Caɾղaցe Ɱօօղ ~𝙰 𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚘𝚛𝚜 𝙵𝚊𝚗𝚏𝚒𝚌

22 🌙

Alpinefog turned sharp, slitted green eyes on her.

"No... It can't be." Water dripped from his chin.

Crescentpaw nodded, eventually meeting his gaze through the haze of rain.

"Yes. We saw her outside of a Twoleg nest while we were trying to find our way back. We made her tell us where the lake was."

Quietdew gasped, "The nerve! Golden-heart? What a pathetic excuse of a warriors name for a cat like that." She snarled, water flicking from her whiskers as she shook with repulsion. "She doesn't deserve a clan name!"

Raccoonstripe's shocked copper eyes showed deep brown in the gathered shadows of dusk. The fur atop his head was slick with rain. He got up and moved to a drier patch of earth, his paws causing a squelching sound.

"You should've made her come back," Rowanpaw chimed in, but her gratuitous comment was overlooked.

Lagoonstripe nodded at them respectfully. "At least we have two more loyal Riverclan cats that did whatever it took to return." Her ears were flattened to prevent water from trickling into her ear canals.

"I never thought of Goldenheart as a traitor. We assumed she had died on her way to the Moonpool, but now that we know for a fact she's chosen to leave us..." The Riverclan warrior sighed despondently. "Well let's just say that I regret the sincerity of that vigil."

Raccoonstripe snickered, his teeth flashing off-white through the drizzle.

"And to imagine her soaking up the kittypet life while we fought for our Clan against this carnage."

"But this news just makes taking a course of action all the more necessary," Alpinefog interjected. "Starclan hasn't sent us a sign to replace Goldenheart's position yet. They might be waiting for us to come to them."

Crescentpaw turned her head to look at each warrior in turn, ignoring Lagoonstripe's praise. "You mean... you all haven't done anything?" The rain trickled down her face and past the corners of her eyes. She shook her fur out quickly enough to hear their response.

"Apart from having me organize the mini-patrols each morning, no." Lagoonstripe sighed, her green eyes half-closed with stress. Clouds were knotted together above the moon, blocking out most of the light that they'd had.

"At this point, none of us are certain what to do. There's just not enough cats left to sustain Riverclan. We can't even elect new warriors or apprentices without a leader." An owl hooted in the trees beyond their camp, it's "Hoo! Hooh!" Echoing throughout the marsh forest.

"And with no medicine cat there's no one to treat our wounds! I hardly know what comfrey is for, let alone the rest of them." Quietdew whined.

"I miss when Riverclan was a real clan," Rowanpaw scowled. "I bet some of us could make it great again here."

"Oh Houndspots, be a dear and fetch me that squirrel." Quietdew commanded, while Lagoonstripe and Crescentpaw continued to look distressed. The two she-cats licked at their sodden chest-furs, then peered over at one other. Houndspots went to go pick up the squirrel beside its decimated fish companion, his brown-and-white pelt rippling as he stepped between them.

"Well, if we're being honest... We probably could've done more to try and reach the other clans or make it to the Moonpool. But we just assumed that they had already tried the same." Alpinefog nodded agreement at Lagoonstripe's words, while Crescentpaw felt the fur along her slicked-down pelt ripple with unease. That's odd. Why have we still not heard from the other clans? They must've had the same ideas as us, surely? She watched a few fireflies flutter over the stick-wall boundary. They recurrently glowed on and off again every few seconds, drifting loftily in and over the camp. Could the other four clans all be dead or scattered?