Chapter 10

The screaming cut off, only to start again a heartbeat later.

Mistyfoot felt a chill run up and down her spine, her pelt prickling as if it were being needled with tiny icicles. It was such a pained, horrible sound - Mistyfoot had never heard anything like it, and the fact that it was coming from one of her Clanmates made her stomach curl in on itself. The cloying stench of fear-scent and blood clouding thickly in the air didn't help.

No cat could sleep in the face of this. They gathered in the clearing, their shoulders lit by moonlight, with round, worried eyes directed at the fallen tree and the nursery it concealed. Pelts were bristling, and a flurry of speculative whispers hung above their heads like a thick fog.

"What's going on?" Mistyfoot asked immediately, looking for any cat who would respond to her as she left the warrior's den. Nightfrost followed her, his tail low. "What do we do?"

"We're not sure on either front," admitted Dustpelt. Sitting with Cinderpelt and Spiderfang beside the warrior's den, he was closest, his face drawn with concern. Cinderpelt's tail rattled, and, almost as if to distract herself, Spiderfang was batting at it with her paws. Cinderpelt didn't bother to correct her - she was too focused on staring toward the nursery.

"She started at around moonhigh," Cinderpelt explained quietly, finally looking over at Mistyfoot with her deep, dark blue eyes.

So it's not been long, Mistyfoot guessed, glancing up at the sky. Moonhigh couldn't have been more than a few moments ago.

"Brackenfur and Shadepool are with her. They cleared out the whole nursery," Dustpelt added. He gestured with his nose over to the apprentice's den, where Rainwhisker, Daisy, and Sun sat with Berry, Goose, and Hazel. Dustpelt grunted, "There hasn't been any news yet."

Mistyfoot looked over at the apprentice's den. Rainwhisker was hunched, his ears flat against his head while his sister cried out in anguish. Daisy kept her kits close with her huge tail, and she was grooming each of them as if to distract them from the noise. Sun, meanwhile, was pacing in a circle, her eyes wide to their whites. Mistyfoot couldn't even imagine how worried she was.

Mistyfoot swept her gaze across the clearing, taking in the state of the rest of her Clanmates: Silverstream and Graystripe were with Ferncloud, Snowstep, Ashfur, and Larchpaw near the camp entrance. Below the Highledge were Longtail and Mousefur, along with Cloudtail, Brightheart, Swiftfoot, and Whitewing, who were in a patchy white heap. Tinystar sat high above them all, a small black shadow whose icy gaze was piercing right into the nursery from his perch on the Highedge.

She glanced at Nightfrost. The small black tom stood beside her, his posture stiff but for the occasional twitch of his nose or ears. His gaze was fixed on the nursery, too, like everyone else's.

Mistyfoot laid her tail along Nightfrost's shoulders. "Between Brackenfur and Shadepool, I'm sure Sorreltail will be fine," she assured, hoping that she sounded the part.

Nightfrost grimaced - not the reaction Mistyfoot had expected. "Something is wrong," he mumbled. "Really, really wrong."

Sorreltail's keening died down just then. Ears pricked all over camp, each cat expecting something to happen, for one of the medicine cats to emerge and report on what was going on. For a long, gut-wrenching moment, all was silent - until Sorreltail screamed again, loud and hard, like claws were digging into her throat.

"What's happening?" Sun demanded. She tore earth beneath her paws as she darted for the nursery. "Sorreltail!"

"Sun, wait!" Ferncloud was quick to block the young warrior's way, her pelt fluffed. "Please, don't interrupt!"

"My mate is in there!" Sun wailed. Mistyfoot saw the flash of her claws. Sun's voice cracked in despair: "Ferncloud, she's dying!"

Silverstream got to her paws and quickly trotted over to support Ferncloud, standing beside the other queen. "Sun, please," she murmured. "They don't want us in there for a reason."

"We are all worried for Sorreltail," Tinystar meowed from atop the Highledge, "but Brackenfur and Shadepool need their space to work."

Sun's eyes shimmered in the moonlight, glassy with fear. "But what if she dies?"

"Brackenfur won't let that happen," Silverstream insisted. "He did everything he could to save me when I had my terrible kitting, so many moons ago." Her gaze flashed with pain at the memory. "If not for him, I wouldn't be here now."

Sorreltail's voice was rasping, her cries ebbing and rising like a tide. Mistyfoot could tell the young queen was growing weaker by the moment. Her heart thudded in her ears - could Brackenfur do for Sorreltail what he did for Silverstream?

He has to, she thought, a lump in her throat. Sorreltail is... We can't lose Sorreltail, too!

