Badgerfur came to slowly. Blearily, he tried to open his eyes, but his eyelids where so heavy . . .

Was he dead? But no . . . he would be in StarClan, not lying on a soft surface, body still etched in a muted agony. If he where in StarClan, he would be surrounded by his warrior ancestors, hunting and running free, not feeling as though a tree had been dropped on top of him.

Curiously, Badgerfur opened his eyes, and stared in shock. He was lying on his side in a metal cage, about two foxlengths off the ground. Turning his head slightly, he saw that his was in a long white and shiny room, with tables and desks across from him, as well as an open door, from which he could see forest. The wall he was one was stacked high with cages.

He could smell and hear the cages' inhabitants. Many where cats, there where a few rabbits, smaller creatures like mice and bats, and even—Badgerfur's heart raced—a fox. He could hear the chatters of some birds along the row to his right. However, none of the creatures seemed prepared to eat him, so he relaxed slightly, and looked around his own cage.

It wasn't nearly as large as the warriors den at home, but if he had stood up, there would have been enough room for him. The bottom was padded in a wonderfully soft material, and he could smell fresh water in a metal trough at one end. Another small open container held—fresh meat.

Badgerfur was surprised. All the stories he had ever heard about kittypets had said that they were fed small round, tasteless pellets that looked like rabbit droppings. If he had been taken by twolegs, weren't they planning to turn him into a pet? Why give him the fresh meat?

He tried to move towards it, but a fierce pain in his back leg stopped him. Ignoring the ache in his neck, he looked around, and what he saw nearly made him pass out again. His right hind leg, the one that had been snapped by a badger moons ago, was cemented in a heavy white thing that prevented him from bending it.

The white thing held it out strait, and was so heavy; he couldn't lift it off the ground sideways without risking dislocating his leg.

Bewildered, Badgerfur sniffed it. It smelled bland and dusty. But before he could ponder it, a voice called, "Hello, there!"

Frightened, Badgerfur looked up sharply. A friendly face stared down at him from the bottom of the cage above him. It was an older tom, maybe a little younger than some of the Elders. He was white, with black markings on his face and down his back, and looked a little like Badgerfur himself.

"Who—who are you?" Badgerfur asked, warily.

"The humans call me Patches, but," the tom dropped his voice. A sad sight escaped him. "I like to go by Swiftpaw. Just between me and some of my other friends." The tom drooped even more. "It reminds me of home."

Badgerfur's head spun. Swiftpaw—no, it couldn't be! Swiftpaw was a ThunderClan cat that had been killed by the vicious dog pack that had mangled Brightheart's face. The Clan had retrieved and buired his body!

"Swiftpaw?" Badgerfur gasped in amazement. "But, that's not possible! You where killed! Brightheart couldn't speak about it for moons. You were buired."

The tom's eyes grew wide.

"Brightpaw? She—she got away? The Clan is safe? Who are you?"

Badgerfur felt excitement welling up in his paws. This was impossible, but, wasn't him being alive just the same? And here he was.

"I'm Badgerfur, I'm from ThunderClan. Brightpaw—well, her name's Brightheart now—got away. She got real hurt, but Cinderpelt and Cloudtail helped her, and she became a warrior again. But that was before I was born. How did you get away? You where killed by dogs, Brightheart said so!"

"I thought I was dead too, trust me," meowed Swiftpaw eagerly. "But the humans found me and saved me. They brought me here, to the WRS. Cloudtail, really? You mean Cloudpaw, Firestar's nephew? How is the Clan, how's Firestar? What happened with the dog pack?"

Questions fired back and forth between them. Swiftpaw wanted to know everything, and Badgerfur couldn't blame him. If it were him, he would've grieved his displacement from the Clan every day of his life, and that is what Swiftpaw must have done.

"Yeah, Cloudtail became a warrior. The dog pack, well, it's a long story, and I wasn't there, I just know what the Elders told me." And Badgerfur relayed the story of how the dogs had been lured to the camp by Tigerstar, and how in a mad rush, Firestar and Bluestar had driven the dogs over the old gorge and to their deaths, and how Bluestar too, had lost her last life there as well.

