“Hi, Jayfeather.” Sandstorm’s voice came from the entrance to the medicine cat’s den. “We’ve got some cobwebs for you.”
Jayfeather turned, picking up the scent of cobwebs, and faintly beneath it the scent of Cherrypaw and Molepaw. It had been a quarter moon since their apprentice ceremony, and he had to admit they were settling well into their duties.
As the two young cats bounced into the den there was a splutter of laughter from Briarlight.
“Oh, Jayfeather, I wish you could see these two. They’re walking cobwebs—it’s stuck all over them from nose to tail!”
“We found lots,” Molepaw announced proudly. “Sandstorm lifted up a log for us.”
“I’d better untangle them,” Briarlight went on. “Come here, both of you, and watch out for that pile of burdock root.”
Jayfeather heard the patter of paws as the two apprentices padded across the den, and the sound of Briarlight dragging herself over the ground to meet them.
“Do your legs hurt?” Cherrypaw mewed. “Is it tough, not being able to move them?”
“Yes, it’s tough,” Briarlight replied calmly. “But I’m used to it. And it doesn’t hurt.”
“Bumblestripe says you’re the bravest cat in the Clan,” Molepaw told her.
Jayfeather could feel Briarlight’s embarrassment. “I don’t know about that,” she murmured. “Now keep still so I can get this cobweb off your fur.”
Jayfeather squeezed past the kits and joined Sandstorm in the clearing. “Thanks for taking them out,” he mewed. “Those cobwebs will come in handy.”
“No problem,” Sandstorm responded. After a moment she added, “It seems like you’re overworked. Maybe you should think about taking an apprentice sometime soon.”
I’m planning to be around for a while yet, Jayfeather thought. “Briarlight is being very useful,” he meowed out loud.
To his relief, Sandstorm didn’t push it. “I’ll see you later,” she murmured.
“Could you find Sorreltail for me?” Jayfeather called after her. “Tell her I’d like to see her.”
“Sure.” Sandstorm padded off.
Jayfeather was turning back toward the den when the scent of more approaching cats drifted over him. He halted as the sound of their pawsteps grew louder.
Brightheart… Foxleap… Rosepetal… What do they want?
“Have you come to pick up your apprentices?” he asked. “They’re inside, being untangled.”
“Yes, we’re going out for a training session,” Rosepetal replied. “Brightheart is going to teach them some of her battle moves.”
“Firestar wants every apprentice to learn them.” Brightheart’s voice was full of quiet pride. “That way, if they injure their eye in a battle, or they have to fight at night when it’s hard to see, they’ll know what to do.”
The scamper of paws told Jayfeather that Molepaw and Cherrypaw had appeared from the den.
“Are we training now?” Molepaw mewed eagerly. “We collected masses of cobwebs.”
“Yes,” Brightheart told him. “You’re training with me today. I’m going to teach you some moves that none of the other Clans know about.”
“Cool!” Cherrypaw exclaimed.
“You’ll need to have your wits about you,” Brightheart warned. “We’re going to the slope above the hollow, and the brambles are very thick there.”
“Great! Let’s go!” Molepaw squeaked.
Jayfeather listened as they moved away, enjoying the sunshine soaking into his fur, and the cool breeze that kept the air fresh. Around him the camp was humming with activity. A hunting patrol had just left, passing Thornclaw at the entrance as he returned with a border patrol. Jayfeather padded over when Brambleclaw emerged from the warriors’ den to hear Thornclaw’s report.
“WindClan seems very jumpy at the moment,” Thornclaw meowed.
“So what else is new?” Jayfeather could picture Brambleclaw rolling his eyes.
“More jumpy than usual, I mean,” Thornclaw went on. “We met a WindClan patrol on the border, and they were convinced they’d seen one of our cats crossing into their territory.”
“Oh?” Brambleclaw’s voice grew sharper. “Did they say which cat?”
“No, they didn’t get a good look. So I told them no way was it a ThunderClan warrior. It must have been a loner—if there was a cat there at all.”