She pictured the young she-cat, her dappled pelt soft and her eyes full of sweet fire. Memories of their brief time training together flashed behind her eyes - battle drills in the sandy hollow with Ferncloud, Ashfur, Snowstep, Sorreltail, and her littermates. Taking a paired hunting assessment together around Snakerocks, trying not to be bitten by an adder. Hiding a nettle in Ashfur's nest because he'd said something mean that Mistyfoot couldn't even remember anymore. Mistyfoot had gone with her on her final patrol as an apprentice.

The lump in her throat grew painful. Though she and her denmates had outgrown Sorreltail, Sootfur, and Rainwhisker within a moon, it had been easy to become fond of the younger cats - especially Sorreltail, who had to train longer than her littermates due to an injury.

Sootfur had already died too young in a battle that didn't need to happen. If Sorreltail died tonight, too, it would surely be StarClan's cruelest joke.

"Stuck."

Mistyfoot's ear twitched. She glanced down at Nightfrost and wondered, "What did you say?"

"Stuck," Nightfrost hissed. He looked up at Mistyfoot with sure, certain eyes. "One of the kits is stuck, and it's blocking the others!"

Mistyfoot's pelt prickled, unnerved. "H-How do you know that?" she wondered. Even Dustpelt and Cinderpelt were giving him a funny look, though thankfully, Spiderfang was too busy playing with her own tail now to notice what was going on.

Nightfrost didn't hear her. He darted around their little group, heading for the apprentice's den at full pelt. He skidded to a stop there, just before Daisy and her kits - the cream-colored she-cat lifted her chin from her kits, confused at his sudden presence, and the way he was so intensely staring at her.

Mistyfoot followed him, the fur on her hackles rising. She'd never seen Nightfrost behave this way, which was very unsettling.

"Help them!" Nightfrost told Daisy. "Please!"

There was silence in the clearing, except for Sorreltail's scratchy, horrorific cries. All eyes turned to the two cats, leaving Daisy stunned and confused. Her fur fluffed up and up, slowly, until she looked like a cloud.

Sun took a step towards her. "Please," she whispered, her voice full of pleading pain. "Please, help Sorreltail... Help our kits..."

Beside her, Rainwhisker lifted his head and asked, "Can you help?"

"I-I..." Daisy trembled. She was a piece of prey caught in a hunter's stare, scared and looking ready to flee. Her paws kneaded the grass below her. "I've dealt with stuck kittens before, w-with Floss, but-"

"Daisy, please," Rainwhisker begged. He got to his paws, his eyes wide as moons. "I can't lose my sister, too."

"Ma, do it!" Hazel squeaked.

"Yeah," urged Goose. He put his paws on Daisy's side, trying to push her along. "We like Sorreltail! She's so cool!" Beside him, Berry nodded his head rapidly until a huge yawn forced him to stop.

Daisy swallowed. Mistyfoot held her breath - Sorreltail's rasping cries were growing weaker by the moment. Mistyfoot angled her ears toward the nursery. Sorreltail had to be so exhausted! How long could she keep trying to push if nothing was happening?

As if she sensed that, too, Daisy was on her paws. Quicker and with more purpose than Mistyfoot had ever seen her move before, the queen darted across the clearing, slipping between Silverstream and Ferncloud and disappearing behind the fallen tree.

Tinystar watched her from above, his expression difficult to make out in the moonlight. "All we can do now is wait," he meowed to his Clan.

And wait they did. Heartbeats became minutes; minutes became hours - the moon crawled towards the treeline, and the sky began to lighten, the warriors of Silverpelt disappearing one by one. Sorreltail's cries had quieted by then, and as dawn broke in a haze of reddish purple, the stone hollow rang with a terrifying silence that made birdsong sound like a monster on a Thunderpath.

No cat moved. No cat dared close their eyes or look away from the nursery. Mistyfoot's paws itched - she should be assigning patrols right now, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her thoughts paced and paced, burning a rut in her mind in the shape of Sorreltail.

And then, finally, a noise. The tiniest little noise - the squealing of not just one kitten, but several. It rose from the nursery like birdsong, sweet and new.

Mistyfoot's heart leaped into her throat, and there were gasps around her, but no cat dared to speak a word until Shadepool emerged from behind the fallen tree, staggering and exhausted and covered in blood - but her tail did not drag in the dirt. She held it up high.

"It's done," she rasped, her voice bouncing off the stone hollow's walls. More than to any other cat, she spoke to Sun: "Sorreltail is fine. You have three healthy kittens."

Ears pricked, and tails rose, excited whispering clouding the air. Mistyfoot exhaled what was quite possibly the largest sigh of relief she had ever withheld. Her legs felt like jelly, suddenly, and she fell to her haunches. Her stomach growled, its hunger revived. It was as if the entire world had stopped for a moment and had suddenly jolted everyone into the present.

