Chapter Seven

"Hey Silverfeather, here's another patient for you to treat!" Mousetail called into the den before trotting into it. Swift was hesitant and wrinkled her nose in disgust. ''Yuck! It smells so weird in there!'' "Come in. There's no need to be scared, Silverfeather may be a bit crazy but she doesn't really bite. Unless you're Adderfang."

"Okay, if you say so half-tail." Swift went inside the den and a silver she-cat stared at her with bewilderment. ''Hasn't any cat here seen another cat before? They look at me as if I'm so strange!''

"Oh, my! You're thin!" Silverfeather exclaimed.

"Oh wow, how exciting! I did not know that!" Swift answered sarcastically. "Thanks for pointing that out to me, tabby. I've been told that so many times."

"We got a sarcastic cat here!" Jaggedclaw meowed. "A stray kittypet! Huh, Fallenpetal seems desperate for fighters. Fighters that don't even have Pine blood flowing through their veins."

Swift gritted her teeth. "I am not a stray."

"Oh, really now?" Jaggedclaw stood up, his blue eyes burning through Swift, giving her a chill.

Mousetail's mew was full of anxiety as he tried getting the small tom to sit down. "So why are you here for treatment, Jaggedclaw? Did a bird burst out of a bush and scare you?"

"He stepped on a thorn," Silverfeather answered quickly before Jaggedclaw said anything. He looked as if he was about to throw Mousetail against the stone wall of the den. "You would think fighters would be used to it, but every time they step on one they act like kits!"

"Ha, I knew he was faking his toughness!" Swift meowed. "Why, he mustn't be stronger than a kit himself if a thorn can make him howl!" Jaggedclaw lashed his tail and crouched. Mousetail and Silverfeather knew what was coming and tried holding him down, but before they could the tom exploded towards Swift and threw her onto the ground.

"What did you just say?" Jaggedclaw growled.

Swift felt slightly frightened by how aggressive he was. She had expected a cat as small as he was to be amusing more than bone-chilling. "N--nothing!" she insisted, trying to wriggle away though Jaggedclaw held her down tightly.

Silverfeather and Mousetail stared in horror. "Tell me!" Jaggedclaw demanded. Swift didn't say anything and whimpered as Jaggedclaw picked her up and threw her into the wall, her back aching from the impact. "Tell me what you said or else!"

"Jaggedclaw!" Sparrowheart, Jaggedclaw's mate, burst into the den. "Stop attacking cats and leave them be!"

"I wouldn't dare argue with you, dear Sparrowheart." Though Jaggedclaw's gaze was still malicious and unsettling, his voice was a warm purr.

Silverfeather went to greet the tabby she-cat. "How are your scratches?" she asked.

<p style="text-align: center;">"They're-they're healing up," Sparrowheart replied with a slight stutter. "I thought they would never heal!"

<p style="text-align: center;">"Scratches?" Mousetail sounded confused. "What happened, Sparrowheart?"

<p style="text-align: center;">"A bunch of rogue cats ambushed her while she was alone," Jaggedclaw growled up at the tom. "I bet it was Mud and his pathetic little cats." He shoved Swift out of the way as he went over to his nest, settling down on it.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Yes, it was a bunch of rogues," Sparrowheart answered slowly. "You know . . . you know how much they enjoy attacking cats who don't have any defence. I--I should have known better than to go alone in the forest at night."

<p style="text-align: center;">"Mouse-brains always pay for lacking in sense," Jaggedclaw grunted unsympathetically. "I'm sure you'll know better than to wave your tail about like easy prey. We wouldn't want our beloved Sparrowheart getting slaughtered by being so foolish."

<p style="text-align: center;">"He's a very unsympathetic cat," Swift muttered to Mousetail. Jaggedclaw's ear twitched as he glared coldly at Swift from the corner of his eye as he was curled up in a silver ball. "You'd think he'd be more caring towards one of his friends."

<p style="text-align: center;">"Jaggedclaw has no friends," Mousetail whispered back. "I doubt he has any emotions at all without it seeming forced. He's a strange and creepy cat, I'll admit."

