A New Horizon Book 2: The Dying Forest {COMPLETE}

Chapter 7

"All of the dock has died." Honeypaw turned her head as Pebblestep padded into the den, concern in her eyes. She carried two small dock leaves her jaws.

"All of it?" Honeypaw tilted her head, how could that be? It wasn't cold enough to kill dock leaves yet.

Pebblestep nodded. "I could only get this much." She nudged the two pathetic leaves. "I don't know what's happening, "I also tried getting some mallow from beside the MoonClan border, it always grows plentiful there but it was all dead too."

"That doesn't sound very good." Honeypaw tensed, why were all the herbs dying? "We should try and collect as many herbs as possible before leaf-bare hits." Honeypaw suggested. "If it's dying this early into leaf-fall who knows what could happen later."

"I agree." Pebblestep mewed, putting the small dock leaves into the store. "We'll go after the ceremony today."

"The ceremony?" Honeypaw questioned, there was a ceremony today? "What ceremony?"

"Earthpaw and Mudpaw are becoming warriors, and Icepetal's kits are becoming apprentices." Pebblestep explained, Honeypaw could hear a small sense of panic in her mew. I should've known that Earthpaw and Mudpaw were becoming warriors. She flicked her ears. I can still show that I'm proud of them.

It wasn't long before Honeypaw heard her mother's call as she gathered the Clan. Pebblestep and Honeypaw left their herb stores to attend the ceremony. As they stepped out of their den, they were nearly cut off but Icepetal's kits making a beeline for the SunTree while Icepetal struggled to keep up with them.

Honeypaw couldn't help but laugh as she watched them, she remembered being excited for her apprentice ceremony but she didn't run like that. That was more Falconpaw than me. Honeypaw sat down next to her mentor, catching the eye of Falconpaw who was sitting beside Cherryleaf. He looked happy about something, Honeypaw didn't know what it was but it made her happy as well.

"Today is an exciting day for several cats in our Clan." Dawnstar began, looking over Clan. "First, I'd like to begin with the apprentice ceremony of Petalkit, Dovekit and Sedgekit." The three sisters squirmed in the center of the meeting, they looked about ready to pop with excitement. "Today is a proud day for SunClan, by naming apprentices we show that we will remain strong for many moons to come." She beckoned the three kits forward.

"Petalkit, from this day forward, until you have earned your warrior name you will be known as Petalpaw. Your mentor will be Turtleblaze, who I know is more than capable of being a good mentor to you." Turtleblaze stood up and touched noses with his new apprentice and the two sat down together.

"Dovekit, from this day forward until you have earned your warrior name you will be known as Dovepaw. Your mentor will be Applespots, who I trust will teach you to be the best warrior you can be." Applespots and Dovepaw mimicked Turtleblaze and Petalpaw before sitting down.

"Finally, Sedgekit, from this day forward until you have earned your warrior name you will be known as Sedgepaw. Your mentor will be Fawnheart, I know she will make just as skilled a warrior as she is."

"Petalpaw! Dovepaw! Sedgepaw!" The Clans cheered loudly for their new apprentices, Icepetal and Adderstrike had their tails intertwined as they watched their daughters celebrate their new names.

"That's not the only ceremony we have today," Dawnstar mewed once the Clan had calmed down. "Two of our apprentices have passed their assessments and it's time for them to earn their warriors names."

Honeypaw purred with pride as Earthpaw and Mudpaw stepped forward, both looking very proud. Turtleblaze and Fawnheart watched with pride, not only had they both received apprentices but their kits were becoming warriors.

"I call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on these apprentices, for they have trained long and hard to understand the ways of your noble code and I commend them to you as warriors in their turn." Dawnstar jumped down from the SunTree, facing the two eager apprentices. "Mudpaw, from this day forward you will be known as Mudfall. SunClan honors your determination and courage."

Mudfall touched noses with Dawnstar and stepped back, the leader turned her attention on Earthpaw. "Earthpaw, from this day forward you will be known as Earthpelt, SunClan honors your energy and dedication." Dawnstar did the same with Earthpelt, then the leader took a step back. "I welcome you both as full warriors of SunClan!"

"Earthpelt! Mudfall! Earthpelt! Mudfall!" The Clan cheered once more, welcoming their new warriors and Dawnstar dismissed the meeting. Honeypaw watched as the new warriors celebrated with each other and their parents, and as the new apprentices eagerly asked their mentors what they were going to do first.

"We have to get work," Pebblestep said into Honeypaw's ear, her voice low. "I want to get as many herbs as possible."

"Alright." Honeypaw nodded. "What should we get first?"

"I'll go to Jagged Rocks and see what I can salvage from there. You go to the other side of the territory. Try and find some thyme, chamomile, and some stinging nettle." Honeypaw nodded the two medicine cats went their separate ways.

Honeypaw hurried out of camp, hoping to find all the herbs she needed. It wasn't good that the herbs in the forest were already dying. Why is that happening? I don't understand. It's only leaf-fall! The worry was getting to Honeypaw, how would they be able to survive leaf-bare if there were no herbs?

Honeypaw neared the training area, a common place for chamomile to grow. She sniffed and searched for the white flower, but she couldn't scent it. Feeling panicked, Honeypaw looked around closely, finally she found where it used to grow. Her heart dropped when she saw the chamomile flowers completely dead and useless. Honeypaw sighed deeply, trying to scrounge up any useable flowers, but to no avail. She cleared away the dead flowers, hopefully making room for new ones to grow. With a disappointed sigh, Honeypaw continued.

Honeypaw had essentially the same results with both thyme and stinging nettle, she only got a single bit of thyme and two very small strands of stinging nettle. With her disappointing herb collection, Honeypaw slowly made her way back to camp, she feared that Pebblestep would be disappointed in her for not finding herbs. Honeypaw shook her head. No. She knows that the herbs are dying, it's not my fault.

With her confidence still faltering, Honeypaw reached camp. She looked towards the medicine cat den, it didn't look like Pebblestep had returned yet. She stepped into the den and looked at Snakewhisker who looked as if he had recently woken up. He looked up at Honeypaw with interest. "That seems like a small amount of herbs."

Honeypaw set them down. "Yeah," She sighed, looking at the tiny pile. "A lot of herbs are dying and we're not sure why. Pebblestep and I are trying to gather as much as we can before they all die."

"I wonder why they're dying." Snakewhisker gave the herbs a sniff. "It seems way too early for that."

"That's what Pebblestep and I thought too." Honeypaw sorted the small herbs and did her best to clean up the semi-messy den. When Pebblestep returned she had just a small amount of herbs as Honeypaw did. She set them down and looked at Honeypaw.

"Did you have any luck?"

Honeypaw shook her head. "All the chamomile was dead, and I only got small amounts of thyme and stinging nettle. I already put it in the store." Honeypaw looked at Pebblestep's collection of herbs. She had a tiny amount of chickweed, chervil, yarrow and burnet.

She quickly sorted it and turned back to Pebblestep who was pacing. "What are we going to do?" Her voice was heavy. "All of our herbs our dying, I've had better luck finding them during leaf-bare before." She sighed. "I need to talk to Dawnstar about it, and we might make a trip to see the other medicine cats. Asking for help isn't the best thing to do, but SunClan needs herbs."

Honeypaw nodded along, she hadn't seen Pebblestep so worried before. She felt the same worry burning in her chest, what good were medicine cats without their herbs? Why were the herbs dying? Her mind travelled to something else. The warriors have said that prey is running low too. What was happening to the forest?