"Three?" Sun dared to whisper back. "But, Brackenfur said-"

It was here where Shadepool's eyes darkened. "Yes," she mewed softly, "there were four. One got stuck for a time and suffocated. I'm sorry." She took a deep breath. "Daisy helped us pull him out, and the last was born without issue."

Mistyfoot's heart clenched, and she glanced over at Nightfrost, who had stayed with Rainwhisker and Daisy's kittens. She stared at him, wondering how he had known, and more than that, how he had known Daisy could help?

I don't care, she decided. I'm glad he said something. It would've been devastating to lose not just Sorreltail but all four of her kits, or even having two grow up without a mother or their littermates.

"You can see her now," Shadepool meowed, "but she needs a lot of rest, and privacy besides."

"Daisy's three can stay with me in the apprentice's den," Larchpaw offered immediately. He glanced up at Tinystar, who was still atop the Highledge. "I-If that's okay, Tinystar?"

Tinystar twitched his whiskers and dipped his head appreciatively. "It is, Larchpaw," he purred. He raised his chin and took a deep breath of the morning air. "Thank you, StarClan," he meowed happily, smiling at the sky, "for protecting her."

Shadepool took Sun back into the nursery, and a moment later, Daisy staggered out into the sun. The queen looked a fright with her forelegs, belly, and one side of her face covered in blood, a horror story written across her pelt that didn't need to be told. She squinted at the growing sunlight. The moment she came into sight, the entire Clan clustered around her, yowling their thanks.

"Thank you so much!" breathed Cinderpelt.

"You did so well!" purred Silverstream. She added with a twitch of her whiskers, "For a barn cat."

"Seriously, thank you," Brightheart meowed, her voice soft with relief.

Daisy seemed too exhausted to be stunned by the sudden attention. "But we lost one of them," she rasped. Her voice cracked. "I'm so sorry!"

"Don't blame yourself for that," insisted Cloudtail, shouldering her way to Daisy's side. "Having kits is so hard!"

"Why do you think I never bothered?" Mousefur grunted. More seriously, the small she-cat added, "Without you, Daisy, we might've lost the lot of them, and that would've been so much worse."

"StarClan will look after the little one," assured Ferncloud. Her eyes shimmered with memories of her own lost kittens. "They'll be in good company among our ancestors."

She gently nudged Daisy with a paw. "Come on, let's go and clean you up in the lake, okay? Then you can get some rest, too..."

The crowd parted to let them through. Mistyfoot watched them make their way to the camp entrance, Ferncloud's tail gently guiding Daisy along. Just before they got to the thorn tunnel, Rainwhisker intercepted them.

The gray tom touched his nose to Daisy's, and Mistyfoot could just barely hear him mumble a broken, heart-wrenching "Thank you."

Mistyfoot looked away, her pelt burning as if she had seen something she shouldn't have.

"Maybe that barn cat can do it after all," mewed Cloudtail, her head tilted to consider the possibilities. "I mean, she did that - she could be a medicine cat!"

"A loner, a medicine cat?" scoffed Dustpelt. He flicked his tail. "No way. StarClan wouldn't allow it!"

Cloudtail scoffed right back. "StarClan are just cats, you know," she chuckled. "They don't care near as much as you think, you old Dustbag."

Dustpelt's neck fur ruffled. "'Dustbag'!?" he hissed. "Why, you-"

"Enough," Cinderpelt insisted, laying a paw over her mate's before he clawed Cloudtail. "We needn't greet this new dawn with a squabble." She looked over Dustpelt's hunched shoulders and asked, "Mind if we go hunting?"

Mistyfoot blinked, realizing suddenly that she was asking permission from her. With a wave of her tail, she stammered, "G-Go ahead!"

Cinderpelt thanked her with a nod. She gathered up a fuming Dustpelt, along with Ashfur and Larchpaw, and headed for the thorn tunnel. Along the way, Mistyfoot could hear Dustpelt grumbling about Cloudtail's attitude, most especially how she was too old to be so disrespectful.

Slowly but surely, the Clan began to wake from their horrid nightmare. Mistyfoot found herself organizing patrols, though admittedly, her mind was still reeling from what had just happened. She did her best, and moments later, patrols were heading out for the borders, leaving the clearing nearly empty, a sharp contrast to how the day had begun - even the horrible stench of blood was beginning to fade.

Mistyfoot soon found herself with only Nightfrost for company. Shadepool and Brackenfur were still with Sun and Sorreltail and their kits, and Tinystar had gone back into his den for some more sleep.

