"Fireheart! Fireheart, no, wake up!"

Tigerclaw shot up in his nest as Stormflare's anguished wail sounded throughout the camp. A few nests away, Bluefur, Mosspetal, Petalshine, and Beestripe lifted their heads, their eyes filled with worry. Without hesitating, the dark tabby leaped out of his nest and bounded across the camp to the medicine den. Pushing his way through the fern tunnel, he came to a halt inside the cave, freezing in shock at the sight that greeted him.

Fireheart's eyes were shut tight, and her breath was coming in short gasps. Stormflare was hovering over the flame-pelted queen with a terrified expression on her face, but Fireheart didn't even seem to notice her daughter in front of her. She was thankfully alive, but it was obvious that she was in pain and try as she might, Stormflare was unable to rouse her.

"What's happening to her?" Stormflare wailed, looking at Tigerclaw desperately. "I just came here to visit her and I found her like this..."

"I don't know," Tigerclaw whispered, staring down at his mate as she continued to pant and gasp for air.

The tortoiseshell molly touched her nose to her mother's forehead and jumped back. "She's burning hot! Tigerclaw, what are we–?"

"Let me through!" Featherwhisker demanded, pushing past Stormflare with a bundle of wet moss in his jaws. "Stand back, both of you. Fireheart needs me and Spottedleaf right now."

Tigerclaw stepped back obediently and watched as Featherwhisker and, a few heartbeats later, Spottedleaf began dripping the water from the moss onto Fireheart's forehead. It was going to be okay, he told himself. Featherwhisker and Spottedleaf were gifted medicine cats; they could fix whatever was going on with her now. They would know what to do. He felt Stormflare shaking beside him and gently rested his tail-tip on her shoulder to try to comfort her. Perhaps it was just wishful thinking, but as he watched the two medicine cats tending to Fireheart, Tigerclaw could have sworn that he saw his mate's body relax ever so slightly.

"What's going on?" Bluefur had arrived, along with Mosspetal, Petalshine, and Beestripe. "Is Fireheart okay? What happened?"

"We're not sure," Tigerclaw meowed, grateful for the chance to distract himself, if only temporarily. "But Featherwhisker and Spottedleaf are treating her now, and she seems to be doing a little better than before."

"She doesn't look too good," Petalshine remarked, looking at Fireheart fearfully. "Do you think she's going to be okay?"

Meanwhile, Mosspetal had padded over to comfort Stormflare. Tigerclaw took a moment to chuckle fondly at the two mollies before turning back to his younger daughter.

"Yes," he replied with a little more conviction than he felt. "Featherwhisker and Spottedleaf will do what they have to do."

"That's right, we will," Featherwhisker meowed, speaking for the first time since he had started treating Fireheart. "But we won't get much done with all of you standing in the way. I'm sorry, I know you're worried about her, but I'm going to have to ask you to step outside until we're finished."

"But–" Beestripe protested, but the silver-gray tom cut her off.

"No buts. I'm sorry, Beestripe, but it's best for everyone if we have as much space to work with as possible," he meowed gently.

"Come on, everyone," Bluefur ordered. "We should listen to Featherwhisker. Tigerclaw, Stormflare, and Mosspetal, I want you to come with me on a border patrol. Petalshine and Beestripe, you two can go hunting. Try Sunningrocks if you will, it's a good day out and there should be plenty of prey around."

Realizing that it would do no good to argue, Tigerclaw turned away obediently and followed Bluefur out of the medicine den, casting one last look at Fireheart over his shoulder. The two of them paused by the gorse tunnel and waited for Stormflare and Mosspetal to catch up. When the younger mollies finally arrived, Stormflare appeared to be a little more cheerful than she had earlier, but there was still a distant look of sadness in her eyes. Mosspetal murmured something in her ear that Tigerclaw couldn't quite catch, and the tortoiseshell warrior blinked at her mate gratefully.

Bluefur elected to head toward the ShadowClan border since no one had gone that way in a few days and since Petalshine and Beestripe would be near RiverClan territory, there wasn't much point in going that way either. As they walked, Tigerclaw decided to do a bit of light hunting in order to take his mind off of Fireheart. He could only imagine the sort of lecture she would give him if he got hurt because he was distracted on a border patrol. Fortunately, although it wasn't quite up to his usual standard, he managed to catch two mice and a blackbird by the time they reached the Thunderpath.

