Hey guys! OMG I cant believe how long it has been since this story has been updated. Life has changed so much in the past year and I'm sorry to say that I have lost a lot of my inspiration. I do want to finish this story so I'm going to try and work as hard as I can to get it finished. I'm currently still working on finishing chapter 24 but I already had the beginning of it typed up so I thought I could post this for now and then once the rest of it is done I will post part two.
So without further adu, enjoy chapter 24 part one.
Moonstream sat outside the nursery, her extremely swollen belly was pushed out on either side of her body, and she watched the camp entrance anxiously as she waited for her clanmates to return from the raid. The sun was beginning to set, faint hues of pink and purple were streaked across the sky and the crisp leaf-fall air was sending shivers through Moonstream's pelt, but the air was not the only thing responsible. Something wasn't right, the forest was too quiet. Moonstream nervously looked towards the slowly rising moon; it was nearly full and was the only source of light in the sky. Not soon after the raiding patrols left the clouds grew darker and the air grew still and cold. The camp itself had been quiet with only the queens remaining behind; even the newest apprentices had been forced to attend the raid, Doveheart paced anxiously at the camp entrance fear for her kits coming off of her in waves.
Rustling among the brush caught the worried gray and white queen's attention and she stopped her pacing, staring off into the dimming territory with her worried amber eyes. As the rustling came closer the sharp scent of blood engulfed the young queen and Moonstream scrambled to her feet positioning herself next to Doveheart. The first to emerge from the reeds was Reedstar, the large gray tom strode past the two worried queens, he held his head high and stared straight ahead as he limped towards his den. Without a word he vanished inside, those left behind during the raid stared after their leader, anxiously awaiting news of the battle. Nightswallow hurried into the leader's den, a bundle of herbs clasped between her teeth. Scuffling was heard inside the den, then a loud screech and after a few heartbeats Nightswallow stalked out of the den, her black pelt ruffled and a shallow wound above her eyes, drops of blood steadily trickled down her muzzle.
The reeds began to rustle again and a small group made their way into the camp. When Moonstream recognized Sunvine leading the patrol she let out a low growl. His small patrol had been sent to raid Thunderclan's camp while they were busy fighting the larger patrol at sunningrocks. Moonstream didn't know what their mission had been but because it had been led by Sunvine and his lackeys Pebbleleap and Foamsplash she knew that it must have been horrible. Foxstreak, Goldenpaw and Honeypaw entered behind the patrol leaders, as the patrol strode past Moonstream she looked them over quickly for wounds, not spotting anything too serious she let them pass, anger spiking off Sunvine in waves. Honeypaw and Goldenpaw raced towards Swirlspots, burying their faces in their mother's fur like they were kits again. Sunvine shot the apprentices a disgusted look before stalking into Reedstar's den. Foamsplash sent Moonstream a look of pure hatred when the queen gave her blood soaked pelt a quick sniff, the young blue she-cat hurried into the warriors den, not meeting the eyes of any of her clanmates.
Suddenly the strong scent of blood engulfed every member of the clan, Moonstream felt bile rise in her throat at the strength of the stench and she staggered, momentarily losing her balance at the intensity of the scent.
Slowly emerging from the growing darkness was the rest of the Riverclan warriors. As her clanmates slowly moved past her, Moonstream began to identify those with injuries.
"Shalepelt, Leafpaw, Spottedwhisker, Bumblestrike, Flameclaw, Galeforce" as the names rattled off in her head an overwhelming sense of helplessness overcame her.
"Moonstream!" a sharp meow caught her attention and she turned towards the sound seeing her former mentor watching her with determined blue eyes.
"I know you are not a medicine cat anymore but I need your help treating everyone. Now I want you to start splitting everyone into groups based on the severity of their injuries while I fetch some herbs."
Moonstream gave a faint nod as Nightswallow vanished into her den. Moonstream looked out at her bruised and battered clanmates and felt herself becoming overwhelmed again.
"This is bad, so many injured, I can smell the death on them, I can't help anyone, I'm useless, is Swiftbreeze okay?"
As the thoughts raced through her head a small persistent prodding against her side brought Moonstream back to reality. Looking own she saw Scorchpaw standing beside her; the newest apprentice was almost completely unharmed receiving only a few scratches during the battle. His usually soft amber eyes were wide and frantic though he still held his body with a quiet calmness.
"Moonstream" the small tom repeated "Lightbounce and Blazepaw have the worst injuries, please go help them. I can separate the rest of our clanmates."
Moonstream nodded, watching the young cat in shock as he proceeded to carefully look over their clanmates for wounds. Nodding in approval the pregnant queen looked through the crowd easily spotting Lightbounce, though his pelt was more red than white at the moment. She took a few steps towards him before spotting Nightswallow heading directly for him, cobwebs wrapped around one of her forepaws and a bundle of different herbs gathered in her jaws.
Knowing that Nightswallow would have the situation under control Moonstream began looking for Blazepaw. After a few heartbeats she spotted a fallen bunch of pale sandy ginger fur, heading towards the injured apprentice she also spotted Flameclaw and Doveheart standing beside him. Moonstream hadn't even noticed the queen vanish from her side but as she neared Blazepaw she understood why.
The young apprentice was near death. The gray and white queen frantically rasped her tongue over what seemed to be the worst of her son's wounds.
Moonstream paused in shock when she reached the young tom's side. His usually fluffy pale ginger pelt was flattened and drenched with blood, his breathing was so shallow it was almost non-existent and only the whites of his eyes were visible. The urgency of the situation dawned on Moonstream and she quickly intervened.
The heavily pregnant queen quickly snapped herself back into focus. She shot a steely green gaze to Doveheart.
"I need you to go get help" she commanded the distraught queen "You need to find Nightswallow." After a few precious heartbeats a growl rumbled in Moonstream's chest.
"Doveheart!"
The gray and white queen visibly jumped as though she were physically pulled away from a cliffs edge. The shaking queen's eyes glowed before she gave a curt nod, vanishing in search of the senior medicine cat.
Moonstream pressed her forepaw's firmly against the gaping wound across the top of the tom's chest which seemed to be the source of the majority of the blood loss. Her brow furrowed in concentration as she forced herself to focus solely on slowing down the blood flow.
Horrible guttural choking sounds escaped the newest apprentice's lips as he struggled to breath. His small body quivered as, despite Moonstream's efforts, blood continued to flow.
Moonstream's heart sunk as she felt the apprentice's heartbeat begin to slow. She growled and pressed harder against his chest. The blood continued to flow and began to form a thick red pool around her delicate paws.
"No Blazepaw, don't give up" she commanded, though it came out more as a snarl. The blood continued to soak the white fur of her paws staining them a horrifying shade of red.
"You can't give up now, fight Blazepaw" she hissed "Fight."
Moonstream's tone turned from commanding to panicked as she watched the blood slowly stain further and further up her legs. Looking to Blazepaw's face she could see just the slightest movement near his throat. The small tom still struggled to take a breath and his eyes began to glaze over, the quivering coming to a stop.
"Where is Nightswallow?" panic flashed across Moonstream's face, her voice raising in panic sounding like something skin to a shriek "Where is she?" Nausea and lightheadedness overwhelmed the gray and white queen as she spotted the dark blood pooling beneath the now still apprentice. The edges of Moonstream's vision began to darken and she felt he limbs go weak. Before losing consciousness a mournful wail pierced her ears.