Ashleap's Fall

Rustic

Brownkit and I sit by the edge of my den until the rest of the clan gets up, sometimes.
Other times, he'll curl around me and I don't wake up until far later than the rest of the clan. This is what they meant when they said medicine cats shouldn't mate, I suppose. Having a family is one of the greatest things that ever happened to me, but even with a kit who needs little maintenance, he's quite the strain on my day.

Infernotail is far from being a fan of my poor kit, to make things worse. No matter what the situation, he's always grumbling or growling at Brownkit, who usually takes it in stride.

Today, he completely ignores him and bumps him out of the way to get to me. "Ashleap." he hisses. "We're out of tansy, cobweb, and mouse bile again."
"We are?" I ask, pacing after Brownkit. The stores were full last I checked. I might have missed a few days between returning here again. Sometimes it happens.

"Yes. If you weren't paying attention to the kit so much, you might have noticed by now." he says, knocking the kit away again. Brownkit mews this time, quite loudly, and I shoot Infernotail a warning glance as I walk to pick him up.

"You can leave him with Pyrewing. We need to go get herbs." Infernotail scoots past me, fast for a cat lugging around such a heavy cast on his back leg.

"Pyrewing is the deputy. He's busy." I tell him.

"I suppose the little mousebrain will have to fend for himself." he snaps, not taking 'no' for an answer.

"I'm not a mousebrain!" insists Brownkit.

"No, you aren't." I tell him, nudging Infernotail forcefully as I walk past him. "You be good, alright? The other warriors will take good care of you."

Brownkit nods forcefully, almost falling over as he does so. I purr with amusement and turn to leave. Infernotail snaps, "Come on, then." A little resentfully, I follow his lead and exit into the forest.

He limps along at a pace that equals my own, dragging his broken leg over the dirt over and over again, stirring the earth. His narrowed eyes focus on the horizon, leading us back out of the old forest and onto a hill littered with wildflowers. Something burns in my throat, something cold and disgusting. I look back towards the edge of the forest, down to where the land gives way and the cliff where Knottedstar told me about our history.

My thoughts return to Jetpaw, his foxlike demeanor in the darkness. How much of that was real and how much did I make up?

Luckily, Infernoleap pulls me away as he brushes his fur against mine. I find the landscape has changed and we've already walked halfway down the hill without me noticing. Something about his touch is ardent, so much more powerful than the lukewarm comfort of anyone back in my own time.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Cobwebs." he tells me. "Thought we'd try the wheatfield."

I nod, though I have no idea what he's talking about until I look up and see an endless expanse full of golden grass three times my height before us, swaying ever so slightly for an almost waterlike effect.

He dives in and I follow, guided only by his tail and the continuous scraping noise his dragging leg makes. We finally emerge into somewhat of a clearing.The sky is cut into pieces by golden wheat and massive, oddly shaped twoleg stones that look vaguely like old monster parts.

Infernotail stares blankly at me. His fur is the dark color of the rust festering on the huge twoleg rocks. "Well?"

I remember abruptly that he's angry at me, probably for replacing him with a kit. "We should gather the cobwebs and go home." I snap. "You need to stop guilt tripping me."

"Something's wrong with you these days. You hardly seem like the cat I once knew." he sniffs the air and looks away, as if to shun me without wasting the physical energy needed to do so.

"I suppose there is..." I tell him, "Though it's not even close to whatever's wrong with you. You can't seriously be jealous of a kit, can you?"

He snorts, picking the cobwebs off the old twoleg stones with a reproachful leer backwards.

***

The dawn patrol is just Cherrypaw, Crowpaw, Sunshade and I. It's small and full of young cats, which is unusual for such an important patrol, but the warriors seem far more tired than usual. As we pace the vast expanse of the clans, Sunshade stops to mark a border and I assist her, spreading my scent across the bushes and almost masking the disgusting scent beyond it.

"LionClan." Cherrypaw hisses. "Thank StarClan they're not around."

"There are far greater threats at the moment. For example, BrightClan lies beyond LionClan's territory. While we don't have direct access, they still managed to slink in and out to talk with Titanfoot, possibly by heavy scent concealing."

"BrightClan, huh? They still haven't come after their kits yet." Crowpaw says. "It's almost like..."

"They don't care." Cherrypaw finishes.

"That's because they don't." Her mentor, Sunshade snaps. "They wouldn't care unless it directly threatened their survival, and right now the only thing that threatens them..." Her claws unsheathe as she bends down. "Is us."

All of us take a second to watch the border, but no shadowy cats spring from the bushes to attack. Outside of our scents, everything else is stale. I get the notion that few clans care much about their borders. DragonClan only guards the west and the east, after all, most of the north is uninhabited, sacred ground.

"While we're out here, we might as well sweep the other borders in this area." Sunshade sighs, walking away from the LionClan border uneasily.

"What's wrong? You said it yourself. There's no scent here." I tell her, more than a little concerned.

She keeps padding along, picking up the pace a bit and leaving Cherrypaw to stumble along behind us. "That's the problem. They're planning something. I know it!"
"We can't base attacks on a hunch." Crowpaw says, helping Cherrypaw along. Her eyes are gold pools of moonlight, even in midday, and she looks far away as the moon is. "I still can't believe that someone would abandon their kits like that."

"Fear makes cats do terrible things." I tell her, certain examples on my mind, not the least of which is my own behavior.

Sunshade pauses, sniffing the air. I lift my own nose. Hidden amongst the forest's smell and the fresh scent of prey is a subdued scent of otherness. The other clan hasn't marked their territory in a long time."

"This one is FeatherClan's, right?" I say, the pungent smell unfamiliar and unwelcome.

"They haven't marked it at all, yet there's something... strong." Cherrypaw says, walking towards the edge with curiosity gleaming in her eyes.

"That's cat-scent. Someone's in the bushes." Sunshade hisses, pulling Cherrypaw away. "Everyone, on your guard!"

No patrol appears, though the bushes continue to rustle. The sounds grow faint, indicating our enemy is walking away. I poke my head close to the bushes to get a closer look.

I can see him across the border. His dark fur is already tinted with their smell.

Jetpaw looks back into my eyes and shakes his head slowly. His mouth forms a quick word: "Later."
I pull away, the others looking on with anticipation.

"Who was it?" asks Cherrypaw.

"Just a FeatherClan warrior. They won't be bothering us anyways." I tell them.

"Thank StarClan." Crowpaw says. "For a second there, I thought you saw something interesting!"

((Early late update! I'm going to attempt the fabled double update today, though the Second Chances chapter promises to be FAR longer. Sorry for the wait on this one!))