Yellowfang’s Secret полностью

Yellowfang rose to her paws and stretched. She had expected to find cats of StarClan waiting for her, but she was alone. What am I supposed to do now?

Movement caught her gaze and she realized that a cat was approaching through the trees. When it emerged into the open, Yellowfang saw it was an orange-and-gray she-cat, her fur thick and shining, with bright eyes and a frosting of starlight around her paws. Sheer astonishment struck Yellowfang as she recognized her.

“Silverflame!”

Stumbling a little, she ran forward to touch noses with the cat she had last seen as a scrawny, pain-racked elder.

“Greetings, Yellowfang,” Silverflame purred. “I’m glad that I was chosen to welcome you into StarClan. It is an honor to see you here, and as a medicine cat, too!”

“It’s great to see you, too,” Yellowfang responded, confused. “But I was expecting to see another medicine cat. Aren’t I here to learn stuff?”

Silverflame dipped her head. “Sagewhisker will teach you all you need to know of herbs,” she mewed. “But I—”

“Then you’re going to send me omens!” Yellowfang interrupted, excitement tingling in her pads.

“It doesn’t always work like that.” There was a note of regret in Silverflame’s voice. “More than anything else, a medicine cat needs to have courage in her own instincts.”

Now Yellowfang was even more confused. “But you will visit me, right?” she asked anxiously. “What if I don’t know the answers?”

Silverflame touched Yellowfang’s ear lightly with her nose. “I will always be with you,” she promised, “but you must trust yourself first.”

Yellowfang blinked. “I don’t understand.”

“I will watch over you,” the StarClan cat assured her. “Whatever choices you make, you are not alone. I have faith in you—in your decisions and your destiny.”

As she spoke, she began to fade away, the outlines of her body lost in a glitter of starshine.

“Don’t go!” Yellowfang called.

But Silverflame had vanished, and a heartbeat later Yellowfang opened her eyes to find herself back in the cave of the Moonstone, with the other medicine cats dreaming beside her. She stood up and backed away from the Moonstone, shaking out her fur. She had escaped the terrible dreams of her last visit, but her meeting with Silverflame had been a long way from what she expected. Am I really expected to make my choices alone, without the guidance of StarClan? Yet Silverflame had said she had faith in Yellowfang. If she doubted herself, she would be letting Silverflame down. I will make you proud of me, Yellowfang vowed to her beloved former Clanmate. You’ll see!

Yellowfang teased out a bundle of cobwebs and began hanging them on the thorns to dry. She had been a medicine cat apprentice for five sunrises, and she felt pleased that Sagewhisker had approved her suggestion of what to do with the webs. A sudden pain stabbed into her paw. At first she thought she had picked up one of the thorns from the bush, but when she looked at her pads they were unmarked.

Another cat, then.

Yellowfang turned to see Finchflight limping between the boulders, one forepaw held in the air. She almost called out, You’ve stepped on a thorn, haven’t you? before she remembered that she wasn’t supposed to know about wounds until the injured cat told her.

“What can I do for you?” she asked.

Finchflight glanced around. “I was looking for Sagewhisker,” he told her, then added doubtfully, “but you’re a medicine cat apprentice now, so I suppose you’ll do.”

Thanks for your confidence, Yellowfang thought.

She winced as Finchflight hobbled forward and held out his paw for her inspection. Then she recalled talking to Sagewhisker about blocking out her feelings, and made herself aware of her own paws. They’re all fine. I have no thorns. I can feel smooth earth underneath my pads, nothing else. The pain from Finchflight faded; Yellowfang was still aware of it, but only as a faint trace in the background of her mind. It worked! Now I can examine Finchflight’s paw without my own pain getting in the way.

As soon as she examined the black-and-white tom’s pad, Yellowfang saw the tip of the thorn just peeking out. “That looks bad,” she mewed. “It must hurt a lot.”

“It’s a nuisance,” Finchflight replied, shrugging. “I was supposed to go out on patrol. Brackenfoot is leading a raid on Carrionplace, to hunt rats.”

Yellowfang shivered, remembering the time that she had taken part in the last rat raid. “It’s too bad you can’t go,” she agreed. “Brackenfoot will need every cat.”