The Silent Thaw

Had he been right to tell the other medicine cats about his vision? Nothing had changed. There was still no sign of StarClan, and since the Gathering, prey hadn’t been running any better in ShadowClan’s part of the forest. Snowbird’s broken paw was healing just as slowly. What had he expected? For StarClan to send him a vision congratulating him? He got to his paws. Of course there’d be no vision. But he had expected to feel a sense of relief at having shared the names of the codebreakers with the other Clans. Instead he only seemed to have succeeded in putting Dovewing in danger, just as Tigerstar has predicted. Bramblestar seemed determined to exact some sort of punishment on the codebreakers. There had been no talk of forgiveness.

“Shadowsight.” Dovewing’s call jerked him from his thoughts. His mother was padding through the forest toward him, her eyes warm with affection. “There you are.” She stopped beside him and touched her nose to his ear.

Shadowsight blinked at her, worried. Why was she looking for him? He hadn’t been out of camp long. “Does Puddleshine need me?”

“No.” Dovewing glanced around the forest. “I was worried about you, that’s all. You’ve seemed distracted since the Gathering.”

“I’m fine.” Shadowsight brushed loose soil gently over the crack in the earth to protect the new shoots and began to pad back to camp.

Dovewing fell in beside him. “You’re worried about your vision, aren’t you?”

“I’m not sure I should have shared it,” he admitted. “I think it might have caused more trouble than it solved.”

“You did what you thought was right,” Dovewing told him gently.

“Tigerstar didn’t think it was right.” His father had hardly spoken to him since he’d shared the vision.

“He’ll come around. He’ll see that you did the right thing.” Dovewing’s pelt brushed Shadowsight’s. “Eventually.”

“But what if I didn’t?” Shadowsight glanced at his mother. “I got you in trouble, maybe even Tigerstar. Bramblestar wouldn’t even listen to him at the Gathering.”

“Bramblestar has just got a burr in his pelt about codebreakers,” she told him. “He didn’t want to listen to any cat.”

“But he must have been thinking that if you’re a codebreaker, Tigerstar is too.”

“Your father is a loyal and honorable warrior,” she reminded him. “He only broke the code when he had no other choice—and no cat could do more than he has done to uphold it since.”

“But what if he’s named too?” Shadowsight’s tail twitched nervously. “Will he be allowed to remain ShadowClan’s leader?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” she soothed. “The Clan respects him. Without him, there might be no ShadowClan. No cat’s going to stop him being leader.”

“But surely you’ve heard the whispers.” Shadowsight lowered his voice as they neared the camp entrance. “Scorchfur was telling Yarrowleaf that StarClan might be angrier at ShadowClan than any other Clan because of you and Tigerstar.”

“I hope you told him that’s nonsense,” Dovewing mewed sharply. “If StarClan is angry with me and Tigerstar, they won’t punish our Clanmates for it.” She ducked through the bramble tunnel. Shadowsight watched her go, wondering what it was going to take for her to really listen to him.

As Shadowsight followed her in, he was aware of their Clanmates eyeing him. Berryheart looked up from the mouse she was eating and narrowed her eyes. Snaketooth followed her gaze, her ears twitching. Shadowsight’s pelt prickled self-consciously. He knew that they thought he was a traitor for betraying one of their Clanmates in the list of codebreakers.

He lowered his gaze as he headed toward the medicine den, relieved that Dovewing was with him. “They

think I made the wrong choice,” he murmured to Dovewing, pointing his muzzle toward the two warriors.

“Whorlpelt thinks you did the right thing.” Dovewing dipped her head politely to the gray-and-white tom as they passed him. “Plenty of your Clanmates think we need to atone so that StarClan can come back.”

“But not all.” Resentment jabbed at Shadowsight’s belly. “They were happy enough when I was the only medicine cat who was hearing from StarClan. But now that I’ve brought news they don’t like, they say I’m too inexperienced to understand.”

Dovewing paused as they reached the medicine den and ran her tail along his spine. “I know it hurts to have your Clanmates say mean things about you. But you mustn’t listen to whispers. Warriors will always have an opinion. The most important thing is that you did what you thought was right. And you told the truth. In the end, it’s lies that tear a Clan apart, not the truth.” She gazed at him affectionately. “I wish you had as much faith in yourself as I do.”

“Even though I got you in trouble?” Shadowsight blinked at her guiltily.

“It’s not so bad,” she told him. “If atoning for my codebreaking will help, I’m happy to do it. There’s no harm in admitting mistakes.”

Her courage reassured him. As he blinked at her gratefully, a long, deep groan sounded from the medicine den. He stiffened. A cat was in pain.