Leafpool’s Wish

Chapter 5

Leafpool looked up as Berrykit limped into the nursery. “What is it this time?” she mewed.

Hazelkit’s head popped up behind her brother. “He stood on a giant thistle!” she squeaked. “His paw is full of prickles!”

Berrykit miserably held up his forepaw. He screwed up his eyes and twisted his head away. “Will I ever be able to hunt?” he whimpered.

Leafpool studied the tiny pink foot. She could just see the tip of a thorn, no bigger than a mouse’s whisker, in one of the pads. “I think you’ll be okay,” she meowed.

“Can I come in?” called a voice from the entrance. It was Brightheart, rolling a bundle of cobwebs in front of her. “Here you are,” she puffed, tucking them into a little cleft in the stone wall. “I found loads under a piece of old bark by the shore.”

“Thanks,” mewed Leafpool. “While you’re here, would you like to extract a gigantic thorn from this brave little warrior?”

Brightheart blinked. “Sure, if you want me to.” She squinted down at Berrykit’s paw. “Wow, that’s huge! Okay, hold still.”

Berrykit leaned against Hazelkit as Brightheart bent over his foot and nipped out the prickle. She spat it onto a leaf and straightened up. “All done,” she declared.

“Did it hurt?” Hazelkit asked.

Berrykit nodded. “A bit. But I’m nearly a warrior, so I don’t mind. Thanks, Brightheart!” With a flick of his stumpy tail, he trotted out of the den with his sister.

Brightheart watched them leave, then turned to Leafpool. “Is there something you want to tell me?” she meowed, her single eye wide with concern. In the half-light of the den, the ginger patches of fur glowed against her white pelt.

Leafpool flinched. “What do you mean?”

“So far today I’ve treated an infected tick wound on Mousefur, sorted out the last of our yarrow stocks, collected cobwebs, and now dealt with the smallest thorn I’ve ever seen. You know I never mind helping you, Leafpool, but any cat would think you wanted me to be your apprentice!”

“How would you feel about that?” Leafpool mewed quietly.

Brightheart purred. “I’m flattered to be asked, but what about Cloudtail and Whitepaw? I am a mother and a mate, and I don’t want to give that up. No, Leafpool, you made a brave decision to follow your destiny, especially after the… the Crowfeather incident. But I am very happy as I am. I love helping you and I hope that never changes, but you’ll have to look to these new litters of kits for an apprentice. With so many of them, it won’t be hard!”

She ducked under the brambles at the entrance and vanished into the cold sunshine. Leafpool stood in the middle of her den. She had never felt more alone in her life. Then her kits stirred inside her, and she reminded herself that the problem was that she wasn’t alone. She felt a flash of anger toward her unborn kits. Why did you have to come? Your father doesn’t even know you exist. You’re going to ruin everything!

Three sunrises passed. Sleepless and feverish with fear, Leafpool watched each one appear over the tops of the trees. She felt exhausted, weighed down by her belly, and frightened to spend much time out of her den in case her Clanmates realized what was going on. In particular she hid from Mousefur, sending Brightheart to the elders’ den to check the old she-cat’s infection. They hadn’t discussed the issue of a new apprentice again.

Leafpool was counting out her stock of poppy seeds when there was a commotion in the clearing. She stuck her head out and saw Cloudtail carrying Whitepaw’s still, pale body on his shoulders. The rest of the dawn patrol clustered around them.

Thornclaw broke away and yowled, “Leafpool, come quick! Whitepaw is hurt!”

Brightheart flew out of the warriors’ den. “What’s going on?” She helped Cloudtail lower their daughter to the ground. “Whitepaw! Wake up!”

Leafpool ran over. “Stand back, Brightheart,” she mewed gently. “Let me see her.”

Brightheart stepped away and pressed herself against Cloudtail. “Our baby!” she whimpered.

The little white cat lay very still, her breathing shallow and her heartbeat weak. Leafpool looked up at Brackenfur, who was staring at his apprentice in distress. “Tell me exactly what happened,” she ordered.

The golden brown warrior narrowed his eyes. “She was practicing for her final assessment. A hare crossed the WindClan border and Whitepaw went for it. She caught it, but it struggled and got away. By the time I reached her, she was like this.” His voice shook.

Sorreltail padded up behind him, having heard the commotion from the nursery, and rested her tail on his shoulder to comfort him. “It wasn’t your fault,” she murmured.

