Starlight

Chapter 10

"Are you stuck?" Mothwing called, looking back into the tunnel.

Feathertail startled, almost forgetting that she was on a patrol. "Sorry, I'm fine," she meowed, pushing out of the tunnel.

Mothwing looked her over as she stood straighter, shaking a loose blade of grass from her pelt. "You're worried about the new territories, aren't you," she mewed. "Don't worry, it feels strange to all of us. But I'm sure that's how it felt for the first cats of the Clans, too."

Comforted, Feathertail touched her tail-tip to Mothwing's side in thanks. Nodding, the medicine cat returned to the front of the patrol and led them away from the island. When she glanced back a few moments later, the reed walls had disappeared among the few trees and undergrowth, and all she could see was dead grass and bare branches that trembled in the wind. She was pleased to think her Clanmates were sheltered by the towering walls, invisible and safe in the center of the territory.

Voices sounded up ahead, and they rounded a large group of bushes to find Swallowtail and Vixenleap sniffing suspiciously at a gap between the roots of a tree. This was the patrol that Mistyfoot had sent out to explore the territory that lay closest to the island.

"Fox," Feathertail heard Vixenleap growl.

Swallowtail sniffed at the area around the tree. "It's very stale," she decided. "I don't think the fox can have been there for moons."

Splashpaw bounded over to her mentor excitedly. "Shall I go in to look?" she offered.

Swallowtail cuffed her over the ear. "Perhaps I should give you lessons about going into strange holes. We can smell there's nothing here, so we don't need to go inside. And why are you here?"

"She's with us," Mothwing meowed, padding closer. "I need to gather herbs for Reedwhisker and any future injuries or illnesses."

Swallowtail nodded to the medicine cat, then turned to her apprentice with a stern glare. "If you are told to do something, you follow those orders. Do not go running off just because you see me on a different patrol."

Splashpaw tucked her head into her chest, her ears lowered. "Yes, Swallowtail, I'm sorry," she mewed.

Swallowtail sniffed. "I should hope so," she meowed. "Now get back to your own patrol."

Swallowtail padded away with Loudbelly, who dipped his head politely to Mothwing as he passed. Volepaw teased his sister when she regrouped with them, to which she swatted him over the head with a sheathed paw. Feathertail remembered fondly when she and Stormfur played when they were apprentices. Mistyfoot and Stonefur had gotten used to their antics rather quickly. . . well, for the short time Stonefur was Stormfur's mentor.

Mothwing stopped beside a decent patch of dark green stems, a growl escaping her. "The cold has killed many herbs," she told the others. "I don't know how much I'll be able to find before newleaf."

Splashpaw and Volepaw moved in to give the shriveled stems a sniff of their own while Feathertail gazed around her. Groups of trees and shrubs littered the ground around them, leaving large areas of shade and shelter when newleaf comes. Most of the ground was covered by short grass with spikes of snowdrops thrusting upward, and the occasional clump of more bramble thickets and hazel bushes. It was less exposed than Feathertail was used to, but she knew that more trees and bushes meant more prey for the Clan, and to make the Clan feel safer as they patrolled the territory.

Mothwing padded back to join her and lead the way further into the territory, toward the sound of running water. "I doubt we'll find any juniper right now," she commented as the four cats padded side by side. "I'll have to find something else to use."