WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter thirteen

Owlpaw woke up to a strangely white, bright light leaking into his den. Blinking his golden eyes, he looked up, and suddenly a sinking feeling seemed to drag the whole world down.

A layer of pristine white covered the ground. It had been rather cold that night, the numbing air racing excitedly around the camp and peeking into the dens curiously. It had particularly taken a liking to Owlpaw, curling around him and providing cold warmth. The apprentice was sure he could've heard raindrops before he'd slept, but he wasn't exactly sure.

Now, it was truly leaf-bare. Owlpaw groomed his dark brown fur, hoping to warm himself up a little before he went into the snowy world outside. After he'd finished, he got up, fluffing up his fur, and he left the den.

The sun hung on the horizon, seemingly stuck and unwilling to move. Its warmthless, pale light reflected off of the layer of fluffy snow, making the pristine white glitter brightly. The sky was cloudless, leaving the dreary blue sky with no protection. Owlpaw glanced at the fresh-kill pile, and spotted a snow-covered mouse and a rabbit.

With a swift movement, he raced across the snow, throwing it up in his tracks. He sunk in quickly, and he soon realized it was deeper than he had expected. Shaking his head, he continued trudging through the white snow. After what seemed like forever, he came upon the prey pile. He cleared away the snow that surrounded the pile, and he gently lifted each piece of prey up to shake off the snow. He wanted to take a piece, but he knew that more prey would come soon, and someone else would probably be more hungry than him.

Scenting the air to see if any hunting patrols were out, he smelled fresh snow and his scent. Nobody else was awake. He sighed, not really wanting to go hunting all by himself. Again.

Then, his mentor exited the warrior's den. Busying himself with the prey pile, he heard Sedgestorm come over.

"Awake already?" Sedgestorm asked.

"Clearly," Owlpaw murmured, pretending to finish up with clearing snow away.

Sedgestorm sat down near him, where there wasn't any snow, meowing, "Well, let's first clear away some more snow, then we'll go check the borders and do some hunting."

"Well, okay," Owlpaw muttered, standing up. Soon enough, they began to shove the snow out of the camp. The apprentice would pick up a little bit of snow and shove it near Sedgestorm, who would shuffle out of camp and push it away. The clearing, little by little, soon had little pieces of snow. Sedgestorm had claimed it was to let everyone know it had snowed. But Owlpaw shoved it out of camp anyway.

Despite the frozen earth below his paws, he felt warmer than he had earlier. The exercise had warmed him up a bit, but his ears were still flattened as if it would make him warmer. Shivering, he licked his paw and drew it over his now-perked ear.

"Come on, we're going to check borders and do some hunting."

Sedgestorm's voice broke into his thoughts and his yellow-golden gaze switched over to see the tom at the entrance to the camp. He padded over, following Sedgestorm out of camp. They maneuvered around the cold snow, picking their way through it. The apprentice felt like his paws were freezing off, yet he continued along. He couldn't stop and ask to go back. That would be kit-like. 

He jumped over a frozen, snow-covered tussock of grass. Sedgestorm was leading him to the SquirrelClan borders. As he breathed out a sigh of relief, a cloud of warm breath puffed in his face. It was a good thing they weren't going to the PineClan border... He couldn't deal with the prey-stealers right now. They needed to confront them at the Gathering, not at another border spat. Huffing, he realized they'd reached the border.

Skidding to a stop in front of it, his golden-yellow eyes trained on Sedgestorm, he watched as he flicked his tail and scented the air. He padded off in the other direction, his ear twitching as if to signal to meet back here when he was done.

Owlpaw walked off in the other direction, beginning to mark the borders. He scented the air, catching a few stale cat scents. Guessing that they were probably going to mark the borders sometime today, he opened his mouth to drink in the scents of the world around him. Catching the smell of stale cats, he shrugged, picking his way over lumps of snow to mark the borders.

Fresh cat scent washed over him. Backing away from the border, his gaze traveling along the border. Drinking in the scents again, he caught fresh cat scent, stronger than before.

"Hello?" 

A dark brown, mottled she-cat stepped out to meet him, followed by a  brown-and-white tom with tabby stripes. Owlpaw drew himself up to his full height, his neck fur rising. Forcing it down, he mewed a polite greeting.

"Hello, Talondust and Mossheart," Inclining his head, he continued, "What brings you here?"

Mossheart flicked her mottled, dark brown tail back and forth. "Marking borders. What about you?" Her eyes were critical, surveying the apprentice up and down. Talondust looked tired beside her, his eyes shadowed and his fur ungroomed. What could've happened? Maybe... Yellowstar was sick...?

Completely forgetting about Whitepaw, he answered, "Marking borders."

"By yourself?" Talondust cut in, curiosity brightening his eyes for a moment, darkening as Owlpaw replied.

"Of course not. Sedgestorm is over there."

Then, in a split second, Talondust raced off, his pelt ruffled as the pristine white snow was thrown up in his tracks. A small pile of snow was tossed at Mossheart's paws. He noticed her claws were unsheathed. Her eyes became shadowed, her fur raising defensively. Her gaze seemed to slice right through Owlpaw, and he flinched under her gaze.

"Excuse him," she muttered, adding a few things too that Owlpaw couldn't hear. 

"Oh...? What did you say?" He pricked an ear, straining to hear the quiet, mumbly tone that Mossheart was speaking in. "Repeat that..?" Whiskers twitching, he waited for her to speak.

With an irritated hiss, she followed Talondust, her gaze sharp and furious.

What is going on? Did something happen?

Owlpaw lashed his tail. After a bit, Sedgestorm padded up to Owlpaw and mewed something in a brisk tone.

"Come on. We're going back."

Confusion flashed in his golden-yellow gaze. "What..? Why?"

"Do some hunting. Meet me at camp. The Gathering is tomorrow, so get some sleep."

Owlpaw began to protest, but Sedgestorm sprinted off, snow clouding up in his tracks.