Veil Of Shadows

Chapter 5

Rootpaw scrabbled uncertainly at the pile of dried leaves lying in front of him on the floor of the medicine-cat den. “Comfrey?” he guessed.

Fidgetflake rolled his eyes. “It’s tansy, for StarClan’s sake! Can’t you smell the difference?”

Rootpaw nodded obligingly, but inwardly he was thinking that all these dried herbs smelled the same—dry and dusty. Suppressing a sigh, he reminded himself that being a medicine cat was a very important job. His Clan needed him, and he liked the way that every cat treated him with respect. But at the same time, he couldn’t get rid of the nagging feeling that it would be a lot more fun to be out hunting on such a sunny day.

I want to do what’s right for my Clan, but maybe I didn’t think this whole medicine-cat thing through. This . . . isn’t how I imagined my life would be.

Frecklewish turned from the back of the den where she had been sorting a pile of freshly gathered herbs. “While it’s quiet, we should take advantage of the sunshine,” she meowed, “and spread these herbs out to dry. It could start raining again at any time.”

At once Rootpaw sprang to his paws. “Sure, I’ll help,” he offered, pleased at the chance to get out of the medicine cats’ den.

“Not you, Rootpaw.” Frecklewish ordered him back with a wave of her tail. “You need to keep memorizing those herbs!”

While she and Fidgetflake began transporting the fresh herbs out into the sunlight, Rootpaw headed for the niches at the back of the den where the dried supplies were kept. He tried to remember what the medicine cats had taught him about how to identify each herb, what it was used for, and where it was stored.

He sniffed doubtfully at the dried leaves in the first niche. Marigold, maybe?

At the same moment, Rootpaw heard stumbling paw steps as some cat entered the den. Turning, he saw Rabbitleap, and froze at the sight of his Clanmate’s chest and muzzle covered with blood.

Rabbitleap’s voice was surprisingly calm as he began, “Rootpaw, I need you to—”

Rootpaw didn’t hear anything else as panic swept over him. I need to take care of him, but what am I supposed to do? “Frecklewish! Fidgetflake!” he yowled. “Help!”

Frecklewish immediately slipped back into the den. “He has a thorn in his paw, Rootpaw,” she explained. “I thought you would be able to cope with that.” She sighed. “Sit down, Rabbitleap.”

“But . . . the blood!” Rootpaw exclaimed as he watched Frecklewish lick Rabbitleap’s paw until she could grip the shank of the thorn in her teeth and draw it out.

“I’m sorry, Rootpaw,” Rabbitleap mewed. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I just caught a squirrel, and I didn’t realize how much of the blood is still on my fur.”

Every hair on Rootpaw’s pelt grew hot with embarrassment. What kind of medicine cat freezes at the sight of blood?

“Don’t worry, Rootpaw,” Frecklewish reassured him. “Rabbitleap was only your first patient. It’ll get easier as you learn more.” She gave Rabbitleap’s paw one final swipe with her tongue. “There. You’ll be fine, Rabbitleap, but stay off that paw for the rest of today. And don’t go treading on any more thorns!”

Rabbitleap ducked his head. “Thanks, Frecklewish. I was so keen to catch that big squirrel that I didn’t have time to look where I was putting my paws.” He smoothed his whiskers with one forepaw. “But I’m proud that I brought back such a good addition to the fresh-kill pile.”

Rootpaw struggled with a sudden stab of jealousy. I miss hunting for my Clan so much!

As Rabbitleap left the den, Fidgetflake returned from his task of spreading out the herbs and began testing Rootpaw once again on what he had learned. Rootpaw did his best to concentrate, but he was thankful for another interruption as Puddleshine, the ShadowClan medicine cat, appeared at the entrance to the den, escorted by Plumwillow.

“My patrol found Puddleshine at the edge of the camp,” Plumwillow explained. “He says he’s looking for Rootpaw.”

As soon as Plumwillow spoke, Rootpaw remembered that today there was a meeting of the rebel cats. I almost forgot! And it will be harder to sneak out now that I’m a medicine-cat apprentice.

Fidgetflake gave Puddleshine a curious look. “Why do you want our new medicine-cat apprentice?” he asked.

Puddleshine looked flustered, giving his chest fur a couple of awkward licks. “I . . . er . . . oh. Well.” Rootpaw shot the medicine cat an apologetic look. Clearly my new role is news to him.

But Puddleshine stood up straight, recovering. “Actually . . . I want to consult him about a sick cat in ShadowClan.”

