"Maggottail?"
Manglethorn limped around the clearing, tail between his legs. One of his eyes were slashed blind. He wasn't as injured as Laurelleaf, but every part of his body still throbbed as if huge thorns have entered his body. The gash on his belly was barely healed by Yarrowtail, and he felt like all his legs were about to buckle any second. His back spine hurts the most, and his flank burned. If anything, the least he needed was a dream.
He had made the excuse that he met a band of rogues by the Twolegplace, and out of luck a patrol actually found a band of rogues by the Twolegplace and chased them away from the Clans' territory forever. Oakstar had signaled the Clan to much more vigilant next time when hunting near Twolegplace, or else any of them might end up injured like Manglethorn, which the Clan quickly accepted. They again didn't seem to know what actually happened and how Manglethorn have almost killed three cats at once. And now, in the dark, Manglethorn searched in his usual dream environment. Darkness, bushes lining the walls, a hole in the ceiling, and a small circle of moonlight.
This time, Maggottail wasn't there waiting for him. The ball of light was empty, with not even a trace of scent. "Maggottail!" Manglethorn called again, then coughed several drops of blood. He laid down on the hard floor, his legs paws tucked in and his legs sprawled out. Blood pooled around him and oozed from his wounds. Pain hissed everywhere on his body.
If Maggottail decided not to appear, I'll sleep through my dream, he thought, despite the pain.
While he tried to rest in his dream, he was surprised that Maggottail did not appear throughout the entire night.
Manglethorn woke in the medicine den. Yarrowtail was staring at a pile of herbs, his gaze confused. He seemed to have trouble memorizing the herbs left here long ago by Ravenwing, and he also seemed to forget which works on what type of wound and sickness. He picked a yellow leaf and tried to mix it in the poultice he was creating at the moment. "Umm, that was a yarrow leaf," Manglethorn pointed out. He remembered that when he was a kit, Ravenwing fed this to him to make him throw up the crow-food he accidentally ate. "It makes cats vomit when they ate something inedible, and I think you have to chew it up and plaster it on my wounds instead of mixing it into a poultice to let me drink and… throw up."
"Oh, no!" Yarrowtail looked up into the ceiling. "I knew I'm a bad medicine cat!" "Ravenwing's experiments taught me those information," Manglethorn quickly added, hoping it could reassure the young medicine cat. Yarrowtail faced him, guilt coming off from every hair on his pelt. "But I should've known! I'm supposed to be the medicine cat!" Regret prodded Manglethorn when he saw how hurt Yarrowtail looked, and he wished he haven't said what he said so directly. Yarrowtail would only blame himself for every unintentional mistake he made.
"Let's just forget that," Manglethorn meowed. "And my spine really hurts. Like thorn stings."
"Okay, coming up," Yarrowtail started nosing through the herbs.
—.—
"Applewing told me to say hi and that she was worrying her pelt off about you," Yarrowtail padded back to the den in the afternoon. A bird chirped outside, and a warmer breeze of leaf-bare filtered into the den. Manglethorn's heart twisted in pain. I haven't thought about Applewing. Focusing so much on what Maggottail told him to do took his mind off his family. He was suddenly regretting the choice of becoming a leader and how much it seemed to separate him from normal life. He sacrificed so much and would probably become antagonized among the WindClan cats once Laurelleaf gets back to the WindClan camp. He was just trying to achieve his destiny, and what if Laurelleaf overly antagonizes him? Becoming a leader doesn't involve this much killing, a small voice flashed in Manglethorn's head. He flattened his ears in guilt and rested his head on his paws. Did I choose the right choice?
Yarrowtail checked him over and nodded while he continued wondering. Should I listen to Maggottail? After all, Maggottail wasn't from StarClan. Also, Maggottail didn't come to help a whisker when he fought Laurelleaf, while Laurelleaf seemed to have a faint spirit beside him from time to time. Maggottail was gone throughout the night and still hadn't appeared in the day.
Manglethorn shook his head. He forced himself to believe it. He was so close to becoming a leader... Laurelleaf couldn't have recovered before he did, and Maggottail would tell him his next mission. Hopefully, he would be able to kill Laurelleaf, and he would finally become the leader he wanted to be. His thoughts were interrupted by a couple of squeaking outside the medicine den, and all the pressure seemed to rush out of his pelt. Manglethorn's kits burst into the den and started nosing his head fur and sniffing him all over. "Daddy!" Mintkit squeaked. "You're awake!"
His daughters clambered over him while his son watched from outside the den. "You woke up!" Forestkit mewed, his whiskers angled forward in joy. Manglethorn laughed as his daughters climbed all over his head and licked his ears and head, then he licked his daughters one by one. "Sweet little troublemakers," he smiled. His heart warmed as the kits laughed and tumbled around him, then messed with his fur so much Yarrowtail started warning them that they may reopen their father's wounds. "Father was dying from you three little warriors," Manglethorn faked a gasp of desperation.
If I were to rest in the medicine den for moons now, at least my kits would be able to soften me up.
The three kits squealed in excitement. "We're the strongest warriors of the Clans!" Mistlekit announced. "Nothing can beat us!" She thumped small white paws onto the floor and raised her rump to look as menacing as possible. Mintkit let out a mrrow of laughter, and Mistlekit pawed her sister on the chest. "I can beat you," Forestkit commented, rising from his spot and shaking his ginger pelt, then slapped Mistlekit's face with his tail. "Hey!" Mistlekit protested, pawing Forestkit with her little paws. The three kits tumbled outside play-fighting, and Manglethorn sighed in amusement. Those were his kits. If Maggottail wasn't coming, maybe he could have a normal life in his Clan for once.
But things were never normal for a prophecy cat.