He leaped to his paws and pressed his ear against her flank.
She was still sleeping, but her breathing was deeper, steady and strong.
“How is she?” Brightheart asked.
“Better than she was.” Jaypaw sighed, closing his eyes with relief.
“I woke up and found the two of you hardly breathing.”
Jaypaw could feel Brightheart’s gaze burning his pelt. “I’m glad you’re all right.” She brushed her tail briskly over the den floor. “Dawn’s nearly here. I’ll go and find Sorreltail.
She’ll be relieved to hear the news.”
As Brightheart padded out of the den, Jaypaw felt fresh energy tingling through his paws. He leaned down and whispered in the apprentice’s ear, “I promised I would save you.”
Poppypaw stirred. “Jaypaw? Is that you?” Her voice was weak and whispery. “I had the strangest dream!”
Jaypaw tensed. He couldn’t let the other cats know what he had done to bring Poppypaw back from StarClan. “I expect it was because of the fever,” he soothed her.
“Maybe.” Poppypaw sounded uncertain. “I was in a forest I’d never seen before, but it felt like home. There were other cats there—and you, Jaypaw! You said I didn’t have to stay. . . .”
Jaypaw turned away. “It was just a dream. You’re better now. That’s all that matters.”
“Leafpool’s here!” Brackenfur’s cry filled the hollow, and Jaypaw raced from the den. He could smell the catmint already, and knew that Leafpool had brought plenty.
She was hurrying toward him, fragrant leaves bunched in her jaws. Thornclaw and Brambleclaw followed, carrying more. They dropped them at the den entrance while Jaypaw followed Leafpool inside.
“We left Weaselfur and Kestrelpaw at the lake,” she told him when she had put down the catmint. “Mothwing had plenty. She gave us enough to cure all our sick Clanmates. She
said she’d have sent some earlier if she’d known.”
Sorreltail nosed her way into the den, relief and gratitude flooding the air around her. “I don’t know how you did it, but I know you helped Poppypaw survive the night.” Her voice was thick with emotion. “Thank you.”
Jaypaw felt Leafpool’s tail gently flick his flank. “I knew you’d be fine without me,” she meowed.
As Jaypaw pressed another pawful of catmint beneath Whitewing’s nose, he heard Leafpool slip out of the den. The medicine cat had been quiet since she returned. Not just because she was busy tending to the sick cats— Jaypaw could sense that something was troubling her. He lifted his muzzle, intrigued, as the brambles swept back into place after her.
“Eat these slowly,” he advised Whitewing. “I’ll be back in a moment.”
He nosed his way out of the den and sniffed. Leafpool was sitting below Highledge with Firestar. Quietly, he hurried into the clearing and ducked down behind the halfrock. The two cats were sharing words in hushed whispers.
“There’s sickness in all the Clans,” Leafpool told Firestar.
“Greencough and whitecough. The frosts have taken their toll on prey in every territory, and all the Clans are weakened by hunger.”
“Even ShadowClan?”
“Littlecloud joined us to fetch catmint,” she answered. “He told me that they had lost an elder.”
Sadness pulsed from Firestar. “It’s been a hard leaf-bare for every Clan.”
Jaypaw pricked his ears. He could tell that Leafpool had not said all that she meant to. Then Leafpool whispered so quietly that Jaypaw had to stretch forward to hear.
“There’s a lot of bad feeling in the Clans,” she murmured.
“A feeling that this run of cold weather and sickness and poor prey is more than just bad luck.”
Jaypaw’s blood pounded, and Leafpool’s mew was suddenly swamped by the murmuring of distant voices that rang in his ears, voices from all four Clans around the lake. . .
The whispers of doubt crowded his mind. He pressed himself to the earth and closed his eyes. Was StarClan punishing the Clans, and if so, why?
Chapter 24
Happily, she stretched in her nest, pushing against Hazelpaw’s back with her hind paws.
“Get off!” Hazelpaw complained.
“Can’t you smell it?”
Hazelpaw yawned. “Smell what?”
“It’s warmer!” Hollypaw jumped out of her nest.
She ducked out of the den and screwed up her eyes against the light. The frost had gone. The clearing was damp where the ice had melted, the bushes dripping, and sunshine was already filling the camp with pale yellow. At the top of the cliffs, the trees seemed wrapped in a green haze. Newleaf had arrived at last.
Firestorm was grooming Sandstorm below Highledge. His bones looked sharp beneath his pelt as he crouched to lick Sandstorm’s ears, but his tail flicked happily. Icekit and Foxkit squealed with delight as Birchfall and Berrypaw chased them in circles outside the nursery. Ferncloud rested beside Daisy at the den entrance, clearly enjoying the morning’s warmth.
Her eyes were clear, and only a little crust around her nose betrayed that she had been so ill. Poppypaw was on the mend too, recovering in the elders’ nest with Mousefur, though she wouldn’t be well enough to go to the Gathering tonight.
Hollypaw heard paws pounding through the thorn barrier, and Thornclaw charged into camp at the head of a patrol. A mouse dangled from his jaws. Whitewing followed him, carrying a small chaffinch, and Ashfur and Lionpaw came in last, each carrying a vole.
Hollypaw’s eyes grew round. She hadn’t seen so much fresh-kill in ages.
As Thornclaw dropped his catch onto the patch of earth that had been empty for too long, Firestar got to his paws to greet the returning patrol. “It looks like the prey’s running richer already!”
Lionpaw padded excitedly around Ashfur. “There were primroses on the ShadowClan border and buds on the Sky Oak!”
“And prey seemed to be moving in every burrow,”
Whitewing added.
Firestar scanned the clearing. “Brambleclaw?”
The deputy came hurrying out of the warriors’ den, Squirrelflight behind him.
“The prey’s running again.” Firestar flicked his tail toward the fresh-kill pile. “Lead another patrol out toward the WindClan border and see what you can catch.”
Brambleclaw’s eyes lit up with excitement. “Berrypaw!” he called to his apprentice. “We’re going hunting.”
Berrypaw stopped chasing the kits.
“Can we come too?” Foxkit begged.
Icekit swiped her brother playfully around the ears. “We’re only kits,” she mewed. “They’ll never let us go with them.”
“But watch this hunting move!” Foxkit crouched down, sticking his tail in the air and wiggling his haunches.
