WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter thirty one

A deadly cold silence settled over the cats.

Owlpaw looked at Sedgestorm and Flintpath, gaze dark.

This was not part of the plan.

Shock pulsed inside of him for a moment as he realized what was really going on. It was soon replaced by anger.

She did this so she could be a leader! No! Hazelberry will not lead RoseClan!

He leaped to his paws, dark brown fur bristling.

"No!" he yowled, "This was not part of the plan! She said that we would decide together on the leader but now she's lying!"

Hazelberry looked sternly down at him, "Owlpaw, that is not appropriate. You know that's what we decided on."

Owlpaw flashed a pleading look at Sedgestorm and then Flintpath.

"Hazelberry, he's right," Sedgestorm stood up.

"You never said you'd be Hazelstar, and I certainly do not agree with that," added Flintpath.

Hazelberry glowered down at them. She rose to her paws, tortoiseshell pelt rippling furiously. She seemed to hold the very being of anger within her.

"You idiots cannot hear," she spat, each word laced with venom, "I said that I would lead, not we'd decide. Now, RoseClan, get these fox-dunged idiots out if they don't want me as their leader. I'm Hazelstar now," she announced loudly, tail lashing furiously.

The cats of newly-formed RoseClan glanced suspiciously at each other. It was quiet for a few moments.

"Get out," meowed Robinstar, voice completely even.

"You are not welcome in RoseClan," added Duckfrost.

Lilybreeze and Shrewfoot chipped in, "You don't seem like a good leader."

Mossheart murmured quietly, "I don't want you as my leader."

Hazelberry looked astonished as if this was not in her foreseen plans. She scoffed and shook her head, almost to herself. Owlpaw watched as she launched herself off the branch, her gaze sharp. She stood in front of the cats, drawing herself to her full height.

"Now, now, RoseClan needs a good leader, and we all know Stonestar is incapable of leading. I highly doubt you'd want an incompetent, weak loser for your leader. Robinstar is much too flat and Yellowstar is just too strict. And... you know, Heatherstar is dead, so she can't lead," she laughed, "And none of the medicine cats know how to lead like I do. The warriors are incapable of anything, including the dead ones!" She was thrown into a fit of laughter, acting as if it was the funniest thing she had ever heard.

"Get out!" Robinstar had risen to her paws. Her mottled gray fur rippled as she unsheathed her claws and twitched her tail, "I said, get out!"

Hazelberry stumbled backward, "Woah... Woah, calm down there, kitty," she purred. Duckfrost had stalked forward and Mossheart, Finchtuft, and Talondust paced around her. Yellowstar had planted herself firmly next to Duckfrost. Sedgestorm and Flintpath had stood up and glowered down at her, while Stonestar sat nearby, gaze dark. Owlpaw, unsure of what to do, stood up.

"I-I'm sorry?" Hazelberry stammered, looking nervous for the first time ever, "I didn't do anything, I'm just... your leader..."

"Get out or we will force you out," Robinstar said firmly, gaze sharp as ice. She lifted a paw. Her long, curved, sharp-edged claws were unsheathed.

"I-I...!" Hazelberry yelped as Robinstar struck her across the cheek. It tore the skin and started to bleed, soaking her tortoiseshell fur. The medicine cat screamed, "Traitor! Get her, RoseClan!"

Stonestar soared over the cat's heads and landed squarely on Hazelberry. He pinned her to the ground, lips drawn back in a snarl as he unsheathed his claws, sinking them into her shoulders.

"Stonestar, I thought we were f-friends..." stuttered Hazelberry. The wind was clearly knocked out of her as she continued anxiously, "Don't hurt me... please? I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

The plain gray tom smiled, "For all that you've done to me? No. I will make sure that you get out of here, by my claws or StarClan's."

Stonestar's gaze suddenly lit up as he reared up and scored his claws across her belly. The medicine cat instantly convulsed and screeched, her soft, plumy belly fur quickly becoming stained with dark crimson blood. She yowled in agony again. Clearly, the she-cat did not have a high pain tolerance. Wailing, she tried to push back at him, but Owlpaw could tell she was in too much pain to do hardly anything against her attackers.

Stonestar clawed at her as Duckfrost slashed at her paws. Yellowstar had approached and given her a long scar down her side and a few others had joined in with the slashing at her body. Sedgestorm and Flintpath even had given her a bite to remember.

Owlpaw watched, horrified. Hazelberry was a terrible cat, but nobody deserved this.

"Stop!" he exclaimed.

Everyone shared a baffled look.

"Excuse me?" Stonestar whipped around, "You want this pitiful excuse of a cat to live?"

"No," replied Owlpaw instantly, "but I just... I know she's terrible. She doesn't deserve RoseClan. But nobody deserves... deserves that."

He motioned at her slashed paws, weak legs, soaking-red belly, and her terrified, agonized expression.

"Oh, so just put her out of her misery," clarified Adderflight, "I can go get some deathberries."

Owlpaw shook his head, "No... just let her go."

"What? Why? Shouldn't we torture her so she knows what we went through? And what if she lives?" asked Duckfrost.

We? I didn't know you were in MudClan, thought Owlpaw.

"She won't live, especially after what you've done," responded the apprentice, "And it appears as if she's already in enough pain."

Stonestar growled and backed off the she-cat, though he gave her one last scratch, which started to bleed, dark maroon blood seeping from the wound. Duckfrost shuffled away, sitting next to Mossheart and beginning to chat quietly. Talondust shifted and sat next to them, quickly joining the conversation.

Hazelberry had stumbled to her paws and began to sway toward the entrance. Her paws shook as she placed them gently in front of each other. Owlpaw watched as she trailed toward the entrance of the new camp. She tripped and fell, dust clouding around her. She did not get up. A trail of blood was spattered on the ground where she had walked.

Owlpaw approached her but Stonestar's furious voice broke through the clearing.

"Don't even!" 

Owlpaw looked back, "But we can't just have a nearly-dead body just laying in our camp!"

Robinstar and Yellowstar had padded to stand beside Stonestar and they, too, gave Hazelberry's mutilated body a belittling look.

Yellowstar approached him with a distasteful look on her face, "If you want to deal with that," she waved her tail to Hazelberry, "Then go ahead."

Owlpaw swallowed the lump that rose in his throat and he turned around, padding slowly to Hazelberry. Forcing away the disgust that swirled in his belly, he picked her up and she moaned quietly. Padding out of camp, he tried not to vomit on the stench of blood.

He knew she was dying. She groaned every now and then and her tail tip would twitch as if she were going to convulse. Though, she didn't; her body was oddly still.

However, Owlpaw was sure her labored breathing was one thing he would never forget.