"Where's Wheatwing?" Silkfrost asked eagerly at the medicine den entrance. "I want to see her."
"She's over there." Midnightsky gestured to where the golden tabby was lying. "She's feeling better now." Wheatwing had been in the medicine den for a few sunrises now. Soon she would be able to resume her warrior duties.
Midnightsky had been thinking a lot about the spy since her dream. The spy has reported...
"Where's Leafdawn?" she asked suddenly.
"Probably out in the clearing," Silkfrost answered. "Why?"
"I...I need to tell her something." Midnightsky darted out of the medicine den and into the clearing. "Leafdawn?"
"What is it?" Leafdawn looked up from the vole she was eating.
"It's..." Midnightsky lowered her voice. "It's about the spy. I... I think that we should tell Flamestar and Wavepelt about it." She briefly explained her dream.
Leafdawn's eyes widened. "But... what if they don't believe you?"
"They'll believe us," Midnightsky corrected. "Let's go." She nudged Leafdawn. The tabby looked worried but she stood up and followed Midnightsky to Flamestar's den.
"Midnightsky?" Flamestar looked surprised. "And Leafdawn? What do you want to tell me?"
Leafdawn stared at her paws.
"Go on," MIdnightsky encouraged.
Leafdawn looked up. "When Bloodclaw captured me, I overheard a conversation between Bloodclaw and someone else. They mentioned a sort of spy... from ThunderClan."
"So you're saying that one of our cats isn't as they seem?" Flamestar's eyes widened.
Leafdawn nodded. "They...they also mentioned an attack on ThunderClan. To 'make them pay'. I think that the spy is giving them information on when to attack."
"And a few sunrises ago, I had a dream," Midnightsky put in. "It was a conversation between Bloodclaw and... I think it was the cat that Leafdawn mentioned. They were talking about a key point to 'eliminating ThunderClan.' I didn't hear the whole conversation but I heard the other cat mention 'healer'. Then Bloodclaw said that would be dealt with." She glanced at the ThunderClan leader, who just stood there in shock.
"So..." he began, "you're telling me that there's a spy in ThunderClan giving information to the rogues so they can attack ThunderClan. You're also telling me that there's something that the rogues want from us that might have something to do with..."
"...me," Midnightsky whispered.
"I believe them."
Wavepelt was standing in the den entrance. "I... I know these rogues. And I think that there is... a traitor in our Clan."
"But who would do such a thing?" Flamestar asked, approaching his mate. "I can't bear to think of it."
"I know it's hard." Wavepelt gazed at him. "But face it."
Flamestar sighed. "I know I can't argue with you." He glanced at Midnightsky and Leafdawn who were standing there kind of awkwardly. "You may leave if you wish."
The two she-cats did so.
"Well," Midnightsky told Leafdawn, "that wasn't so bad, was it?"
"I guess it wasn't." Leafdawn sighed with relief.
"Leafdawn!" Silkfrost ran over. "Do you want to join our hunting patrol?"
"Sure!" Leafdawn replied. She glanced at Midnightsky. "I'm going to go hunt."
"Okay," Midnightsky meowed cheerfully. As the tabby ran off she trotted over to the medicine den to check the herb storages. She hadn't checked them in a while, there was bound to be something there.
When she entered the medicine den she saw Tussledstorm in there, her face twisted in pain.
"Tussledstorm?" Midnightsky asked. "What's wrong?"
"Midnightsky!" Tussledstorm looked relieved when she saw the medicine cat. "Thank StarClan you're here! I was looking for you. Could you get this thorn out of my pad?" She held up her paw, where a thorn was wedged into her pad.
Midnightsky grimaced. "I'll get that out for you."
She grabbed the thorn in her jaws and yanked it out, leaving a speck of blood.
"Lick that pad clean," she told the warrior. "I'll get some cobwebs and you can apply those to your pad." She went over and found some, then handed a pawful of them to Tussledstorm.
"Thank you." Tussledstorm wrapped her paw in them. "You know, you're doing pretty well as a medicine cat."
Midnightsky stared sheepishly at the ground. "Mintleaf was a good teacher." She still missed her mentor. She missed him a lot.
"We all miss Mintleaf," Tussledstorm whispered. "But life goes on." She paused. "Don't ever doubt yourself." Then she left the den.
Midnightsky was left thinking about her words. Don't ever doubt yourself. She had been told that many times.
It can be hard sometimes, she thought, going over to where the herb storages were.
When she got there her eyes widened. Oh no.
The area was empty.
I could have sworn...the rogues! Midnightsky clenched her teeth in frustration. Of course they stole them. Of course they did!
She felt like yowling out as loud as she could. All the moons of gathering those herbs...gone.
"Argh!" she exclaimed, storming out of the medicine den. "It's the herb storages. They're gone!"
"What?" Barkstripe's eyes widened. "You mean we have no herbs right now?"
"Yes!" Midnightsky was seething. "And we're almost at greenleaf already. I'm going herb collecting!" She started for the gorse tunnel.
"Wait!" Wavepelt called.
Midnightsky stopped and turned around.
"How did the herb storages disappear?" the grey she-cat asked.
"My theory is that the rogues stole them," Midnightsky replied, still extremely frustrated. Not waiting for a reply, she turned and ran out of camp.
The spy could have stolen them
That thought popped into her head as she was running.
The spy? Midnightsky sighed inwardly. It did seem very likely.
As she went toward the best place for collecting herbs she had a strange feeling that someone was watching her. Every so often she stopped and looked around, but she couldn't see or scent anyone or anything.
Weird, she thought.
She felt a wash of relief over her when she spotted a huge patch of goldenrod nearby. Thank StarClan! That will be useful for sure.