“Hmm…” Jayfeather could tell that Brambleclaw was thinking hard. “Did they believe you?”
“I have no idea,” Thornclaw admitted. “Those cats jump at their own shadows! But Sedgewhisker was leading the patrol, and she’s a decent cat, so maybe they did.”
“We’d better tell Firestar,” Brambleclaw decided. “If WindClan starts throwing accusations around, he’ll need to know. Come with me, Thornclaw.”
The two cats padded off toward the tumbled rocks, and Jayfeather headed back to his den. Sorreltail was waiting for him at the entrance.
“Hi, Jayfeather. Sandstorm said you wanted to see me.”
“Right. Come in. I need to check you over.”
“I’ll be fine, honestly,” Sorreltail went on as she followed Jayfeather into the den. “I’ve done this before, you know.”
“I know. And that was many seasons ago. Older she-cats need their medicine cat to keep an eye on them when they’re having kits.”
“Who are you calling older?” Sorreltail bristled, but Jayfeather could tell she wasn’t really annoyed.
He made her lie down in the bracken and felt her belly gently with one forepaw. Then he leaned close to her to listen to her heartbeat. Briarlight dragged herself over to watch; Jayfeather could feel her breath on his neck fur.
“Will she be okay?” Briarlight whispered.
Jayfeather nodded. “Everything seems fine,” he replied, adding to Sorreltail, “I’ve noticed a bit of stiffness in your hip joints. You might need some poppy seeds to take the edge off the pain when you give birth.”
“I’ll be fine,” Sorreltail told him. “Leafpool has already given me some exercises to help keep the joints flexible.”
Jayfeather stiffened. “Leafpool is not your medicine cat,” he hissed through gritted teeth.
“She’s still my friend,” Sorreltail pointed out, “and I’ll listen to her, no matter what happens.”
Jayfeather suppressed a sigh. I can’t be bothered to argue. With the flick of an ear to dismiss Sorreltail, he followed her out into the clearing. Sitting in a pool of sunlight, he listened to what was going on in the camp. Dovewing had just come back from a hunting patrol, and was settling down beside the fresh-kill pile to eat with Hazeltail and Graystripe. Dustpelt was leaving at the head of a hunting patrol. Leafpool, Ivypool, and Poppyfrost followed him; Jayfeather detected Poppyfrost’s delight at going out on warrior duties again.
The patrol had scarcely left the clearing when a commotion broke out at the top of the hollow. Jayfeather sprang to his paws, every hair on his pelt bristling. Yaps and snarls and the shrieking of cats came from up above, and wails of dismay broke out in the camp.
“That’s Molepaw and Cherrypaw!” Berrynose yowled, leaping out of the warriors’ den and charging across the clearing. “And that sounds like a fox!”
He hurled himself toward the thorn tunnel, with Firestar, Cloudtail, Graystripe, and Brackenfur hard on his paws. Jayfeather ran back into his den. Briarlight was dragging herself toward the entrance; Jayfeather could sense her shock.
“What’s happening?” she asked. “What’s that awful noise?”
“Fox,” Jayfeather replied tersely. “Get the supplies for wounds ready.”
As Briarlight headed for the storage cleft, Jayfeather heard Dovewing behind him, standing by the bramble screen. “A fox?” she gasped. “But that’s not possible! I didn’t hear anything.”
Jayfeather wanted to ask her what she meant, but he was distracted by the yowls and screeching that still came from the top of the cliff.
“It sounds really bad!” Briarlight’s voice was shaking. “There’ll be terrible injuries.”
“We’ll deal with it.” Jayfeather made himself sound calm, but he was still worried by what Dovewing had just said. Why didn’t she hear the fox coming?
Gradually the sound of battle died away; moments later Jayfeather heard the voices and pawsteps of his Clanmates returning through the thorn tunnel. He padded out to meet them, bracing himself for the scent of wounds and spasms of pain.