<p style="text-align: center;">"I hope you take good care of yourself," Silverfeather meowed. "Make sure you don't go out and just relax! You'll need it. Those wounds are pretty bad." Sparrowheart nodded and dipped her head as she headed out of the den. Jaggedclaw just gave his eyes a quick roll before closing them to fall asleep. "So who's this cat, Mousetail?"

<p style="text-align: center;">Mousetail looked at Swift. "Oh, I am Swift," the golden cat answered. She then casted a glance at her scar. "This thing has been bothering me for a while now."

<p style="text-align: center;">"I know just what it'll take for it to heal!" Silverfeather announced and headed over to a pile of herbs. She returned with cobwebs and was about to plaster it onto Swift's scar, but the she-cat pulled herself away.

<p style="text-align: center;">"What are you trying to do?" she hissed. "I'm not having a bunch of cobwebs put on me!"

<p style="text-align: center;">"If you don't, your bleeding won't stop," Silverfeather told her. "These cobwebs will help your wound, trust me. I've been a healer for a while now and that has never failed me."

<p style="text-align: center;">"Fine," Swift mumbled as she stopped wriggling to allow her to put it onto her wound.

<p style="text-align: center;">"So where are you from then, Swift?" Silverfeather asked, probably to distract her from the cobwebs being put onto her wound.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Not around the Pine, that's for sure," Swift replied. "I have lived in this forest all my life though. I was driven out of my home and forced to starve. Then I came here and attacked some cat. He let me come here and Fallenpetal--if that was what her name was--said I could only stay for a couple of days before leaving."

<p style="text-align: center;">"Should I get some more fresh-kill for her?" Mousetail asked Silverfeather.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Of course. It hurts me to see a cat starving as badly as Swift is. It's very fox-hearted of those cats to have driven you out of your home, Swift," Silverfeather meowed sympathetically. ''I don't need your sympathy, thanks! ''She bit back on her comment to be polite. After all, Silverfeather did seem positive she could heal her scar.

<p style="text-align: center;">"So what are you, some kind of healing cat?"

<p style="text-align: center;">"That's exactly what I am. I have such a good knowledge of herbs that I was made the healer of this Group. I've saved many lives," Silverfeather told her proudly.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Isn't it awful, having many cats rely on you and trust you with the fate of their lives? What if you messed up? And doesn't it get boring, doing the same thing over again?" Swift questioned, curious about what the tabby did for her life.

<p style="text-align: center;">"I love every heartbeat of being the healer of the Pine," Silverfeather answered without hesitation. "I treat every cat like my own kits. Being the healer, every heartbeat of it is interesting and new. Sometimes I even learn new things I hadn't before. Being a healer is the best thing I could ever dedicate my life to. I love saving cats."

<p style="text-align: center;">''Until they go and die on you. ''"I have a starling." A russet-furred tom was standing at the entrance of the den, mewing through the feathers of the starling that lay dead in his jaws. "Mousetail told me about this cat and I thought she would need it more than I do."

<p style="text-align: center;">"That's very generous of you, Russetsky," Silverfeather meowed warmly, walking over him to take the starling. Swift stared suspiciously at it as Silverfeather dropped it by her paws. "You're lucky you were allowed into the Pine. We're all nice cats except from, well, Jaggedclaw. He's a bit of a grouch."

<p style="text-align: center;">"So is this cat staying with us?" Russetsky wondered.

<p style="text-align: center;">"I'm not too sure of that. Maybe ask some of the fighters. You know how quickly gossip flies from cat to cat," Silverfeather replied. "Bye!" she added as the tom padded out of the den. Silverfeather looked to Swift and asked, "Aren't you going to eat that? You must be starving."

<p style="text-align: center;">Swift was full of suspicion. "What if that tom added some kind of poison to it?" she asked with wariness.

<p style="text-align: center;">"Don't be mouse-brained! Russetsky is a nice tom. He would never do such a thing. Go on, eat it. You can't just let it rot with the state you're in." Swift grunted before eating it slowly. "See? It's not all that bad."