StarClan's Mistake (Warrior Cats Fanfiction)

Chapter 8

The white, black-striped tom sorted through the herbs busily, searching for some chickweed. Vividsight had been absolutely adamant her kits had greencough, even when he told her not, so he'd just give her this and tell her it was catmint. His lime green eyes landed on some small, busy leaves with tiny, almost unnoticeable white blooms. He reached out a paw to inch it towards him, then grabbed it in his maw.

One of his paws accidentally knocked down some of the deadly herb storage, and he quickly dropped the chickweed to clean it up. He ordered Heronbeak, who was standing behind him, "Pick that up and bring it to Vividsight." Obeying, she grabbed it in her mouth and started out of the medicine den. "Wait." She paused and looked behind her.

He started counting the deadly herbs. There had been ten deathberries here before. Now there were only seven. "Heronbeak, please tell me you took out some deathberries," he mewed.

Setting down the chickweed and looking at him confusedly, she meowed, "No. Why? Are some missing?"

Stitchmaw snapped at her, "What do you think?! What if a kit took them?!" He fumbled, placing the remaining deathberries and numerous other deadly herbs on their high, hidden shelf. "We need to find them."

Heronbeak widened her eyes and nodded, but just as she and Stitchmaw were about to leave the den, Blessedbone came in. "Stitchmaw?" he asked.

"We're a little bit busy!" He shoved past the warrior forcefully. "Deathberries are missing!"

"That's what I wanted to see you about. I saw some stray deathberries and thought to come back and ask if they were a part of your storage," he continued innocently.

Stitchmaw perked his ears up. "How many were there?"

"Uh, I can't remember. Maybe two?"

Stitchmaw looked to Heronbeak. "Go and check to make sure nobody's eaten a deathberry, and deliver Vividsight's chickweed while you're at it. I'll go with Blessedbone."

Heronbeak nodded dutifully and left the den to go in her own direction, while Stitchmaw and Blessedbone headed for the exit of camp. Once they were out, Stitchmaw let Blessedbone take the lead, the white black-and-brown dappled cat running ahead. Of course, being ShadowClan cats, neither crashed through the undergrowth; their paws glided evenly through the leaves and brambles, only getting caught on the occasional stray branch or vine.

Blessedbone eventually came upon a small clearing with three deathberries laid out right next to each other in a neat triangle, very obvious and clear in the light. Stitchmaw approached them with a raised eyebrow and a flicking tail. "Why in StarClan would a cat place them here?"

Blessedbone shook his head with a shrug.

He squinted his eyes at them. "You said there were only two."

"Hey, I didn't make it my job to count," the warrior snapped at the medicine cat; Stitchmaw shook his head with closed eyes and leaned down to take them up in his mouth.

Turning back towards Blessedbone, he mewed, "Let's get these back to camp. They'd be dangerous to unaware apprentices."

But just as he began to walk past him, the larger warrior suddenly tackled him to the ground. Stitchmaw gasped out of surprise, somewhat wondering in his head if Blessedbone was saving him from a danger like a swooping hawk, but Blessedbone's intents became evident when he suddenly placed his paws over Stitchmaw's mouth and used his body weight to keep him down. He forced the deathberries past Stitchmaw's teeth and down into his throat, and Stitchmaw writhed and wriggled, trying to let out a scream, any sound at all, to call for help.

"Rottenkit was a pure soul!" Blessedbone screeched into Stitchmaw's ear, still using both paws to tether his mouth down and using his body to keep him from running. "You all are sick, horrible, disgusting degenerates! I can't believe you never stopped to consider what you were doing! You even killed Vividsight's kit! Killed her kit! For nothing else than his fur color! You're terrible! Terrible!" Thinking of what else he could say to Stitchmaw in his final moments before he died, he then blurted it out, finally. "And so is StarClan! So is StarClan!"