Chapter Ten
Poppypaw woke with a start. She glanced wildly about the den for any sign of some unknown dark creature. Sighing, she got to her paws and stretched. Every night for the past one and-a-half moons she had gone through the same routine. A horrible beast, as tall as a tree, would be chasing her down a snowy, rocky path. Its piercing eyes would stare at her endlessly while it bared its horrendous teeth. The teeth reminded her of the pointed rocks in the Mooncave, but they were missing the shiny stones. And with every step she took, it would get closer. She had woken up this time just before its huge sharp claws sunk into her flesh.
Instead of taking herbs straight to the elders like she usually did in the morning, she decided to grab a bite to eat with one of her sisters. She was, unlike the dream, not imagining the snow outside her den. A cold, bitter, leafbare wind seemed to cut straight through her. Poppypaw fluffed up her fur a bit more and made her way to the apprentices' den. She greeted Blackear along the way, who was starting to rouse some warriors for a dawn patrol. The apprentices were all fast asleep, probably without any dreams troubling them.
It was warm and cozy in their den since there were so many more cats to warm it up. She padded to her sister that was the closest to the entrance, Dawnpaw, and nudged her awake. Dawnpaw, whose short tabby coat wouldn't stand a second against the wind outside, awoke with a rather dazed expression.
She swiveled her head this way and that, trying to understand what was happening and why she was awake. Finally she spotted her sister and yawned widely before saying, "Wha' didja wake me up f-f-for?" she finished, unable to stop another yawn.
Poppypaw rolled her eyes, "I was hoping you'd feel up for a bite of prey before the day began."
Dawnpaw's eyes furrowed as she peeked behind Poppypaw to the camp outside her den. She shook her head and lied back down, "The sun isn't even up yet, Poppypaw." She complained.
"Well you'll be up soon anyway; you and Badgerstorm have dawn patrol with Blackear, remember?"
Her sister sighed in defeat, "Fine, fine. But this is the last time you wake me up at the crack of dawn just because you can't sleep. My name doesn't mean I like to be up early."
They quickly gulped down a small mole before Dawnpaw was ordered away by her mentor. Poppypaw stared after them wistfully. In a small way, she wished that she could be doing something fun like her sisters for once. Lately, without any sick cats, she had been confined to the den. Lilystream was making her sort out piles of herbs while reciting all of their uses.
She still loved being a medicine cat, but she just wished that she had more to do. She was about to walk back into her den when she heard low, rushed voices from inside. Poppypaw paused for a moment before straining her ears to hear every quiet word.
"—It won't work and you know it!" a voice unmistakable for Lilystream said.
"It would work if you just tried. You have avoided me for almost an entire twelve moons." It sounded like Blackear, but then again, she hadn't heard him talk a lot.
There was a hint of…was it sadness or nervousness…in Lilystream's voice when she said, "You don't know the entire story, Blackear."
"Then tell me already! I know you've been covering something up. Thrushtail knew what it was—"
"And he wouldn't have told you either!" Lilystream snapped.
There was a small pause before Blackear said, "Lilystream, you know you can trust me…please…"
Lilystream sighed heavily. It sounded as if the weight of the world were on her shoulders, "I'm sorry, Blackear…I simply cannot tell you…even if I wanted to."
She could hear someone rise to their paws. It must've been Blackear because she could hear his voice getting closer to the entrance, "Fine then. Don't tell me. But I will eventually figure it out."
Poppypaw backed up several paces and began to casually walk towards the den, as if she were just now returning. Blackear passed her again, but he was walking with a definite anger in his steps.
"Oh, Blackear, are you sick?" she asked, faking her concern. He just shook his head quickly. "In that case, there are cats waiting for you. You do remember you're leading a patrol, right?"
His eyes widened as he flew to the entrance and finally led the waiting cats out through the thorn tunnel.
Poppypaw took a deep breath and entered the medicine cat den. She could see that Lilystream had already gotten a head-start on the herbs. And, although the she-cat was doing her best to cover it up, she could still sense a certain air of sadness that hung over her.
And so it happened that she once again spent all morning listing out all the uses of poppy seeds and how some tree barks were actually useful.
She was glad, then, when at sunhigh (or what would've been sunhigh had the grey, storm clouds not been hanging low overhead) Hawkstar called a clan meeting. For a brief moment she wondered why Nightkit and Coalkit were sitting up front next to the Highstump when she realized that they too were about to be made apprentices.
It didn't take long for Hawkstar to complete the ceremony. Nightpaw, whose pelt resembled Poppypaw's, was apprenticed to Feathertail. She gave her mother-figure a broad grin when this was announced. Feathertail had always been there for her when she was a kit. And plus, she deserved another apprentice after her last one, Brownpaw, was killed by those ruthless rogues.
Coalpaw, who resembled a coal in all aspects, even down to his light orange eyes, was apprenticed to Oakstripe. Now there were only a few, mostly young, warriors who didn't have an apprentice yet. But, it wouldn't be too long before Ripplepaw and her sisters were made warriors. Hopefully that would clear out some room in the apprentices' den.
