Her eyesight was blurry and she could barely move.
Frostwind blinked open her eyes, taking in her surroundings. She felt weak, and she didn't know why. What had happened last? The fight with Turtleleaf? Her memory was fuzzy. She barely remembered Turtleleaf had brought out some sort of snake and tossed it at her.
It must have poisoned me, she realized, a little late, and she smiled to herself. It would take more than poison to take out Frostwind. She wasn't renowned for nothing.
There was no one beside her. She was in the medicine den which reeked of marigold, but Hawkfeather wasn't anywhere in sight. She noticed poultices laid on an open wound. Her few days training has a medicine cat had taught her not to go touching those.
Still, this place reeked. She had hoped that Hawkfeather would put some sort of air freshener in here. She had suggested lavender to him, but it seemed he wasn't following her advice. The stench of herbs was overwhelming and made her want to pass out.
Frostwind wondered what had happened to Skyfeather. He had been there with her. But someone must have brought her back to camp, so she knew he was alright. He wasn't in the medicine den with her at least. He could still be dead, though. But she didn't want to think that.
She was about to get up when she felt dizzy. Great. So she was going to be confined to the medicine den now, was she? She'd faced worse than some snake bites! But no medicine cat had discharged her, so she waited in boredom. I could probably discharge myself, she thought, I was a medicine cat for three days.
She grimaced. What kind of silly though was that? Yet, the pain at the bite area was numb. It was her right leg, which was so heavily bandaged in cobwebs that it made her look incredibly fluffy, but with her fur sticking to her.
She was bored. There was nothing to do except gag on the toxic fumes released from the herbs. How was this a place of recovery, and how did anyone like this smell? Hawkfeather lived here! And slept here!
She was infuriated by lack of the ability to move, and sunk back into her nest. Frostwind waited for someone to come and visit her, or at least for Hawkfeather to return.
She hadn't realized how much she'd been hoping to see Skyfeather, and her hopes had come crashing down when grumpy Hawkfeather entered. Still, she forced a cool expression onto her face, then felt ashamed of herself. He had just saved her life, and here she was, thinking bad things about him.
His eyes widened to the size of the sun. "You're awake," he said, and his voice was tart. Frostwind purred slightly. Trust the grumpy medicine cat to say that! But he did look relieved. Then he glared at her. "Skyfeather has been driving me mad! Could you find some way to keep your mate quiet?"
"Let him in to see me?" Frostwind suggested. Her voice was lucid and clear, and if not for her pale color and inability to move her limbs, he would have thought she was completely alright.
"You're too weak," Hawkfeather responded. "How is your leg? Painful? Can you move?"
"My leg has a numb pain, and no, I can't move," Frostwind meowed. "I mean, I can, but it's painful." To prove her point, she moved her tail to the right and hissed in pain.
"Alright, don't move then," Hawkfeather meowed.
"How do I eat, then?" Frostwind asked.
Hawkfeather shrugged. "You can talk. Is it painful to talk?" She shook her head. "Right, you can move your head without hurting, so, eating should be fine. Drinking too, but you're in a weird position for drinking and eating currently. We might need to roll you over. Can you move your front paws for me, please?"
She moved them gingerly. It was alright when she moved them at a snail's pace but when she tried to move them normal speed it hurt.
"Okay, so the poison didn't spread much to your upper body, but the lower body is very, very bad," Hawkfeather mused. "Alright then, I'll call somebody to bring you prey."
"How's Pebblekit?" Frostwind asked.
"She's fine, Brightflame is nursing her," Hawkfeather meowed. "Your milk may be contaminated. Anyway... SKYFEATHER!" he yowled loudly.
The white tom dashed into the den. "You're okay!" he gasped in relief when he saw Frostwind with her eyes opened. She smiled and nodded slightly. "What does she need? Prey? Water? I'll get it right away!"
"Prey, and some wet moss," Hawkfeather instructed him, and he scampered away. "You see. That tom has been nuts! He came in here every, I don't know, two minutes?"
Frostwind laughed softly. That was exactly what she wanted to hear. He had been concerned about her. That was all that mattered. As long as she still had him, she could live forever even if every step was pain.
