WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter nineteen

A long, uncertain, nervous silence filled the den.

"Hazelberry, that shouldn't matter," Owlpaw mewed, unsure of whether or not it was his place to speak up, "As a Clan cat, we try to help all the Clans... and now, more than ever, because of the sickness. I thought, you, as a medicine cat would be wanting to save all cats..."

Stonestar's gaze was studying the ground. He didn't speak up.

"But it would be better for the Clan," Hazelberry protested, her voice strong and confident, "If we cured ourselves before the other Clans, we could wait till the Gathering - hopefully we will have found the cure by then - and then tell them."

Owlpaw scuffed his paw, irritated, against the ground of the den. "But it'll take even longer for the sicker cats of the other Clans to be healed, and then we still have to survive the entirety of leaf-bare after we survive the sickness. Plus, we won't be as strong as the other Clans..."

Hazelberry narrowed her eyes at him, and he shrunk nervously under her gaze.

Is she mad at me, or simply just fighting for her point? He asked himself, and to his disappointment, he could not answer the question.

"Think how much higher everyone would think of us if we single-pawedly cured it!" She exclaimed, unsheathing her claws and leaping up. She scored marks on the ground, pointing to certain points, seemingly not really trying to show anything.

She pointed at a small circle, "Look, look! If we cure it and tell only one Clan, they'll claim they thought of the cure because 'Oh, MudClan's too quiet to stand up to us!' and then they'll take all the responsibility. If we tell all Clans, they will all try to take responsibility and that'll end in battles! Therefore, we keep it to ourselves, come to the Gathering all cured, and then tell them what the cure is."

"But-!" Hazelberry glared at him, silencing him.

She turned to Stonestar, who had stayed quiet the whole time. Her gaze was bright and almost convincing, her voice smooth and completely full of confidence. Owlpaw thought he saw a predatory light shimmering in their depths.

"What do you think, Stonestar?"

As the exhaling sigh left Stonestar, Owlpaw seemed as if he could not let go of his breath.

"You're right. We will keep this quiet."

•~•~•~•

Waking up to a faint, pale, white light leaking into the den, Owlpaw fluffed out his fur against the frigid wind that was swirling into the apprentice's den.

The apprentice's den was always cold since Owlpaw was the only one in the den, but today seemed really cold... He wasn't sure why. Confusion flitting inside of him, he stood up, and shock pulsed inside of him.

It'd snowed before, but never this much.

The pristine snow was piling up at the entrance of the den, slightly trailing into the den. Staring up at the wall of snow, he pawed lightly at the white substance. It instantly fell onto him and he leaped backward, a hiss escaping him. Trying to judge the size of the snow, he bunched his muscles, looking at the snow.

Jumping up and over the snow, he launched himself out of the apprentice's den. Watching as the snow fell into the den, he sighed, as he sunk lower into the white, pristine snow outside.

Carefully padding his way to the fresh-kill pile, he peeked over the mound of snow that was slightly raised above the rest of the snow. He began to dig it out, hoping to find some prey underneath the ridiculous amount of snow.

A tuft of brown fur stuck out from the snow, and he tossed a few more chunks of snow away, finally clearing away the fresh-kill pile. A small mouse and a hare lay on the flat, cold ground. Nudging both pieces, he flinched away. They were freezing cold and seemed stale.

His claws were caked with snow, each crevice between each claw filled with the chilly substance. Licking his paw and drawing it lightly over his ear, he stood up, slowly clearing away a bit more of the snow in the camp before trotting out of camp. 

Instantly, he slid across the icy, firm snow. It had hardened, unlike the fluffier snow in camp. His ears flicking, he attempted to steady himself. Unsheathing his claws and inching his way along the snow, he spotted a hare pecking at the tip of a rock that was sticking out of the snow.

Unsteadily, he crept towards it, his tail lashing as he slid towards the creature. Hurriedly bunching his muscles, he leaped for it, crashing into the rock. Falling down into the snow and right onto the hare, he crushed it in the snow. Hearing its faint, snuffling cries die out, he stood up and carefully balanced on the snow.

Reaching down and picking up the hare, he sniffed the air, not catching any other scents. 

He flicked his tail, deciding to look for something else. Prowling around, he found himself quite far from the camp when he spotted a tiny shrew that was scuffling around in the snow. Dropping the hare, he realized he had just accidentally alerted the shrew.

Sliding towards it with great speed, it began to sprint away from him. He leaped for it and over calculated his jump, slipping past the shrew.

The shrew, he saw, was falling into the same issue as he. While letting out terrified yelps, it glided down towards Owlpaw. He clawed his way towards it, stretching to nip its neck. Getting up, he padded carefully towards his hare and stared down at it. The entire body of it was covered in frost as if it had suddenly gotten colder. It was slowly sinking into the snow.

Glancing up, his golden, warm eyes instantly darkened. The sky was dark, cloudy, and ominous. 

Small, white flakes were falling from the sky, though it looked as if it were going to snow. A lot.

Grabbing the hare, he sprinted back to camp as fast as he could.