Crowfeather's Trial/Chapter 23

"Politeness costs nothing, you daft furball!"

— Heathertail scolding Crowfeather in Crowfeather's Trial, page 300

Crowfeather's Trial
Chapter number:	23 (of 34)
Page numbers:	285-304
Point of View:	Crowfeather
Chronology

Below contains in-depth information for chapter twenty-three of Crowfeather's Trial. If you are looking for a shorter summary of the entire book, please check the main article.

Chapter Number: 23 (of 34)

Page Numbers: 285-304

Chapter description

Crowfeather spins around to see a fox facing him. He fights off the fox, but to his surprise, two others appear. Gorsetail yowls for Crowfeather and the others to run as they cross the Thunderpath. They climb trees, knowing that the foxes cannot reach them here. Breezepelt tells the foxes that cat isn't on their menu, and the patrol thanks StarClan for getting out of that narrow situation. They agree on not climbing trees for the rest of their mission, and to leave that to other cats. When they reach another Thunderpath, Hootpaw comments that the monsters don't look dangerous, but Crowfeather nudges his shoulder telling him to remember the stoats that didn't look dangerous either. The patrol finds Nightcloud's scent along the edge of the Thunderpath mixed with Yew's scent. They go towards the Twolegplace and encounter yet another Thunderpath. The patrol narrowly cross, and later come across dog kits. Gorsetail wants to attack and harm the dog kits, but Heathertail tells them to go while she distracts the kits.

The dog kits play with Heathertail, and then they chase her. Heathertail distracts the dog kits and she rejoins the others on the patrol. They later spot kittypets. Crowfeather asks Heathertail why they're so important, and the she-cat reminds him that they may have saw Nightcloud. Crowfeather abruptly wakes them up, causing the kittypets to become frustrated. He asks them if they know a cat named Yew. The kittypets ask if the cat's name is 'You', and Crowfeather stifles his amusement and explains that his name is like the tree 'yew'. Heathertail more politely asks if they've seen a cat that matches Nightcloud's description, quietly hissing at Crowfeather to be more courteous and polite. The kittypets explain that they've seen Nightcloud. They describe her as weird, talking nonsense like "Clanmates" and "returning to her Clan". They say that she is very ungrateful toward her Twolegs and that it is better for the Twolegs if they kick her out of their nest. Breezepelt snarls at them, and he tells them that they are her Clanmates, and that they've come looking for her to bring her back to their Clan. The cats part ways on bad terms. They spot Nightcloud inside a Twoleg den shortly after their conversation with the two ungrateful kittypets. They find her with a snowy white tom curled up inside her nest and Crowfeather feels a feeling of anxiety while the others rejoice.

Characters

Major

• Crowfeather

Minor

• Breezepelt
• Heathertail
• Gorsetail
• Hootpaw
• Black-and-white kittypet
• Tortoiseshell kittypet
• Nightcloud
• Unnamed white tom

Mentioned

• Yew