Chapter 13

229 11 2
                                    

"--and the cat's eyes where bleeding out--ooh, it was horrible!!" Silentpaw screeched uncontrollably. She saw Silverleaf sit back up. "Interesting. But very slow and deadly for the cats' death. Maybe it was brought by the badgers, or possibly even foxes. Anyone thought of rats? Hmm,  I think burnet would help. It keeps cat's strength up. Celandine, yes, smoothes eye damage. Honey is good, if they're coughing out blood......"
"Here we go again," Neonfang said, licking his chest fur. "Silverleaf and her nerdy brain."
Silverleaf looked up from the ground at Neonfang. "What's wrong with thinking of a way of trying to heal Bloodcough, mouse-brain?" She hissed, and started murmuring again about herbs.
Red mist curled around the cats, swooping them down under the ground. They fell hard on blood-stanched stone. Suddenly, they were pulled upside down-again.
Oh, great. Thought Silentpaw. Not this again. 
"Sup, bros!" Said Blood, smiling cruelly.  "What's going on down there? Having some--sickness, spreading 'round, eh?"
Firestar growled. "I knew it was you!" He yowled. "Yep! And you were right! This is the best plan I've ever made! Sickness, wow, who would've thought of that to conquer the Clans?"
"How did you do it?!" Silverleaf asked, not scared at all. Did she even know that Blood was evil?  
"Eh, nothin' really. Just killed, twelve rats, six badgers, and two foxes. Ate the meat, then dumped the rest in the river, creating a mad stench. A lot of my warriors got sick an' died. I was like, 'Huh, I made a disease!' And then I just did the same thing, just dumped it into you're--Oops, I said too much!" He finished, chuckling. Firestar growled.  "Get is down, now!"
"Screech!" Blood yowled. "Yessss, massster?" Came a weird-looking cat, who seemed to make his s's longer. Blood nodded, and glanced at Firestar. "Do what he said." Screech nodded, and smiled showing his dirty, yellowed teeth.
Silentpaw just spotted blood that dropped to the floor below Firestar. She heard struggling and yowls. In a blink, Firestar disappeared. "What did you do?!" Jayfeather snarled. Suddenly, he was gone, too. "I cursed a few of your warriors, and apprentices in each of your Clans." Blood hissed, walking to where Silentpaw and Stormwhisker where. "Sunflame, and Duskpaw, and Falconpaw." Silentpaw looked quickly at Stormwhisker, his eyes blurry with loose tears. None of them said anything. "Brightstar and Rockpaw." Blood said as he passed Ambershine. "Wildfeather and Tigerfrost," he purred as he walked through Neonfang. He laughed as he stopped at Silverleaf, his eyes burning into hers. "Owlclaw........and, heh, you." Silverleaf gasped, her eyes filled with worry. Blood walked back, so every cat can see him. "All of these cats will suffer, and they will want to die, but, no, they wont until I say so. I am in-charge of Bloodcough!"
**********
Silentpaw staggered backward and fell on her back as she suddenly awoke from her nightmare. She saw Silverleaf, her eyes dull, and fur loosing it's color. No, Silentpaw thought. Bloodcough is reaching towards her ever second. Stormwhisker nuzzled her, and helped her up. "Well," he said, his voice caught by sadness. "At least--at least we know who will die." He said, looking down at his paws. "We, well, we don't know that! Blood never told us that there wasn't a cure." Ambershine reacted, glancing back at Silverleaf. "She doesn't even have an apprentice yet....." She thought aloud.  "Remember, Blood is in-charge of bloodcough. I'm sure he'll want to kill every one he cursed at." Neonfang hissed harshly, and gave a quick look at Silverleaf, then growled. "I'm going home!"
"Don't worry, Silverleaf. I'll help you." Ambershine said as they both walked out. Stormwhisker nodded at Silentpaw. "It's about time we go too."
**********
"You're back!" Yelled Winterheart, the ThunderClan deputy. "We just noticed that you left." Stormwhisker nodded, and jumped down to the entrance. "Sunflame joined StarClan while you were gone." She said hesitantly. "Duskpaw didn't know what to do. He was coughing out blood, his fur was loosing color and falling out. His eyes were bleeding out. And even Duskpaw is feeling sick." Winterheart explained, "How dare you leave her alone? You know about the sickness, do you?" She asked, blocking the entrance, waiting for the medicine cat to speak. "Now I do, yes." He said, pushing his way through. Winterheart moved away so Silentpaw can come through. "Moonstat will appoint you a new mentor today, Silentpaw." She said.
As  Silentpaw walked into camp, glowing eyes from the shadows burned inti her pelt. She ran to the nursery, tears flowing down. "Silentpaw?!" Silvermist exclaimed, reaching over to Silentpaw. "I miss him so much!" Silvermist cried. "He wont even get to see his kits alive." She added sadly. They cried for a while, now and then talking about the honored Sunflame, Silentpaw's mentor, and Silvermist's mate.

Silentpaw padded over to the medicine den, the sun was sinking into the trees. She stopped to itch her wound, but Stormwhisker jumped out of the den and forced her leg down. "I can't loose you too," he whispered in her ear.  Silentpaw slowly nodded, and finally tore out of his strong hold. She headed towards the entrance of the den, but Stormwhisker again interrupted her. "No, Silentpaw!" He exclaimed. "I wont let you in here. Duskpaw has bloodcough, remember? I wont let you get sick too. Why don't head for the elders' den? Grunt just started a cool story I heard about." He suggested, shoeing her away from him. Silentpaw nodded again, and slowly stumbled over to the elders' den.
"An' then, I pounced onto dee badger's striped back, and clawed it like it never imagined! Oh, hey, Silentpaw! Neva seen you inna while!" Grunt said, as he licked her shoulder. "Hi, Silentpaw." Echopaw greeted sadly. "I....I wonder who your new mentor will be." She said. "Now, now, now, I'm sure Sunflame wouldn't want us to grieve for him, even though we miss him. He will always be a part of ThunderClan." Orchidshine said, calming down the apprentices. "Shutup! I wanna hear  dee rest of dee story!" Dragonflame hissed. He was the oldest, not to mention most mad, cat in the Clan.
"Okay, okay! So dee badger roared and jumped, forcing me off of it's teared back. I dived under it's paws, an' clawed it'n belly, but then............."
Silentpaw fell asleep of tiredness before she could hear another word from Grunt's mouth.
Please, she thought. Let Sunflame meet me in StarClan tonight.

Silentmelody's DreamWhere stories live. Discover now