“What?” Fidgetflake sounded confused. “Why would ShadowClan’s medicine cat want help from Rootpaw? He isn’t even officially an apprentice yet.”

Puddleshine didn’t have an answer to that, and Rootpaw couldn’t think of any better excuse. Fortunately, Frecklewish came to their rescue.

“I expect he wants to help Rootpaw get more experience,” she mewed smoothly. “Puddleshine, suppose I come to help you, and Rootpaw can come with us so he can learn. Fidgetflake, you can take care of any emergencies in SkyClan while we’re away.”

Fidgetflake still looked puzzled, but he didn’t object, and retreated toward the herb stores, shaking his head as he went.

Frecklewish took the lead as she and Rootpaw left the camp with Puddleshine, heading toward SkyClan territory.

“Has there been any sign of Shadowsight?” she asked Puddleshine.

The ShadowClan medicine cat let out a long sigh. “No cat seems to know anything,” he replied sadly. “We’re all worried about him.”

Rootpaw felt sickness rising in his belly as he thought about the friendly young medicine cat and all the terrible things that might have happened to him. It still pained him to wonder whether a cat could have hurt Shadowsight. In the past, it would never have occurred to him that any warrior would attack a medicine cat, but everything was so different now. And he didn’t believe Shadowsight would have left the Clans on his own. Puddleshine seemed really concerned for his former apprentice, but what if he wasn’t the kind cat that he appeared to be?

What if he knows something he’s not telling us?

“Do you know anything you haven’t told us about Shadowsight?” Rootpaw asked Puddleshine, not caring that he was a lowly apprentice making blunt demands of an experienced medicine cat. I’m worried about Shadowsight, so who cares what Puddleshine thinks? “Perhaps we should have looked harder for him before we went to the Moonpool . . . if there was no reason for him to leave.”

Puddleshine didn’t seem offended at Rootpaw’s abrupt words. “We did look around,” he replied. “But when we didn’t find him, I thought he had gone on ahead.” He heaved another deep sigh. “Shadowsight has always been an unusual cat . . . a special cat. At first I hoped he had just wandered off and would be back soon, but that seems less and less likely now.” He gave his tail a single lash, and his voice was unsteady as he went on. “You might blame me for not doing more, but you can’t blame me more than I blame myself. I shouldn’t have left him alone. And I should have given him better support when he was . . . when he was here.”

Hearing the pause, Rootpaw realized that Puddleshine believed Shadowsight was probably dead. His suspicions of the medicine cat faded; hearing him now, no cat could doubt that Puddleshine was truly upset.

But is he right? Rootpaw wondered. Is Shadowsight dead?

It was terrible, but Rootpaw kept coming back to the dreadful possibility that another cat had killed Shadowsight. And the obvious culprit was the false Bramblestar. Rootpaw believed that the false Bramblestar had tried to kill Sparkpelt by having her attacked by dogs, because she had defied him. Shadowsight was the cat who had received the codebreaker visions, and so he supported the impostor’s efforts, but recently he had begun to back away from the idea of exile. Did Bramblestar believe that he could get his way more easily if Shadowsight wasn’t around?

Rootpaw shivered as if he had suddenly walked into a shower of icy rain. Would the fake Bramblestar really murder a medicine cat? And if he did, am I in danger too? What would he do if he discovered that I can see the real Bramblestar’s spirit?

Together the three cats padded on through the trees until they reached the ShadowClan camp. As soon as they pushed through the bushes and brambles at the top of the hollow, Rootpaw could see how many cats were crowded into the space, and how tense they were feeling.

Squirrelflight and Cloverfoot were both trying to assign cats to hunting patrols, and as Rootpaw padded closer he could hear how icily polite they were being to each other.

“Remember that the exiled cats can’t hunt near the borders,” Cloverfoot meowed. “There’s too much risk that they’ll be spotted.”

“Of course,” Squirrelflight replied through clenched teeth. She looked like she wanted to say, Tell me something I don’t know.

At the far side of the hollow, loud yowls of complaint were issuing from the warriors’ den.

“Get your paw out of my ear, you stupid furball!”

“You can’t put your nest there—that’s my space!”

“Leave my bracken alone!”

Puddleshine let out a sigh and exchanged a glance with Frecklewish. “You can’t blame them,” he mewed. “There isn’t enough room here for so many cats.”

Frecklewish nodded. “And with Bramblestar acting so unpredictably, who knows whether he’s going to stop with the codebreakers? I fear it’s only going to get worse.”

