WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| prologue

First, went the kits.

It was Lilyblossom first, from MudClan. The lithe, light brown tabby she-cat started with the terrible cough. It was not a pleasant noise to be heard from the nursery, of any place. Hazelberry's initial reaction was that she had contracted a small bout of coughing. It was only green-leaf, yet cats were already coughing? Hazelberry thought nothing of it, and sent her hardworking apprentice, Fennelpaw, to go and cure it. Fennelpaw was not as passive, however. He immediately moved the lithe tabby to the medicine cat's den to try and heal her. She died within in the next quarter-moon.

The entire nursery was sick with that... that... cough, the hacking and full-sounding cough. Lilyblossom claimed, before her death, that she had received the cough from someone at the Gathering she knew as Acorntail, a white and brown tom. They were known friends through the Clan, and Hazelberry thought nothing of it. She passed it off until the entire nursery was coughing and had foaming lips. Some even had progressed to the last stage, which included delirium. Those were other symptoms of the sickness, which did not have a name. Yes, names had been suggested, some of which included Foamed Mouth, Hacking Cough, Deathcough, Foamcough, and other interesting names, but all had been declined. 

The nursery was gone within a moon and a quarter.

Elders of MudClan had already contracted the sickness, and so had the other Clans. Every full-moon at the Gathering, each of the Clans had sent at least two sick cats, coughing and some even had the next stage with foaming mouths. Generally, cats had known what this sickness was by now, but everyone refused to believe it was bad. Only after most of the elders died, the nursery was empty, some of the warriors were dead, and the apprentices were lacking did they start to take some initiative. 

For example, PetalClan began using catmint, of which they had plenty. It didn't work. SquirrelClan wanted to just send the sick cats away altogether, in an abandoned twoleg nest. It was green-leaf after all, nearing leaf-fall. The sickness had been raging the Clans for nearly four moons now, and the Clans were dwindling already on cats. All four Clans had no kits, queens, elders, one had a medicine cat apprentice, and two had no deputy. They had seven or eight warriors, maybe nine, and two or three apprentices. The leaders were ordered to stay away from any sick cats, and the medicine cats were rarely ever in their dens. The warriors were told to quickly grab the herbs they were using to heal them and deliver them to the sick cats so they wouldn't risk contaminating themselves. 

Most cats had waves of grief on their shoulders by now, with everyone getting sick. Nobody knew what to do.

The leaders of the Clan had a meeting with their medicine cats on the very first moon of leaf-fall, or somewhere around there. Nobody really kept track of the time anymore, except the leaders and medicine cats. At the meeting, they discussed what to do. They did not come up with a plan, however. They argued. 

"We should send the currently sick cats away," declared Yellowstar, SquirrelClan's leader. "in order to contain the sickness. There is an abandoned twoleg nest near the edges of my territory. We can send them there."

"No." Robinstar, PineClan's leader, countered. "We cannot do that! Then they will just die out there!" At this, Lilybreeze - who was PineClan's medicine cat - nodded in agreement, and PetalClan's medicine cat - Adderflight - flicked his tail agreeably.

PetalClan's leader put in her opinion. "For StarClan's sake! We can't send them away. We just have to just find a cure!" Heatherstar meowed.

"There is no cure!" Lilybreeze snapped. "Heatherstar, you began using catmint, and even that did not cure it!"

This type of arguing went on for a few hours, and eventually the medicine cats agreed on something they hoped to StarClan their leaders would comply with.

"Everyone, stop arguing. We have something you might agree with," announced Hazelberry, MudClan's medicine cat. They listened; Heatherstar shut her mouth, Robinstar and Yellowstar stop glaring at each other, and Stonestar - MudClan's leader - flicked an ear.

"The medicine cats of each Clan will go out each quarter moon and consult StarClan, but only one medicine cat per quarter moon. I," meowed Shrewfoot, SquirrelClan's medicine cat, "will be going first. Then goes Lilybreeze, and then Hazelberry and Fennelpaw. After they go, Adderflight will go last."

