Summary: Crowfeather's mission was simple. Capture Firestar's precious daughter and hold her as a hostage for Mudstar. It was the ThunderClan leader's fault Onewhisker was dead after all. It was a fairly simple task... but the medicine cat's gentle eyes... her soothing voice... her gentle features... He was her captive and she was his prisoner.
Warnings: Rate M for a reason. This story will take a much darker tone later on. Beware character death, non-cannon shippings, possible OOC-ness, eye blinding grammer mistakes and some explicite scenes.
Disclaimer: I do not own Warriors, Erin Hunter does. If I owned Warriors RunningwindxFrostfur would SO be cannon
Ferns slapped Leafpaw's face as she scrambled through the forest. Her heart beat pounded in her small chest as her quivering paws stumbled on, tripping over fronds and being swatted by bushes. Never before had the apprentice felt such an icy cold dread before. As a medicine cat, her life had never been in true danger before. The closest she'd ever been was when she'd been captured by the Twolegs back in the old forest. But even that was nothing compared to what she was feeling now. Cats she had befriended and helped had suddenly turned into vicious, bloodthirsty beasts. They had turned so quickly on each other with snarling lips and unsheathed claws.
Leafpaw had been shocked as she had never actually seen a battle between the Clans break out before. Her job had always been to come after the battle. When noting but the torn up flanks and wild stories were all that remained of the bloodbath that had just occurred. She had no desire to see cats ripping each other apart and she had no desire to inflict such wounds on another. But in that one moment of her life she had feared she just might have to do just that. When all those eyes, all those cold, hate-filled eyes, turned to her she knew in that moment she knew would have to fight. She would have to tear up shoulders and slice at eyes and rip up ears and inflict wounds that she had healed a dozen times over.
If Brambleclaw hadn't been there she probably would've been killed. The dark tabby had known she was no fighter. He had quickly sent her away, his deep voice breaking through her wall of cold fear and just like that she had no longer been frozen in dread. She had slipped away from the tom and dashed towards the forest, afraid that someone might give chase.
By now she knew no one was chasing her and still she ran. The fear that had once kept her frozen to the earth now sent her spiraling wildly through the woods. She had passed the place the other medicine cats were currently hiding a long time ago and was now rushing blindly through the foliage, never pausing for a heartbeat.
The trees and bushes grew sparser and more spread out till they completely disappeared, leaving the terrified medicine to streak across open moorland. Still she ran, not even registering that the rain had finally stopped.
Her paw suddenly dropped down and the small tabby was thrown to the ground with such a force that is sent spasms of pain up her leg. A loud yowl broke out of her mouth and then silence. She lay on her side panting heavily, feeling nothing but the cold mud slipping between her fur to the skin beneath and the breathtaking pain that had taken over her right front leg. Only when the sky began to turn a light pink did the medicine cat slowly pull her leg out of the rabbit hole. She sat up and tested it out, putting a tiny bit of weight on it. She was instantly rewarded with a fiery hot pain that laced its way around the abused limb. Leafpaw instantly took the weight off and curled the leg against her body.
The she-cat stood up, teetering slightly from using only three legs. She looked around uncertainly, not knowing where she was exactly. The large expanse of land was absolutely treeless with the only sounds coming from the grass as the wind whistled through it. No doubt she was in what was to be WindClan's territory. Her fear returned and she instantly twisted her body around, looking for something to stand on so she could get a better view of her surroundings. A ridge was a few tail-lengths away and Leafpaw began trekking towards it, wary of anymore rabbit burrows.
The climb to the top was painful and slow. Her body was to the point of exhaustion from her previous run and she couldn't use her right front leg at all. Her legs trembled from the strain and Leafpaw had to shake away fuzzy black clouds as they began to dot her vision. She had to get home, or at least off the moorlands. Until then she knew she wasn't safe, medicine cat or not. It was pure determination and fear that drove the small she-cat to the top of ridge where she collapsed. Her chest heaved with the effort of sucking in air and her body refused to stop trembling. She tried to open her eyes, to see if there was a forest anywhere nearby, but it was as if honey was stuck between them, sealing them shut. Her conscious fluttered and she only weakly resisted the black clouds of sleep. Even as her ears picked up the sound of quick, steady paw steps coming near her Leafpaw felt herself give in to unconsciousness.
When Leafpaw woke up the first thing she saw was a black tom sitting opposite her. He was lean but even in her drowsy state she could tell there were well formed muscles packed underneath his smooth pelt. His eyes were blue, sparkling against the dark fur and Leafpaw felt dazzled by its effect. They were chips of ice as they stared evenly down at her and the young tabby felt herself being sucked into the entrancing orbs.
