spottedleaf sighed as she felt the wind on her pretty face, ruffling her fur. She breathed in deeply. She could smell yarrow close by. She set off in the direction of the heady scent and soon came upon a young yarrow plant. It was much too small to collect yet so she would just have to make a mental note of where it was growing. She looked around to survey her surroundings and found that she was closer to the camp than she'd expected. She entered the quiet camp and padded into the medicine clearing. She sniffed the air again and caught a trace of a faint odor. ShadowClan? She sniffed again. Yes. This time she was sure that she scented ShadowClan. But what could they be doing so close to the ThunderClan camp? Spottedleaf shrugged off her increasing sense of anxiety and entered the cool shade of her den.
The sweet scent of herbs drifted around her and clung to her fur. She began taking stalk of the herbs in her store. They were running out of catmint. It would be leafbare soon so she would have to send an apprentice to Twolegplace to fetch some more. She breathed in deeply and the odor of ShadowClan washed over her tongue again. She wrinkled her nose in disgust and exited her den. She would tell a warrior to find the ShadowClan cat and deal with it. Yes, that's what she'd do. Spottedleaf was about to exit the medicine clearing when suddenly, the bramble barrier shattered and a snarling ShadowClan warrior leaped out at her, claws unsheathed. Before she could even yowl, the breath was knocked out of her.
She lay, winded on the ground, gasping for breath. She felt the warrior's claws rake at her pelt and smelled the heady scent of blood. She struggled to her feet and managed a halfhearted swipe. To her surprise, she felt her claws rake against his muzzle and felt the sweet satisfaction of blood on her claws. She leaped at the warrior, but he quickly jumped out of her way and landed a blow on her hind leg which sent her sprawling. She quickly sprung to her feet and lunged at him again. This time, he was too slow and she knocked him to the ground. With a purr of satisfaction, she leaned in to close her jaws around the warrior's throat.
Suddenly, she felt herself flying through the air, launched off of her opponent by a kick from his powerful hind legs. She felt all of the breath leave her again and struggled to regain her footing. She opened her mouth to scream for help, but the ShadowClan warrior managed to clamp his paw over it. Before she even knew what was happening, she felt warm jaws clamp over her throat and felt the blood seeping out of the wound, staining her pretty fur. She choked and spluttered, coughing up blood.
Spottedleaf heard a yowl coming from the camp outside of her medicine clearing. Someone had stolen the kits! Spottedleaf couldn't even mutter a prayer to StarClan. She could feel the life ebbing out of her swiftly. Suddenly, she saw the sun glinting off of fur the color of fire. Firepaw had come to help her. Thank StarClan. But deep down in the pit of her stomach, she knew that not even the fire that would one day save their Clan could save her. He needed her to be strong and give him advice from StarClan.
As the sunhigh warmth flooded into the medicine clearing, she heard Firepaw yell her name. She could see Swiftbreeze looking at her with calm, kind eyes. StarClan had sent her mother to welcome her into their ranks. She felt peace flooding over her body as the rest of her lifeblood spilled onto the ground.
"It's time for you to come with me, little one," Swiftbreeze breathed. Spottedleaf let herself slip away into the welcoming blackness.
