Catmint Glow
Chapter 2: Breaking the Rules
a/n. Jayfeathers not blind in this k! My story, my rules
Jayfeather woke up awkwardly, spitting leaves and berry juice. He looked around him, annoyed to find his pile of travelling herbs squashed.
How did I possibly manage to fall asleep on them? Jayfeather thought to himself in frustration. He used his paw to scoop them into a pile, embarrassed. I hope no one came in and saw me.
Jayfeather then suddenly realized he had no idea what time it was. He peered out of his den; alarm shooting through his body as he realized the sun was rising, the blue sky bright.
Crap! I should have been up hours ago!
Jayfeather scrambled to his paws, realizing cats would begin coming in any second for their morning traveling herbs.
They're all going to be late!
Jayfeathers paws felt heavy, and he blearily started mixing together herbs. His fur felt sticky from the berry juice he had laid on, and his bones were sore from not sleeping in his soft nest.
This is going to be a terrible day. I can already tell.
"Good morning, Jayfeather."
Jayfeather groaned. I haven't even gotten one done yet and there's already cats coming in!
"Hey," Jayfeather grunted, looking around briefly to see who it was. It was Brightheart, and she looked upset. Oops. I shouldn't have groaned out loud.
"I'm sorry," Jayfeather mumbled over his shoulder. "I'm just very behind right now."
"It looks like you haven't slept at all," Brightheart commented, her one good eye shining with concern. "And you look like you rolled around in a pile of juniper berries!"
Jayfeather just shrugged, not knowing how to explain. He struggled to focus, paws fumbling with the leaves as he tried to wrap it together.
"Here," he said at last, shoving the poorly wrapped bundle to the she cat. Brightheart looked at the mess of a herb wrap a second too long before she bent down to pick it up.
"Thanks," she said at last, giving Jayfeather a strange look. Jayfeather flicked his tail irritably as she left. He started making more, each one looking more terrible than the last.
I'm so tired and hungry I can barely think straight, he thought. I don't know how I'm going to get through today.
Jayfeather sighed and continued his work, getting up after a few seconds to grab some more stock from the back of the den. On his way over, he passed the catnip that was sitting in a pile. He stopped and stared at it for a moment. It seemed to call him, teasing him with its perfect sweet scent. Jayfeather thought back to yesterday when it made him feel so alive, and awake.
One little bite won't hurt anyone, Jayfeather said, leaning down to take a bite off the stem. I won't eat the whole thing again. Now is not the time to be falling asleep.
Almost instantly, Jayfeather felt his stomach ease up as the catmint went down. His eyelids lost their heaviness, and he suddenly realized he wasn't cross anymore. He grabbed the stock from the crack in the wall and walked back to his herbs with a new light.
I'm ready, Jayfeather thought to himself. Energy burned in his paws. I can't wait to start mixing!
Willowshine padded through the trees, feeling good after just eating two fish. It was such a nice day, Willowshine closed her eyes as she felt the sun warm her pelt. It feels so good. Especially after all those days of rain!
Then she started to cough.
Willowshines body twisted and a sharp pain ran through her side, as she coughed over and over. She looked around to make sure no one saw, and then proceeded to walk.
I do not have greencough, I do not have greencough, Willowshine said the words over and over in her head, determination making her hold her head high.
If I make myself believe it, then maybe it will help.
She started to cough again, this time it was worse than before. She wheezed and choked, sending a prayer to Starclan that she wasn't in the middle of the Riverclan camp. She tried to tell herself that she didn't have greencough once again, but now her spirits were dampened.
There will be catmint growing today, there will be catmint growing today, Willowshine started to chant in her mind. There, that's a good thing to be hoping for.
However, all hope was lost when Willowshine approached the area where the catmint was supposed to grow. The once thriving area was black, and dead, snow killed stems lay pitifully among the weeds. There wasn't even one single green plant, everything was dead beyond repair.
Great, Willowshine thought sadly. That's just great.
All traces of her optimism crushed, Willowshine started to walk back to the Riverclan camp, tail drooping. When she got back, she spotted Mothwing right away.
