Crowfeather's Trial/Chapter 20

==Chapter description==
:Ashfoot sits beside Crowfeather as he slumps down next to her, and demands to know why he's wandering across the snowy moor instead of helping WindClan. Crowfeather tells her that he has been exiled for following her and Feathertail's advice, which was to go against Onestar's wishes and ask Bramblestar for help with WindClan's stoat problem. Ashfoot twitches her whiskers in embarrassment, saying she hoped Onestar would allow ThunderClan to help them. However, she says that Crowfeather needs to be more tactful when speaking with the leader, as a good deputy will need to judge their leader's mood. Crowfeather reminds Ashfoot that he isn't Onestar's deputy; he's not even a WindClan cat anymore. His mother says that it can be put right when Crowfeather convinces Onestar to take Kestrelflight's vision seriously. Ashfoot asks the smoky gray tom if he remembers the second wave of water that had engulfed the Clans. She says that the stoats are a trouble to WindClan, but they are only a start of a much larger and serious threat.
:Crowfeather agrees, but asks what the threat could be. Ashfoot admits that she doesn't know herself, and she's not sure if even StarClan knows the future threat, but she says that when it strikes, WindClan will need him. Crowfeather snorts that she will need to tell this to Onestar, as he doesn't seem to need him at all. But Ashfoot says Crowfeather needs to make Onestar see sense, and that he needs to worry not about himself, but about his Clan and his loved ones. Crowfeather says that if any cat had loved him, they would have stood up for him against Onestar. His mother scolds him and says that Breezepelt loves him, and that many cats such as Heathertail respect him. She reminds him that they had followed him and tried to persuade him to return. 
:He doubts his mother, but doesn't want to argue with her about this. Crowfeather asks how he could sort things out, as the Dark Forest cats had told him that he was dying. He shudders at the thought of this, remembering the soft voices. Ashfoot said that he won't die, as it is not time for him to go to StarClan yet, and Crowfeather asks if he will go to the Dark Forest instead. The gray she-cat's tail curls up, saying that he was indeed very annoying, but no one, not even his worst enemies, could call him evil. Ashfoot reassures Crowfeather that the cats were only trying to trick him. The light around her starts fading, and Crowfeather begs his mother not to leave. Ashfoot meows that he will see her again, and tells him to wake up. 
:Crowfeather wakes up but struggles to open his eyes, as his eyelids are covered in snow, and feels a sharp pain in his head. He sees the silhouette of another cat and jumps to his paws with a hiss, but the pain suddenly spikes and he falls to the ground again. The cat tells him to stay still, as they are trying to fix his head, and Crowfeather scents herbs. He asks if the cat helping him is a medicine cat, which they deny, claiming to simply be a cat who helps other cats. Crowfeather feels even more confused as his headache subsides and his vision clears. The cat helping him is a large tabby tom with a white chest and paws, and amber eyes. He looks focused on squeezing the juice from the herbs. Crowfeather asks who he is if not a Clan cat, and the tabby responds that he must be one of those lunatics living in the forest. He then says that he is not one of them, as he prefers to be on his own, and that his name is Yew. 
:Crowfeather, still bewildered, asks if his name is 'You' as in 'hey, you'. Yew explains in exasperation that his name is 'Yew' as in the tree, and Crowfeather apologizes and introduces himself. Yew tells him he has been learning about curing injured cats, and he helps out whenever he can. He finishes massaging the herbs onto Crowfeather's injury, and tells him to try sitting up. Though his head and muscles still ache, he manages to get up anyway. Crowfeather asks Yew how he found him, and he explains that he was hunting near the edge of the forest, when he saw a gray she-cat. He claims that she was the prettiest she-cat he'd ever seen, and that she beckoned him to follow her. When Yew says that her pelt glittered with stars, Crowfeather realizes that it must have been Feathertail and feels a rush of gratitude.
:Crowfeather thanks Yew, though Yew seems somewhat embarrassed. He tells Crowfeather to rest, as he will need to eat later, and leaps away to hunt. Crowfeather feels tired but is afraid to fall asleep, recalling his vision about the Dark Forest cats. Eventually he dozes off, but is woken up by the smell of rabbit, which Yew drops in front of him. Crowfeather tears at the fresh-kill, thanking both StarClan and Yew for the prey.
:Yew then tells Crowfeather that he recently met a cat with the same scent as him. Crowfeather asks where and what she looked like, starting to get excited. Yew tells him that she was a tough black she-cat, and Crowfeather thinks that the cat must have been Nightcloud. He asks if she was okay, and Yew replies that she was badly wounded down her side, and almost attacked him before he convinced her that he meant no harm. Yew asks if they had been friends, and Crowfeather says Nightcloud was one of his Clanmates and that they were worried she was dead, not wanting to go on about their complex relationship. Yew replies she was around the Twolegplace, which confuses Crowfeather, as the only Twolegplace he knows of is between ShadowClan and RiverClan. He cannot think why Nightcloud would have gone there, and asks if the Twolegplace is the one across the lake. Yew says it's the one on the other side of the forest, which baffles Crowfeather, not knowing the Twolegplace Yew is talking about. 
:Yew tells Crowfeather he can show him, and asks if he can climb the rock. Crowfeather isn't sure, as his head is still spinning, but Yew is already ahead of him. He grits his teeth and follows, using the various crevices in the rock to help haul himself to the top. Yew helps him, grabbing his scruff and pulling him up onto the rock. He points with his tail towards the Twolegplace and says that he had been visiting his housefolk, to Crowfeather's shock, as he believes Yew is too tough to be a kittypet. Yew replies that he only visits his housefolk occasionally, when he feels like it. He says it's warm and comfortable, but the food is disgusting and it's rather boring. When he gets sick of it, he leaves and explores the forest. Yew says he met Nightcloud there, outside of the Twolegplace. Crowfeather begs to know what happened to her, and Yew crouches down, saying she was near the Thunderpath, badly wounded. Nightcloud was ready to attack Yew, but he convinced her not to.
:Yew continues that he found some marigold for her wound, but the wound was too severe for marigold, so he told her to go inside the Twolegplace. Crowfeather is horrified, but Yew is unconcerned, as he believes that the Twolegs will have taken her to the vet. He explains that the vet is like a medicine cat, and that they would treat her wounds. The dark gray warrior asks if Nightcloud really did what Yew told her to, unable to believe she would willingly enter a Twoleg den.
:Yew says that he thinks so, but she wasn't happy about it. However, the forest was full of foxes and dogs, so Nightcloud had no other choice. Yew meows that she headed for the Twoleg den, and he never saw her again afterwards. Crowfeather exclaims that he must go find her, feeling strengthened by Yew's treatment. He knows it won't be a good idea to enter the Twolegplace on his own, but knows Nightcloud must be trapped there, though he wonders if she would even want to come with him. He wants to ask Yew for help, but knows he had recently left the Twolegplace and wouldn't want to return so quickly. He believes Yew has already done enough for him anyway, and knows he needs to choose another cat to help him save Nightcloud. Immediately, Crowfeather knows that the cat he needs is Breezepelt.
==Characters==
===Major===
===Minor===
===Mentioned===
==Notes and references==
Category:Crowfeather's Trial
Category:Chapter subpages
Category:Super Edition arc