***
She slowly recovered over the course of a few moons. By the time she could finally run and play again, it was time for Pebblekit to be apprenticed. Pebblekit had been very sweet to Frostwind, always bringing her prey and water, and she was happy to keep her mother company even when all Frostwind could do was talk. Pebblekit would tell Frostwind about her day, and everything that had happened, and then beg Frostwind to tell her battle stories. Frostwind obliged eagerly. Battle stories, she was full of.
Pebblekit was already six moons and so cute and matured. To Frostwind's surprise, her daughter had chosen to train as a medicine cat. Hawkfeather had been simply delighted to take her on. Despite only being the same age as Amberfrost, the deputy, he proclaimed himself to be ancient and in need of a replacement medicine cat.
Meanwhile, the underground movement to overthrow Stonestar had began in earnest. They visibly challenged Stonestar at every Clan meeting and gathering, causing their fellows to lose confidence in their leader, especially when Stonestar could barely splutter a response. Amberfrost in particular had tried to change all of his decisions to wiser ones, but right in front of the Clan.
Hickorysnarl had also come to visit Frostwind several times, and the brown she-cat expressed her concern about the future of the Clan. "Amberfrost and Branchclaw challenge Stonestar every day," Hickorysnarl meowed worriedly, naming the deputy and her mate. "I think Branchclaw actually likes it! How could they do that? The Clan is already falling apart! I know Stonestar isn't the best leader, but he's the only one we've got."
"Well, it's about time for Pebblekit's apprentice ceremony," Frostwind sighed. "Let's see if they have anything to challenge him about there."
"You used to challenge him quite a lot," Hickorysnarl meowed pointedly.
"I know," Frostwind smiled at the fond memory. "I would love to continue, but I feel like that isn't what we need right now. I know Amberfrost and Branchclaw have the Clan's best interests at heart, but they're tearing the Clan apart to do it."
"Let all cats gather here for the Clan meeting!"
Frostwind frowned and trudged outside. She had been allowed to leave the medicine den and get some exercise, and she had even gone hunting with Skyfeather a few times. But she was not allowed to resume warrior duties and could only hunt about once a week. It was odd because Stonestar had called the Clan meeting in the middle of camp, and he was standing on the roof of the warrior's den.
"What is he thinking?" Hickorysnarl muttered unhappily. She had never gotten over the horrid name he had given her.
"Mouse-brained ideas, I'd bet," Frostwind meowed darkly as she dashed over to the warrior's den.
Pebblekit squealed in delight upon seeing her mother and ran over. "Hey! Stop it!" she mewed, wriggling as Frostwind attempted to wash her. "My fur looks ugly now!" Frostwind burst out laughing as her kit grumbled.
"Pebblekit, from this moment onwards, you will be known as Pebblepaw," Stonestar meowed without bothering to check if Pebblepaw was even standing there and she had to run over. "Your mentor will be myself."
Hawkfeather objected loudly. "Stonestar! She was supposed to be my apprentice!"
Stonestar turned an steely gaze on him. "The Clans are going to war," he meowed coldly. "We have no use for medicine cats. It is warriors that we need, and warriors we shall have."
There was an awkward silence before Skyfeather meowed, "Pebblepaw! Pebblepaw!" The Clan cheered along, though halfheartedly, and Pebblepaw herself didn't look happy. She kept glancing at Frostwind.
Pebblepaw ran to her mother as soon as the ceremony is over. "I don't want him to mentor me!" the white she-cat complained. "Frostwind, can you watch over all of our training sessions? I think he'll get me killed!" She looked so distressed that Frostwind nodded.
She followed Pebblepaw and Stonestar on their territory tour, ignoring Stonestar's protests and insisting that it was for her daughter's safety. Stonestar was unhappy, but Frostwind said that Pebblepaw was afraid of foxes and badgers, giving her daughter a tiny wink, and he grudgingly obliged.
Hawkfeather had become increasingly grumpy these days. He moped around camp, muttering under his breath about what a brilliant medicine cat Pebblepaw would have made. Pebblepaw herself didn't go on about it. She said that the path of a warrior was a good one, too.
"Frostwind! Hey, Frostwind!" Frostwind turned around, grinning, thinking it was Skyfeather, only to recognize Blackfoot, Skyfeather's brother.
