“I was just a bit too keen on chasing a blackbird,” Boulder went on. “To tell you the truth, I think I was trying to impress Brokentail. The bird went into a thornbush, and I was fool enough to go after it.”
“Did you catch it?” Yellowfang meowed.
“Yes—ow!” Boulder let out a yelp as the thorn came free.
“Then you weren’t a fool. Give your paw a good lick,” Yellowfang instructed him, “and come back if the paw swells or if it continues to hurt.”
“Thanks, Yellowfang.” Boulder ran his tongue over his pad a few times, then rose to his paws. “I’d better get back on patrol.” He dashed off.
Runningpaw, who had been tidying the herb stores at the back of the den, turned to look at his mentor. “I wouldn’t want to live in a Clan full of Brokentails,” he remarked. “He’s too… fierce!” He went back to his herbs, then stopped, looking thoughtful, with a borage leaf in one paw. “I wonder who Brokentail’s mother is. Do you have any ideas, Yellowfang? Was she a kittypet, like some cats say? Or was it Foxheart all along?”
“I don’t have time for idle gossip,” Yellowfang snorted. “Why are you standing there like an uneaten bit of fresh-kill, instead of sorting the comfrey from the foxgloves?”
Runningpaw sniffed as he gave her an injured look, but yowls from the clearing outside interrupted any reply he was about to make. Looking out between the boulders, Yellowfang saw cats bursting through the thorns, and recognized Lizardstripe’s border patrol. A single glance told her that some of the cats had been badly scratched.
“Bring cobweb and marigold,” she ordered Runningpaw, then bounded to meet the wounded cats in the center of the clearing.
Raggedstar and Foxheart emerged from the leader’s den and raced to join the others. “What happened?” Raggedstar demanded.
“Rats attacked us near the Carrionplace,” Lizardstripe panted. Her fur was bristling and blood dripped from a scratch on her belly.
“And we weren’t even hunting them!” Wolfstep added indignantly.
While Lizardstripe described in more detail what had happened, Yellowfang and Runningpaw started to treat the wounds. Wolfstep had a torn ear, but it had already stopped bleeding; Yellowfang licked it clean, then gave him a marigold leaf to rub on it.
“Look at this bite,” Runningpaw mewed, beckoning Yellowfang over to Tangleburr. “I think it might get infected.”
Yellowfang nodded as she examined the bite on Tangleburr’s shoulder. “That’s always a risk with rat bites. Tangleburr, wait for me in my den, and I’ll find you some burdock root.”
“Thanks, Yellowfang.” The young she-cat limped off.
Yellowfang padded over to Lizardstripe. “I need to see that scratch on your belly,” she told her.
Lizardstripe flicked her tail. “Not now. Can’t you see I’m talking to Raggedstar?”
While she was checking Brackenfoot and Fernshade, more cats appeared at the entrance to the camp. Yellowfang looked up to see Brokentail and his hunting patrol, laden with prey.
Brokentail, carrying a huge pigeon, padded up to the group in the middle of the clearing. “What’s going on?” he asked, dropping the dead bird.
“Rats attacked us near the Carrionplace,” Fernshade told him, while Wolfstep exclaimed, “Great catch, Brokentail!”
“Yeah, I climbed a tree to get it,” Brokentail mewed casually, then turned to Raggedstar. “How long are we going to put up with these rats?” he demanded with a lash of his tail. “We need to teach them a lesson!”
“What do you suggest?” Raggedstar prompted.
Yellowfang remembered the doomed attack on Carrionplace seasons before, when Cedarstar had lost a life.
“We can’t fight all the rats,” Brokentail told Raggedstar. “We don’t know how many there are. Instead, we should single out a few of them and kill them in view of the others, as a warning.”
Yellowfang heard a few doubtful murmurs from the cats surrounding Brokentail, but others were nodding in agreement.
“It might be worth a try,” Fernshade murmured.
“Right,” Foxheart meowed. “We tried ambushing them with a mass attack, and it didn’t work. Perhaps this is the only way.”
Raggedstar looked thoughtful, then straightened up. “Brokentail, come with me to my den. We’ll discuss this in more detail.” He led the way across the camp with Brokentail padding at his shoulder. Foxheart followed them.
Yellowfang sent Runningpaw back to the den to prepare a burdock root poultice for Tangleburr. Meanwhile she managed to persuade Lizardstripe to let her look at the scratch. By now it had stopped bleeding. Relieved that she didn’t have to do more, Yellowfang gave Lizardstripe some marigold and sent her to rest in the warriors’ den.
Tangleburr was just leaving when Yellowfang got back to her den, the burdock root poultice securely in place. “Let me have another look at that tomorrow,” Yellowfang told her.
Tangleburr thanked her and went off with a wave of her tail.