"So she has awakened has she?" A scathing voice broke through the she-cat's haze and Leafpaw instantly looked away from the cold eyes and at the ground, trying to slow down her beating heart and quell her freezing fear before someone smelled it.
"Yes, she just woke up." The black tom replied. Leafpaw could tell from his voice that he was still young but his eyes had held such knowledge and experience that the thought of him being so adolescent caught her off guard. She desperately searched her memory, trying to figure out who this cat was but her mind was still blank with terror.
"Right, well I'm going to go tell Mudclaw." The other cat padded away, leaving her alone once again with the tom. He didn't say anything and Leafpaw carefully avoided looking in his general direction by watching what was going on around her.
Cats of all shapes and sizes were around a large clearing that she was currently lying on the edge of. A tabby slid down a large tunnel with a mouth full of moss and came back empty, rushing over a hill and out of sight. Two she-cats were tackling a large briar patch; one was ripping tendrils off while the other was digging at the roots. A gray she-cat padded past with a rabbit in her jaws while two apprentices followed, one with another rabbit the other with a small mouse. A small white she-cat with a large, round belly was having difficulty pulling some brambles out from the entrance to another tunnel and a dark gray tabby rushed over to help her.
"Tornear told me your had awoken." Leafpaw whipped her head around and stared at the mottled brown now before her. His yellow eyes glared down at her and the small tabby pushed herself further into the mud, feeling intimidated.
"So what's ThunderClan doing sending one of their medicine cats out to spy on us?"
The she-cat blinked at the words, suddenly realizing what kind of situation she was in. With tensions so high between WindClan and ThunderClan right now it was only natural to think she was a spy.
"I-I'm not here to s-spy on you," Leafpaw said shakily.
"Oh? Then what were you doing wandering around our territory? Certainly you didn't come all this way looking for herbs? Or did you find another place like the moonstone?"
The she-cat stuttered, "I was running… running away from the f-fighting and I just e-ended up here."
Mudclaw narrowed his eyes, not looking at all amused. "You ran all the way out here on the moorland when you knew WindClan and ThunderClan were at war with each other? You ran out here instead of going to wait with the other medicine cats?"
Leafpaw trembled violently, staring up the WindClan tom, silently begging him to just let her go. He snorted at her silent pleading and turned away. He ran swiftly across the open patch of land and leaped nimbly atop a large rock that was at the head of the clearing.
"Let all those cats old enough to catch prey of their own join underneath the Tallrock for a meeting with the Clan." His summons echoed slightly off the surrounding hills and any cat within hearing range dropped what they were doing and congregated to the large slab of stone. Only Leafpaw and the black tom remained where they were but both pricked their ears and watched intently, not wanting to miss what was about to happen.
"Cats of WindClan," Mudclaw began, "Yesterday we found an outsider in our territory. A small brown she-cat, fast asleep and in plain sight. It was none other than Leafpaw, the ThunderClan medicine cat apprentice. What, you may ask, was she doing so far into our new territory? The only logical conclusion is spying on us. She said she ran from the fighting that had broken out yet she did not join her fellow medicine cats. She ran far into the moorland instead. Quiet suspicious if you ask me."
The cats below were muttering and whispering to one another and Leafpaw shrank back with each glare that was thrown her way. Still she clung to the hope that Mudclaw would give her a warning, no matter how vicious, and send her on her way. That he would tell her to tell Firestar that this was war and show her the way to ThunderClan territory.
"We should kill her!" A dark gray tom yowled, "Teach those mangy foxhearts a lesson!"
"No! She's a medicine cat, StarClan would not approve!" A brown she-cat hissed.
"StarClan? What StarClan! StarClan is not here! If they were would Onewhisker be dead right now!" Another she-cat growled.
"Don't speak like that; of course StarClan is with us!"
"We should still kill her, that way we're even."
Leafpaw stared in horror as the cats talked so calmly about her death. They were discussing it like they would discuss a drought and how they should fix the shortage of prey, wither to steal from another Clan or just deal with it. But I'm not prey! Leafpaw wanted to wail. I'm a cat! A living, breathing cat. A medicine cat! I heal injuries and talk to StarClan! I'm not here to spy on you; I don't want to hurt you! Leafpaw wanted to yell and scream those words at the top of her lungs, she wanted them to see how harmless she was and that this was all a mistake but the words wouldn't come out and she didn't try to force them. She was just too afraid, too tired, and too numb.
