Yellowfang’s Secret

Chapter 21

Yellowfang paused for breath, taking a moment to control the pain she felt from her Clanmates. Around her the camp was in chaos; injured warriors lay everywhere in the clearing. Her mouth was flooded with the taste of bitter herbs. She knew she had to eke out the remaining stocks as sparingly as she could, for so little was left.

I wish we hadn’t had to leave so much under that holly bush.

Two warriors in particular worried Yellowfang: Stonetooth, who had been bitten badly on his hind leg, and Hollyflower, who had a bite in her neck. She wanted to consult Sagewhisker, but the medicine cat had vanished with Cedarstar into his den, and hadn’t yet reappeared.

Eventually Sagewhisker emerged from among the oak roots, looking somber, and padded over to Yellowfang. “Cedarstar has lost a life,” she reported quietly. “It was hard, but he’s recovering now.”

Yellowfang’s eyes widened in shock. She had never known the Clan leader to lose a life before. “How many lives does he have left?” she asked.

“One,” Sagewhisker replied, her eyes darkening with worry. “But keep that to yourself. Only medicine cats know how many lives the Clan leader has.”

Yellowfang nodded.

“What about the other cats?” Sagewhisker prompted. “Let me see what you’ve done.”

Yellowfang led her around the clearing, showing her the poultices she had applied, the wounds covered in cobweb, and told her which cats had been given poppy seeds for the pain.

“Very good,” Sagewhisker commented. “When you’ve had more practice you won’t need to use quite so much cobweb, and you can be a bit more generous with the poppy seed for full-grown warriors.”

“We don’t have much left,” Yellowfang reminded her.

“True.” Sagewhisker let out a sigh. “This is one of the worst defeats I can remember. The danger now is infection; rat bites can be very poisonous. We’ll have to keep a close eye on Hollyflower and Stonetooth.”

“I’ll go out later and look for some more burdock root,” Yellowfang promised. “Or if I can’t find any I’ll get wild garlic.”

She padded over to the spot by the tiny stream at the edge of the camp, where she had piled up a heap of moss. Gripping a bundle in her jaws, she dipped it in the water and carried it over to Raggedpelt. The tabby tom was lying near the fresh-kill pile, curled up tightly on himself. He had taken a few deep scratches on his nose, which were going to leave scars. Yellowfang’s belly clenched with pity, and it was a struggle for her to block out his pain.

“Here, I’ve brought you some wet moss,” she mewed.

“I don’t want it,” Raggedpelt mumbled, not looking at her. “Other cats need it more.”

“Other cats have had some,” Yellowfang assured him, laying the moss down beside his nose. “I’m a medicine cat now. You have to listen to me, and you will have a drink.”

Raggedpelt let out a groan, but he extended his tongue and took a couple of laps at the moss. “This is all my fault,” he groaned. “I nearly killed my Clan!”

“No.” Yellowfang crouched down beside him. “The plan was brilliant. It could have worked. There were just too many rats.”

“I should have thought of that!” Raggedpelt snapped.

While Yellowfang was trying to figure out how she could reassure him, Crowtail limped up and halted beside Raggedpelt. “Cedarstar wants to see you,” she announced.

Raggedpelt blinked despairingly up at her. “He’s probably going to order me to leave the Clan,” he muttered, hauling himself to his paws and heading toward the Clan leader’s den.

Yellowfang fought with panic. Cedarstar can’t send Raggedpelt away! Desperate to know what would happen, she followed Raggedpelt, and to her relief he let her come with him. Inside the dark den beneath the oak roots, Cedarstar looked weak, his eyes a little glazed as he struggled to sit up.

Raggedstar hung his head as he entered, his tail drooping. “I’m sorry,” he meowed. “I have failed. Punish me as you wish.”

For a moment Cedarstar was silent. “We lost the battle,” he rasped. “But you did not fail. You saved me from the rats, and you did everything possible to help the rest of your Clanmates.”

“But—” Raggedpelt tried to interrupt.

Cedarstar silenced him with a raised paw. “Hold your head high, Raggedpelt. There is a chance of defeat in every battle. You gave your all, and I ask for nothing more.”

“I ask for more than you do, then!” Raggedpelt flashed out.

“You should be kinder to yourself,” the Clan leader responded. “We can all learn lessons from today. This method of trapping can be used with other prey, one way or another. For now, the Clan must concentrate on healing and regaining our strength.” He dipped his head toward Raggedpelt. “I am honored to call you a Clanmate. And this proves you are more than ready for an apprentice. Cloudkit will be yours, as soon as he’s ready.”

Raggedpelt stared at him. “Th-thank you, Cedarstar!” he stammered.