After saying her congrats to the new apprentices' she returned to the den. Carefully she piled celandine, daisy leaves, and comfrey root onto a beech leaf. She wrapped up the herbs and slowly carried them the short distance to the medicine cat den.
Usually she only brought the daisy leaves and the comfrey root since they helped with inflammation of joints, but today she had to bring the celandine since Pooltree had been complaining about his vision.
When she reached the den finally she noticed that only Brightstripe was present, and she was sleeping in her usual spot; in between the root system of a nearby tree.
Poppypaw sighed and gently woke up the elderly she-cat. Brightstripe's eyes fluttered open and she sat up stiffly, "Lemme guess? Herbs again?" she asked sleepily.
"Yes, and Pooltree's got some too. Have you seen him at all?"
Brightstripe slowly stretched her limbs and glanced around the den, "No, not since he went to go get some prey this morning."
Poppypaw's eyes widened, "This morning?! Brightstripe, it's past sunhigh!"
The old she-cat's eyes furrowed in concentration, "But…that means that he's been…he's all alone…"
Poppypaw dropped the herbs and flew out of the den. Faster that lightning she raced along the perimeter of camp, skirting the openings to the various dens. He wasn't in the apprentices', warriors', nursery, or Hawkstar's den.
"Oh no...oh no…" she muttered under her breath. She then looked wildly about for Hawkstar. Finally she spotted him coming from the dirtplace and she raced up to him, "Hawkstar! It's Pooltree, he's missing!"
Her leader's eyes flew wide open at once, "Missing? How…where…when?"
She told her exactly what Brightstripe had told her and that Pooltree wasn't in camp. He laid his tail on Poppypaw's shoulder, "I'll personally lead a patrol looking for him. He can't have gone too terribly far in this cold. Don't you worry Poppyp—"
His words were cut short when Ivyfrost, who had been out hunting, ran into camp howling, "There's a badger! I scented it near the meadow!"
Poppypaw's heart seemed to drop through the ground. Pooltree was out alone, with a badger on the loose, and he could hardly see!
"Dear StarClan…" Hawkstar said under his breath. Then more loudly he shouted, "Pooltree's out there all alone. We need to find him! Rockclaw, Ivyfrost, Blackear, Gorsepelt, Brookwing, Deerswift, Molenose, and Ripplepaw will fan out and search for him. We need him rescued as soon as possible. Force him to come back, don't let him resist!"
The cats whose names were called out quickly raced out of the den. After a day of foreboding storm clouds, it finally began to snow. It covered up everything as they waited. Brightstripe was with Lilystream, both of whom were sitting very still near the entrance. Feathertail paced back and forth nervously as she always did when her mate was in harm's way. Rockclaw's apprentice, Berrypaw, was also sitting at the entrance to camp. Only he wasn't still at all, he was as fidgety as a bird. Every now and then he would stand up suddenly, walk around camp for a bit, only to sit in the exact same spot as before.
This brief reprieve from her medicine cat duties gave Poppypaw time to think. She was slightly ashamed that the first thing on her mind wasn't Pooltree, it was Moth. She hadn't spoken to her for nearly two moons now. And she only wondered what had become of IceClan. Hopefully Moth was just too busy to waste her resting time using up more strength. That was what Poppypaw hoped it was. That is what she clung to.
Soon, the sun was setting bringing on an even colder night. Lilystream led Brightstripe back to the elders' den where it was warmer. Berrypaw, still anxious, reluctantly returned to the den at Sparrowpaw's insistence. However, Poppypaw remained where she was, sitting at the entrance to her den.
Lilystream, returning from the elders' den whispered, "You should get some sleep."
Poppypaw looked down at her paws, "What if he's hurt? We need to stay up in case he's wounded."
There was the smallest of pauses before her mentor said, "It's been a very long time, Poppypaw. I don't think that he'll be returning with any wounds."
It took a moment for her to register what Lilystream had said. By the time she looked up her mentor was padding across the camp back to the entrance. Instead of listening to her mentor she continued to sit where she was. Her long coat seemed to help a bit against the biting cold.
Suddenly, her vision was dimming. Was she falling asleep? Poppypaw opened her eyes wide, but to no avail. She panicked for a moment as her entire world went dark. In fact, she couldn't hear or smell anything either.
Then, her vision came back, but she wasn't in the camp. She also wasn't in control of her body. It was as if she were looking through someone else's eyes.
Whoever it was was looking about wildly in terror. They were running in between trees and brambles, trying to escape something. There was a sudden pain in their hindquarters. Soon, they stumbled and rolled through the snow. When they looked up they could see blood following their tracks and a huge animal looming up on them.
It had a long, flat body and a long, pointed snout. It was mostly black with a white stripe right down its spine. Its paws were ended by enormous claws which must've caused the pain. Poppypaw had never seen one, but this must be a badger.
