Goosefeather’s Curse

Chapter Six

“Goosepaw, do you promise to uphold the ways of a medicine cat, to stand apart from rivalry between Clan and Clan, and to protect all cats equally, even at the cost of your life?”

Goosepaw bowed his head in the glittering light of the Moonstone and tried to ignore the murmurs that came from the shadows. As always, the little cavern was full of watching eyes, voices whispering to him on the cusp of his hearing, dire threats and prophecies echoing around the stone walls. It seemed as if every cat in StarClan came here to pour their warnings into his ears—warnings that he couldn’t distinguish, that only made his pelt crawl and his tail fluff up with fear.

“I do,” he replied.

“Then by the powers of StarClan I give you your true name as a medicine cat. Goosepaw, from this moment you will be known as Goosefeather. StarClan honors the power of your sight, and we welcome you as a full medicine cat of ThunderClan.” Cloudberry rested her muzzle briefly on top of his head, then stepped back.

“Goosefeather! Goosefeather! Goosefeather!” whispered the unseen cats.

Goosefeather winced; then Sagepaw cheered, “Goosefeather!” The air in the cave instantly felt warmer. Goosefeather blinked gratefully at the white-furred ShadowClan apprentice.

“Welcome to life as a medicine cat, Goosefeather,” meowed Chiveclaw of WindClan. His apprentice, Hawkheart, who had received his full name at the last half-moon, nodded.

Echosnout sniffed. “I hope he doesn’t get any fancy ideas about knowing as much as the rest of us,” she muttered.

Cloudberry raised her tail. “Goosefeather knows he’ll never stop learning,” she purred.

Goosefeather fought down a flash of anger. I can already do more than any of you! I see all the cats that have gone before us, and things that have not yet happened. You have no idea what powers I have!

The voices grew louder inside his head, as if the unseen cats knew what he was thinking.

“Blood will spill blood!”

“Darkness, air, water, and sky will come together!”

“He is a kittypet!”

“Water will destroy her!”

“Only fire will save the Clan!”

Shut up! Goosefeather screeched silently. It’s too much! I don’t know what you’re talking about!

Sagepaw’s mentor, Redthistle, shook her dark ginger pelt. “Time to go home,” she mewed. “I’m so cold I can’t feel my paws.” She limped out of the cave with Sagepaw beside her.

Cloudberry nodded to Goosefeather, and he fled up the tunnel, pushing past the ShadowClan cats.

The voices faded behind him, and he took deep breaths of the cold night air. He knew his gift was special, and that he had no choice but to serve his Clan as a medicine cat. But here, far underground, in the shimmering light of the moon-bathed crystal, Goosefeather’s gift seemed more than he could possibly bear.

“Great StarClan! Are we out of borage already?” Cloudberry stuck her head farther into the cleft in the rock, then withdrew it, sneezing. “Nothing but dust back there. You’ll need to gather borage as well, Goosefeather.”

He rolled his eyes. “At this rate I’ll be bringing back half the forest,” he meowed. “Can’t I take one of the apprentices with me?”

Cloudberry shook a scrap of leaf off her ear and fixed him with her gaze. “As far as I’m concerned, you are an apprentice. It was Doestar’s idea to give you your full name, not mine.”

Goosefeather bristled. “I earned it! I saw the kittypets attacking our patrol!”

The old white cat turned back to her piles of leaves. “Your visions are a gift from StarClan.

Everything else will have to be learned. Now go fetch those herbs while they’re still green.”

Goosefeather ducked through the ferns, which were turning brown at the tips as the weather cooled and the days grew shorter. In the clearing, the apprentices had just returned from a border patrol with their mentors. Goosefeather nodded to them, but they just stared at him. Goosefeather felt a flash of annoyance. Why did they treat him like an outcast? Didn’t they understand how important his powers were? Even Moonpaw looked down at the ground as he walked past.

“Don’t start thinking you’re better than us just because you got your name!” hissed Rabbitpaw.

“I heard that,” growled his mentor, Mumblefoot. But he didn’t make Rabbitpaw apologize; on the contrary, Mumblefoot shook his head as Goosefeather padded by. Do all my Clanmates resent my new name? Goosefeather wondered.

Larksong, her belly swollen with kits, blinked sympathetically at him. “Don’t let them bother you,” she whispered. “It’s just taking everyone a while to get used to the idea of such a young medicine cat.”

Goosefeather shrugged. “Not my problem,” he mewed.

He pushed into the gorse tunnel, wincing as a tuft of his gray fur got caught on a spike. He climbed out of the ravine and headed straight into the forest. There was a patch of comfrey halfway to Fourtrees that had still had several green plants last time he visited. The trees were silent, and the air was still except for occasional crisp brown leaves drifting down. One brushed against

Goosefeather’s nose, and he purred in amusement. At first it had been alarming to watch the forest fade and turn brittle, but Cloudberry had reassured him that it would come back to life in newleaf, after the long, cold moons of leaf-bare.

