"And there, Firestar- Rusty, as he was called then, said goodbye to his kittypet life and ventured into the forest where he met Lionheart-"
The elder telling the ancient tale paused and a bout of hacking and coughing fell over him. A small white she-cat grabbed some catmint from a cleft in the rock they were in, and bounded back to the the elder to give him some. He lapped it up quickly and began telling the legend again, the young she-cat listening closely.
"And that's how Rusty became Firepaw. Towards the beginning of his apprenticeship he and Sandpaw-"
He was interrupted again by a tabby tom leaning into the crack where the two cats were. "Dawnpool, Reedstar needs you. It's urgent."
Dawnpool glanced back to the gray elder and he nodded to her. "Go, your leader needs you. I can finish my story later."
Dawnpool's whiskers twitched with joy and she followed the tabby tom out of her den and into the WindClan camp. A powerful gust of wind almost blew the she-cat off her paws, and she shivered at its sharp taste. Leafbare would be here soon. Hopefully no cat would get greencough. A cluster of cats stood around something presumably interesting, and the tom led Dawnpool through the crowd.
"Oh, you must be the... medicine cat?" 5 she-cats stood in the center of the crowd and a beautiful, sleek black one strided up to Dawnpool, not noticing the cats staring at her. Something about this cat made Dawnpool feel uneasy.
"Yes, I am." Dawnpool said stiffly.
"Oh, well you have to take care of my fallen comrade." One of the 5 she-cats had bites all over her thick tabby pelt, and wouldn't meet the gaze of anyone. "This is Ocean. She was attacked by rats," whispered the black she-cat, more to the tabby tom than Dawnpool. "It was very scary for all of us..." She flashed a suggestive gaze to the tom again.
The medicine cat nodded once, and then gestured for Ocean to come to her den. Briefly Dawnpool heard Reedstar telling the she-cats to make themselves at home for the night, before she ducked back down in her den to work on Ocean's bites. "These are quite large for rat bites," she mused. Ocean ducked her head.
Soon she was done and returned to the surface of the camp where dusk was falling. Some cats had grabbed a rabbit and shared on the edges of the camp and others chatted with the new she-cats. Dawnpool's earlier guard Oakwing trotted up to her. "Their names are Ivy, Ocean, Fawn and Owl. The pretty black one is Raven." Dawnpool rolled her eyes at his remark. Toms.
Raven was traipsing around the camp, seeming to not notice the blunt stares of young toms. "Oh, hello, Oakwing." Raven paused to look at him with gleaming blue eyes.
"H-hey Raven..." Oakwing stared at her blankly.
"Come with me, Oakwing. Lets take care of the rest of this... somewhere private." She winked at him and his jaws dropped. They scampered away from camp and Dawnpool sighed. The rest of the she-cats except Ocean were charming other toms into who knows what around camp and they all nodded vigorously as each one asked to come and do the do with them. Well, thats odd.
Suddenly Ocean grabbed Dawnpool with both paws. "Dawnpool!" she shrieked. "You have to get out of here! You're going to die!"
Dawnpool's heart beat faster as cats gathered around to look at what was happening. The medicine cat shoved Ocean off as Reedstar bounded toward the commotion. "What is going on here?" he growled.
"Oh, you'll see." A voice sounded from above the camp, and Raven appeared at the top of the ridge before the dip of the camp, blood spattered on her mouth. Dawnpool stared at her, horror creeping into her bones. Suddenly the black she-cat shoved a corpse down into the camp, and as it rolled, wiping the lifeblood on the ground, Dawnpool made out the tabby pelt of Oakwing.
Dawnpool felt sick.
Suddenly dozens of cats streamed into the camp, slitting throats before any cat could even know they were going to die. Dawnpool shrieked and blindly ran to the nursery, terrified. But it wasn't safe. An invader was already standing with the bloody body of a kit in her mouth. She spit it out and chased Dawnpool away into the frenzy of screeching cats running for their lives.
The medicine cat tripped on the lifeless body of her leader and shrieked, fearscent and blood filling her scents until she couldn't breathe. Suddenly blood filled her vision. The kit-killing she-cat had shoved her claws into Dawnpelt's green eyes.
Dawnpelt yowled with all the pain in the world.
And then she couldn't feel anything.
