WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter three

Owlpaw woke up. Blinking, he found himself watching the MudClan camp from above. He strode through the entrance, golden eyes brewing a confused storm, and nobody noticed him.

"What in StarClan's name is going on?" he asked, but nobody came out of the dens. Nobody answered. Shuffling his paws curiously, he glanced around with perplexed golden eyes. The wind whistled by him, carrying whispers that the grasses of the hills enjoyed hearing the gossips of each Clan.

He wandered around camp, not daring to look into any of the dens. If everyone was just asleep and hadn't heard him, cats would've been very upset to be woken by a curious apprentice. Boring of pacing the camp, he sat down near the entrance, his tail curling over his paws. Maybe something would happen now, perhaps something he'd missed before.

Then, a voice. "Sparrowfeather!"

A dark gray tom exited the warrior's den, and he flicked his tail, heading over to the gray-and-white she-cat who had called his name. He purred, nuzzling her, and the she-cat returned the favor graciously.

"I was told we needed to go on patrol," the she-cat meowed, her voice slightly scratchy - from coughing, it seemed, "Liontooth would've come, but he was concerned about Briarsplash. He said that Hazelberry mentioned about Briarsplash's kit is getting a little restless."

"Really? Oh, I'm going to have a younger sibling!" The tom named Sparrowfeather exclaimed excitedly.

"I already have a younger sibling," the she-cat purred.

Sparrowfeather rolled his eyes, amusement flickering in his eyes, and he coughed briefly. "I wasn't talking about you, Wrensong. Now we better be going on that patrol, otherwise, Liontooth will be shouting at us that he would've rather gone instead 'those two lazy furballs'!"

The two siblings padded to the camp entrance. They both seemed to glance in Owlpaw's direction, but they continued on and left, tails flicking excitedly and coughs echoing from the two.

Owlpaw's golden eyes trailed after them as the left. He nearly leaped up and raced after the twosome. Those were his siblings... The two cats he'd always wished he'd met, he finally just saw. No, he did not speak to him, but he saw them. He saw them!

The very next moment he seemed to grow tired. He slumped against the ground, his eyes closing. Darkness engulfed him as he seemed locked away, unable to do anything. Then, he awoke again, but now he lay in the medicine cat's den.

Mouse-dung. What happened?

He got up, inquiry rushing through him, but no hot pain flashed through him like he thought would've happened. No aches jumped at him, and he felt okay. Though the air smelled sickly, and the overwhelming scent of lavender surrounded him. It wreathed around him until he finally noticed an underlying smell of death.

No, no, no! StarClan, why are you showing me this?

He already heard coughing echoing around him. He flicked his tail nervously and turned his head to spot two cats sitting in nests. One had a gray-and-white pelt and the other a dark gray.

"Sparrowfeather, Wrensong...!" he whispered, staggering to them and looking them both in the eyes. Neither answered.

The apprentice sat down near them. "Oh, no... No!" Sparrowfeather coughed again, his body shaking. "Sparrowfeather, no! Wrensong, no, no!"

Wrensong seemed to look weaker and weaker by the moment. Her breathing grew quicker and more ragged. She was in pain, her breathing wheezy and strangled sounding. Wrensong's eyes grew horrified briefly, and then contented and joyful. She reached weakly forwards, nuzzling Owlpaw, and her head fell to the ground with a thump.

"Wrensong!"

Owlpaw wailed, his golden eyes wide with distress. "Wrensong, no! Wrensong! Wrensong!"

He stopped as Sparrowfeather turned his head to see his sister. He nudged her, murmuring something scratchily, but she didn't move. His ears flattened and he nudged her again, more harshly.

"No..." he whispered, blinking over and over again.

Owlpaw watched as his brother grew troubled as he finally realized he would never see his sister bounce around again. Never smell her fresh scent in the nest next to his, never speak to her again, never hear her voice drifting from the camp to his ears. Never race with her across the plains, never compete for the most prey and win or lose.

Sparrowfeather lay his head on his paws, squeezing his eyes shut swiftly. Clenching his jaw, he refused to let the droplets of anguish fall from his eyes. It didn't work.

After a while, Owlpaw felt himself drifting away slowly like something was taking him over. He jerked his head up and he looked at Sparrowfeather, who had a similar look in his eyes that Wrensong had a few hours ago.

Staring at his brother, he observed his flanks rising slower and slower by the moment. Oh no...

Sparrowfeather's eyes sparked brightly for a moment. He murmured, "Oh..." and stared Owlpaw in the eyes. The dark gray tom's eyes grew dull again, the flame of luminescence from before gone. Sparrowfeather gently put his paw on top of Owlpaw's, and then it pulled back, his eyes closing.

"Sparrowfeather..."

Owlpaw looked at both of his siblings, who had moved on. He got up, his face wet. Shaking out his fur, he turned around to leave. His siblings just died in front of his two golden eyes. The only thing he wondered - briefly, for he was unable to answer it - was why?

But he heard a noise behind him. Turning around, he saw starry shapes of two cats.

"Wrensong? Sparrowfeather?"

They both smiled. "Yes, Owlpaw." Wrensong meowed, and Sparrowfeather added;

"It's us."

"Oh...! I, I..." Owlpaw exclaimed, running up to the twosome. Emotions quickly leaped up inside of the apprentice, his golden eyes wide and bright at the prospect of talking to his siblings. But, the very next second, they disappeared. "W-what?"

Then, he was suddenly flashed through so many things. A she-cat howling flashed through his vision, and a small purr rose from behind him. He could not speak nor move. Then, he was thrown around again, swallowed up by darkness. Stoniness surrounded him, and he heard coughing. Not again. The noise faded away, and it was replaced by many imprecise voices, yet some held traces of ambition. He tried to open his eyes when everything seemed to grow slower, and slower until it all ceased and he lay still.

Befuddled, he opened his golden eyes. He was in the apprentice's den in MudClan's camp.

What?

He got up, and he licked his chest fur self consciously. What had just happened? Why would StarClan show him this? Especially now? Did this have to do with what Stonestar had told the Clan last night? What message were they trying to get across to him?

Well, StarClan, whatever you are trying to show me, I don't understand.

He thought, briefly irritated, hoping that they heard him. Maybe it was just letting him know how his siblings came to an end. He never thought StarClan would've shown him that.

They were just showing me what happened to my siblings. They were mentioned last night in Stonestar's speech, along with my parents, so StarClan found it fit to show me them.

He felt agitated. He just watched his siblings die in front of him and he couldn't do anything about them. Nothing at all. They both had spoken to him, but before he could say anything truly meaningful to them they had disappeared.

Why would they show him them dying, talking to him, and then take them away from him? He was just close enough to have brushed their fur when they... they just seemed to disappear.He swallowed, blinking his glittering golden eyes.

I must be strong for my Clanmates. The thought echoed in his head.

For Sparrowfeather and Wrensong.