Also, she saw Pooltree's striped pelt out of the corner of her eye. It took her a moment to realize that she was Pooltree. She must be seeing things from his eyes. They scrambled in the snow to their paws before the badger reached them. But it was too late, it was too close. It raised one, heavily clawed paw up. But, before it could swipe at them, they heard a yowl.
Hawkstar seemingly came out of nowhere and attack the badger head-on. But it shook him off onto the ground. It raised its paw again and brought it down on Hawkstar's side. He screeched in pain, but got up again and attacked the animal with a new fury.
She…er, Pooltree stayed on the ground, petrified in fright. They could hear more cats coming, but they were still far away. The huge badger batted the leader to the ground with such ease that the cat seemed little more than a fly to it.
With Hawkstar bleeding profusely on the ground it turned to them. Poppypaw, using her own mind, deduced that Hawkstar was losing a life by the way he shuddered and shook like a leaf then lay still. Her mind then joined with Pooltree's again as they saw the bulky figure of the badger bearing down on them.
There was nowhere to go anymore, nowhere to hide. They closed their eyes in unison, not wanting to look death in the face. Briefly they felt themselves getting tossed this way and that before a huge set of teeth clamped firmly on their neck. Then, everything went completely black.
When Poppypaw opened her eyes next she was lying in the snow in camp. She was gasping for breath as if she couldn't ever have any more. Lilystream had joined her by her side, looking extremely concerned.
"What did you see?" she whispered urgently.
"I…Pooltree…Hawkstar…" she struggled for words to explain what had happened, but none came.
Lilystream looked slightly panicked, "Do they need us?" she asked.
Poppypaw nodded her head.
"Alright, I'll grab herbs for wounds and we'll go out and meet them."
Again, all Poppypaw could do was nod her head. Lilystream sighed and ducked into the den. She still had an extreme feeling of panic and terror hanging on her fur. She just couldn't get the image of the badger looming over her…or Pooltree...or whatever that was.
Moments later Lilystream emerged with two, bulging bundles of herbs wrapped up in beech leaves. Poppypaw grabbed one and followed her mentor out of the camp. They walked for awhile in the general direction of the tracks in the snow, which were steadily being covered up by new snowfall. It didn't take long for them to find Pooltree after they caught the heavy scent of blood.
The first thing they saw was the entire patrol Hawkstar had assembled gathered in between several large trees. A huge badger lay dead in the snow at their feet. Hawkstar, who Poppypaw had last seen losing a life, was now being supported by Blackear and Gorsepelt. Another cat lay in the snow…unmoving.
Most of them looked puzzled to see the medicine cats joining them so soon, but decided against asking about it. As they drew closer she could tell that the dead cat was indeed Pooltree. She shuddered as she realized that she had been connected to him as he died.
They set down their bundles of herbs and set about wrapping up Hawkstar. He wasn't happy about the attention, and told them more than once to take care of the other cats, but Lilystream wouldn't listen. Poppypaw chewed up a paste of dock, goldenrod, and horsetail and applied it Hawkstar's wounds. Then, with Lilystream, they wrapped it up in cobweb.
The other cats' injuries were far less severe. Ivyfrost had a cut above her eye that was bleeding pretty bad and Molenose's paw looked like it had been sprained, but that was the worst.
"What're we going to do about that?" Blackear asked, pointing out the huge body of the badger, "We can't just bury it in the snow."
Hawkstar nodded thoughtfully, "There's always the Great River. That would carry the body away."
"Yes," Deerswift said, "But how are we going to carry that thing all the way over there. That's practically on the other side of the territory!"
Hawkstar shook his head, "For now, we'll cover it in snow. Right now, we need some rest. Hopefully then we'll be able to figure out what to do with it."
They all agreed on that point. Rockclaw and Gorsepelt continued to help Hawkstar back to camp. Deerswift, Ivyfrost, and Brookwing draped Pooltree's battered body across their backs. They left, leaving Molenose, Blackear, and Ripplepaw to bury the beast.
When they arrived back in camp it was already beginning to get light out. Lilystream immediately ordered that Hawkstar was to stay in his den for the day, which he again protested against.
They laid Pooltree inside the medicine cat den and then those cats too went to bed. Poppypaw would've loved nothing more than to sleep at that moment, but it wasn't an option. Lilystream grabbed a mouthful of nice scented herbs and dropped them next to his body.
As dawn began to arrive, Poppypaw busied herself placing lavender, rosemary, and mint in strategic places on his body to hide the scent of death. This also left their den with a very heavy scent in it that was beginning to make Poppypaw light-headed. The next thing she knew they were carefully placing Pooltree's body in the clearing so that he could be properly mourned by those that loved him.
And now, since it was morning, she had to give Brightstripe her daily herbs. She had now been up for more than an entire day.
She also had to convince the elder to take poppy seeds too since she was so fond of her den-mate.
After a quick mouse with Morningpaw, who asked questions non-stop about what had happened the night before, she retired to her den. Lilystream was nowhere to be seen, but that didn't stop Poppypaw from sinking into her nest and falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.