Warriors: Starfaith's Fate (SOB short story) (COMPLETE)

Chapter 13

The sun blazed down upon the moor, the air warm and thick with the scent of green-leaf. Starfaith sniffed at a clump of horsetail and carefully nipped off a few stalks with her teeth. Thank StarClan, they've grown back quickly since I picked them a few moons ago. She gathered the stalks with her paw and paused, looking up hopefully toward the treeline not far from her.

There wasn't a cat in sight by the ShadowClan border. Her heart sunk in disappointment. Where could Dewstorm be? They had decided to meet by the border at sunhigh. He never came. Three days had passed now, and each day at sunhigh she went out to gather herbs in hopes of seeing her ShadowClan companion. And each day, she was disappointed.

I don't understand... She thought worriedly, staring at the pine trees across the border. Has something happened to him? Is he sick? Has he decided to stop seeing me? Each thought filled her heart with fear.

She decided to wait a while longer. She sat down in the warm grass and wrapped her fluffy tail around her, watching the border hopefully. She stayed there for a long time until she heard the meowing of cats in the distance and turned her head.

A WindClan patrol was nearing her, led by Thunderjolt. Behind him trailed Firetail, Whitehare, Wetbelly, and Clovernose. When the patrol got closer, the large black and white tom in the lead blinked in surprise. "Hello, Starfaith. I wasn't expecting to find you out here."

"What are you doing?" Whitehare looked confused. "You look lost."

Starfaith hesitated, realizing how odd she must seem, sitting and staring at the border. "I was gathering horsetail," She purred. "I thought I'd take a moment to enjoy the sunlight."

"I see," Thunderjolt rumbled. "The weather is very nice today." He looked back at his patrol. "We're going to remark the ShadowClan border," He meowed. "Would you like to tag along?"

Behind him, Clovernose rolled her eyes. "A medicine cat doesn't patrol with warriors. They're too soft for that."

Firetail and Whitehare shot her a startled glare, but the brown and white she-cat ignored him, narrowing her green eyes at her.

Starfaith felt a pang of hurt at Clovernose's statement, but didn't let her see it. She dipped her head politely. "That is true," She meowed. "I have medicine cat duties to fulfill. I'll leave the patrolling to the warriors."

The she-cat didn't respond, and Thunderjolt nodded. "Very well. Take care, Starfaith." As the cats turned away, Firetail waved his tail at her in farewell.

She let out a sigh and crouched, taking the stalks of horsetail in her teeth and rising to her paws. I should go back to camp. Dewstorm isn't coming today. Her heart ached as she wondered why. I already miss him so much.

***

When she returned to camp, she saw Silverberry crouched outside the medicine den, laying out oak leaves in the sun. She crossed the clearing and dropped the horsetail in front of her paws. 

"You found some," Silverberry looked up at her. "You took a long time," She commented. "Did you have any trouble?"

Starfaith hesitated and sat down. "No, not at all. I was just enjoying the sun." She noticed worry in her former mentor's eyes and tilted her head. "Is everything alright?"

The silver medicine cat hesitated and lowered her voice. "I saw Otterpelt when I was collecting watermint by the RiverClan border," She meowed. "Spicewhisker told her that ThunderClan was attacked by ShadowClan."

"What?" She gasped, her fur prickling in alarm. A dreadful thought crossed her mind. "Oh no..." She breathed. "The leaders- are they...?"

To her relief, Silverberry shook her head. "Depthstar and Strawberrystar are fine," She promised. Starfaith had confided her about the prophecy and her fears after the gathering. "But a ThunderClan warrior named Hickoryroot was killed."