"Did you find any?" Mothwing asked, rushing over to her. Willowshine could hardly bear to look at her mentors hopeful face.
"No," Willowshine said very quietly. Mothwings ears went back slightly, and Willowshine could see the frustration in her eyes.
"It's all dead, Mothwing," Willowshine blurted out. "It's not going to grow back."
"That kind of talk will not make anything better," Mothwing hissed, taken aback at Willowshines sudden outburst. "We must continue to stay hopeful."
"Until when?" Willowshine wailed. "Until we all die?"
"That is enough," Mothwing growly, voice turning strangely calm. "I will not have that kind of negativity," and with that, she turned and stalked away, tail flicking angrily.
Willowshine scratched at the ground with her claws, fear for her clan mates and herself making her dizzy.
I have greencough. How will anyone in Riverclan trust their medicine cat if she can't even cure herself?
Firestar watched anxiously as the evening hunting party walked back into the clearing. The party consisted of Brambleclaw, Lionblaze, Whitewing and her apprentice Icepaw. The only one carrying any prey was Brambleclaw. He held a single squirrel in his jaws, and by the looks of it, a very old and tough one.
Firestar tried not to get upset, but it was a terribly disappointing sight.
He stood up and padded over to them, trying to mask how upset he was. He felt a pang of guilt as he looked at young Icepaw, the white she cat was the size of a kit. Her fur was matted and she looked terribly sad. Firestars heart broke as he realized this was how his entire clan looked.
"Has Sandstorms hunting party returned?" Brambleclaw asked. He looked a little embarrassed by the squirrel, and he shoved it behind him.
"No, you're back first," Firestar said. He wondered briefly how his mate and the rest of her patrol was doing. Hopefully better than this one.
"I just don't understand," Lionblaze shook his head angrily, staring off into nowhere. "How can all of the prey just vanish like this?"
"It's like they all just died in leaf bare," Whitewing put in.
"I don't know why the forest is so bare," Firestar replied, trying to sound strong. "But I'm sure they'll recover."
"Why don't you go take this to the elders," Firestar heard Whitewing whisper to her apprentice. Icepaw stood up on thin legs and picked up the squirrel. She looked so hungry and upset, Firestar couldn't take it anymore.
"No, she can have it," he burst out. Icepaw looked up at him with surprise.
"Go share it with Foxpaw," Firestar told her. Icepaw blinked gratefully at him, and then ran off in search for the tabby tom.
"That was nice of you," Brambleclaw growled, an odd look in his eyes. "But what about the elders?"
"There's only two apprentices right now," Firestar started to explain. "But they're starting to look like two kits."
Brambleclaw nodded grimly.
"I'm going to go find Hollyleaf and go out again," Lionblaze said, looking for approval from his leader. Firestar nodded his head. "Good idea."
Lionblaze started to pad away, but Firestar called him back.
"Don't wear yourself out, Lionblaze," he said, staring at the exhausted looking warrior. "You've gone on three hunting party's already today. Don't think I haven't noticed."
Lionblaze shrugged. "Maybe this time I'll get lucky and find something."
"I doubt we'll find anything," Hollyleaf said. "We've barely caught anything all day."
"Well, we could at least try," Lionblaze said, trying to sound bright. "And I was thinking Jayfeather could come too, he's been sitting in his den all day. And it's so nice out, I'm sure he'd appreciate a walk."
"Okay," Hollyleaf said, eyes dull from hunger. "Let's go get him."
Hollyleaf led the way to Jayfeathers den. When she pushed her head inside, she was surprised to see Jayfeather putting a leaf wrap on a giant pile at the wall of his den.
"Wow," Hollyleaf exclaimed. "There must be enough traveling herbs for days there!"
"Yeah, I'm a little ahead," Jayfeather flashed her a bright look from his eyes and Hollyleaf suddenly knew what was going on.
"How do you look so awake?" Lionblaze asked before Hollyleaf could confront him about the catmint. "And how did you find time to do all this?"