The Clan leader let out a purr. “Go and rest now.”

Yellowfang was delighted as she followed Raggedpelt away from Cedarstar’s den. But the tabby warrior’s tail still dragged behind him and his shoulders were hunched. Cedarstar’s praise hadn’t comforted him at all.

Catching up to him, Yellowfang whispered, “You should be proud, like Cedarstar said.”

Raggedpelt glared at her. “I will never be proud of defeat!” he hissed.

“Well, you stupid furball, I’m proud of you,” Yellowfang snapped, letting him walk away.

Days passed, but the thaw never came. Snow lay thick on the ground, driving prey deep into their holes, and gray skies threatened more to come.

On the night of the full moon Yellowfang peered out of her den, expecting to see the sky covered with clouds. To her surprise the silver circle shone down through a gap in the dense gray covering.

“There’ll be a Gathering at Fourtrees tonight,” Sagewhisker mewed, coming to join her at the entrance to the den. “Are you ready?”

Yellowfang took a deep breath. “Yes.”

This would be her first Gathering as a medicine cat apprentice. Though more than a moon had passed since she had made her decision, the previous Gathering hadn’t taken place, as clouds had obscured the moon. She followed Sagewhisker out into the clearing where the cats who had been chosen to attend the Gathering were assembling around Cedarstar. The Clan leader had recovered well from the battle against the rats, but Stonetooth was looking frail, and Yellowfang noticed that he limped badly when he walked.

As she waited to move off, Yellowfang found that she was making a quick check of all her Clanmates, looking for signs of injury or sickness. Since she had become a medicine cat, she had gotten much better at blocking out pain; now she could do it instinctively, though sometimes it could be useful to let herself feel it, to make it easier to treat a sick or wounded cat. Now she kept the pain almost completely in check, instead looking for signs of bright eyes and healthy fur, and checking on how wounds were healing.

Cedarstar led the way out of the camp and through the forest toward the tunnel under the Thunderpath. Yellowfang would have liked to walk with Raggedpelt, but Foxheart was keeping close to his side.

“That was a great training session today,” she mewed to him. “Do you think we could get together sometime and practice that new move?”

Determined not to listen, Yellowfang fell in beside Rowanberry. “I hear you caught a squirrel today,” she began. “Littlebird and Lizardfang shared it, and they said it was really tasty.”

“That’s good,” Rowanberry meowed. “I—”

“Hey, Rowanberry!”

Yellowfang’s sister broke off as Wolfstep called out to her. “Sorry, I have to…” Rowanberry scampered off before she finished what she was saying.

Yellowfang watched her leave, trying not to feel hurt. After a few heartbeats Sagewhisker joined her. “It can be lonely,” the old medicine cat murmured, as if she could read Yellowfang’s thoughts. “But your Clanmates will always need you, more than you or they realize.”

WindClan had already arrived at Fourtrees by the time the ShadowClan cats reached the hollow, and ThunderClan arrived at almost the same moment. Yellowfang glanced around with interest as she made her way through the clumps of fern that covered the slope. Cats were everywhere, bounding across her path, meeting together in groups from every Clan, and chattering excitedly.

“We chased a fox all the way across the moor!” a WindClan cat was boasting to a couple of ThunderClan apprentices.

“Yeah,” his Clanmate added. “He won’t be back anytime soon.”

Cedarstar leaped up to the top of the Great Rock. “Let the Clans gather!” he yowled.

Pinestar and Heatherstar scrambled up beside him, but some cat protested that they couldn’t begin the Gathering without RiverClan. While they argued, Yellowfang spotted a cat with a blue-gray pelt standing by herself under an arching fern. ThunderClan scent drifted from her. I haven’t spoken to her before, Yellowfang thought, turning her paw steps that way.

But before she reached the blue-furred cat, the RiverClan cats began pouring into the clearing. A sturdy tabby tom padded up to the ThunderClan cat and settled down beside her, almost knocking her over. Yellowfang stared at his twisted jaw for a moment, wondering how he got his injury. She didn’t want to interrupt the two of them, so she turned away and went to join Sagewhisker and the other medicine cats at the foot of the Great Rock.

As she approached, Featherwhisker rose to his paws and came to meet her. “Greetings, Yellowfang,” he meowed. Yellowfang noticed that while his words were warm, his eyes were wary. “How are things going? I see that some of your Clanmates are battle-scarred. Has there been trouble recently?”

Yellowfang felt the fur on her neck and shoulders beginning to bristle up. “Nothing we couldn’t handle,” she replied curtly.

“Keep your pelt on,” Featherwhisker told her. “We’re medicine cats. We can tell one another anything.”