The small black tom yawned. As his jaws shuddered closed, he said, "It's not so bad an idea, y'know."

"What?" Mistyfoot wondered. The entire day had been a whirlwind she was only just recovering from.

"Daisy being a medicine cat," Nightfrost suggested. He waved his tail. "If she isn't inclined to hunt or fight, maybe she could do that?"

Mistyfoot frowned. "I don't know," she mewed. She pictured Daisy's face when she'd staggered out of the nursery - the kittypet just didn't have the same graceful attitude Shadepool or Brackenfur had toward their patients. "I don't see her doing that, either. It's a lot of work."

"It is," Nightfrost agreed. He sighed. "I don't know how Shadepool manages it."

Almost as if his words had summoned her, Shadepool appeared. She came around the roots of the fallen tree and paused to yawn and stretch her legs. When she saw that both Mistyfoot and Nightfrost were near, she trotted over to them, her whiskers twitching.

"They're all named, welcomed, fed, and sleeping," she reported, sounding tired. She nodded up to the Highledge and said, "I'm going to take a good, long nap after I've told Tinystar."

"He's sleeping, himself," Mistyfoot told her, flicking her tail up to the Highledge.

Shadepool paused thoughtfully. "Hm, I'll wait, then," she decided. Mistyfoot heard her fight back another yawn. "I don't want to wake him."

"So, what are their names?" Nightfrost wondered, his eyes bright with curiosity.

"Well, the she-kits are Honeykit and Poppykit," Shadepool explained. "The tom is the smallest kit I've ever seen; his name is Cricketkit. He was the one who got trapped behind Molekit." Her gaze softened. "That was the one they lost."

Honeykit, Poppykit, Cricketkit, Mistyfoot thought, and poor Molekit. They would mourn him tonight, to be sure, and for some time after. But it could have been so much worse.

"Is there anything you or Brackenfur need?" Mistyfoot wondered. If Shadepool was looking this tired, she couldn't imagine how Brackenfur was feeling. "Herbs or fresh-kill?"

Shadepool considered it. "Both," she admitted, "but we can take care of all that later." She swept her tail through the air. "Don't worry about us."

"Alright," Mistyfoot mewed. "Have a good rest, then. And don't hesitate to let me know if you need something."

Beside her, Nightfrost nodded in agreement. He brushed his muzzle against his sister's cheek, purring, and Shadepool took her leave, trotting around the fallen tree. A moment later, she appeared again with a few pieces of fresh-kill in her jaws, and she headed across camp to the medicine cat's cave. Mistyfoot watched her disappear into the lichen.

Nightfrost sighed. "It's so much to go through for kits," he said quietly, once his sister had disappeared.

"It is," Mistyfoot agreed. She imagined Sorreltail and Sun curled up around their litter, safe and warm, sleeping quietly. There would be grief, but also love. So much love. Her heart panged. Did my mother ever do that for me?

Will I ever do that myself?

As if he heard her thoughts, Nightfrost wondered, "Do you want kits someday?"

Mistyfoot froze, shocked. Nightfrost's eyes went wide, and he insisted, "I-I was just curious! You don't have to answer right now!"

Her head spun. Of course she wanted kits someday - but that thought was also weighed down by a hundred other little anxieties that nibbled at it like minnows. What if it went poorly, like it did sometimes, or like it had today? What if, after waiting for so long, she was a bad mother? Worse, what if she was just like her mother?

Even worse, she wondered if her time had already passed, if her chance for a family had died with Stormfur, on that mountain, in the rain and lightning.

Always.

Mouth dry, she managed to say, "Someday, maybe." She swallowed. "I... I'm not sure yet. I just became deputy, and-"

"Misty," Nightfrost meowed, gently interrupting her, "it's okay. I..." He trailed off, his gaze drifting off into the middle distance as if he didn't want to meet her eye.

Mistyfoot shifted on her paws. She knew what he had been hoping to hear. She knew deep down what he wanted. Trembling, she felt words bubble up behind her teeth, begging to come out. There were so many things she wanted to say to him right now, things that he deserved to hear from her - but they were dragged back down her throat.

Nightfrost looked like he might say something, too, for a moment. But he had been put off, and instead, he told her, "Go get some more rest, Mistyfoot. You're going on patrol this evening, remember? I'll keep an eye on things here."

Mistyfoot tried and failed to apologize, mainly because doing so would mean explaining what she was apologizing for, and she just didn't know if she was ready for that conversation yet. So, instead, she turned about and headed for the warrior's den, mumbling her thanks.

As she settled into her nest again, guilt nestled deep in her gut. It weighed her down like a stone, and as she put her head on her paws, it pulled her into a deep, forbidding darkness.