She ran over and collected as much of the herb she could. Now Midnightsky realized that she should have probably brought a couple of warriors to help her. Oh well. I can always go out to collect more when I come back.
She kept going, goldenrod in her jaws, and looked for more herbs.
If I was extremely lucky I'd find catmint. Before the rogues (or the spy, whichever happened) had taken the herbs she had actually had quite a bit of it.
Why did they steal them? she thought irritably. I feel like it was more than just to annoy us. Maybe the rogue Clan had found a 'medicine cat' of their own? But who? Leafdawn hadn't had any idea what a medicine cat was before Midnightsky had told her.
Maybe my dream didn't have anything to do with me after all.
Midnightsky stopped short. She tasted the air. Was that rogue scent? Her fur began to bristle.
But the scent was stale. They hadn't been there in a few days. Midnightsky sighed with relief.
Even though the scent had been stale, she was still on edge during her herb search. With every crack of a branch she jumped, then saw that it was just some prey running through.
She soon found a smaller patch of yarrow and started to gather some. The yarrow brought back memories of her kithood... She gazed at the plant, remembering all the things she had done back then.
Things are so different now...
Suddenly something ran into her and sank its claws into her fur. Midnightsky let out a scream as her muzzle was pressed into the dirt. Her heart started to pound. What's happening? She struggled but the cat's— she guessed it was a cat — grip held firm.
"You got her?" Midnightsky's fur bristled as she recognized one of the rogue's voices.
"What are we doing with her exactly?" another cat asked. "Are we bringing her to camp?"
"No, that didn't work last time."
"We're going to do worse than that." Blackpaw!
Midnightsky took a breath and realized that she inhaled dirt. She started to panic. They're trying to kill me! Memories flooded in of first Flowerpaw attacking her, then Bloodclaw doing the same thing when she went to go rescue Leafdawn.
She struggled some more, but in vain. She was starting to get a little tired and slowly she was running out of air.
There's only one thing I can do. Heart beating, Midnightsky gathered her strength.
"Help!" she shrieked, inhaling more dirt. I only have a few moments left!
"Ugh, keep her quiet!" one of the rogues exclaimed. "This isn't going to work."
"Yes, it will," Blackpaw's voice growled.
Midnightsky slowly felt her eyes closing. Please...someone...come help... what will happen if I die? ThunderClan won't have a medicine cat or any herbs... I can't let them do this!
But it was too late. She closed her eyes and went limp. I know that I'll be in StarClan.
"No! Don't lay another paw on her!"
Suddenly, the weight disappeared off of Midnightsky. She gasped, gulping air, still lying limp on the ground.
Then she opened her eyes to see who had rescued her just in time.
It was Leafdawn. The tabby was furiously attacking the rogues, not appearing to have a disadvantage with her scarred right eye.
Breathing hard, Midnightsky closed her eyes again. Thank you...Thank you, Leafdawn...
If she had been stuck in the ground a moment longer, she would have certainly died.
Shaking, she curled up as she heard the screeches of the rogues as Leafdawn fought them off. She didn't want to move. All she wanted to do was breathe.
Before Midnightsky knew it she heard the pawsteps of the rogues running away.
"Midnightsky! Midnightsky! Please, be alive!"
Midnightsky felt Leafdawn next to her. Fear-scent was emerging immensely from the she-cat.
Midnightsky managed to open one eye. "Tha...thank you..."
Leafdawn nuzzled Midnightsky with relief. "I was so scared that you would die." Tears were welling up in her eyes.
"...Me...too..." Midnightsky whispered, closing her eyes again.
"Just rest," Leafdawn mewed softly. "I'll carry you back to camp."
The last thing Midnightsky felt was Leafdawn hoisting her up onto her back, then she fell asleep.
***
Midnightsky woke up in her nest in the medicine den. She was still a little in shock of what had just happened.
Thyme, she thought. I need thyme.
But, of course, they didn't have anything,
Did Leafdawn bring back the goldenrod?
Midnightsky rose shakily to her paws and took a glance where the herbs were supposed to be.
Sitting there was a lonely bunch of goldenrod. Thank you, Leafdawn.
All Midnightsky hoped was that there were no battles before she had recollected all the herbs. StarClan knows how I'll do that.
Sighing, she padded out into the clearing, still a little dazed.
"Midnightsky!" Leafdawn exclaimed happily, running over. "How are you feeling?"
"Funny you're asking me that, since I'm the medicine cat," Midnightsky meowed slyly. Then she smiled. "I'm doing much better now, that's for sure."
"I'm just so glad you're not dead," Leafdawn murmured softly.
"For once it was you who saved my life," Midnightsky replied.
Leafdawn nodded.
Suddenly coughing made Midnightsky's ears twitch. It was Silkfrost.
"Silkfrost?" Midnightsky asked worriedly. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," her sister mewed. Her voice sounded... different for some reason.
"Are you sure?" Midnightsky asked again.
Silkfrost nodded curtly and ran over to the warriors den.
"She's been like that since we came back hunting," Leafdawn explained. "I don't know why." She paused that she was trying to think of something. "I feel like I should know why, but I don't..."
"I really wish we had some tansy." Midnightsky sighed. "I really wish we had our herbs back. Thank you for bringing the goldenrod back," she added to Leafdawn.
"No problem," the tabby replied. "I guessed that you needed it. Then I brought it into the den and... I was very glad I had brought it back. How do you think that the herbs got stolen?"
"The spy probably did it when I was out or something." Midnighsky gritted her teeth.
"This spy is becoming more of a problem," Leafdawn said in frustration. "We need to track that traitor down and do something about it."