Runningnose crept forward and rested his nose against the shining surface. Yellowfang crouched down beside him and the rest of the medicine cats took their places.
When Yellowfang closed her eyes she was immediately swept out into a place of darkness and cold. She could feel her paws standing on rock, but she couldn’t see anything. Then jagged flashes of scarlet broke up the darkness, and high-pitched shrieking battered at her ears. The shapes of kits appeared before Yellowfang’s eyes, but these were not the warm, furry bundles of her Clan’s nursery. Instead, their tiny bodies were ripped from their mothers’ bellies in fountains of blood, while the mother cats clutched at them helplessly.
Yellowfang rushed to and fro trying to save the kits from the unseen claws that were tearing them away. But her pads slipped on the blood, the stench of it filling her nose and throat. However hard she struggled, the dying kits were always just out of reach of her stretching paws.
“No! No!” she yowled.
Something hard pressed into her side. Yellowfang opened her eyes to see Runningnose poking her with one paw. His eyes were wide and scared.
“I—I’m sorry,” he stammered. “But you were crying out. I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing by waking you?”
“No… no, I’m fine,” Yellowfang rasped, tottering to her paws. The light from the moon had gone, and the cave was illuminated by the faint sheen of stars. In the faint glimmer she could see the other medicine cats watching her anxiously. “I’m fine,” she repeated. “It was just a bad dream.”
“It was more than that,” Runningnose insisted. “Yellowfang—”
“Enough!” Yellowfang snapped. “We only share our dreams with our leader. They are not for idle gossip!”
Whirling around, she stomped up the passage ahead of the others.
Chapter 33
Yellowfang crossed the clearing toward the nursery. A chilly breeze ruffled her fur, warning her that greenleaf was almost at an end. Soon the leaves would fall from the trees and another leaf-bare would set in.
At least these kits will be big and strong before then, she thought.
She was on her way to check on Featherstorm’s new litter, Molekit, Dawnkit, and Volekit. They had been born two sunrises before, so they hadn’t yet opened their eyes. As she entered the nursery she gazed with satisfaction at the three little wriggling bodies snuggling up to their mother’s belly. At least these kits aren’t the ones I saw in that terrible dream at the Moonstone.
Featherstorm raised her head to greet Yellowfang. “I’m glad you’ve come,” she meowed, looking proudly down at her kits. “I want you to listen to their chests and check their ears for mites.”
“Of course.”
Yellowfang was pretty sure that there was nothing to worry about, but she knew that an older queen like Featherstorm was bound to be concerned. Besides, she enjoyed spending time with the little squirming creatures, who approached her boldly and sniffed with eager curiosity at her, even though they couldn’t see.
While she was examining the kits, their father, Blizzardwing, popped his head through the entrance. “Everything okay?” he called. “Can I do anything?”
“We’re all fine,” Featherstorm responded with a flick of her tail. “You can fetch me a piece of fresh-kill—something nice and tasty, please. Toms!” she added to Yellowfang when Blizzardwing had disappeared. “I’ve never found them to be much use around kits.”
Hal wouldn’t have been, that’s for sure, Yellowfang thought, picturing Featherstorm’s long-ago mate from the Twolegplace. He wanted nothing to do with his kits.
She was heading back across the clearing when the sound of crashing branches broke out in the entrance tunnel. Yellowfang spun around to see Brokentail rushing in with half a rabbit in his jaws.
“Raggedstar! Raggedstar!” he yowled, dropping the rabbit in the middle of the clearing.
The Clan leader appeared from his den, while several other cats rushed up and gathered around Brokentail and the fresh-kill. The elders peered out of their den, and Runningnose came bounding out of the medicine cats’ den to join Yellowfang.
“What’s going on?” he panted.
“I don’t know,” Yellowfang replied, padding closer with Runningnose at her side. “Brokentail just came back with that fresh-kill.”
“I found this dead rabbit near the tunnel that leads to WindClan territory,” Brokentail announced, his eyes flashing with anger. “It proves that WindClan warriors have been killing prey inside ShadowClan’s borders!”
Scorchwind stepped forward with Stumpytail and Cinderfur just behind him. “We patrolled that border earlier,” he meowed, “and we didn’t find any trace of WindClan scent.”
“The rabbit is still warm,” Brokentail pointed out. “They must have just caught it! We need to attack at once!”
“Wait a moment,” Raggedstar ordered. “We need to make sure the rabbit didn’t stagger over the border wounded before dying.”
Brokentail let out a hiss of annoyance and thrust the tattered body in front of his leader. “Look! There are bitemarks in it! This was clearly an invasion!” He paused briefly and added, “If you’re too scared to challenge those prey-stealers, I’ll lead the patrol myself!”
Some of the other warriors nodded agreement, as if they were willing to go with him. Yellowfang noticed that Stumpytail and Flintfang were among them.
“Hang on!” Raggedstar exclaimed as Brokentail turned as if he was about to head off. “Of course I am not afraid. But these things need planning. Brokentail, come with me and Cloudpelt.”
When the three cats had gone, Yellowfang padded over and gave the rabbit a thorough sniff. She picked up some WindClan scent on its fur, but the bitemarks had a stronger scent of Brokentail. Yellowfang felt her neck fur begin to rise. Okay, so he carried it back to the camp, but could this be the shape of his teeth in the rabbit’s flesh? What if he caught the rabbit himself, after it strayed of its own accord under the Thunderpath? She began to shake. Should I tell Raggedstar?
Just then, Brokentail and Cloudpelt bustled out of the leader’s den and started calling to warriors to join them beside the thorn tunnel. Seizing her chance, Yellowfang took a deep breath and slipped underneath the oak roots to see Raggedstar.
“Are you sure that Brokentail is telling the truth?” she demanded boldly. “What if he caught the rabbit himself?”
Raggedstar bristled. “No son of mine would lie! How dare you question him?” He bared his teeth in a snarl. “Now get out of my way.”
Bruised by his fury, Yellowfang stepped aside, then followed him out of the den. She watched him race across the camp toward Brokentail, Cloudpelt, and the warriors they had gathered: Stumpytail, Flintfang, and Scorchwind. With a wave of his tail, Raggedstar hurtled through the tunnel with the patrol hard on his paws.
Runningnose padded over to her with dismay in his eyes. “Are we going to follow with herbs?”
Yellowfang shook her head. “This will just be a border skirmish. There won’t be any serious injuries.” But as she spoke her paws were itching to carry her after the patrol. The camp suddenly felt too small, as if the circle of brambles was closing in on her.
I have to get out!
“I’m going to look for comfrey,” she told Runningnose, heading for the tunnel.
“But we have plenty!” he called after her, sounding bewildered.