Turtleheart's Path

Chapter 16

Turtlepaw sat in front of the nursery entrance, looking behind her as Waspear paced quickly. "Turtlepaw, fetch borage and raspberry leaves!" Sparrowfeather shouted. Turtlepaw pelted into the alive clearing with cats pacing and asking around about what was happening. She grabbed the herbs and pushed back into the den. "Make her eat them!" The medicine cat told her. "Here, Yellowwhisker." She said, the queen grabbed the leaves in her jaws and chewed them before gasping in pain. "I need poppy!" She squealed. "Queens cant have poppy seeds, Yellowwhisker. It'll hurt your kits." Turtlepaw said, "Those herbs will kick in soon. Just do what you can."
Turtlepaw finished licking the last kit and backed up as Waspear entered the den. "The girl is Lilykit." Yellowwhisker purred quietly. "Birchkit for this one?" Waspear suggested. "What about this one?" Yellowwhisker asked. Turtlepaw looked at the kit. "Owlkit?" She suggested. "That's perfect." Waspear smiled. "Owlkit, Birchkit and Lilykit." Yellowwhisker laid her head down and fell asleep, Waspear laid next to her and purred comfortingly.
Turtlepaw padded back to the medicine den and stretched, it was dawn now and the camp hadn't slept much that night. Echolight sent out a border patrol and assigned two more throughout the day but told cats to sleep and he'd send hunting patrols at sunhigh. Turtlepaw curled up in her nest but didnt sleep for long before Sparrowfeather had her go collect catmint. "Take your siblings or an experienced warrior with you, barn cats are crazy. In fact, take your mother. She dealt with some of those cats, I'm sure they are the kits now but barn cats are hostile. Anyways, take someone." Sparrowfeather shook his head. Turtlepaw chuckled and padded from the den and stopped at her mothers den. She was sitting there, paws tucked beneath her and her nose resting on the ground. "Bramblestar…" She whispered. The heavily scarred she sprang up. "What's wrong?" Turtlepaw gasped. "I'm sorry, Turtlepaw, I didn't mean to scare you. I'm just not feeling well." Turtlepaw sighed and entered the den and sat next to her mother. "At the half moon meeting, I was in Starclan. I can't say much but I saw a cat named Flutterpaw." She began. Bramblestar perked up, a small smile on her face. "She said she missed you but you are doing great." Turtlepaw meowed. "I wondered if she would watch over me again. Thank you, Turtlepaw." Bramblestar sighed. "I can't reflect on my past when I have a clan to watch over. What was it you needed?" Turtlepaw sat up. "Catmint from the barn." Bramblestar pinned her ears. "I'll go but I want to take Hawkgrowl and Mumblejaw." She said, Turtlepaw nodded. "Can they help carry Catmint?" Bramblestar chuckled. "They'll do what their medicine cat apprentice asks of them." The clan leader beckoned for the cats to come over. "Echolight, mind if I take them?" She turned to her deputy who nodded, "Of course." He rasped. The patrol bounded from camp with Turtlepaw in the middle. Mumblejaw was on her left and Hawkgrowl on her right while Bramblestar led the way.
Turtlepaw halted in front of the fence looking at the barn behind it, the smell of crowfood hit her nose making it wrinkle in disgust. "Let's go over, Turtlepaw can you make it?" Bramblestar looked up. "There's too much snow to dig under." Turtlepaw lifted her paws. "I dont care how we do this, my paws are freezing." Mumblejaw grumbled. Bramblestar leapt upwards and leapt off with her hind legs followed by Mumblejaw and Hawkgrowl who hadn't spoken the entire time. "Wait for my call, Turtlepaw." Bramblestar meowed then turned. "Windclan!" Some cats spat. "Turtlepaw fetch warriors! There's seven!" Bramblestar screeched. Turtlepaw turned, pelting down the snow-covered moor faster than she'd ever run.
"Barn cats! Help!" Turtlepaw screeched as she barreled into Redcall who stumbled. "Sorry- There's seven cats against three!" She yowled. Echolight looked at the camp. "Briarpaw, find the border patrol and take them straight there. That should be Lightpelt, Haresprint and Whiteclaw. Redcall, take Lionpaw and join that patrol." Echolight mewed. Now the only warriors that remained in camp were Waspear, Sheepfur and Echolight. Turtlepaw turned and led Redcall and Lionpaw down the moor again, flinging snow behind her. Redcall and Lionpaw flanked out to avoid the snow. Approaching the fence she halted but was shocked to see Lionpaw and Redcall clearing the fence with a massive leap. The border patrol was there and more barn cats were there now, at least ten.
Turtlepaw scrambled over the fence and threw herself into the smallest cat, no more than seven moons old. She tore the younger cat off her mother and clawed his flank. "Get off me." He snarled and twisted to bite her paw. Turtlepaw rolled and leapt at him again, crashing into him. She noticed fleeing cats and saw the barn cats heading back into the barn. Turtlepaw bit the tom's shoulder and let him run away. She panted and sat down, brushing her paw over her ear. "Anyone majorly injured?" She called into the Windclan patrol. They shook their heads. "Let's go before they multiply." Bramblestar purred. "Hurry, you three grab this catmint." Turtlepaw flicked her tail and grabbed her own mouthful. Lionpaw, Briarpaw and Mumblejaw grabbed more also. Turtlepaw followed the windclan cats home, ignoring the cold feeling creeping through her pelt. Now sunhigh the sun only warmed so much before clouds began to creep in. "We should be hunting, not attacking barn cats." Hawkgrowl hissed to Bramblestar. Bramblestar halted, her ears pinned and eyes blazing. "We gathered much needed supplies for our medicine cats. Can you appreciate anything? If you want to hunt, go but no cat will go with you." She snarled and continued on. Turtlepaw watched as Hawkgrowl stalked away.
She put down the catmint and backed away so the others could put their stalks down. "They smelled so good!" Lionpaw mewed. Mumblejaw stretched. "It is good we gathered them now, I heard Echolight coughing before we left." Turtlepaw nodded. "I'll have Sparrowfeather check him. We have been fortunate in the past few moons to have only had a few whitecough cases, I barely know how to check for it." She meowed, covering the catmint with some dirt to ensure snow wouldnt get to it.
After moving Echolight to the medicine den, she handed the tom some poppy seeds to help him sleep better. Turtlepaw looked up, seeing the sun going down. She had planned to meet with Brackenpaw tonight. He had assured her at their last meeting that Graypaw meant nothing to him. Turtlepaw watched as Sparrowfeather laid in his nest and fell asleep, then she began towards the exit of camp.