But as soon as he emerged into the clearing Jayfeather realized that things weren’t as bad as he had feared. He could hear that Brightheart and Rosepetal were limping, and picked up the scent of blood coming from Foxleap, but their injuries were nowhere near as serious as the wounds an angry fox could inflict.
“Go into my den,” he instructed them. “I’ll be with you in a couple of heartbeats. Where are the apprentices?”
“Here!” Cherrypaw bounced up beside him. “Molepaw and I are fine.”
“Yeah, the fox nearly ate us up.” Excitement was rolling off Molepaw in fizzing waves. “But the cat came and chased it off!”
Firestar pushed his way through the cats crowding around Jayfeather. “What cat?” he asked Molepaw. “Do you mean Brightheart, or your mentors?”
“No,” Cherrypaw replied. “They chased after the fox, but it came back, and we thought we’d be eaten. But there was another cat! It hissed at the fox, and the fox ran away!”
Firestar shook his head, a puzzled look in his green eyes. “I didn’t see any other cat up there.”
“It sounds unlikely to me,” Brackenfur murmured.
“Yes.” Berrynose agreed. “Look, you two, it’s not funny to make up stories about something so dangerous.”
“You had a big scare,” Sandstorm added, sounding sympathetic. “But there’s no need to invent mysterious cats coming to the rescue. Brightheart and your mentors did a great job scaring the fox away.”
“But we’re not making it up!” Cherrypaw protested.
“Right,” Molepaw insisted, pressing up close to his sister. “There was another cat.”
Jayfeather could sense that the young cats were telling the truth, or at least that they believed what they were saying. He realized that Firestar was taking their story seriously, too.
“What was this cat like?” the Clan leader asked.
“We never saw it clearly,” Molepaw confessed. “We were hiding in a bramble thicket. And we couldn’t smell it above the scent of fox.”
“We’re not even sure it was a ThunderClan warrior,” Cherrypaw added.
Firestar was quiet for a moment. “I’ll ask the other warriors if they saw anything,” he mewed at last. “The only thing that matters is that every cat is safe.”
The group of warriors began to split up.
“Not you,” Jayfeather meowed, sweeping his tail around the two apprentices. “I want you in my den so I can check you out.”
“But we’re fine,” Cherrypaw told him.
“I’m your medicine cat, and you’re not fine until I say so. Inside.”
He herded the two young cats into his den, to find that Briarlight was already treating the warriors’ injuries.
“Brightheart’s paws were full of bramble thorns,” she explained to Jayfeather. “I pulled them out, and gave her dock leaf to rub on.”
“I feel fine now,” Brightheart mewed. “Briarlight did a great job. I’ll get out of your way, Jayfeather, so you can treat the others.”
Jayfeather gave her paws a sniff to make sure everything was okay, then waved her out of the den with a flick of his tail.
“Foxleap has a fox bite and some scratches on his shoulder,” Briarlight went on. “I’ve given them a good lick, but I don’t know what herbs are best for bites.”
Jayfeather sniffed carefully at the wounds; the scratches had already stopped bleeding, but the bite was deep. “We’ll put a poultice of burdock root on that,” he decided. “Chew it up small, Briarlight, and fix it on with some cobweb. You’ll need to rest it for a day or two,” he added to Foxleap.
“But who’ll be my mentor?” Cherrypaw asked anxiously. “I don’t want to be stuck in camp while Molepaw is learning stuff.”
“You can do the elders’ ticks,” her brother told her, then squeaked, “Ow! Keep your claws to yourself!”
“That’s enough,” Foxleap scolded them. “Of course you’ll have a mentor, Cherrypaw. I’ve already asked Cloudtail. He says he’ll take over your training for a couple of days.”
“Cool.” Cherrypaw sounded satisfied.
“I’m just scratched a bit,” Rosepetal told Jayfeather. “And I’ve lost some fur from one side, but I don’t think there’s anything serious.”
Jayfeather checked, and found that the scratches were quite shallow. Since Briarlight was still fixing Foxleap’s poultice, he went to the store for some marigold, and trickled the juice onto Rosepetal’s wounds.