"Be careful around here," Bluefur warned them. "It's been a few days since anyone came this way, but the last few patrols have reported an increase in ShadowClan activity around the border."

"Have any of them crossed over?" Mosspetal asked, her fur bristling.

The deputy shook her head. "Not yet, but a few of them have definitely thought about it–especially that new warrior, Brokentail. We need to make sure they haven't gotten any ideas while we neglected to patrol here."

As it turned out, she was right to be cautious. When they passed by the Owl Tree, Tigerclaw stiffened as he picked up a familiar stench on their side of the border. He sniffed at the base of the tree just to be certain, and sure enough, there was the faint scent of ShadowClan near the roots. Bluefur padded forward and sniffed as well, her eyes darkening with anger.

"ShadowClan," she hissed. "I knew it. Come on, let's go back home. We have to report this to Sunstar."


The ThunderClan leader was sharing a piece of fresh-kill with Adderfang when the patrol arrived back at the camp. Bluefur didn't waste any time and stalked up to her old mentor, clearly still furious about finding the ShadowClan warrior's scent on their territory. Tigerclaw hung back as the two senior warriors conversed, wondering whether his presence was needed.

"Did you see any ShadowClan warriors?" Sunstar asked, frowning.

Bluefur shook her head. "The scent was stale–at least a few hours old if I had to guess. But there was an increase in ShadowClan activity near the border over the past few days."

"I see," the bright ginger tom murmured. "Thank you for letting me know, Bluefur. I hope this is just a one-time incident, but we should send a few extra patrols that way just in case."

Sensing that he wouldn't be needed to make a report, Tigerclaw turned around and headed over to the medicine den. He hoped that Featherwhisker and Spottedleaf had been able to help Fireheart–he hadn't seen any sign of the medicine cats since returning to the camp, which he took as a good sign. If Fireheart had died while they were gone, surely they would have made sure to tell him and Stormflare as soon as they came home.

"Featherwhisker?" Tigerclaw called out, pausing just outside the entrance to the cave. "Is it alright if I come in now?"

"Yes, Tigerclaw, it's fine," Featherwhisker's voice called back.

Stormflare bounded over to join him. "What's happening? Is Fireheart okay? Can we see her now?"

Tigerclaw rested his tail on his daughter's shoulder. "Yes, little one. We can see her now."

Fireheart was sitting up in her nest when Tigerclaw and Stormflare stepped inside Featherwhisker's den. Her eyes were slightly glassy and she barely seemed able to hold herself up. Nevertheless, she purred warmly at the sight of her mate and daughter, allowing Stormflare to rush over to her and press her muzzle firmly against her mother's shoulder. Tigerclaw followed more slowly and gave Fireheart a gentle lick to her forehead, wincing internally at how hot she felt.

"How are you feeling?" he asked worriedly.

"I've felt better, but not too bad," Fireheart rasped. "Featherwhisker gave me some herbs to help ease my breathing when I woke up, but the fever doesn't seem to want to go down."

"Are you hungry? I can bring you a rabbit," Stormflare offered.

However, Fireheart shook her head. "Thank you, sweetheart, but I don't think I could eat anything right now. I'll see how I feel later, though."

"Okay." Stormflare's tail drooped slightly. "I'll bring you one anyway and you can eat it if you feel better tonight."

"Thank you, dear," Fireheart purred. She yawned and added, "You two probably shouldn't stay long. I don't want you to get sick too. Tell the others that I'm okay, will you?"

"Alright," Tigerclaw murmured. He didn't want to leave her side, but he could see the sense in her words. "We'll come back to visit you tomorrow. Come on, Stormflare."

He turned and walked out of the den with Stormflare as Fireheart closed her eyes and curled up in her nest. It was obvious that even that short conversation had taken a lot of energy from her, and he felt a pang of fear in his stomach. This time, she had gotten lucky. But she wasn't out of the woods yet. She was still weak and feverish, and to make matters worse, she wasn't as strong as she used to be.

Is this the end?