𝐀𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 〖ʷᵃʳʳⁱᵒʳ ᶜᵃᵗˢ〗

VIII

Whatever sense of peace MorningClan had taken on during the calm and cool night was quickly vanishing. Outside, Spiderpaw could hear Hollyfang's stern voice as he tried to get his kits to stop peering into the den. Stoatnose complained that her sleep was being interrupted and was hushed by Darkstone, who was standing outside to stop cats from disturbing the prophets at work.

Meanwhile, inside the den, things weren't looking much better. Leaves were scattered across the ground, with Maplewhisker working fast to make more poultice. Meanwhile, Spiderpaw spread it over the wounds on Palebriar's chest. The molly had passed out long ago, her sides gently rising and falling with the fragility of a leaf. Spiderpaw learned that the poultice was made from horsetail, goldenrod, and marigold.

With concern in his tone, Maplewhisker also noted that Palebriar's wounds were becoming infected from not being treated soon enough. He instructed Spiderpaw to chew up more marigold and drizzle honey over it before wrapping it in cobweb and spreading it over her chest. Spiderpaw did as instructed, trying to ignore the sickly sweet taste of the marigold and honey in her mouth.

Afterwards, once Maplewhisker stated in a grim voice that they "had done all they could", Spiderpaw was ready to lie down and sleep. However, as she turned, Maplewhisker saw the wound on her side. He demanded that he applied the same poultice. So, Spiderpaw laid on her side as Maplewhisker worked. She winced as he cleaned out the wound; the water seeped into it and stung. Soon enough, the poultice was applied and wrapped in cobweb.

"Tell me if you start feeling sick, or anything of the sort. You should get a lot of rest, Spiderpaw. Leave the worrying for me."

Then, Spiderpaw was laying i her nest, ruminating over all of the events in the evening. Her paws worked the ground with unrest. Twice, Maplewhisker turned to her from where he had been sleeping and gently reminded her to get some sleep. Spiderpaw couldn't take her eyes off of the prophet. She feared that, when she closed her eyes, she would wake to see that the she-cat was no longer moving. She also thought of how Palebriar was so quick to want to resume the ceremony. If they had, when they woke up from sharing tongues with the prophets of the past, would Palebriar have no longer been moving? Would Spiderpaw have had to walk back on her own, let everyone know the startling news?

Spiderpaw squeezed her eyes shut, and as she did, a wave of tiredness settled upon her just like the night settled upon the sky. Maplewhisker was right. She had to get some rest.

Sleep still didn't come easily. Eventually, however, the world faded.

Still, Spiderpaw was shocked when she woke up in a forest populated only by birches. Instantly, her nervousness about Palebriar morphed into curiosity. The Ghost Forest, she recognized easily. However, as she looked upwards, there were no stars. Confusion filled her. Why would the forest of cats made from stars not have them in the sky? And when she thought about it...how was she in the Ghost Forest? Her connection with the Kits of Stars hadn't been properly made at the Pale-tree. Theoretically, her and her ancestors would not be able to communicate until she did.

Just as she was thinking, there was a sudden fog that rolled in and covered her. Fog. Something came to mind. Fog in the Ghost Forest meant...that she wasn't in the Ghost Forest at all! She was in the Forest of Fog!

She looked around, but it was impossible to see any other cats. "Why have you brought me here?" She called into the swirling smoke. "What does this mean?"

There was no response. However, two cats stepped from the smoke, with two smaller kits at their paws. They were followed by a cream molly, who was then followed by another molly with brown patches. That cat was then succeeded by a brown tabby. The final cats to step through were a tortoiseshell and three cats who were apprentice age. They had no stars in their fur, like the Kits of Stars were said to have. They had ghostly white frosted on their pelt, though. But they weren't kittypets, like Maplewhisker had suggested.