He reached the comfrey and started to pick the biggest leaves, nipping them low down on the stalk to make them easier to carry. He was just stacking them in a pile when he heard a crashing sound beside him. Goosefeather spun around just as a clump of bracken split apart and Stormtail burst through.

The blue-gray warrior paused when he saw Goosefeather, and bared his teeth. “Watch out!” he snarled. He sprang past Goosefeather and vanished into the brambles.

There was a single moment of stillness, and suddenly Goosefeather knew exactly what was about to happen. He had known about this since he was the tiniest kit, and in a way he had been waiting for it all his life. This had been his very first vision, and like all the rest, it was doomed to come true.

The forest drew breath around him, and a huge black-and-white shape loomed through the bracken, bellowing in rage. Goosefeather braced himself. The badger had found him.

It was far bigger than he had imagined, but the narrow, striped face was the same, and the sharp teeth dripping with saliva. The creature fixed beady black eyes on him and lunged toward him with a roar. There was no time to recall any of the battle moves Goosefeather had seen being practiced by the apprentices. He dropped to the ground and curled himself into a tiny ball. The terror he had felt as a tiny kit flooded through him, clamping his chest like talons. “Daisytoe!” he whispered.

The badger landed with a thud on all four paws, trapping Goosefeather under its belly. Its fur stank like rotting flesh, and its hair was coarse and bristly. Goosefeather tried to wriggle free, but the badger spun around far more quickly than its size suggested and held Goosefeather down with one massive paw. Huge sharp claws sank into Goosefeather’s pelt, and he lay still, too scared even to shiver.

Is this how it ends? he wondered, his mind strangely clear. If I see a dead cat now, will he be coming to take me to StarClan?

The badger seemed puzzled by his lack of resistance. It rolled him roughly onto his side and lowered its head to sniff at him. Goosefeather retched as foul breath filled his nose. Then the badger curled back its lips, revealing cracked yellow teeth, and Goosefeather suddenly knew that he didn’t want to die.

He let out a screech, bucking wildly under the badger’s paw until he could tear himself free. With a snap, the badger shut its jaws and lunged for Goosefeather again. Goosefeather knew there had to be something he could do to defend himself, some clever twist of claws or teeth, but all he knew were herbs. And dead cats.

“Help me!” he yowled.

The badger grunted as if it liked the idea of prey that made a noise. It slapped Goosefeather to the ground with its front paw and loomed over him. A globule of drool fell into Goosefeather’s eye.

“Get off him!” There was a shriek behind the badger, and the massive head jerked away from Goosefeather. Blinking away the drool, he spotted a small silver shape clinging to the badger’s shoulders. “Leave him alone!”

“Moonpaw! What are you doing?” Goosefeather yowled.

His sister didn’t look up from jabbing her claws into the badger’s neck. “Saving you, mouse-brain. Get out of here while you can!”

The badger was twisting and snapping at the tormentor on its back. One of its flailing front paws almost knocked Goosefeather off his feet, but he scrambled under brambles until he was out of reach.

I can’t leave Moonpaw to fight it on her own, he thought desperately. But he knew there was nothing he could do to help her. He had no fighting skills.

Suddenly there was a thrumming of paws, and a horde of blurry shapes flew at the badger. Yowls split the air, and the badger hunched under the warriors’ attack. Goosefeather saw Daisytoe tear the badger’s ear with her claws, while Windflight savaged its stumpy tail. Moonpaw sank her teeth once more into the badger’s scruff; then the mighty animal let out a bark and started to shuffle away into the bracken. One by one, the warriors dropped to the ground and chased after it, still spitting and snarling.

Only Moonpaw remained, her sides heaving and blood welling from a scratch above her eye.

“Goosefeather!” she panted. “Are you there?”

Goosefeather crawled out from beneath the brambles. “I’m here,” he meowed. “You saved my life, Moonpaw! Thank you!” He stood up and tried to rub his muzzle against her head, but she ducked away.

“You shouldn’t be out on your own if you can’t defend yourself!” she hissed. “I can’t believe you’ve been given your full name when you don’t even know how to fight.”

Goosefeather shook his head. “Wait, it’s not my fault the badger attacked me. It was Stormtail—”

Moonpaw stared at him. “Really? You’re going to blame Stormtail for this? Who do you think found the patrol and told them what was happening? I don’t believe you, Goosefeather. You put all our lives in danger today. I won’t always be here to save you. Try living in the real world for a while, and learn how to look after yourself!”

She brushed past him and bounded into the bracken, following the trail left by the badger.