Erin Hunter - Twilight

“I—I’m sorry,” Leafpool stammered.

Feathertail swept her tail across Leafpool’s mouth. “We need to talk, but not here. Follow me.”

She led the way into the clearing. Leafpool tried to walk as lightly as if she were stalking a mouse, then she wondered if the Clan could hear her when this was only a dream.

A bright, unearthly light flooded the hollow. Brightheart and Sootfur, on watch, looked like cats made of stone, their coats the color of moonlight. Neither stirred as Feathertail and Leafpool crept past them and out through the thorn tunnel.

Once they were several fox-lengths away from the camp, Feathertail found a comfortable spot in a clump of long grass and settled down, gesturing with her tail for Leafpool to join her.

“I can guess what you’re thinking,” she meowed. “You think I’m angry about Crowfeather, don’t you?”

Leafpool blinked at her, too ashamed to admit to her suspicion.

“Do you think I wouldn’t want to see him happy?”

Feathertail asked gently. “You make him happy; I can see that.”

“I’m a medicine cat!” Leafpool protested. Her fur tingled with delight that Feathertail wasn’t angry—more than that, she seemed to want Leafpool and Crowfeather to be together—but she knew it was more complicated than that.

“I wish I could make him happy, but I can’t.”

“That’s not why I’m here,” Feathertail told her. “There’s something I need you to do.”

Leafpool pricked her ears. “What?”

“It’s Mothwing.” Feathertail’s expression clouded. “I have an important message for her, but I can’t reach her.”

Leafpool felt icy water trickle down her spine, making her fur stand on end. When the Clans first came to the lake, the RiverClan medicine cat had confessed to Leafpool that she didn’t believe in StarClan. At first, Leafpool had been stunned. How could a medicine cat carry out her duties without the guidance of their warrior ancestors? But she agreed to keep her friend’s secret because she knew Mothwing was truly committed to caring for her Clan, and she knew as much about herbs as any of the medicine cats.

But she should have known that StarClan saw into the heart of every cat. There was no hiding the truth from them.

A shiver of alarm swept through Leafpool. Were StarClan angry with Mothwing? Could they stop her being a medicine cat? Would they be angry with Leafpool too, for keeping Mothwing’s secret?

“Mothwing’s really good with healing herbs,” she told Feathertail. “And when she was an apprentice she wanted to believe.”

“I know,” Feathertail meowed. “We hoped that in time she would find faith in us. But she hasn’t, so we can’t speak to her to give her the messages her Clan needs.”

“But—” Leafpool hesitated. This was so hard to ask, but she had to know. “But Mudfur waited for a sign from StarClan before he chose Mothwing to be his apprentice. And one morning he found a moth’s wing outside his den. He took it as a sign that StarClan approved his choice. Was he mis-taken?”

Feathertail bent her head to lick her chest fur. “You can’t expect to understand the signs given to another cat,” she replied when she looked up again. More briskly she added, “Leafpool, I need to tell Mothwing something urgently. I can’t reach her, so will you take a message to her?”

“What would you like me to say?” Leafpool knew she wouldn’t refuse Feathertail’s request. She would do anything to help Mothwing.

“Tell her RiverClan are in serious danger from Twolegs.”

“Twolegs?” Leafpool cocked her head, puzzled. “But we haven’t seen any Twolegs yet. Surely they won’t come until greenleaf?”

“I can’t tell you any more, except that the danger is to RiverClan alone. But it is real, I promise you that. Will you go and warn Mothwing, please?”

“Yes, of course.”

Feathertail gave Leafpool a single lick on the top of her head. Her sweet scent drifted around the younger cat.

“Thank you, Leafpool,” she murmured. “I know that if things had been different, you and I would have been good friends.”

Leafpool wanted to believe it. But they had been in different Clans when Feathertail was alive—and what about Crowfeather? Would they both have wanted him?

The scent faded. When Leafpool looked up the beautiful silver tabby was gone, and she was waking for real in her nest outside Cinderpelt’s den.

Pale dawn light filled the clearing, although the sky was gray with cloud. As Leafpool yawned and stretched, Cinderpelt poked her head out and sniffed the air.

“Rain later,” she commented. “You’d better find Ashfur and check that his neck wound is okay. He’s healing well, but there’s still a risk of infection.”

“Sure, Cinderpelt.”

As Leafpool set off to find the gray tomcat, she wondered how she could get away long enough to visit Mothwing and give her Feathertail’s message. RiverClan’s territory was on the opposite side of the lake, and she didn’t think she could make it there and back before nightfall. Should she tell Cinderpelt about Feathertail’s visit? No, that would mean betraying Mothwing’s secret—that she didn’t believe in StarClan. Mothwing would have to give up being a medicine cat, and Leafpool didn’t want that to happen.

She spotted Ashfur pushing his way through the thorn tunnel with the dawn patrol. “Hi, there,” he meowed. “Are you looking for me?”

“Yes, I’ve come to check your wound.” Leafpool parted Ashfur’s fur with one paw; the deep puncture wound was scarcely visible. “That’s fine. I’ll check with Cinderpelt, but I don’t think you need any more herbs on it. We’ll keep an eye on it for a few more days, though.”

“Great!” mewed Ashfur. “I’m lucky it wasn’t infected, with that filthy creature’s teeth in there.”

“Well, let us know if you have any more trouble with it.”

“Hi.” Squirrelflight had deposited a couple of starlings on the fresh-kill pile and bounded up to Ashfur and her sister.

“Leafpool, you’ll never guess what we found on patrol!”

“What?”

Squirrelflight’s green eyes gleamed. “Catmint!”

“That’s impossible! You only find catmint in Twoleg gardens.” Leafpool’s heart sank into her paws. “Don’t tell me you’ve found Twoleg nests on our territory.”

“No, mousebrain. You remember the abandoned Twoleg nest that Brambleclaw and his patrol found?”

Leafpool nodded.

“Well, it’s there. The Twolegs must have had a garden once, but it’s all overgrown now. And there are these enormous clumps—only just coming up, but it’s catmint, all right.”

“That’s great!” Catmint was by far the best remedy for whitecough and the dreaded greencough that could be fatal to elders and kits. Back in the forest there had been a steady supply in Twolegplace, but Leafpool hadn’t expected to find any here.

“I’ll tell Cinderpelt right away. Thanks, Squirrelflight.”

Halfway to her den, Leafpool realized this could be the answer to her problem. She paused briefly to decide what to say, then she went to find the medicine cat.

Cinderpelt was inside her den, checking the stores of herbs. “Thank StarClan newleaf is coming,” she meowed.

“We’re down to our last poppy seed. I hope no cat gets ill for the next moon or so.”

“Then you’ll want to hear what Squirrelflight just told me.” Leafpool told her about the discovery of catmint.

Cinderpelt purred. “Could you go and collect some?”

“Sure,” Leafpool replied. “I’ll have a good nose around, and see if there’s anything else worth having.”

She was about to dart out of the den, but Cinderpelt stopped her. “Do you think you should take a warrior with you?”