WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter twenty three

"There's camp..." muttered Sedgestorm. Flintpath nodded beside him, the hare in his jaws swinging as his head moved. Owlpaw thought the toms would've been happier. He was wrong.

Before Stonestar spoke, Hazelberry whisked her tail around the snowy ground.

"We're back at camp," Hazelberry announced, speaking through her bundle of herbs, "And it'll have to be cleared out. If we want to live here again, the snow will need to be removed. We'll remove the snow from my den first and my den will be rebuilt first," The medicine cat ordered, her gaze sweeping the snowy camp.

Sedgestorm frowned, picking at the camp wall; he could easily reach it with the snow so high.  "That'll take a long time... We need to build the camp walls first and dens too, we can't just leave them to be ruined while we clear snow." 

"Well, that's too bad. My den will be rebuilt first," she narrowed her eyes.

Flintpath's whiskers twitched irritably as he let out an accidental wheeze, "So you expect us to sleep in an unbuilt, ruined, cold clump of branches until your den is built?"

She smiled sweetly, giving a quick nod, "Yes."

Owlpaw glanced at Stonestar, desperation glittering in his warm, golden gaze. You can't just keep letting this happen! He thought, Stonestar, please? You're the leader! You can stop this! You can solve this problem! You're letting her take over your job, Stonestar... That's not okay. Don't you care?

Stonestar met Owlpaw's gaze. The leader's shadowed eyes darted away.

"Hazelberry, no," Stonestar whispered, voice wavering and quiet.

The medicine cat had already padded off into camp, tail raised as if motioning for them to follow her. Sedgestorm and Flintpath clustered closer to Owlpaw as if protecting him, their gazes razor-sharp and lit up. Stonestar looked nervously to where Hazelberry was padding away, whiskers quivering.

As she realized nobody was following, her head snapped around, spotting the four cats standing tall at the entrance. Confusion swirled in her gaze, though it disappeared a moment later as she realized they were not padding after her. Growling, she stalked back over. Her tail lashed crossly, her bright, irritated gaze surveying the cats.

"What's wrong with you all? Hurry up, my herbs are going to wilt!" snapped the medicine cat.

Owlpaw felt something swirl inside of him.

Sedgestorm narrowed his eyes.

Flintpath's gray fur rose.

Stonestar looked away, his gaze dark.

"Nothing," murmured Stonestar, nudging the cats forward, "Come on."

Hazelberry hissed something under her breath, quickly padding back to the center of camp.

Owlpaw felt fury flit inside of him, washing onto him like waves. He stalked forwards, irritation bright in his gaze. Gazing around camp, he began to clear away the snow.

After a brief moment, Stonestar, Sedgestorm, and Flintpath had joined him, slowly getting rid of the snow near the medicine cat's den. The camp wall was still threaded with snow and Hazelberry was inside of her den.

The hare was sitting at the entrance to the camp, which was finally cleared away of snow. Hazelberry's den, after a long time, was cleared of snow and rebuilt. The medicine cat had snapped at them to hurry up because she "was cold". Sedgestorm had growled and Flintpath had flattened his ears.

After that, the rest of the camp was cleared of snow. The camp walls were completely ridden of snow. In some places, the cats had needed to completely reposition the walls so they would stand up correctly. After being told by Hazelberry that the wall needed to be completely redone in one spot, Sedgestorm had left to gather branches and grasses. The edges of camp still had lumps and mounds of the chilly, white substance, but the four working cats did not care. Their bones ached. Their paws were clumped with snow and limp with exhaustion. Their minds were as numb as their legs.

The cats had not found Heronleap when they were clearing the snow and they did not find the prey buried with him.

Owlpaw stumbled away from the edge of camp, still not used to having firm ground beneath his now-tired paws. He glanced longingly at the hare, pangs of hunger shaking him. Looking around, he spotted Sedgestorm curled up at the entrance to the fallen warrior's den. Flintpath was staggering towards the hare. The apprentice padded towards the hare and snagged it between his jaws.

"Share," implored Flintpath, his gaze full of hunger and exhaustion. His body shook as he stood up unsteadily.

Stonestar was sitting next to Sedgestorm, his shoulders sagging and gaze as dark as the night sky above them.

Owlpaw hobbled over, barely able to stand. He laid the prey down in front of the two and Flintpath quickly wobbled over to sit down, paws dragging along the ground.

"You three can eat first," whispered Owlpaw, voice broken and raspy.

Sedgestorm lifted his head. The tom looked as if he was about to collapse of pure exhaustion. He took a grateful two bites and pushed it to Stonestar. The leader took three bites, though one was smaller than the rest. Flintpath finished it up in two bites. As Owlpaw watched, black spots pricked at the edges of his vision.

"Sorry..." wheezed Flintpath, his gaze truly apologetic despite his raspy, almost inaudible, tone. The apprentice faintly heard Hazelberry's angry pawsteps and her snappy tone beginning to approach and he felt as if he was more tired than the moment before.

Owlpaw barely nodded, staggering away, his entire being sagging with exhaustion and hunger. His paws shook as he lifted them and placed them down. Spotting the fallen apprentice's den, he wiggled his way under the branches, standing up unsteadily under the den. The branches flattened on his back and he weakly pushed some of them away into a little pile. His paws throbbed and he felt as if he could not move.

He collapsed, darkness washing over his vision and he felt his limbs go limp before feeling removed from the world.