Warrior Cats: Spider

Chapter Two

He had to get out of camp.

Seedscatter couldn't sleep anymore. It was the same dream, every time. And each time, he got closer and closer to being swallowed by the blackness. He couldn't remember the last time he had gotten any uninterrupted sleep.

Dozens of times, he had resorted to going to Shrewtoe for remedies. In a fit of reckless abandon, he had even snuck in to the medicine den and taken three poppy seeds, just to see if an extra dosage would cure what ailed him. All he had received in return was an entire day of grogginess and a cranky attitude that seemed to be set off by anything and everything.

"Owltail, take Beetlefang, Wheatfur, and Nutpaw out to hunt. Your choice of location." He flicked his tail in impatience, waiting for a sign from the party that they had heard him.

The three warriors shared an uncomfortable look. Seedscatter felt annoyance prickle in his fur. "Well?"

"Nutpaw... He's the medicine cat apprentice..." Owltail meowed after a while, realizing that her companions were not willing to speak up.

"Take the other one, then!" Seedscatter snapped, earning a wince from Owltail, who nodded and padded away, steps quick.

Seedscatter bit his tongue, which was dry and rough around the smooth walls of his mouth. He hadn't really meant to snap at the she-cat. His sleep-deprivation was really getting to him. He took a single deep breath in and let it out slowly, though it did nothing for his mood.

Seedscatter padded off, tail lashing in spite of himself. The fresh kill pile was still full from last night' extra parties; everyone was nervous about the drought. He picked up a skinny field mouse and stalked away to a half-eaten stump where termites had once made a home.

Looking at the tree trunk, savagely destroyed and rotting away, he was reminded bitterly of Silkkit.

She was still nursery-bound, and glossy blue eyes had already peeked through soft, white eyelids. They would take a few weeks to change to their true color, but relief still sat like a stone in Seedscatter's stomach.

As he pondered on this, another tom approached. Seedscatter watched through narrow eyes as Cloudleap padded over, his own white pelt groomed neatly. The tom had a friendly look on his face, but there was a wariness to his smile.

"Hey, Seedscatter!" He meowed, his perkiness faltering just a bit when he took in the brown tabby's expression. "Mind if I join you?"

Seedscatter breathed in deeply. He had to remain calm. He had to play nice. He was simply tired. Cloudleap had done nothing but show kindness to him. Exhale.

"Sure, you can have the rest of this," he meowed, his words careful. In truth, his stomach gave a loud protest, but he set aside the complaint for later.

Cloudleap offered up a grateful look before digging into the small morsel. Seedscatter felt a pang of empathy for the tom; his pelt, though carefully parted to seem healthy and smoothed out to seem glossy, was white, and, therefore, it was easy to see his ribs in their attempt to break through his skin. His gums were dry and his teeth flashed yellow as he chewed, and he winced as he bit down, as if pain wracked his jaws.

Cloudleap was sick.

Call it intuition, but Seedscatter was almost sure of it. He was no medicine cat. He had always been a worrier. But he also knew what illness looked like. However, he couldn't tell what exactly was wrong: whether Cloudleap hadn't been eating, or if he wasn't getting enough water or sleep. It wasn't that apparent to him.

Cloudleap was obviously going to great lengths to disguise it, however obvious it was to Seedscatter. He made a silent promise to himself and the tom wouldn't bring it up just yet, not unless he wasn't going to Shrewtoe for medical attention. He filed the observation away, just in case.

Cloudleap licked lips as he pulled away from the remains of the kill. "Thanks," he said quickly. Seedscatter only nodded in return, not trusting himself to speak.

"But I didn't come over to steal your breakfast," Cloudleap stated sincerely.

"I figured as much," Seedscatter said blankly.

"Goosewing is worried about you. You don't come around to check on her anymore. She misses you. The kits miss you. Even I miss your snarky remarks from time to time." Cloudleap let out a laugh that quickly turned nervous, as if he was worried he had stepped on his companion's tail.

Seedscatter let him speak, not interrupting once, though he had had to hold back a wince when the kits were mentioned.

"Will you visit her just this once?" He didn't need to add it, but Seedscatter had a feeling that he wanted to ease Goosewing's misery at least one more time.

Dread creeping into his stomach, Seedscatter nodded.

The nursery was just an overhanging loft in the barn, filled with soft hay and feathers that had been collected over the moons. Corn husks spilled out of cracks in the wood, effectively sealing out the cold air and keeping the second floor comfortably warm. To prevent injuries, kits were taught from the moment they took their first steps to avoid the ledge, though straw was piled at the base to avoid catastrophe. A set of very old, very unstable stairs led up to the balcony, adding another border between young kits and an untimely flight from the nest.

As Seedscatter climbed his way up to the nursery, he felt his fear scent spiking. He had already gone to great lengths to disguise it, and was nearly sure that there wasn't any way to distinguish it from the moldy, milky scents of the barn.

The barn itself served many purposes, actually. It provided a den for the leader and the elders, as well as a meeting place for cats to share the news of the day. There were extra stalls for the loners that passed through, conveniently located far from the clan's dens. Had there been room, warriors would sleep inside, too, but there were far too many of them to all fit in such a small space. Instead, they made their nests under the massive, twisting roots of an ancient sassafras tree.

As for prey, mice had long since moved on from their homes in the degrading wood, unfortunately. They still crept among the crevices of the old silo, but that was off limits, except to the medicine cat. The holes in the roof of the tall metal structure provided an excellent view of Silver Pelt, and worked perfectly as a link to StarClan, even if the place would topple to the earth in a strong gust of wind.

A creak in the steps signaled his arrival and the tom was greeted by a loud call of "Seedscatter!" Maplekit, her tiny body maneuvering clumsily through the hay, was the first to reach him. Her white fur, patched with all assortments of reds and blacks, was messy from what Seedscatter could only assume was a game of cornhusk.

Off to the far side of the loft, Windkit batted at the very object of their game, his huge paws easily keeping the husk in the air. But when he heard his uncle's name, the game was forgotten, and he bounded over, if a little easier, to touch noses with the larger cat.

Seedscatter had to apply a lot of will to keep from recoiling. He bent down, breathing hitched, and gently bopped his own nose to his nephew's little pink one. Windkit seemed to remain oblivious enough, though he looked a bit curious at Seedscatter's hesitation.

The big brown tom froze. There were three: Maplekit, Windkit, and...

"Goosewing, cut it out! I wanna go see Uncle Seedscatter, too!"

A hiss broke through Seedscatter's defences, and all eyes were immediately on him.

"Feather in my paw pad. You, uh, know how sharp the ends of those things can be!" He laughed nervously, shuffling his paws in what he hoped was a convincing way of throwing them off of his trail.

Maplekit was the first to break the silence. "Seedscatter is scared of a feather?" She asked, her voice incredulous.

Windkit giggled, and the action was soon picked up by the rest of the litter. Goosewing even had a laughing glint to her copper eyes.

Seedscatter remained silent.