Warriors: The Fading Light ~Series 1 Book 5~

Chapter 20

Stormflame's POV:

To Stormflame's relief, his dreams were left untouched and stayed nice and blank. For once in quite a few days, he slept peacefully.

When Stormflame awoke he saw Silverstar, Dawnheart, Clearlight and Nutwhisker talking. Morning sunlight shone into the den as Watersplash and Shinepaw stood by the herb store. Watersplash seemed to be teaching Shinepaw the different herbs and their uses.

Stormflame raised his head and pricked his ears to try and pick up what Silverstar was saying. "-So Starclan is saving us by blocking us? I find that hard to believe."

Nutwhisker lashed his tail, "I know how you feel, but this is what Lightstar said. I cannot go against her word."

It looked like Clearlight had fresh battle wounds of some sort. Fatigue shone from the grey tom's blue eyes but he held his head high. Has he been in a battle? Stormflame wondered with narrowed eyes.

"Nevermind Starclan. We must sort out Magiclan. We cannot allow them to think we have accepted defeat!" Clearlight growled and unsheathed his claws, sinking them deep into the soil in the medicine den.

Stormflame wondered why they were having their meeting in here and not the Hightree, but then he remembered that Silverstar was confined to the medicine den due to whitecough.

"Oh! Stormflame you're awake!" Silverstar's cheerful voice pulled Stormflame from his thoughts and he looked up to see everyone looking at him.

"Uh, yeah." Stormflame sat up in his nest and stretched. "What are you talking about?"

Silverstar opened her jaws to reply but Nutwhisker held his tail up to stop her. "Wait a second. I need to check him. Greencough can change very rapidly." The brown tabby medicine cat approached Stormflame and held his ear against his chest. Nutwhisker sighed, "Still wheezing." Then he raised his head and examined Stormflame's eyes and muzzle. "Eyes watering a little... Running nose too."

"Yep," Nutwhisker concluded. "Stormflame's greencough hasn't gotten better. If anything I think his breathing is a little bit abnormal..." He got up and padded back to his place in between Silverstar and Clearlight and gestured with his tail for Stormflame to join them. "Come join us. But stay away from Clearlight and Dawnheart, you don't want them getting sick too."

"Ok." Stormflame shrugged and shuffled over to Silverstar where he sat down beside her. "So what are we talking about?"

"Two things actually," Dawnheart meowed, her voice soft. "Starclan abandoning us and Magiclan attacking."

"Magiclan is attacking?" Stormflame totally ignored the Starclan part and without thinking, he focused on Magiclan.

"They ambushed my border patrol earlier. They took a strip of our territory.. and.. killed Demonpelt." Clearlight grumbled and swept his thick grey tail across the ground anxiously.

"But Demonpelt is our best fighter! It's nearly impossible to beat her! Who killed her? I'll tear their eyes out!" Stormflame gushed with bared teeth. He was about to talk again but a chesty cough erupted from him and he spent a few heartbeats trying to catch his breath. This gave Nutwhisker time to intervene.

"Nevermind Magiclan, we can sort that later. Right now we need to discuss Starclan." Nutwhisker growled, "They abandoned us. It's not right, this is unheard of."

Watersplash spoke up from the herb store, "Perhaps the other clans have been blocked too?"

"No. Remember at the gathering? The other medicine cats didn't act like they had dreamed of nothing." Nutwhisker meowed skeptically, "It's only Lightclan that has been affected."