*****
Greycloud woke up just as the desert sun was peaking over the horizon, it was winter and the air had a tiny smell of cold. It was odd, it must have been three moons since Nightclan and Smokeclan had tried to raid on Desertclan territory, and that had everyone on edge. But who Greycloud was most concern about attacking was Dayclan, they hardly did but when Cricketcloud decided to attack, the blow was hard and long.
"Greycloud… hey are you awake?" A small voice asked him, the leader turned around to see a pair of icy blue eyes, accompanied by a small black body.
"What can I do for you Ravenkit?" Greycloud asked with a sigh. "You shouldn`t be alone at this time of day, the owls are still out." He lectured, yawning widely.
"I was wondering when me and Squirrelkit can become apprentices." The kit asked padding up to the grey tom.
"Not till another moon, now go back to Hawkfire, she`ll be worried if she wakes up and you aren`t there." He said, Hawkfire was very protective of her kits.
"Do I have to go alone?" The kit asked with large pleading eyes.
Greycloud sighed, "Come along then."He said, nudging the kit out of his den
Desertclan was located right on the edge of a desert, and the camp itself was a large rock mound.
On the west side Smokeclan lived on a moor, where they practiced the art of wind and speed. To their north was the fable Nightclan, whose territory was dirt spotted along with large clusters of trees, ruled by Nightcloud, who hated every other clan with burning fury. Then to the east were the less active Dayclan, who lived by a Divide, which is two large water ways connecting. They were a very well fed clan and they would give their lives to defend their plentiful territory.
*****
"I wonder what Nightclan is planning…" Autumnsong muttered to Greycloud.
The old tom gave a slight chuckle, "Come now, just because they aren`t attacking doesn`t mean that they are planning anything." He told his deputy surly.
"Your right, Smokeclan must be planning something…" She stated in dry humor.
"Don`t worry, and I believe that you left out Dayclan. Don`t you think that they would put up a fight?" Greycloud asked.
"Well of course I believe that they`d fight, but have they ever seen them fight in winter?" Autumnsong replied casually. Greycloud nodded in agreement, only once had he ever seen them fight at this season, and that was when they were starved. "I guess that you can say I`m bored." She sighed.
Just as Greycloud was about to reply a yowl cut through the desert side and the leader leapt to his paws. "It seems that you`ve gotten your wish Autumnsong." He meowed, watching as Nightclan medicine cat, Weaselnose, and the warrior Addertail, they were accompanied by the dawn patrol.
"Greycloud, we found these two inside of our territory." Envyfur declared harshly. "What should we do to them as punishment?" He asked.
"Before we jump to conclusions let`s see what they were doing." Greycloud replied. "Because I hardly doubt that a medicine cat would led a raid or steal prey."
"Well, what were you doing?" Greycloud asked the Nightclan cats.
"We don`t have to tell you anything." Addertail spat, Weaselnose put his tail up to silence the younger warrior.
"Go on." The leader prodded.
"I had to collect some Metallic-dust." The medicine cat confessed. Metallic-dust was a very valuable dust that only grew on Desertclan territory, it cured Blood-cough, and Blood-cough was a disease that plagued the clans at least once every five years.
"Alright, Duskclaw, take Batshadow and escort these cats to the Metallic-dust please." He asked the medicine cat who was standing in front of her rock den.
"Yes Greycloud." She answered. "But allow Gingerpaw to go instead of me." Greycloud nodded. The Desertclan medicine cat was strange in many ways, she hardly talked to anyone except who she knew well and she had the tendency of taking midnight strolls.
"But Greycloud, they`ve trespassed, they should be punished." A voice hissed from the direction of the warriors den. Greycloud turned around to see the black tom named Reedclaw.
"Reedclaw, I will not deny any clan the need of herbs." Greycloud hissed back, "and do not defy me again." Reedclaw held the leaders icy blue stare with his own amber eyes for a minute before stepping back into the warriors den angrily
*****
"So is that why Nightclan hasn`t attacked for so long… they`ve been suffering from Blood-cough?" Gingerpaw asked her mentor thoughtfully.
"Yes, and what does Blood-cough do?" Duskclaw asked, sorting through her plentiful supply of herbs.
"It`s an infection of the blood system that spreads from cat to cat through touch, and it makes you cough up blood." She recited.
"Tell me about the cures history."
"The cure was found by Sorrowwillow when she saw a metallic dust and realized that infection was the opposite metal attraction and decided that the next Blood-cough she would try getting a cat to eat it and see what would happen. The dust spread through the body of the cat… oh! I forget what the first cat that used it was called!" Gingerpaw panicked, losing all self-confidence.
"It`s all right, and it was Soaringhawk." Duskclaw assured, "Carry on."
"Ok, then… um… she discovered that the dust melted in the cats body… what, oh-no, that`s not right!" Gingerpaw struggled.
"Sorrowwillow discovered that the dust had a magnetic pull on the affection and brought it to itself. It then evaporated itself with the diseases." Duskclaw explained with a sigh. Her apprentice tried very hard but she had no confidence whatsoever.
"Oh, it`s so hard to remember." Gingerpaw complained sadly.
"As I said before, it`s quite all right, can you please check on the mud supply?" She comforted without even looking up from her work. Gingerpaw nodded and walked to the back room where the mud pit was.
The mud pit was a large pit of mud that was kept fresh by a underwater spring. If the water stopped flowing under it, it meant either a bad omen or a drought was on the way. But today, Gingerpaw concluded, it was flowing fine and the mud was bubbling as strongly as ever.
*****
Heatherkit backed away from the pretend battle, it wasn`t that she didn`t want to play, it was just that she didn`t feel right. Her stomach hurt really badly after Eclipsekit had accidently kicked her and she couldn`t shake the feeling off. 'I should tell my mom.' She thought to herself, but her mother would make a fuss and make her embarrassed, and she didn`t want that.
"Hey Heatherkit, come on!" Moonkit panted to his sister just before Streamkit knocked her over. With a sigh Heatherkit walked painfully back into the battle to easily be stepped on by Creamkit. She gasped in agonizing pain at her sisters weight and she felt very cold and black suddenly, she couldn`t move.
"Heatherkit, Heatherkit, wake up!" Creamkit shouted, desperately nudging her sister. "Come on get up." She laughed, not realizing the horrible state her sister was in. Moonkit and Streamkit padded up to their fallen sister calling her name, yet she didn`t rise.
Eclipsekit felt panic creep up into his throat, this wasn`t right, Heatherkit wouldn`t try to pull such a prank on her siblings. "MOM!" He shouted, running towards Honeyeyes, who was laying lazily by the queen`s rock den.
"What is it Eclipsekit?"She asked, suddenly worried at her kits horrid expression.
"It`s Heatherkit, she won`t wake up!"