WITHERING HERBS || A Warriors Fanfiction

|| chapter thirty eight

Owlpaw stretched, a yawn escaping his jaws. The light of pre-dawn shone outside, barely bright enough to light up the camp. The dark brown apprentice smoothed down a tuft of unruly fur on his shoulder and strolled into the camp. His eyes adjusted to the darkness of the morning before he spotted the creamy fur of Shrewfoot.

The medicine cat was nibbling a small mouse. Trotting over, Owlpaw sat down and stared hungrily at the creature. He hadn't eaten since the night before and his belly was lightly growling to remind him that he needed to eat. With a purr of amusement, Shrewfoot nudged the mouse over and Owlpaw quickly gobbled up the remaining two bites. Scraping a bit of earth over it to bury it, he stood up and arched his back.

"Come on, we aren't doing stretches to warm up! Let's go!" Shrewfoot rolled his eyes before dashing away and toward the camp entrance.

I wanted to check on Sedgestorm. Oh well. It's okay. I'll check later.

He followed the tom quickly, watching as he leaped the small ravine. Owlpaw followed suit and cleared it with a smooth jump. Shrewfoot's pace didn't slow down; he kept going at a steady, quick trot, almost lapsing into running at some points.

"What are we looking for?" panted Owlpaw as they continued to dash through the territory.

"Bindweed, fennel, and ragwort leaves, and possibly some juniper berries," Shrewfoot suddenly stopped, sniffing the air and surveying the area around him.

They were in a little oak forest that looked like it belonged to PetalClan. Blinking, Owlpaw surveyed the area.

"What... what do they look like?"

Shrewfoot darted forward, nipping at the stem of a tall shrub. It had bright, blossoming yellow flowers. He took a few of the stems and carefully remove the leaves from it. He clamped them carefully between his jaws and nodded at the plant.

"Ragwort," he blinked before turning around, "Bindweed is a fffflower wiff pale white or pink flowers, and they should be around here somewhere," Shrewfoot's reply was slightly muffled, "Fffennel is just spiky and smells plain and bland... and juniper berries are purple or blue, and they grow on a sharp-leaved juniper bush. Smells kind of sharp, like mint, but also sweet."

Owlpaw nodded, narrowing his eyes, listening to the medicine cat's muffled speech.

"They ssshhhould be around here somewhere. All of them grow in basically anywhere, where there isn't water."

The dark brown apprentice slunk off into the bushes, golden gaze sweeping the area. Ferns sprouted all over, though some splintered trees had fallen over groups of ferns and grass, blocking the light. Other trees that had been covered in snow had puddles beneath them, and some even stood standing, tall and strong.

He spotted a flower that looked white from where he was standing and he headed over, sniffing the flower and studying it. From what he could tell, it was bindweed. He nipped off a few stems and clenched them firmly in his jaws. As he looked at the sky, he spotted a bud on a branch that was blocking his vision. It was the only one he'd seen since the last green-leaf.

He continued to search for the herbs, but he couldn't find any of the others. Scenting the air, he picked up the medicine cat's smell and followed it, heading through clumps of bushes and swaths of bracken. He leaped over a little branch and wondered if Shrewfoot was really searching hard, or if he was following a path.

He spotted the creamy tom hunched over near a bush with sharp leaves.

"Shrewfoot? Find anything else?"

The other tom nodded and he turned around, laying his bundle down. It contained bindweed, fennel, juniper berries, and the ragwort leaves from earlier. 

How come I found none of that?

A little embarrassed, he put down his bindweed.

"Good job! I was worried I wasn't going to have enough bindweed, so we're lucky that you found so much. You can take the ragwort and bindweed," The tom nudged the herbs to him, and Owlpaw put them into a smaller bundle. He picked them up and turned around, planning to head back. 

Shrewfoot brushed past him and was clearly surprised to see a clump of bushes. Instead of going around it like Owlpaw would've done, he dove into them and tried to wiggle through the clump. The dark brown apprentice could see as brambles and thorns scraped up his pelt, and a tendril wove around the tom's paw. The tendril secured itself on his paw, and as Shrewfoot tried to jerk forward, he didn't move.

"Shrewfoot, your paw is stuck," informed Owlpaw, treading carefully forward to try and unwind it. The medicine cat was trying to get it free, tugging with his leg.

"It won't come free!" growled the creamy tom, who had twisted around to claw at the tendril.

"Wait, let me help-" Owlpaw started, but a startled yelp interrupted him.

The bramble vine had let go, but not until it had scratched the medicine cat's paw quite deep. As the creamy tom flew in the other direction, Owlpaw bounded around the side of the bush, spotting Shrewfoot sprawled on the ground. His paw was covered in blood and there was a small pool of blood around his leg.

"Shrewfoot? Let me help you up, okay, are you okay?" Blood pounded in his ears as he rushed to his side, inspecting his bloody paw. He gave it a few licks to reveal a deep wound on the side of his paw.

"Oh... that... oh... hurts..." whispered Shrewfoot, gaze glazed with pain. The herbs had fallen out of his mouth so the dark brown apprentice took them and put them with the others. He helped the medicine cat to his paws and allowed him to lean on the dark brown tom if he wanted to. Shrewfoot gratefully tilted onto him, lifting his paw up so he didn't have to injure it further.

Owlpaw took the bundle in his jaws and the two made it slowly to camp. Wind whisked by them, ruffling their fur as they finally came upon the small ravine. 

The apprentice wasn't sure if Shrewfoot was even conscious at this point since he was leaning so heavily on the apprentice, so he yowled, "Help!"

A few cats emerged from the camp's entrance, leaping over the crevice with ease.

"What happened?" demanded Lilybreeze. Duckfrost and Talondust shoved their way past Lilybreeze and Yellowspark, working quickly. The two gently maneuvered Shrewfoot onto their back and they carefully stretched themselves over the ravine. Surprised, Owlpaw watched them. He could hear Shrewfoot groaning in pain.

Owlpaw's golden gaze swept over the cats and he sighed, dropping the herbs in front of Lilybreeze. She nodded curtly and leaped back over the crevice. Moments later, Adderflight came sprinting out, springing over the ravine.

"Shrewfoot and I went looking for herbs, and he got his paw stuck in a tendril of bramble and it cut him... and he said it really hurt, and it was bleeding a lot," he blinked, trying to calm his whirling mind.

"Come on, we should get back to the medicine cat's den," meowed Adderflight, nudging the tom gently.

"Wait, why?"

Adderflight nudged him again, "Just come on."

Why is everything going wrong?