Path Of A Warrior

Shadowstar shifted uneasily from one paw to another. “I’m just tired,” she lied. Both her Clanmates were staring at her with concern, and she flicked her ears at them. “Come on,” she meowed. “Let’s try a little farther into the woods.”

I need to get over this, she thought as she led them farther on. It’s because I can’t forget that this is my last life. I have to make sure my Clan is ready to go on without me before I die, but I can’t be so afraid of death that I don’t act.

Catching a rich prey-scent, she peered around. There. A small squirrel was sitting up, its back to them, clutching a nut.

Shadowstar didn’t hesitate this time. She took off, running fast. Excitement shot through her as the squirrel, startled by her movement, began to run too. She could leap before it reached its tree.

Then she stumbled, a blinding pain shooting through her foreleg. Looking down, she realized that she had stepped into a hole and twisted her limb.

I would have seen it if I hadn’t been so reckless. But she’d had to charge, hadn’t she? Otherwise, she would have frozen up again.

As Bubbling Stream and Dusk Nose hurried toward her, Shadowstar wondered bleakly if she’d lost her nerve for good.

Chapter Three

Shadowstar gingerly lowered her paw, shifting her weight onto her foreleg, then relaxed. It barely twinged. It had taken half a moon, but her leg was finally healed. Still, she knew Pebble Heart would insist on examining it one last time.

As she waded through ferns to the cave beneath the Clanrock where the medicine cat made his den, she could hear him treating one of her warriors.

“Hold still and I’ll soon have that out,” the gray tabby tom was saying gently. Looking through the cave entrance, Shadowstar saw Shade Pelt holding one paw in the air as Pebble Heart worked a thorn out of his paw pad.

“There,” he said cheerfully to the younger cat. “I’ll put some comfrey on to help you feel better.”

Shadowstar watched as Pebble Heart chewed the comfrey leaves into a paste and licked it carefully onto Shade Pelt’s paw. He cares so much, she thought. He’s always looking out for every member of ShadowClan.

The medicine cat’s amber eyes glinted as he looked up at Shade Pelt. “Keep off it for the rest of today.”

Shadowstar caught her breath. Amber eyes. Again she pictured the cold eyes that had watched her from the forest as she struggled and died.

Pebble Heart would never do something like that. She was quite sure that if she could trust any cat, she could trust Pebble Heart. She had known him since he was a kit, and he was a medicine cat—charged by StarClan with the duty of taking care of his Clanmates.

Shade Pelt limped out of the medicine cat’s den, dipping his head respectfully to Shadowstar as she ducked through the entrance.

“How’s the leg feeling?” Pebble Heart asked.

“Much better,” Shadowstar told him, and stood patiently as Pebble Heart felt it over.

“Not hurting at all?” he meowed at last, and she shook her head. “I think you’re fine to go back to hunting and patrolling. But let me know if it bothers you.”

“Okay,” Shadowstar replied, but she lingered, watching as Pebble Heart tidied his herbs. The medicine-cat den was the most peaceful place in camp.

“Are you okay?” Pebble Heart asked as he returned the leftover comfrey to the dried herbs at the side of his den. “You’ve been keeping to yourself lately.”

Shadowstar started to say that she was fine; but then she noticed how heavy her fur felt, and how her worries had filled her head like water. “They just keep fighting,” she sighed bitterly. “With Sun Shadow gone, some warriors seem so eager to walk in his paw steps that all they do is compete with each other.” Despite having been punished more than once, Mouse Ear and Juniper Branch were still at odds. “And now other warriors are picking sides in their argument.” She swallowed hard, her stomach an unhappy ball. “The Clan’s being pulled apart.”

Pebble Heart looked into her eyes, his own gaze steady. “Take a moment,” he told her. “Breathe deeply.” He inhaled a long, slow breath, and Shadowstar imitated him. Together they held the breath for a moment, then gradually let it out. “Again.”

After a few repetitions, Shadowstar relaxed a little.

“It’s true that not knowing who’s going to be your deputy is causing some conflict,” Pebble Heart said. “It’s been more than half a moon since Sun Shadow’s death. Maybe it’s time to name his successor?”