WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter thirty two

"O-Owlpaw..."

The apprentice's head swiveled down to where the she-cat's feeble tone was coming from. He was heading for MudClan's territory as it was the only place he knew where deathberries were. If he could quickly get rid of her pain, all would be fine. He'd scrape some dirt over her and then he'd go back.

But now she had tried to scramble away from him, body twitching as she tried to jerk away from him. Her gaze was brighter than it had been before. She seemed to have a renewed energy within her as she looked pleadingly up at him.

"Please s-save me... I... Don't be like the rest of th-them. They're all h-horrible and awful c-c-cats. I know... I know that's n-not... You can h-help me... Please save m-me... There are-... are some h-herbs in MudClan's c-camp... Please tell me we are going th-there..." she heaved for breath as Owlpaw realized he had reached MudClan.

Is it really this close? he wondered absently, blinking as he dragged her into camp.

Gazing around at the camp, he was sucked back into a whirlwind of memories. Sedgestorm, Flintpath, Heronleap, even Meadowdapple... He almost thought he could see Ashkit and Maplekit twirling around camp and their parents watching proudly... Sedgestorm, Flintpath, and Heronleap all sat together, eating a plump, delicious-looking rabbit. Stonestar was sitting regally nearby. His head was lifted and his ears were perked, though his gaze was slightly darkened.

"Owl-Owlpaw..."

Hazelberry's choked voice interrupted his thoughts and the faint shapes disappeared, sinking into the ground.

With a half-tired, half-irritated huff, he quickly padded into the medicine cat's den. Sniffing the air, he finally found a small pawful of small, red berries. They were tucked in a small leaf, carefully wrapped and put in a small tuft of grass. They smelled different than the rest of the den, their sharp, though somehow sweet, smell reaching his nose right away.

Flinching, he carried them carefully back out to where Hazelberry was. She was twitching still and despite being far away, he could hear her loud, labored breathing.

Approaching her cautiously, he laid down the berries next to her and peered over her.

Her gaze was light and airy as it focused on the apprentice. She reached up to him, her paw trembling as she tried to pull him closer as if he would give her more life.

"Owl-Owlpaw..." she stuttered and Owlpaw backed up. She had unsheathed her claws. They glinted dangerously as she reached up.

He grabbed the deathberries and hid them behind his back. Her nose twitched as her gaze suddenly grew intense.

"N-no..." she whispered, "No..! I won't l-let that happen... Get away from m-me, you mur-murderer! I thought you c-could help m-me... Pl-please don't... Murderer...!"

Am I really a murderer? Could she live? He wondered, gaze flashing. Am I really saving her or am I just making it worse?

No! I said there was no way for her to survive and I wasn't lying to them.

"Just..." Owlpaw realized this was going to be harder than it looked.

How do I get her to open her mouth long enough? She's already in enough pain and I don't want to prolong it... That's why I'm here, he told himself, to stop her pain.

Suddenly, he had an idea.

He shoved the deathberries in front of her muzzle, leaving them precariously close to her muzzle, dangling them above her mouth. 

"N-no!" she yowled, eyes stretching wide as she desperately tried to scrabble away. Her gaze held terror, pain, fear, horror, and betrayal, all at once. Her claws scraped against the dirt beneath her as she managed to roll over. One of her long scratches reopened after being clumped with dirt and blood oozed out.

Swallowing a lump of horror that rose in his throat, he kept them in front of her muzzle as she opened her mouth to scream.

He dropped them in.

A strangled howl came from her mouth as she swallowed them. She instantly shoved a paw into her mouth, clearly trying to scrape the berries out of her mouth. When she realized she had swallowed them, her gaze grew terrified as she suddenly convulsed, foam pooling around her mouth. She tried to force herself to vomit, but it wasn't going to work.

The she-cat lay, spasming, on the ground. Her flanks were rising and falling at an alarmingly fast rate. Foam dripped from her muzzle, adding to the blood that was pooling around her. She let out another strangled cry, reaching out with unsheathed claws. She caught Owlpaw's ear and yanked it toward her. With a screech, the apprentice swiped at her and plunged his claws into her belly. He hated the feeling of the blood staining his claws. His stomach flopped.

She unlatched her claws from his ear as she let out another ear-splitting howl. The medicine cat choked for a moment, eyes widening. She scrabbled frantically for a second until she spat out a small, red seed. Satisfaction seemed to warm her gaze before she vomited again, this time with more foam and blood.

With a final cry, the medicine cat fell still. She twitched for a moment longer, her eyes fluttering open and closed before her flanks stopped heaving. Her eyes did not close; they sightlessly stared ahead, empty, dead, and cold. Owlpaw felt like he, too, were going to vomit. Stepping away from the scene, he forced himself to take deep breaths. His head spun rapidly, dizzying the apprentice.

In, out. Breathe. In, out.

He told himself sternly, keeping his gaze on the tuft of fur on his leg.

A dark brown tuft of fur. My fur. Just my fur. My clean fur.

With a deep breath, he turned around and quickly headed into the medicine cat's den. Grabbing a few leaves and a bit of moss, he exited and kept his eyes trained carefully on the ground.

Looking up a little, he saw her body. Quickly, he threw the moss and leaves over it and scraped up pawfuls of dirt. He gently patted down some of the dirt near her and he laid some branches that were scattered around camp on her, too.

Turning around, he silently thanked StarClan that he was still alive. He realized that he hoped he'd never see Hazelberry's ruinous face ever again. He hoped RoseClan's future generations would learn of the horrors committed by the tortoiseshell she-cat and learn from her horrible mistakes.

Breathing deeply, Owlpaw padded away from everything he'd ever known and toward his new life in RoseClan with intentions to leave Hazelberry behind.