?” Yellowfang mewed shakily. “How can that happen?”
“I don’t know,” Sagewhisker admitted. “This isn’t the first time, though, is it?”
Yellowfang thought back to the times she had been in pain. When I fought that huge WindClan tom, I felt like I was seriously injured, but I wasn’t. And there was the pain I felt when Silverflame was dying… and the time when my belly ached when Nutkit ate the crow-food. Great StarClan, has this been happening since I was a kit?
“I guess not,” Yellowfang mewed quietly. “But… doesn’t every cat feel the same? It’s not hard to see an injury and imagine how it feels!”
“This isn’t your imagination,” Sagewhisker told her. “StarClan must have given you these feelings for a reason, and we have to find out what it is.”
“No!” Yellowfang forced herself to her paws, ignoring painful muscles that shrieked in protest. “I don’t want to be different! I just want to be a warrior!”
Chapter 10
Yellowfang stormed out of the medicine cat’s den in a whirl of fury and terror, brushing past Rowanberry, who was waiting for her.
“What’s the matter?” Rowanberry called, trotting after her. “Are you okay?”
Yellowfang strode on without replying. Her paw still ached, but she did her best to ignore it. She didn’t want to talk to any cat, not even her sister. She was heading for the warriors’ den, but before she had covered even half the distance, Brightflower bounded up to her.
“Little one!” her mother gasped. “Are you badly hurt? I hear you fought so bravely.”
“Sagewhisker fixed everything,” Yellowfang muttered, not breaking stride.
Brightflower kept pace with her. “You need to rest,” she fretted. “Stonetooth won’t expect you to go out on patrol until you’re fully healed.”
“I’m fine, okay?” Yellowfang snapped, pretending not to see the shocked look in her mother’s eyes.
“Hey, Yellowfang!” Archeye intercepted her as she hurried on. “I hear you were wounded. How are you?”
“Fine.”
Suddenly the clearing seemed to be full of cats, all of them bearing down on her, asking stupid questions about her injuries. Can’t they see I’m okay?
“Leave me alone, will you?” she snarled at Foxpaw and Wolfpaw as they came scurrying up, eager to hear about the battle. She veered away from the warriors’ den and ran across the clearing to the entrance.
“Stuck-up furball!” Foxpaw yowled after her.
Yellowfang plunged through the gap and headed for the shadows under the trees. Her mind was still reeling, but she was grateful for the calm and quiet of the forest. A moment later she heard the sound of paw steps and picked up a familiar scent: Rowanberry had followed her.
“What do you want?” Yellowfang growled.
“I’m worried about you,” her sister responded, blinking at Yellowfang in concern. “You don’t look badly hurt, but I can see something is wrong.”
For a moment Yellowfang felt the urge to tell Rowanberry the crazy things that Sagewhisker had said, all the nonsense about being able to feel other cats’ injuries. But as soon as she opened her jaws to speak, another sharp pain shot through her paw. With a sinking feeling in her belly she looked at Rowanberry, and saw that one of her claws was bent backward.
“What’s wrong with your paw?” she asked, forcing the words out. “Did you get hurt in the battle?”
Rowanberry nodded. “It’s a bit sore,” she admitted.
Yellowfang knew that she could never tell her sister the truth about what she was feeling. The stab of pain had shown her that Sagewhisker was right. If I tell Rowanberry, she’ll think I’m weird. It would change everything.
“Go see Sagewhisker,” she told her sister. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine on my own for a while.”
Rowanberry hesitated for a heartbeat, then touched her nose briefly to Yellowfang’s ear and scampered toward the camp.
Yellowfang watched her until she was out of sight. I can cope with these feelings, she told herself. They won’t stop me from being a great warrior. With her head up, she began padding through the trees. This changes nothing.
Yellowfang stalked along the edge of the marshes, enjoying the warmth of sunlight on her pelt and the taste of the plump vole she carried in her jaws. Three sunrises had passed since the battle, and the pain in her body had faded away. “We’ve hunted well today,” she mumbled to Nutwhisker around her mouthful of prey.
Nutwhisker, who was dragging a squirrel, paused for a moment and let his prey drop to the ground. “We’d do even better if we weren’t stuck here in the marshes,” he commented. “I can’t believe that a badger would dare move into our territory.”
Featherstorm, who was leading the hunting patrol, caught what Nutwhisker said and rolled her eyes. “You know very well we’ve always had trouble with badgers,” she meowed. “Anyway, it won’t be a problem for long, now that Cedarstar has ordered extra patrols to keep an eye open for it.”
Blizzardwing, who padded up with Foxpaw just behind him, nodded. “We’ll soon get rid of it. And then we can hunt all over the territory again.”
“I’m not scared of badgers,” Foxpaw declared, dropping the starling she was carrying. “I’d give it a good thump on the nose if it dared to chase me!”
Blizzardwing’s head swiveled around and he fixed his apprentice with a freezing glare. “If you’re not scared of badgers then you’re a mouse-brain,” he told Foxpaw. “They’re the most ferocious animals in the forest—far worse than foxes. If one chases you, run away as far and as fast as you can. Now pick up your fresh-kill and let’s get a move on.”
Foxpaw obeyed, scowling. Yellowfang exchanged a glance with Nutwhisker before following at the rear of the patrol. Foxpaw thinks she’s so great. It will take more than a cocky little apprentice to deal with this badger!
When the patrol returned to camp, Yellowfang was arranging the new prey on the fresh-kill pile when she heard a sudden commotion at the entrance to the camp: cats’ voices raised in shock and anger, and the beat of paws on hard ground.
Is it the badger? Yellowfang wondered, her heart pounding. She spun around to see Toadskip and Nettlespot escorting two strange cats into the camp. A moment later she realized that they weren’t strangers at all—not to her.
Red and Boulder! What are they doing here?
Cedarstar emerged from his den underneath the oak tree and paced across the camp. “What do they want?”
“We found them on our territory,” Nettlespot explained. “They wouldn’t tell us why they were there.”
“Were you spying?” Cedarstar demanded, fixing a suspicious gaze on the two newcomers.
“Tear their pelts off!” Frogtail called out from the crowd.