Warriors: Ashfur's Insanity

Chapter 56

It had been two moons (two weeks) since Sorreltail's death. Things hadn't been going so well. Stoneheart had gotten worse. Ivypool had recovered though, and was back to her warrior duties. Tawnypelt had also come down early to start training Rust; she was teaching him ShadowClan techniques. She was also training Ebonyfur. Slatepaw was now Ivypool's apprentice. 

Alderheart sighed. He pulled the moss out of the river. The dripping moss was in his jaws, and as he turned around, he smelled a strange scent. No other cat was with him. Maybe it was a patrol. The large tree in front of him was bare, all its blossoms had shriveled and fallen off. Leaf-Bare was nearing....

Alderheart continued walking across the clearing, away from the river, but he heard something and stopped. 

A figure appeared on the other side of the river, up on the hill. It was a cat. Then another cat stepped out of the bushes beside it.  Then another one. 

Alderheart's heart stopped. But it was just two cats, right? Or were there more? Even if I'm not a warrior, I'll still get them out of here! Rogue scent drifted over Alderheart as the cats padded down the hill. Now he could get a good look at them. One was a big sleek brown tabby tom with tiger stripes and thick fur. His eyes were an amber color. The other cat with him was a cream furred she-cat with amber eyes and a scar on her shoulder. The last cat standing beside the tom was a very small, thin, brown tabby tom with light blue eyes. 

Alderheart thought for a moment. They were ShadowClan cats! It was Tigerheart and Dawnpelt and Littlecloud! 

"Alderheart!" Tigerheart called. He jumped onto the jutting rock in the river and jumped over the water, landing firmly on the bank. He padded up to Alderheart. 

"Tigerheart, what are you doing here? How did you find us? I thought you were with the rogues!" Alderheart gasped. 

"We were," Tigerheart meowed. "But then we realized what cruel place it was," He meowed. "A new rogue moved there. He was named Darktail, and he brought other rogues with him. To prove his strength, Russetstar told him to kill the one of the deputies," Tigerheart explained.

"Deputies?" Alderheart meowed.

"There's two deputies. Mist and Mud. Mist will take over after Russetstar dies and Mud will take over after Crowstar dies," The brown tom explained. "Darktail decided to fight the strongest deputy. He fought Mud, and if Darktail killed him, he would be deputy and his rogues would join. But if Darktail died, Mud would get to kill all the other rogues in a very brutal way," He meowed, his eyes dark. 

"That's terrible," Alderheart growled. "Did Darktail win?" He asked.

"He almost died, but at the last second, he tore out Mud's eyes and throat. It was hard to watch," Tigerheart added. "But Darktail is cruel," He added.

Dawnpelt and Littlecloud jumped across the river to join them. 

"How are the Clans? We heard from a kittypet that some large group of cats traveled up the mountain and we figured out that it was you," Dawnpelt meowed.

"I also had visions," Littlecloud added. 

"Yes. We traveled through the mountains together and found the Tribe of Rushing Water and asked them if a group of large cats traveled there. The Tribe's leader, Stoneteller, told me that they had found a place beyond the mountains, and he led us there. We were traveling through the forest and I thought I smelled something, so we went through some bushes to a river and found you," Tigerheart explained. 

"The Clans aren't looking too good," Alderheart sighed. "Green cough is spreading through my Clan, and WindClan barely has any warriors to defend itself," He meowed. 

"What about RiverClan? Or.... Have you built a new ShadowClan?" Tigerheart asked.

"We're working on it," Alderheart meowed. "Two kittypets, Rust and Flower, are going to be great leaders. Rust is training with Tawnypelt for ShadowClan," He explained. "And Flower is planning to be RiverClan's leader. We found a rogue, Ebonyfur now, and he's also getting trained by Tawnypelt for ShadowClan. There were also two other kittypets, Sappaw and Pinepaw, that are going to join RiverClan. I think Sappaw was going to be a medicine cat there," Alderheart added.

"Wow. Looks like you've all been working hard. Has any cat died yet?" Tigerheart asked.

"Sadly, yes," Alderheart meowed. "Going through the mountains, Bunnypelt died trying to save Dovepaw from falling off the cliff," Alderheart meowed sadly. "And two moons ago, Sorreltail died to green cough."

"That's terrible," Tigerheart meowed. Dawnpelt nodded.

Littlecloud gasped. "Did you say Dovepaw?" He asked. 

"Yes. Why ask?" Alderheart asked.

"She was in the rogue camp! She escaped with Eaglepaw. I remember that Crowstar sliced off her ear, and when I tried to treat it, he told me to let her bleed to death," Littlecloud meowed. "Dovepaw and Eaglepaw escaped from the camp, and I never heard of them."

"Dovepaw and Eaglepaw are doing fine. They're in WindClan, and they're Doveclaw and Eaglefeather now," Alderheart meowed.

"That's nice to hear," Littlecloud purred, closing his eyes. 

"I should probably take you back to camp," Alderheart meowed. "Ashstar will wonder where I've been, and I need to take care of the sick cats," He pointed out.

"Good. Tawnypelt will be glad to see me and Dawnpelt. And we'd love to help rebuild ShadowClan with you," Tigerheart purred, looking at Dawnpelt and Littlecloud, and then finally looking at Alderheart. 

"Alderheart! Where in the name of StarClan have you been?! Stoneheart is worse than before!" Ashstar hissed, his tail lashing and his claws unsheathed. 

"I'm sorry Ashstar!" Alderheart meowed, feeling sick all of a sudden. "I...I found three ShadowClan cats!" He explained. 

Ashstar took his glare off Alderheart and looked at the three ShadowClan cats. "You three, go wait by my den! Alderheart, get your tail in the elders' den right now!" He hissed.

Alderheart ran past his angry leader and crossed the clearing to where the elders' den was. He then swerved to the medicine den, grabbing the last few stems of catmint. He was going to give all of it to Stoneheart. Then all of a sudden, he tripped over a death berry randomly lying on the ground. The juices were staining the fur around his pads. I'll wash that later! 

Alderheart ran out of the medicine den and ran to the elders' den, not wanting to waste time. He padded into the den, looking around at his patients. They were all asleep. Alderheart walked over to Stoneheart. He prodded the gray tom in the side with his paw, then he dropped the herbs on the ground, next to his nest. 

"Stoneheart, eat these," He pleaded.

Stoneheart's eyes opened slightly. "Close...closer," He muttered. He coughed violently all of a sudden and twitched. Every time he breathed, he wheezed. 

Alderheart put his paws on the catmint and pushed it closer to Stoneheart's jaws. The deputy weakly opened his jaws. Alderheart sunk his claws in the catmint and let them fall into Stoneheart's mouth. Then Alderheart realized that that was the paw with the death berry juices. He yowled in alarm, but before he could take the herbs out of Stoneheart's mouth, it was already too late...