“Come back tomorrow for some more of that,” he instructed her. “You’ll need to take it easy at first, but I think you can carry on with your duties. Let me know if the pain gets any worse.”
“Okay, thanks,” Rosepetal meowed.
When she and Foxleap had gone, Jayfeather sent Briarlight out of the den. “You’ve done really well,” he told her. “Go do your exercises and get some fresh air.”
He waited until the dragging sound of her movement had died away before turning back to the apprentices. He was pretty sure that they weren’t hurt, but he wanted the excuse of checking them over.
“Tell me more about the other cat you saw,” he mewed as he sniffed Cherrypaw’s fur.
“Don’t want to,” Molepaw muttered sulkily. “You’ll only say we’re lying.”
“Yeah, or that we got scared and imagined it,” Cherrypaw added.
Jayfeather tipped his head on one side. “Try me.”
“Well, we don’t really remember anything,” Molepaw went on after a moment’s hesitation. “Brightheart sent us deep into the brambles. We couldn’t see much, but we heard this other cat.”
Jayfeather grunted. Pretending to check Molepaw for injuries, he pressed his paws down on the young tom’s shoulders and let his mind drift into Molepaw’s memories.
Sunlight dazzled Jayfeather’s eyes as it shone on the slope above the hollow. On an open stretch of grass surrounded by ferns and brambles, Brightheart was showing a move to the two apprentices, while Foxleap and Rosepetal sat close by, looking on. The fur on Jayfeather’s neck began to rise as he waited for what he knew would happen.
“That’s great, Cherrypaw, but try—”
A loud snarling interrupted Brightheart as the fox leaped out from a clump of brambles. Foxleap and Rosepetal sprang to their paws as it lunged toward the apprentices.
“Hide!” Foxleap yowled as he hurled himself at the intruder.
Rosepetal let out a screech as she dashed past the fox and raked her claws down its side. Brightheart spun around and shoved both apprentices toward the nearest bramble thicket. “Get under there and don’t move!” she hissed.
Molepaw and Cherrypaw burrowed into the brambles; Jayfeather could feel their fear surging over him like waves. Once they were in the thicket, he couldn’t see much of the fighting, but he heard yelps and snarls from the fox, a shriek of pain from Foxleap, and furious caterwauling from Rosepetal and Brightheart. Through a gap in the tendrils he spotted the fox driven back from the clearing, with all three cats in pursuit.
The fox scent faded and everything went quiet.
“Do you think we can get out now?” Cherrypaw whispered. “I’ve got thorns digging into my pelt.”
“Better not,” Molepaw replied. “Brightheart told us to stay here.”
They waited a little longer, their fear gradually dying away. Jayfeather tensed as the fox scent grew stronger again, and Molepaw muttered, “I think it’s back.”
He peered out through the gap in the brambles and spotted the fox sniffing along the ground a couple of tail-lengths away.
“It’s looking for us!” Molepaw’s voice was a terrified whisper.
“What if it finds us?” Cherrypaw asked. “Where are the others?”
The fox drew closer; Jayfeather guessed it had picked up the apprentices’ scent. Then a loud hiss and a snarl came from the shadows underneath a nearby bush. The fox raised its head. The hiss was repeated, and after a heartbeat’s hesitation the fox turned tail and slunk away out of sight.
“That was close!” Molepaw gasped.
Jayfeather realized there was definitely another cat under the bush. But the brambles blocked his view and in the shadows he could make out nothing more than a vague shape. He strained to catch a scent.
“Ow!” Molepaw squealed. “You’re pressing too hard!”
Jayfeather’s vision vanished, leaving him in darkness again. “Sorry,” he muttered, frustrated to be thrown out of the young tom’s memory just when he thought he might have learned something. “Okay, you can go.”
When the two apprentices had scampered off, Jayfeather padded into the clearing to discover that the patrols had returned. Poppyfrost was in the middle of the hollow with Cherrypaw and Molepaw. Other cats had gathered around her, listening to the apprentices retell their adventure.
