Web of Lies

xvii

Slight gore warning for this chapter (of you count plants growing out of cats as gore). I'm talking vomit, broken bones, and cats turning into plants. I'll put warnings so if you're bothered by gore, you can skip.

"StarClan!" Willowberry shouted. Robinflight padded over to the frustrated medicine cat, confused.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"Catmint isn't doing anything! They're just getting worse!" Willowberry explained. "They just throw it back up, and if they do swallow it, it doesn't work!"

"Maybe it isn't yellowcough," Quailfern suggested. Robinflight forgot he was waiting in the corner. She smiled an awkward, apologetic smile at him, but he just ignored her.

"What do you mean? There aren't many sicknesses a cat can get," Willowberry hissed. "Are you suggesting they have a brand new disease?"

"Yes, actually. But I don't think it's any normal disease," He began.

"Obviously," Willowberry scoffed. "What else could it be?"

"I don't know, but it's not anything we can treat." He paused and sniffed. "At least not with the stuff we have now."

"Oh, sure, because you're the one who's a medicine cat!" Willowberry said sarcastically.

"Hey! At least I can recognize when catmint isn't working!" Quailfern retorted. Robinflight grumbled. She didn't want to get involved in another fight.

{GORE WARNING}

She looked around the cave, then padded over to her mother, who was unconscious. Harepelt's breaths were strained and wheezy, her chest slowly rising up and down. Robinflight's eyes trailed down towards her mother's hind legs, a bit confused. Her legs seemed to be tied together with poison ivy, the skin around her paws red and swollen. Her hind paws were stained a dark green, getting lighter and lighter as it creeped up her legs.

{GORE WARNING OVER}

"Mom?" Robinflight mewed fearfully.

"She's not going to wake up," Reedspeck sighed, creeping out of the shadows. She gave a glance to the bickering Quailfern and Willowberry near the entrance of the cave. "And I don't think she's ever going to."

"Have you seen her paws?" Robinflight asked nervously, feeling like she might throw up.

"Mhm. It's on the others, too. I think the ivy is growing on them."

"Growing?"

"Look closer." Reedspeck nudged Harepelt's hind paws to the side. Thin sprouts of ivy were growing from in between the pads of the paws, then snaking up her leg and staining it green. "This isn't yellowcough."

"Have you told Willowberry about this? This, this could be serious!" Robinflight whispered.

Reedpseck glanced over at Quailfern and Willowberry once more. "Willowberry's... busy."

"A stupid argument shouldn't stop you from telling Willowberry!" Robinflight hissed. "This is our mother's life in danger!"

"Since when have you cared about Harepelt?"

"I- Look, I just don't want her to die! If you aren't going to tell her, I am!" Robinflight turned and stormed over to Willowberry. Willowberry ignored her, still yelling at Quailfern. Robinflight huffed and swung her paw at Willowberry's head.

"Hey! What the-" Willowberry turned and glared at Robinflight. "What do you want?"

"There's something wrong with Harepelt."

"Yeah, I know, she's a horrible mother."

"Not that! I mean- Look, just come see her paws." Robinflight led Willowberry over to Harepelt, and pointed out the almost mangled paws.

"Where did this come from?" Willowberry wondered aloud, nudging the paws around.

"It's not just Harepelt, other cats have been effected too. Some have half their body covered," Reedspeck added. Willowberry's head snapped up.

"Show me."

{GORE WARNING}

Reedspeck led Willowberry, Robinflight, and Quailfern over to other unconscious cats. She gestured to a cat, an apprentice, tucked away into the corner. Ropes of poison ivy was wrapped tightly around their body and only their neck and head were free. Their once ginger fur was now grass-green, with specks of crimson blood dotting random places around the body. The catmint that Willowberry had tried to feed them stained their mouth in the form of bile. Their teeth had crumbled and their legs were contorted in disgusting, unnatural ways. They were as good as dead.

"Oh, StarClan, that's-" Robinflight tried to form words to express the feelings of disgust that this corpse invoked but... she couldn't. The sight was to horrible to put in words. "Does their family know?"

{GORE WARNING OVER :)}

"I don't think we should tell anyone about this," Quailfern suggested. He looked uncomfortable, anxious. Robinflight didn't blame him. Willowberry opened her mouth to speak but Quailfern cut her off. "Let me say why, first. First of all, there's enough panic in the clan. We don't need to add onto worry. Second of all, what are we going to say? Are we just going to tell them, 'hey, your son is a plant'? Just, don't tell the clan anything."

"No. We have to tell them something! If they don't know anything, they're going to riot! We don't want the riots to happen again. I don't know what we're going to tell them, but we have to tell them something," Willowberry interjected. "Ignorance is not bliss."

Before the two could start arguing again, Robinflight spoke up. "Guys, guys! Shut up!"

The two cats stared at her.

"Look, let's meet in the middle. How about we tell the clan there's a new sickness, but not tell them what!" Robinflight grinned weakly. Reedspeck stared at her a deadpan expression on her face.

"Wow. That is a horrible plan."

"Yeah," Willowberry joined in. "It's just going to cause paranoia. Paranoia is the worst thing for a clan."

"Well, what are we supposed to do? We can't just let it slip by, and we can't tell everyone. They both cause paranoia. I may not be a deputy or a medicine cat, but can I just say, you guys suck at coming to conclusions," Reedspeck added. "I'm going to g-"

"Coralstar!" An exasperated voice yelled from outside the den. Reedspeck poked her head out of the den, the pulled it back in looking shocked.

"Reedspeck, what's happening?" Willowberry said, narrowing her eyes. "Is Coralstar...."

"Yes," Reedspeck answered, before Willowberry even finished her question. "He's back."

a/n: so there were only like two gory bits but like I'm new to this shush

I say like too much