Near the entrance to Tigerstar’s den, Crowfeather stood by himself, his disapproving gaze raking across the camp. “I should have expected that ThunderClan and ShadowClan wouldn’t be able to get along,” he meowed, not speaking to any cat directly, but loud enough for several cats nearby to hear him. “Not even when it’s in every cat’s best interest. I ran things much better as WindClan’s deputy, but I won’t poke my whiskers in if no cat cares to ask for my help.”

While he was speaking, Tigerstar emerged from his den, casting an annoyed glance at Crowfeather as he padded past him to greet Frecklewish and Rootpaw.

“This won’t do,” he began abruptly. “I can’t put up much longer with ShadowClan being the shelter for all the outcast warriors. There are just too many cats in the camp.” With a brusque nod to Frecklewish, he continued, “What’s the news in SkyClan? Leafstar’s the only other leader with enough sense not to listen to Bramblestar’s demands. Do you think she’d be able to give shelter to some of these cats?”

Frecklewish exchanged a doubtful glance with Rootpaw, then shook her head. “Leafstar has decided that SkyClan will go along with Bramblestar for now,” she replied, “as long as there’s no evidence of Bramblestar hurting any cat. That means that, officially at least, it’s four Clans against one. I’m sorry, Tigerstar, but this isn’t a good time to try to move the exiled cats out of ShadowClan territory.”

For a moment Rootpaw was afraid that the ShadowClan leader would explode in a burst of fury. But then Tigerstar’s tail drooped with frustration and weariness, and Rootpaw noticed for the first time how thin and anxious he looked. Glancing across the camp, he spotted Dovewing near the fresh-kill pile; she looked just as ill as her mate.

I know how worried they must both be about Shadowsight.

As the hunting patrols finally headed out of the camp, Squirrelflight and Cloverfoot padded over to stand beside their leader.

“Are we going to have this confusion every day?” Squirrelflight asked. “I don’t want to tread on your tail, Cloverfoot, but some of the exiles don’t know which of us they should listen to.”

“I’m not one to stay where I’m not wanted,” Crowfeather meowed, stepping forward to join the group before Tigerstar could respond. “But why can’t the exiled cats move to the old SkyClan camp that’s now on ShadowClan territory? I know no cat has lived there for a while, but we could fix it up.” He tilted his head toward the warriors’ den, from where loud sounds of squabbling still split the air. “It would solve that problem, for sure.”

Tigerstar looked worried for a moment; Rootpaw guessed that he didn’t like the idea of cats from other Clans setting up their own camp on his territory. Then his expression cleared, and he gave a brisk nod. “You’re right, Crowfeather. This can’t go on. We’ll give it a try.”

“The rebel cats could meet there, too,” Squirrelflight suggested. “That would make it less likely for outsiders to find out that ShadowClan is involved.”

“Excellent,” Crowfeather meowed with a satisfied flick of his ears. “I’ll call the exiles together.” He disappeared into the warriors’ den, and Rootpaw heard his voice raised in a commanding yowl. “Cats who are not in ShadowClan, come here to me!”

“I know where the old camp used to be,” Cloverfoot told Tigerstar. “I’ll lead the exiles there.”

“Some of them are out hunting,” Squirrelflight pointed out. “I’ll wait here until they’re all back, and then bring them along.”

Tigerstar waved his tail in agreement and let out a sigh of relief. “Then maybe we’ll get a bit of peace around here.”

But Rootpaw saw the anxiety still lurking in Tigerstar’s eyes, and knew that there would be no peace for the ShadowClan leader until he knew what had happened to his son.

Cloverfoot took the lead as the exiled cats emerged from the warriors’ den, and they climbed the slope in a straggling line, moving toward the bramble barrier that edged the camp. Crowfeather brought up the rear.

As Rootpaw watched them go, he realized that Squirrelflight was standing beside him. She bent her head and spoke quietly into his ear. “Rootpaw, can you help me see Bramblestar again?” she asked, her green eyes gleaming with eagerness. “I have a lot I need to discuss with him.”

Rootpaw looked around, but there was no sign of Bramblestar’s spirit. Since his last appearance to the medicine cats, Rootpaw had hoped that he might be sticking close to Squirrelflight. But if he’s not here . . .

“I’m sorry,” he replied reluctantly. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen his spirit.”

He hated to see the light die from Squirrelflight’s eyes, to be replaced with an anxiety that reflected his own. If Bramblestar isn’t with Squirrelflight, and I haven’t seen him in days, Rootpaw asked himself, then what could have happened to him? How long can a spirit linger outside its body?

And how will the Clans ever return to normal if the real Bramblestar is truly gone?