The Silent Thaw

A chill ran along Shadowsight’s spine. Was Tigerstar right? Even if he is, can I risk the safety of all the Clans just to save one cat I love? He blinked back at his father. “But—”

Tigerstar interrupted. “We have no choice,” he meowed darkly. “This has to remain between you and me.”

Shadowsight watched his father stalk away and disappear into his den. His belly felt suddenly hollow. He understood why Tigerstar wanted to protect Dovewing. He wanted to protect her too. Bramblestar had seemed far too eager to accuse cats he believed were codebreakers. There had been little sympathy in the ThunderClan leader’s call to expose them. What if he did want to exploit StarClan’s silence to impose ThunderClan’s authority over the rest of the Clans? But StarClan sent me the vision. Shadowsight couldn’t ignore the feeling that his ancestors wanted him to share it.

His ears pricked. A panicked yowl rang outside camp. “Shadowsight!” He recognized Lightleap’s mew. Pelt spiking with alarm, Shadowsight raced for the camp entrance.

Lightleap was pushing her way through with Flaxfoot. Snowbird limped between them.

The white she-cat’s cat face was twisted with pain. She held her forepaw off the ground, and Shadowsight could see at once that it was badly twisted.

“She slipped.” Lightleap pushed past him as she helped Snowbird toward the medicine den.

Puddleshine hurried out, his eyes round with concern. “What happened?”

“Snowbird hurt her paw.” Shadowsight padded beside his sister, peering past her to see Snowbird’s paw. It hung limply, pointing the wrong way. It must be broken.

“She slipped as we were jumping over a log,” Flaxfoot told him. “She landed badly.”

Snowbird closed her eyes and let out a long, agonized breath.

“I’ll get some comfrey and poppy seeds.” Puddleshine ducked back into the medicine den, and Shadowsight followed as Flaxfoot and Lightleap helped Snowbird inside behind him.

Shadowsight hurried past them and quickly piled the remaining moss into the nearly finished nest. He pressed it down quickly. It would have to do for now. “Lay her here,” he told Lightleap.

Lightleap and Flaxfoot helped Snowbird to the nest and let her slump gently onto the moss. She grunted as she slid down.

Puddleshine padded to the nest, a wad of comfrey leaves between his jaws. He dropped and unrolled them to reveal a scattering of poppy seeds in the middle. After dabbing the seeds with his pad, he offered them to Snowbird. She licked them from his paw and lay back, her eyes glittering with pain. Puddleshine nudged Lightleap toward the entrance. “Go and finish your hunting,” he told the brown tabby she-cat. “We’ll take care of Snowbird.”

“But I want to see that she’s okay.” Lightleap pricked her ears.

Puddleshine nosed Flaxfoot after her. “If you want to help”—he steered them toward the entrance—“go find four smooth, straight sticks we can use as a splint.”

“Can’t we wait here to see if her paw will be okay?” Lightleap looked pleadingly at Shadowsight.

“I’ll come and find you when we’ve finished treating her,” he promised. “I’ll let you know how she’s doing then.”

“We need those sticks,” Puddleshine told the two young warriors as he ran a gentle paw over Snowbird’s leg.

As Lightleap and Flaxfoot trailed reluctantly from the den, Shadowsight padded to Puddleshine’s side. “Is it broken?” he asked softly.

Puddleshine nodded, avoiding Snowbird’s gaze.

The white she-cat blinked at Shadowsight. “Can you fix it?”

It looked like a nasty break. Shadowsight glanced hopefully at Puddleshine.

Puddleshine began to wrap comfrey around Snowbird’s paw. “The splints will help straighten it, but I don’t want to set the bone until the poppy seeds have started working.” He looked evenly at Snowbird. “I’m afraid it will hurt.”

“I don’t care.” Snowbird lifted her muzzle defiantly. “Just fix it. I don’t want to have a limp.”

Shadowsight caught Puddleshine’s eye. He saw darkness in the medicine cat’s gaze. Would Snowbird’s paw fully heal? Worry settled around his heart. Snowbird was a brave and loyal warrior. How could StarClan have let this happen to her?