Warriors: The Beginning

Chapter 16

The sun was going down, giving way to the moon. A chilly breeze swept the camp, blowing along dried brown leaves that crackled as they skidded along the ground.

Yinpaw was in the medicine den, tending to Rosetail. She gave him some catmint, then some poppy seeds to help him sleep.

"Rosetail was better in the morning, but he's getting worse," she reported to Ambereye. Her metor nodded absent-mindedly. "Let's just hope he doesn't spread the greencough to any other cat, especially Silkpaw," the grey she-cat muttered. "She's been in here for a day; I won't be surprised if she starts coughing tomorrow."

As a cold breeze of wind whisked into the medicine den, the black and white apprentice scented another cat coming into the den.

"Ambereye! Goldseed's coughing!" Yinpaw realised that it was Foxtail. The medicine cat whipped her head around to face the cream she-cat. Her face was masked with worry.

"What?" Ambereye sounded concerned, but not very surprised. She knew that it wasn't only Rosetail who'd catch greencough during this season. "Yinpaw! Catmint and tansy!" The medicine cat called to her apprentice, then hastily padding out of the den.

The black and white cat follow soon, with tansy and catmint stuffing her mouth. She wondered why Ambereye would want to use tansy, then she thought that maybe Goldseed only had a cough. But that was unlikely.

The she-cat apprentice followed her mentor into the warriors' den, a wave of sickness washing over her. Goldseed had been sick in here; he definitely had greencough.

"Could you get out of here?" Mumbled Shimmerleaf, lying down and putting her tail over her face. "It smells liks mouse-dung in here."

Yiboaw bit back a sharp remark and carried on with her task. She padded towards Goldseed's nest and dropped the herbs beside it, trying to not react at the terrible smell.

"Catmint," Ambereye meowed, and Yinpaw instantly pushed a mouthful of thise towaeds her mentor. In a heartbeat, Goldseed had the catmint down her throat and swallowed it with the help of the medicine cat.

"Oh, I should've gotten poppy seeds. Go get them, Yinpaw," Ambereye meowed, ashamed with herself. The apprentice hastily got to her paws and scrambled out of the warriors' den, bounding towards her den.

She shot in, looking around for the poppy seeds. Mouse-dung, my one eye isn't helping! she thought furiously, scrbbling the ground with her paws and padding to the pile of poppy seeds. She delicately seperated three seeds with her paws and placed them gently on her tounge, then bounded back to the den where her patient lay.

Goldseed's bout of coughing had stopped, but he still lay there, his flank rising and falling unnaturally. As quick as a rabbit, Yinpaw dashed beside the cats and dropped the seeds beside Goldseed, quicky meowing, "Eat that." The gold-brown tom obliged without complaint.

"Will he be okay?" Foxtail meowed anxiously, wprry dripping from her words. Yinpaw felt suspicious, but let that feeling linger away as Ambereye replied truthfully, "We don't know. But, if we make sure his health doesn't deteriorate fast, he will survive."

The cream she-cat nodded, trusting evey word that the medicine cat said. "I don't want you to go near him," Ambereye started. "Just... Move your nests farther from him."

"No," snapped Shimmerleaf, lifting her tail for a while.

"Do you want to get greencough too?" Snapped Ambereye angrily. "Because if you, I won't bother to cure it." At this, Shimmerleaf grumbled, but obligingly shifted her nest of moss to the back of the warriors' den.

The other cats followed her, dragging their moss to the back of the den and helping others that weren't here. Foxtail was a little hesitant to shift her nest.

"But... What if he gets sick again?" She asked, trying to play for time. Ambereye sighed and replied firmly, "When he wakes up, get me. He's going to sleep in the medicine den." Ignoring the she-cat's sad eyes, Yinpaw meowed, "Move, please. It's for your own good." Then, she added, "He'll get better sooner, too."

Foxtail looked down, waves of sadness radiating from her as she pulled her nest with the others. Ambereye nodded approvingly, then announced, "If he wakes up, come tell me." Then, the two medicine cats padded out of the den.

The last rays of the sun were upon the SharpClan camp. The sky turned from a brilliant orange to an indigo as the full moon slowly rose. The cats in the camp were gradually falling asleep, the fear of a prey shortage during leaf-bare weighting down on their shoulders.

* * *

A grey cat was padding through dry clumps of fern and heather, feeling more and more anxious by the moment. "Are you sure she's here?" The cat's raspy voice meowed.

"I'm sure! I've seen her here before, and she doesn't seem to have a mate, although she hangs around a smaller cat often," came a soft reply. A silvery-blue tabby she-cat came padding out to join the grey cat.

"Oh, Misty, what if she doesn't accept you?" The grey cat's voice was trembling with concern. The silver cat sighed.

"Abyss, it's all right. I can manage well on my own if she doesn't," Misty assured him. He gave her a nod, but she was sure that he wasn't convinced.

As if she sensed his doubt, Misty leaned in to him and whispered, "She has to accept me, and you."