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| Preceded by: Standards |
Healing | Succeded by: Breaking the Rules |
Prologue
- "Okay, okay, be quiet," one cat mewed loudly.
- Jaws snapped shut, and cats crouched, waiting.
- "We all know Rushclaw," the cat meowed. "You know, the cat that went for Rebirth."
- "He had a cat with him, Fang," one cat piped up.
- Fang nodded at him. "We are all aware of that. But we only care about Rushclaw."
- Eyes darkened around the circle.
- "Oh, get over it," Fang snapped. His tail lashed. "Rushclaw is important because now, he has powers. Can you believe it?"
- "What kind of powers?" another cat asked, his eyes brightening with interest.
- "The kind you get when you're blind," Fang mewed shortly. He added, "This new form of Rushclaw can see through his paws."
- "Isn't that cat- what's her name, Yellowfang?- helping him?" a fourth cat asked.
- "It's the only way he can see," Fang responded quietly.
- "Get him out!" Reedstar commanded Brackenheart. "C'mon, we don't have all the time StarClan granted us!"
- Brackenheart raced into the camp. Almost instantly, Reedstar heard a yowl of surprise and hurt.
- "Oh, StarClan help him," Reedstar murmured.
- Ravenheart's eyes were wide with fear. He was muttering something to himself.
- Reedstar had to get his Clan under control before they controlled themselves. "I want you all to go to the abandoned Twoleg nest," he called to them. He searched the cats and then added, "Thorntail will lead you. Ravenheart, stay here."
- Ravenheart stepped forward, still muttering, as Thorntail led the Clan away.
- Brackenheart's tail was now visible. He was pulling something- slowly.
- Reedstar rushed forward, heart pounding, to see what was wrong.
- "Stand back," Brackenheart told him. "I want to get Freepaw far away from the camp."
- Reedstar took a respectful step backwards and sat down, eyes locked on what Brackenheart had just heaved out of the tunnel.
- It was a charred Freepaw.
- "No," Reedstar moaned.
- Brackenheart wiped ashes off of his son with his tail. Then he called, "Ravenheart, is he alive?"
- Ravenheart took hesitant steps forward, then his eyes locked on something Reedstar couldn't see.
- "Hurry, you can't stare," Brackenheart hissed. "This is my son we're dealing with here."
- Ravenheart blinked and looked down. "He's breathing," he mewed shortly. "All of my honey burned up, or I would give him something to soothe his throat."
- "Don't wake him up," Reedstar told him. "Can we make something to pull him to the abandoned Twoleg nest?"
- Ravenheart grunted a reply and he rolled Freepaw over. "Just as I suspected. He's bleeding."
- Brackenheart ran off and called over his shoulder, "I'll find cobwebs!"
- "We need a poultice to clean him up," Ravenheart murmured.
- Reedstar sat. This is going to take a while, he thought. Please, fire, burn out.
Chapter 1
- Freepaw sat up and opened his jaws in a wide yawn. Instantly, he began to cough.
- When he stopped, with tears welling in his eyes from the stress, he saw Ravenheart sitting nearby.
- For the first time, he realized that this wasn't the medicine den. "Where am I?" he asked sleepily.
- "We're in the abandoned Twoleg nest," Ravenheart replied slowly. "You've been sleeping for a quarter-moon. I was about to declare you dead."
- Freepaw's eyes stretched wide. "Well, I'm glad you-" He began to cough again.
- Ravenheart crept to his side and rubbed his tail on Freepaw's back soothingly.
- Tears were falling down Freepaw's face by the time he was finished.
- "Eat this," Ravenheart instructed, pushing an herb to Freepaw.
- "'Kay," he muttered, and he bent down and ate it.
- Ravenheart pushed a leaf to him as Freepaw began to vomit a black, sticky substance.
- "Thank StarClan for yarrow," Ravenheart purred.
- Freepaw just glared at him, laid down, and fell asleep.
- "I'm sorry," Yellowfang pleaded.
- "It's not your fault," Freepaw soothed her. "I don't expect you to watch over me all the time."
- "You could have been killed," Yellowfang hissed. "Like me."
- Freepaw sat down with a thump on the smooth, soft dust of StarClan. "Wha...?"
- "I died in a fire," Yellowfang explained, her voice hard. "In front of the next leader of ThunderClan."
- Freepaw cocked his head.
- "I think it's about time you heard about the kittypet leader, Firestar," Yellowfang mewed thoughtfully. "Settle down."