Leafpool traced the outline of Whitepaw’s body with her paws, feeling for broken bones. There was a swelling on Whitepaw’s jaw which felt hot to the touch. “Did the hare strike her face?”

Thornclaw nodded. “Yes, I think so.”

“That’s what has knocked her out,” Leafpool mewed. “I’m guessing it was a large animal?”

“Massive,” Brackenfur confirmed. “I can’t believe Whitepaw thought she could take it.”

Brightheart let out a gasp. “My poor brave kit!”

Leafpool continued her examination. She hoped Whitepaw would wake up on her own, but she needed to check if there were any other injuries. Her legs seemed fine but there was something wrong with the angle of her tail…

“I think she’s dislocated her tail,” Leafpool announced.

Cloudtail blinked. “Is that possible?”

“It’s rare, but I’ve heard of it happening.” Leafpool prodded the base of Whitepaw’s spine, feeling the joint crunch. Whitepaw stirred.

“She’s waking up!” cried Brightheart. “Does that mean she’s in pain?”

Leafpool nodded. “Putting her tail back will hurt a lot.”

“Then you have to give her something to sleep through it!” Brightheart insisted. “Shall I fetch poppy seeds?”

Leafpool thought for a moment. Poppy seeds would make Whitepaw sleep more deeply, and if she had already been knocked out, would that be dangerous? She wanted the apprentice to wake up as soon as possible and indicate if she was in pain anywhere else. “No,” she meowed at last. “The pain won’t last long, and if it helps to rouse Whitepaw, that might be a good thing.” Brightheart let out a yelp of dismay but Leafpool ignored her. “Thornclaw, fetch a stick and put it between Whitepaw’s jaws in case she bites down. Brackenfur, hold her hindquarters steady like this.” She demonstrated by placing her paws firmly on Whitepaw’s haunches. The little cat let out a murmur.

Brackenfur gritted his teeth and followed Leafpool’s directions. “You’ll have to be quite strong,” Leafpool warned. “Her tail might not go back easily.”

She realized her paws were trembling. She tried to picture the skeletons of shrews and rabbits that Cinderpelt had used to demonstrate the way bones fitted together. For a moment she hesitated, terrified that she was going to damage the apprentice even more.

Brackenfur murmured in her ear, “I know you can do this, Leafpool. Go on.”

Leafpool took a deep breath and curled one paw over Whitepaw’s tail, close to the tip. She rested her other paw on the base of the little cat’s spine. With Brackenfur holding the haunches steady, Leafpool began to twist the tail. Whitepaw’s eyes stayed shut but she let out a dreadful screech. Brightheart lurched forward but Cloudtail held her back. Brackenfur grunted with the effort of holding Whitepaw still. Leafpool kept up the pressure until she felt a tiny click underneath Whitepaw’s fur. Suddenly the tail relaxed in her paw and Whitepaw gave a small sigh.

“You did it!” breathed Brightheart.

Whitepaw shivered and opened her eyes. “Where am I?” she mewed.

“You’re safe,” Brightheart told her. She ran her paw over Whitepaw’s head. “Leafpool has fixed your tail.”

“My mouth hurts,” Whitepaw whimpered. The swelling on her jaw was making it difficult for her to speak.

“Perhaps next time you see a hare you’ll let it run away,” Leafpool mewed. “You’ll have a nasty bump there for a little while, but I can give you something to help with the pain. Thornclaw, Brackenfur, carry Whitepaw into my den. I’ll send Birchpaw to fetch clean moss and feathers for her nest.”

Thornclaw carefully eased Whitepaw onto her mentor’s shoulders and with Brightheart holding her steady, they made their way to the cleft in the rock.

“You did very well, my dear,” commented a voice behind Leafpool.

“Sandstorm!” she meowed. She hadn’t realized her mother had been watching.

“I’m so proud of you,” Sandstorm mewed, her green eyes glowing. “You even managed to keep Brightheart calm.”

“No queen wants to see her kits in pain,” Leafpool meowed.

“Of course not,” Sandstorm agreed. She took a step forward and let her tail tip fall against Leafpool’s flank. “Even when her kits are grown up, a she-cat is always a mother.” Her breath was warm and sweet scented. “Are you all right, Leafpool?” she murmured. “You seem distracted at the moment, as if something is troubling you. You can tell me anything, you know.”

No I can’t! Leafpool felt a tiny quiver inside her, and suddenly she wanted to get out of the hollow, away from Sandstorm’s too-close questions, from her mother’s knowledge of what an expecting she-cat looked and smelled like. “I need to fetch fresh stocks of yarrow,” she meowed. “Tell Brightheart to stay beside Whitepaw, but she mustn’t give her any poppy seeds. I won’t be long.”

