River Of Fire

Leading the way past the bramble screen, Alderheart saw that Leafpool was curled up asleep in her nest, while Jayfeather was sitting up, irritably scratching at his ear with one hind paw. To Alderheart’s relief he saw that there was enough dry bedding stored by the back wall of the den to make nests for the two kittypets.

“This is Leafpool,” he told them, pointing with his tail, “and this is Jayfeather. They’re both medicine cats, but right now they’re here because they’re sick with bellyache.”

“Greetings,” Velvet mewed with a polite dip of her head, while Fuzzball squeaked, “Hi!” with another excited bounce.

Jayfeather merely glared at the pair of them, not returning their greeting. “My nest is full of thorns,” he snapped at Alderheart.

“Then I’ve got just the thing for you,” Alderheart responded. “This is Fuzzball.” He urged the little tom forward with a sweep of his tail, and Fuzzball seemed to be trembling with eagerness to help. “Fuzzball will be looking after all your needs from now on,” he continued. “Thorns in your nest? Need your bedding fluffed? Ask Fuzzball. Need water? Ask Fuzzball!”

“I don’t believe this!” Jayfeather growled. “What are you meowing about?”

Before Alderheart could reply, Fuzzball hurled himself at Jayfeather and crouched down beside him, beginning to part the fern fronds and clumps of moss as he searched for thorns.

“Are you blind?” he asked Jayfeather, staring at his eyes. “What’s it like being blind? How did it happen?”

Jayfeather opened his jaws: not to reply, Alderheart guessed, but to deliver a stinging rebuke. But Fuzzball chattered on obliviously. “Was it in a fight with a badger? Or a dog? Did the dog die? Is your belly hurting? How bad? Would you like me to rub it?”

Turning his head, Jayfeather glared at Alderheart, almost as if he could see him. “When I get better, I’m going to kill you,” he grumbled.

Alderheart backed away, whiskers twitching with amusement, and saw the same amusement glimmering in Velvet’s eyes. “We’ll make a nest for you,” he told her, “and then you can get some sleep.”

Velvet put down the scrap of fur she had brought with her into the den. “Later,” she mewed. “I wouldn’t be able to relax, knowing how busy you are. You have a lot of cats to take care of, and I’d like to help you.”

Alderheart gave her a doubtful look; he didn’t think she would know enough to help a Clan medicine cat.

“I lived as a stray for a while,” Velvet continued, clearly understanding his hesitation. “I had to take care of myself, and I learned a thing or two about herbs and healing. If you don’t mind, I’d rather help you tend the sick cats and make myself useful.”

Surprised, Alderheart blinked in gratitude at her offer. “Okay,” he mewed. “Let me treat your wound first, and then you can help, as long as you don’t move around too much.”

“Okay,” Velvet agreed.

Alderheart headed for the back of the den to the herb store in the cleft rock. He skirted Jayfeather’s nest, where Fuzzball was telling him all about the fire.

“The flames were so high—higher than our housefolk’s nest! The sparks flew right up into the sky. . . .”

Jayfeather had his eyes closed and his tail over his nose, as if he was pretending none of this was happening.

Alderheart returned to Velvet with a fat black root in his jaws. “This is burdock root,” he told her. “You can chew it up, if you like, but don’t swallow it. I’ll use it to make a poultice for your burn.”

Velvet sniffed the root, then licked the end of it. “Ooh, bitter!”

“I can do it if you’d rather,” Alderheart offered.

“No, I’ll do it. I’d like to learn new things while I’m here.”

Alderheart watched Velvet chewing a bite of the root, then asked her, “So you haven’t always been a kittypet?”

“No,” Velvet replied, spitting out the pulp. “My first housefolk went away and left me behind, so I was a stray for a couple of seasons, but then the weather got cold, so I found some new housefolk.”

“How did you do that?” Alderheart asked as he began to pat the burdock-root pulp onto Velvet’s burned leg.

Velvet let out a small mrrow of laughter. “I sat outside their den and meowed, and when they came out, I looked sad.” She raised her head with her eyes stretched wide and a pathetic expression on her face. “It worked.”

I’m sure it did. Alderheart couldn’t imagine Twolegs being able to resist such a pretty cat. Talking to her is really nice, he thought. But I’d better get back to work.

“Keep still,” he mewed, “and I’ll fetch some cobweb to bind the poultice in place.”

“It feels better already,” Velvet told him, with a long sigh of relief. “You must be a great medicine cat.”

Alderheart heard a snort from the direction of Jayfeather’s nest, but he took no notice.

Once Velvet’s leg was firmly bound up, Alderheart headed outside to see to the cats who were waiting for him. Velvet followed him.

“Can you take out a thorn?” Alderheart asked her.