Valley Cats: Of Sky and Stone 3- Golden Fire

Chapter One

 "Wow, you were right. It really is leaf-bare now." Bumblebounce commented, hunching his shoulders as he followed Mosscurl through the dull forest. "The warm season really flew by, didn't it?"

 "Unfortunately, yes." the healer said softly without looking back. "Now that we need more of GroveClan's herbs, we're lucky the northern cluster is still around."

 Bumblebounce nodded absentmindedly, then realized Mosscurl wasn't looking at him. Was now too late to mumble something in agreement? Had her mind already moved on, or was she waiting for a reply? 

 The tabby hung his head as he wandered on, soon forgetting his fumble. The frosts had already touched the StoneClans and the Meadow. It was only a matter of time until the forests were frozen once again. This time around a year ago, he and Mumble had been kits in CloudClan, up until that terrible night when Twistedbramble had been killed. During his apprenticeship, Bumblebounce had heard many sides of the story. 

 Now he trotted to catch up with his best friend, whose strides were calm but confident as she ambled east. At the half-moon meeting the night before, when Valley-Clan healers visited the StoneClans, a search for new herbs had been declared- one that could cure a smoldering disease referred to as the Bloodfever, which had started in the StoneClans and spread to WoodClan and possibly a few rogues or the remnants of CloudClan, who had rebranded as the Poison Clouds. Mosscurl spoke of recent sightings of the cats, but had mostly talked about how the StoneClans had officially cut off contact with the Valley-Clans ever since the RockClan and CliffClan leaders had mysteriously disappeared after a series of attacks by the Clouds. It had been nearly a moon since, but it was all the senior warriors seemed to talk about- especially Squirrelstrike and Twistertail.

 "Um, Bumble?" Mosscurl's voice was the usual timid but warm. "You're going the wrong way."

 Bumblebounce looked down to find his paws coated in gray mud. In the rambling trances that so often batted him around, he had stepped onto MireClan territory past the point where the three Clans intersected. As he jumped back over into the GroveClan trees, he noted the recent tensions between the TreeClans and FieldClans. Herbs weren't running short just in the StoneClans.

 "Pumpkinpelt had another name for these trees, didn't she?" Mosscurl broke the silence as the two picked their way through the birch grove, careful not to stray away from their assigned path through foreign territory. "What was it again? You'd be the one to remember."

 "Uh... Betula? Or was it Salix?" Bumblebounce narrowed his eyes, trying to remember the strange names the former housecat had called all the different plants.

 "Huh. I thought it was Ochotona, or one of the longer ones." Mosscurl's amber eyes flicked to the black-and-white striped bark. The pair were barely surrounded by the odd-looking trees when the cluster came into view. Nestled in a mass of dreary thorns were a few electric-yellow flowers, which were the reason why they were there in the first place.

 "Hello, Mosscurl!" A dark brown cat with orange-amber eyes burst out of the mottled ground. "Who's this?"

 "This is Bumblebounce." the cream-colored she-cat informed the GroveClan warrior. After a moment of awkward inspection, she elaborated. "He's the son of Twistedbramble."

 "Ah, yes. I've heard some stories." the stranger seemed to wave it off. "Anyways, I'm Lemmingleap from GroveClan, and this is Mosscurl. She's a healer from ForestClan."

 "Yes... I know. I'm also in ForestClan. And she's my best friend." Bumblebounce wrinkled his nose at the dark brown warrior, who was already too bold for his liking.

 "Ah!" Lemmingleap barked sharply. "Great galloping geldings, why did Adderlash let me greet you guys this time? I'm so awkward!"

 Really? Bumblebounce thought behind a relatively-blank expression. If you were really awkward, would you be laughing like that?