Crowfeather's Trial

Crowfeather was crouching outside Kestrelflight’s den, chewing a mouthful of marigold for a poultice to put on Sedgewhisker’s wound. Sunhigh was just past, and he felt exhausted in his mind and body. The work was hard, and pain tore at his heart to see the injuries among his Clanmates. The air was filled with the scents of blood and fear, almost overwhelming Crowfeather, and his ears ached from the continual yowling of injured cats. There were too many wounds, and not enough herbs, and Kestrelflight had to make tough choices about which cats needed treatment most urgently.

“I still can’t believe those stoats are pure white,” Crouchfoot muttered; he was sitting nearby, licking one forepaw where a claw had been torn away. “Except for the black tips to their tails. Whoever saw an animal like that before?”

“Maybe they are ghosts after all,” Whiskernose suggested, twitching his whiskers as blood trickled down from a wound in his ear. “Its almost like they have something personal against WindClan.”

“Nonsense!” Kestrelflight, who had been out on the moor collecting more herbs, halted beside the two toms and mumbled around the bunch of chervil in his jaws. “They’re not ghosts. They’re just stinky, aggressive invaders.”

Crouchfoot and Whiskernose looked at each other but didn’t respond.

All around the medicine-cat den, cats were moaning in pain. Crowfeather felt even more guilty that there was so little he could do to help. I should have gone to the Twolegplace by myself, he thought. I’m glad we found Nightcloud, but Breezepelt and the others would have been more use here. Maybe with more warriors, there wouldn’t have been so many cats wounded. Then he admitted to himself that he would never have managed the hazardous journey through the forest and the Twolegplace if he had been alone. This must be the way it was meant to happen.

Kestrelflight stumbled as he approached the den, letting his bundle of chervil fall. His eyes were dull with weariness.

“Sit down,” Crowfeather meowed. “For StarClan’s sake, you need to rest. You’ve been up all night.”

Kestrelflight let his gaze travel over the camp and the mass of injured cats, then shook his head. “I can’t. There’s far too much to do.”

“We’ll be in even more trouble if you pass out,” Crowfeather told him. “Sit down.”

Letting out a long sigh, Kestrelflight obeyed. His eyes were full of despair as he looked at the injured cats who were still waiting for his help. “I’m not sure I can do this alone,” he whispered. “Well — not alone,” he corrected himself at once, ducking his head apologetically at Heathertail and Nightcloud, who appeared at that moment with mouthfuls of dripping moss. “But I’m the only medicine cat…”

“We need help,” Crowfeather declared, suddenly realizing how true that was. “There are too many injured warriors, and not enough medicine cats or herbs. We need help from another Clan.”

“You’re right.” Kestrelflight rose to his paws again with another heartfelt sigh. “But Onestar will never agree to it.”

Crowfeather glanced across the camp to where Onestar was supervising the work on the warriors’ den. He remembered the last time he had gone to ThunderClan for help, and how badly that had turned out. Crowfeather’s instinct was to blame Onestar for being unreasonable, but he had to admit to himself that he had been to blame, too. He shouldn’t have brought in ThunderClan without knowing how Onestar would react.

Now, when WindClan really needed ThunderClan, Crowfeather knew that his earlier rashness had made everything harder. But he knew too that he had no alternative: He had to convince Onestar to send for Leafpool or Jayfeather.

It’ll be hard to convince him, he thought, and it’s going to be even harder to convince Bramblestar, after he was insulted when he came here to talk to Onestar — not to mention hearing from Ivypool that WindClan trespassed on his territory. But ThunderClan is the obvious choice to ask. They’re closest.

Crowfeather rose to his paws. “Leave this to me,” he meowed.

His paws prickling with apprehension, Crowfeather padded over to his Clan leader. He couldn’t forget that he had only just been allowed back into the Clan, and part of the reason he’d been banished was because he had asked for help from ThunderClan. And now he was about to ask permission to do the same.

I’ll have to tread really carefully…