“What?” Poppyfrost screeched. “A fox nearly ate you? This is dreadful! Brambleclaw, what are we going to do about it?”
“Calm down, Poppyfrost,” the deputy meowed. “There’s no harm done—”
“Don’t tell me to be calm!” Poppyfrost retorted. “My kits could have been eaten!”
“I know it’s worrying.” Brambleclaw’s voice was reassuring. “I’m surprised there’s a fox in the territory at all. It hasn’t been long since we chased the last one out, and I wouldn’t have expected it to come back so soon.”
Jayfeather padded across, wanting to discuss the mysterious cat who had rescued the apprentices, but in the tumult around Poppyfrost no cat wanted to listen.
He shouldered his way into the group and became aware of Ivypool beside him, shrinking in a wave of guilt. “What’s wrong with you?” he asked.
“I think this was my fault,” Ivypool replied miserably. Raising her voice to make herself heard, she meowed, “I think I might have brought the fox into the territory.”
“How?” Firestar demanded.
Jayfeather located the Clan leader bounding over from the Highledge; the other cats quieted down as he confronted Ivypool.
Ivypool began by describing how she and Jayfeather had found the marigold plants eaten by rabbits. “So I went to find some fox dung and put it on a stick,” she went on, her voice shaking. “I put the dung around the plants to frighten the rabbits off. The fox must have smelled it and followed the trail over the border. I’m really sorry,” she finished.
“Mouse-brain!” Cloudtail commented loudly.
“Yes, you nearly got my kits killed!” Poppyfrost hissed.
“Hey, that’s not fair.” Lionblaze thrust his way forward to stand beside Jayfeather and Ivypool. “How was Ivypool to know what would happen? We don’t normally train up there.”
“That’s right,” Sorreltail added. “And we’ll all be glad of the marigold once it grows back.”
More voices broke out, talking all at once so that Jayfeather couldn’t make paws or tail of the argument. Finally, Firestar’s yowl rang out.
“That’s enough. What’s done is done.” As the noise began to die down, he added, “Now we need to focus on regular patrols to make sure the fox doesn’t come back.” He let out a snort. “And keep a lookout for strange cats hiding in bushes!”
Jayfeather could tell that his leader was only half joking. Strange things were happening, and the Clan needed to be extra vigilant. Molepaw’s memory was still fresh in Jayfeather’s mind, and he knew there had been a cat on the cliff top.
“Hey, Dovewing,” he meowed, picking up her scent as the Clan cats separated. “What was that you were meowing about earlier? What did you hear happening on the cliff top?”
He sensed Dovewing’s defensiveness as she halted and faced him. “Nothing,” she replied.
“Not the first attack?” Jayfeather persisted.
“No.”
“And what about afterward? Were there any signs of a cat you weren’t expecting to find?”
“No!” Dovewing burst out. “I didn’t hear anything, okay? Stop expecting me to look after the whole Clan!”
She turned her back on Jayfeather and stalked off. A moment later Lionblaze’s scent wafted over Jayfeather, and his littermate came to stand beside him.
“What’s going on?” Lionblaze asked.
“I think the apprentices were right,” Jayfeather told him. “There is an intruder.”
Alarm surged through Lionblaze; Jayfeather could imagine his neck fur fluffing out. “I’ve got to get a patrol together to track it down,” he meowed.
“No, wait.” Jayfeather reached out and curled his tail around his brother’s foreleg. “If this cat saved the apprentices, then I don’t think she’s any threat. In fact, I don’t think she was a threat to begin with.”
For a moment Lionblaze said nothing; Jayfeather could almost hear thoughts buzzing in his head like bees in a hollow tree. He knew Lionblaze would reach the same conclusion as he had. “Really? You think so?” Lionblaze mewed at last. There was an undercurrent of hope in his voice, as well as nervousness.
“We didn’t find her in the tunnel,” Jayfeather pointed out.
“Would she really come back?”
Jayfeather took a long breath. “We learned long ago that we didn’t know her as well as we thought. Maybe she would.”