When Swiftpaw heard of Bluestar's death, he let out a yowl of grief.

"I knew she'd be dead by now," he whispered. "It's been so long, and she was old. But still, the Clans will miss her greatly. And Tigerclaw! He-he tried to kill her!" Confusion and sadness gleamed in his eyes.

Badgerfur quickly told the rest of the story, how twolegs had destroyed the forest—Swiftpaw had gasped, and nearly exploded in rage—about the badger Midnight that had set four cats on a quest the the sun-drown place, about the mountains, and how the cats had found anew home by the lake.

"Wow," breathed Swiftpaw, and then he cast his eyes down again. "I missed a lot."

Badgerfur didn't know what to say to this, so he asked, "So, what's the WRC?"

Swiftpaw looked up. "It's the Wildlife Rehabilitation Clinic. These humans—sorry, twolegs—rescue animals and take us here to help us. They have things Medicine Cats wouldn't believe! They saved me—me! And I had been attacked by dogs. They couldn't adopt me out after they healed me, so I've stayed here. It's not so bad. They know we're wild cats, and so they give us meat, and let us outside, and stuff."

"But if ThunderClan buired a cat, who was it? He must've have looked exactly like you," Badgerfur meowed slowly, mulling this over."

"Well . . ." whispered Swiftpaw. His eyes where cats down, and he trembled slightly. "Goldenflower, my mother, she mated with a tom in RiverClan. I don't know who. I had a brother from her litter that lived there. Every so often, we'd sneak out, and meet one another. He was supposed to meet me in ThunderClan territory, but where the dogs where. We didn't know they where there. Once I found out, I tried every way to warn him, but nothing worked. I said I was going to go looking for the dogs so I could get to him. But only Brightheart had come with me. The dogs killed him, and hurt Brightheart and me. I had been staggering, away from the dogs' lair, and right near where the twolegs from the WRC were looking for the dogs. They took me. But how did you get here?"

"My patrol, well, our deputy, Leafheart's patrol got attacked by a bear. We got it to chase us across the Thunderpath, but a lot of monsters got into a wreck, and we where in the middle of it. Oh, Bramblestar's going to go ballistic when he finds out we've vanished," Badgerfur yowled painfully.

"Bramblestar?" meowed Swiftpaw quickly. "But what happened to Fireheart? I know Bluestar couldn't possibly . . . but Fireheart was deptuy."

"We . . . don't really know," admitted Badgerfur, "except that he's dead. StarClan told Leafpool, she's our Medicine Cat now. There was this huge battle with ShadowClan, and then a big twoleg stepped out with a metal stick, and there was a loud bang, and Firestar collapsed. He was bleeding like mad, and the twoleg laughed, and stormed through all the panicking cats, and took him away, along with some others."

Swiftpaw was quiet. Then he meowed softly, "It sounds like he and the others where shot by a hunter. But the WRC says its illegal to us Clan cats. They call us ferals, and say we're protected. Maybe they found Firestar, and brought him here! There are a lot of cats here that were once wild, but where too hurt to go back."

"Maybe . . .," sighed Badgerfur. "I guess—"

"Badgerfur, it that you?" a thin voice croaked to his right. Badgerfur twisted and looked around. From what he could see between the thin gaps in the cage bars, it was a white she-cat.

"Icestorm!" yowled Badgerfur happily. "I can't believe you're alive!"

"Me neither," agreed Icestorm. "Shadowheart's here too, he's below me, right over the floor. We just came round. Who's that cat?"

"It's Swiftpaw! Shadowheart, are you there?" called Badgerfur, feeling his heart swell. His Clanmates where alive after all!

"I'm here, Badgerfur," came a strained voice below to his right. "It's good to hear your voice. That's Swiftpaw, you say? Well, I've met someone too. Firestar, say hello."

"Fireheart!" gasped Swiftpaw. "He's been below me all this time? Fireheart, can you hear me?"

"Firestar!" meowed Icestorm and Badgerfur. "Firestar, are you okay? Firestar?"

There was no answer.