Yellowfang’s Secret полностью

Sagewhisker flicked her tail. “You’re splitting whiskers, Yellowfang. You know that you shouldn’t have been with Raggedpelt when you were a medicine cat apprentice. But that’s not the most important thing,” she went on. “ShadowClan needs you. I will walk with StarClan soon, and you have to take my place. You have a rare gift, and you’ve thrown it away.”

“No, I haven’t!” Yellowfang insisted. “I’ll deal with this, I promise. I won’t stop being a medicine cat. I just need to figure out what to do…” Her voice trailed off.

Sagewhisker’s gaze was stern. “It’s time you made a decision once and for all,” she mewed. “If you’re to walk the path of a medicine cat, there must be no more turning aside. The Clan must come first.”

Yellowfang nodded miserably. “I know. It will, from now on.”

Sagewhisker reached out with her tail and stroked Yellowfang’s shoulder, a rare gesture of affection. “You poor thing,” she whispered, startling Yellowfang. “May StarClan light your path.” Her tone became brisk again as she continued. “Does Raggedpelt know?”

Yellowfang shook her head.

“You should tell him,” Sagewhisker meowed. “If the kits… are going to live, then he deserves to know.”

“Of course they’re going to live!” Yellowfang cried. Does she think I would kill my own kits?

“Then they will need their father more than ever,” Sagewhisker told her. “They can’t lose both their parents.”

Yellowfang nodded. “I know, you’re right. But it will be hard to tell him.” How will I ever find the words? And what will he do when he knows the truth?

Later that day, Yellowfang was back in the camp, busy covering the herb stores with more fern to keep the rain out.

Sagewhisker bustled into the den and took the fern frond she was holding. “I’ll do that,” she mewed. “Raggedpelt isn’t on patrol. Go and tell him.” More gently, she added, “You have to; you know that.”

Yellowfang stared at her for a moment, then bowed her head. On reluctant paws she dragged herself out into the clearing and saw Raggedpelt gulping down a piece of prey by the fresh-kill pile.

“Can we talk?” she asked, padding up to him.

Raggedpelt eyed her coldly. “We have nothing to say to each other.”

“Believe me, we do.”

Yellowfang led Raggedpelt into the forest, pushing through the undergrowth until the camp was out of sight. Then she faced him under the dripping trees. “I’m going to have kits,” she announced.

She braced herself for the blast of Raggedpelt’s rage. Instead, the tabby tom’s eyes widened in disbelief. “That’s not possible!”

“Of course it’s possible!”

The confusion in Raggedpelt’s eyes faded, to be replaced with glowing happiness. “I’m going to be a father!” he breathed. “Yellowfang, that’s great! Our kits will be the best warriors and queens the Clan has ever known. One of them might become Clan leader one day.”

“But—” Yellowfang tried to interrupt. Even Raggedpelt’s anger might have been better than this total refusal to see what the problem was.

“I’ll be the best father,” he went on enthusiastically. “I’ll teach them battle moves, and show them the best places to hunt.”

“But I’m a medicine cat!” Yellowfang made him listen at last. “I’m not supposed to have kits!”

Raggedpelt blinked at her. “Well, you’ll have to stop being a medicine cat.”

“I can’t,” Yellowfang choked.

Raggedpelt’s voice grew dangerous. “Can’t, or won’t?”

“Both,” Yellowfang admitted. “I will bear these kits, and love them with all my heart, but I cannot be their mother. You will have to raise them alone.”

“I can’t do that!” Raggedpelt yelped. “How can I stay with them in the nursery and give them milk?”

“Lizardstripe is also expecting kits,” Yellowfang explained. “She can care for ours until they are old enough to feed alone. Every cat can know that they are yours, but no cats must know they are also mine.” She let out a long sigh. “I’m sorry, Raggedpelt. I cannot be their mother.”

Although she spoke briskly, inside Yellowfang’s heart was splitting into tiny pieces. This is the only choice I can make. I have to follow the path that StarClan has laid out for me.

The words of the small dark cat in her dream rang in her ears, warning her about the storm of fire and blood that would be released into her Clan, but she pushed the memory away. There was no reason to believe that the black cat had been speaking of her kits. She didn’t even know his name, or what Clan he had once belonged to.

Raggedpelt will be a good father. My kits will be in safe paws.

The warrior was staring at her as if he’d never seen her before. “You mean, you’d choose to be a medicine cat for Clanmates that have no kinship with you, over caring for your own kits? Our own kits?” His voice rose to a screech. “What kind of she-cat are you? Do you care for nothing beyond yourself?”