"Harepaw?"
The voice was a tom's, raspy and unfamiliar. Harepaw whipped around. Is this the part where I get attacked by something? But the cat that stood on the grassy moor where there had been nothing a moment ago made no move to threaten him.
He was a small, dark tabby, and his pelt was lined with as many pink, puckered scars as tabby stripes. Despite the heavy scarring, the little tom seemed quite friendly, skinny tail flickering to and fro and his yellow eyes round.
"How do you know my name?" Nonetheless, Harepaw narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"
"Shredtail," the tom answered, stretching. Harepaw caught sight of another, bigger scar that ran under his belly. "I used to be a warrior of WindClan."
"Used to… are you dead?" Harepaw blinked. Is this a dream from StarClan?! Shows you what befriending medicine cats gets you. He couldn't contain a little thrill of excitement, however. Is he some ancestor of mine, here to give me advice?
"Yes," Shredtail admitted, sighing. "And it's terribly boring. I wanted to do something more useful with my not-life, which is why I'm here."
That answered Harepaw's next question. "Am I one of your grandkits or something?"
Shredtail snorted. "Maybe. I lived a long, long time ago, though. I guess that's why we showed up here."
Harepaw cocked his head. So he can't choose the dream location? Who does then, if not StarClan? "Why are you visiting me?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Shredtail asked, looking a little concerned. "I want to help you. We're a lot alike, you and I. Or at least, we used to be."
He couldn't hide all of his doubt. That sounds like something Tornear would say. "I guess you can't tell, because it's a dream, but I'm a mouse-heart. I sprained my tail just by flinching yesterday."
"I know," Shredtail replied. "It makes you angry, doesn't it?"
Harepaw frowned at the suggestion, but Shredtail wasn't accusing, merely waiting for an answer. The apprentice slid his claws into the peaty earth absentmindedly, thinking of Kestrelpaw's pitying eyes and the wasted herbs. "Yeah. I can't protect my Clan if my body falls apart every time I move a whisker."
"You're right."
What? Harepaw was caught off-guard. He'd expected another platitude about how true strength came from within and that Harepaw would eventually grow out of it.
"You're too weak to protect cats you care about, and if you go into battle, you'll just end up in the medicine den," Shredtail said with another shrug.
Harepaw scowled. I know that's true, but… "Okay, I don't like this dream. Leave me alone."
"Harepaw," Shredtail said again as the apprentice squeezed his eyes shut and tried to wake up. When he opened one eye a slit, the scarred tabby was still there, giving him an amused look. "I'm sorry, but you know it's true. And I know because it was true for me."
Harepaw was about to snap at the tom again, but at that admission, he paused. Shredtail noticed that he was listening again and continued,
"I was the runt of my litter," he told him. "I always got hurt in training and I was never chosen for battle patrols because Duststar knew I'd be no use. When I was finally put on one, I saw Mottlepaw, the she-cat I'd grown up with, bleed out in front of me."
His yellow gaze hardened as he recounted it.
"It was a time before the code that prohibited warriors from killing was added," he explained, a hint of a snarl in his throat. "I knew that the cats I loved would never be safe so long as other Clans' mangy warriors still prowled the forests."
Harepaw shivered. What if Heatherpaw or Breezepaw was killed by a ThunderClan warrior? Or, StarClan forbid, if Kestrelpaw was killed? The idea of the smaller tom being injured was unexpectedly panic-inducing. He's a medicine cat! He can't defend himself.
"I trained until I knew that no cat would be harmed if I made it my mission to protect them," Shredtail said, softening a little when he saw that Harepaw was shaken at the idea. "And I want to help you do the same. I had to do it alone, but it doesn't need to be that way for you. I will train you."
"You will?" Harepaw's fear at the story vanished. "How?"
"Here." He flicked his tail at the empty moor. "Come on!"