Squirrelflight quickened her pace and fell in beside him. “It’s not right to fear the forest.”
“It’s not right for a tree to crush the camp,” Jayfeather growled. “But it did.”
Squirrelflight moved a little farther away and padded on in silence. Jayfeather relished the tension sparking between them if it meant she would keep her distance. He had not been alone with the cat who had raised him since the truth came out: that she had lied to him and his littermates all their lives, that she wasn’t their mother at all, but their mother’s sister.
“I remember when you, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf were still kits,” Squirrelflight meowed suddenly.
Jayfeather stiffened.
“A leaf landed on Hollyleaf’s head. She thought the forest was falling and hid in the nursery and wouldn’t come out for three days.”
Shut up! Jayfeather flattened his ears.
“I couldn’t have loved you more,” Squirrelflight murmured.
Anger flashed through his pelt. “If you’d really loved us, you wouldn’t have lied!”
Squirrelflight bristled. “Well, the truth is just great, isn’t it!” She whipped her tail though the air. “Look at Leafpool. She’s lost everything she ever cared about.”
“Her choice,” muttered Jayfeather.
Squirrelflight ignored him. “She lost you, Lionblaze, and Hollyleaf.”
“She gave us away.”
“Other cats have been hurt too!” Squirrelflight snapped. “This was never just about you, and I’m sick of you flapping your wings like an injured sparrow, feeling oh so sorry for yourself. You’re not the only cat suffering. Your pain is not the hardest to bear. I suppose I expected more from you because you’re the medicine cat; I suppose I forget how young you are!”
As she lectured him, Jayfeather’s rage spiraled alongside hers. “Leafpool made this happen. I didn’t go looking for mates in another Clan. I didn’t have kits and give them away! I didn’t lie and let every cat think I was something I wasn’t!”
Squirrelflight drew in a long breath and let it out slowly. “Try to remember,” she meowed quietly, “that we did what we thought was best. Remember that you were always loved.”
Yeah, right.
Border markers crossed their path.
Jayfeather padded past them.
“Wait,” Squirrelflight ordered.
Jayfeather dug his claws into the ground. Was she going to argue with everything he did or said? They had to speak with Littlecloud as soon as possible! But he waited while she tasted the air, her paws shifting the needles on the forest floor as she scanned the woodland.
“Patrol,” she warned.
Jayfeather sniffed, and scented the fresh tang of ShadowClan warriors. Oakfur and Ferretpaw were padding close by.
Squirrelflight hailed the ShadowClan warrior. “Oakfur?”
Jayfeather felt surprise spark from the ShadowClan cats’ pelts. Pawsteps came hurrying.
“So Blackstar was right!” Oakfur growled. “You are trying to invade.”
“Keep your fur on!” Jayfeather realized he was on the wrong side of the border. “I just want to see Littlecloud.”
Ferretpaw swarmed around him, whiskers twitching. Jayfeather stood still and let the young cat sniff.
“Do we look like a battle patrol?” Squirrelflight asked.
“There may be more of you.” Oakfur sounded suspicious.
“Can you smell any others?”
Ferretpaw snorted. “The others may be disguised.”
Squirrelflight sighed. “We really haven’t come to invade. Can you take us to see Littlecloud, please?”
Oakfur hesitated. “Okay,” he agreed. “But Blackstar will send a full patrol to check the rest of the area.” His mew rang through the trees, clearly aimed at the invasion patrol he suspected was hiding behind the trees along the border.
Squirrelflight padded across the scent line and fell in behind Oakfur. Jayfeather followed, his irritation with Ferretpaw growing as the apprentice trotted around him as though he were guarding the Clans’ most dangerous warrior.
“What’s the matter?” Jayfeather muttered. “Worried I might give you some medicine?”
Ferretpaw bristled. “Shut up!”
Jayfeather recognized the ShadowClan camp as they approached. He’d been here before, with Sol. He padded across the clearing, confident the way was clear, aware of Kinkfur and Ivytail peering from the nursery, of Tawnypelt and Scorchfur crowding from the warriors’ den, and hearing fur brush the earth as Starlingpaw and Pinepaw leaped to their paws on the edge of the clearing where they’d been sharing a shrew.
Oakfur gave a warning yowl, which brought Blackstar from his den.
“What’s going on?” the ShadowClan leader demanded.
Squirrelflight’s paws scuffed the clearing. “May we speak to you in private?”
Oakfur brushed past her. “They want to see Littlecloud.”
Surprise bristled in the ShadowClan leader’s pelt. “Then go get him,” he ordered. His fur snagged the brambles as he disappeared back into his den. “Come inside,” he called.
Jayfeather followed Squirrelflight through the entrance. The stench of ShadowClan was strong and he wrinkled his nose.
Blackstar sat down. “What’s wrong?”
“A beech tree fell into the hollow,” Squirrelflight explained. “We have an injured cat and we were hoping Littlecloud would be able to advise us on her treatment.”
“Just one injured cat?” Blackstar’s mew croaked with surprise, then hardened. “StarClan must have been keeping a close eye on you.”
“Yes,” Squirrelflight replied. “We managed to clear the camp before it fell.”
“Longtail died,” Jayfeather told Blackstar bluntly.
The ShadowClan leader sighed, sympathy flashing briefly like sunlight between clouds. “StarClan will welcome such an old friend, though his Clanmates will miss him.”
Littlecloud poked his head through the entrance. “Did I hear you say a tree fell?” He gasped.
“Yes.” Squirrelflight was keeping her answers short. “It fell into the hollow. Briarpaw was injured. Longtail died.”
“Thank StarClan it wasn’t worse,” Littlecloud breathed.
“It’s bad enough.” Jayfeather flicked his tail. “Briarpaw can’t move her hind legs.”
He let Littlecloud’s thoughts flood his own. He saw images of a tom howling in agony, then lying in a nest, limp with fear, unable to move, anguish clouding his gaze.
“I had a case like that.” Littlecloud’s mind cleared as he began to speak. “Back when I was Runningnose’s apprentice. Wildfur’s legs were crushed by a collapsing burrow.”
“Leafpool told me.” Jayfeather wanted to hear about the cure, not the cause. “But Briarpaw’s legs aren’t crushed. No broken bones.”
“Same with Wildfur,” Littlecloud told him. “His legs were only bruised. It was his backbone that was broken.”
Jayfeather felt sick. He was suddenly aware of the arch of his own spine. The strength in it. The fragility of it. “Did he recover?”
“He died,” Littlecloud mewed quietly.
“But Briarpaw’s alive and feels no pain.”
“Same as Wildfur, to begin with. I don’t think it was the broken backbone that killed him.”
Jayfeather leaned forward. “Then what killed him?”
“He couldn’t walk.”
“Didn’t you feed him?” Squirrelflight gasped.
“Of course we did,” Littlecloud snapped. “But he kept getting a cough, over and over. Each time we treated it, it came back. He found it harder and harder to breathe.”