Sandstorm nodded, looking troubled, but she didn’t try to stop her. Leafpool turned to push her way out of the barrier of thorns. Without thinking, she headed up the slope toward the ridge. There was yarrow closer to the camp, beside the lake, but her paws carried her to the plants that grew along the edge of the stream on the border with WindClan. She breathed in the scents of moorland and rabbit, and felt the kits shift inside her. Do they know this is where their father comes from?

She had just nipped through a fleshy yarrow stalk when she heard the sounds of cats approaching on the other side of the stream. A WindClan patrol! Leafpool poked her head up to see four cats racing over the grass. Crowfeather was leading, his dark gray fur flitting like a shadow across the ground. A black she-cat ran close beside him, matching his stride.

Leafpool bolted out of the stream and ducked under a holly bush. The prickly leaves grazed her fur as she crawled out of sight. She knew she had done nothing wrong, crossed no boundaries, taken nothing that belonged to WindClan, but she wasn’t ready to face her neighbors’ scrutiny, not so soon. She heard the WindClan cats pause to renew scent marks, then continue on up the hill. Leafpool waited for a few moments, then wriggled out and shook bits of twig from her fur.

She returned to the stream and was dragging the bitten stalk of yarrow up the bank when a voice startled her.

“Did you think I hadn’t noticed you? I’d know your scent anywhere!”

Leafpool dropped the stalk, which fell into the stream with a splash. “Crowfeather! What are you doing? Where is your patrol?”

“I sent them on to check the marks beyond the ridge.” Crowfeather’s blue eyes were huge and searching. “I… I wanted to see how you were.”

Leafpool took a step back from the bank. “I’m fine. Busy, as you can see.”

Suddenly Crowfeather leaped across the stream. His scent wafted over Leafpool and the nearness of him made her want to press against his shoulder and feel the warmth of his pelt. “I have missed you,” he whispered, so close she could feel his breath on her muzzle. “I need you with me. I wish things could be different.”

“I wish that too,” Leafpool mewed. “More than you could possibly know.” She pictured Whitepaw’s frail body lying in the clearing, Mousefur’s seeping tick wound, Berrykit’s pricked foot. These were the cats that really needed her. She straightened up. “But we can’t change anything, Crowfeather. It’s over. I am ThunderClan’s medicine cat, until the day I join StarClan.”

She felt Crowfeather pull away and stare at her. Did he think he could go back to the way things were? Whatever happens now is my destiny, and mine alone. He cannot be part of it! “I think you should leave,” she meowed. “Your patrol will come looking for you soon. Do you want them to doubt your loyalty all over again?”

Crowfeather blinked. “I thought we didn’t care what our Clanmates believed about us.”

“Well, I do,” Leafpool meowed. “Go back to your Clan, Crowfeather. I won’t let you ruin everything again.”

It was as if she had struck the WindClan warrior a physical blow. He flinched away with hurt in his eyes. “If that’s what you really want,” he murmured.

“It is,” Leafpool growled. Inside her, the kits squirmed so fiercely that Leafpool was convinced Crowfeather would see. Can they hear me sending their father away? Oh, little ones, what choice do I have? If I lose my place in ThunderClan, we will have nothing!

Crowfeather jumped over the stream. He gazed back at her and opened his mouth to speak but the sound of rapid paw steps made them look up the hill. His patrol was racing toward them. Leafpool whisked around and dived back under the holly bush. She peeped out to see the patrol circling around Crowfeather. The black she-cat pressed close to him, twining her tail with his. When she spoke, Leafpool recognized her as Nightcloud, a WindClan warrior who had never been friendly toward ThunderClan.

“Is everything okay?” Nightcloud was asking. “Who were you talking to?”

“No one important,” Crowfeather grunted, and Leafpool felt her heart crack. “Come on, let’s finish the patrol.”

The WindClan cats bounded away. Leafpool crawled out of her hiding place. No one important? Well, it looks as if Nightcloud is the important one now. Had Crowfeather lied about wanting to go back to the way things were? His life seemed to have moved on already, and his Clanmates didn’t look like they doubted his loyalty. Leafpool was alone with her kits—by choice or accident.

The StarClan cats said they couldn’t tell me what to do, but Yellowfang must know something that might help. I’ll go back to her, remind her that she lived through this herself, and beg for advice. I cannot do this on my own!