Happy new year, y'all! I hope 2013 is a good one.
"Have we found enough burdock roots yet?" Paleflower asked.
"Almost." Moonpaw wrenched another from the earth. Her claw broke as she pulled it free. "Mousedung!" She gave it a check to make sure it wasn't bleeding. "The ground's really much too hard to be digging. It's so cold!"
"But it is the best thing for infected wounds, right?"
"Pretty much." Wild garlic also was good, but there wasn't exactly much of that with all the snow.
"We have six large roots," Paleflower said. "How many do we need?"
"Twigpelt wants eight."
Paleflower sighed and started scrabbling away at another patch of ground. "How're you two getting on? You learning much about herbs?"
"I guess so."
The warrior shot her a steely look. "Moonpaw, what's the matter? You've been as talkative as a stone lately!"
The matter is that I've just received a prophecy foretelling my death, and my mother's, and my mentors.
"You've been like this for what, four days? Ever since the half-moon! If there's something I can help you-" She paused. "The half-moon. Was there something that StarClan told you?" Paleflower flinched. "Oops. I'm not supposed to ask about that."
"No."
"We-ll..." Paleflower shuffled her paws uncomfortably. "Let's just get on with these roots. My paws are about to turn into ice."
"Okay." Moonpaw sniffed around, tracking the root's scent. "Here we are!" She slowly scraped away the frozen earth. Great StarClan, her claws ached. She inhaled deeply, trying to pick up the precise location of the medicine.
She picked up another scent instead.
Paleflower smelled it, too. "Not RiverClan again! Can't they learn to leave us alone?"
"We didn't really show them much with our last attack."
Paleflower sighed. "It's fresh. We'd better follow it."
"I'd guess that some of their cats are on our territory right now." It smells like there're only two, maybe three cats. That couldn't be enough to really count as a battle, could it? And Twigpelt was busy in camp, treating Rainbreeze's cold. He couldn't possibly show up. So this definitely was not going to be the battle Jumpfoot told her about.
Paleflower held out her tail, indicating for Moonpaw to stop. "There."
Two young warriors were walking, five fox-lengths from Moonpaw and her friend, through the woods and towards RiverClan territory. One of them, a black and gray tom with yellow eyes, held a squirrel in his teeth.
"Come on," Paleflower whispered. "Let's creep up on them."
A trickle of fear ran through Moonpaw as a new thought occurred to her. "What if it's a trap?"
"Any RiverClanners lying in wait for us would have to had disguised their scents pretty well. RiverClan has the strongest smell of all the Clans, you know that."
"But I don't want to take any chances."
"We can't let them get away with a plump squirrel. If you have any ideas about the best way to stop them, let's hear it. Otherwise, just get on with it."
"I... Maybe we should do the Sky-drop. That could startle them. Then that tom could drop the fresh-kill."
Paleflower nodded. "Sounds good."
What if this was a big mistake? What if Moonpaw ended up starting the battle that would kill Twigpelt, Mistblossom, and her?
Moonpaw! Relax; nothing bad is going to happen! It's only two cats!
Paleflower leapt soundlessly up a pine tree. It was a good choice, Moonpaw noted. Since it was the only tree around that hadn't shed its leaves, they'd be covered. The silver medicine cat's apprentice carefully climbed into a good position. The two RiverClan cats slowly approached their hiding place.
"Do you hear something?" the blue-gray she-cat whispered to her ally.
"Quit it, Streamtail. You've been jumping at shadows ever since we entered SkyClan territory."
"Just wait for a moment." Streamtail stopped - right before entering Moonpaw's range of attack. Mousedung! "Listen."
The tom twitched an ear. "Probably just... a bird."
"I think I smell SkyClan cats."
The black and gray tom hissed. "This is SkyClan territory! Of course you smell SkyClan!"
"Okay, okay, Hornetclaw," Streamtail sighed. "Let's just hurry out of this place."
"Fine by me."
Oh, no. They were approaching Moonpaw's branch. She had to jump. Soon.
Her limbs were frozen.
Come on, Moonpaw! Don't be a mousebrain!
Maybe this was a breach of the medicine cat code. Yeah. Maybe it wasn't just that she didn't have to attack them. Maybe she was obligated not to attack.
Or maybe there are two RiverClan cats blatantly breaking the warrior code by stealing food your Clan desperately needs, and you, medicine cat or not, need to stop them. Even if that could maybe possibly start something vaguely resembling a battle.
Okay, then. Moonpaw knew she had to attack already.
She also knew that she wouldn't.
They were right under the tree now. It was the time for Moonpaw to jump.
She stayed right where she was.
She couldn't do anything even remotely relating to starting a battle. And she wouldn't. Even though she knew she should.
Paleflower nodded at Moonpaw - a gesture that was ignored - and leapt.
But Moonpaw didn't look to see if her friend struck one of the warriors.
The medicine cat's apprentice scrambled down the pine, using the side facing away from the warriors.
And Moonpaw ran.