- Freepaw obeyed.
- "I met the leader as an apprentice, called Firepaw. I had left ShadowClan for reasons- ones that aren't important here- and I went onto ThunderClan's territory." She paused, then added, "We lived in the forest then."
- Freepaw perked his ears as Yellowfang spoke. Every word spoken by this cat was knowledgeable.
- "I met Firestar while he was hunting, and he overcame me in a fight. I was weak, and I had a bad leg, so I was sure he would have won anyway."
- "Weren't you a medicine cat?" Freepaw inquired, tipping his head.
- Yellowfang nodded. "I was trained as a warrior first. Anyway, when Firestar realized how weak I was, he caught me a rabbit. Unfortunately, he was caught by his Clan and the current leader, Bluestar.
- "I was brought back to the camp, and Firestar's punishment was to care for me. He brought me food every day. When the medicine cat, Spottedleaf, died, I took over as the medicine cat.
- "When Firestar became a warrior- called Fireheart- he got an apprentice, called Cinderpaw. Her leg was crushed by a Twoleg monster-"
- "A Twoleg monster?" Freepaw interrupted.
- Yellowfang shrugged and continued, "She became my apprentice, because she was crippled for life. She eventually became Cinderpelt.
- "I watched as Tigerstar- Bluestar's deputy- tried to take over ThunderClan. I watched as he was banished. I watched as he killed innocent cats as a rogue. I watched as Bluestar became insane, hating StarClan and not trusting her Clan mates. She made Firestar deputy, but nobody knew if she did it on purpose or not.
- "And then the fire came. It swept through the camp. Firestar saved every cat except for two elders. I told him that I would go back and save them."
- A shadow fell over Freepaw's heart, and he tapped into Yellowfang's memories.
- She was going into the medicine den to get some honey when a flame flared and slapped her in the face. She fell. Memories swirled through her about her dead son, and Firestar appeared- known as Fireheart then, Freepaw remembered.
- "I killed my own son," Yellowfang had croaked to her young friend.
- Firestar had watched her die.
- Freepaw gasped as his vision snapped back to Yellowfang, who was finishing the story. "I gave him one of his nine lives, along with the gift of compassion."
- Freepaw wondered what it would be like to be the leader of ThunderClan, like Firestar, so many moons ago.
- "Firestar was so brave in the Great Journey. He led his Clan through so much..." Yellowfang's voice cracked a bit as she finished. "He was just as brave as you are."
- She let those words settle as she faded, along with his dream.
Chapter 2
- Freepaw was bored.
- No cat wanted to talk to him, no cat would even listen to him. Ravenheart was the only exception.
- "Can I stand up?" Freepaw asked Ravenheart.
- Ravenheart seemed to sense the desperation in Freepaw's voice, because he nodded. "Not for long."
- Freepaw twisted so his feet were underneath him and stood, shaking.
- He regained his balance quickly and sighed in relief. "I can move around, finally," he muttered to himself.
- "Go out to the rest of the nest," Ravenheart encouraged. "Not up the blocks, though," he added quickly.
- Freepaw hauled himself away from his nest and went to stand in the center of the nest.
- The cats roaming stopped short. Thornclaw looked up from a squirrel he was eating, Smokepaw sneered from a corner.
- No cat moved towards him.
- Freepaw felt anger surge through him. Yellowfang's voice echoed through his head. "Don't attack every cat. Speak up."
- "Where's Reedstar?" Freepaw asked loudly.
- Thorntail's reluctance hit Freepaw like the flames had when he replied, "Out hunting, I think."
- "That does it!" Freepaw snapped. Raising his voice, he added, "ThunderClan, I'm not any different. If anything, you should be honoring me! I sacrificed my life for the Clan! You should be happy it wasn't you!"
- "The thing is," Smokepaw piped up smoothly, "you're not really valuable to the Clan. You're blind."
- Thorntail hissed at him. "He isn't blind."
- Freepaw dug his claws into a crack into the wood to keep from clawing Smokepaw. "I am valuable! Smokepaw, I beat you in that fight before the fire!"
- "Fight?" Smokepaw asked, tipping his head. "What fight?"
- Thorntail hissed at him again. "Don't play stupid," he told Smokepaw.
- Satisfaction welled up inside Freepaw.
- "Freepaw!" Ravenheart called. "Come back and lay down. You've had enough for one day."
- Freepaw sighed in disappointment and obeyed.