Flowerstar's Judgement {COMPLETE}

Chapter 25

Flowerpelt dropped her measly catch on the fresh kill pile. All she could find were two skinny mice. The fresh-kill pile itself was looking pretty pathetic, so was the entirety of SunClan for that matter. In the past half-moon Alderfang, Leafwhisker, Fishtail, Barkfang, Rainears and Springkit had all gotten sick, and what scared Flowerpelt more than anything: Dovewish had too.

One day her mother was fine, the next day not so much. She was coughing heavily and had a terrible fever. Feathernose said that it was definitely greencough. Flowerpelt could barely focus on anything, not hunting, not training Icepaw, she was terrified about her mother. Her stomach felt hollow and her heart ached with each passing moment. What will Stormwind and I do if we lose Dovewish? I don't know if I could handle that...

Then there was Springkit who was barely a moon old. Nutkit and Birchkit were her age when they died, would Springkit be able to fight off the infection? Fishtail was getting increasingly worse to the point where she could no longer leave her nest.

Behind Flowerpelt came coughing, she spun around to see who it came from. Her eyes went wide as she saw Foxstar outside the SunTree, hunched over coughing while Marshpelt watched in horror. Foxstar's entire body trembled as he coughed, Flowerpelt could see his ribs. StarClan no...you can't take our leader from us too!

"Go see, Feathernose!" Marshpelt cried, getting the attention of the rest of the Clan. "You're sick, Foxstar!"

"Marshpelt I--" He broke off with more coughing. "I'll be okay, I have lives to lose." He started coughing again, his legs shaking. They gave out from under him and the ginger leader fell to the ground in a flurry of snow.

"Foxstar!" Marshpelt cried and dropped down beside her mate.

"Feathernose!" Flowerpelt heard a panicked cry from Mallownose who was running to the medicine cat den. "Feathernose, Foxstar is dying!" In a flash, Feathernose was sprinting from his den towards their fallen leader. He kicked up white powder as he ran and skidded to a stop beside Foxstar where he dropped the herbs.

Feathernose tried shoving the herbs into Foxstar's mouth, but the leader wasn't moving. Flowerpelt's heart twisted into a hundred knots, her claws scraped at the ground. This is the second life I've seen him lose...he says he has more to lose but how many more?

Feathernose stopped working for a moment, letting out an exasperated sigh. "He's losing a life, I can't do anything to stop it." Marshpelt let out a wail and stumbled backwards.

"I tried Feathernose...I tried to get him to come see you..." She curled into a ball on the ground, making small weeping noises.

"I know, Marshpelt." Feathernose's voice was calm. He pushed a small herb toward Marshpelt. "Take this." Marshpelt hesitated but ate the herb. Feathernose looked at Mallownose who had followed him over. "Take Marshpelt into the SunTree to rest, but clean out Foxstar's infected moss. I have her some thyme for shock, she needs to rest."

Mallownose nodded and helped Marshpelt to her paws, the two she-cats made their way back into the SunTree. After they were gone Foxstar's body twitched. He slowly lifted his head and looked at Feathernose who instantly told him to eat a tiny supply of catmint.

"Next time." Feathernose's voice was no longer soft. "Tell me when you're sick, Foxstar. You may have more than one life but that doesn't mean you need to lose them all!" Foxstar ate the herbs without question.

"I'm sorry, Feathernose..." The leader's voice was dry. "I just--I hate watching my Clan in such a state, herbs need to be used on the ones who don't have more than one life. I can afford to die, the others can't."