Lurking Evil

Chapter 3

Once they'd passed through the bramble barrier, Yellowpaw turned left and headed toward the rock cliff that rose out of the ground at the back of the camp, where the medicine cats' den was. She paused just before she reached the High-rock and turned into a crevice in the wall, draped with ivy and other vines. Yellowpaw stepped through, followed by Hailpaw. Echopaw followed them in, pushing through the ivy and through the crevice until it opened up to a small cave.

Echopaw set the chervil down next to where Yellowpaw put hers and asked, "Do you want us to help you?"

Yellowpaw purred, "Thanks, I could use a little help."

Hailpaw set the herbs he was carrying down and started sorting them out. He made one pile of raspberries, one of juniper berries, and one of the watermint. Yellowpaw nodded approvingly at her brother's work. "Echopaw, you and I can separate the chervil leaves from the roots. The leaves need to stay somewhat wet, because the juices are what cures the infection. So, to do that we wrap it in ivy leaves, to store them, and set them the furthest toward the wall; when the frost and dew melts, it forms moisture on the back wall," she pointed with her tail, "and it helps moisturize and keep the chervil leaves fresh."

"Okay," Echopaw nodded. "What about the roots?"

"The roots preserve their water by themselves; we don't need to wrap them in anything."

Echopaw nodded again. "So how do we separate them?"

"Well, you carefully grab the stem of the leaves and pull it from the root. The stem will also help keep the leaves fresher longer, so we leave them attached. Watch." Yellowpaw grabbed the root under her claws and grabbed the base of the stem in her mouth, where it connected to the root, and pulled. Echopaw heard a snap and Yellowpaw's head jerked back from the force. She looked up at Echopaw, holding the stem in her jaws, and smiled. "See?"

Echopaw nodded and started to work. She trapped the chervil root under her claws and grabbed the base of the stem like Yellowpaw had demonstrated. She tugged at it, and, finally, it snapped free and Echopaw held the chervil leaves in her mouth triumphantly.

"Good!" purred Yellowpaw, and she took the root and put it with the other chervil roots in a crevice to her left.

At that moment Fogtail walked in and called, "Goldheart?"

Yellowpaw turned her head and answered, "Goldheart's still in the forest collecting more herbs. He said he'll be back by dusk."

"Oh, well I was wondering if you had anything to treat my paw, the pad is sore, and also mine and Ferrettail's front legs' joints are aching," Fogtail sat down and began licking her pad.

"Sure, Fogtail. Um," Yellowpaw rummaged through her store and pulled out a large, broad, and flat leaf. Echopaw wrinkled up her nose when she smelled it; it had a strong, tangy scent that tingled her nose. She didn't know how Yellowpaw could stand it.

"Here's some dock. It helps with sore pads and soothes scratches. Can I see your paw?" Fogtail lifted her paw and turned it over for Yellowpaw to examine. Yellowpaw narrowed her eyes. "You have a large scratch. Did you step on anything?" Yellowpaw asked.

"I remember stepping on a small thorn yesterday, and I pulled it out with my teeth. I didn't think I'd need to see you for such a small thorn in my pad though." Fogtail swished her tail uneasily.

"You should have come straight away," Yellowpaw scolded. "I could have healed it before any of this pain started. And it now has a chance of getting infected."

Fogtail flattened her ears and for a heartbeat Echopaw thought she'd snap at Yellowpaw for talking to her like that, but she just nodded at the medicine cat apprentice and sighed, "You're right. I'll do that next time."