"I've had all day, there's no need to be just sitting around," Jayfeather said cheerfully and slightly too fast. He patted his stack of herb wraps lovingly.
"Jayfeather," Hollyleaf snapped. Jayfeather looked startled, and he jumped. "What?"
"You've been eating the catmint again," Hollyleaf stated sternly. "You need to stop it. It's for curing greencough!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Jayfeather rolled his eyes at her. "Does it look like anyone has greencough right now? No!"
"That logic is horrible!" Hollyleaf snapped. "We might as well tear down all the dens. It's not raining right now so what does it matter?"
"Chill," Jayfeather sighed loudly and made a face at her. Then to Hollyleafs annoyance, Lionblaze started giggling.
"Do you find this funny?" Hollyleaf demanded.
"He just looks so happy," Lionblaze snickered. "I never see him like that. So yeah, it's a little funny."
"Heehee," Jayfeather said in a silly voice. "But seriously, you should just try a little bite of it. It works wonders. I'm not tired, I'm not hungry. I'm getting all sorts of crazy ideas that just might work."
"You sound insane," Hollyleaf said.
"What kind of ideas?" Lionblaze asked. Hollyleaf glared at him. "Don't encourage this!"
"I'm not," Lionblaze said, glaring at her. "And you need to calm down. Haven't you seen the catmint garden? It's huge."
"Yeah, well," Hollyleaf realized she didn't have an argument. "It just feels weird," she mumbled at last.
"So I was thinking," Jayfeather continued, looking more excited than a kit about to be made an apprentice. "I think since Firestars not going to do anything about the prey problem, then we should."
"What?" Hollyleaf demanded.
"Cool," Lionblaze whispered under his breath.
"So here's my idea," Jayfeather continued, pacing back and forth. "Step one, we sneak into Shadowclan. Step two, we steal as much prey as we can carry. Step three, we go home. Step four, we feast."
Lionblaze began to laugh, staring at his brother with admiration. "I like the happy Jayfeather!" he cried. "He's way funnier than the cranky one."
Jayfeather just giggled.
"Are you INSANE?" Hollyleaf cried out. "How can you possibly even think that? Stealing another clans prey is against the warrior code! Not to mention, we can't just walk in there and hunt, they'd smell us a mile away! And most importantly, it's not right."
"A lot of things aren't right," Jayfeather shrugged, still wearing the calm look on his face. "Stealing is wrong. But is being hungry right?"
Hollyleaf couldn't respond.
"And come to think of it," Lionblaze said, face strained as if he was thinking hard. "Shadowclans got their own patches of catmint, don't they? We could roll around in ours and they wouldn't even know we were on their territory."
"But the warrior code," Hollyleaf couldn't help saying.
"Screw the code," Jayfeather scoffed. "Cats are going to die soon from hunger. I'm going to do something about it."
"I'm coming with you," Lionblaze said, nodding his head slowly. "It's about time someone took action."
"Are you going to come too?" Jayfeather asked his sister. Hollyleaf sighed, feeling confused. I guess staying alive is more important than any code. We won't be able to follow the code at all when we're dead.
"I'm coming," Hollyleaf said at last. Jayfeather looked so happy about this he started jumping up and down. "I knew it! I knew you would!"
"So should we just roll on a stem?" Lionblaze asked, eying the pile of catmint.
"Yeah," Jayfeather walked over and grabbed three stems. Hollyleaf rolled around on it, enjoying the way it smelled. When they were done, Jayfeather stood up and ate his stem he rolled on.
"It would be a waste if we didn't," Jayfeather instructed, motioning for Hollyleaf and Lionblaze to do the same. "If you don't eat them, I'll have to throw them away."
At this point, Hollyleaf was just so done with everything. "Well, since we're breaking all the rules, might as well," she said, before leaning down to eat it. At once she felt different, and her ears perked up. After a couple minutes went past, she started to feel wild. Her blood boiled and her heart raced with excitement.
"Let's go!" she cried. "I can't wait!"
