Archeye let out a screech and leaped straight at the WindClan tom. The rest of the cats were no more than a heartbeat behind. But as the two toms clashed, Yellowfang felt a jolt of pain deep in her bones; she staggered, almost losing her balance. Talltail loomed over her, and Yellowfang struggled to get into the right position to defend herself. Beside her she caught a glimpse of Amberleaf with blood welling from a deep scratch along her flank. Then Dawnstripe leaped at her again with blood on her claws and Yellowfang shrieked with pain. She collapsed on the ground, her mind filled with visions of fur being shredded and blood gurgling in her throat, choking her. She felt Talltail’s claws slicing through her pelt to the flesh below, but she could only beat her paws at him feebly as if she were a frightened kit.
“Back off, Talltail.” Dawnstripe’s voice reached Yellowfang through the fog of pain. “We’ve done enough. That will teach these mangy cats not to trespass on WindClan territory.”
Yellowfang was too battered to speak. Beyond the pain, all she could think was that the WindClan cats were going to get away with invading ShadowClan. Then the thundering of paws beat at her ears, getting louder and louder. She was conscious of cats leaping past her, and caught a whiff of Raggedpelt’s scent.
“Get out!” he snarled. “If you think you can come here and attack our cats, you can think again. My claws will show you that you’re wrong.”
“Easy enough to say,” Dawnstripe growled.
But Yellowfang saw that the WindClan cats had suffered injuries too; there was a patch of fur missing from Dawnstripe’s shoulder, while both Shrewpaw and Redclaw were bleeding. Obviously they were in no mood for another fight.
“Don’t you dare set paw on our territory again.” Redclaw thrust out his neck so he was nose-to-nose with Raggedpelt. “Or you’ll get more of the same.”
Raggedpelt let out a contemptuous snort. “You terrify me.”
Redclaw’s only response was a glare. Then the WindClan cats were drawing back, heading for the Thunderpath and the tunnel that would lead them back to their own territory.
Yellowfang let her head rest on the ground again. She could feel blood pulsing out of her wounds, as well as the agony of every other cat’s injuries. She was aware of Raggedpelt bending over her, and felt his tongue rasping warmly over her ears.
“Let’s get you back to camp,” he mewed.
“No!” Yellowfang muttered. “Help Amberleaf first. She’s badly scratched.”
She felt Raggedpelt’s nose touch her ear, and his voice was unusually gentle. “Stupid furball, stop worrying about every other cat for once.”
With Raggedpelt on one side and Brackenfoot on the other, Yellowfang managed to stand and stagger back to camp. As she and the other cats emerged into the clearing, their Clanmates rushed out, letting out yowls of shock and distress when they saw how badly the patrol was injured.
Brightflower rushed over to Yellowfang. “What happened?” she asked, her eyes wide with distress. “Oh, Yellowfang… Come straight to Sagewhisker and have those wounds looked at.”
She paced beside Yellowfang as Raggedpelt and Brackenfoot supported her to the medicine cat’s den. Archeye limped off with Wolfstep to report to Cedarstar.
Some cat had warned Sagewhisker, who was already gathering cobwebs to stop the bleeding. She crouched down beside Yellowfang, telling Brightflower to go with Amberleaf to the warriors’ den. “Help Amberleaf clean up those scratches,” she instructed. “I’ll be over to see her as soon as I’ve dealt with Yellowfang.”
The other cats left, and Sagewhisker crouched down beside Yellowfang. “It’s worse this time, isn’t it?” she prompted.
Yellowfang looked up at her and nodded.
Sagewhisker’s eyes narrowed as if she was thinking. “This time you’re not just feeling the pain of other cats,” she mewed as she plastered cobweb over Yellowfang’s wounds. She ran her paw lightly over the scratches on Yellowfang’s shoulder. “You could easily have defended yourself from this kind of injury, but you’ve been badly hurt because you couldn’t bring yourself to fight. You know too much about pain to inflict it on other cats. And that makes it impossible for you to be a warrior.” She paused, and Yellowfang was startled by the sympathy in her eyes.
“It’s time to face your destiny,” Sagewhisker announced. “You have to be a medicine cat.”