“And if there’s anything you need to know,” Sagewhisker added, appearing at Featherwhisker’s side, “rest assured we’ll tell you.”

There was no chance for Featherwhisker to say any more, because at that moment Pinestar of ThunderClan stepped forward to the edge of the Great Rock and announced that the Gathering would begin.

Yellowfang listened as the other Clan leaders gave their news. There wasn’t much of interest; she guessed that all the Clans had been hard-pressed during the cold leaf-bare, but none of the leaders would be prepared to admit it.

Finally Cedarstar paced to the front of the Great Rock and looked out across the assembled Clans. “It is with sadness that I must announce our deputy, Stonetooth, is moving to the elders’ den,” he announced.

A gasp of astonishment came from the ShadowClan cats. Looking around, Yellowfang realized that none of them, except for Stonetooth himself, knew anything about this.

“Stonetooth! Stonetooth!” his Clan called.

The deputy, standing at the base of the Great Rock, dipped his head solemnly.

“But it’s almost moonhigh!” Yellowfang heard Rowanberry whisper to Foxheart. “Cedarstar will have to announce the new deputy now!”

Yellowfang could sense that tension in the clearing was building. Cats from the other Clans were looking at one another, speculating on who the new ShadowClan deputy would be. Deputies were normally appointed within the Clan, not in public like this.

“Raggedpelt will take his place,” Cedarstar went on.

“Raggedpelt! Raggedpelt!” His Clanmates yowled his name to the sky. Yellowfang tried to yowl louder than any of them, shocked and delighted.

Raggedpelt rose to his paws, his expression unreadable as he padded to the Great Rock to take his place. Still yowling his name, her heart bursting with pride, Yellowfang tried to catch Raggedpelt’s eye, but he wasn’t looking at her.

Cedarstar waited for the noise to die down, then continued. “There is one other piece of news to give you. Sagewhisker, this is for you to tell.”

Sagewhisker rose to her paws; Yellowfang felt a pang of nervousness, knowing what the medicine cat was about to say. Gazing out across the Clans, Sagewhisker meowed, “ShadowClan has a new medicine cat. Yellowfang has agreed to become my apprentice.”

A few cats from ShadowClan called Yellowfang’s name, but after the excitement of Raggedpelt’s promotion, the news didn’t cause a big reaction. Yellowfang was relieved not to have too much attention on her. At last she managed to catch Raggedpelt’s eye, and was startled at the sadness in his gaze as he looked at her. One day they would be leader and medicine cat of ShadowClan. Surely that was cause for celebration?

A stab of pain pierced Yellowfang’s heart. Is that my pain, or his? This is my destiny—isn’t it?

The thaw set in; rain fell day after day, filling every hollow and turning the floor of the camp to mud. Hissing with annoyance as she splashed through the waterlogged forest, Yellowfang paused to taste the air. A fresh, green tang led her to a fallen tree trunk, and she crouched down to wriggle her way underneath it.

“Yellowfang!”

Startled, Yellowfang jumped and banged her head on the underside of the trunk. “Mouse dung!” she spat. Scrambling to her paws, she turned to see Raggedpelt standing behind her.

“That hurt!” she complained. “Are you mouse-brained, or what?”

“Sorry.” Raggedpelt blinked at her. “I had to talk to you, away from the camp.” He hesitated, took a breath, and continued, “Yellowfang, are you sure you’ve made the right choice?”

Yellowfang gazed back at him. For once he wasn’t trying to quarrel with her. His voice just sounded sad, full of such deep sorrow that there was no bottom to it.

“I miss you,” he went on. “I’m going to be the leader of ShadowClan, and I wanted to have you as my deputy.”

“I’ll be your medicine cat,” Yellowfang mewed.

“You know I want more than that,” Raggedpelt told her. He took a pace toward her and his scent flooded over her. His whiskers brushed her ear. “I know you are a medicine cat now,” he whispered, “but that doesn’t change the way I feel about you.”

“My feelings haven’t changed either,” Yellowfang whispered back, her voice quivering. “But this is my destiny! StarClan wants me to be a medicine cat!”

“They can have your skill with herbs.” Raggedpelt’s voice grew stronger. “They can even walk in your dreams. But they can’t have all of you. If we do all the duties expected of us, how can this be wrong? As long as no cat knows, everything can be as it was before. This can be our secret, shared with no one else.”

I wonder what Silverflame would say, Yellowfang thought. But then, she told me to have courage in my own instincts. And my instincts are telling me that this is my destiny too.

Yellowfang leaned closer to Raggedpelt, feeling the warmth of his fur, and crushed down a feeling of guilt. “I can keep a secret,” she murmured.