The grin slid off her face. "Oh, hello, Blackfoot," she said in a very flat voice.
Blackfoot kept on grinning anyway. "You're not very sociable, are you?" he noted. "Have to wonder what Skyfeather saw in you; he's like the most sociable cat ever."
Frostwind nodded absentmindedly. "I seem to recall you liked Twilightmoon, are you... Okay?"
Blackfoot blinked. "Oh, yeah, I'm fine! It was a little weird, because Twilightmoon's daughter Redleaf is the second medicine cat, but Hawkfeather still thinks he needs a successor, and he still wants Pebblepaw. Weird, right?"
"Oh!" Frostwind meowed, and felt a little embarrassed. While she had been out, her brother's kits had earned their names, Flametalon and Redleaf. Flametalon had been named after his brother, Talonpaw, who had died to an eagle during apprenticeship.
"Ha, yeah, can see you forgot. Anyway, Skyfeather sent me to call you for a border patrol, apparently Hawkfeather said you're good to go," Blackfoot meowed.
"Right," Frostwind said. Her thoughts were still on Redleaf. She had barely seen the tortoiseshell even in her moons in the medicine den. "What happened to Redleaf? I don't see her anywhere."
"Oh, would you know, Frostwind behind the times! Well, yeah, Redleaf went to help WinterClan with their greencough problem, she should be back any day now! Would you believe it? Winter's over!" Blackfoot meowed enthusiastically. "There will be flowers again!"
Is he flirting? Frostwind wondered. "Yeah, sure. Flowers. Right." She made a run for it.
Blackfoot stared after her, confused, but she had already reached Skyfeather who purred. "Blackfoot said something wrong to you?" he asked, amused.
"Just flirting," Frostwind meowed disgustedly.
Skyfeather shrugged. "Eh, he never quite got over Twilightmoon."
Frostwind smiled. "He said he did."
A smile crossed his lips. "Blackfoot always says things like that. I think... He never got over the deaths of our sisters, either."
"Stormwind?" Frostwind asked, surprised. Skyfeather had never seemed particular close to Frostwind's sworn sister.
"No, not Stormwind. Our littermates," Skyfeather explained. "We are the first litter of Silverlight and Lightningstrike. There were five of us: Blackfoot, Mistypool, Riverfall, Blossomleaf and myself. You want to know why Hawkfeather is so desperate for more apprentices? Because his other two, Blossomleaf and Morninglight, both died. Some reckon Morninglight had a forbidden relationship with Stonestar," he added softly.
"Oh, I knew that," Frostwind meowed, grinning.
He grinned back. "You did, did you? Well, anyway, Mistypool and Riverfall both died in battle, and Blossomleaf went into that coma that caused Silverlight to go berserk."
"When I was a kit. Wait, are you that much older than me?" Frostwind asked, amazed.
He was unfazed. "Yeah, I'm totally ancient. I don't really care, you know? I'm young at heart. I'm actually a senior warrior, did you know?"
"Nope," Frostwind meowed with a rueful grin.
"And you never told me about the telepathy!" Skyfeather added.
Frostwind's eyes about shot out of her head. "Wait, how did you find out about that?"
He smirked. "Turtleleaf and her big mouth. I've got her to thank."
"You also have her to thank for crippling me for moons," Frostwind pointed out wryly.
"And that," he agreed, still grinning.
"Something's up with you. Something very suspicious. Would you wipe that silly grin off your face and tell me what's going on?" Frostwind asked.
He only widened his grin. "Well, I suppose there's no hiding it. Blackfoot's getting a mate! And he asked me about her."
"Who is it?"
Skyfeather paused. "Oh, right. She might be another one you thought was dead."
Frostwind laughed. "I don't think everyone is dead!"
"Oh, you do," he said solemnly. "It's Squirreltail."
"Squirreltail? I thought she was dead!" Frostwind exclaimed in shock, then glared at him. "Wait, my old mentor?"
"Yeah, her."
"She fell in love with Blackfoot?"
"Yep."
"I do not approve."
Skyfeather grinned even wider, then stopped smiling at once. "Gee, it's painful to grin for so long."
Word count: 2171
On my ipad again. I think I've updated three times in the past four days. Cool?