Mudclaw raised his tail and waited for a few heartbeats for the talking to cease. "We will not kill her." He announced. Some cats let out sighs of relief while others flattened their ears irritably. Leafpaw pricked her own, kindling a tiny flame of hope that she was to be let go. The dark brown tom went on, "No, killing her is not the answer to this. She is a healer and a messenger for StarClan, killing her would be unjust. But we can't let this go. The moment we set her free she'll run straight to her ThunderClan comrades and tell them our secrets and we can't let that happen."
"So what are we going to do?" A brown tabby questioned.
"We well keep her prisoner for now. She is free to wander the camp as she pleases but she can't take anything from the fresh-kill pile without someone's permission, she will not be allowed to leave the camp, and she will have a constant body guard."
A general murmuring broke out after the statement but most of the cats looked pleased by the decision. They didn't have to get their paws dirty killing her and they didn't have to feel apprehensive about letting a spy run back to her Clanmates. It was a win-win situation. Leafpaw, however, felt horrified at the prospect. She didn't belong here, she hadn't even been doing anything wrong, yet these cats were going to keep her here against her will.
"Who's going to body guard her?" A gray she-cat asked. She had been one of the few who didn't look happy about the outcome and she seemed concerned about their captive's wellbeing.
"Crowfeather's been doing a fine job." Mudclaw replied, dismissively flicking his tail towards the black tom. "He'll be her main bodyguard. Whenever he's needed for patrol he'll find someone to take his place. Is that alright Crowfeather?"
"Yes Mudclaw." The other replied. Mudclaw nodded then leaped down from the rock. The other cats dispersed back to their earlier duties, some casting wary glances at the prisoner as they passed. The mottled brown tom padded up to the two.
"I think the empty badger den that Owlpaw found last night would be perfect for our guest."
Crowfeather flattened his ears at the words. "I don't have to sleep in there do I?"
"No, but you'll have to sleep near the entrance. I figured that since she's ThunderClan she'd like a den." He glanced down at her, his yellow eyes sharp and mocking. "Is that something you would prefer?"
Leafpaw bristled slightly at the sarcastic tone but fright made her give a timid, "Yes, that would be nice." Mudclaw snorted but didn't say anything as he stalked away.
"Come on." The black tom growled roughly, speaking to the she-cat for the first time. "Let's get you to your new home." Leafpaw stiffened at the words but shakily got up, wobbling on her three legs. The she-cat could feel eyes on her but she ignored them, keeping her gaze locked on the ground.
"Did you get hurt?" Her guard asked and the tabby snorted in reply, "None of your business." Crowfeather hissed coldly, "You're right, it's not." Before strutting quickly away, leaving Leafpaw to hobble after him.
The tom lead her away from the edge of what Leafpaw assumed was the camp. He padded swiftly across the packed earth to the hole that was found near the middle of camp but still far enough out of it to not get in the way of the other cats. Perfect of a prisoner. She thought bitterly as she sniffed the entrance to it. The WindClan camp was out in the open with nothing surrounding it but hills and thick swabs of heather and gorse dotting it so it would've been easier to sneak out if she had been situated near the edge. Here she was close to the heart of the camp were most cats would be if they weren't on patrol, it would be easy to spot her no matter where you were in the camp. The den didn't have a lot of scent to it. Leafpaw could smell two separate cats' scents and, if she really tried, the faintest trace of badger but even her inexperienced nose knew that the badger scent was extremely old. Glancing uncertainly back at her captor, the medicine cat began to limp down the tunnel. She lost her balance and yowled in alarm as she slid and tumbled down, hitting an upwards slope that brought her to a stop. Groaning, she crawled up the hill till she entered a wide cavern. It was a bit big for her but just the right size for a badger. Oh I see! Leafpaw realized, glancing back at the tunnel that had lead her here. The badger dug down and then up before making its den so that when it rained the den wouldn't flood. Feeling slightly comforted by the thought, Leafpaw shuffled around before curling up the back corner furthest from the exit.
I guess I'm last on their priority list to get moss. She thought, shifting uncomfortably against the rocky soil but she couldn't bring herself to complain even to the empty den. Her stomach wailed sadly, asking her why there was no food but Leafpaw couldn't shake the apathetic feeling she had enough to go to the entrance and ask if she could eat. Her right leg was terribly stiff from having been curled up against her body for so long and it would be a long and painful process to get it out if its current ridged state but Leafpaw didn't feel like trying to start. Her once lustrous tabby coat was now matted and completely hidden in mud, most of it already dried out into spiky clumps that stuck out and prickled her as she curled up. Leafpaw just couldn't bring herself to care.