"If StarClan provides us answers," Fennelpaw butted in excitedly, "they will be delivered straight to our leaders. If StarClan sees us suffering, they surely cannot leave us in the dark to die."

Heatherstar was immediately in on it, as was Robinstar. Yellowstar considered her choices, her green eyes calculating swiftly. Stonestar also looked interested, but his flattened ears seemed to not agree.

"Okay," Stonestar nodded, glancing at Yellowstar. The brown-red she-cat inclined her head.

"Then it will go into effect immediately!" Lilybreeze exclaimed.

The Clan cats left to their camps with an aura of hope surrounding them. In PetalClan's generous camp, everyone appeared excited. In Yellowstar's intelligent home, they all agreed that this plan would surely work. In Robinstar's Clan, the bouncy cats of PineClan were immediately jumping onto the plan and tackling it with anticipation. In MudClan, they shared a sense of silent happiness; StarClan could not ignore their calls any longer. Could they?

Well, it turns out StarClan can ignore them for a little longer.

None of the cats got answers and suddenly nobody had hope. No one knew what to do. It was a moon and a half into leaf-fall. Hope had been lost, like the rest of the elders and Fennelpaw, MudClan's medicine cat apprentice. The deputies had also died, and no new ones had been chosen. Hazelberry blamed StarClan for Fennelpaw's death, because, if they had cared, they would've spared the poor apprentice's life.

Soon, Hazelberry begrudgingly forgave StarClan, however they did not send any signs as she thought they would. Stonestar, the leader of MudCan, was reserved - like normal - in his thoughts about StarClan's silence, yet he was irritated. Why would they not answer for so long? Did they want the Clans to fall? Maybe they were testing them. But why would they take so many cats to do it? Only two of the Clans had one apprentice, and they had fewer and fewer warriors. MudClan was considered fairly good fighters and reserved in their thoughts, but Stonestar was finished with StarClan not helping them. No cat from MudClan received StarClan's words.

PineClan had different opinions. The bouncy and kind Clan had always believed strongly in StarClan, especially their leaders, deputies, and medicine cats. Robinstar believed the StarClan cats could not help them, for the mysterious cats in the sky did not even know how to cure it. However, Logbite, one of her warriors, was doubtful about her leader's opinion. Logbite had always been loyal and was not about to break this trend, but she was not believing in this spiel that her leader had come up with. Logbite would not say the words of faithlessness to anyone, however, in fear that she would be shamed. PineClan was split on opinions, and no one in PineClan got words of StarClan.

However, SquirrelClan tried to logically think about what could've happened to the mysterious StarClan. Their leader, Yellowstar, always took an intelligent way of thinking. Yellowstar believed they truly did not know a cure for this sickness, or they did and were waiting until something explosive happened between the Clans in order to tell them. One of her warriors, Mossheart, was curious as to why she thought this. StarClan surely could not keep this cure a secret for much longer, and they'd have to tell soon. Yellowstar explained to the mottled she-cat that the reason they could not tell was that nothing prophetic had happened. No one truly important had died - she was very sad when telling this part, to which she added on about deputies and medicine cat apprentices - and they cannot do anything about it. Nobody from SquirrelClan received StarClan's guidance.

Yet, Heatherstar believed differently. PetalClan had always been generous and quick-footed. Heatherstar believed that StarClan would not give them an answer due to everyone not believing strongly enough. Eventually, claimed Heatherstar, they'd tell the news of the cure to cats who believed very solidly that StarClan would tell them the cure and no doubt clouded their actions. Many cats had begun to be irritated and impatient with StarClan, who would not tell them a single thing, and this was the cause for the absence of StarClan's guidance. Cats in PetalClan believed steadily in this, and they thought that perhaps they'd be the first to receive words of StarClan. But they did not get it either.

This brings us to present.

And now, all they can hope for is a sign.